Even before the epic five-part crossover hit The CW, Arrowverse fans knew that "Crisis on Infinite Earths" would have some major guest appearances. One of the most exciting for DC fans is that of Kevin Conroy, the man who gave voice to an older, broken, retired Batman/Bruce Wayne in Batman Beyond among other, extensive work he's done with the character. Conroy's appearance in "Crisis" as Bruce Wayne marks the first time the actor has taken on the character live-action and tonight, in the crossover's second hour, fans finally got to see him in action -- and they have a lot to say about it.
Spoilers for tonight's episode of Batwoman, "Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part 2," below.
Tonight's portion of the crossover saw Supergirl/Kara Danvers (Melissa Benoist) and Batwoman/Kate Kane (Ruby Rose) head off into the remaining multiverse to visit a version of Bruce Wayne in their search for the Paragon of Courage. When Kara and Kate arrive, they are surprised to find a much older Bruce (Conroy) who is confined to a robotic exoskeleton that allows him to move. It's a shock to be sure, but there are more surprises in store. On this world, Kate died five years previously but more shocking than that is the fact that this world's Bruce has pretty much gone full villain. This Bruce murdered many of his enemies -- including his world's Superman.
And the dark turn doesn't end there. When Kara reveals this to Kate, Bruce attacks Kara with Kryptonite. Kate steps in and defends her friend, but this dark, evil version of Bruce is killed in the process. The idea of this Bruce being very dark is one that Conroy himself teased last month, telling Entertainment Weekly that this version is darker in a way that is quite different from anything he did on Batman Beyond.
"In this, I explore a lot of [the] dark corners of Bruce Wayne," Conroy said. "But they're different than the ones I explored on Batman Beyond."
Even with Conroy having teased these darker corners, fans were stunned at pretty much everything about Conroy's Bruce Wayne turn. Fans were, of course, excited to see him bring the character to life, but were sad that he didn't actually suit up as Batman -- and horrified at his evil turn as well as his surprising death. You can read on to see how fans reacted to this surprising take and be sure to leave us your own in the comments below.
"Crisis on Infinite Earths" kicks off on Sunday, December 8 at 8/7c on Supergirl, runs through a Monday episode of Batwoman and continues on Tuesday on The Flash. The event will then pause on a midseason cliffhanger to go on hiatus for the holidays only to return on Tuesday, January 14 with the midseason premiere of Arrow and a "special episode" of DC's Legends of Tomorrow which will debut its fifth season a week later on Tuesday, January 21. In addition to the official episodes of "Crisis," Black Lightning's midseason finale on Monday, December 9 will have an unofficial "Crisis" tie-in.