Kevin Conroy Was Partly Responsible for Driving Bruce Timm to Take Batman’s Rivalry With Superman to a Morally Questionable Zone That Might Have Been Too Much
No matter how well writers and directors plan the trajectory of a project, there are times when things happen in the spur of the moment. Inspiration strikes mid-shot or even a sudden realization can change the director that was pre-determined. The same happened with Bruce Timm, the creator of Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series.
He was able to achieve a fresh perspective for both characters and aced the storyline with new additions to their lives. After Batman’s success, it was not a question for the production house to bring Timm back to helm the animated show for Superman as well.
Bringing Superman and Batman Together On-Screen
The episode titled World’s Finest presents the two iconic DC superheroes together on screen for the first time in Superman: The Animated Series. The name of the episode is an ode to the comic book that often featured the team of Batman and Superman who collectively fought crime. It would have been a waste of Bruce Timm’s fresh perspective if he did not bring Batman into the mix with the Kryptonian hero.
He would have done it sooner had the rights issue for superheroes not presented trouble. The rights to Batman became available as Superman: The Animated Series was in the second season of production. As soon as the scene cleared, Warner Bros jumped at the chance of having the Caped Crusader back in their catalog. In an interview with CBR, Timm expressed,
“Somebody had the bright idea to launch the new series by teaming him up with Superman and we all thought that sounded great and loved to do that. We might have gone a little overboard with their animosity to each other but it was a lot of fun… To the point where Batman is romancing Lois right from underneath Superman, but we already knew Kevin Conroy and Dana Delaney had great chemistry so figured why not play that card? It was all serendipity. It all kind of just happened.”
This in-the-moment change became one of the best things to happen in the animated show. Iconic actor Kevin Conroy was partly responsible for the shift in gears as his chemistry with the actress voicing Lois Lane was palpable. The showrunners realized the long-term consequences of Batman being involved with Lois Lane, hence adding another layer to Batman and Superman’s complicated equation. The romance storyline might have taken it a little further, but it all came together in the end.
What attracted Bruce Timm to the world of DC?
Given Timm’s expansive experience and work in the DC franchise, many fans often wondered what made the filmmaker keep coming back. From revolutionizing Batman to bringing him on screen with Superman, he has made incredible waves in the DC animated universe that fans love and enjoy even today. Timm shared that it’s the diversity and broad scope of possibilities that make him enjoy working with DC characters. As a filmmaker, he enjoys having the freedom to explore multiple directions of one character and mold the story accordingly. He added,
“There’s that broad a scope with a silly version, semi-silly version, sci-fi version, the extreme ’90s angry version. If you ever get tired of doing one version, there’s something else and Soul of the Dragon is the perfect example of that.”
Batman: Soul of the Dragon is a 2021 movie based on adventure and action where Bruce Wayne teams up with other people to find their missing martial arts teacher. Directed by Sam Liu, the animated movie delves further into Batman’s out-of-the-box storyline.
Batman: Soul of the Dragon is available on Amazon Prime Video.
