The Voice of Batman

Well, there was some other nerd-tacular news this week that I've failed to report on. Not so much failed to report on as I was just waiting to have some time.

As you know, we've got the next Batman straight-to-DVD animated movie coming out this summer. Batman: Gotham Knight sees Batman turned over to some of the finest Japanese animators in the world to give Batman an all-new anime spin.

Earlier this week, they announced the voice cast, and boy are the geeks happy.

Kevin Conroy is back as Batman!

Conroy, of course, did the voice of Batman on Batman: The Animated Series, Justice League, Justice League Unlimited and the elderly Bruce Wayne on Batman Beyond. To many, he has become THE definitive Batman.

Now, as cool as this is, I'm not so sure it's right for the project. I mean, here's a picture of the anime-styled Batman.



As much as I love Kevin Conroy as Batman, I just can't picture his Batman voice coming out of this Batman.

but then, who knows? Conroy is a good enough actor to maybe alter his Batman voice to make it more appropriate. He's done it in the past. I still think this is a cool concept, though.

And, what I like is, going over the whole voice cast, they've brought together a bunch of all-stars from other DC animation projects to do voices. Here's some of the other legendary voice actors on this project. Sadly, we don't know who exactly they're voicing, but I list their famous voice in the DC animation world.

George Newbern - Superman on Justice League and Justice League Unlimited
Corey Burton - Brainiac on Superman, Justice League and even Legion of Super-Heroes
Kevin Michael Richardson - The Joker on The Batman
Will Friedle - Terry McGuinnes/Future Batman on Batman Beyond
Scott Menville - Robin on Teen Titans
Hynden Walch - Starfire on Teen Titans

Plus some other legendary voice actors like Rob Paulson and Jason Marsden.

Oh, and we've got some celebrity casting as well. Gary Dourdan, still best-known as CSI Warrick Brown on the original CSI is a Gotham City police detective, and David McCallum, star of the legendary 1960s spy show The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and having a bit of a resurgance on NCIS takes the reins as Alfred.

Batman: Gotham Knight comes out straight-to-DVD on July 8. That's one day after my birthday, and yes, I will accept it as a late birthday present.