Jim Parsons played a comic book nerd, but did you know he also played a comic book villain?
Let's take a look at the actor's surprising supervillain voice role.
Of all the absurd, utterly hilarious characters to come out of the critically acclaimed CBS
sitcom "The Big Bang Theory," arguably none were as iconic or as beloved as Jim Parsons'
Sheldon Cooper.
Sheldon is a hyper-intelligent physicist working at Caltech alongside his roommate Leonard
Hofstadter, and despite his incredibly high IQ, he is constantly unable to grasp the most
basic of social cues.
"You're in my spot."
While Sheldon's lack of social grace and his neurotic habits constantly test the patience
of those closest to him, audiences and critics around the world fell in love with him, eventually
leading to the spinoff series "Young Sheldon."
Sheldon was the breakthrough role for Parsons, who received 4 Primetime Emmy Awards for his
performance in the series and was launched into superstardom almost overnight.
The character is so iconic that it's hard to see Parsons without immediately thinking
of "The Big Bang Theory," though that doesn't mean he hasn't had his fair share of parts
outside of the hit series.
His other work includes roles in the likes of "Hidden Figures," "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly
Evil and Vile," and "The Boys in the Band," to name a few.
But it's not just movies.
One of Parsons' more unusual roles came in the animated TV series "The Super Hero Squad
Show," where he played one of the more formidable members of Doctor Strange's rogues gallery.
"The Super Hero Squad Show" was produced by Marvel Animation, based on the "Marvel Super
Hero Squad" line of action figures from Hasbro.
The series takes many of Marvel's most iconic superheroes and villains and turns them into
hyper-cartoonish, comedic parodies of themselves, presenting a much more lighthearted take on
their comic source material.
In the series, Jim Parsons voices the supervillain Nightmare — one of Doctor Strange's most
iconic rivals.
In the comics, Nightmare is the demonic ruler of the Dream Dimension, and he spends his
time tormenting sleeping individuals for fun.
He has the ability to manipulate the dreams of others to the point where he can actually
plant suggestions and thoughts within that person's mind in order to alter their behavior.
It's oddly hilarious to see this utterly malicious villain turned into a sillier version of himself
in "The Super Hero Squad Show," and Parsons does an excellent job of emphasizing just
how ridiculous Nightmare's powers truly can be.
Indeed, considering the fact that the actor barely alters his voice for the role, it's
almost as if Marvel got Sheldon Cooper to play the part — and the result is absolutely
hysterical.
"Uh, hello?
Villain?
Why would I?
I mean, what's in it for moi?"
It appears "The Big Bang Theory" and superhero property connection is alive and well, because
Parsons isn't the only cast member to land a comic book role.
His co-star Mayim Bialik, who played Sheldon's future wife, Amy, once provided voice roles
for the 2003 video game "X2: Wolverine's Revenge."
Over a decade later, she returned to the world of superheroes, providing the voice of Lady
Lightning for the animated movie "Stan Lee's Mighty 7."
However, Bialik isn't the only "Big Bang Theory" lady to get in on the superhero bandwagon.
In fact, two of the main female stars throughout the series have gone on to voice a character
from the DC Comics universe — Harley Quinn.
Most notably, Kaley Cuoco, who played Penny on "The Big Bang Theory" for all 12 seasons,
plays the anti-heroine on the HBO Max series "Harley Quinn."
All she wants is to be the best bad guy around, and along the way, she may just rediscover
what it means to truly be in love.
Meanwhile, Melissa Rauch, who played Bernadette on "The Big Bang Theory" starting in 2009,
also voiced Harley for a short period of time.
She lent her voiceover talents to the iconic character for the 2017 animated film "Batman
and Harley Quinn."
It seems as though "The Big Bang Theory" cast has somewhat of a knack for playing villains.
In fact, there's one more main cast member who got in on the villain fun you may not
realize.
Howard actor Simon Helberg plays third-rate supervillain Moist in the 2008 web series
"Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog."
After years of playing nerds and geeks, it should come as no surprise that this is one
cast that's great at playing superpowered individuals.
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