Superman is an alien, a farm boy, a reporter, a superhero, and a constant headline in our superhero-less world. (See: last week's announcement of James Gunn's live-action Superman.) But long before Superman returns to the big screen, he's arriving in animated form, voiced by The Boys star Jack Quaid. He's unusually equipped for the gig: the 31-year-old actor has become a champion of the nerds, appearing in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Star Trek: Lower Decks, and now, Adult Swim's My Adventures with Superman.
"It's a dream come true," Quaid tells Esquire over Zoom. "I really don't know how this happened. I grew up as a huge nerd and I get to be in a lot of nerdy things. I never thought in a million years that I'd be able to play Superman. The email came in and my response was sarcastically like, Oh yeah, I'll be Superman. It still feels weird coming out of my mouth that I'm Superman."
The new series features a young trio of Kent, Lois Lane, and Jimmy Olsen, as they navigate their internships at the Daily Planet. (And for two of them—guess who?—a budding romance.) In the simple, anime-inspired retelling of the DC Comics hero's origin story, Kent learns what it means to be Superman after first donning the red and blue tights. "One of the things I love is that he's Clark first," Quaid says. "It's not like Superman is who he really is and he drops the Clark act. He's Clark to me, just a guy who really wants to do the right thing. He's a big lovable goof, and I love that he's still figuring it out."
Below, Quaid gushes about his crazy year, discovering the dark side of fandom on Reddit, and what's to come in the anticipated fourth season of The Boys.
ESQUIRE: With so many complicated multiverse stories in film and TV lately, how does it feel to tell a back-to-basics Superman adventure?
JACK QUAID: It feels like classic Superman, but it also has such a new twist to it. The characters are younger. Lois and Clark have these crushes on each other, but they don't really have the emotional intelligence to yet to navigate that while also juggling their professional careers. Being a superhero is new, and he has ambitions to be a reporter as well. I just thought it was so wonderful and so genuine. After doing a show like The Boys—which is like the snarky, sarcastic, taking-the-piss-out-of-superheroes show—to play both sides of that superhero coin is such an honor.
The chemistry between the three of you—Clark, Lois, and Jimmy—felt so natural. I know it's a different kind of scheduling for voice acting roles, but were you able to work off each other in the booth?
Unfortunately, we weren't able to because it was still in the depths of COVID, but watching it does feel like we're all in the same room. Shoutout to the team for making it work. But Alice and Ishmael did such a great job. Sometimes Superman gets all the focus, but what I love about this is that it's really the trio of Lois, Clark and Jimmy. Our inside joke was that the show might as well be called Lois, Clark, Jimmy, No! Those are all the things that we're saying the most often in the recording booth when people are in danger. "Lois, No! Jimmy, No!"
Did you read comics growing up?
Oh yeah, I read a lot. Marvel put out these omnibuses for X-Men and Spider-Man in the early 2000s. I remember on summer vacation just starting at #1 and going through them. Same with Superman. I just devoured these things as a kid. You're a fellow nerd, so you'll appreciate this, but A Superman for All Seasons and All-Star Superman were big inspirations for me playing this character.
Did you always think that you would follow in your parents' footsteps and become an actor?
It's funny. Growing up with them was amazing, because they showed me that it could be done. Normally, when you tell your parents that you want to be an actor, it's met with confusion—or them telling you that you'll never get a job. They showed me that it could be possible. I was in A Midsummer Night's Dream in middle school, and I played Nick Bottom—the guy who gets turned into a donkey—and I had the time of my life. I was a first-time actor playing a character who was an actor, and I thought that was so funny. Getting that first laugh on stage, too, it felt really good.
Early on in your acting career, who were some of your favorite performers?
Definitely Jim Carrey. He's able to do this Looney Tunes physical comedy while also hitting you in the heart strings. He's incredible. Robin Williams—both live action and voice-over—which I was inspired by. I also grew up watching a lot of Abbott and Costello, especially Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. It's this crossover movie where they're in Dracula's castle and Frankenstein and the Wolfman are there. It's just embedded in my memory.
Have you ever been apprehensive about taking on a role because of how crazy some superhero fans can get?
My attitude has always been: If it scares you, do it. Because that's probably where you should be. But there are weird subsets of everything in this world. It's never discouraged me. Bring it on. The people who are going to be mean tend to hide behind the keyboard. I go to conventions and most people are just generally very happy, excited, and into nerdy things just like me. Even The Boys fans—for a show that's just so messed up and harrowing, they're some of the sweetest people I've ever met in my life.
In Scream, did you feel like you poked back at certain unfavorable fanbases?
Yeah, I got to play a toxic fan. [Laughs]. I did a little research and created a fake Reddit account as my character. I haven't been on since, because Reddit can sometimes be a not-fun place, but the user name was u/Stabhead and all I did was talk about Star Wars: The Last Jedi. I think all those movies are awesome, but that was just my way in as I tried to get a rise out of people. Most of reactions though were like, Hey, calm down. So, I was actually really proud of the Star Wars fans. Something nice for once.
I know you can't give much away, but is there anything you're especially excited about in Season Four of The Boys?
It's my favorite season we've ever shot. It's a very intense season. You really get to mine the depth of every character—and it still has those What just happened?! moments. Audiences are still going to be surprised and will be really into the direction that it takes. We take some chances that I think are really awesome. It's our best one yet.
I recently interviewed Shameik Moore, your Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse co-star. It's wonderful that the best superhero stories have been told through animation this year.
He's so good, man. Shameik absolutely crushes it in those movies. Voice acting is a really hard thing to get right sometimes, and the people who do it well are truly wonderful and just as talented as the people in front of the camera. I watched My Adventures with Superman for the first time last night, and I hold both projects in such high esteem. Playing the live-action Superman... I don't think it necessarily makes it more valuable. I got to play Superman, and I love the story it tells.
