Sometimes you're talking to a tennis ball on a stick, and you have to imagine what is supposed to be there and trust that the editors and the animators are going to make it all convincing to the audience. You have to pull a lot from within.
Growing up, I didn't have many comics, but I grew to love these characters through their film and television universes. I've been geeking out about these superheroes ever since I could tie a towel around my neck like a cape and jump off my grandmother's porch.
When I was cast in 'Batman v Superman,' I was sent a huge stack of comics. They provided a ton of information about Cyborg and how he has evolved as a character over the years.
Once the stories end up getting farfetched and ridiculous, I think that's where superhero fatigue will really catch on.
I'd have all these crazy sort of 'who would win battles' with my friends who were big fans of other comic book characters, and I'd always find a way for Batman to win. It was deep for me, man.
I actually grew up watching a lot of these cartoons - a lot of the animated series. 'Batman: The Animated Series,' 'Justice League,' all the stuff that would come onto Cartoon Network.
I think, as long as you tell real stories, I think people will respond to it no matter whether or not it's in the context of super heroes.
Cyborg was the first superhero that I've ever seen whose parent was around but just was not there for him emotionally, mentally. I related to that in a big way because, growing up, it was my mother and grandmother that raised me and my brother and sisters. I'm the second youngest of five; my father was never in the picture.
I think there is definitely a message behind Cyborg that is needed for people to hear and what he represents and the resilience of the human spirit. I hope it means as much to people watching it as it meant to me to do it.
It's nice to go back and look at the original version of Cyborg in the 1980s, when he was created, and seeing how politically and socially charged they were: it was no holds barred. If DC ever made a return to that social awareness and that sort of context, I'd be super-thrilled to see that.
I've been in constant awe of the people I've been blessed to work with and, obviously, who have had great success in the film industry.
If I had my druthers, I think a 'Cyborg' standalone would be a slightly more intimate story. One of the things that I always think is interesting with these sort of universes is, whenever there's a world-threatening crisis, it always makes you wonder, 'Where are the other members of the group? Why didn't they show up?'
Cyborg doesn't need to eat or sleep, and whenever he encounters an issue that he's not initially equipped to handle, his technology can transmogrify and immediately adapt to that situation.
Looking at 'Batman v Superman' - which I can watch objectively, since I'm in it for all of two seconds - I see different layers. It is not preachy, and represents the gray we live in as human beings.
The world is yearning for more inclusion, because we're not living in 1930 where we've got X amount of superheroes and X amount of representation.
I definitely caught acting bug.
I auditioned specifically for Cyborg, but at the time, they were using a code name for the character... I think it was Oscar.
Theater definitely prepared me for Cyborg in the best way possible. All of the green screen definitely takes me to my minimalist theater days.
My first encounter with Cyborg was through the 'Teen Titans' cartoon.
Due to the technology used to create Cyborg, his powers are ever-evolving. They include the ability to interface with anything technological, flight, super strength, hologram projection, and a sophisticated weapons system... the list goes on! He has powers within him that even he isn't yet aware of.
