Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League released back in February of this year to a prickly reception from DC fans and critics alike. The game was derided for ruining the beloved legacy of the Batman Arkham games due to its mundane gameplay and grindy nature which never resembled the dark, macabre cat-and-mouse game between the Joker and the Dark Knight in any way, swapping it out for a headache-inducing UI and mediocre shooting mechanics.
Alarm bells were ringing when no review codes were sent out for the game prior to launch, despite the game having already been delayed multiple times. Within the first two weeks of that eventual launch, the total player count has dropped to a meagre 3 digit figure of less than 1000.
Rocksteady and Warner Bros Games have (arguably unfairly) put all of their eggs into the DLC basket, promising that the first free content update for the game featuring an Elseworlds version of the Joker will solve all of the game’s issues and regain the interest of players who have already fallen away from the game since launch.
We got the chance to chat to the extremely talented JP Karliak, who has been tasked with voicing this new version of the Clown Prince of Crime. We were able to ask him about what makes this version of the character unique, and query whether he thinks that taking the role on was something of a poisoned chalice, given the baggage and pressure that comes along with a role like this.
How does one go about embodying a character as iconic as The Joker?
FandomWire: Given your extensive list of video game credits, I presume that you are a gamer yourself. Can you tell me a bit about your gaming history and your favorite game if you have one?
JP Karliak: I am a gamer, though I put a strong asterisk on that, as I have only ever had Nintendo consoles. I had an 8-bit, I had a Super Nintendo, then I skipped a few generations and now I have a Switch, which I play pretty frequently. My favorite games are Zelda Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. I like the classics. I’m big on Metroid, Castlevania, Mario, and Megaman. A platformer or a MetroidVania is my jam. The Zelda games are really what opened my eyes to open world games, so I’d like to try more of those.
FW: The fact that you are playing the Joker in the upcoming Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League DLC is very exciting. I’m curious to know if you have a history with the Arkham series. Although the version you are playing is an Elseworlds version of the character, there is also a certain legacy that you are stepping into which I am curious to hear your feelings on.
JP: Getting to play the Joker is like walking through a field of landmines and every one of those landmines is an individual, very beloved version of the Joker. With Mark Hamill’s version being arguably the most beloved among them. Partly because of the Arkham games, but also because of Batman: The Animated Series and all of the other pieces of DC media that he has appeared in. So yeah, that was really tricky. I was thrilled that I wasn’t playing him, but that I was playing this other version. I am aware that there are obviously going to be comparisons made, but what I love about this version of the Joker is that he is making those comparisons. He is coming in from an Elseworld and hearing about this giant version of the Joker that existed for many years and was a megalomaniac. I play a younger Joker sort of starting out, and still figuring out what his Joker brand is going to be. So he hears about this titan and is like; “Okay, I’m taking down some notes from this guy.” So in a way, the character and I sort of mirror each other in that sense, because my interpretation of the Joker is not super characterized in terms of the voice. As much as I love the ultra-characterized style, this version’s voice is not too dissimilar to my real speaking voice. I was obviously cherry-picking bits from my favorite Jokers like Hamill and Nicholson and Ledger. And even John DiMaggio, and Kevin Michael Richardson who I also love. So I’m trying to pick up on all of those little bits, but he is also still very much my version, and thank God I didn’t have to impersonate anyone.
Making this version of The Joker stand out as unique
FW: Was the decision to use something close to your own voice for the character as opposed to doing an impression of another version your own choice?
JP: I mean, they were really specific in the audition that they didn’t want a Hamill impersonation, or an impersonation of any previous version of the Joker. And the way that the character description was; that he was younger and still figuring it out, and still new to his psychopathy, I was like okay, so my voice shouldn’t necessarily go the full tilt then. I can play a more pulled back version and just let the crazy pop out when it needs to, through the laugh and things like that.
FW: When you were recording the lines, did you get to interact with the other cast members, or were you just in a booth alone?
JP: All alone. I didn’t even know exactly who else was in the game until they announced it, after which I was like, “oh that’s cool, what a really solid cast.” It was just me recording with a few folks in London and then a few in LA and we had a great time making those tweaks as we went and figuring out where we want this Joker to sit. I am excited to see how he fits in this world, because I have only heard a couple of instances of my back-and-forth between my character and the other characters, so it will be new to me as well.
FW: The DLC still hasn’t released at the time of this interview, so I wonder whether you recorded the dialogue a long time ago, or whether it was more recent.
JP: We did start the process a while ago, although because it is a Live Service game with new chapters continually coming out, the Joker still has to talk to new characters, so the recording process is still happening now and is ongoing.
Walking into a sea of criticism and fanboy hatred
FW: Since the game released earlier this year, the reception has been very mixed and there has been a fair amount of criticism levelled at the game. Did any of that negative feedback toward the base game affect how you approached your performance at all?
JP: It certainly didn’t affect my original performance, and it definitely won’t affect it going forward either. Primarily because there is already and established version in the can that I did and I can’t start tweaking it now. It is of course validating when people connect with a character that you portray, or the game in general, you always like to see that. However, I also don’t take any of the criticism to heart because at the end of the day, you can’t please everybody. The reason that there are so many individually beloved versions of the Joker is because everyone has their own taste for what they like.
FW: I appreciate that there is only so much that you can say, but is there anything else that you are able to tell us about this version of the Joker that you are portraying?
JP: In the same way that the Gotham City that we are used to is very dark and feels like Batman’s city, the version of Gotham that this guy hails from is very much the Joker’s. It is a very looney version of the world we know.
FW: So, does your Joker come from a Gotham that had its own version of Batman, or is he coming to this world and hearing about the Batman for the first time?
JP: I think that is something that you are going to have to wait until you’ve played to find out.
FW: Having just played the Joker and starred in the new X-Men ’97 show on Disney+, are there any other bucket list characters that you’d like to voice in a game?
JP: I would actually love to take a crack at the Penguin. I love Danny DeVito’s take on that character so much. Getting to play that really horrific but also really classy version of the Penguin would make for a fun dichotomy to play with. As far as the bucket list legacy character that I’d love to play who I haven’t had a chance to yet, it has to be Skeletor.
Getting the opportunity to chat to JP Karliak about the Joker was incredible, he made for a great interviewee. The X-Men 97 show launches on Disney+ today, in which JP stars as Morph, so feel free to go check out his performance in that. Also, if you want to see how bad Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is for yourself, then that is also available to play now. Fingers crossed that the introduction of JP’s Joker can turn things around for that game. Thanks again to JP for taking the time to chat to us.
