Kevin Conroy’s Crisis Bruce Wayne Will Be Darker Than Batman Beyond

When it comes to The CW‘s rapidly approaching “Crisis on Infinite Earths” Arrowverse crossover event there is a lot to get excited about. Not only is the five-night epic event bringing to life one of the most beloved and definitive comic book event series of all-time, but it’s bringing to the Arrowverse an impressive roster of talent who has appeared as different iconic DC characters across different shows, media, and time. That includes the appearance of Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne in the mega event, marking the first time the actor who has given Batman his iconic voice in various animated and video game projects over the years will appear in the role live-action. It’s a thrilling prospect for fans and it sounds like when we get to see Conroy’s physical take on the character, we’ll be getting a darker Bruce Wayne than what we’ve seen before in Batman Beyond.

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Conroy revealed that while Batman Beyond — which gave fans an older, broken, retired Batman/Bruce Wayne who broke his own personal vow by employing a gun after he was taken down by a heart attack — had a dark take on Bruce Wayne, his “Crisis” one will be darker in a different way.

“In this, I explore a lot of [the] dark corners of Bruce Wayne,” Conroy explained. “But they’re different than the ones I explored on Batman Beyond.”

In “Crisis” Conroy will be portraying the version of Bruce Wayne fans will know from Kingdom Come, the 1996 comic book miniseries from Mark Waid and Alex Ross. The series, set in the Elseworlds continuity, takes place in a future where Superman and the Justice League have abandoned their roles as superheroes. In this future, the years of crimefighting as Batman have taken their toll on Bruce’s body, forcing him to have an exoskeleton attached to his body in order to remain mobile. It will be interesting to see how Conroy brings that take on Bruce Wayne to life and the actor even went on to admit that playing Bruce Wayne in live action was a bit more of a challenge that he thought it would bu.

“It threw me at first,” Conroy said. “I never approached the character from that physicalized aspect. I always just inhabited him with my voice. When you do that in a recording studio, it’s a very intimate experience and you’re sort of living in your imagination. You do it with your eyes closed and you’re in this other world, and you have Mark Hamill feeding you all the energy you [need], and the other actors because we always recorded together in the booths. To actually be on set, in the physical world, and to be walking as the character and inhabiting the character in three dimensions, it was a real transition for me. It did take a while to get used to, I have to admit. I was surprised because I know the character so well.”

Conroy is just one of a lengthy list of cameo appearance for “Crisis on Infinite Earths”. Others include Smallville‘s Tom Welling and Erica Durance, Black Lightning‘s Cress Williams, Stargirl‘s Brec Bassinger, Batman‘s Bruce Ward and many more.

“Crisis on Infinite Earths” will begin with Supergirl on Sunday, December 8 at 8/7c on The CW.