It’s always nice to put a face to a name, and fans got the chance to see their favorite characters from the Sony Crackle’s SuperMansion in the flesh at New York Comic Con on Thursday night.
SuperMansion is a Robot Chicken-esque stop-motion animated comedy series about a fading group of superheroes led by the aging superhero Titanium Rex (voiced by Bryan Cranston) as they try to stay relevant.
The voices of the show, Bryan Cranston, Breckin Meyer, and Gary Anthony Williams, joined co-creators Zeb Wells and Matthew Senreich for a panel full of sneak peaks and tomfoolery. Fans were treated to two new clips from a Comic Con-themed episode of the show and a first look at the original holiday special, A Prayer for Mr. T: The SuperMansion Thanksgiving Special (debuting on Thursday, November 15)—but it was Cranston who stole the show.
Most of the audience questions were aimed toward Cranston and his role as Walter White on Breaking Bad, to which Breckin Meyer said, “I haven’t seen Breaking Bad, but I hear great things about it. It’s in my queue right after Riverdale.”
The audience, along with Meyer, was not shy about poking fun at Cranston, including a fan who said, “My question is for the dad from Malcolm in the Middle. What was it like working with the great Frankie Muniz?”
Cranston discussed his slow but steady rise to fame, which began with voicing several creatures on Power Rangers. “I got Malcolm in the Middle when I was 40 and it was great, but if that never happened, if Breaking Bad never happened, to be able to say that you’re a working actor and that’s how I make my living, is the greatest thing that I’ve ever had happened to my life, so I’m very grateful.”
When asked to reflect on his villainous roles, Cranston dropped some nuggets of wisdom, saying, “You cannot play a villain as a villain. That person has to have justification for everything they’re doing and that’s what makes them great. And the hero has to be just a hair smarter.” He then turned the question around on the audience member, firing back with, “Why do you see me more as a super villain and not a superhero?” which made the audience scream and applaud, while Meyer got up out of his seat and run back and forth across the stage.
When asked about the difference between doing voiceover work and traditional acting, Cranston responded, “the paycheck,” which resulted in audience laughter. “I like to do it [voice work] because it’s challenging and fun,” Cranston added. “You can show up in your pajamas… but I sleep naked,” which again made the audience hoot and holler.
Cranston also addressed the Breaking Bad-meets-Malcolm in the Middle fan theories: “I did hear that rumor that Walter White went into witness protection and woke up as Hal, and if that’s true, boy did he lose a lot of brain cells along the way.”
