Why Kevin Conroy Changed His Batman Voice For The New Batman Adventures

Bruce Timm famously redesigned the Gotham City ensemble for “The New Batman Adventures” — some changed little like Harley Quinn, others changed a lot like Scarecrow. Batman’s own costume redesign shows the darker direction the creators wanted. Gone were the blue highlights on the black and the yellow oval around the Bat symbol on his chest. (Timm himself compared the redesign to David Mazzucchelli’s Batman from “Batman: Year One.”)

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Now, was “The New Batman Adventures” darker overall than “Batman: The Animated Series”? Yes and no. On one hand, the censors at Kids’ WB (where “The New Batman Adventures” aired) were apparently less strict than those at Fox Kids (where “Batman: The Animated Series” had run). Characters could die more explicitly: Take “Growing Pains,” where Robin befriends a doomed orphan named Annie. In “The New Batman Adventures,” the creators also finally got to introduce Firefly, whereas Fox Kids had vetoed the pyromaniac villain.

“At Fox, they were really picky, not just about things you couldn’t do, but just in terms of content and story. They had a million opinions about what we should be doing. Nobody bothers us like that at the WB,” as writer/producer Paul Dini explained in “Wizard” Magazine #72.

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Yet, the new art style was less moody than the original. The creators focused more on big set-pieces than in the original series, hence slicker animation. “The New Batman Adventures” wasn’t lighter than the first 85 episodes, but it could be broader, including how it appealed to kids.

 In “Batman: The Animated Series,” Batman only had the college-aged Dick Grayson (Loren Lester) as Robin. In “The New Batman Adventures,” Dick had become Nightwing, Barbara Gordon (Tara Strong) was a full-time Batgirl, and 13-year-old Tim Drake (Mathew Valencia) stepped up as Robin. Tim would be a Robin who the young boys watching could see themselves in.

You might be thinking that a Bat-family would warm Bruce Wayne’s heart… and you’d be wrong. Instead, Timm and co. decided that Batman should get darker to counterbalance the show around him getting lighter.

“[Batman is] not a scout leader. He has these sidekicks around and they’re part of a team, but they’re somewhat wary of him. They keep their distance because this guy could go off,” Dini noted. The episode “Old Wounds” flashes back to show how Bruce and Dick fell out; the original Robin quit because Batman was getting darker and more secretive than ever.

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“We’re always looking for opportunities to cut down [Batman’s] dialogue and add an intensity to what he’s saying,” added Dini. Part of that intensity was writing Batman as someone who has no time to put on his Bruce Wayne mask (voice and all) in the morning.