When you think of who has played Batman over the years, the likes of Michael Keaton and Christian Bale come to mind. However one of the most familiar to the role is also the one rarely seen – Kevin Conroy.
Conroy has voiced the Caped Crusader in animated and video game form for three decades, from the critically acclaimed 1990s “Batman: The Animated Series” and subsequent follow-up shows like “Batman Beyond” and “Justice League: Unlimited,” to the celebrated “Batman: Arkham” video game series.
Conroy finally got to play a live-action version of Bruce Wayne in The CW’s”Crisis on Infinite Earths” DC crossover special this year. His take is one fans didn’t expect, a broken and gone dark Batman who had killed many and was stopped after Superman broke his back. He was now living out his remaining years as a hermit in a mech suit with an external spine – spending his days wandering around his mansion alone.
That interpretation upset fans. Talking to Michael Rosenbaum on his podcast, Conroy admitted his part could have gone better and says he signed up without ever seeing a screenplay:
“The fans were not happy about that. They didn’t like seeing that version of Bruce Wayne. But for me it was fun, it was a lot of fun to sort of stretch my acting chops a little bit. They didn’t tell me anything about the Batman.
They just said he was the Batman in the future, an old Bruce Wayne. I said, ‘You mean like in Batman Beyond old Bruce Wayne?’ They said, ‘No, he’s not 80. But he’s older and he’s in bad shape.’
They’re so guarded with their scripts, the studios, they don’t give them out. So they didn’t give me anything. I got the script basically when I was about to get on a plane to fly to Vancouver to do the show, I hadn’t seen anything.
I said yes because I was so excited to do something on camera again [after] 25 years… I didn’t know that was going to happen. So it was full of surprises. I didn’t know I was going to try and kill Supergirl. He was dark. He was dark.”
Despite the reaction, Conroy says he’s grateful he got the chance to play any version of Batman on screen.
