Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker is a weirdly dark masterpiece. It shouldn't have worked as well as it did, honestly. When you look at the Return of the Joker cast, you aren't just looking at a list of voice actors; you’re looking at the definitive intersection of the 90s Animated Series and the futuristic Beyond era. It was a bridge. A bloody, terrifying bridge that nearly got the movie buried under heavy censorship.
Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill. That’s the core. You can’t talk about this movie without starting there. By the time this film hit shelves in 2000, they had already spent nearly a decade defining these characters for an entire generation. But this wasn't the Saturday morning version of their rivalry. It was something deeper. Something more "final."
The Heavy Hitters: Mark Hamill’s Final Stand (Sorta)
Everyone knows Mark Hamill is the Joker. But in this specific project, he had to do something different. He had to play a Joker who was simultaneously a ghost, a memory, and a physical threat in a high-tech future. It’s arguably his most chilling performance because of the flashback sequence. You know the one. The scene where the Joker breaks Tim Drake.
Hamill’s voice transitions from manic glee to a quiet, paternalistic skin-crawler that makes your hair stand up. It’s deeply unsettling. On the other side of the mic, Kevin Conroy had the task of playing an older, more cynical Bruce Wayne. Conroy’s performance as the "Old Man Bruce" is legendary because he managed to keep the authority of Batman while layering in the physical frailty of an 80-year-old. He sounds tired. He sounds like a man who has lost everything, which makes the eventual reveal of the Joker’s return even more impactful.
Then there’s Will Friedle. Playing Terry McGinnis was never easy when standing in the shadow of Conroy, but in Return of the Joker, Friedle finally "earned" the cowl in the eyes of the hardcore fanbase. The way he mocks the Joker in the final fight—laughing at him, calling him pathetic—was a total departure from how Bruce handled the clown. It was new. It was fresh. It was exactly what the Return of the Joker cast needed to make the transition work.
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Breaking Down the Supporting Players
It isn't just the big three. The depth of this cast is what makes the world feel lived-in.
Arleen Sorkin returned as Harley Quinn, and this movie provides one of her most tragic moments. We see her as an accomplice to the torture of a child, and later, we see her as an elderly woman (Nana Harley) trying to keep her granddaughters, the Dee Dee twins, out of trouble. Sorkin captures that "done with it" energy perfectly. Speaking of the Dee Dees, they were voiced by Melissa Joan Hart. Yes, Sabrina the Teenage Witch. It’s a bit of trivia that often gets lost, but her high-pitched, synchronized delivery for the twin gymnasts added a layer of creepy playfulness to the Jokerz gang.
We also have:
- Angie Harmon as Commissioner Barbara Gordon: She replaced Stockard Channing from the series. Harmon brought a certain "no-nonsense" grit to the role that fit a woman who had seen the absolute worst of Gotham.
- Dean Stockwell as the adult Tim Drake: Stockwell (of Quantum Leap fame) had to play a man suppressed by trauma. He sounds hollow, which is exactly the point.
- Tara Strong as young Barbara Gordon/Batgirl: While Strong is now the voice of Harley Quinn in most modern media, here she was the youthful, optimistic Batgirl in the flashbacks.
- Mathew Valencia as Young Tim Drake: He had to deliver those heartbreaking whimpers and laughs during the "Joker Junior" transformation.
Why the Flashback Cast Hits So Hard
The flashback is the soul of the movie. It’s about ten minutes long, but it feels like a lifetime. The casting here was precise. You have Mark Hamill delivering lines about "family" while literally destroying one. The chemistry between the Return of the Joker cast during these scenes is what makes it the highest-rated piece of Batman media for many fans.
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It’s worth noting the production history here. The movie was originally edited to be less violent after the Columbine High School massacre happened during production. The "Edited" version changed how the Joker died (an accidental electrocution vs. being shot by Tim Drake). Years later, we got the "Uncut" version. The voice acting didn't change, but the context did. When you hear Hamill's Joker gasp his last breaths in the uncut version, it hits different. The raw emotion the cast put into those sessions was clearly intended for a mature audience.
The Jokerz Gang and the New Blood
The future Gotham is populated by a gang that worships a dead man. The Jokerz.
Henry Rollins—yes, the punk rock legend—voiced Mad Stan. He’s basically a guy who wants to blow everything up because he’s frustrated with bureaucracy. It’s perfect casting. Rollins brings a frantic, explosive energy that contrasts with the more calculated evil of the "real" Joker.
Then you have Don Harvey as Chucko and Michael Rosenbaum as Ghoul. Rosenbaum, who most people know as Lex Luthor from Smallville or the Flash from Justice League, used a raspy, graveyard tone for Ghoul. It’s almost unrecognizable. This highlights a key strength of the Return of the Joker cast: versatility. These weren't just actors reading lines; they were building a bridge between the art deco past of Batman and the cyberpunk future.
Technical Nuance in Voice Direction
Andrea Romano. If you don’t know that name, you don’t know voice acting. She was the casting and voice director for this film and the entire DC Animated Universe (DCAU). Romano had a "revolving door" policy of bringing back actors, but she was also ruthless about finding the right "vibe."
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She encouraged Mark Hamill to find new layers of the Joker’s laugh. In this movie, the laugh is more shrill. It’s less of a theatrical performance and more of a weapon. The cast often recorded together in the same room—a rarity in modern animation. This allowed Will Friedle to actually react to Hamill’s taunts in real-time. When Terry McGinnis starts laughing at the Joker at the end, that’s a real reaction to Hamill’s improvised insanity.
How to Appreciate the Cast Today
If you're revisiting this classic, you have to look past the animation. Listen to the breathing. Listen to the way Conroy’s voice cracks when he calls out for Tim in the laboratory. That’s elite-level acting.
The Return of the Joker cast set a bar that many modern superhero projects still struggle to clear. They weren't "voice-over artists" in the way people dismissively used the term back then. They were the definitive versions of these icons.
Actionable Next Steps for Fans
If you want to truly experience the depth of this cast, here is how you should consume it:
- Watch the Uncut Version: Don’t bother with the edited PG version. The "Not Rated" or "PG-13" (depending on the release) uncut version contains the original vocal takes and sound effects that the cast intended. The death scene is fundamentally different and relies heavily on the vocal performances of Mathew Valencia and Mark Hamill.
- Listen for the "Double Roles": Many of the actors, like Michael Rosenbaum and Frank Welker, play multiple characters. See if you can spot the overlap between the Jokerz gang and other background characters.
- Check out the "Behind the Scenes" Featurettes: Most Blu-ray releases include interviews with Andrea Romano and the cast. Hearing them discuss the "breakdown" of Tim Drake provides a lot of context for why the performances were so intense.
- Compare to Batman: The Animated Series: Watch the episode "Mad Love" and then watch Return of the Joker. It’s the same cast, but you can hear the evolution in how they play the Joker and Harley’s relationship—it moves from "dysfunctional comedy" to "pure tragedy."
The legacy of this movie isn't just the twist ending. It's the fact that after twenty years, we still haven't found a better Joker than Hamill or a better Batman than Conroy. They left it all on the floor in this one. Gotham never looked, or sounded, so bleak.