The animated superhero series Batman: Caped Crusader hit Amazon Prime Video on Aug. 1, with ten episodes releasing simultaneously. The series has received widespread praise and currently holds a rare 100% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
Singled out for praise in many reviews are its vast array of interesting characters. Batman’s rogues gallery is comprehensively represented in the show, with favorites like Harley Quinn, Two-Face, and Catwoman and lesser-known villains like Onomatopoeia, Nocturna, and Firebug.
Another villain who appears, perhaps having not previously received the attention his character warrants, is the Gentleman Ghost, James “Jim” Craddock’s villainous alter-ego.
In DC Comics, Craddock first appeared in 1947’s Flash Comics #88 as a villain of Hawkman and Hawkgirl. He wasn’t an undead being but a criminal wearing a 19th-century aristocrat’s white outfit who used stage magic tricks to make himself appear like a ghost (consider how countless Scooby Doo bad guys did the same thing if you need to visualize the character). He has no visible head and a floating monocle.
More recently, he has indeed been portrayed as actual ghost — an English 19th-century highway robber who is killed in a fight with the cowboy couple Nighthawk and Cinnamon, and cursed to live as a spirit until his killers depart this mortal realm. Sadly for him, Nighthawk and Cinnamon exist in a perpetual cycle of reincarnation, meaning he’ll never get to truly die, and he continues to commit criminal acts as a phantom.
The character appears in that spectral form in Batman: Caped Cruasader’s sixth episode, “Night Ride,” voiced by British actor Toby Stephens. But precisely who is the man voicing the mysterious spectral thorn in the Dark Knight’s side?
Who is British actor Toby Stephens?
Toby Stephens was born in London on April 21, 1969, making him 55 years old.
His most notable movie credits include 2000’s Space Cowboys, 2001’s Possession, 2002’s Die Another Day, 2016’s The Journey, and 2018’s Hunter Killer. On television, his credits include Waking the Dead, Law & Order: UK, Black Sails, Lost in Space, Alex Rider, and Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
Stephens’ role as the Gentleman Ghost is only the sixth voice role of his career. In movies, he had voice roles in the English dubs of 2004’s Terkel in Trouble and 2005’s Midsummer Dream and, on television, his voice roles include parts in Secrets of the Dead: The Umbrella Assassin, The Best Job in the World, and Lost: The Mystery of Flight 447.
He’s also a prolific stage actor and reprised his role as Gustav Graves from Die Another Day in the 2012 video game 007 Legends.
The Gentleman Ghost’s appearance in Batman: Caped Crusader is undoubtedly the most prominent role the character has had on the small screen and the most frightening and formidable depiction of the character. He’s been one of the best rogues in the show — it’s making us think he’d make an incredible antagonist for a live-action Batman movie — which is no mean feat, given the villainous company he’s in. That’s largely down to the brilliant work of Stephens.