More Than Just Yoda: Every Iconic Franchise Character Tom Kane Voiced Outside of 'Star Wars'

Legendary voice actor Tom Kane, who died from complications of a stroke on May 18, is perhaps best known for voicing Yoda in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and a variety of other animated projects and video games. When it comes to the animated branch of the franchise, he is just as iconic as Frank Oz, who operated and voiced Yoda during his first appearance in The Empire Strikes Back and reprised the role in the movie’s live-action sequels and prequels. Kane did the same thing for a number of other live-action Star Wars characters when they appeared in animated projects, including C-3PO, Boba Fett, Admiral Ackbar, Qui-Gon Jinn, Luke Skywalker, and Han Solo.

However, Kane’s prolific career was not limited to just the Star Wars franchise. In addition to originating characters including Darwin from The Wild Thornberrys and Professor Utonium from The Powerpuff Girls , he has voiced animated versions of some of the most iconic characters of all time, across a number of major franchises. Here, we’ll be breaking down every major non-Star Wars franchise character he took on over the course of his prolific career.

Marvel’s Dr. Doom

‘Fantastic Four’ (2005)Credit: 20th Century Fox

Given how often Marvel comics are adapted for both the big and small screens, it’s not uncommon for voice actors to find themselves stepping into notable roles from the pages of their comic books. The Fantastic Four villain Dr. Doom (who is a towering figure in comic books who is about to become even more famous thanks to Robert Downey Jr. being set to portray him in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday) became one of Tom Kane’s first notable franchise roles when he voiced the character in a 1997 episode of Spider-Man: The Animated Series.

Marvel’s Professor X

‘X2: X-Men United’ (2003)Credit: 20th Century Fox

The iconic X-Men character Professor X (who has notably been portrayed by Patrick Stewart and James McAvoy in live-action) was the next major Marvel role that Tom Kane took on in the 2006 video game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance.

Marvel’s Magneto

‘X2: X-Men United’ (2003)Credit: 20th Century Fox

It wasn’t until Tom Kane took on the role of the X-Men villain Magneto (who has been portrayed by Ian McKellen and Michael Fassbender in live-action) in 2008’s Wolverine and the X-Men that he found his signature Marvel role. He would voice the villain in numerous projects through 2021, primarily in video games, including 2008’s ZEN Pinball , 2011’s Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds , and 2019’s Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order.

Marvel’s Iron Man

‘Iron Man 3’ (2013)Credit: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Although Tom Kane became a recurring Marvel villain, he had at least one other hero in him, as he voiced Iron Man (another character who has been portrayed in live-action by Robert Downey Jr.) in 2008’s Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow.

DC’s Jim Gordon

‘The Dark Knight’ (2008)Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

While Tom Kane was definitively a Marvel stalwart, he did take a brief sojourn to voice a major DC character. The Batman character Commissioner James W. "Jim" Gordon Sr. has been portrayed by a number of notable actors, including Gary Oldman, Mitch Pileggi, Christopher Meloni, Jeffrey Wright, and J. K. Simmons, and Kane joined their number when he took on the role in the 2009 video game Batman: Arkham Asylum.

Indiana Jones ’ Indiana Jones

‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ (1981)Credit: Paramount Pictures

While the role of the adventurous archaeologist Indiana Jones is more or less synonymous with Harrison Ford, who has portrayed him on the big screen in every installment of the five-film franchise, Tom Kane stepped in when it came time for the character to star in the 2008 video game Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures and its 2009 sequel Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues.

Inuyasha ’s Inuyasha

‘Inuyasha’ (2000-2004)Credit: Adult Swim

While this was not a role that he portrayed often, Tom Kane voiced Robot Chicken ’s version of the title character from the anime series Inuyasha , who is part human and part dog demon. Typically, on Robot Chicken , he played narrators (including doing a parody of Morgan Freeman’s narration in March of the Penguins), but it seems that the creators of the series couldn’t resist adding another iconic role to his resume.

Archer ’s Woodhouse

‘Archer’ (2009-2023)Credit: FX

While the majority of the franchise characters that Tom Kane voiced were roles that weren’t attached to a single actor, this was not the case with the Archer character Woodhouse. Sterling Archer’s long-suffering valet (whose name is a reference to P. G. Wodehouse, the writer who invented Jeeves, the most iconic valet character of all time) was voiced entirely by George Coe throughout the first four seasons of the series (except for flashback scenes). However, Coe faced a long illness and eventually died at the age of 86 in 2015, so Tom Kane stepped in to fill his shoes in Archer season 5 and beyond.

Lord of the Rings ’ Gandalf

‘The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring’ (2001)Credit: New Line Cinema

In what somehow seems to have been a total coincidence, Tom Kane had already taken on a different Ian McKellen character before playing Magneto. He first voiced the iconic Lord of the Rings wizard Gandalf in the 2002 video game adaptation of Peter Jackson’s The Fellowship of the Ring. While a cast of voice actors played the major roles in that original game, as the smash hit LOTR trilogy continued, the next two game adaptations saw the live-action cast reprising their roles, so McKellen voiced his own role in the Two Towers and Return of the King games.

However, once the franchise got resurrected in video game form in the 2010s, Tom Kane returned to voice Gandalf in multiple installments, including Aragorn’s Quest , War in the North , Guardians of Middle-Earth , and Lego Dimensions.

Halloween ’s Dr. Loomis

‘Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers’ (1989)Credit: Galaxy International Releasing

In a similar situation to the one that saw him taking over the role of Woodhouse on Archer , Tom Kane stepped into the shoes of Michael Myers’ longtime herald and hunter, Dr. Sam Loomis, after the death of Halloween star Donald Pleasence, who portrayed the character in five of the original six movies in the slasher franchise. However, the situation differed from Archer in that Kane actually voiced a character for a live-action movie, mimicking Pleasence’s iconic cadence for a voiceover scene in 1998’s Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later. While Kane didn’t reprise the role in any other official installments, his Loomis voice was later utilized in two fan-made short films.

These ten franchise characters are ultimately just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Tom Kane’s career, which includes credits in nearly 300 projects overall. What are some of your favorite Kane characters? Sound off in the comments!