In Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths - Part One, death is coming. Worse than death: oblivion. Not just for our Earth, but for everyone, everywhere, in every universe! Against this ultimate destruction, the mysterious Monitor has gathered the greatest team of Super Heroes ever assembled.
But what can the combined might of Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, The Flash, Green Lantern and hundreds of Super Heroes from multiple Earths even do to save all of reality from an unstoppable antimatter Armageddon?
A few days ago, we were lucky enough to catch up with legendary voice actor Nolan North. Best known for his role as Nathan Drake in the Uncharted franchise, he's been part of many DC projects over the years, lending his voice to Superman, The Penguin, Jor-El, and more. In Crisis, he plays Amazo and Green Lantern Hal Jordan.
Detailing his approach to both characters, North talks to us in detail about giving an android a conscience, exploring a "bromance" with The Flash, and how his childhood love for the Justice League (and the classic Super Friends TV series) inspired his approach to playing a superhero on screen.
The actor also discusses his original Uncharted movie cameo, possible plans for Uncharted 5, and his role as Superman in Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League.
You can watch our full conversation in the player below (via Toonado.com).
When we meet Amazo, he’s laying waste to the Justice League and then develops a conscience mid-fight. What was that emotional awakening, so to speak, like to explore?
In moments like that - it’s such a good question - and you have characters with questionable motives and things going on…to find a conscience…how do I put this? Sometimes, whether it’s the good guy or bad guy, they have one direction and that’s the way they’re going. Then, you defeat them, and the movie is over. To see this crisis of conscience midway through as he questions what he should be doing, I think it gives a depth to a character whether it’s on the good or bad side. You don’t normally see [that] and it goes back to great writing. It’s such an interesting thought to play. There’s so much and it stays away from the cliches and anything contrived. You don’t see it coming. There are two things that attract me to something I am watching as a viewer. It’s a character who is open to change and a character with a story that takes me to a place where I can say, ‘Oh, I did not expect that.’ And characters I care about. I don’t always have to like them but I care about them. I think with Amazo - spoiler alert, he does not work for Jeff Bezos [Laughs] - he’s just such an interesting character. It’s not like anything I’ve ever really come across or been able to play. I’ve got to give the writers a big nod for that one as it was a really interesting way to go.
This could have been a two-dimensional bad guy, but we later see him become an ally and friend to The Flash. That bromance must have been a fun dynamic to jump into?
[Laughs] Yeah! First of all, I’ve got to be honest with you, it’s hard to keep track sometimes. I had three characters in this. Green Lantern was one way, the homeless man, you’re probably familiar with, and then Amazo. Of course, The Flash is such an integral part of this and for him to join up and, like you said, become an ally…when you say ‘bromance,’ I think of Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds and how their bromance got them over to Wrexham. It’s interesting and I’m really curious to see how everyone else will take to that part of the story. Hopefully, they like it as much as I do and as you do.
It’s a small role as Hal Jordan and you’ve played him before this movie, so what about that character do you enjoy delving into? I feel like your voice is perfectly suited for him.
He doesn’t have a huge presence, but I always tell people, ‘Anytime you get to play a superhero like this in any way…’ He’s off on his own and agrees to become part of this story and being a superhero in that sense can be a very lonely thing to be. You’re different. You’re special. Not one of a kind, but very rare. When you find your community or group of people, I think there’s a happiness you can find. I was always a big Justice League comic book fan growing up and watched it on the Saturday morning cartoons. I always remember saying, ‘Meanwhile, back in the Hall of Justice!’ in that booming Ted Knight-like voice. I was probably six or seven and, to me, it was their clubhouse. We used to play Super Friends in my backyard. I think I had the underoos for Superman most of the time and my friend had Batman. We’d run around and, being kids in a backyard on a cold New England say in your underwear…I don’t know what the neighbours thought, but we did have to move abruptly [Laughs]. No, no. We had a treehouse and when we played, that was the Hall of Justice! I think getting Hal Jordan back in good graces and part of the team is always a good thing.
The last time we spoke, you were still waiting on that call for the cameo in Uncharted. It did happen, of course, but was that a passing of the torch to Tom [Holland] or are you still hoping to return for another game?
Well, I think I’d always come back. I wouldn’t want to pass the torch to somebody else for the mo-cap suit. I think that would…well, it would be insane to do that. It’s too much fun. I don’t know if there are any plans for that, though. I think Tom did a great job with the film and I love the fact that they decided to explore where Nathan Drake was in his 20s. Speaking to producers, they said, ‘The games are movies in themselves. We don’t want to try and do a one-to-one adaptation, but where was he in his 20s?’ You get arguably one of the biggest box office stars in the world with Tom Holland and, right up there with him, Mark Wahlberg, and they’re both into it. They’re both professionals. It was fun. When we did the scene, the original idea was a waiter brings me a drink and as I go to grab it, Tom grabs it, I’m like, ‘Hey, that’s mine!’ and he says, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.’ We did it a couple of times, and I looked at it and said, ‘I don’t think this looks very good for Tom.’ It looks like he was taking it instead of me passing the torch. We did a couple of takes with me saying, ‘You look thirsty, kid,’ and it ended up being what it was. It was great fun. Of course I’d come back for a fifth game if that was possible. I’ve got a lot of other things in the works right now, including a couple more movies here. Exciting stuff.
I’ve heard you’ll be playing Superman in the new Suicide Squad Kills the Justice League game, so what has it meant to you to return to that role?
Suicide Squad, I was able to do Superman and Penguin. That’s one of my longtime collaborations with Warner Bros. and Rocksteady. It’s one of my favourites. You know, again, anytime you ask to be Superman, you jump at it. I remember when we did Young Justice and I was originally cast as Superboy. The first day we were recording, Greg Weisman came up and said, ‘Hey, you know, we realised Superboy is a clone of Superman and -’ he actually said these words ‘- would you mind playing Superman in the show as well?’ What am I gonna say? ‘No, I don’t wanna do that!’ No. Superboy was a youthful, energetic voice and Superman is just…it’s how I sound when I tell my dogs to stop barking. It’s that more formal Clark Kent kind of deal. It’s always great fun to play him. There are some really…it all goes back to good writing and there are some really cool scenes in Suicide Squad that were fun to play as Superman. I hope people enjoy that.
Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths - Part One is now available on Digital and arrives on 4K UHD in limited edition SteelBook packaging and Blu-ray starting January 23.