Credit: Warner Bros.The new video game Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League (2024) has Kevin Conroy’s final performance as Batman, and many fans think the developers did the legendary voice actor dirty.
Over the years, there have been many different Batmen to choose from. This includes Adam West from the 1960s, Michael Keaton from the Tim Burton films, Val Kilmer in Batman Forever (1995), George Clooney in Batman & Robin (1997), Christian Bale in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, Ben Affleck in the DC Extended Universe, and Robert Pattinson in The Batman (2022).
That being said, it can be argued that the most beloved portrayal comes from the late Kevin Conroy, who portrayed the Caped Crusader for around 40 years. This includes Batman: The Animated Series, Justice League, and the iconic Batman Arkham series of video games.
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Tragically, Conroy passed away in 2022, recording what would be his final performance as the hero (now a villain) in the video game Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. However, fans don’t think developer Rocksteady Studios gave the iconic voice actor a proper sendoff.
Batman Fans Say Kevin Conroy’s Final Scene Shows “Massive Disrespect”
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Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League does exactly what it says it does: members of the Suicide Squad kill the Justice League who have become evil. Naturally, this means that Batman is one of those people who will die. While this was expected, Kevin Conroy’s final scene wasn’t expected to be this bad.
Players see King Shark carrying a bloodied Batman, setting him on a bench. When the bat tries to talk the team out of killing him, Harley Quinn interrupts him, starting her own monologue. It’s bad, something Batman calls out himself, ending with Quinn shooting him in the head and the team making fun of him for dying.
It is in no way satisfying, especially if you are a fan of the Arkham video games. Fans responded in kind, saying it was “contradictory, disrespectful and poorly written.” X (formerly Twitter) user @BitesTheCarnage said:
“This is so ridiculously mean-spirited. It’d be one thing if this were some one-off Batman but no, they just had to set this in the Arkham-verse and kill off the Batman fans have been playing as and have grown to love since 2009.”
This sentiment has been echoed across social media, with many fans saying that Kevin Conroy deserved better. However, fans blame the developer for not making a proper tribute to the actor, which prompts the question…
Is This Rocksteady Studio’s Fault?
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Batman’s death scene in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is bad; there’s no doubt about that. However, how much of this is actually the developer’s fault? Conroy tragically passed away while the game was being made. This was not intended to be a sendoff for one of the most beloved fictional characters of all time. User @hzjoe03 said it best:
“…Can we stop acting like Rocksteady knew that this would be Kevin Conroy’s last Batman performance? They haven’t intentionally made the game to be a tribute.”
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When it came down to it, Kevin Conroy agreed to play the part, and he approved of the lines he was going to read. While it’s not great, it is not meant as a way to pay tribute to him.
If you want to absorb some Batman content paying tribute to the late, great Kevin Conroy, read the comic he wrote, Finding Batman (2022). It is an autobiography about his journey as an actor finding the character. It is available for free from DC Comics.
What was your favorite Kevin Conroy Batman moment? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!