Josh Keaton and MARVEL VS CAPCOM 3's Spider-Man
Mania Actor Josh Keaton has lent his voice to many characters in his 20 years of performing. One franchise he's touched more than any other is Marvel's Spider-Man.
Keaton's first brush with Spidey came when he was hired to provide the voice of Peter Parker in 2002's Spider-Man movie game. In spite of the fact that he completed all the recording work for the role he was nearly cut from the game altogether when the game publisher obtained last-minute clearance to use Tobey Maguire's dialogue from the movie.
"They basically just put in another mode of play with Harry Osborn in the Green Goblin gear and called it a day, so that they wouldn't waste all the audio they'd recorded with me," Keaton told us in a recent interview. "After that I was kind of the defacto Harry Osborn."
He continued on as Harry in the Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man: Friend or Foe video games, and provided voices for the Spider-Man 3 game.
But it was 2008's animated series Spectacular Spider-Man that really gave him a chance to realize the dream of playing the web-slinger himself.
"He was my favorite character growing up," Keaton told us. "He was into science which I was and still am into. He was a geek and that's me at heart, and in practice I guess. I also have a thing for rooting for the short guy because Peter Parker was not a tall guy, and Wolverine was my other favorite. I'm not a tall guy."
From there he went on to play Spider-Man in the firt Marvel Super Hero Squad video game and it's follow up Infinity Guantlet game. And this year he was the "Ultimate" flavor wall-crawler in the Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions game.
But his Spider-feats don't end there.
"I had my voice on one of the Spider-Man dolls. After Spectacular Spider-Man was canceled they pulled the doll and sort of reissued with with just a generic voice. The voice is the furthest voice you'd ever imagine Spider-Man having. It almost sounds like the Moviefone guy," Keaton said laughing, "which actually makes the toy pretty hilarious."
And Keaton is set to return as Spider-Man in the upcoming Marvel vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds video game, the release of which he's looking forward to.
"I say many annoying things on many spammable moves so I'm gonna piss a lot of people off and I'm really OK with that," Keaton said. "You know how annoying it get when somebody just keeps hitting you with the same movie and you just keep hearing 'web-sling! 'Web-sling!' And it's like 'shut up, shut up! I hate you. I'm gonna kill you!'
"I like contributing to that drama whenever I can. Even if I'm not there I'm there in Spidey spirit."
And will Keaton's Spidey spirit continue in the new Ultimate Spider-Man animated TV show in development for Disney XD? Keaton told us he did try out for the part.
"I submitted my audition. I did the best that I could do and I put forth my interpretation of Spidey. Hopefully they like it and hopefully they'll bring me back," Keaton said. "I would definitely love to continue on as Spider-Man. It's a character I'm close to. It's a character I love playing."
In the meantime listen for Josh Keaton behind every annoying Spider-Man beat-down in Marvel vs Capcom 3, coming next February 15th to PS3 and Xbox360.
I think that he would have the perfect voice for the Ultimate Spider Man t.v. show coming out.Personally I think Spectacular Spider Man never should have been cancelled.