Kevin Conroy was known for voicing Bruce Wayne/Batman in Batman: The Animated Series, The New Batman Adventures, Batman Beyond, Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. Since then, Conroy has returned to the role on several occasions both in and out of the DC Animated Universe, most notably Rocksteady's Arkhamverse games, Injustice: Gods Among Us game series and 52 episodes of Justice League Action.
Biography
90s Animated Batman Universe
Since the 1990s, Kevin Conroy is best known for his starring role in the acclaimed Batman: The Animated Series (1992–1995). He continued to voice Batman in the subsequent spin-off series The New Batman Adventures (1997–1999), Batman Beyond (1999–2001), Justice League (2001–2004), and Justice League Unlimited (2004–2006), all of which take place in what is commonly referred to as the DC Animated Universe (DCAU). His tenure in the role also includes the DCAU films Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993), Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero (1998), Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000), and Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman (2003). He also voiced Batman for the character's guest appearances in the DCAU's Superman: The Animated Series, Static Shock, and The Zeta Project, which makes him the only voice actor to appear in every series of the DCAU.
As a voice actor, Conroy is well remembered by fans for being the first person in animation to use two distinct voices to portray Bruce Wayne and Batman, which was Conroy's idea. In a tally of performances that include every episode, movie, and guest appearance made as Batman, Conroy has portrayed the character longer than any other actor in either live-action or animation.
Since the end of the DCAU, Conroy has returned to the role for several movies, video games, and guest appearances on other animated Batman series. On several occasions, Conroy has worked with some of his DCAU co-stars, including Tim Daly (as Superman), George Newbern (as Superman), Susan Eisenberg (as Wonder Woman) or Mark Hamill (as The Joker).
In the third episode of Batman: The Animated Series "Nothing to Fear" (though it was tenth to air) Conroy delivered the line "I am vengeance! I am the night! I am BATMAN!" The line became somewhat iconic, and was used by Cartoon Network throughout their advertising campaign when they first began airing Batman: The Animated Series and was later used in the Batman Beyond episode, "Out of the Past" as the opening line of the Batman musical. The line has also become a signature of Kevin Conroy, and he often performs it at the start of his appearances at conventions. Conroy later said the line in the 2013 "Batman vs. Superman" episode of The Daly Show, starring Tim and Sam Daly, as well as the final boss in the video game Batman: Arkham Knight and an episode of Justice League Action.
Other Batman Animated Movies
In assorted Original Animated Movies, separate from the DCAU, Kevin Conroy has voiced Batman in Batman: Gotham Knight, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, its sequel Superman/Batman: Apocalypse , Justice League: Doom, Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox and Batman: Assault on Arkham.
Video Games
In video games, Kevin Conroy voiced Batman in the DCAU video games The Adventures of Batman & Robin (1994), Batman: Vengeance (2001), Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu (2003).
Since the end of the DCAU, Conroy voiced Batman in Batman: Arkham Asylum, where he reunited with writer Paul Dini and DCAU co-stars Mark Hamill and Arleen Sorkin. After the success of Arkham Asylum, Conroy continued with three further Arkham games, Arkham City (with Dini and Hamill), Arkham Knight and Batman: Arkham VR. In Arkham Asylum, Conroy voiced Thomas Wayne, while in Arkham City, Conroy voiced Dr. Thomas Elliott aka Hush. Conroy voiced Batman in the Massive Multiplayer Online Game DC Universe Online and Injustice: Gods Among Us.
Other Work
Kevin Conroy lent his voice as Batman in the 2001 revamp of Batman Adventure - The Ride, at the Warner Bros. Movie World theme park in Queensland, Australia. In a storyboard scene included as a feature in the 2005 Special Edition DVD of the 1989 Batman live-action film, Kevin Conroy voiced Batman alongside his DCAU co-star Mark Hamill as the Joker and Jason Hillhouse as Dick Grayson. This scene depicted the origin of Robin, which wasn't filmed because the filmmakers ultimately felt it was out of place with the rest of the film.
To coincide with the theatrical release of The Dark Knight Rises on July 20, 2012, The Hub TV network aired a 10-episode marathon of Batman: The Animated Series. To promote the marathon, the third trailer for The Dark Knight Rises was remade into an animated trailer using footage from the animated series, and featured Conroy redubbing all of Batman's dialogue in the trailer. While on Rob Paulsen's weekly audio podcast called Talkin' Toons with Rob Paulsen, Kevin Conroy read Batman's lines in The Dark Knight ending.
On October 2013, Kevin Conroy had confirmed on Twitter that he filmed a role on Tim Daly's internet series The Daly Show. Titled "Batman vs. Superman", in tribute to the recently-announced Man of Steel sequel, Conroy and Daly parodied their DCAU roles in a fight. The show also starred Tim Daly's son, Sam.
In 2017, both Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill returned to voice Batman and Joker in Justice League Action.
For DC Comics' Pride special of 2022, Kevin Conroy wrote the autobiographical comic, "Finding Batman" which detailed his career and personal struggles leading up to being cast as Batman in Batman: The Animated Series, his personal parallels to Bruce Wayne and how he discovered the character's voice.
Live-Action appearance as Bruce Wayne
Kevin Conroy portrayed the Earth-99 version of Bruce Wayne in the Batwoman episode of the crossover event "Crisis on Infinite Earths". The Earth-99 Bruce Wayne was revealed to have broken his moral code, killing most of the Rogues Gallery and the Earth-99 Superman, with the battle leaving him in an exo-suit similar to the Kingdom Come Batman. This Bruce was ultimately confronted by the Earth-1 Batwoman and Earth-38 Supergirl, where an accident caused him to be electrocuted to death.
In the season four premiere of The Batman, "A Matter Of Family" he voiced John Grayson (Robin's father). In Batman: The Brave and the Bold, he played the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh in the episode "The Super-Batman Of Planet X" and the Phantom Stranger in "Chill of the Night!".
Most prominent variations of Batman voiced by Conroy
Other variations of Bruce Wayne
Trivia
- Kevin Conroy went to the same school (Juilliard School) as Christopher Reeve who played Superman in the first film series (1978-1987). He was also roommate with comedian Robin Williams.
- Batman was Conroy's first ever audition for an animated character.
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