Don Electro

Don Electro turns up in Futurama's neon-lit underworld of robots as a gruff, self-important operator with the bearing of an old-school heavy — all bluster, deals, and a voice that suggests he's used to being obeyed. He wants respect and a cut of whatever's going, and he gets both by sheer force of manner.

John DiMaggio, already the show's resident voice of gravelly robot menace as Bender, brings that same rasp to a different key here, finding a slightly seedier, more transactional swagger. It's a small role, but the vocal texture alone makes Don Electro feel like he's stumbled in from a noir picture the writers are gently mocking.