Mark Interviews 1990+

The Hobgoblin/Skywalker Connection

Don't believe anything you've read over the years. The real, true identity of the Hobgoblin can finally be revealed.

It's.... Mark Hamill?!?!?!

Actually, Hamill, forever linked to Luke Skywalker in the STAR WARS movies, does the voice of Hobgoblin in Fox's Spider-Man animated series, which moves back to Saturday mornings with Spider-Man's Web Files in June.

The show also continues to air on weekdays. The Hobgoblin is one of three Marvel villains Hamill is voicing these days. The others are Gargoyle in UPN's The Incredible Hulk and Maximus on the syndicated Fantastic Four.

And there are many other animated characters that Hamill provides voices for, including Joker in Batman and Threshold in the upcoming Gen 13 movie. Ironically, most of the characters Hamill portrays in animation are bad guys, a far cry from squeaky, clean Luke Skywalker.

"You are completely liberated from how you look and that gives you a freedom you don't have in live-action, where people can see you," Hamill says. "People would never guess it's me in some of these roles."

Hamill says he has a lot of fun playing the pint-sized Gargoyle, who's always muttering about how he's mistreated by the Leader, who is voiced by Matt Frewer.

"I find something I like about him. In every character you do, you find something that resonates for you," Hamill says. "None of the villains I play think of themselves as villains. Even the Joker is this genius who is frustrated by the fact that no one recognises his great genius."

"With Gargoyle, here is a brilliant, brilliant scientist who is trapped in a Quasimodo-like body. There's a poignancy there. It mirrors the storyline of Bruce Banner being mutated."

Hamill is a long-time fan of comic books, well versed in the history of the genre. He recently wrote his own comic book series, The Black Pearl, which he hopes to develop as a live-action movie.

"Anything in pop-culture is exciting to me," Hamill says. "It's probably embarrassing if you knew how exciting it was for me to become an action figure. I don't want to let on because that's not cool. But I was like major thrilled (about the comic) - just to work in a realm I love very much."

Hamill hopes to direct his Black Pearl movie -- and there will definitely be more voice animation work in his future. It's part of an eclectic career since he hung up his lightsaber.

"There's nothing more invigorating and exciting to me than trying things that you've never tried before," Hamill says. "People don't really understand that. They want to know why you wouldn't rather be on a TV series about a detective with a talking dog."

Spidey Interviews, 1998