Hayter co-wrote X-2: X-Men United, which is widely regarded as the entry where the franchise found its balance between ensemble action and its central metaphor about persecution. His screenwriting work has been almost entirely within comic book adaptation, including one that was long considered unfilmable.
He trained as an actor and worked in voice performance before screenwriting, and he is internationally known for voicing the protagonist of a long running stealth game series. That dual identity is unusual: he is simultaneously a working screenwriter and a fixture at gaming conventions for a role in an entirely different medium.
Recurring subjects: persecution as the engine of a superhero premise, ensembles where each character has a distinct grievance, and adaptations that preserve a source's political argument rather than only its plot. His screenwriting favours clear character motivation over spectacle, and his voice work is defined by a heavily inflected gravelled delivery.
His superhero screenplay is regularly named among the strongest of the early modern era of the genre, and his adaptation work on a celebrated graphic novel was a decade long effort. His voice performance is one of the most recognisable in games and has a devoted following of its own.
For readers interested in the early years of serious comic book adaptation. Suited to anyone who plays the stealth series and does not know he writes, and to those who know the screenplays and have never heard the voice.
