RoboCop Star Peter Weller to Join Marvel's Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur (Exclusive)

Dr. Peter Weller is no stranger to franchises. The 75-year-old actor broke onto the scene in 1979's Butch and Sundance: The Early Days but received his biggest critical acclaim eight years later when he played the titular character in 1987's RoboCop. Weller is set to return to the RoboCop franchise this fall when he voices the character in the upcoming RoboCop: Rogue City video game. While a bulk of his credits in the 21st century are as a director, Weller has still suited up for the blockbuster here and there, lending his vocal talents for Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and boarding the USS Enterprise in Star Trek Into Darkness. Despite all the worlds that Weller has stepped into over his 40+-year career, one franchise has always eluded him: Marvel.

That is set to change imminently. Speaking with ComicBook.com ahead of his appearance at Fan Expo Cleveland, Weller revealed that he just wrapped production on Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, a gig that decorated actor and friend Laurence Fishburne set him up with.

"I just finished a thing called Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur," Weller said. "Laurence Fishburne, a long-time pal, called me up and said, 'Hey, would you play this? It's a voice-acting gig. Would you do this role of Dr. Stern? It was written for you.'"

It's unclear as to if "Dr. Stern" is an original character created for Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur or if he is being pulled from Marvel Comics. If it's the latter, there is a possibility that this is the animated project's iteration of Dr. Samuel Sterns, a cellular biologist who eventually transforms into Hulk antagonist Leader. Samuel Sterns is brought to live-action life by Tim Blake Nelson in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and is set to return in next summer's Captain America: New World Order.

Even with the role being tailored for him, Weller admitted that he had hesitations.

"I said, 'Laurence, I've heard this rap before, that somebody is calling you up and saying it was written for you. I did that with Dexter, and it turned out he didn't write it for me. Then Howard Gordon did it with 24,'" Weller continued. "I read this voice acting thing for Moon Girl, and you know it's a Marvel/Disney thing."

Still, the prospect piqued Weller's interest, which led him to questioning Fishburne about the character's traits.

"'It's a pretentious, art-historian doctor, like you are,'" Weller recalled Fishburne's description. "I read it and it is this guy in Dr. Stern who brags about his PhDs and his art knowledge and everything and tries to wrangle these kids."

Fishburne is alluding to Weller's various degrees. Outside of film sets, Weller pursued higher education on both coasts of the United States, as he earned a master's degree in Italian Renaissance art history at Syracuse University in 2005 and a Ph.D. in Italian Renaissance art history at UCLA in 2014. Weller continues to give back to his alma mater, as he established the Theodore, Martha, and Peter Weller Scholarship Fund at 'Cuse.

"I've done a couple episodes of it, and it's fun," Weller continued. "It is absolutely like my version, Peter Weller's version of Squidward, but Squidward is like me, and so subsequently when Fishburne hands me this thing called Dr. Stern, it's absolutely a combo of Peter Weller and Squidward. I love doing it. I love being the pompous, arrogant, essentially idiot in front of these kids."

Weller joins a stacked Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur voice cast that includes Fishburne, Craig Robinson, Gary Anthony Williams, Alison Brie, Josh Keaton, Daveed Diggs, Cobie Smulders, May Calamawy, Jennifer Hudson, Andy Cohen, and others.

Disney had no comment when emailed.

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur is currently airing its first season, with new episodes premiering every Saturday. Weller will most likely be appearing in Season 2, as production on the sophomore installment began last month.

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