Legendary Batman Voice Actor Kevin Conroy Reflects On Fan Backlash To CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS Role

Legendary Batman Voice Actor Kevin Conroy Reflects On Fan Backlash To CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS Role

Crisis on Infinite Earths was a busy crossover event, with a lot of characters and a long list of cameos. Now, Kevin Conroy has opened up on what it was like playing a live-action version of Batman...

By JoshWilding - Aug 15, 2020 01:08 AM EST
Filed Under: Batman (Animated)
Source: Inside Of You With Michael Rosenbaum

A lot of great actors have played Batman over the years, but for many fans, there's no one better than Kevin Conroy. He's voiced the Caped Crusader in everything from Batman: The Animated Series to the Arkham video games, but finally got to play a live-action Dark Knight in Crisis on Infinite Earths.

His Batman wasn't a hero, though, and had become a serial killer clearly broken by years of fighting crime in Gotham City. Talking to Michael Rosenbaum on his podcast, Conroy admitted it could have gone better, but revealed he signed up without ever seeing a screenplay for the secretive crossover.

"The fans were not happy about that. They didn’t like seeing that version of Bruce Wayne," he explained. "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," the actor continued. "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."

Despite that negative reaction from fans, Conroy was still grateful of the chance to play any version of Batman on screen. "I was in this suit of armor that was an external spine because his back had been broken by Superman. And 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."

Were you disappointed with how Batman was portrayed in Crisis on Infinite Earths? It certainly wasn't ideal, but Conroy did a fantastic job in the role, and it was an undeniably fun cameo. 

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bkmeijer2
bkmeijer2 - 8/15/2020, 1:12 AM
I would have prefered to see a more heroic Batman or one similar to Routh's Superman, but it was still fun to see Comroy nonetheless
Darkknight2149
Darkknight2149 - 8/15/2020, 3:43 PM
@MalesMarcel -
They were criticising the darker Zack Snyder/Frank Miller versions of Batman. It amazes me that people didn't pick up on that. The moment he started saying shit like "The world only makes sense when you force it to!" and "There is no hope!", it become super super obvious.
AtakanKaratas
AtakanKaratas - 8/15/2020, 1:15 AM
It was a great cameo. Loved seeing Conroy in this. And surprisingly his motivation scene about Kate's death seems incredibly on point right now.

GwenLantern
GwenLantern - 8/15/2020, 1:32 AM
So just to clarify:

We got a live-action Kevin Conroy in a Kingdom Come suit, with a 1989 Batmobile quoting lines from Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns in a Crisis on Infinite Earths adaptation and we bitched and moaned about it?

We deserve 2020. This is on us.
dracula
dracula - 8/15/2020, 1:33 AM
I was fine with it in this case for a few reasons.

Yeah it was cool to see Conroy do something different

Fact is Batman doesn't have a show and Kevin Conroy isnt a regular on any of the shows so it makes sense not to make him the Bat of the Future. Its a 5 way crossover, makes sense to make it Batwoman.

Unlike Zack Snyder's killer Batman, this was not the main universe Batman of this franchise.

like seriously thinking about it, starting to think Zack Snyder wasnt inspired by Dark Knight Returns Batman, but Crazy Steve from All Star BAtman And Robin


Really Frank Miller was once a great writer, but really I think he may have put out more bad than good at this point, especially when it comes to batman
dracula
dracula - 8/15/2020, 2:00 AM
Giving Batman a gun, shooting at cars filled with normal criminals, makes him no better than the Punisher or any anti hero out of the 90's. His no killing policy is what makes Batman, Batman.

A Batman who kills is not a Batman who deserves to be on the same team as Superman and Wonder Woman.

I get the idea snyder was trying to do, but the execution just was not well done. Since BVS was our first exposure to that Batman, we have no reason to believe he has lost his way. For all we know this is how he always opperated.

We didn't need a solo movie first, but we needed flashbacks to pre Man Of Steel Batman. Flashbacks worked fine in Under The REd Hood, showing how JAson's death effected him
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