Kevin Conroy became a sensation among superhero fans in no time after voicing Batman in Bruce Timm’s Batman: The Animated Series. The animated show gave us one of the best adaptations of the Caped Crusader to date. Bruce Timm, the co-creator of the animated series revealed that he had to make Conroy forget everything he knew about Batman to land the role.
Surprisingly, Kevin Conroy knew nothing much about the Gotham Knight when he went for a script reading for the role. However, the late actor nailed in the very first attempt and shocked the entire team. He went on to voice the superhero for three decades across animated movies, television series, and the Arkham games.
How did Bruce Timm make Kevin Conroy the greatest version of The Dark Knight?
![Joker and Batman in Batman The Animated Series [Credit Warner Bros. Animation]](https://fwmedia.fandomwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/22112108/Joker-and-Batman-in-Batman-The-Animated-Series-Credit-Warner-Bros.-Animation.jpeg)
The late Kevin Conroy came into the story when Romano asked her roommate who was a casting director for any actor who could play Batman. However, when Conroy first went to try his voice for the role, he knew nothing more than the 60s’ Adam West show. Timm urged him to “forget that!” as their DCAU show was nothing like that. Bruce Timm stated:
“Out of the blue, this guy whom none of us had ever heard of before walks in. All the women in the room were like, ‘Oh, he’s dreamy,’ because he’s really good-looking. And we kind of told him what we were looking for: ‘Kind of like Michael Keaton, but kind of not.’ We want to play, definitely, a distinct difference between his Bruce Wayne voice and his Batman voice.”
Kevin Conroy added that Bruce Timm explained to him the entire legacy of the superhero and his dark past. As a theater personality, he immediately associated the superhero with the titular lead of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. It worked well and he astonished the entire team by accurately voicing both Batman and his alter-ego Bruce Wayne. Conroy stated:
“I said, ‘You’re describing an archetypal hero, almost like a Hamlet character.’ I was putting it in terms of stage roles that I was familiar with. I let my imagination go and I just went to [Batman voice] the darkest, most painful place in my voice [returns to normal voice] and it just came out. I saw them get very excited in the booth.”
Bruce Timm and Andrea Romano stated that it was an “eureka moment” for them to get their perfect star. Timm highlighted that “he just nailed” both the characters. It was evident that the legend understood the characters perfectly.
Kevin Conroy managed to find the distinction between Bruce Wayne and Batman
We have had numerous iterations of Batman to date. However, we have often heard how some actors either make a good Batman or a good Bruce Wayne but fail to find the demarcation between the two personalities. Michael Keaton, the lead of 1989’s Batman, which also played a key role in the making of Batman: The Animated Series pulled off both sides of the character seamlessly.
Bruce Timm and the Co. were delighted to find out how Kevin Conroy managed to find the distinction and provide different personalities to both Batman and Bruce Wayne. Romano claimed that they wanted such an actor who would manage to provide a subtle distinction:
“Not only is the voice there, but he so understands this character and the distinction between Batman and Bruce Wayne! And we did want there to be a very clear distinction, but we wanted it to be subtle. We didn’t want it to be really overt.”
Kevin Conroy admitted that the secret of pulling off both characters with ease was to treat Bruce Wayne as the disguise of Batman instead of doing the reverse- “The disguise is Bruce Wayne.” Sadly, we lost our best Batman in November 2022, at the age of 66.
Batman: The Animated Series can be streamed on Max.
