Alan Tudyk Compares His ‘Doom Patrol’ Character to the Joker

Alan Tudyk is no stranger to the world of DC Comics adaptations, but it sounds like his two most recent roles in the realm share an interesting parallel.

ComicBook.com recently got a chance to talk to Tudyk about his role in Doom Patrol during the Television Critics Association press tour. With Tudyk playing the villainous Mr. Nobody in the live-action series – as well as playing the Joker in the upcoming Harley Quinn animated series – Tudyk has a unique perspective on both roles.

“I wanted to make sure [Mr. Nobody] wasn’t the Joker, because I’m also doing that for [DC Universe].” Tudyk explained. “That comes out in October, so I was doing them at the same time. Doing them concurrently, ’cause we’re recording on them. [I wanted to make them different] as far as vocally, just specifically vocally. But it’s in the character, it’s in the writing. It really is there as far as his wry sense of humor, his sadistic side, his anger issues. It’s just the self-awareness that starts it out right in the beginning. ‘I wasn’t that good of a bad guy. I was a bad bad guy.
I wanna be a better bad guy, so I met a Nazi, as one does.’ He’s just having fun.”

In the comics, Mr. Nobody became a villain after being exposed to unknown experiments from former Nazis in post-war Paraguay. He emerged from the experiments as essentially a living shadow, with the ability to drain people’s sanity. With much of that backstory being courtesy of Grant Morrison’s Doom Patrol run – something that is said to be a huge inspiration for the show – it will certainly be interesting to see how that gets adapted for the small screen.

Tudyk trying to differentiate his portrayal of the Joker seems to be a bit of a running theme, as the actor also told ComicBook.com about the comparisons to Mark Hamill’s version of the character.

“I don’t know. I don’t know. Again, I don’t know,” Tudyk began. “Here’s a funny story, Tony Hale plays Psycho, Doctor Psycho. He came in, and I’d said, ‘Hi,’ and he didn’t, I don’t know, I’d just finished recording and he was coming in to record and he was talking to the producer saying, ‘Oh yeah, the Joker, did y’all get Mark Hamill to do that?’ And I said, ‘No, they got me. I’m doing the Joker.’ Oh, he said, ‘Did you get Mark Hamill to do that ’cause if you didn’t get him it’s going to suck.’ ‘I’m doing the Joker.’ And he said, ‘Oh, I’m just saying that because I did the Joker and everybody said, ‘You’re not Mark Hamill. You suck.”

“So knowing I can’t be Mark Hamill, I haven’t listened to Mark Hamill. I have heard him, but I didn’t watch it so I couldn’t recreate it. He’s different in the way that he can cuss. I think that’s probably referring to be able to say, ‘Ah, fuck off.’ Having that in your ability and your Joker is fun. It’s a very funny cartoon, animated series, so I think the style of it lends itself to allowing more flexibility. I don’t know, man. I don’t know. I think I’m doing some of my voice and sometimes I’ll hear it, and when I watch the previews of it all, and I just sound like me. I hope it’s okay. I’m just hoping, yeah I hope it’s okay.”

The first episode of Doom Patrol will debut Friday, February 15th, on DC Universe.

Additional reporting from Scott Huver.