William Shatner likens his 'Batman' villain Harvey Dent to Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock

Oct. 8 (UPI) -- Star Trek icon William Shatner says he sees similarities between the Batman vs. Two-Face villain he plays and Stephen Paddock, who shot and killed 58 people in Las Vegas last weekend.

Asked by UPI at New York Comic Con what made him want to lend his voice to the conflicted character of Harvey Dent/Two-Face in the animated movie, Shatner said: "Juicy role. It was fun.

"What I challenged myself with was to try and do the voice organically. This is a good word. So, it all was one thing. Rather than playing the straight voice and then using technology to do the bad guy. So, I allowed the bad guy to emerge out of the good guy, much like a Jekyll and Hyde thing," he continued.

"There are these different voices inside our heads all the time. Should I eat that candy? Should I not eat that candy? What was going on in what's-his-name's head in Las Vegas when he shot that window out and began to spray bullets? Here he was. A mild-mannered guy -- very much a Harvey Dent character -- and all of a sudden he is doing one of the most incredibly -- I hate to use the word 'evil' because I don't know whether I believe that there is good and evil -- but this man who sought to terrorize and kill and maim as many people as possible, knowing that he was going to die in the end, either by the hands of the law or his own hand. What vicious, monstrous thing was going on in his head? And how you might relate that in reality to a Harvey Dent character."

Also featuring the voice talents of Burt Ward and the late Adam West, the film will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on Oct. 17.