On August 26, 2026, voice actor Peter Cullen handed away on the age of 85. Cullen was maybe best-known for voicing Eeyore in a number of iterations of Disney’s “Winnie the Pooh” cartoons, and because the voice of Optimus Prime, the heroic robotic chief of the Autobots on the 1984 TV sequence “The Transformers.” Cullen continued to play Optimus Prime for a few years, most just lately within the live-action 2023 movie “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.” His deep, authoritative voice is well-known to generations of children, and his passing is a tragedy within the voice appearing world.
Cullen’s profession, in fact, prolonged far past Eeyore and Optimus Prime. All through the Nineteen Eighties, Cullen racked up an infinite quantity of credit, enjoying further voices on “The Smurfs,” the Unimaginable Hulk on “Spider-Man and His Superb Mates,” Mario in “Saturday Supercade,” the evil Ok.A.R.R. on “Knight Rider,” and Airborne on “G.I. Joe: A Actual American Hero.” He was in “Muppet Infants,” “Ghostbusters,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” and dozens of others. Children heard his voice all over the place.
Cullen’s closing TV credit score was enjoying Thaedus, one other sensible but troubled chief within the vein of Optimus Prime, on the hit superhero animated sequence “Invincible.” He appeared in seven episodes of the present, together with “Do not Go away Me Hanging Right here,” which aired in April 2026.
Taking part in Thaedus in Invincible was one among Peter Cullen’s closing roles
“Invincible” follows the eponymous superhero crimefighter, also referred to as Mark Grayson (Steven Yeun), as he adjusts to having newfound ultra-powers. Mark is the son of the highly effective superhero Omni-Man (J.Ok. Simmons), who belongs to an alien species known as the Viltrumites, and has secretly been plotting to subjugate Earth on behalf of the Viltrumite Empire. Primarily based on the comics of the identical identify by author Robert Kirkman and artists Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley, “Invincible” could be very a lot a present for adults, and incorporates a variety of violence. The sequence debuted in 2021, and it has been extremely acclaimed ever since.
The character of Thaedus, performed by Peter Cullen, first appeared within the Season 2 episode “This Missive, This Machination!” Thaedus was as soon as a higher-ranking warrior inside the Viltrumite management, till he assassinated the Viltrumite emperor Argall within the hope of ending his individuals’s violent methods. Thereafter, Thaedus based a corporation known as the Coalition of Planets so as to curtail the Viltrumite’s plans to beat all different worlds.
Thaedus was totally different from his fellow Viltrumites in that he believed different species to have worth. He was dignified and sensible, however carried nice guilt over the injury achieved by the Viltrumites. In an motion that he would additionally come to remorse, Thaedus developed a bioweapon known as the Scourge Virus, designed to contaminate and kill solely his personal species. He was at all times resolute, and Cullen’s aged voice lent a substantial amount of authority to Thaedus. However he was additionally a badass, able to smashing faces into pulp because the state of affairs required.
Thaedus was an amazing closing character for Peter Cullen
“Invincible” is a sequence that pushed superhero ideas to additional extremes, each by way of violence, and by way of justice. Thaedus believed that committing genocide on his personal individuals was a simply motion.
Optimus Prime looms giant in many individuals’s imaginations, rising as each a collected hero and a succesful soldier over the course of the “Transformers” franchise. Cullen has stated in interviews that he primarily based the voice of Optimus Prime on that of his brother, a veteran of the Vietnam Conflict. That authority, paired with a assured gentleness, continued to get Cullen work for years. He was a sensible choice to play a resolute and highly effective ultra-soldier looking for redemption on “Invincible.” As he aged, Cullen’s voice started craggier (it occurs to us all) which, to my ear, solely made his performances extra highly effective. Thaedus’ voice is sonorous and booming, with Cullen wailing and snarling his method by means of battle scenes with the power of a person 1 / 4 his age.
Cullen’s Eeyore, in the meantime, taught many youthful youngsters in regards to the persistence of disappointment. Eeyore is a depressive, self-pitying donkey who serves as a downbeat counterpoint to the flighty, distracted childishness of Winnie-the-Pooh and the opposite animals within the Hundred-Acre Wooden. He was typically incapable of being cheered up, and little children may have the ability to relate to that, particularly after they’re having huge emotions. Cullen was a considerate hero and a warrior, but in addition a mild, melancholy soul. He was many issues, and he shall be missed. R.I.P., sir.
