The Arkham Games Were A Rude Awakening For Kevin Conroy After Batman: The Animated Series
After decades of different interpretations, no one has come close to becoming synonymous with Batman as Kevin Conroy did during his long and varied tenure. Conroy lent his voice acting talents to a number of genre-defining projects across several mediums. Although he became the definitive version of the character in "Batman: The Animated Series," his subsequent works further cemented his legacy — especially the "Batman: Arkham" video game trilogy. For the Rocksteady-produced franchise, the voice actor would delve into an entirely new world to deliver audiences another unforgettable Batman. However, the transition between projects was not without its difficulties.
The "Arkham" game series introduced Conroy to a new generation of fans, who joined him behind the Dark Knight's cowl in a unique, immersive experience. Not just an achievement in superhero storytelling, the trilogy is also considered part of the upper echelon of video games in general ("Arkham City" is a personal all-time favorite).
In the acclaimed trilogy, Conroy was put in a new environment drastically different from the one audiences were used to hearing him in. The success of "Batman: The Animated Series" is now a tale as old as time, but the leap from a scripted series to a video game was a drastic change of pace for Conroy when the "Arkham" trilogy came around.
'What the f*** do they want me to say!?'
In an interview with Popcorn & Shield, Kevin Conroy discussed the unique and collaborative nature of "Batman: The Animated Series" in comparison to his work on "Batman: Arkham" 20 years later. Recording for the television series, Conroy said, was "so exciting, it's such an electric atmosphere." By contrast, the experience of recording for the "Arkham" games was exhausting and, due to the need for clean audio of each individual voice, done in isolation:
"You do four hours a day alone, in a booth, in a vacuum, creating the character, keeping the character's voice alive, and then creating the situation for each line, and then they want it three times. You know, 'Give it to us angry! Oh, keep that anger and give it to us with a little irony! Oh, we love the anger and we love the irony, now just sweeten it with a little bit of love.' By the time you get out of there you're pulling out your hair, you're going, 'What the f*** do they want me to say!?' So you do that for four hours, and then you get an hour for lunch, and then you do four hours more! And that goes on for a week, just you."
Conroy's efforts were well worth it in the end, if you ask this longtime Batman fan. Moreover, at least his experience doing the video games let him see "Batman: TAS" from a new perspective. The animated series was special: a rare moment when an adaptation helped define the character for decades to come. But the "Arkham" games have their own identity that made the hard work Conroy put into it a dream come true for fans. Players were able to be the Batman, including his skills as the World's Great Detective, all while listening to the definitive voice of the character.
Being the Batman
Kevin Conroy described the extensive process of recording for the "Batman: Arkham" trilogy — using the example of 37,000 lines of dialogue recorded over two years for "Arkham Knight" — which was necessary to accommodate how the video game naturally adjusts the central character to the player's experience. Although every installment has a set of cinematic cutscenes, Batman also interacts with his environment as the player moves through a dense, free-roaming world. Said environment was often Arkham Asylum, a location that is now featured in a myriad of modern Batman-led projects. The video game series brought it to the mainstream, while Conroy ensured his legacy as the Dark Knight went far past "Batman: The Animated Series" in the most intimate way possible.
Despite the often frustrating experience of recording all that dialogue, Conroy had plenty of praise for the finished product, telling Flickering Myth:
"It takes years to build the game. Just to keep the character fresh and to stay awake ... it's not why you become an actor, to be honest. But it's a fascinating challenge to have. The result is so incredible. To be able to watch people play it. They're really technical marvels."
The "Arkham" trilogy has its own place in the hierarchy of "Batman" adaptations. "The Animated Series" is the benchmark for the superhero genre, but the video game series opened the doors for audiences to become the Caped Crusader. Conroy returning for the video game franchise (three separate times!) despite the grueling process pretty much sums up his vital contribution to Batman's history.