Who Is Twisted Metal's Evil Clown? The Vile And Repugnant Sweet Tooth Explained

Killer clowns have long been a staple of pop culture. We've seen many iterations of this classic trope over the years, from Stephen King's child-eating Pennywise from "It" to the "Terrifer" franchise's Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) to Twisty the Clown (John Carroll Lynch) from "American Horror Story."

That said, few killer clowns in all of fiction are as absurdly sadistic as Sweet Tooth, the machete-wielding, ice cream truck-driving mascot of the "Twisted Metal" video game franchise. The "Twisted Metal" series itself revolves around a yearly demolition derby named Twisted Metal, in which drivers use weapons and modified vehicles to destroy every other contestant in the arena. Sweet Tooth (whose real name is Needles Kane) is one of those contestants: a deranged serial killer who glorifies the Twisted Metal tournament and revels in all of the death and destruction he can cause throughout the arena.

Because Sweet Tooth is practically synonymous with the "Twisted Metal" series itself, it should come as no surprise that the character will be featured prominently in the upcoming Peacock series of the same name, where he will be voiced by Will Arnett, and played by Samoa Joe. Here's everything you need to know about the franchise's iconic killer clown before "Twisted Metal" hits Peacock on July 27, 2023.

When we were first introduced to Sweet Tooth in the original "Twisted Metal" PlayStation game, he was actually much more reserved than in later installments of the franchise. In the first game, he appears in live-action and is played by actor Robert Goodens, being distinguished by his clown mask and his shock of green hair.

"Twisted Metal 2" introduced Sweet Tooth's most familiar design elements: his white face paint and head covered with writhing flames instead of hair. In this game, he resents his murderous nature, to the point where he actually wishes to become a bug in order to escape his madness. "Twisted Metal 3" began his transition into a colorful mass murderer who relishes murder and extreme violence, something that became a staple of his character in later installments. 

The biggest shift in Sweet Tooth's design and character came in the PlayStation 2 reboot "Twisted Metal: Black," in which he is presented as a ruthless mass murderer whose bloodlust can never be sated. This darker, more serious version of Sweet Tooth is cursed to have his skull burn forever with the flames of Hell, and wears his iconic smiling mask, a set of leather suspenders, and polka-dot clown pants.

This particular design managed to stick around after "Black," being adapted with slight alterations for "Twisted Metal (2012)" and "Twisted Metal: Lost." In fact, Sweet Tooth's appearance in "Lost" appears to be the basis for his design in Peacock's new series, as both have nearly identical overalls and pants.

Despite being the most famous character in the "Twisted Metal" franchise, it's worth noting that Sweet Tooth's backstory seems to change dramatically from game to game. He is most often presented as a serial killer who used his ice cream truck (the same vehicle he operates in the Twisted Metal tournament) to drive around Midtown and murder indiscriminately. Outside of that, we're usually given only sparse bits of information about his past, and about his motivation for joining the tournament itself.

We're presented with a much more in-depth backstory for Sweet Tooth in the PlayStation 3 reboot "Twisted Metal (2012)," in which we learn that Sweet Tooth's true identity is that of Marcus Kane, a struggling father of four who drives an ice cream truck in order to supply for his family. Marcus is tormented by a split personality named Needles, who loathes his family and his boring lifestyle, and who eventually takes over as the dominant personality. Now in control, Needles puts on a homemade clown mask (fire inexplicably lighting his head as he does so) and massacres his family — all except for his daughter Sophie, who stabs him with scissors and escapes his rampage.

Sweet Tooth's ongoing hunt for his daughter becomes a central storyline in "Twisted Metal (2012)," and he actually joins the Twisted Metal tournament hoping to use the prize (a wish of his choosing) to finally track her down.

It's currently unclear how much of Sweet Tooth's backstory from the video games will make it into Peacock's "Twisted Metal" series, particularly because the show itself seems to be deviating pretty heavily from its source material.

The official description for Peacock's "Twisted Metal" bills the series as a fresh take on the franchise by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, one which is set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland and centers around a delivery driver named John Doe (Anthony Mackie). Instead of a demolition derby-style tournament, the series focuses on John Doe's white-knuckle delivery across a wasteland ruled by murderous drivers and their weaponized vehicles. In the trailer for "Twisted Metal," we learn that one of the most harrowing parts of John's delivery is passing through Las Vegas, which is ruled by the show's version of Sweet Tooth.

Like his video game counterpart, this Sweet Tooth is exceptionally violent while still being comedic. In one scene, he flashes a thumbs up and a smile to his followers after massacring a group of armed soldiers. Unlike the video game, however, his head is not actually on fire, though the rest of his costume is still pretty accurate to the source material. In any case, it's clear that Peacock's "Twisted Metal" still plans to make Sweet Tooth a major part of the story — even if he's now a post-apocalyptic warlord rather than a serial killer.