Interview: Edwin Hodge on Voicing Mr. Terrific in the Injustice Movie

While Mr. Terrific isn’t one of the best-known DC heroes, he gets a sizable role in the film adaptation of Injustice based on the fighting game series and the comic of the same name. The character is voiced by The Purge and The Tomorrow War star Edwin Hodge and serves as one of the most interesting parts of the film, which is out tomorrow on 4K, Blu-ray, and Digital.

ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief spoke with Injustice star Edwin Hodge about voiceover work, digging into Mr. Terrific, and his relationship with comics.

Tyler Treese: Mr. Terrific isn’t a character that often gets the spotlight. What really attracted you to this role?

Edwin Hodge: First of all, I didn’t really know who Mr. Terrific was or what his backstory was. I’d seen him in the cartoons and what so forth, but I didn’t really have an understanding of who he was. When I did get the project and I did a dive into the story, I realized how fascinating of a person that this guy was. Like his history with his family, losing the wife and this child, his older brother being mentally challenged. Those factors alone could impact someone’s life. But so often know that this man was a savant was able to acclimate, pick up a book, and just acquire skills in seconds. That was also another interest that this guy was smart beyond means. He has a master’s in psychology, mathematics, chemistry, and so forth.

His history with Cyberwear and whose hands it actually ends up in. He just became somebody that I definitely wanted to embody; somebody whose story that I wanted to tell because, once again, I hadn’t really seen him or really knew of who he was. I’m at this point where I want everybody who Mr. Terrific is and how crucial he was to the Justice Society.

He’s an underexplored character on the big screen and you get to be the introduction to Mr. Terrific to a lot of fans that maybe aren’t as hardcore. Can you speak to that aspect?

It’s definitely an honor. When I was in the booth, I really didn’t understand the magnitude of what this project could be and the potential behind it. I literally was just having fun doing a cartoon voice. Once you dive into the actual script, story, and director’s vision, and once you put that all into play, it definitely made this experience a lot bigger for me in realizing just how wide and vast it was amongst the masses like how many people really knew the story and how many people were looking forward to the story. I just played the video games. I kind of had an idea about it, but to be able to introduce this character on an international scale here is definitely an honor.

The chess scene with Mr. Terrific and Superman lets the two match wits. How was it to record?

It was fun. It was a scene that was blocked off line by line. At the end of the day, I just decided to just run all of the lines together because there was a certain rhythm and cadence that I had found that I felt worked for it. It’s a crucial scene. It really depicts and details where we are at right now as a society and the rules and regulations and how far we can go before we’re actually really taking away people’s rights to choose and just exist in this world. In the context of that scene, we asked a lot of questions that at the end of the day based on your opinion, you’re going to believe, one side is right and one side is wrong, but it was the balance of morale. Superman saw himself and where he could actually eventually end up,

You mentioned playing the games. Are you a big fighting game guy?

I was more of a fighting game guy in my youth. I played Tekken, Street Fighter, all of them. But now I’m definitely more into the first-person shooter and sports games.

You mentioned not really being familiar with Mr. Terrific prior to this role. What’s your relationship with comics in general?

My brother was more into the comics. I was more of the socialite growing up. I was always going out with friends and things of that nature. But I always hung out with a lot of the comic geeks, which is what I would call them. But for me, I mostly watched the cartoons. That was it. I wasn’t much of the reader per se, but every cartoon you could think of that involved superheroes, dating back to Mighty Mouse and Thundercats, things of that nature, I was all about it. So no serious relationship with comics, but the cartoons? For sure.

I feel that the animated series doesn’t seem to get enough credit for broadening the base so much. That’s how you and many others got into it, including myself.

Yeah, and the thing is there came a time where comics weren’t really accessible to a lot of people like trying to find the first and second editions and things of that nature. A lot of children were unable to get their hands on them, but they did have access to a television. That was the alternate means of getting you live-action comics, basically. They both served that purpose. I actually have a comic book store right across the street from me. And I was thinking about going in there and just seeing what they had, but, yeah, I love comics. They stretch the imagination and they stretch the mind and they take people out of their worlds for an hour or two.

You also get to voice Killer Croc in here. How was it seeing these characters just brought the life?

It was enjoyable, man. Like the whole process of going in there and not having any visuals at first and you just have an idea in your mind to figure out what you need bring to life off of the black and white script. But to be able to play a superhero and a villain in this project, it’s a cool experience. I was able to take on some of the minor thugs and police officers and background vocals in the film as well. But it’s a great experience, man. You get so much joy when you see the final product and you understand how much hard work went into it and not even on the actor side, but more so on the production side. The directors and the writers and the animators are getting everything correct down to the most finite point. I feel like actors, we kind of have the easy part. We’re doing the one thing we love to do, which is just creating and playing. It’s a good marriage if anything.

You were in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as a pedestrian. How was that?

Yeah, I did some pedestrian work and also played a pimp and I did one of the radio commercials. And then I played a character on another cartoon called The Proud Family, but that’s pretty much my experience in animation. A lot of my voice, a little where it came with ADR for movies and TV shows and stuff like that. It’s fun when you actually can get a chance to do animation and hear your voice in a way come to life.

You’re playing Ron Boone in Adam McKay’s show based on the Lakers. How was that?

Ron Boone is quite a character [laughs]. That project was highly enjoyable. Phenomenal, phenomenal actors and artists. The writers and directors really put their foot in it. It’s different to don those short shorts and go back to the ’70s with the hair and really kind of get into the spirit of who these icons were was, once again, just another amazing experience in my career. Kareem, Magic, Nixon, and Cooper. These cats were all kind of new to the game, but they did a phenomenal job with getting the certain intricacies and movements and the voice work of these characters. The fans will love it. If you like basketball and you like the Lakers, this is right up your alley.

Leaving this project, are you pining to do more VO work or did you get the superhero itch? What has really inspired you about this process?

You know what, I do have a bug to kind of do some more voice work. If I have to be completely transparent, I was not very confident in doing cartoons and things of that nature. I’d audition like thousands of times and just never get anything. This project actually came to me because the director liked my work on another TV show that I did call Sick and he just felt my voice would match well. I had a really enjoyable time and if I could do more, I would. Who doesn’t want to be a super hero these days?