"Batman: Caped Crusader (Amazon Prime)" Animated Series News & Discussion Part 2 (Spoilers)

[Otaku-sempai]

They cast Diedrich Bader who has played Batman before, yet he's not Batman in this?
I'm not familiar with Hamish Linklater, but congrats to him for getting the role, and I hope he plays it well.

Yes, and we have two different actors who have voiced the Joker in the past, neither of whom seem to be playing Joker in this. It happens.

 

[b.t.]

As for the talk of Bruce Wayne portrayal in Caped Crusader, does anyone get the feeling that they're playing him like Christian Bale in American Psycho, but as a crime fighter rather than a serial killer?

I’ve never seen AMERICAN PSYCHO or read the novel, but I’m familiar with the basic concept, I think. The tv series DEXTER did come up several times as a reference in our early Writers Room discussions. In fact, I sometimes refer to Bruce Wayne as being Batman’s ”Person Suit” which I used to think was a term that originated on DEXTER but it turns out I got it from Bryan Fuller’s wild HANNIBAL series.

Not that I think of Batman as analogous to a serial killer or a borderline psychopath or anything like that! I just want him to be SPOOKY. Unsettling. For me, it’s not enough to have his costume doing all the heavy lifting to inspire fear in the hearts of superstitious and cowardly criminals. I want his whole persona to feel weird and vaguely unearthly.

One of my favorite things about Matt Reeves’ THE BATMAN is how freaked-out everybody is when Batman is around. That one scene with the cop loudly complaining about him being at the crime scene and Bat-Pattinson just slowly turns his head around and stares at him and shuts him up without saying a word — *chef’s kiss*

 

[Rick Jones]

I really like that movie but a rewatch is long overdue for me.

 

[b.t.]

I really like that movie but a rewatch is long overdue for me.

Another thing I loved is that Matt made Bruce kinda glum and messed-up even when he wasn’t in the Batman outfit. It’s technically different from what we’re doing with the character in CAPED CRUSADER but they’re thematically very similar. Neither one is just a relatively well-adjusted ‘normal’ person who puts on a Halloween costume, drops his voice down several octaves into a raspy Dirty Harry whisper/growl and beats up criminals.

 

[Frontier]

I get the appeal of Batman as this terrifying creature of the night that puts fear into the hearts of criminals, it's literally what he designed himself to be, but I still feel like the person behind the mask and his humanity is a core component in the Caped Crusader.

Like I feel like a big part of the reason B:TAS Batman was so popular wasn't just his grim avenger of the night persona but his huge amounts of empathy. He is efficient at figuring out and stopping criminals but he still cares about people as either Bruce Wayne/Batman. That's what Kevin Conroy captured so well in his performance.

Also I'm a little tired of the "Bruce Wayne is fake, Batman is the real personality" take on the character. Like, Batman would literally not exist without Bruce Wayne. But obviously that's just a sign of how unhealthy Bruce can take being Batman and his war on crime. It's the same thing that happened in the late 90's/early 2000's and lead to the Bruce Wayne: Murderer/Fugitive storyline which, given the writers involved in season 1, might not actually be a coincidence.

 

[Ethereal]

Yeah Im not feeling Linklater's Batman voice from that clip, sounds a bit forced and not very natural. But this is a promotional thing and not the show itself, so I'm hoping it sounds and fits better in the show itself.

I feel the EXACT same way about Hamish Linklater - when I first heard that most unnatural and uneven trailer voice, I was thinking "Oh my goodness, I hope this is NOT the voice of Batman!" because honestly it sounded to me like some OUTSOURCED 'voice actor' that does industrials trying to sound all cinematic. When Linklater finally said "I am Batman" my immediate response was "You COULD HAVE FOOLED ME!"

Now granted even Christian Bale sounded terrible and utterly unnatural as the Nolan trilogy progressed - so Linklater may be following in that same vein of artiticiality/induced voice acting, and may NOT necessarily get better seeing as how Christian got progressively WORSE. Let's hope for the best, but I actually thought it was quite amateurish for him to say that he is trying to follow the Kevin Conroy legacy -first of all there is only one Conroy (I don't even think he had the BEST Batman voice, but his is the most iconic at the moment), and usually a professional (voice) actor and the producers and (voice) directors would try to do something fresh.

I think they should have gone with someone a bit younger who was bolder, and not so seemingly fettered by previous molds. There are plenty of actors who have graduated from places like the Juilliard or Yale drama programs who can do wonders with their voices. I was at USC, and they have a very rigorous Masters in Acting program too. I actually think it's NOT a good idea to get a generic TV or Netflix type actor to do Batman........get someone who has really studied Dramaturgy and who has specifically studied VOICE. Linklater by his own admission is not a "voice" specialist, which is a whole other thing.

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

He didn't say he was trying to follow Kevin Conroy... just that his interpretation was clearly in the back of his mind when the was doing the voice.

And you know what... yeah, anyone who voices Batman is stepping into the shadow of Conroy's legacy. And they were stepping into that legacy as far back as B:TAS. He set the bar, he laid the ground work and it was his raw talent that made that interpretation (and all the various iterations that came after) click with audiences.

However no actor should ever be beholden to what came before and I hope Linklater doesn't feel the need to compare. He'll grow into this iteration just fine.

 

[Yojimbo]

And perhaps...bear with me, hold judgement until you watch an episode or two? If you still don't like Linklater's take, so be it - nothing wrong with that. I recall some foaming at the mouth upon hearing Diedrich Bader's Batman on The Brave & The Bold. Linklater reading off the names of his cast mates isn't something to use as a measuring stick. It just a harmless bonus for the big press release.

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

And perhaps...bear with me, hold judgement until you watch an episode or two? If you still don't like Linklater's take, so be it - nothing wrong with that. I recall some foaming at the mouth upon hearing Diedrich Bader's Batman on The Brave & The Bold. Linklater reading off the names of his cast mates isn't something to use as a measuring stick. It just a harmless bonus for the big press release.

Absolutely... although, there is something to be said for putting your best foot forward and I'm not sure the teaser was the right way to reveal Linklater or his Batman voice.

 

[Rick Jones]

I won't judge his voice based on this teaser. It doesn't feel fair, considering that it's not even an "in context" clip from the show or anything. It's nice to get to mentally register his vocal tone though. The circumstance has to be a bit different when he's acting out lines, while conveying the appropriate emotion and getting direction, especially when he's new at this. So I'm definitely leaning on the side of grace.

It's a completely different circumstance but it makes me recall the Under The Red Hood trailer release. No one heard Bruce Greenwood as Batman yet. We hear a Batman voiceover on the trailer (still not sure who that was) and I remember a lot of worried reactions afterwards. When we got the movie, we hear Greenwood through out and I thought he was perfection in it.

It made me think of Anthony Ruivivar too. The roles I knew him for previously were not even a little similar to Batman so I was a little cautious. I watched Beware the Batman and thought he did a really good job. Ben Mckenzie in Year One as well. Sisto in New Frontier. Baldwin in Crisis got a lot of criticism and I just love everything about that movie, including all the voices. Stepping into those boots will always bring a certain level of expectations when we all have our ideal of Batman.

 

[Frontier]

I think ultimately what we really need is a real trailer at this point.

 

[Yojimbo]

I think ultimately what we really need is a real trailer at this point.

I'd bet Monday. 4 days after the PR like Merry Little Batman.

 

[PicardMan]

I think we are all antsy to see the art style of this show as the 90s series was so revolutionary in terms of its visual style and changed superhero cartoons forever and many series deliberately trying to copy the "gritty city noir" asthenic (Gargolyes, TMNT red skies seasons). Since the 90s series came out, the bar and expectations have been significantly raised in terms of visuals. Based on modern superhero cartoons like Invincible and X-Men 97, I expect it be on par with those (meaning I expect it to be great like those two). The question is more of if it will be transcendent and change superhero cartoons to the degree BTAS did. It's not impossible, but that's a very tall mountain to climb. We all want to what a 2020s televised Batman cartoon will like as we have had a 2D televised batman cartoon since 2011.

 

[Dibo2081]

I think we are all antsy to see the art style of this show as the 90s series was so revolutionary in terms of its visual style and changed superhero cartoons forever and many series deliberately trying to copy the "gritty city noir" asthenic (Gargolyes, TMNT red skies seasons). Since the 90s series came out, the bar and expectations have been significantly raised in terms of visuals. Based on modern superhero cartoons like Invincible and X-Men 97, I expect it be on par with those (meaning I expect it to be great like those two). The question is more of if it will be transcendent and change superhero cartoons to the degree BTAS did. It's not impossible, but that's a very tall mountain to climb. We all want to what a 2020s televised Batman cartoon will like as we have had a 2D televised batman cartoon since 2011.

From the stills so far the art style looks very clean and in the standard style of recent DC animated films. However... The background art I'm that recent narrated voice cast teaser is EXACTLY what I was hoping for. Moody and gritty as hell

 

[JonnyQuest037]

One of my favorite things about Matt Reeves’ THE BATMAN is how freaked-out everybody is when Batman is around. That one scene with the cop loudly complaining about him being at the crime scene and Bat-Pattinson just slowly turns his head around and stares at him and shuts him up without saying a word — *chef’s kiss*

Another thing I loved is that Matt made Bruce kinda glum and messed-up even when he wasn’t in the Batman outfit. It’s technically different from what we’re doing with the character in CAPED CRUSADER but they’re thematically very similar. Neither one is just a relatively well-adjusted ‘normal’ person who puts on a Halloween costume, drops his voice down several octaves into a raspy Dirty Harry whisper/growl and beats up criminals.

I know from my conversations with James Tucker that he's also a big fan of Reeves' film.

I find it interesting when Batman creatives I'm a fan of are really into other Batman depictions I've been more underwhelmed by. (Denny O'Neil told me he regularly watched the Gotham TV series, BTW.)

I feel the EXACT same way about Hamish Linklater - when I first heard that most unnatural and uneven trailer voice, I was thinking "Oh my goodness, I hope this is NOT the voice of Batman!" because honestly it sounded to me like some OUTSOURCED 'voice actor' that does industrials trying to sound all cinematic. When Linklater finally said "I am Batman" my immediate response was "You COULD HAVE FOOLED ME!"

Let's hope for the best, but I actually thought it was quite amateurish for him to say that he is trying to follow the Kevin Conroy legacy -first of all there is only one Conroy (I don't even think he had the BEST Batman voice, but his is the most iconic at the moment), and usually a professional (voice) actor and the producers and (voice) directors would try to do something fresh.

It seems like some folks are defining a good Batman voice as ONLY one that sounds like Kevin Conroy. It's possible to do a good job playing the part without replicating what Conroy did in the part. Give the new guy a chance and listen to more than a one-minute trailer before you totally write him off.

 

[Revelator]

I'm curious if other DCAU veterans besides J.M DeMatteis will be among the writers. Alan Burnett is retired, but I presume folks like Paul Dini, Stan Berkowitz, Matt Wayne, Bob Goodman, etc. are still in the business. They might be busy with their other projects, but it would be nice to see some old-timers alongside the younger crew.

 

[Frontier]

I'm curious if other DCAU veterans besides J.M DeMatteis will be among the writers. Alan Burnett is retired, but I presume folks like Paul Dini, Stan Berkowitz, Matt Wayne, Bob Goodman, etc. are still in the business. They might be busy with their other projects, but it would be nice to see some old-timers alongside the younger crew.

I would be very surprised if Paul Dini is ever attached to this.

 

[Yojimbo]

I would be very surprised if Paul Dini is ever attached to this.

Yeah, seems like Batman: The Adventures Continue was partly him checking off his bucket list of unused ideas.

 

[RoyalRubble]

New poster released. A trailer could be out tomorrow. I think this was the case for Merry Little Batman, anyway. EDIT: Checked and that one had a poster on October 11th, alongside the cast press release (which we already have for this show, more or less). Then a trailer on November 14th, and the movie premiered on December 9th.

 

[Medinnus]

I'm curious if other DCAU veterans besides J.M DeMatteis will be among the writers. Alan Burnett is retired, but I presume folks like Paul Dini, Stan Berkowitz, Matt Wayne, Bob Goodman, etc. are still in the business. They might be busy with their other projects, but it would be nice to see some old-timers alongside the younger crew.

Doesn't Ed Brubaker count, or am I misremembering his name attached to the series?