What Kevin Conroy was for Batman, Tim Daly was for Superman, who voiced the character in the ’90s Superman: The Animated Series. While the show itself isn’t as fondly remembered as Batman: The Animated Series, whose success paved the way for the show on the first hand, Daly did hit it out of the park with his performance as Clark Kent.
However, the acclaimed voice artist didn’t connect with Superman from the get-go, as it wasn’t until his later years that saw him developed a keen understanding of the character. But following the current landscape of superheroes, the Wings Star expressed his desire to get back to playing the Clark again, stressing the entertainment industry has gravitated way towards darkness.
Tim Daly Wants Superman Back in the Limelight
Following in the footsteps of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy, WB opted for a similar tone for DCEU’s Superman, a departure from the traditional bright and cheerful Clark Kent. This eventually kickstarted a stream of dark and grounded stories, with the trope of a dark and gritty Superman becoming the norm. Furthermore, compared to Batman, there has been a lack of Superman media in recent years, which has diluted the character’s traditional image, at least on the mainstream level.
Reflecting on it, Tim Daly, who hasn’t voiced Superman since 2010, shared his desire to get back to playing Clark Kent, as he desperately wants to see a resurgence of his traditional image.
He told ComicBookMovie.com:
“I’m hoping desperately that I can return as the character. It’s interesting. I’m going to say something and I don’t want this to be taken wrong because I think Batman is a wonderful character, but it seems like so much entertainment has gravitated towards darkness. Superman, after all, started as a comic book. That implies it’s all fun, and what I love about Superman and one of the reasons I hope he makes a resurgence is that he is or has been or should be all good.”
While it can’t be said for sure if we’ll get a revival of his version of Superman anytime soon or not, thanks to James Gunn, we’re finally set to get a bright and cheerful Superman in David Corenswet.
Tim Daly Was Shocked After Being Hired for Superman: The Animated Series
Tim Daly was completely taken aback when he was hired on the spot to voice Clark Kent in Superman: The Animated Series. Considering neither Warner Bros. nor voice director Andrea Romano contacted him, and he was only able to land an audition courtesy of Chris Lloyd’s wife, the actor was heading in with no expectations.
To his shock, he was hired after a brief audition, which lasted around eight minutes. He recalled:
“It didn’t actually come from Warner Bros. or Andrea, it came from Chris Lloyd, who was one of the writers on Wings, the show I was doing at the time. His wife asked if I wanted to come in and read for Superman, so I went and met Andrea and the whole crew. My audition lasted probably eight minutes or less, they went, ‘Okay, great! You’re hired!’ I went, ‘What?!’ I basically got the part in the room and I was shocked because I wasn’t expecting it at all, but I was thrilled!”
With 2025’s Superman set to take back the character to his roots, fans will hope Gunn hits it out of the park with this one, as Daly said, the world could really use a hopeful Superman now.
Superman: The Animated Series is available to stream on Max.
