Veteran Batman voice actor Kevin Conroy, who will be making the jump to live-action in The CW's "Crisis on Infinite Earths," says his Kingdom Come-inspired take on the character won't be like Batman Beyond's older Bruce Wayne, as fans initially thought.
While both versions feature an older, grizzled Bruce Wayne, Conroy has confirmed that they explore two very different sides of the character. "In this, I explore a lot of [the] dark corners of Bruce Wayne," he told EW. "But they're different than the ones I explored on Batman Beyond."
According to Conroy, playing a live-action version of the character he'd been voicing for so many years was an opportunity he "jumped at."
"There's a real loyalty among the [Batman: The Animated Series] fanbase and an interest in seeing me do it on camera as well," he said. "So I think they thought this was an opportunity to take advantage of that."
According to executive producer Marc Guggenheim, Legends of Tomorrow showrunner and animated series fan Keto Shimizu was responsible for the idea of casting Conroy after pointing out that he was the right age for the role. "We reached out to Kevin and he couldn't have been more lovely and more game for it."
"Crisis on Infinite Earths" begins Sunday, Dec. 8 on Supergirl, then continues in Batwoman on Monday, Dec. 9, and then picks up in The Flash on Tuesday, Dec. 10. After a winter hiatus, the crossover concludes on Tuesday, Jan. 14 on both Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow.