Over the years, Darkseid, lord of Apokolips and general embodiment of evil has gone through many incarnations in animation, thus giving him several distinct voices throughout the years. Being a fan, I thought I would give my thoughts on which voices worked best and why.
1. David Sobolov
This to me is how Darkseid should sound. For those unaware, David Sobolov voiced Darkseid in the "Justice League Heroes" video game. It was deep, powerful, and seething with hatred as Darkseid should be. When I first saw the cut scene where he emerged, I fangasmed and squeed at the same time. Even after repeated play throughs, that was the one scene I always made a point to watch because it was so effective.
2. Tony Todd
I haven't played DCUO yet, but was pretty excited when details were announced. I was quite pleased with the pick of Tony Todd as Darkseid. Of course, this feeling only increased after my roommate showed me "Candyman". Seriously, when I heard the serial killer speak in those movies, the first thing I thought was "holy crap, that's Darkseid'. Now, again, I haven't played the MMO, so maybe he doesn't use his Candyman voice for the actual role of Darkseid in the video game. I have to admit that I would find that rather hard to believe. If not, I'll still give it to him just because he did voice the character and because his Candyman voice rang so perfectly to me as the arch-villain of the DCU.
3. Michael Ironside
This is probably the most iconic incarnation of the character. Ironside's performance as Darkseid in both Superman: The Animated Series as well as both incarnations of the subsequent Justice League series is well regarded and viewed as the definitive voice. Don't get me wrong, he did a great job, but as his spot on the list will tell you, there were others who I thought captured the character better. Is it yet another instance of nerd blasphemy on my part? It could very well be, but it is simply my opinion on the matter and you are free to disagree.
4. Frank Welker
Welker is a well renowned voice actor, and looking at his career, it's easy to see why. Surprising as it may be, Darkseid actually did appear back in the "Superfriends" era of Saturday morning cartoons. This iteration was mostly focused on marrying Wonder Woman, but did stand out as one of the more menacing presences in the series. Welker lent his voice to the role, and it was OK. Granted, it was just his "Dr. Claw" voice, which is a bit hard to take seriously if you ever watched "Inspector Gadget", but it worked well enough for the time.
5. Andre Braugher
While I enjoyed the recent "Superman/Batman: Apocalypse" direct to video release, Andre Braugher's voice for Darkseid was a major strike against it. His voice was deep enough, but it lacked umph. It was honestly the most laissez-faire I've ever heard the lord of Apokolips. I know voice actors tend to have their scripts in front of them, but it seemed like he was literally just reading his lines and phoning it in for a paycheck. It was rather disappointing.
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