Troy Baker Takes on The Joker at Batman: Arkham Origins Panel

StewShearerOld

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Jan 5, 2013
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Troy Baker Takes on The Joker at Batman: Arkham Origins Panel


Troy Baker voiced a monologue from Alan Moore's The Killing Joke to help prove his chops at a Batman: Arkham Origins panel.

When you get down to it the Joker is a tough role. The actor playing him has to embody a character that's equal parts funny, menacing, brilliant and insane. That being said, of all the performers to take on the character, few have executed it quite as well as Mark Hamill. He managed to capture all those essential parts and, perhaps even more importantly, earned himself a spot as a favorite among Bat-fans everywhere.

Sadly, while Hamill was willing to reprise the role of the Joker in Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City, he opted not to return the character in Batman: Arkham Origins. His shoes would instead be filled by veteran voice actor Troy Baker who, in recent years, has had big roles in games including Persona 4, Final Fantasy XIII, Bioshock: Infinite and The Last of Us.

Just in case his wealth of experience wasn't enough to convince fans of the Clown Prince of Crime that he'd be up to the job, Baker recently took the role for a public spin during a panel at Comic Con. Reading a monologue from Alan Moore's Joker-centric story The Killing Joke, Baker gave an impressive performance that, though clearly drawing on Hamill's version of the character, earned a standing ovation from the assembled crowd. Personally, though I think I still prefer Hamill, it sold me on Baker taking over the reins. That said, what do you guys think? Give the video a watch and let us know your impressions. Does Baker deliver the goods or is he just an imitator aping the true master's act?

Source: <a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAn49oUtHJE>YouTube


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hazabaza1

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Like others said, he's not really "doing" the Joker. He's doing Hamill doing the Joker. But he's fucking good at it.
 

Hades

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I don't think you can ever go wrong by hiring Troy Baker.

From the little I have seen Troy's Joker does sound very similar to that of Hamill and while it sounds very good its also a bit of a shame. I would have liked to see Baker's own take on our favourite insane clown.

In an interview Troy said he's a big fan of the joker and that Hamill was ''his'' Joker so maybe that's why he decided to try and sound like Hamill.
 

luvd1

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Yeah, but we all know how much of a out cry if it wasn't like Hamill from some. So he wasn't going to please everyone. Even in this article there's a bit of Hamill is god.
 

erbkaiser

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Well he is clearly emulating Hamill, but that is a good thing here. Why? Because Arkham: Origins is supposed to be a prequel to the existing Arkham games, and as such we want the characters to be voiced by the same people... or people able to sound like them.
 

StewShearerOld

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luvd1 said:
Yeah, but we all know how much of a out cry if it wasn't like Hamill from some. So he wasn't going to please everyone. Even in this article there's a bit of Hamill is god.
To be fair he is at least a Jedi master, that has to count for something.
 

ron1n

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That was impressive. I honestly don't care if it's blatant mimicry or not.

Mark Hamil for me was the perfect joker and I see no reason to mess with perfection in this case. The closer Baker can keep his voice in line with the Joker so many people have grown up with, the better I say.

As for putting his own spin on it. I've heard plenty of other voice actors try and do 'their take' and none of them are up to snuff. In effect, if he is voicing material that Mark has never attempted, then he already is putting his spin on it aplenty in the way he delivers it.

No need to go completely off the rails with yet another 'take' on the voice.
 

luvd1

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StewShearer said:
luvd1 said:
Yeah, but we all know how much of a out cry if it wasn't like Hamill from some. So he wasn't going to please everyone. Even in this article there's a bit of Hamill is god.
To be fair he is at least a Jedi master, that has to count for something.
Bah! He never finished Jedi school, he got his diploma through a postal course.
 

Karathos

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I agree with the earlier comments. Mark's Joker IS Joker, and Origins is supposed to be a younger Joker, so the voice difference makes sense. But screw innovation for its own sake. If it works, use it!
 

Chester Rabbit

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hazabaza1 said:
Like others said, he's not really "doing" the Joker. He's doing Hamill doing the Joker. But he's fucking good at it.
Well to a lot of people that voice is the definitive voice of the Joker so I don't see a problem there.
 

Keiichi Morisato

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Karathos said:
I agree with the earlier comments. Mark's Joker IS Joker, and Origins is supposed to be a younger Joker, so the voice difference makes sense. But screw innovation for its own sake. If it works, use it!
that is what i keep saying about the Zelda games and JRPG's, as those games are polished to a shine so why mess with a good thing? the main problem with many modern JRPG's are the terrible narratives, though that really depends on who is making the game, and what demographic that they are trying to appeal to. i am not saying that JRPG's should never innovate, but that they should innovate where is makes sense to move the genre forward, but at the same time keep what people love about the genre.
 

anthony87

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I do love Troy Baker but ever since watching Batman: Under The Red Hood I've always wanted to see some more of John DiMaggio as The Joker. I thought he was great in that.
 

Kenjitsuka

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hazabaza1 said:
Like others said, he's not really "doing" the Joker. He's doing Hamill doing the Joker. But he's fucking good at it.
Seconded! Sounds just like Hamill, which is what I want :)
 

TheCaptain

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Chester Rabbit said:
hazabaza1 said:
Like others said, he's not really "doing" the Joker. He's doing Hamill doing the Joker. But he's fucking good at it.
Well to a lot of people that voice is the definitive voice of the Joker so I don't see a problem there.
Hear, hear.

I'm actually very happy about this. A good Mark Hamill's Joker impression is better than a new take on the character that might end up being not as good. Of course it could've been even better, but why take chances? I don't much care for change for the sake of change.

That said, he's is now my third favourite Joker after Mark Hamill and Gavin Dunne.
 

1337mokro

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He should really try to find his own Joker. Hamill did a FANTASTIC job. I mean it in every sense of the word, when the joker speaks in my head it's Hamill's voice, we will ignore the fact I hear voices to go on to make a point about the Joker though.

He has been voiced by dozens of actors, some of which played him in life action. All of them had their own particular twist to the character, their own little bit to add to it. I do hope he eventually gets into his own, adds his own little piece to the puzzle.

It's fine if he takes the Hamill Joker as a starting point but if all it's going to be is a brand name knock off then it feels rather pointless to me. It will always sound like a knock off and that's all I will be thinking whilst hearing it "Man I wish Hamill was still doing the voice, would have been so much better" rather than "This guy is doing a great job with the Joker, I wouldn't mind hearing Baker do this voice more often.

The voice actor changing for a stupid reason "he's to old", "we need to do mocap" and such is retarded. However Hamill retired from the Joker willingly, he had played his part and now it is time for the next voice actor to define their Joker. I think he's doing it slightly with the raspy start up at the laugh but he could make it his own in so many other ways.

All the old people in the comments going "I don't like it when things change" should really get beyond their little animated universe.
 

Steve the Pocket

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C117 said:
Still thinks this guy is better...

You beat me to it. But I'll follow up by posting his own Killing Joke quote:


1337mokro said:
I think you've missed the point. This is an actual, canonical prequel to the other Arkham games. So just like they had Tara Strong voicing Harley as an impression Arleen Sorkin, they're expected to have a Hamil-sounding Joker. I wouldn't mind hearing a new take on the character myself (I'd kind of like to hear him as a sort of cross between the Mark Hamil and Heath Ledger Jokers -- still entertainingly hammy but with more of a dangerously-deranged vibe), but the time to do that is when you launch a new series, not in the middle of one.
 

mrjoe94

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They're in a very tough spot because Hamill set the precedent when he did the first two Arkham games. Now, if they started off the series without Hamill I would have been completely okay with it, but it's really jarring.
 

weirdsoup

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It's a good impression of Hamill's joker, which really, if he's not doing the game you at least want the voice to fit in with the other games in the series.
 

shintakie10

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So he's pretending to be Mark Hamill pretending to be Joker.

Huh.

Personally I would have much rather had someone try their own take on it. If I'm goin to listen to a copy of Mark Hamill, I think I'd rather just listen to Mark Hamill because there will always be that nagging feelin that its almost just like Mark Hamill, but its not Mark Hamill.