The Cartoon Characters You Never Realized Were Voiced By Mark Hamill
Knowledgeable movie fans already know that Mark Hamill is best known for playing Luke Skywalker in the "Star Wars" film series, having originated the role of the heroic young Jedi in 1977. Lesser known is the rest of Hamill's acting career, which encompasses everything from appearances on "Criminal Minds" and "The Flash" to roles in films such as "Sushi Girl" and "Kingsman: The Secret Service." As it turns out, the majority of Hamill's roles throughout his 51-year acting career have been in a specific genre: voice-over for video games, cartoons, and animated films (per IMDb).
While Hamill's career caught fire by playing an intergalactic hero, he's won a new legion of fans by bringing villains to life — most notably voicing The Joker in the DC Universe's slate of animated films. However, you still might be surprised to learn the beloved sci-fi star has voiced some of your other favorite cartoon characters.
Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island
The Scooby-Doo franchise has brought many memorable characters to life throughout its nearly 50-year run on television and film, and notable celebrities often appeared as themselves on various aspects of the franchise. Little-known fact: actor Mark Hamill has guested on multiple Scooby-Doo projects, including "Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?" as himself.
The 1998 movie "Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island" was the first of numerous direct-to-video movies featuring the Scooby gang, updated for a new generation, and Hamill was part of the project. The story sees Scooby and his friends reunite as young adults to celebrate Daphne's birthday, only to embark on a road trip together in search of real monsters to be featured a television show hosted by Daphne. When they arrive in Louisiana, they encounter a handful of eccentric characters, including Snakebite Scruggs (above), voiced by Hamill. Dressed like Crocodile Dundee, the cranky Cajun fisherman complains about tourists and seems to be a plausible suspect for the weird shenanigans happening nearby. While his screen-time wasn't much, Snakebite Scruggs was a hilarious character fans of the animated film easily remember, thanks in large part of Hamill's voice acting.
Spider-Man: The Animated Series
Like many superheroes, Spider-Man has spawned several versions of the character in print, TV and film, but children of the 1990s are most likely to remember the hero because of "Spider-Man: The Animated Series." From 1995-1998, the famous web-slinger went up against numerous adversaries, including Hobgoblin (above), voiced by Mark Hamill.
A recurring villain, Hobgoblin was a greedy and egotistical antagonist determined to defeat his enemies, which included Spider-Man and Norman Osborn (aka Green Goblin), in order to become the crime boss of New York City. With a menacing cackle and threatening voice, Hobgoblin proved Hamill could be either a convincing villain or charming mercenary, switching between the costumed criminal and his everyday persona, Jason Philip Macendale.
While he's now known for voicing villains, Hamill portrayed the Hobgoblin before landing one of his most acclaimed voice-acting gigs — that of The Joker in the DC Comics universe of animated games, TV series and films.
Jake and the Never Land Pirates
Mark Hamill has also been featured on the Disney Junior television series "Jake and the Never Land Pirates," playing the menacing pirate sorcerer ShiverJack from 2011-2016. Based on Disney's "Peter Pan" franchise, the show featured a band of young pirates — Jake, Izzy, and Cubby — who sought treasure, traveling via Bucky, their living pirate ship.
While Captain Hook was the tiny heroes' most frequent adversary, the group also encountered ShiverJack from time to time. With the ability to freeze anything, courtesy of his magic staff, he often found a way to prevent the young adventurers from reaching the treasure, threatening them with mild pirate speech as he shot icicles from his weapon. While the character only appeared on four episodes, ShiverJack left quite an impression on young viewers. The character even had his own theme song — "ShiverJack" — that played any time he appeared on screen.