Kevin Conroy's Legacy And The Future Of DC Animation

[-batmat-]

But again I'll say, are we digressing a bit too much from the OT? Am I being too subtle?

Yeah sorry, but it sure raised my eyebrow and wanted to comment about it. It's a good debate.
Tim can't be less than 12 in Sins of the Father, and that's pushing it.
Why does it have to be 5/6 years from TNBA to ROTJ? Isn't that a lot? What supports this?

 

[Fone Bone]

Bruce Timm always claimed events in the DCAU ran in "Peanuts-Time" so the characters didn't really age. Putting literal years between events was never the DCAU's intention. Batman Beyond sort of skirted around these rules, but not consistently (the timeframe of The Zeta Project suggests 40 years in the future while b.t. wanted 50) but pinning down ages and exact timeframes works against Peanuts-Time. My DCAU timeline is a combo moving timeline also using Peanuts-Time, simply listing events in order, with no value of when they occur or the time between events.

Fone Bone's Updated, Definitive, Unofficial, DC Animated Universe Timeline (MAJOR SPOILERS)

DC Animated Universe Timeline A timeline of events that happened in the DCAU in the order in which they happened. Some notes about this timeline. 1. This timeline only consists of events that happened in the regular DCAU timeline. Erased timelines and alternate universes are only noted if...

animesuperhero.com

Some people will grouse that my timeline is very cursory and doesn't go too in-depth, but that's why I like it. It's not too intimidating for newbs. I like the idea that you can essentially read the bullet points of the entire DCAU in under half an hour.

On the thread's topic, I am very grateful people liked what I had to say about Kevin Conroy's legacy. I am going to miss him and the DCAU very much.

 

[Yojimbo]

Ever since the news of his passing, I've just been in a fog unable to really gather my thoughts for days. I think Kevin Conroy will continue to and always be the standard that which fans use as their metric for does this new Batman voice pass muster and how much they will grouse about it online, lol. But I think, more importantly Conroy was always there for his fans and from what I've seen over the decades with convention coverage online, he loved his fans like they were his own family and always loved talking with them even if it was 5 minutes or 2 hours. And he was always a fount of life experiences, sage advice, acting anecdotes, voice record session stories, could always laugh even at his own expense, and overall just had a welcoming aura. He will be missed truly but there's a lot of people out there - family, friends, associates, fans who will hold up his memory and make sure he's never really gone.

What does his passing mean relative to the Timmverse/DCAU? I think it will keep trudging along as it's been the past few years. Conroy enjoyed an unprecendented role in DC animation that I doubt will be replicated. He reprised Batman several times since JLU ended as the voice in stand alone canon projects, reprised DCAU Batman many times (I mean just the same Batman from 1992 to the 2010s is a feat in itself, got to play an AU Bruce in live action, got to voice other DC characters like Thomas Wayne, Zeus in the Shazam short, Phantom Stranger and Batman of Zur-En-Arrh on Brave/Bold, John Grayson on The Batman... Will there be more DCAU or DCAU-adjacent stories? No doubt as we've seen with DC wanting to do comics like Batman: The Adventures Continue and Justice League Infinity. Can there be more DCAU DTVs after Conroy's passing? That's a tough question. The simple solution is to sideline Batman like how they sidelined GL and Shayera on JL vs FF. What stories are really left to tell though? Should they recast DCAU Batman for future projects? Nope! And do those stories need Batman to appear? Is there a chance we've yet to see Conroy's final projects? Yeah, I'd bet on it. But whether they're DCAU Batman or a new roles, we'll see.

Yeah sorry, but it sure raised my eyebrow and wanted to comment about it. It's a good debate.
Tim can't be less than 12 in Sins of the Father, and that's pushing it.
Why does it have to be 5/6 years from TNBA to ROTJ? Isn't that a lot? What supports this?

As much as Peanuts time is brought up, the passage of time is hard to ignore for JL/JLU. Several years pass. So it depends on when you pin TNBA in the timeline relative to JL. Off the top of my head: Paradise Lost is said to be 6 months after Secret Origins, A Knight of Shadows is during Halloween, late into season 2 Christmas during Comfort and Joy, a time skip during Starcrossed when the bypass is built, a time skip between JL S2 and JLU S1, Memorial Day on Task Force X, Lex announcing his bid in Doomsday Sanction, Cadmus battle during the summer, final season saying Cadmus battle was last summer, To Another Shore even had a minor skip between the cold open and main - Lex says the ship was discovered last month, Patriot Act Eiling refers to Cadmus battle as "last year", Supergirl turning 21, etc. It's why it really depends on your methodology - hard dates and quotes vs peanuts time etc., depending on who you talk to I've seen fans over the decades saying Tim is between 14-19 years old in the ROTJ flashback. And the fact is, we're still debating it and will continue to I assume.

 

[Ed Nygma]

Yeah sorry, but it sure raised my eyebrow and wanted to comment about it. It's a good debate.
Tim can't be less than 12 in Sins of the Father, and that's pushing it.
Why does it have to be 5/6 years from TNBA to ROTJ? Isn't that a lot? What supports this?

The entirety of Justice League and JLU has to happen, which is why I personally put the RotJ flashback in the break between JL and JLU in my head, as I think making it be after as the showrunners insist makes no sense. 3 or 4 years for Tim to be Robin, TNBA to happen and JL seasons 1-2 to happen is about right, sort of. I'm cool with Bruce being in denial about what happened to Tim *sometime* in what we've seen on screen.

 

[Vuxovich]

In honor of Kevin Conroy, I had to watch Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox. But who should succeed Kevin Conroy as Batman? How about Ray Chase?

 

[Fone Bone]

I think the problem is that both the fans, and occasionally the showrunners, are taking the timeframes too seriously. Like the constantly changing character designs, I envision all time passages remarked upon to be an estimate and not truly literal. Treating the DCAU as literal doesn't work. Just from the technology leaps from BTAS to JL/U alone, you kind of have to say to yourself "It's just a show, I should really just relax."

 

[Ed Nygma]

Also important to remember is that at the time the flashback to RotJ was written, JL wasn't even in development, so it was intended to sit comfortably a couple years after all of Batman's TNBA stories, and any DTVs they might cook up later, occurred. I'm sure if they could go back and do it again they'd draw Tim as being older, but they debatably made it worse/dug a deeper hole by reiterating over the years "well the flashback takes place at the end of the timeline," to the point where it got silly when more and more shows kept being added.

Of course the genie was really out of the bottle once they decided to interconnect all the DCAU shows in the first place, so I don't think they can blame fans for being overly invested in a monster of their own making. Anything interconnected in live action like the MCU doesn't have this issue, because people are just allowed to normally age instead of returning to 'default/factory age' in DTVs made years after like "& Harley Quinn." In contrast, I never wonder how much time is passing in Ducktales, because they set the Disney Afternoon shows in their own corners. If they said "Darkwing takes place five years later after Scrooge has died," then yeah, the fans of that show would probably be wondering where it all fit as Scrooge moves closer and closer to his destiny, because it's natural for the mind to go there when these things are pointed out. I say don't think of pink elephants, and you're thinking of pink elephants.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Most of the villains got a "send off" episode so to speak that tied up not necessarily their story but their relationship to Batman. Harley, Second Chance, Riddler's Reform, House and Garden, Catwalk, Showdown, they all semi-retire or at least conclude their conflict with Bats.

I personally would wager that most of those weren't really intended as "send off" episodes, but rather just more stories with those particular villains. They just seem more final than they are because they were the last ones for those characters in that particular run of episodes.

And no disrespect to the man but I don't agree with Bruce Timm at all about the "Beyond is perpetually 50 years from now," since it used to be 40.

Ehh, from what I understand, Zeta Project implies 40 years, while Batman Beyond more consistently implies 50. But all shows have these sorts of inconsistencies/growing pains. And it helps to remember that TZP wasn't from the same team of people as BB.

And well the irony is Mathew Valencia was 15/16 when he was voice recording.

It helps to cast someone who can drive themselves into the studio for a voice recording! Tim Matheson was driving himself to the studio when he was playing the 10-year-old Jonny Quest in 1964, so he was obviously older than his character.

I think trying to include the Batman: The Adventures Continue comic gums up the math a bit, too, which I believe was one of the reasons it's AU to me.

Yeah, I still don't really know where to put the Jason Todd stuff into my timeline, and I'm not entirely sure if I want to.

But again I'll say, are we digressing a bit too much from the OT? Am I being too subtle?

Yeah, probably. Maybe we should spin the timeline discussion off into its own thread?

On the topic of Kevin Conroy's possible "replacement" as Batman, I don't think we're going to see one person play the part to the degree he did for a long, long time. It's probably just going to be a bunch of different actors playing the part for a project or two. When Mel Blanc passed away, there wasn't any ONE person who took over all of his voices, because: A) No one else was that versatile, and B) Different directors had different preferences for their projects. One director might prefer Actor A as Daffy Duck, while another prefers Actor B's Daffy.

 

[jkoolpe]

I personally would wager that most of those weren't really intended as "send off" episodes, but rather just more stories with those particular villains. They just seem more final than they are because they were the last ones for those characters in that particular run of episodes.


Ehh, from what I understand, Zeta Project implies 40 years, while Batman Beyond more consistently implies 50. But all shows have these sorts of inconsistencies/growing pains. And it helps to remember that TZP wasn't from the same team of people as BB.


It helps to cast someone who can drive themselves into the studio for a voice recording! Tim Matheson was driving himself to the studio when he was playing the 10-year-old Jonny Quest in 1964, so he was obviously older than his character.


Yeah, I still don't really know where to put the Jason Todd stuff into my timeline, and I'm not entirely sure if I want to.


Yeah, probably. Maybe we should spin the timeline discussion off into its own thread?

On the topic of Kevin Conroy's possible "replacement" as Batman, I don't think we're going to see one person play the part to the degree he did for a long, long time. It's probably just going to be a bunch of different actors playing the part for a project or two. When Mel Blanc passed away, there wasn't any ONE person who took over all of his voices, because: A) No one else was that versatile, and B) Different directors had different preferences for their projects. One director might prefer Actor A as Daffy Duck, while another prefers Actor B's Daffy.

I was watching the "The Batman" episode that introduced Robin ("A Matter of Family") last night (with Mr. Conroy voicing Robin's father and Mark Hamill voicing Tony Zucco) and I'd say that Rino Romano did a very good job as Batman.

I wonder if he's still open to reprising the role sometime...

Jon

 

[Yojimbo]

Yeah, probably. Maybe we should spin the timeline discussion off into its own thread?

Yes, Fone Bone made one today. Probably the best place to go rather than run a search of old threads.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Yes, Fone Bone made one today. Probably the best place to go rather than run a search of old threads.

Cool! I'll bookmark it for later.

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

No question about it. Kevin Conroy's legacy is as secure as it can get in the tapestry of BATMAN actors. No body covered as much ground, displayed as many different shades of the character and remained consistently passionate about it throughout his entire tenure.

And he still would have had more to give if allowed the opportunity...

But the sadness of the past week also stems from the fact that a massive piece of our childhood feels like it has been put to rest forever, alongside Conroy. I grew up loving the DCAU and there was always that 'What if?', 'Why not?', 'Maybe they well' game of back and forth on reviving it over the years. Now that hope is completely gone for me. It's fine... I will LOVE what we did get and be appreciative of all the talented people who made it a reality.

I don't need a return anymore. The thought of a JL Reunion without Conroy/Batman feels hollow and the selling point of Batman Beyond was the relationship between Terry and Bruce. THIS Batman is gone and should NEVER be recast. He goes with Kevin.



I embrace what is coming as all fans should... In particular, Batman: Caped Crusader will truly feel like a spiritual successor now as its DNA seems quite entwined with B:TAS and whoever voices BATMAN in that show will have mighty big shoes to fill. Lets hope he is up to the task.

Once again, a massive thank you to Kevin Conroy!

 

[CyberCubed]

So is it confirmed one of the upcoming DC animated movies is the final time we'll hear Kevin Conroy's performance? Bruce Timm recently confirmed he's not playing any character in his new Batman show at all.

 

[Yojimbo]

So is it confirmed one of the upcoming DC animated movies is the final time we'll hear Kevin Conroy's performance? Bruce Timm recently confirmed he's not playing any character in his new Batman show at all.

No, it isn't confirmed yet. We currently don't know what his final performance is. I have a gut feeling when it does come up, WB will says so in marketing material.