Turbo Fast, the animated spin-off from the theatrical film CG film
Turbo, has seen its second season premiere on Netflix, which means that all of it is available for immediate streaming. Before checking out the show and Kevin's episode, however, see what he has to say on the connection between Batman and The Stinger and so much more.
Interview Conducted by and © Edward Gross
VOICES FROM KRYPTON: So in watching The Stinger, the impression I get is that he would be Batman…..if Batman banged his head really, really hard.
KEVIN CONROY: [laughs] That's a very good way of putting it. That's a very good way of putting it. Isn't this character great? You take everything I'm not allowed to do as Batman, you know? Batman is humble. Batman doesn't want any attention. Batman just does everything and wants to disappear. This guy is arrogant. He's cocky. He's a narcissist. He wants everyone to know how cool he is. It's so much fun.
VOICES FROM KRYPTON: What was your feeling when they approached you because, obviously, it's so clearly a Batman parody?
KEVIN CONROY: Are you kidding? I jumped at the opportunity. He's such a fun character. You know, the people involved with the show are just people I love to work with so much. Phil Lamarr is such a great guy. We first worked together on
Justice League. I've known him for years… Everyone involved with it is just great. Andrea Romano thought of me for this role and it turned out to be such a perfect idea. It was really her idea, I think. It's just worked out really well.
VOICES FROM KRYPTON: One of the questions you've been asked many times — and I know I've asked you a couple of times — was sort of the psychology of Batman. When you're playing the Stinger, what is the psychology in your mind?
KEVIN CONROY: Batman is
so complicated. That really took a lot of thought, coming up with the Batman psychology, but Stinger, he's
so easy to nail. He's so arrogant. He just thinks he's the greatest. He's the guy you hated in high school. Let's face it. It was kind of a fun role to play. I was kind of getting back at all those guys I hated so much in high school. But I'm not bitter [
both laugh]. You know, Batman is a great role to play, but you're really constrained with what you can do because he's so dark and he's so pure that you don't really get to do a lot of the outrageous stuff with him. This is a lot of fun.
VOICES FROM KRYPTON: What else have you got going on?
KEVIN CONROY: I have two big things that I'm not allowed to say what they are.
VOICES FROM KRYPTON: That's
so awesome!
KEVIN CONROY: I know. I know. I hate it. They're both being announced, I hope, in the next month or two. The one thing I'm hoping is that the
Arkham Knight is not the end of that trilogy. I mean, it is the end of the trilogy, but I'm hoping they'll figure out some way to turn that into something else, because it's such an amazing journey that that takes you on. I'd love to think that they could somehow translate that into something else, but I don't know.
VOICES FROM KRYPTON: Like an ongoing type of thing, you mean, rather than just a game?
KEVIN CONROY: Something else. There's a real resolution to the end of the trilogy so there would have to be some kind of reinterpretation done to make it move on, but I was hoping the might be able to. I haven't heard anything about that.
VOICES FROM KRYPTON: Does playing Batman ever get tiring or is it endlessly fascinating for you as an actor?
KEVIN CONROY: I have to admit that I'm really lucky to have grabbed this brass ring when they were handing out brass rings, because this character doesn't
ever get boring. He's so complicated. The depth of him is so interesting. The fact that all of this energy comes out of this dark pain, that keeps him, to me, endlessly interesting.
The challenge to me has been keeping it fresh through twenty-three years. Not letting it get stale, because the range that you can play in Batman is very small. He's not that demonstrative. He keeps things very close to the chest, which is part of why I like doing Bruce Wayne as an alternative voice and as an alternative sort of personality, because it gave me somewhere else to go as an actor with playing a character. This whole other world. This other persona. This Bruce Wayne guy. The Batman character, it's a very small kind of palette of colors that you can play with, so you've got to keep it really, really rich and really deep and alive. He's such a complicated character that he helps you do that.
VOICES FROM KRYPTON: Considering how long you’ve been voicing this role, do you ever get territorial about it when they bring in these other guys and so many of them end up sounding like you anyway?
KEVIN CONWAY: Different actors bring different things to a role. Mark Hamill, to me, defined Joker. I never thought anyone would ever, ever come close to him and then I saw Heath Ledger's Joker and I thought, "Wow, that's a whole other kind of crazy, insane world he's introducing to Joker." I think it was smart of Warner Brothers, actually, to have different actors do the live action Batman, because there have been so many different versions of him. It's interesting to see. It's interesting to see so, when I hear other voices doing the character, I don't get proprietary about it. He's a wonderful mantle to put on and I wish anyone well who gets to do it. It's a great character to play.
VOICES FROM KRYPTON: Batman celebrated his 75
th Anniversary last year and you’ve been voicing him for almost a third of that. What’s your feeling being a part of this legacy?
KEVIN CONWAY: It's such a privilege, to be honest, and I get it. I get how important the character is to so many young people. I hear all the time stories of what Batman's character meant to someone who came from a difficult childhood or someone who came from a horrible family or a tough financial situation. They always had Batman to escape to in the afternoons, and I hear these stories of how he, the character, helped them overcome some very challenging childhoods and I get it. I get how iconic the character is and how important the character is socially to so many kids and to adults now who have grown up with the character.