Alan Tudyk is one of the most animated actors out there, from his cartoonishly flexible face to frequent guest voices in nearly every animated Disney movie. But did you know he also has voiced at least six different robots? Three in 2025 alone? It’s true! And so, of course, we have to rank Alan Tudyk’s robot voices, including Superman Robot #4. HAVE TO.
To take a quick step back, in the upcoming movie Superman, Tudyk voices Superman Robot #4, one of the attendants in Superman’s Fortress of Solitude (the others seem to have other voices). We’ve seen a bit of him in the trailer for the movie, and more in a reel posted yesterday (June 4) showing how the automaton is a combo of motion capture of Tudyk and actual, practical effects.
But before Superman hits theaters on July 11, we’ll already have seen Tudyk — or rather, heard him — as Cosmo in Netflix’s The Electric State, and returning as K-2S0 on Andor. Those aren’t even the tip of the Tudyk/robot iceberg, though. Here are all six Alan Tudyk-voiced robot performances (that we know about), ranked.
6. Cosmo (The Electric State)
This isn’t a bad performance, necessarily, because Tudyk is physically incapable of being bad. But it’s a not-so-good movie directed by the Russo Brothers where Tudyk voices Cosmo, a robot who can only talk in catchphrases and is inhabited by the brainwaves of Millie Bobby Brown’s brother. It’s pretty weird! Anyway, Tudyk gets lost in the sauce, so to speak, his trademark humor whittled away for lines that all sound and are delivered the same (by design, again, no shade to Tudyk, we love you Alan Tudyk).
5. Gizmo Default, aka Crazy Cousin Gizmo (Robot and Monster)
The 2012 Nickelodeon show Robot and Monster featured Tudyk as the excellently named Crazy Cousin Gizmo. I’m only ranking this so low for two reasons: one, it’s pretty much just Alan Tudyk’s voice, devoid of any “robot” stuff; and two, I had never heard of this show before today. This list is biased! How dare I! The nerve! Yes, sorry, I didn’t bring the proper journalistic rigor to a rating of Alan Tudyk’s robot voices; I should be fired.
4. Optimus Prime (Transformers: Earthspark)
Tudyk does a solid Optimus Prime voice on this kids’ show, but the issue is that Tudyk is a weird choice for the stoic, earnest leader of the Autobots. You keep expecting him to crack wise or throw out some weird jokes, rather than inspire a group of robots that transform into cars to fight back against the Decepticons. Part of the issue is that Peter Cullen is so intrinsically tied to the role that it’s hard to separate him. But Chris Hemsworth actually did a great job as Optimus in the surprisingly excellent Transformers One, so it’s not impossible. Tudyk is good here, but the part is working against his natural inclinations.
3. Sonny (I, Robot)
It was a weird choice to turn Isaac Asimov’s classic short story collection into a Will Smith summer action movie, but hey, at least it kicked off Alan Tudyk’s career as a professional robot. Like the rest of our top three, Tudyk provided both the voice and motion capture for Sonny, a robot who seems to have grown beyond his programming. The voice work is solid here, but it is — in a word — more robotic than some of his later work. It’s a good performance that feels like a rough draft for what came later.
2. Superman Robot #4 (Superman)
It’s unfair to rank this one because we haven’t seen the movie yet, but true to form, based on an extended sneak peek released a few months back, Superman Robot #4 seems to be sarcastically rude in between fulfilling his programming to help Superman… More Alfred Pennyworth to Batman than helpful robot companion. Tudyk has a long history with James Gunn, too, ranging from the internet series PG Porn to multiple voice roles on DCU kick-off Creature Commandos. Gunn knows how to write for Tudyk’s wry humor, and that’s on display even in the scant footage we’ve seen.
1. K-2S0 (Rogue One, Andor)
Speaking of sarcastic robots, Tudyk voiced the fan-favorite K-2S0 back in Rogue One, has voiced him in video games and animated series, and thankfully returned as good as ever in Andor Season 2. A reprogrammed Imperial droid, K-2S0 has a dark sense of humor, a general lack of understanding (and interest) in humans, and tosses dudes like a rag-doll. Nearly every iteration of Star Wars has a standout droid, and while the dog-in-metal-form B2EMO is sweetly waiting for Cassian (Diego Luna) back home, two seasons in, the only metal man we needed was K-2. He’s number one, and easily so… At least until the next time Tudyk voices a robot, which will likely be multiple times in the next year.
Listen to Sons Of A Gunn:
Discover more from Comic Book Club
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.