Conroy’s grave voice tells the full story.īut there have been other Batman stories that allowed Conroy to tackle a more subtle version of the “Batman confronts his mortality” trope. There’s so much about the thoughts, feelings and motivations of this Bruce Wayne that never has to be explicitly stated in the scripts. ![]() This Bruce is impatient and short-tempered - a man still coming to terms with the fact that he can’t be the one patrolling the streets every night. In Beyond, Conroys voice carries a far more gravelly timbre. Conroy’s performance gives life to the turmoil of emotions quietly bubbling beneath the cape and cowl.Ĭonroy quickly came to embody this aged, reclusive Bruce Wayne every bit as much as he did the youthful, compassionate hero of BTAS. Once again, Batman takes no pride in saving his city or finally being rid of his archenemy, but simply mourns the fact that he couldn’t save a man far beyond salvation. It’s Joker who ultimately seals his own fate when he accidentally destroys Batman’s antidote. Batman seems to wrestle with the question of whether to save his foe or let Gotham finally be free of the Joker, but ultimately reveals he couldn’t condemn someone even as twisted as Joker to death. 2011’s Batman: Arkham City ends on a haunting note, as Joker finally overplays his hand and succumbs to his terminal illness. In “Perchance to Dream,” Batman rages at the Mad Hatter after experiencing a dream world where his parents still lived, only to realize his nemesis was willing to give him paradise if it meant leaving Tetch free to pursue his dreams.Ĭonroy’s Batman is defined by his relationships with these twisted misfits, and the fact that he shows such compassion for them no matter how many death traps and psychological gauntlets he endures. “Two Face Part II” ends with the iconic shot of Bruce flipping Harvey Dent’s disfigured coin into the fountain, a reminder of the friendship that was destroyed. So many episodes over the course of the series hinge on those deep, empathic connections between Batman and his foes. Even after ultimately defeating Freeze with the power of chicken soup, Batman doesn’t revel in his hardwon victory, but only reveals his disgust toward corrupt GothCorp CEO Ferris Boyle and the lives he destroyed. Bruce shows a deep pity for Victor Fries and his wife Nora. Obviously, Freeze’s voice actor Michael Ansara is doing the heaviest lifting in that episode, but Conroy also plays a vital part in helping redefine the Batman/Freeze dynamic. That episode is arguably the very best in the series, and notable for fundamentally transforming Mister Freeze from a crook with a high-tech gimmick to a profoundly tragic figure. “Heart of Ice” is an early example of this. There are many moments over the course of the series where echoes of Bruce bleed into Batman’s voice, especially when dealing with his enemies. They weren’t two people occupying the same body, but merely different shades of a person still struggling to make sense of a senseless tragedy decades after the fact. As Batman is doing his thing in the Batcave, Alfred fields a call from Lucius and Conroy’s voice immediately shoots up an octave and loses all its gruff edge as he mentally puts on a different mask.īut the real beauty of Conroy’s performance is that it was never simply about playing Bruce Wayne or Batman. There’s a scene in the episode “Heart of Steel Part 1” that captures this perfectly. Watching Batman: The Animated Series, it’s easy to see how even Bruce’s friends like Lucius Fox and Commissioner Gordon could remain blissfully unaware of his nighttime antics. ![]() One of the true hallmarks of Conroy’s Batman performance was his talent for drawing such a distinct line between his Bruce Wayne and Batman voices. 11 Images Batman’s Compassion for His Villains
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