Why General Kregg In Invincible Season 2 Episode 4 Sounds So Familiar

That's that, then. We've reached the halfway mark of "Invincible" Season 2, continuing the tradition of parting ways with Mark Grayson (Steve Yuen) while he's hanging on for dear life, coughing his teeth up like hotel lobby mints. With it, the father's sins have fallen upon the son, with Nolan (J.K. Simmons) being towed away by the empire he tried to abandon, and his task of taking over Earth now passed onto Mark. The standout Viltrumite, General Kregg, sure did sound familiar, though, right? Well, that's because if you've dipped your toe in any form of popular culture in the past decade or two, you'll have no doubt picked up on the unmistakable rasp of the legendary Clancy Brown.

Adding to the cast list of perfect picks that "Invincible" is already crammed with, Clancy Brown has had a career riddled with notable roles both in front of the camera and in the recording booth. Besides playing Captain Byron Hadley in "The Shawshank Redemption" and the Kurgan in the cult classic, "Highlander," he's also built an incredible body of vocal work by breathing life into already iconic characters or helping them reach such a status thanks to his performances. Given Kregg's presence in the "Invincible" story, there's a possibility he could do the same here, given that he already spent some time in this world as a totally different character.

Just like Kevin Conroy will always be Batman and Mark Hammill can't be topped as The Joker, Clancy Brown's lengthy stint as Lex Luthor is a voice cemented in comic book adaptations forever. Marking his first effort in voiceover work, Brown's turn as Luthor became legendary, and after "Superman: The Animated Series" in 1996, he continued his time as the head of Lexcorp until 2006. Speaking to Bleeding Cool about the role that set his career on a brand-new trajectory, Brown explained how the hunt for non-voice-over actors led him to become a permanent one.

"I was new to voiceover, and I really wanted to do the discipline of voiceover," Brown said. "Then ['Superman: The Animated Series'] happened along they were casting outside the box, trying to get some non-voiceover actors to act. I was a non-voiceover actor and happy to do it, and now they've completely sucked me in and taken over my brain, the voiceover world." 

Thankfully, through his stint as Luthor, Brown had a handful of stellar moments, with one being the brilliant body swap episode from "Justice League Unlimited," "The Great Brain Robbery," which sees him swap with The Flash (Michael Rosenbaum). "That was a lot of fun to do with Michael Rosenbaum," who played Luthor himself in "Smallville." Track it down if only for the highlight of Lex (really The Flash) refusing to wash his hands in the bathroom, "'Cause I'm evil."

Just as the world knows who lives in a pineapple under the sea, any "SpongeBob Squarepants" fan worth their taffy knows that Clancy Brown is the voice behind SpongeBob's big-eyed boss, Mr. Krabs. Voicing the character across 24 years, Brown first voiced the role in the show's pilot episode, "Help Wanted," and has continued to do so wherever there is a crabby patty to be sold. After 277 episodes and three feature films, Mr. Krabs is as essential to the history of SpongeBob as its porous protagonist.

Speaking to AV Club about the role and the bonkers legacy from Bikini Bottom, Brown was grateful for the show making an impact with autistic viewers drawn to the show. "There are all sorts of miracle stories about 'SpongeBob,' and I don't know what combination of colors and sounds they've hit on or whatever it is about that world, but it goes right to the childish part of our brain and kind of fixes everything for a little while," the actor said. Speaking of the show's late creator, Stephen Hillenburg, before his passing, Brown noted how the show had become a hit in his hands: "I don't know what it is about him, but he's a real genius, that Stephen Hillenburg. He doesn't think he is, but he truly is."

While he might only have made a brief appearance in Taika Waititi's much-loved threequel, "Thor: Ragnarok," Clancy Brown was an excellent match for the fire demon, Surtur. Bookending the kooky, synth-laced adventure, Brown's massive alter-ego might not have that much presence in the film, but it's a role he'd be happy to return to in the future. There's certainly a chance that the character will return. After all, when you've sent a godly realm into oblivion, where else is there to go but the next one?

Speaking to Screen Rant about a potential reappearance, Brown said, "That was a voiceover character pretty much. So, I mean, I would happily do it again, because it would be a mo-cap, and that would be fun, and a voice, but they didn't sign me up for any multi-picture deal or anything like that." It's certainly not a gig he seems to be losing sleep over. "If they call me up, and we can reach a deal, then I'll do it. If they call me up, and they don't want to pay me, then I won't. I mean, it's not that big a deal. It's not a real character to me anyway, Surtur."

Among the already immense guest list that made up the first season of "Invincible," Clancy Brown provided his gifted gruff for Damien Darkblood, the demonic detective who figured out all too late that Omni-Man was responsible for wiping out the Guardians of the Globe. Debuting in Season 1, Episode 2, "Here Goes Nothing," Brown did a brilliant job of helping the paranoid and on-point detective get on screen, even if it was for a brief time. Like the comics, Damien's involvement in the big reveal of Omni-Man's rampage almost felt a tad bit superfluous, and even more so in the television adaptation, mainly thanks to Cecil (Walton Goggins) getting the drop on him.

After concluding just what Nolan had done and sharing his information with the head of the Global Defense Agency, he's sent back to Hell by Cecil, seemingly never to return. It's great news, then, to see Brown's name back among the credits for a character that has a complex and compelling future in the "Invincible" story.