Why Art Rosenbaum From Invincible Sounds So Familiar

As superhero TV shows and movies continue to dominate the cultural landscape, a long-awaited adaptation is finally scheduled to make its debut this year. The adult animated series Invincible is based on the comic series by Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead), Cory Walker (Marvel Team-Up), and Ryan Ottley (The Amazing Spider-Man). It features a young man named Mark Grayson whose extraterrestrial superhero father Nolan — AKA Omni-Man — announces he, too, will get powers one day. Mark eventually discovers his amazing powers that include flight, strength, and invulnerability, hence his superhero name, Invincible.

Invincible is jam-packed with Hollywood stars, and that goes for supporting character roles, too. Art Rosenbaum is a tailor who makes superhero costumes, and he's also close friends with the Grayson family. He serves as a confidant and a source of advice, remaining a constant in the unpredictable lives of the superheroes. The voice behind the talented seamster is none other than Mark Hamill (Star Wars), the man who brought Luke Skywalker to life.

Though most people know Hamill from his iconic role as the young Jedi, he's had a long and diverse career. While many of his projects have been Star Wars-related, the majority of his career has been in voice-over work. Here are just a few of his most notable voice credits.

One of Mark Hamill's earliest roles — and his first voice-over role — was in the animated TV series Jeannie, which was a spinoff of the popular sitcom I Dream of Jeannie. Hamill voiced the teenager Corey Anders, a surfer who finds a mysterious bottle washed up on the beach. After opening the bottle, he finds that a genie named Jeannie (Julie McWhirter) and her assistant Babu (Joe Besser) are inside. They become Anders's servants, and he tries to live a normal teenage life while keeping his magical assistants a secret. Not only did Hamill star in the show, but he also sang the theme song!

The show mainly received negative reviews, with fans upset that the show was not at all related to the beloved original; thus, it only lasted one very short season. Though it wasn't Hamill's big break as a voice actor, it cemented his passion for voice-over work that has spanned generations.

Mark Hamill's biggest voice-over role started in Batman: The Animated Series. He was originally trying for a lesser-known villain, since he thought his fame as Skywalker would hurt his chances at becoming the Joker. He revealed to The Hollywood Reporter: "I figured there was no way they'd hire Luke Skywalker as the Joker. So, in a way it was very freeing. I had great confidence at the audition because I thought there was no way I could get it. I thought, 'I'm going to give them the best damn Joker they've ever heard and they're really going to regret not being able to cast me." Fortunately for him, they loved him, and his version of the Joker is consistently named one of the best in history.

He went on to voice the Joker in a plethora of TV shows, movies, and even video games, including The Batman Superman Movie: World's Finest, The New Batman Adventures, and Batman: Arkham Asylum. Hamill's iconic rendition of the Joker led him to many other roles in superhero shows, with parts in Fantastic Four: The Animated Series (Maximus the Mad), Spider-Man: The Animated Series (Hobgoblin), and The Incredible Hulk (Gargoyle).

Known for playing iconic villains, Mark Hamill landed yet another role as one in 2005's Avatar: The Last Airbender. From 2005-2008, he played the dastardly Fire Lord Ozai, ruler of the Fire Nation and father of Prince Zuko (Dante Basco) and Princess Azula (Grey Griffin). In a Reddit AMA, he wrote about playing Ozai, and how he feels about playing villains in general: "I just look for really good scripts, and I thought Avatar was so good that it was sure to be canceled. It seems a little too deep, a little too intelligent for the kind of cartoon I was used to. So I was really delighted when it found an audience and it showed that parents watch what their kids watch, and that a serious show that dealt with important issues could find an audience."

After the announcement of a possible live action ATLA reboot, Twitter user Avessizzle asked Hamill if he would be coming back to reprise his role as Ozai, to which he simply replied: "I'm available."

One of Mark Hamill's more surprising voice roles is that of Regular Show's Skips, the yeti groundskeeper at the local park. He's known for being mysterious and powerful, and he is always there to help get his friends out of trouble. When the show came to its end in 2017, Hamill spoke with CinemaBlend about his time playing Skips: "And I loved my character. I mean, he was so unflappable. I love that his role in the show was to sort of be the guy that has to clean up after the mess after Mordecai and Rigby, with their usual moronic behavior, got themselves into some terrible place. For a character that unusual to be the "grown up" on the show, in and of itself, was pretty hilarious."

Fans may have a hard time picking out Hamill's voice, because Skips is also known for his raspy, heavily-accented inflection. It's a great example of Hamill's talent and range as a voice actor.

One of Mark Hamill's most recent voice-over roles is none other than the iconic killer doll, Chucky. He voiced the murderous toy in the 2019 reboot Child's Play, where a mother gives her son a seemingly harmless doll for his birthday, not realizing it has devilish tendencies. The role was yet another step out of Hamill's comfort zone, and he remarked that he felt an intimidation that he hadn't experienced since he voiced the Joker all those years ago. He put his own spin on the role as always, and critics like Ed Potton of the Times (UK) noted "It's a toothsome turn from Hamill, who knows a thing or two about infantilized villainy, having voiced the Joker."

Through Mark Hamill's many years of voice roles big and small, we've come to learn that there really isn't anything he can't do. We're excited to see him in the action-packed Invincible in March 2021, and if it's anything like his previous voice acting gigs, he's sure to have a memorable performance.