Many actors who have played Batman have put their own unique spin on the role. Adam West, Michael Keaton, Christian Bale are just a few whose portrayals of The Dark Knight have seared themselves into public memory. However, there is one actor who may have eclipsed all of them with his take on Batman. That actor is, of course, Kevin Conroy. Conroy first voiced Batman in Batman: The Animated Series, which ran from 1992-1995. It was one of the first animated shows he had ever worked on, but it would not be the last. The show would become one of, if not the most beloved superhero show of all time, and Conroy’s distinctive voice, both as Batman and as Bruce Wayne, is the voice many Batman fans hear in their heads to this day when they read a Batman comic book.
Conroy would continue to voice Batman/Bruce Wayne across various TV shows, movies, and video games over the next few decades. He would tragically pass away due to cancer on November 10, 2022. He left behind an incredible legacy as the voice of Batman, and in honor of that legacy, we’re going to look at some of the best performances Conroy ever gave as one of the greatest superheroes to ever exist.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
8 Justice League Unlimited - “Epilogue”
Warner Bros. Television Distribution
This episode completely retcons Batman Beyond by making Terry McGinnis, the successor to Bruce Wayne for the mantle of Batman, Bruce Wayne’s biological son. Still, it is a very good episode and a good bookend for Batman in the DC Animated Universe. When McGinnis (now an adult) discovers he’s Bruce’s son, he confronts an aging Amanda Waller over it and demands answers. She recounts a tale of Batman’s heroism, and it’s one scene during that retelling that earns this episode a place on this list. Ace, a member of the Royal Flush Gang with psychic powers, is dying and could possibly cause a huge psychic backlash that could destroy everything around her, a problem when she’s smack dab in the middle of a city.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
Waller has created a device to neutralize her, giving it to Batman, as he’s the only one who can get close enough to Ace to use it. Ace reads Batman’s mind and knows he wasn’t going to use the device and tries to talk her into undoing all the damage she’s done. The two talk about their childhoods, with Ace asking Batman to stay with her until she dies. It’s an incredibly moving scene, not only for Conroy, but also for Hynden Walch, who voices Ace. Teen Titans fans will recognize Walch’s voice. She’s the voice of Starfire.
7 Justice League Unlimited - “This Little Piggy”
This is a very comedic episode, but it has to be mentioned among Conroy’s best Batman performances… especially for his singing performance. As it turns out, Conroy was a very accomplished singer and the magnificent minds behind the DC Animated Universe had wanted to do something with that little tidbit. They got their chance here. The plot of the episode sees the sorceress Circe turn Wonder Woman into a pig. Batman teams up with the magician, Zatanna, to track Circe down and undo the spell. The two find Circe at a Greek nightclub, who says she’ll lift her spell on Wonder Woman if Batman reveals a soul-shattering secret. Apparently, the secret is that Batman is one of the most beautiful and moving blues singers around.
6 Batman: The Animated Series - “Nothing To Fear”
“Nothing To Fear” sees the debut of the Scarecrow, who launches a terror campaign against Gotham University after they fired him for his unethical experiments on students. One of the university’s leading professors, Dr. Long, was a classmate of Thomas Wayne, and is disappointed at how Bruce Wayne has turned out, telling the billionaire so right to his face. Scarecrow’s fear gas amplifies Batman’s fears that his father finds him a disgrace, as that’s what Batman hallucinates for most of the episode. The climax of the episode sees Batman hanging on the edge of Scarecrow’s blimp, still fighting the effects of the fear gas. What happens next is the single most iconic line Conroy ever uttered as The Dark Knight: “I am vengeance. I am the night! I AM BATMAN!” It would be outright heresy not to include the moment Conroy uttered that line on his list of the best Batman performances.
5 Batman: The Animated Series - “Perchance To Dream”
This was Conroy’s personal favorite episode of Batman: The Animated Series and he gives a wonderful performance in it. The plot sees Batman get knocked out after chasing some baddies, only to wake up in a world where his parents are alive (Conroy also voices Thomas Wayne); he’s engaged to Selina Kyle, and someone else is Batman. The problem is Bruce knows this new world is false despite how appealing it is. The episode gives Conroy lots of great ideas to play with, especially as there’s a point where he accepts this new world and tries to truly be happy, but that nagging feeling that something’s not right is too strong, leading to Bruce having a confrontation with Batman and The Mad Hatter, the episode’s main villain, in the climax. The episode gave Conroy plenty of opportunity to explore Bruce Wayne and Batman, and he made the most of it.
4 Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
Warner Home Video
As the title implies, this surprisingly dark film sees the return of the Joker, who must now contend with the new Batman, teenager Terry McGinnis. Part of the mystery of the film is how the Joker is still around, seeing as how Batman personally saw the Clown Prince of Crime killed after one of the most horrific crimes he’s ever pulled. That sequence is perhaps the film’s most notable. It’s definitely a highlight for Joker voice actor, Mark Hamill, but Conroy gets plenty of good material to work with, too. Just listen to the pure venom dripping from Conroy’s voice when he tells Joker, “I’ll break you in two.” Conroy also gets a great heartwarming moment at the end of the movie. Terry had earlier told Bruce that Batman was the only thing that made him worthwhile. Bruce tells him it’s the other way around. Terry is what makes Batman worthwhile. It’s a wonderful passing of the torch moment signifying that Terry has finally come into his own as the new Batman.
3 Justice League - “A Better World”
An alternate universe version of the Justice League, calling themselves the Justice Lords tries to brand their fascist-like tendencies on the Justice League’s universe. The League obviously can’t allow this and the two factions fight it out. Conroy plays both League and Lord versions of Batman and gets a truly brilliant scene where the two Batmen fight in the Batcave, each arguing for their respective ideologies. When League Batman says Lord Batman unjustly seized power, Lord Batman retorts with one of the most powerful lines Conroy ever uttered: “And with that power, we’ve created a world where no eight-year-old boy will ever lose his parents because of some punk with a gun.” The way Conroy delivers the “some punk with a gun” bit is so powerful that League Batman has to concede defeat in their argument. It’s easily one of the top 5 scenes Conroy ever got as Batman.
2 Batman: The Animated Series - “I Am The Night”
“I Am The Night” is one of the best acted episodes of Batman: The Animated Series. Every actor in this episode shines and Kevin Conroy is no exception. The episode sees Batman going through a mid-life crisis, questioning just how much good Batman has really done for Gotham. After Commissioner Gordon is hospitalized during a botched sting operation, Batman’s self-doubts are strengthened, causing him to go into a mini-retirement. Luckily, he snaps out of it by the end of the episode, but it gave Kevin Conroy a wonderful opportunity to explore how taxing emotionally and physically being Batman can be.
1 Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Warner Bros.
Of all the various pieces of Batman media out there, very few truly take a deep dive into how psychologically messed up Batman really is. This film is one of the few exceptions, and it gives Kevin Conroy plenty of really dramatic moments to sink his teeth into. The plot of the film sees several gangsters murdered one by one, with all of Gotham mistakenly thinking the murderer is Batman. Interspersed with this is sort of a “Batman: Year One” tale, where we see how Bruce became The Dark Knight. As mentioned earlier, Conroy gets plenty of good material to play with, but his best scene is without question the scene where Bruce pleads at his parents’ grave to forgive him for not wanting to become Batman, all because he finally found a woman who can make him happy and help make the pain of losing his parents go away. It’s a powerful scene made all the more powerful by Conroy’s performance, which for this film, is the best he ever gave as Batman.
