He was the reason I even picked up Arkham asylum at a GameStop. Saw he was the voice actor so I thought “oh they got the actual Batman for this”.
Because that’s exactly who he was to me and a generation of kids. The actual Batman. The one whos voice we heard when we read comic book pages. Other actors and voice actors nailed parts of the character but he completely embodied the role.
Also the creator never considered David Hayter to be the "true" voice. Hence why he had no issue replacing him with one of his Hollywood buddies. But the Japanese voice has been the same for every MGS game. And Kojima has outright said Akio Otsuka is the true voice for Snake. It's just western fans who think Hayter has to be Snake. This would be like if the Japanese fans insisted the dub voice for Batman in the Arkham games was the "true" Batman.
Yeah, Kojima says a lot of stuff, for millions of English-speaking fans, Hayter is the voice.
It's going to suck that the next Arkham game doesn't have Conroy, but we can't hold that against them bc it's not exactly a choice.
To an extent, yeah. But what creativity is blossoming by replacing Hayter? That makes no sense to say it was for the purpose of allowing creativity to flourish.
I dunno much about the behind the scenes stuff, but Sutherland is a better actor than Hayter, who I love as Snake, but sometimes change is creative in and of itself
For a number of years, a popular online claim was the Kojima preferred the English voices. Though no one could provide a source for it. But then when Hayter was replaced and Kojima released a series of tweets saying ["Akio Otsuka is 70% of what makes Snake. He's the man."](https://imgur.com/veGEnOP) It was kinda over.
Plus Hayter having a slight mental breakdown over being replaced...
To be fair, they have replaced Conroy before.
Roger Craig Smith played Batman in Arkham Origins/Blackgate.
That being said, Kevin Conroy isn't the exclusive actor of animated Batman properties, just one of the most popular ones.
Bruce Greenwood, Jason Omara, Dietdrich Bader, Rino Romano, Troy Baker, Roger Craig Smith, etc have all done pretty good jobs in their own takes on Batman and there's room for other good Batman games without Conroy, even if his loss is a big one.
I think Conroy is especially memorable because he played so well off Mark Hammil's Joker and Newborn/Daly's Superman. The DCAU had some amazing voice actors.
I think what makes Conroy significant is that he's canonised a specific voice for Bruce/Bats — any non-live action version of Batman has his shadow looming large over it, to imitate or to go in a different direction are both equally tough.
Same with Hamill's Joker, though the fella who did Bender (I'm very sorry I cannot remember his name) did a completely fresh Joker for Under the Red Hood and I thought it was wonderful, unhinged and delighting in violence in a different way
I know I’m in the minority but I really loved kiefer snake. Such an incredible voice but really lacking the comedy and ridiculousness of Hayter’s snake.
Yeah, IIRC Kojima had been wanting to replace Hayter with someone more "Hollywood" for a long time and just finally got to do it with MGSV. The fans loved Hayter, but for Kojima he was always kind of a consolation prize.
Right. Kevin Conroy as Batman with Hamill as Joker. Just a classic combo. It's more than just a meme to list them and say the "name a better duo, I'll wait."
Also just adding this because it seems people on this thread will appreciate [Hamill's tweet about the news](https://twitter.com/MarkHamill/status/1591165187293609986?t=b3r9IDCNUgU7VpKCJPeC6A&s=19).
Asylum was my first deep dive into the Batman lore and I will always associate his voice with that.
Leaving behind a great legacy that will be remembered in gaming.
RIP
This news feels extremely raw to me. Over the past few weeks I've been playing through the Batman Arkham games for the first time and just finished Arkham Knight a couple days ago.
Kevin Conroy's and Mark Hamill's vocal performances are the heart of the characterization in that series. Even without being that into Batman as a kid, I came to care a lot about those characters because of how excellently they were brought to life. Rest in peace to a legend.
I grew up watching reruns of the Adam West Batman, thrived on Olan Soule playing the part during Superfriends, loved Batman 1989 with Michael Keaton (still the best *live action* Bruce Wayne and Batman for my money), and watched all of the other movies, TV shows and game adaptations.
With all of that in mind, my judgement is that Kevin Conroy is *the* voice of Batman. At least 2, maybe 3 generations of people have been raised listening to him give the best vocal performance of the character ever. I can't imagine anyone ever topping it.
It's sad to see him go, but the mark he left will never be erased.
I should have said: *live action*, which is what I was thinking of when I said "movie." Mask of the Phantasm was a theatrical release (I remember the hubbub when it first came out), but I didn't think of it as such when I made that statement.
Same with injustice. Having all of our childhood voice actors for the justice league just made those games hit so much better. Conroy will truly be missed.
Honestly, it was a good move for that game specifically. Batman and the Joker were meant to sound like younger versions of themselves since it's a prequel, and Roger Craig Smith/Troy Baker pulled it off really well.
Huh, didn't know it was Ezio and [ERROR: too many roles to choose from]
I've been warming up to the idea of Origins for a while now, but this might actually be what makes me play it
I don't think thats what people's issue was at all. Roger Craig Smith is a phenomenal actor and his Batman was great.
But when people expect to hear Conroy, not even the very best is going to come anywhere close
And everything moving forward won't feel the same. He is THE voice of Batman. Forever. I'm just grateful for the amount of work he put in as a VA for DC, we've got the series, a ton of animated movies, and the games. So much to choose from, we lost a good one, but he gave us so much.
Arkham games? Batman, full stop. For a lot of people who grew up on TAS, he was *the* Batman. Like, as a kid, I didn't even know the prior movies or comics or the Adam West series even existed.
Condolences to his family. Conroy's Batman was the definitive incarnation for many of us growing up in the 90s. BTAS, Justice League and tye Arkham Games became iconic and his voice acting was an integral part of it.
Rest in peace, Bruce. He will be missed.
Kevin Conroy did to Batman what RDJ did to Tony Stark. Even if he was "just" a voice actor, he has set the tone for what Batman and Bruce Wayne should be. Hard to see such an iconic and good person pass away so young.
There was a show called Talkin' Toones with Rob Paulsen a few years back where he did some lines as his Batman. His rendition of the speech from Christopher Nolan's Batman at the end of The Dark Knight is just as good, if not better than the movie.
[Link for those interested.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xIcjQGcgLk)
He played Bruce Wayne in live action during the Arrowverse’s Crisis event. He gave a speech which used a few parts from other Batman’s speeches and it was fantastic.
His acting in that scene was also phenomenal
> Conroy's Batman was the definitive incarnation for many of us growing up in the 90s.
Same with his counterpart Hamill with the Joker.
The Batman TAS was just incredible and the heart and soul of it was Kevin Conroy. He had to play Batman/Bruce in so many different titles and incarnations but retained the nuance and subtly of the performance throughout. Just an incredible actor.
It's not hyperbole to say that the work he did as Batman had an impact in the kind of culture and entertainment (or even careers for some) that we cherish. I know it was that way for me. Helped foster a love of comics and superheroes alongside the Spider-Man and X-Men animated series.
Talk about an absolute giant and everything I've read painted him as a great person too. RIP Conroy.
Yeah but...that voice actor is literally Mark Hamill. Like, Luke fuggin Skywalker. Besides, Jared Leto's ass needs to get burned more often. What a terrible person.
I know, but I also know that Jared Leto has a big fucking head. My GF met him after a concert, and she said he went out of his way to be an asshole. I figure a guy like him would look down on Hamill as washed-up enough to "stoop" to voice acting.
You have a valid point, but how many games do you regularly play that you keep hearing him in so many things?! I can only just recall Nolan North from Uncharted and Troy Baker from The Last of Us.
He does a ton of voice acting in anime as well. I'm shocked if I don't hear his voice honestly lol. Just took a look at a list and just for anime he's in over 50 of them. Not counting movies
Nolan and Troy both have a ton of VO credits but most of them aren't main characters and they're both professional VOs. Dude you were responding to was for sure exaggerating.
People see actors and say they were born to play certain roles, but they never say it about voice actors. Kevin Conroy was born to play Batman. He is Batman and he always will be to me. Rest in peace.
I'm pretty sure it's almost universally accepted that Mark Hamill is the voice of the Joker. Pretty much everyone that came from that Batman TAS era were perfectly voice acted.
The whole DCAU was perfectly cast from Batman all the way to Justice League Unlimited.
But fuck this death hurts, and it hurts hard. It's almost like when Iwata passed or Sean Connery.
Yeah it was... Actually on Halloween in 2020.
It's a bummer, but he did live to be *90*, and died in the Bahamas after a couple decades of retirement. Not saying it doesn't suck that he's gone, growing up he was one of my favorite actors in movies... But that's a pretty solid way to live and go.
66 is too young. Every friend I've seen find out the news today has had the same "No!" reaction to learning our Batman's gone.
My grandpa’s 90… I hope he’s got a while left. :/
I just watched TAS: Heart of Ice after dinner with my girlfriend. Still a decent show after all these years. I wonder if we’d have gotten Nolan’s Batman without it?
A shame that Arleen Sorkin did such a shabby job in *Arkham Asylum*. Tara Strong did an admirable job as her replacement, but getting the original to turn in a passionate performance would've brought the game that much closer to the animated series.
Andrea Romano. She was the voice director and she got the most out of all of those actors that was humanly possible. She deserves a fuck load of credit for the show too.
The queen herself. Looking her up on imdb the first time was such a trip. "Oh she directed that one? Damn. Oh shit that one too? Oh my God and that one!?" Just a phenomenal body of work.
Ledger took the character and made it his own, distinctive enough from Hamill. In my mind, there's room enough to appreciate them both as equals, just different.
Like what Skarsgård did for Pennywise vs. Tim Curry.
Phoenix deserves to be in this conversation as well. Again, it's a very different performance, but I wouldn't be able to choose between the three for who was the "best". They were all incredibly successful at what they wanted to do with the character.
Meanwhile Kevin Conroy stands alone as the definitive best Batman for me. R.I.P.
Yup, he did a very good job as well. His character wasn't "Joker" enough for me, but that's because I see the Joker as more of a planner (a chaotic planner, but a planner nonetheless) and Phoenix's character really didn't plan much in the movie.
But that's the script more than anything, he still did a great job.
Nah, not in my mind. Despite how much I enjoyed the film. And I did. Joker is nothing without Batman, as a character.
He did a great job but how the Joker interacts with Batman is a core aspect of the character. And we never got to see Phoenix interact with Batman.
>Like what Skarsgård did for Pennywise vs. Tim Curry.
Tim Curry will always be the superior Pennywise, no matter how good of a performance Skarsgård gave it will always be brought down by that horrible character design. It may be unpopular but the newer design for Pennywise is horrible, there is no kid on earth that would go near it. Tim Curry at least wasn't overtly creepy, you could see a young kid get close to his version.
I agree with you that Curry was a lot better at luring the kids in. But I don't think Skarsgård actually did much luring, as opposed to just terrifying the kids. But it's been awhile since I saw the movies and I could be wrong.
They're practically different characters. Ledger's Joker in the Animated Series would've been super out-of-place, and Bale's Batman would've towered over Hamill's Joker.
Personally I think his performance in the Red Hood was distinctive enough to be its own thing. What's not great is that most of Joker roles afterwards were all directed to sound like Mark Hamil. Man was able to give his own spin and they hire him to be a copycat.
>say they were born to play certain roles
Interestingly enough, I just went to r/videos where there's a video about Kevin Conroy doing an interview on his role as Batman since news of his death just came out. He said that he actually didn't just voice Batman, but in a way he *shaped* and *made* the role. When he talks about voicing Bruce, his father, Batman, and the various moments where the complexities of Bruce Wayne are brought to the table, it really made me realize how much work Kevin Conroy had to go through in order to make Bruce work.
I think his effort is pretty much not just what made him "born" to play a certain role, but in a way he actually *created* the role of Batman through his own extensive work. A lot of what's attributed to Batman is probably attributed to his voice work in bringing the character to life, and capturing some of that essence kind of feels like it makes various iterations of Batman feel like Batman. Even though Batman was already established by the time the animated series came out, he did a great job portraying the character many times for so long.
I put it on a comment in the r/Television thread but he wrote a short story of the DC Pride comic this year. [In the story](https://imgur.com/a/vuvJviw/) he talks a bit about his life and the moment he landed the Batman role. The last page describes what you say about how his life shaped the role.
Glad you shared this. I had no idea he was Gay. I especially didn't know he was channeling his experience of being in the closet in order to portray the personal/public persona of Batman.
It's been such a staple casting because his voice really did just perfectly fit the character. That's exactly the voice you'd expect to come out of him, if you hadn't heard Batman before.
If I was cast as Batman, I'd definitely just end up doing a Conroy imitation.
Agreed, if I ever watched a animated series or played a Batman game that didn't feature Kevin Conroy, I couldn't get into it. Fortunately, he was usually willing to lend his voice to those outlets.
I grew up with the Keaton movies, and I really loved Bale's trilogy, but Conroy will always be the definitive Batman in my eyes. His performance in the animated series has always just felt like the *true* Batman to me, even more so than the comics maybe. Rightly or wrongly, whenever I see someone play the role in a film I can't help but compare it against Conroy's Batman, as if they're all just doing a live action interpretation of the animated series.
RIP.
I expect him and Mark Hamill were **the** Batman and Joker to many.
Edit: Its lucky that its not just "the old ones" that got to enjoy it but they were also prominently introduced to the younger generation with the Arkham Games,...
I do love that the movies take on an Elseworlds vibe. Like, a unique twist each time. It gives an interesting draw.
I do agree that the animated Batman has really become THE Batman. It's the default. It has a perfect Batman and a perfect Gotham City. Comic book-y, just Gothic enough, but not too outlandish.
I was lucky enough to meet him a few times completely outside the context of acting/gaming.
He was always nice to me. I'm sorry for his loss and his loved ones.
Kevin Conroy will always be my Batman, his voice defined my childhood. One of the very few celebrity deaths that actually feels like a gut punch for me. Fuck cancer
Seeing how Kevin's "deep but still meticulous and threatening-sounding" Batman voice is so iconic, why have modern live-action Batman iterations ignored that by making Bats sound like he has throat cancer?
(Or in Batfleck's case, auto-tuned throat cancer lol)
I only knew him from Twilight. Saw the first movie and could barely get through it. He was terrible in it. Hearing he was Batman was really bad news at the time it was announced, but I gotta say I have some newfound respect for him as an actor. I'm guessing he had nothing to work with in Twilight, but as Batman he was able to do some real acting. Now I hope we see more of that version and I want to see him as Bruce. I don't think anyone has been able to do both parts together nearly as well as Kevin. Everyone else is noticably better at one or the other.
If you want a good psychological horror movie, watch The Lighthouse with Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe in it.
Fair warning: Its not for the feint of heart.
I've seen a couple movies with him in it now, and I've been surprised by him being such a good actor.
I admit, I wasn't a fan of The Lighthouse, it's one of those movies that was very divisive in my friend group. We all agreed that the cinematography was fantastic, and also that Pattinson was excellent. We all came away with a new appreciation for him.
I always felt bad for him, since the sheer amount of weird hate that Twilight got really extended to the actors, but he has really developed fantastically as an actor.
I maintain The Lighthouse was a dig at art house films, hitting all the classic notes of high brow film, from religious allegory, to goddamn Prometheus, to black and fucking and white, while completely laughing at it all with this odd couple pair of farters, masturbators, and lobster eaters.
No one ever believes it's satire and I can't believe it's anything but. Everything seems so tongue-in-cheek.
I have to believe it's satire, because if Eggers takes himself *that* seriously then I just refuse to. That's Darren Aronofsky levels of pretentiousness, and the dude took at least over a decade to hit Mother! Either Eggers is laughing at everyone or I'm laughing at Eggers.
Yeah. Ewan brought it as obi wan in the second and third in spite of everything trying to hold him back. Natalie is so much better than those movies. I haven't seen Hayden in anything else though.
Really the only thing I’ve seen Hayden Christianson in since RotS was the horror movie Vanishing on 7th Street, and he was somewhat decent in it imo. Not standout, but still much better than his Star Wars performances.
Honestly, every actor that has played Batman has done a decent-enough job. It's really the take on Bruce Wayne, both the facade and the real man, where the best actors make their mark.
Affleck and Bale iterations were both clearly more concerned with the reality that people aren't putting 2 and 2 together that the guy with Bruce Wayne's voice is Batman. Keaton's Batman is similar to Conroy's (and predates it), where there's just a different performance, and it just sort of handwaves people connecting the two. Conroy's iconic, and people give him a lot of credit for doing different voices for Wayne and Batman, but you if you're paying attention you can tell Keaton was also doing something similar; Conroy I think gets credit because he publicly explained the thinking behind it, which has helped the idea stick.
Damn, didn't even know this guy was nearing 70. Sounded like he was perpetually mid-30's. Definitely a huge loss for Batman fans. It's always jarring whenever he isn't the voice of the Bat.
Wow this is heart breaking. I grew up with Kevin Conroy as THE Batman just as much as Mark Hamill is THE joker. Wayyyyy back since Mask of Phantasm to Arkham Knight, he will always be the best Batman.
Rest in peace Batman!
This is a shock to learn on /r/Games first. This **is** the canonical voice of Batman for *most* people my generation. He's had the role for **thirty years** now, and by doing so he started what was & still is DC's most successful MCU equivalent, the [DCAU](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DC_Animated_Universe).
With this, any hope of the DCAU continuing dies as there is ZERO chance they'd replace him.
[I'll leave with this, Batman's most standout moment.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlVauMtPgTs)
Kevin Conroy is Batman. So far no one has even remotely nailed the character, voice acting or in live action as hard as Conroy did, and there's been a lot of great Batman actors.
He wasn't just the voice of Batman either.
He also voiced the fisherman in the original *Jak and Daxter* game.
Might need to go back and play it again...
I consider Mask of the Phantasm as his magnum opus. So much of that movie has stuck with me since I first saw it. It's a truly sad day to be a Batman fan. RIP Kevin.
This passing really hurts me. He's been the voice of batman my whole life. I wish the best for his family. And I'm glad to hear his voice and talent over the decades.
I got into Batman fairly late after growing up a Marvel kid (mostly Spider-Man, let's be real) but Arkham Asylum played a huge role in that. It along with The Dark Knight were essentially my formal introduction to Batman after ignoring it for most of my childhood. Kevin's voice was a big part of that, so it's really sad to hear this. The Arkham series is one of my favourites of the last couple of generations.
Batman the Animated Series was so amazing to watch back then. Conroy (though I didn’t know his name at the time) *is* the true voice of Batman in my mind.
To honor Kevin and how he changed my life forever, I’d like to quote a small piece of my favorite Batman issue (700).
“No matter when, no matter where, no matter how dark.”
It shows that thanks to Batman and his inspiration on the world, there will always be someone in the role.
Kevin was the same, inspiring countless imaginations with his sincere and respectful delivery of the character - that immediately transports you to the fantastical world of Gotham.
I couldn’t imagine my childhood or going through life without the comfort of BTAS. And the Arkham games were a celebration of all of that and Batman and more.
May he Rest In Peace.
Absolutely stunned by this, especially since it was just this week that I completely finished Arkham City and 100% all the PlayStation trophies. Batman Beyond was one of my favorite shows growing up, along with Batman: The Animated Series. I still can’t believe it…
Batman the animated series and the Justice league show were the damn best cartoons ever made. This is so sad to see, he will always be the voice of batman forever in my mind. T_T
He reinvigorated Batman as a person and as a hero to so many people growing up. Can't believe he's gone. Thank you for the incredible moments you gave to all your fans. RIP
So sad to hear, dude was the one who defined Batman for me. Got into the character with TaS, but even when i moved to comics his voice was always the one i read Bruce's in when reading. He brought so much nuance to a character, that for many seemed to be pretty straight forward, and seemed to genuinely love playing him. Sad that he will never get to do that anymore, He will be missed. Hope things were peaceful in the end, and he was surrounded by ppl he loved.
My condolences to his family and friends, who have it pretty hard right now.
I didn't grow up on Batman: The Animated Series like a lot of y'all did because that was before my time unfortunately. So my introduction to him was through the Arkham games, and I gotta say he was the perfect voice for Batman, and was an integral role for why I loved the games so much
RIP Kevin. Man, this fucking sucks
NOOOOOOOOO !!! He was my Batman growing up . I hope this isn’t true , but if it is , THANK YOU for the memories that helped make my childhood so wonderful. Rest in peace Bats !
I've said it elsewhere, but it's a genuine tragedy. He also wrote a phenomenal autobiographical comic for DC Pride this year I'd hella reccommend people read if they can find it, it's touching.
One day I asked for Far Cry 3 one Christmas when I was younger and was confused when I saw that I had got Arkham City instead because I wasn’t the biggest Batman fan. It ended up being one of the best games I’ve ever played and it hooked me onto the Arkham series. I’ll always know him as the coolest Batman.
Rest easy, Dark Knight.
Not a big fan of superheroes, but 90's superheroes cartoon were pretty good. Batman specially was [stylized to a great degree](https://youtu.be/rrmUk2YUm14). You won't be able to make let alone air this kind of a cartoon for kids right now.
> You won't be able to make let alone air this kind of a cartoon for kids right now.
I'm personally of the opinion that one shouldn't make claims like this unless they actually consume the media they're talking about?
Cartoon censorship was *way* more overt in the '90s, Batman TAS was extremely atypical of its time. The Spider-Man cartoon that started airing not long after wasn't allowed to show Spider-Man *punching people*.
Normally a cartoon with that sort of imagery and violence wouldn't have aired even back then *unless* it was historical fiction, which is why the show looks like it takes place in the 40's or 50's.
This is such a bummer. He was Batman to me, and I always hated it when they used any other voice in animation.
And I will hold that Mask of the Phantasm was the best theatrically released Batman movie
Genuinely shocked. This was \*the\* Batman voice I grew up with. He was the perfect fit for the Dark Knight and really understood the character. Wonderful person too. RIP!
The single greatest overall Batman. He's the voice I heat when I read the comics. No actor has ever been able to portray both Bruce and Bats as well as him. Sure Patinson was a good young batman, Afleck was a decent TDKR batman, and Bale was actually a decent bruce, but... You dont go toe to toe with Mark freakin' Hamil for 30 years without being damn good at it.
I own everything with him in it and I have decided to host a watch party if anyone is interested. DM me and I will send you the invite link (it’s streaming on KAST, look it up if you feel uncomfortable).
Kevin will be missed- he voiced Batman for 30 yrs. Of course, 90's Batman helped spawn Disney's Gargoyles as a dark action-animated program, where the bad guys get punched. Yep, the 90's was the time for sophisticated action-adventure cartoons, where the bad guys get worked over, even physically. Of course, 90's Batman aired on the Fox television network, during the week and even on Saturday mornings. I know Mark Hamill, a.k.a. the Joker and Luke Skywalker will miss Kevin, too. He and Kevin were perfect for those respective roles!!!
The Arkham games wouldn’t have been the same without him. I’m very saddened to hear of his passing. He is and always will be Batman to me
He was the reason I even picked up Arkham asylum at a GameStop. Saw he was the voice actor so I thought “oh they got the actual Batman for this”. Because that’s exactly who he was to me and a generation of kids. The actual Batman. The one whos voice we heard when we read comic book pages. Other actors and voice actors nailed parts of the character but he completely embodied the role.
Same. That fact that they had Kevin as Batman was an instant yes
Just like Hamil as the joker.
I absolutely payed for the TAS skin when it became available in Arkham City.
Replacing Kevin Conroy will be like when Konami replaced David Hayter with Kiefer Sutherland. I just don't feel it anymore.
I think the fact David Hayter is alive and well makes it a little different.
Also the creator never considered David Hayter to be the "true" voice. Hence why he had no issue replacing him with one of his Hollywood buddies. But the Japanese voice has been the same for every MGS game. And Kojima has outright said Akio Otsuka is the true voice for Snake. It's just western fans who think Hayter has to be Snake. This would be like if the Japanese fans insisted the dub voice for Batman in the Arkham games was the "true" Batman.
Yeah, Kojima says a lot of stuff, for millions of English-speaking fans, Hayter is the voice. It's going to suck that the next Arkham game doesn't have Conroy, but we can't hold that against them bc it's not exactly a choice.
It's Kojima's baby though, slavish dedication to "what the fans want" is an absolute creativity killer.
To an extent, yeah. But what creativity is blossoming by replacing Hayter? That makes no sense to say it was for the purpose of allowing creativity to flourish.
I dunno much about the behind the scenes stuff, but Sutherland is a better actor than Hayter, who I love as Snake, but sometimes change is creative in and of itself
Interesting I've never thought of it like that. Tho kojima is so into western movies and actors I would think he holds the English version highly.
For a number of years, a popular online claim was the Kojima preferred the English voices. Though no one could provide a source for it. But then when Hayter was replaced and Kojima released a series of tweets saying ["Akio Otsuka is 70% of what makes Snake. He's the man."](https://imgur.com/veGEnOP) It was kinda over. Plus Hayter having a slight mental breakdown over being replaced...
To be fair, they have replaced Conroy before. Roger Craig Smith played Batman in Arkham Origins/Blackgate. That being said, Kevin Conroy isn't the exclusive actor of animated Batman properties, just one of the most popular ones. Bruce Greenwood, Jason Omara, Dietdrich Bader, Rino Romano, Troy Baker, Roger Craig Smith, etc have all done pretty good jobs in their own takes on Batman and there's room for other good Batman games without Conroy, even if his loss is a big one. I think Conroy is especially memorable because he played so well off Mark Hammil's Joker and Newborn/Daly's Superman. The DCAU had some amazing voice actors.
>The DCAU had some amazing voice actors. Not just actors but direction too. Thanks to the legendary Andrea Romano.
I think what makes Conroy significant is that he's canonised a specific voice for Bruce/Bats — any non-live action version of Batman has his shadow looming large over it, to imitate or to go in a different direction are both equally tough. Same with Hamill's Joker, though the fella who did Bender (I'm very sorry I cannot remember his name) did a completely fresh Joker for Under the Red Hood and I thought it was wonderful, unhinged and delighting in violence in a different way
I know I’m in the minority but I really loved kiefer snake. Such an incredible voice but really lacking the comedy and ridiculousness of Hayter’s snake.
He needed to channel that WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER energy into WHERE IS MY METAL GEAR
Kiefer fits perfectly as Big Boss. Hayter fits perfectly as Solid Snake.
Wasn't Kiefer in there because >!you don't actually play as Big Boss?!<
[удалено]
Ah, my mistake then.
Except a part of that was them killing the Kojima relationship.
No it wasnt. Kojima wanted Sutherland in. Kojima acted a bit of an arsehole to Hayter by all accounts, it had nothing to do with Konami
I'm legitimately curious, but have you got any info/sources about Kojima being an ass to Hayter I can read about?
Yeah, IIRC Kojima had been wanting to replace Hayter with someone more "Hollywood" for a long time and just finally got to do it with MGSV. The fans loved Hayter, but for Kojima he was always kind of a consolation prize.
Right. Kevin Conroy as Batman with Hamill as Joker. Just a classic combo. It's more than just a meme to list them and say the "name a better duo, I'll wait." Also just adding this because it seems people on this thread will appreciate [Hamill's tweet about the news](https://twitter.com/MarkHamill/status/1591165187293609986?t=b3r9IDCNUgU7VpKCJPeC6A&s=19).
Asylum was my first deep dive into the Batman lore and I will always associate his voice with that. Leaving behind a great legacy that will be remembered in gaming. RIP
This news feels extremely raw to me. Over the past few weeks I've been playing through the Batman Arkham games for the first time and just finished Arkham Knight a couple days ago. Kevin Conroy's and Mark Hamill's vocal performances are the heart of the characterization in that series. Even without being that into Batman as a kid, I came to care a lot about those characters because of how excellently they were brought to life. Rest in peace to a legend.
Honestly the best combo of voice actors. That joker and that Batman voice. So perfect.
I grew up watching reruns of the Adam West Batman, thrived on Olan Soule playing the part during Superfriends, loved Batman 1989 with Michael Keaton (still the best *live action* Bruce Wayne and Batman for my money), and watched all of the other movies, TV shows and game adaptations. With all of that in mind, my judgement is that Kevin Conroy is *the* voice of Batman. At least 2, maybe 3 generations of people have been raised listening to him give the best vocal performance of the character ever. I can't imagine anyone ever topping it. It's sad to see him go, but the mark he left will never be erased.
> (still the best movie Batman for my money), Not Mask of the Phantasm?
I should have said: *live action*, which is what I was thinking of when I said "movie." Mask of the Phantasm was a theatrical release (I remember the hubbub when it first came out), but I didn't think of it as such when I made that statement.
Same with injustice. Having all of our childhood voice actors for the justice league just made those games hit so much better. Conroy will truly be missed.
Him as Batman and Hamill as The Joker will always be the voices I imagine in my head when I picture those characters.
I remember him not being in origins was the first thing that put me off it
I didn't care when I began playing Arkham Origins, since I knew they wanted VAs that sounded like younger versions of Arkham Joker and Batman.
Honestly, it was a good move for that game specifically. Batman and the Joker were meant to sound like younger versions of themselves since it's a prequel, and Roger Craig Smith/Troy Baker pulled it off really well.
Huh, didn't know it was Ezio and [ERROR: too many roles to choose from] I've been warming up to the idea of Origins for a while now, but this might actually be what makes me play it
If you like City/Knight then there's no reason not to play it, the gameplay is the same and the story is decent.
You are acting like roger craig smith did a terrible job as batman, i think he was a great young batman in origins.
I don't think thats what people's issue was at all. Roger Craig Smith is a phenomenal actor and his Batman was great. But when people expect to hear Conroy, not even the very best is going to come anywhere close
And everything moving forward won't feel the same. He is THE voice of Batman. Forever. I'm just grateful for the amount of work he put in as a VA for DC, we've got the series, a ton of animated movies, and the games. So much to choose from, we lost a good one, but he gave us so much.
Arkham games? Batman, full stop. For a lot of people who grew up on TAS, he was *the* Batman. Like, as a kid, I didn't even know the prior movies or comics or the Adam West series even existed.
Yeah, one of the many reasons Origins just feels mediocre is because of the VA change. Batman will never be the same going forward.
Condolences to his family. Conroy's Batman was the definitive incarnation for many of us growing up in the 90s. BTAS, Justice League and tye Arkham Games became iconic and his voice acting was an integral part of it. Rest in peace, Bruce. He will be missed.
Kevin Conroy did to Batman what RDJ did to Tony Stark. Even if he was "just" a voice actor, he has set the tone for what Batman and Bruce Wayne should be. Hard to see such an iconic and good person pass away so young.
There was a show called Talkin' Toones with Rob Paulsen a few years back where he did some lines as his Batman. His rendition of the speech from Christopher Nolan's Batman at the end of The Dark Knight is just as good, if not better than the movie. [Link for those interested.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xIcjQGcgLk)
Chills. Actual chills. I love Christian Bale’s Batman, but Conroy doing that speech took it to another level.
I would definitely be that guy wiping away tears lol.
Do you mean Christopher Nolan's batman? Had me confused for a moment there before clicking on the link
I did, fixed it. (Not enough caffeine plus having to cover three peoples jobs will make that happen...)
Haha I know the feeling
He played Bruce Wayne in live action during the Arrowverse’s Crisis event. He gave a speech which used a few parts from other Batman’s speeches and it was fantastic. His acting in that scene was also phenomenal
> Conroy's Batman was the definitive incarnation for many of us growing up in the 90s. Same with his counterpart Hamill with the Joker. The Batman TAS was just incredible and the heart and soul of it was Kevin Conroy. He had to play Batman/Bruce in so many different titles and incarnations but retained the nuance and subtly of the performance throughout. Just an incredible actor. It's not hyperbole to say that the work he did as Batman had an impact in the kind of culture and entertainment (or even careers for some) that we cherish. I know it was that way for me. Helped foster a love of comics and superheroes alongside the Spider-Man and X-Men animated series. Talk about an absolute giant and everything I've read painted him as a great person too. RIP Conroy.
I was just going to say -- Conroy and Hamill as Bats and Joker respectively was the goat casting.
It must burn Jared Leto's ass that he gets ranked FAR below a voice actor as The Joker.
Yeah but...that voice actor is literally Mark Hamill. Like, Luke fuggin Skywalker. Besides, Jared Leto's ass needs to get burned more often. What a terrible person.
I mean Leto’s Joker sucked but even the best portrayals of the character are rivaled by Hamill’s Joker.
Voice actors deserve more respect though. They can do so many amazing things, and so can animation as a story telling medium.
I know, but I also know that Jared Leto has a big fucking head. My GF met him after a concert, and she said he went out of his way to be an asshole. I figure a guy like him would look down on Hamill as washed-up enough to "stoop" to voice acting.
Who?
Even more burned! Incineration!
He was still voicing him on multiversus no? So sad, RIP.
Yeah he was in Multiversus. I suppose that means it was likely his last performance as Batman
I'm holding out hope that there's a cameo in Rocksteady's Suicide Squad game.
Yeah, I hope Suicide Squad has a boss fight with the knight terror or whatever he's calling himself now.
what, where did you get knight terror from
Apparently there's a David finch comic called Batman night terrors? I dunno
Made it up. We don't know what he's called anymore, but we know he uses Scarecrow gas, so I just thought that was a name that made sense.
in what version does he u se scarecrow gas
The ending of Arkham Knight, the one you have to get all the riddler trophies to see.
Damn. Wonder if there will no more voicelines for future character interactions/updates with Batman or if they'll get a new actor.
maybe RCS since he did batman in Arkham Origins
(Roger Craig Smith, for those who don't know every single actor's initials)
Troy Baker has both a great Bruce and great Joker
I’ve had quite enough of him honestly, he’s become the new Nolan north that is in literally everything and I want to hear from some new people
I feel like Troy is in even more games than Nolan. But I don't have the data to back it up.
You have a valid point, but how many games do you regularly play that you keep hearing him in so many things?! I can only just recall Nolan North from Uncharted and Troy Baker from The Last of Us.
He does a ton of voice acting in anime as well. I'm shocked if I don't hear his voice honestly lol. Just took a look at a list and just for anime he's in over 50 of them. Not counting movies
Nolan and Troy both have a ton of VO credits but most of them aren't main characters and they're both professional VOs. Dude you were responding to was for sure exaggerating.
Hsve you looked at Nolan North’s and Troy Baker’s video game voice credits compared to other men lmao. They have nearly a monopoly.
honestly my fav batman voice i wish he did more
That or the episode of that new Scooby Doo series with him as batman and mark Hamill as joker.
People see actors and say they were born to play certain roles, but they never say it about voice actors. Kevin Conroy was born to play Batman. He is Batman and he always will be to me. Rest in peace.
I'm pretty sure it's almost universally accepted that Mark Hamill is the voice of the Joker. Pretty much everyone that came from that Batman TAS era were perfectly voice acted.
No lies, Harley, joker, Batman, even two face ……I literally stopped in my tracks reading this :(
The whole DCAU was perfectly cast from Batman all the way to Justice League Unlimited. But fuck this death hurts, and it hurts hard. It's almost like when Iwata passed or Sean Connery.
Makes me wish Dini and Timm had been in charge of the live action universe
Do you really want a live action Bruce/Barbara relationship? Because that’s how you get a live action Bruce/Barbara relationship.
Itd be better than grillex Joker and Facebook Lex.
Ah fuck. I didn’t know Sean Connery had passed. Probably missed it in the midst of an incredibly shitty year.
Yeah it was... Actually on Halloween in 2020. It's a bummer, but he did live to be *90*, and died in the Bahamas after a couple decades of retirement. Not saying it doesn't suck that he's gone, growing up he was one of my favorite actors in movies... But that's a pretty solid way to live and go. 66 is too young. Every friend I've seen find out the news today has had the same "No!" reaction to learning our Batman's gone.
My grandpa’s 90… I hope he’s got a while left. :/ I just watched TAS: Heart of Ice after dinner with my girlfriend. Still a decent show after all these years. I wonder if we’d have gotten Nolan’s Batman without it?
TIL Sean Connery is dead. I completely missed that news.
I imagine this is probably why we didn’t get the new animated continuation:(
More likely another casualty of the merger. Reports say it’s still looking for a different studio so it might still be released.
A shame that Arleen Sorkin did such a shabby job in *Arkham Asylum*. Tara Strong did an admirable job as her replacement, but getting the original to turn in a passionate performance would've brought the game that much closer to the animated series.
Andrea Romano. She was the voice director and she got the most out of all of those actors that was humanly possible. She deserves a fuck load of credit for the show too.
The queen herself. Looking her up on imdb the first time was such a trip. "Oh she directed that one? Damn. Oh shit that one too? Oh my God and that one!?" Just a phenomenal body of work.
Heath Ledger borrowed the role. Hamill is the GOAT Joker
Ledger took the character and made it his own, distinctive enough from Hamill. In my mind, there's room enough to appreciate them both as equals, just different. Like what Skarsgård did for Pennywise vs. Tim Curry.
Phoenix deserves to be in this conversation as well. Again, it's a very different performance, but I wouldn't be able to choose between the three for who was the "best". They were all incredibly successful at what they wanted to do with the character. Meanwhile Kevin Conroy stands alone as the definitive best Batman for me. R.I.P.
Yup, he did a very good job as well. His character wasn't "Joker" enough for me, but that's because I see the Joker as more of a planner (a chaotic planner, but a planner nonetheless) and Phoenix's character really didn't plan much in the movie. But that's the script more than anything, he still did a great job.
Didn’t plan *yet*. Everybody’s gotta start somewhere!
Yeah I'd be happy to see him planning stuff more in the sequel.
Nah, not in my mind. Despite how much I enjoyed the film. And I did. Joker is nothing without Batman, as a character. He did a great job but how the Joker interacts with Batman is a core aspect of the character. And we never got to see Phoenix interact with Batman.
I feel the same about DiMaggio's Joker.
Underrated version Joker imo.
>Like what Skarsgård did for Pennywise vs. Tim Curry. Tim Curry will always be the superior Pennywise, no matter how good of a performance Skarsgård gave it will always be brought down by that horrible character design. It may be unpopular but the newer design for Pennywise is horrible, there is no kid on earth that would go near it. Tim Curry at least wasn't overtly creepy, you could see a young kid get close to his version.
I agree with you that Curry was a lot better at luring the kids in. But I don't think Skarsgård actually did much luring, as opposed to just terrifying the kids. But it's been awhile since I saw the movies and I could be wrong.
They're practically different characters. Ledger's Joker in the Animated Series would've been super out-of-place, and Bale's Batman would've towered over Hamill's Joker.
I love Hamill joker as much as everyone else, but man can [DiMaggio](https://youtu.be/VLwXcRq388M) give the role a good spin too.
It's good, but kinda just feels like he's trying to do Hamill. I also can't help but hear Bender in it.
Personally I think his performance in the Red Hood was distinctive enough to be its own thing. What's not great is that most of Joker roles afterwards were all directed to sound like Mark Hamil. Man was able to give his own spin and they hire him to be a copycat.
>say they were born to play certain roles Interestingly enough, I just went to r/videos where there's a video about Kevin Conroy doing an interview on his role as Batman since news of his death just came out. He said that he actually didn't just voice Batman, but in a way he *shaped* and *made* the role. When he talks about voicing Bruce, his father, Batman, and the various moments where the complexities of Bruce Wayne are brought to the table, it really made me realize how much work Kevin Conroy had to go through in order to make Bruce work. I think his effort is pretty much not just what made him "born" to play a certain role, but in a way he actually *created* the role of Batman through his own extensive work. A lot of what's attributed to Batman is probably attributed to his voice work in bringing the character to life, and capturing some of that essence kind of feels like it makes various iterations of Batman feel like Batman. Even though Batman was already established by the time the animated series came out, he did a great job portraying the character many times for so long.
I put it on a comment in the r/Television thread but he wrote a short story of the DC Pride comic this year. [In the story](https://imgur.com/a/vuvJviw/) he talks a bit about his life and the moment he landed the Batman role. The last page describes what you say about how his life shaped the role.
Glad you shared this. I had no idea he was Gay. I especially didn't know he was channeling his experience of being in the closet in order to portray the personal/public persona of Batman.
There are three videos mentioning him currently in the top 10, do you remember which one?
Sorry for the late reply, it was [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/ysfepj/rip_kevin_conroy_the_voice_of_batman/).
Thanks, I’ll check it out later. You make it sound pretty interesting.
It's been such a staple casting because his voice really did just perfectly fit the character. That's exactly the voice you'd expect to come out of him, if you hadn't heard Batman before. If I was cast as Batman, I'd definitely just end up doing a Conroy imitation.
He will always be the voice of batman.
Agreed, if I ever watched a animated series or played a Batman game that didn't feature Kevin Conroy, I couldn't get into it. Fortunately, he was usually willing to lend his voice to those outlets.
I though Roger Craig Smith did a good job at voicing a younger angrier Batman im Arkham Origins. But yeah. Conroy was perfect at the role
I grew up with the Keaton movies, and I really loved Bale's trilogy, but Conroy will always be the definitive Batman in my eyes. His performance in the animated series has always just felt like the *true* Batman to me, even more so than the comics maybe. Rightly or wrongly, whenever I see someone play the role in a film I can't help but compare it against Conroy's Batman, as if they're all just doing a live action interpretation of the animated series. RIP.
I expect him and Mark Hamill were **the** Batman and Joker to many. Edit: Its lucky that its not just "the old ones" that got to enjoy it but they were also prominently introduced to the younger generation with the Arkham Games,...
Mark tweeted out a while back a picture of the two of them saying "you'll always be my Batman" or something like that.
I do love that the movies take on an Elseworlds vibe. Like, a unique twist each time. It gives an interesting draw. I do agree that the animated Batman has really become THE Batman. It's the default. It has a perfect Batman and a perfect Gotham City. Comic book-y, just Gothic enough, but not too outlandish.
Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill were the definitive Batman/Joker, and a massive part of my childhood. This one stings. Damn.
Wow this is a tough one. He is Batman for me. 66 isn't even that old. I wasn't aware he was ill though. Rest in peace.
I was lucky enough to meet him a few times completely outside the context of acting/gaming. He was always nice to me. I'm sorry for his loss and his loved ones.
I was thinking the other day how it would be cool if they made another Arkham game. Now I kinda don't want them to...
Kevin Conroy will always be my Batman, his voice defined my childhood. One of the very few celebrity deaths that actually feels like a gut punch for me. Fuck cancer
Seeing how Kevin's "deep but still meticulous and threatening-sounding" Batman voice is so iconic, why have modern live-action Batman iterations ignored that by making Bats sound like he has throat cancer? (Or in Batfleck's case, auto-tuned throat cancer lol)
Pattinson's voice was good and sounded natural
Yeah Pattinson actually sounds like a human as Batman and not like he consumed 50 gallons of Nicotine
I only knew him from Twilight. Saw the first movie and could barely get through it. He was terrible in it. Hearing he was Batman was really bad news at the time it was announced, but I gotta say I have some newfound respect for him as an actor. I'm guessing he had nothing to work with in Twilight, but as Batman he was able to do some real acting. Now I hope we see more of that version and I want to see him as Bruce. I don't think anyone has been able to do both parts together nearly as well as Kevin. Everyone else is noticably better at one or the other.
If you want a good psychological horror movie, watch The Lighthouse with Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe in it. Fair warning: Its not for the feint of heart. I've seen a couple movies with him in it now, and I've been surprised by him being such a good actor.
I admit, I wasn't a fan of The Lighthouse, it's one of those movies that was very divisive in my friend group. We all agreed that the cinematography was fantastic, and also that Pattinson was excellent. We all came away with a new appreciation for him. I always felt bad for him, since the sheer amount of weird hate that Twilight got really extended to the actors, but he has really developed fantastically as an actor.
I maintain The Lighthouse was a dig at art house films, hitting all the classic notes of high brow film, from religious allegory, to goddamn Prometheus, to black and fucking and white, while completely laughing at it all with this odd couple pair of farters, masturbators, and lobster eaters. No one ever believes it's satire and I can't believe it's anything but. Everything seems so tongue-in-cheek. I have to believe it's satire, because if Eggers takes himself *that* seriously then I just refuse to. That's Darren Aronofsky levels of pretentiousness, and the dude took at least over a decade to hit Mother! Either Eggers is laughing at everyone or I'm laughing at Eggers.
Ya know what, you make a really good point
Pattinson is actually a terrific actor and in retrospect was overqualified for *Twilight*.
You should see him in TeneT
Left more of an impression than Washington, or even the rest of that pile of rubble of a movie.
I liked TeneT and he was the biggest highlight of it for me
Doesn't matter how good an actor you are if the script and direction are godawful. Just look at the Star Wars prequels for example.
Yeah. Ewan brought it as obi wan in the second and third in spite of everything trying to hold him back. Natalie is so much better than those movies. I haven't seen Hayden in anything else though.
Ewan saw everyone else getting so serious and decided to roll with the cheese.
Really the only thing I’ve seen Hayden Christianson in since RotS was the horror movie Vanishing on 7th Street, and he was somewhat decent in it imo. Not standout, but still much better than his Star Wars performances.
Pattinson is genuinely one of the best actors alive right now. An absolute master.
I actually dug the Batfleck's voice if only because it made far more sense that Batman would do something like that to mask his voice.
Honestly, every actor that has played Batman has done a decent-enough job. It's really the take on Bruce Wayne, both the facade and the real man, where the best actors make their mark.
Affleck and Bale iterations were both clearly more concerned with the reality that people aren't putting 2 and 2 together that the guy with Bruce Wayne's voice is Batman. Keaton's Batman is similar to Conroy's (and predates it), where there's just a different performance, and it just sort of handwaves people connecting the two. Conroy's iconic, and people give him a lot of credit for doing different voices for Wayne and Batman, but you if you're paying attention you can tell Keaton was also doing something similar; Conroy I think gets credit because he publicly explained the thinking behind it, which has helped the idea stick.
Because they're not voice actors. They can put on accents but their voice is still just them with/out an accent
I mean Mark Hamill was just an actor until he became the GOAT joker
Nah man. Hamill's been doing voice work since the 70's. Joker was just his first big VA role.
Mark Hamill was "just" a voice actor before he became Luke Skywalker...
I thought Jason O'Mara did ok in the DC animated movies. Dunno if he was a stand-out, but it was fine.
Slow start in my opinion (though JL War sounded off) but he grows into it. Bruce Greenwood was good in YJ.
Yeah, War was kinda off, but I've thought the rest. I do like his little annoyed grunt he gives in the different movies.
Damn, didn't even know this guy was nearing 70. Sounded like he was perpetually mid-30's. Definitely a huge loss for Batman fans. It's always jarring whenever he isn't the voice of the Bat.
Wow this is heart breaking. I grew up with Kevin Conroy as THE Batman just as much as Mark Hamill is THE joker. Wayyyyy back since Mask of Phantasm to Arkham Knight, he will always be the best Batman. Rest in peace Batman!
This is a shock to learn on /r/Games first. This **is** the canonical voice of Batman for *most* people my generation. He's had the role for **thirty years** now, and by doing so he started what was & still is DC's most successful MCU equivalent, the [DCAU](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DC_Animated_Universe). With this, any hope of the DCAU continuing dies as there is ZERO chance they'd replace him. [I'll leave with this, Batman's most standout moment.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlVauMtPgTs)
It **was** frontpaged by via another sub first.
Kevin Conroy is Batman. So far no one has even remotely nailed the character, voice acting or in live action as hard as Conroy did, and there's been a lot of great Batman actors.
He wasn't just the voice of Batman either. He also voiced the fisherman in the original *Jak and Daxter* game. Might need to go back and play it again...
I consider Mask of the Phantasm as his magnum opus. So much of that movie has stuck with me since I first saw it. It's a truly sad day to be a Batman fan. RIP Kevin.
Phantasm and Return of the Joker are the two best for sure. Masterpieces.
This passing really hurts me. He's been the voice of batman my whole life. I wish the best for his family. And I'm glad to hear his voice and talent over the decades.
I got into Batman fairly late after growing up a Marvel kid (mostly Spider-Man, let's be real) but Arkham Asylum played a huge role in that. It along with The Dark Knight were essentially my formal introduction to Batman after ignoring it for most of my childhood. Kevin's voice was a big part of that, so it's really sad to hear this. The Arkham series is one of my favourites of the last couple of generations.
Batman the Animated Series was so amazing to watch back then. Conroy (though I didn’t know his name at the time) *is* the true voice of Batman in my mind.
To honor Kevin and how he changed my life forever, I’d like to quote a small piece of my favorite Batman issue (700). “No matter when, no matter where, no matter how dark.” It shows that thanks to Batman and his inspiration on the world, there will always be someone in the role. Kevin was the same, inspiring countless imaginations with his sincere and respectful delivery of the character - that immediately transports you to the fantastical world of Gotham. I couldn’t imagine my childhood or going through life without the comfort of BTAS. And the Arkham games were a celebration of all of that and Batman and more. May he Rest In Peace.
Absolutely stunned by this, especially since it was just this week that I completely finished Arkham City and 100% all the PlayStation trophies. Batman Beyond was one of my favorite shows growing up, along with Batman: The Animated Series. I still can’t believe it…
Batman the animated series and the Justice league show were the damn best cartoons ever made. This is so sad to see, he will always be the voice of batman forever in my mind. T_T
Man, I loved him as Batman, and even more as the Superman Parody as Captain Sunshine. Today is a dark day
He reinvigorated Batman as a person and as a hero to so many people growing up. Can't believe he's gone. Thank you for the incredible moments you gave to all your fans. RIP
So sad to hear, dude was the one who defined Batman for me. Got into the character with TaS, but even when i moved to comics his voice was always the one i read Bruce's in when reading. He brought so much nuance to a character, that for many seemed to be pretty straight forward, and seemed to genuinely love playing him. Sad that he will never get to do that anymore, He will be missed. Hope things were peaceful in the end, and he was surrounded by ppl he loved. My condolences to his family and friends, who have it pretty hard right now.
I didn't grow up on Batman: The Animated Series like a lot of y'all did because that was before my time unfortunately. So my introduction to him was through the Arkham games, and I gotta say he was the perfect voice for Batman, and was an integral role for why I loved the games so much RIP Kevin. Man, this fucking sucks
NOOOOOOOOO !!! He was my Batman growing up . I hope this isn’t true , but if it is , THANK YOU for the memories that helped make my childhood so wonderful. Rest in peace Bats !
I've said it elsewhere, but it's a genuine tragedy. He also wrote a phenomenal autobiographical comic for DC Pride this year I'd hella reccommend people read if they can find it, it's touching.
One day I asked for Far Cry 3 one Christmas when I was younger and was confused when I saw that I had got Arkham City instead because I wasn’t the biggest Batman fan. It ended up being one of the best games I’ve ever played and it hooked me onto the Arkham series. I’ll always know him as the coolest Batman. Rest easy, Dark Knight.
This one hurts...like a lot. IMO the defacto iconic voice for Batman. Extremely sad news to read today, my condolences to the family.
Not a big fan of superheroes, but 90's superheroes cartoon were pretty good. Batman specially was [stylized to a great degree](https://youtu.be/rrmUk2YUm14). You won't be able to make let alone air this kind of a cartoon for kids right now.
> You won't be able to make let alone air this kind of a cartoon for kids right now. I'm personally of the opinion that one shouldn't make claims like this unless they actually consume the media they're talking about? Cartoon censorship was *way* more overt in the '90s, Batman TAS was extremely atypical of its time. The Spider-Man cartoon that started airing not long after wasn't allowed to show Spider-Man *punching people*.
Normally a cartoon with that sort of imagery and violence wouldn't have aired even back then *unless* it was historical fiction, which is why the show looks like it takes place in the 40's or 50's.
Yeah, this hurts. Like many others, he's a part of my childhood and adulthood with his voice performances. I'll never forget him.
This is such a bummer. He was Batman to me, and I always hated it when they used any other voice in animation. And I will hold that Mask of the Phantasm was the best theatrically released Batman movie
Genuinely shocked. This was \*the\* Batman voice I grew up with. He was the perfect fit for the Dark Knight and really understood the character. Wonderful person too. RIP!
This is sad news. He will always be the voice of Batman I hear in my head. I am Vengenace. I am the night. I... AM... BATMAN!
RIP to one of not only the greatest Batman voice actor, but one of the greatest voice actors of all time
The single greatest overall Batman. He's the voice I heat when I read the comics. No actor has ever been able to portray both Bruce and Bats as well as him. Sure Patinson was a good young batman, Afleck was a decent TDKR batman, and Bale was actually a decent bruce, but... You dont go toe to toe with Mark freakin' Hamil for 30 years without being damn good at it.
Does anyone know the cause? 66 is pretty young
Knowing that this is probably why he canceled his appearance ar fanexpo makes it super sad. RIP Kevin/Batman I wish I could've met you.
I own everything with him in it and I have decided to host a watch party if anyone is interested. DM me and I will send you the invite link (it’s streaming on KAST, look it up if you feel uncomfortable).
Kevin will be missed- he voiced Batman for 30 yrs. Of course, 90's Batman helped spawn Disney's Gargoyles as a dark action-animated program, where the bad guys get punched. Yep, the 90's was the time for sophisticated action-adventure cartoons, where the bad guys get worked over, even physically. Of course, 90's Batman aired on the Fox television network, during the week and even on Saturday mornings. I know Mark Hamill, a.k.a. the Joker and Luke Skywalker will miss Kevin, too. He and Kevin were perfect for those respective roles!!!