For all the talk of “Who played the best Batman in movies?”, the small screen is often overlooked. Particularly one show. Batman: The Animated Series is a '90s television staple, as well as one of the most groundbreaking animated series of all time. Created by Paul Dini, Bruce Timm, and Mitch Brian, BTAS somehow perfectly blended a period aesthetic, film noir, and comic book sensibility into one seamless show. Countless animated iterations of Batman have come and gone in the 30 years since BTAS debuted, and it has yet to be topped. Batman: The Animated Series is the gold standard of The Dark Knight.
With Batman so prevalent in all forms of media, including new series and animated movies, will Batman: The Animated Series ever be surpassed? It hasn’t happened yet, but the game has been upped with the likes of Harley Quinn and the DC Animated Movie Universe. Batman: The Animated Series is a perfect storm of animation, writing and voice acting. Nearly every cell is artistic perfection, every script captures Gotham's unique goons and heroes, and every voice performance is an ideal fit for its respective character.
What would it take to beat Batman: The Animated Series?
Batman: The Animated Series' Ground-Breaking and Rich Animation
Batman: The Animated Series was and remains a revelation in animation. It incorporated the best of film noir from a film reel to the animation cell. The visual takes on the characters are minimalist but also highly detailed. Everything from the main players down to the dark corners and shady alleyways were sharply realized by a host of animators. This included Sunrise, Spectrum Animation, Dong Yang Animation, and others to make this unique visual style a reality.
Animation has taken technological leaps forward in the three decades since BTAS. Still, the computer-generated scenery and characters of the DC animated movies and other DC fare just don’t have the same visual appeal. As good as it all looks, there’s bland sterility to modern animation. It can be likened to an overproduced piece of music; it sounds slick but loses some of its soul in the process. For another series to come close, they’d have to start doing it by hand instead of the clicks of a mouse. That’s right, we’re animation Boomers, and BTAS walked 10 miles in the snow to get to school every day.
Iconic Voice Performances
No matter how many voice actors play Batman or how good they are, no one will ever compare to Kevin Conroy’s iconic take. There have been some great runners-up in recent years, like Bruce Greenwood (Under the Red Hood), Jason O’Mara (DC Animated Movie Universe), and Peter Weller (The Dark Knight Returns).
The deep, growly tone with which Conroy terrified the criminals of Gotham, juxtaposed with the flaky nice guy voice used for the “fake” Bruce Wayne persona, is a one-two combination rarely seen in one animation character. Conroy’s Batman is so good that it carried over into numerous Justice League-related series and animated movies. Conroy even made the jump from cartoon to the gaming console, voicing Batman for the renowned Arkham Series. The performance can be ranked as the best Batman of all time, in both animated and live-action, but certainly the former. It’s unlikely that a new best-animated Batman will come around to beat BTAS.
The great voices don’t end with Conroy. Mark Hamill’s Joker goes down as an elite take on the Clown Prince of Crime. The two adversaries were created to be complete opposites. Batman is cold and collected, with low tones and little humor, while the Joker is a quip hose whipping around in the air, shrieking with high-pitched laughter after every line. Hamill’s Joker can be downright scary when angered, making him a very close second to Heath Ledger’s all-time Joker in The Dark Knight.
BTAS is like a rare band without a bad song; every single voice actor nails it in this series. Loren Lester’s optimistic and light Robin serves as a perfect foil to Batman. Bob Hastings' weathered but hopeful Jim Gordon plays off the duo of vigilantes in their shared frustration with the state of Gotham. Efrem Zimbalist, Jr’s sage and wise Alfred Pennyworth is always there with words of reassurance and encouragement. The entire Rogues' Gallery, from Two-Face to Scarecrow to Mr. Freeze and countless others, speak in voices with which we now read the comics in our heads. Not to mention the series’ creation of a little character named Harley Quinn. BTAS bats 1.000 for voice acting, setting a standard not likely to be surpassed by any new Dark Knight project.
Batman: The Animated Series' Elite Writing
As great as BTAS was as a kid, it still holds up for the adults we have become. It has all the action and fun kids look for in a cartoon, but the scripts are extremely fine-tuned, thoughtful exercises in television writing. Every character is multidimensional and fully fleshed out, thanks to the work of Paul Dini, Sean Catherine Derek, and others. The stories and the dialogue explored dark and mature themes like loss, anger, and salvation. Heavy lifting for younger viewers, but the writing met kids and adults halfway in BTAS.
The Best, But Not the Only
None of this is to say that there aren’t other great takes on Batman in the animation world. The Batman had a very cool, very early 2000s spin on the character. Jason O’Mara’s long run as Batman in the DC Animated Movie Universe will be tough to beat in the upcoming follow-up phase titled Tomorrowverse. After all, DC is now notorious for a suspect track record on the big screen but a powerhouse on the small.
There will always be a new Batman. Whether in the flesh for live action or direct to Blu-ray and streaming. It’s a mantle handed down literally from generations ago, but nobody handled that honor quite like Batman: The Animated Series and Kevin Conroy did. And it’s unlikely any animated series ever will.