Back in 1991, Kevin Conroy landed the role of The Dark Knight for the classic Batman: The Animated Series, and while Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney and Christian Bale have all hung up the cape and cowl since, he’s still lending his voice to the role of the Caped Crusader in Warner’s DC Universe Animated Original Movies line, not to mention the hugely popular Arkham video games. During a recent interview (via CBM), Conroy has spoken about his time as Batman, during which he’s established himself as the voice of Gotham’s Dark Knight Detective…
“I had absolutely no expectation that this job would turn into what it became. I started recording it in 1991, and it went on the air on Fox in 1992 as a prime time series. Then over 23 years, it just evolved from Batman: The Animated Series to The Adventures of Batman and Robin to Justice League and then Batman Beyond. Since then, there’s been the direct-to-video movies and now the Arkham games. He’s such an iconic character. He’s such a part of the American cultural landscape. It’s an amazing thing to be a part of and to have contributed to. Like all actors, you never know where your career is going to go. You plan for things and you train for things, but you never really know the direction you’re going to go. So I had no idea that I was going to end up doing voice acting for animation and that I’d be voicing Batman. But it wound up working really well. The show is just a really good marriage of what I brought to the character and what Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, Andrea Romano and all the people putting the series together were looking for.”
Conroy will next be heard as The Dark Knight in the direct-to-video movie Batman: Assault on Arkham which is due for release later this year.
Originally published February 26, 2014. Updated December 13, 2019.
