The Batman General News & Discussion Thread - Part 2

[Boom]

He and his Batman are immortalized for all recorded time.

 

[OnLeatherWings]

Generally, I'm not one to get actually upset at celebrity deaths. I'll be bummed, I'll feel empathy - but I won't cry.

This one did it, friends.

I'm genuinely upset and my inner child is left wounded. Kevin Conroy is likely the main reason I fell in love Batman; why I feel for this character, why he is so beloved by many in my generation and many more. He is the one who made Batman feel like a complete character in TV and film and gave him more depth than West and Keaton managed to do so. Conroy's depth of performance added invaluable emotional weight and nuance - and he did it and made it 'cool' long before Bale's Batman had began.

He has voiced this character and breathed life into this role for over 30 years - and between the animation, animated films, video games, and even on live action TV - this man nurtured this character, loved it, never felt resentful towards his ties to it, and embraced the fanbase that looked up to him as THE Batman.

And for all of his work playing Batman in the tangible world - that body of work is dwarfed by countless times he's voiced the character in the heads of countless readers of Batman because, to many of us, when we read Batman - it's Conroy's voice and cadence that brings life to the art and writing. His presence spread onto the pages of the source material he so loved and was inspired by.

It should never be understated that for queer fans like me to know that the most fan beloved Batman was played by an openly gay actor - it was not only beautiful to have a Batman so definitive, but by a man who was our first gay icon. He was a hero to me not just because he was Batman, but because he reminded me that you can be queer and a hero, too. In a time where queer characters were typically toxically villainous.

Lest we forget what his growth as a star did to legitimize and give respect to the underappreciated world of voice acting.

Kevin is so intrinsically embedded into all things Batman that he will never be separated from it, and we, the fans will ensure he never can be.

Myself and many other Batman fans haven't known a world of Batman to exist without him in it continuing to work, and the idea of him being absent going forward is as tragically inconceivable as a world without heroes, at all.

Kevin Conroy was the voice of my childhood.
Kevin Conroy was the Batman I followed into adulthood.

Kevin Conroy was Batman.
And Batman died today.

I'm heartbroken.

 

[Kane52630]

I'm gonna marathon some my favorite Batman TAS episodes...

 

[TheSmoothKnight]

Our beloved Kevin Conroy that was the definitive Batman for all of our childhoods has sadly passed away.

Dang...

 

[Rick190293]

This sucks on every level possible. I’m shocked. The true Batman, the best of all time. May he rest in peace

 

[antsman41]

I hope Reeves names a character "Conroy" for Batman 2.

 

[Gothamsknight]

This honestly just made this year even worse for me. What a horrible day and a horrible loss.

 

[BatLobster]

As someone who was living in NYC at the time of 9/11, this story about Conroy always struck a chord with me and said a lot about both the type of guy he was and the joy that he brought to people of all ages.

Kevin Conroy’s 9/11 story proves why he was the greatest Batman

He and his Batman are immortalized for all recorded time.

He will be celebrated by fans a very, very long time from now, no way around it. He's gone far too soon, but at least he went knowing he had locked in one hell of a legacy and the eternal adoration of generations of fans.

 

[Awest66]

He was voicing Batman for longer than I've been alive, I just can't imagine that will never hear him again. He was a fixture of my childhood, the standard by which all other incarnations of the character are judged, and I'm still processing this.

RIP the true legend.

 

[GreenKToo]

 

[The Lazarus Pit]

I don’t care who played him before or who will play him after. Kevin Conroy is Batman. No one will ever come close.

RIP to an absolute legend. THE Dark Knight.

 

[GothamCity]

Obviously was the best animated Batman, watched that show alot of times.

 

[The Lazarus Pit]

IMO I think it goes beyond that. He embodied the greatest iteration of the character we’ve ever seen. He’s the GOAT Batman actor. May he RIP.

 

[OnLeatherWings]

I never would've predicted that the number '66 would ever become so tragic, to myself as a lifelong Batman fan.

 

[TheSmoothKnight]

 

[Boom]

****ing Legend.

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

A beautiful piece by 'WhyNotStuff' on Twitter.

 

[Awest66]

A beautiful piece by 'WhyNotStuff' on Twitter.

This hits so hard. He was a fixture of my childhood.

 

[Mindreaper21]

A beautiful piece by 'WhyNotStuff' on Twitter.

Wow…This hits me right in my soul. I’m still in shock.

 

[Kane52630]

Anybody got a few grand to spend on a hyper realistic Batman figure?

1:3 Bruce Wayne of The Batman : JND STUDIOS

 

[TheSmoothKnight]

David Zaslav on Warner Bros. Discovery, James Gunn DC Films Roadmap – The Hollywood Reporter




Thank goodness. Rob should be the main Batman.

 

[Boom]

This is going to fill me with so much anxiety. If Pattinson's up for playing Batman in the bigger DCU, by all means. Just leave Reeves and his films alone.

EDIT: Maybe Zaslav meant that there'd be a diverse DC slate and it wouldn't just be a bunch of Batman films. Maybe I'm misreading his comment.

 

[Boom]

“hugely undervalued asset. Disney did a wonderful job with Marvel. But if you looked at Marvel and DC ten years ago, you would have said DC is as good or better. But Marvel is a connected universe. It has a ‘bible.’ The key was having one person following everything. All of Marvel is one place. You don’t wake up and find that there has been a Batman TV show someplace.”

David Zaslav On DC Rising, Ad Market Tanking, New Streaming Playbook – Deadline

Yep, I'm worried.

 

[emielaen]

Still don’t see Gunn, as the creative head, forcing one kind of style or tone or vision on to everything. He’s on record saying the genre is boring because it’s too similar.

 

[DlAMONDZ]

He said that before being hired by Zaslav