Tim Curry was originally cast to voice the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series, but it ended up not happening, with Mark Hamill taking the role instead. There were a lot of rumors as to why this happened, including the idea that Curry’s voice performance was “too scary.” However, Curry himself has spoken out about the role and his loss of the job, and it sounds like the reasons had nothing to do with those fan rumors. While all is well that ends well, with Hamill becoming one of the most popular DC voice actors of all time, it remains a what-if when asking about the role if Curry had ended up taking it on.
Tim Curry died at the age of 80, and it’s a dream role that leaves many fans wondering what Batman in animation would have looked like if one thing had changed. Here is a look at what really happened with Curry and Batman: The Animated Series and why he ended up leaving the role.
When Batman: The Animated Series was casting for its voice roles, one of the names who signed on to work on the animated series was Tim Curry. That might come as a surprise to anyone who only knows Mark Hamill as the voice of the Clown Prince of Crime, but originally, it was the Rocky Horror Picture Show actor who nabbed the role. The rumors since he lost out on the role indicated that, when he recorded his lines for the series, the producers believed he was too scary and would frighten children.
Part of this came from something that Batman voice actor Kevin Conroy once said about the casting of the Joker for the series. He said that Hamill was the second actor they brought in for the role of the Joker, but they replaced him after just a couple of recorded episodes. “Tim’s Joker was dark and scary,” Conroy said. “Mark came in and did a Joker that was dark and funny. So it was just a different take on the Joker.” Conroy also said that Curry was great in the performance, but he was a “demented scary Joker,” and it was better not to let the kids hear him.
This is interesting because producer Eric Radmonski said in the 2011 documentary film Stay ‘Tooned! Presents – Batman: The Animated Series that this was what they wanted from Curry when they signed him for the role. “Tim came with a natural theatrical sort of presence with his delivery, which was something we definitely wanted,” Radmonski said. “We didn’t want the Joker to be a bumbling, goofy idiot … and the dark side was completely second nature to Tim”
However, that isn’t why Curry said the production let him go. In fact, the real reason, according to the actor himself, was not because of his performance but because he got sick early in the production. According to Curry, he developed a severe case of bronchitis and had to stop recording, which led the animated series to let him go and move on to find someone else. There are other reports that his illness was part of it, but the producers didn’t feel sold on his vocal direction. Regardless, this is a case of a voice role that could have been interesting but never ended up happening.
While Tim Curry lost out on the role of the Joker to Mark Hamill, he didn’t stop voice acting, and he even returned to the DC Universe more than once. Before that happened, he became known for his voice roles as Nigel Thornberry in The Wild Thornberrys, MAL in Captain Planet and the Planeteers, and even the 1990s cult favorite series Gargoyles, where he voiced Dr. Anton Sevarius.
Curry then returned to DC for two roles. He voiced G. Gordon Godfrey in eight episodes of Young Justice and Mutro Botha in one episode of Batman Beyond. It was nothing like the 35 episodes in which Mark Hamill voiced the Joker, starting with Batman: The Animated Series and finishing in 2020 on Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? Hamill also got to voice the Joker in five animated movies.
Despite this, Curry likely had no regrets. The actor worked in theater from 1968 until 2012, after which he was forced to retire from stage work after suffering a stroke. He debuted in movies in 1975 with The Rocky Horror Picture Show (of which he originated the role of Dr. Frank N. Furter in a stage show), and his last movie was in 2024 with a small cameo in the movie Stream. On TV, he made his debut in 1968 and worked until 2010, when he had a critically acclaimed role as a serial killer on Criminal Minds. Finally, there were his voice roles from 1990 until 2024, the one thing he could continue to do after his stroke. With nominations at the Primetime Emmys, Tony Awards, and even the Grammys, the Joker might be a what-if for fans, but Tim Curry never needed to stop and look back on a wonderful career.
