If the voice of Creature Commandos‘ Rupert Thorne sounds familiar to you, you’ve likely crossed paths with Dutch van der Linde in Red Dead Redemption 2. Both characters are voiced by actor Benjamin Byron Davis, who compared and contrasted them in a recent interview with ComicBook. Asked which was “the bigger bastard,” he admitted that he was biased toward the character he has spent more time with so far.
“Well, I can go off the history of the character Rupert Thorne,” he mused. “I’ll put it this way: I know Dutch a lot better than I know Rupert — at this point, who knows what the future holds. I think, honestly, my gut is telling me Rupert Thorne is a bigger bastard than Dutch. Dutch van der Linde, I think, has a code that’s easier for me to get behind than Thorne. Thorne — I don’t think that Thorne is as team-minded as Dutch thinks he is. Dutch definitely believes that he’s being motivated by a very noble ambition, and I think that nobility and Rupert are not… Nobility might be for suckers in Rupert’s world.”
Davis laughed as he reached this conclusion, but he went on to clarify that he was very familiar with the character of Rupert Thorne before taking the role itself. He said: “I’m a comic book nerd! Thorne is in my sweet spot. I knew, of course, John Vernon’s work on the animated series and in the movies… and what had been established. I knew also the idea that he [Thorne] represented in the annals of Batman. As the character was transitioning with Denny O’Neal, and then others, from the popular Adam West campy character and into the more modern Batman that we know, I think Thorne was a part of that editorial ambition… So, I’m mindful of the character’s history for sure.”
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Davis knows his history well — Thorne made his DC Comics debut in 1977, and has become a very versatile villain for the publisher. He began as a corrupt politician in Gotham City with strong ties to organized crime, using blackmail and bribes to try and turn public opinion against Batman. He spent a lot of time in Blackgate Penitentiary over the decades, and although DC has seen a few major resets like the New 52 and Rebirth events, Thorne was still imprisoned last time he was shown in a comic in 2020.
Vernon’s version of Thorne in Batman: The Animated Series stood in for many of the conventional crime bosses of Gotham City, and was notably involved in the creation of Two-Face in that series. Vernon reprised the role for the spinoff movie Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman. The character also appeared in Cartoon Network’s The Batman in 2004, voiced by Victor Brandt, and in Batman: The Caped Crusader just last year where he was voiced by Cedric Yarbrough.
Creature Commandos takes Thorne back to his roots by tying him closely to Doctor Phosphorus (Alexander Sartorius). Of course, things don’t look good for Thorne in Thursday’s episode of the series, but Davis still sounds hopeful for more screen time. There is one more episode to go in Creature Commandos‘ debut season, premiering on Thursday, January 9th on Max.
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