Kevin Conroy, the voice behind Batman in numerous animated series, films, and video games, has died at the age of 66.
Poison Ivy voice actress Diane Pershing, who worked with Conroy on multiple projects, shared news of his passing to social media. “He’s been ill for a while but he really put in a lot of time at the cons, to the joy of all of his fans,” Pershing wrote. “He will be sorely missed not just by the cast of the series but by his legion of fans all over the world.”
Mark Hamill, who voiced Joker opposite Conroy’s Batman on numerous occasions, also paid tribute to the actor in a statement. “Kevin was perfection. He was one of my favorite people on the planet, and I loved him like a brother. He truly cared for the people around him – his decency shone through everything he did. Every time I saw him or spoke with him, my spirits were elevated.”
TMZ reports that Conroy died following a short battle with cancer.
Conroy portrayed the Caped Crusader longer than any other actor to date. He made his debut in 1992’s Batman: The Animated Series and went on to voice the Dark Knight in other DC Animated Universe series including The New Batman Adventures, Justice League, and Justice League Unlimited.
His numerous other Batman credits included direct-to-video titles like Batman: Gotham Knight, Justice League: Doom, Batman: Assault on Arkham, and Batman: The Killing Joke; popular video games including Batman: Arkham Asylum, Batman: Arkham City, and Batman: Arkham Knight; and more recent animated series like Teen Titans Go! and Crisis Aftermath.
Conroy was a classically trained actor who studied at Julliard. In a 2020 segment on Great Big Story, Conroy explained how he leaned into his theatrical roots when initially auditioning for the role of Batman. “The director described it as this very dark noir character, and I went to exactly what I know, which is the theater. So I used my imagination to fill that out, and for me, with my voice, I tried to create a dark, gritty, filthy New York street.”
Outside of Batman, Conroy voiced Mer-Man in Kevin Smith’s Masters of the Universe: Revelation animated series, and Hordak in this year’s follow-up, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.