In following up one creative blunder with another, an alleged insider has reportedly responded to the massive amount of outrage elicited by the disrespectful send-off given to Kevin Conroy’s Batman in Rocksteady Games’ Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League by spoiling what would have been a pair of genuine surprise cameos from the late actor in their upcoming Crisis on Infinite Earths – Part 3 animated film and Batman: The Caped Crusader animated series.
[SPOILER WARNING: Significant spoilers for Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League follow below. If you’d like to avoid them, please refrain from reading any further.]
As first divulged via an internal studio leak and recently confirmed with the game’s official release, the unceremonious moment question occurs immediately following the Suicide Squad’s confrontation with and eventual defeat of the Arkham series’ incarnation of Batman, as voiced once again by Conroy.
Therein, with the fan-favorite take on The Dark Knight apprehended and defenseless, Harley Quinn subjects the hero to a bit of late-stage MCU banter before, under orders from Amanda Waller, ending his life by way of a single bullet to the face.
And while there’s very few ways in which the execution of this concept (no pun intended) would have ever been received favorably by fans, under normal circumstances, this narrative choice would have simply been written off as yet another bad decision in a game comprised almost entirely of them.
Unfortunately for DC, the sudden cancer-related passing of Conroy in November 2022 was anything but ‘normal’, and in light of this tragic event, many fans came to believe – and understandably so given the then-lack of public information to the fact – that the actor’s abysmally-written appearance in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League would unfortunately be the last of his entire life.
RELATED: Iconic Batman Voice Actor Kevin Conroy Passes Away At Age 66 Following Brief Battle With Cancer
Combine this presumed disrespect to one of the most iconic names in all of comic book-related history with the fact that Rocksteady Games had taken one of the most widely-lauded single-player super hero experiences of all time and turned it into a live-service, Hot Topic-drenched nightmare and it’s easy to see why every party responsible for the game’s development – from DC to Rocksteady Games, to Warner Bros. Discovery as a whole – found themselves facing a PR nightmare among fans.
However, rather than respond to this backlash by outright admitting that it was a terrible decision to have Batman – any version of Batman at that – dispatched with less respect than Old Yeller, someone at WBD instead decided to try and save face by assuring fans that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League would not be the last time they would hear Conroy voicing The Caped Crusader – the fact that this would require them providing massive spoilers for two of their upcoming animated projects be damned.
Speaking to IGN, an alleged “source with knowledge of the situation” informed the outlet that not only would the late actor be making a vocal appearance in Bruce Timm’s upcoming Batman: Caped Crusader series for Amazon Prime in an as-of-yet undisclosed role, but that he would be making a special guest cameo as his original Batman: The Animated Series version of The Dark Knight in Warner Bros. Animation’s third and final entry in their Crisis on Infinite Earths film trilogy.
Pressed for comment by the outlet, Conroy’s publicist declined to comment, while Warner Bros. Home Entertainment had yet to respond to their press inquiries.
Notably, prior to this reveal, both productions had yet to make any official announcements regarding their voice casts – and in the case of Crisis on Infinite Earths, that its story would actually touch upon the previous DCAU.
As of writing, no release date has been confirmed for either Batman: Caped Crusader or Crisis on Infinite Earths, nor is anything known about them outside of Conroy’s attachment to both.
Meanwhile, should one wish to light their money on fire, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is now in early-access for players who pre-ordered the game ahead of its official Februrary 2nd launch.