An Iconic Rock Star Is Joining The Marvel Universe
An iconic rock star is going to be playing a Marvel Comics character!
This article is more than 2 years old
He was the frontman of the iconic punk band Black Flag as well as a spoken word poet. He was beaten up by Al Pacino in Heat, he was an immortal loner in He Never Died, and in Deadly Class he helped teach the future assassins of the world. Now, Henry Rollins is taking his place in the Marvel Universe, albeit on the animated side of things.
On Tuesday, Deadline reported that Henry Rollins had signed on as the voice of Deadalus — the villain of the upcoming animated series New-Gen. The story takes place in the titular extra-dimensional world where nanotechnology is crucial to every facet of life. Rollins’ character Deadalus starts off as the protege of Gabriel, the foremost scientist of New-Gen. Gabriel is forced to banish Deadalus to the Under-World, however, when the latter uses nanotechnology for unethical purposes. Unfortunately for everyone, being sent to the Under-World just gives Deadalus a base of operations from which to work, and new technology for him to exploit.
New-Gen was originally published as a miniseries by Marvel Comics in 2008, with the follow-up New-Gen: New Dawn arriving in 2011. While the series were printed, distributed, and advertised by Marvel, the characters and concept are the property of A.P.N.G. Enterprises. So don’t expect Spider-Man, Captain America, or any other Marvel characters to be showing up in the animated series since it isn’t connected to the Marvel Comics Universe, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or any other Marvel continuity.
Per Variety, Henry Rollins will be joined in New-Gen by Finn Wolfhard of Stranger Things fame and Nick Wolfhard (The Last Kids on Earth). It’s fitting that Finn and Nick are brothers, since they’ll be playing the young Sean and Chris. The twin brothers are the children of the scientist Gabriel and the powerful Thea. Somewhat reminiscent of the origin of Superman, the twins are sent to Earth as babies in order to keep them safe from Deadalus.
Almost a year before the announcement that Henry Rollins would join the cast, Deadline reported that Lena Headey (300) would voice Thea while Luke Wilson would play the fire-belching sidekick Roboduck.
Anya Chalotra (The Witcher) is also set to appear in New-Gen, though her role hasn’t been announced. Assuming the animated series doesn’t switch genders from the source material, two likely candidates are Gazelle and Carmen. Gazelle is a hero transformed by nanobots with animalistic features and abilities. Meanwhile, Carmen is the daughter of Henry Rollins’ Deadalus who strives to escape from her father’s shadow.
While he may have started out screaming on stage with Black Flag, by now Henry Rollins is no stranger to acting; either in terms of voice-acting or live action work. Masters of the Universe: Revelation viewers recently heard him as the classic villain Tri-Klops. He’s Zaheer in The Legend of Korra, he was the evil vandal Johnny Rancid on Teen Titans, and he was the ridiculous bomber Mad Stan in Batman Beyond. He’s also appeared in major motion pictures like Heat, Bad Boys II, and The Chase. On the crime drama Sons of Anarchy, he played the recurring role of the Aryan Brotherhood leader AJ Weston.
We don’t know yet when or where you’ll be hearing Henry Rollins in New-Gen. Jetpack Distribution acquired the global rights for the series and is currently shopping it around.
