Tony Todd was on hand in San Diego Comic Con 2023 to talk about voicing Venom in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.
Tony Todd’s passion for the character seemed genuine and infectious. In his own words, it was the most exciting voice over journey that he had ever been in.
I’m going to take a few minutes to talk about Tony’s career and emphasize just how big a deal that is. Of course, most people will remember Tony for playing the urban legend turned living horror in the Candyman films.
However, before Candyman, he already became a breakout star playing Ben in the 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead, as well as Worf’s tragic younger brother, Kurn, in the Star Trek series.
Tony’s other major film roles include playing William Bludworth in the Final Destination movies and The Fallen in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, but he’s had a long voice acting career too.
He started out in video games by playing Kurn again in Star Trek: The Next Generation: Honor Guard, but then would also play characters like the Vortigaunt in Half-Life 2: Episode 2, Admiral Tommy Briggs in Call of Duty: Black Ops II, and the narrator for Legend of Dragoon and Back 4 Blood.
In other words, it’s a big deal for a horror and sci-fi icon like Tony to call Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 his most exciting voice acting project in a 37 year career.
Tony said he had fun playing Venom. Interestingly enough, he made sure that there was a joyous quality to his portrayal of Venom, and his destruction. We had gotten used to Deadpool, Harley Quinn and other superhero characters straddling the line between hero and villain with a dash of humor to make things entertaining. But for those old enough to remember the original Venom: Lethal Protector miniseries by David Michelinie and Mark Bagley, Venom really was one of the first antiheroes in the 1990s to make that popular.
Tony’s co-stars, however, had the most entertaining story about his work on the game. Laura Bailey, who voices Mary Jane for the Insomniac games, revealed that they would do their voice recording sessions separately. Every time Tony’s Venom voice would come on, in her own words, they “wouldn’t expect it and it was terrifying.” Just so we’re clear, Insomniac Games’ Senior Creative Director Bryan Intihar echoed those sentiments.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will be releasing on October 20, 2023, exclusively on PlayStation 5. You can watch the highlights of said SDCC 2023 panel below.
