Recently, Kevin Conroy – the man who’s played Batman more than any other actor – gave his thoughts on the various live-action interpretations of the Dark Knight over the years. He decided that “Ben Affleck has probably gotten the best balance of the two,” which led to lots of headlines claiming that Affleck was Conroy’s favourite Batman. It turns out that he’d like to qualify that statement, though.
While talking with HeyUGuys, Conroy elaborated on his feelings towards the other actors who’ve suited up as the Caped Crusader. He explained that he likes all of them, with each one succeeding at either playing the Bruce Wayne or Batman persona.
“I said that and it’s been kind of amplified. I said it in addition to saying that everyone’s is valid and that I like Michael Keaton, I like Christian Bale…I like them all! The one thing Ben Affleck did better than anyone is he got the balance between Batman and Bruce Wayne.
There were two personas there and each of the actors have gotten one or the other really good; some people are better as Bruce Wayne, some are better as Batman. Ben Affleck, uniquely I think, was good at both and he did a really good job of it. I just think Ben Affleck got the balance of both characters better than any of them.”
When asked what he hoped to see explored in Matt Reeves’ The Batman, Conroy said that he wants the character’s internal battles and emotional trauma to be brought to the fore.
“I always loved seeing him in his internal struggles whenever he has to go within his own psyche and fight with himself. I love seeing those kinds of things and would love to see that in a live-action film but that would require a very specific kind of actor and director. That would be fabulous for me. Anything dealing with the eternal struggle from his childhood.”
Finally, the actor touched base on his thoughts on the newly-announced origins movie for the Joker that will recruit a new actor to play the Clown Prince of Crime. Unsurprisingly, Conroy hopes that his old pal Mark Hamill – who’s voiced the Joker for as long as Conroy has the Caped Crusader – gets the part.
“I think that will be a really interesting film. There is an episode of Batman: The Animated Series which dealt with that and told that story. It’s really interesting. I had not heard they were doing a film version of it but I hope that Mark [Hamill] gets it!”
Conroy’s latest stint as Batman is in the recently released Batman And Harley Quinn, out now on DVD, Blu-Ray and Digital HD.
