Jamie Mccarthy/Getty Images
Peter Cullen’s voice has been woven into pop culture for decades, whether audiences realized it or not. Best known as the commanding sound of Optimus Prime in the “Transformers” franchise, Cullen also built an extraordinary résumé with credits in “Winnie the Pooh,” “Voltron: Defender of the Universe,” and “Invincible.” Yet beyond the Autobot leader, the veteran voice actor has an often-overlooked history with Marvel animation, where he brought several memorable characters to life.
In 1981, two separate Spider-Man cartoons arrived on television: “Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends” and the more straightforwardly titled “Spider-Man.” While neither series is typically ranked among the definitive screen versions of the wall-crawler, both became nostalgic favorites for a generation of viewers. Cullen made his mark on “Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends” in the episode “Spidey Goes Hollywood,” in which Spider-Man heads to Hollywood to star in a movie, only for Bruce Banner to lose control and become the Hulk. As Mysterio’s interference sends the production into chaos, Cullen voices both the Hulk and Mysterio, delivering two wildly different performances in the same episode. He later returned to the series as Crusher Hogan, the wrestler tied to Peter Parker’s early origin story.
Cullen also contributed to the 1981 “Spider-Man” animated series in multiple roles, but his standout appearance came as the Red Skull in “The Capture of Captain America.” In that episode, the infamous villain plots to kidnap Captain America and switch minds with him, hoping to seize control of the United States military. As usual in a Spider-Man story, the plan unravels once the web-slinger gets involved.
Peter Cullen is in some DC cartoons, too
Marvel Productions
Another unusual Marvel-adjacent Cullen credit came in 1979 with NBC’s animated series “Fred and Barney Meet the Thing,” one of the stranger experiments of old-school Saturday morning television. Despite the title, Fred and Barney from “The Flintstones” never actually teamed up with Marvel’s Thing from the Fantastic Four. Instead, the show split its episodes into separate segments, including standalone adventures for the Thing. In one of them, the rocky hero battles the Clunk, a malfunctioning robot — voiced by Cullen.
“Fred and Barney Meet the Thing” has largely faded into animation obscurity, but Cullen’s turn as a robot now feels like a curious early stop on the road to Optimus Prime. His superhero animation work was not limited to Marvel-related projects, either. Cullen also appeared in DC programming, including “The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show,” which aired from 1979 to 1980. Despite Plastic Man’s name in the title, the series featured several rotating segments focused on different characters, among them Mighty Man, voiced by Cullen. Mighty Man’s loyal sidekick, Yukk — billed as the world’s ugliest dog — was voiced by Cullen’s longtime friend and future “Transformers” co-star Frank Welker.
Cullen later turned up in the 1988 “Superman” animated series, voicing the Hunter in one episode. The character is one of Lex Luthor’s creations, a dangerous being whose body can transform into any material it touches. Inevitably, that ability leads him to become kryptonite, creating a direct threat to Superman.
Across a remarkable career, Peter Cullen has voiced heroes, monsters, villains, machines, and everything in between. Optimus Prime may remain his signature role, but his lesser-known Marvel and DC performances show just how versatile his voice work has always been. Fortunately for fans, decades of television, film, and animation preserve his unmistakable sound for new generations to discover.
