Anson Mount is quite the consummate performer of stage and screen and even serves as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Columbia University no less! But if you’re a Star Trek fan, you probably know him as Captain Christopher Pike. Before you see him on the upcoming Star Trek: Strange New Worlds series next year, fans can hear Mount as the voice of Batman in Injustice, the latest DC animated original film based on the widely successful video game franchise and comic book tie-in series.

The Beat had the chance to chat with Mount about voicing the Caped Crusader, his experience in voiceover compared to on-camera, and more. And before you wonder, no I did not deign to inquire about his time working on the infamous Inhumans TV show, the less said the better!


Taimur Dar: Most fans probably know you for your role as Christopher Pike on Star Trek right now, but I always like to look at actors’ previous voiceover projects. I know you’ve done a few but one that stood out to me was the Evil Within video game because you worked with Injustice voice director on that project. I’m curious if you’ve maintained a professional relationship since then and if he approached you directly to voice Batman in Injustice.

Anson Mount: Yeah, it was my understanding [that] he recommend me for the role. It was kind of out of the blue for me. It was enormously flattering. I knew the combination of the character and working with Wes would be fun so I immediately said, “Yes.” If you’re going to be successful in this business you have to continually remind yourself that is about fun and enjoying what you do. That’s why it’s called a “play” and not a “suffer.” [Laughs]. I followed my fun gauge and it ended up in the booth with Wes.

Dar: I think at this point everyone knows who Batman is. That said, Injustice is based on an incredibly popular and successful video game franchise. Actors who aren’t comic fans can often feel like Ted Lasso out of their depth learning a new sport they nothing about. Did you ever feel overwhelmed by the material?

Mount: Overwhelmed…no because I’ve lived through many times just showing up for 12-hour day of shooting at five in the morning and there’s 15 pages on the slate and I’m in every scene. I’ve learned to live with pressure and trust the talent of the people that I’m working with. Maybe Wes hadn’t been there I would’ve been [I would’ve been overwhelmed] but you can only get what you can get in the time you have to get it. What is weird is when you’re shooting a film or TV show you are a cog in a pretty big machine as the machine is cranking it out. So you have a pretty good sense of how it’s going.

In voiceover work, you do these marathon sessions which can sometimes be one afternoon, and the engineer kind of waves and says, “Bye! We’ll see you in two years!” [Laughs]. It goes off into the ether and you have no idea what it is going to be. That’s a little nerve-racking at times but only if you dwell on it.

Dar: A majority of voiceover work for these DC animated projects is recorded solo without the ensemble. That’s an added challenge for an actor who can’t react at the moment to other performers. Did you get to hear what your co-stars recorded or did you have to rely solely on Wes Gleason’s direction?

Mount: It was just me and Wes and Wes would read everybody else. [He] kept a good pace going and constantly threw me different ideas. It was just us and our imagination.

Dar: I was pretty much on Batman’s side throughout the entire film but did you ever feel while watching the film that perhaps Superman may be right in exercising more extreme measures towards law?

Mount: Not really. [Laughs]

Dar: There’s a temptation for actors who voice Batman to go really over the top with a deep voice à la Christian Bale. How did you discover your Batman voice?

Mount: I had an idea of what I wanted to do with it pretty off the top. I just brought it in and Wes loved what I was doing so we went with it.

Dar: Like I said before, pretty much everyone knows who Batman is, so what was introduction and familiarity with the character prior to this project?

Mount: I’ve seen all the movies. I’ve read some of the comic books. I grew up watching Adam West. I had a pretty good handle on canon.

Dar: Do you hope to continue doing voiceover work?

Mount: Absolutely. I would love to do more of it. I would love to do more films and video games. I think it’s a pretty cool process and I’m still learning it.

Dar: For Injustice, the focus is mostly on the Batman persona. Is exploring Batman’s duality and the Bruce Wayne aspect of his identity something that interests you?

Mount: Oh yeah! I hadn’t even thought of that until you mentioned it. I think that would be very cool. I really like that a lot.


Injustice is available now on Digital, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD