When it comes to Batman voice actors, Kevin Conroy is the reigning champion. Among fans, it's uncontested that he's the best Batman voice actor, and he's without a doubt the most prolific. Since first voicing the Dark Knight on Batman: The Animated Series, Conroy reprised the role throughout the DCAU and other unrelated films, tv series, and video games.

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However, before and after Conroy, there have been plenty of voice actors who've played Batman well in their own right. With how acclaimed Conroy's take is, these other voice actors can sometimes be neglected for the praise they deserve. Let's give them their due.

10 Jensen Ackles In The Long Halloween

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In the most recent animated DC Film, Jensen Ackles graduated from Robin to Batman. Most probably know Ackles from his role as Dean Winchester on Supernatural, but he also voiced Jason Todd in Batman: Under The Red Hood. It's a stellar vocal performance, selling the emotion needed for the film's climax and walking the line between cocky and authoritative throughout much of what comes before. Ackles brings that same quality to a younger, more untested Batman in both parts of The Long Halloween.

9 Jason O'Mara In The DC Animated Movie Universe

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One of the longest tenures for a Batman voice actor (albeit still a distant second to Conroy) is Jason O'Mara. Between 2014 and 2020, DC moved away from standalone adaptations towards a shared universe model, with the films taking the aesthetics and story beats of the concurrent New 52. O'Mara debuted as Batman in Justice League: War and reprised the role 10 times over, culminating in Justice League Dark: Apokolips War. O'Mara grew into the part, and his restrained delivery was used to creepy effect for the Batman enslaved by Darkseid in Apokolips War.

8 Rino Romano In The Batman

Batman in The Batman 2004 Series

The Batman was made under the shadow of BTAS, and it set out to be consciously different from that series in order to stand apart. Conroy wasn't cast, making The Batman the first animated DC production where he hadn't voiced Batman since 1992.

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Instead, it was Rino Romano. The Batman featured a younger taker on the Caped Crusader; Romano had previously enjoyed a short tenure as Spider-Man, the archetypal "young superhero" on Spider-Man Unlimited. Indeed, his softer voice was a good fit for the series' characterization.

7 Jeremy Sisto In Justice League: The New Frontier

Jeremy Sisto as Batman in Justcice League The New Frontier

Many of the animated DC movies use celebrity voice actors. Justice League: The New Frontier, an animated adaptation of Darwyn Cooke's magnum opus, had one in every main role, including Law & Order star Jeremy Sisto as Batman. While Sisto is only one of an ensemble and thus doesn't get as much screen time as other Batmen. Still, the hushed, chilling tone of his threat to Martian Manhunter ("I have a $70,000 sliver of a radioactive meteor to stop the one from Metropolis. All I need for you is a penny for a book of matches") alone earns Sisto a place on this list.

6 Troy Baker In Telltale's Batman And Lego Batman Shorts

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Voice acting is the most limited type of performing - the only thing an actor has to inform their character and the audience is their voice. This means you need range to succeed, and Troy Baker has plenty of it; he's one of the actors to play both Batman and the Joker. In the former role, Baker debuted as Batman in DC Super Heroes Unite, an animated film based on LEGO's DC line. He reprised the role in several more similar shorts before getting a chance to voice a more traditional, serious Batman in Telltale Studios' Batman video game series.

5 Roger Craig Smith In Arkham Origins And Superman: Red Son

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Kevin Conroy voiced Batman in the first two Arkham games, but for prequel Arkham Origins, the casting directors wanted a younger voice for an angrier, less weathered Batman. They picked Roger Craig Smith, a prolific video game voice actor with a resume including Chris Redfield and Ezio Auditore. Smith did a good job sounding like Conroy without straight-up emulating him. While Conroy plays a Batman who's in control of every situation and knows it, Smith plays a rougher Dark Knight who wants everyone to know he's in control.

4 Will Arnett In The Lego (Batman) Movie

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Fans sometimes take Batman a little too seriously. The Lego Movie and its spin-off, The Lego Batman Movie, are clearly telling the fans they need to lighten up a bit, even if the parody remains an affectionate one. For both of these movies, famed comedy actor Will Arnett (Arrested Development, Bojack Horseman) is the voice of Batman. Arnett's raspy choice of voice comes off as a parody of Christian Bale's Batman, but his Batman's uptightness and the sincerity of his line delivery rival Adam West.

3 Peter Weller In The Dark Knight Returns

 

One of the most famous of all Batman stories is Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns. The mini-series depicts an older, more brutal Batman returning to active duty to repair the damage wrought on Gotham during his absence. It's very much of the moment (1986), positioning Batman against the politics and zeitgeist of Reagan's America.

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Who better than to voice Miller's Dark Knight than Robocop himself, Peter Weller. Weller's deep, aged voice was perfect for reciting Miller's iconic lines. Written to emulate the narration of hardboiled pulp, not every actor could sell Miller's dialogue, but Weller did so and then some.

2 Diedrich Bader In The Brave & The Bold And Harley Quinn

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Batman: The Brave And The Bold was named in tribute to the classic team-up comic of the same name, and featured Batman partnering up with heroes from every corner of the DC universe from episode to episode. As such, the series was unafraid to branch out into goofy characters and adopted a more lighthearted tone than past Batman shows.

Batman himself was voiced by Diedrich Bader. There's no other way to describe Bader's Batman than as the heir to Adam West; the show itself may be lighthearted and self-aware, but Bader plays a straight man to the end.  He even gives a good dramatic performance in "Chill Of The Night" when Batman confronts his parents' killer. In a great bit of casting, Harley Quinn recast Bader for its Batman. The series is aimed at an adult audience, but it has a similarly tongue-in-cheek and Bader's just as good delivering raunchier, more ironic humor.

1 Bruce Greenwood In Under The Red Hood And Young Justice

 

Bruce Greenwood played Batman in the animated film Under The Red Hood and delivered a stunning, solemn performance rivaling Conroy's best. Under The Red Hood's Batman is lower than he's been in any film beforehand, still torn up inside by guilt at failing to save his son. In the film's climax, when the revenant Jason asks Batman why he's never killed the Joker, even to avenge him, Greenwood delivers a monologue of restrained rage and regret: "It'd be too damned easy. All I've ever wanted to do is kill him. A day doesn't go by that I don't think about subjecting him to every horrendous torture he's dealt out to others, and then... end him. But if I do that, if I allow myself to go down into that place... I'll never come back."

Greenwood is the most paternal Batman, so it's fitting that he reprised the role on Young Justice, a series focusing on DC's teen heroes where Batman mostly shows up in his capacity as Robin's mentor.

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