Kevin Conroy’s Bruce Wayne Cameo:
There was time above, a time before. There were perfect things, Diamond Absolutes. Things fall. Things on Earth. And what falls, is fallen. Batman was such a sacred hero for many of us. But the recent times have been ruining Batman for us. Let’s make one thing clear right in the beginning, Batman is not a killer. He is a Bat-ninja who has a no-kill code which he can never cross. But, he has been crossing this line more often than not in all the recent appearances. That’s also what happened with Kevin Conroy’s Bruce Wayne cameo on the Arrowverse Crisis crossover.
The Crisis on Infinite Earths has been good because of all its amazing cameos. The Arrowverse has tied up almost all the different Universes of Batman. Whilst doing that, it brought in Kevin Conroy as an old, battle-hardened and broken Bruce Wayne. The way he enters into the scene, his iconic voice does give you chills. We’ve all grown up hearing Kevin Conroy as Batman. It all started to come back in that very small moment of his entry. But what happened after this was not all awesome.
This old version of Bruce Wayne is a direct reference to Batman Beyond. After all, Batwoman had also been named the Bat of the Future, and the Paragon of Courage. So, this reference was great. The next reference came with Bruce’s laughter and him saying “I’ve lost track of how many people I’ve killed. You start with a code, you hang on to it with every self-righteous breath, but then you take one life, and another & another & another!” This reference is reminds us of the iconic ending of Batman: The Killing Joke.
And finally, Bruce refers Ben Affleck’s Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. Upon being confronted of killing Superman, Bruce says “Strange visitor from another planet comes to our world with powers and abilities far beyond those of Mortal Men”, “My parents taught me a different lesson. Life only makes sense if you force it to.” All this was a direct reference to Batfleck, as even the dialogues were similar. Aside all these references, we have to say that this cameo would have been a genius move if Batman being a killer was not an overused plot point of the recent times.
Batman killing Joker in the Killing joke was understandable, but apparently Batman is being portrayed as a killer everywhere. Titans used this plot point to separate Dick Grayson from Bruce Wayne. And we can all agree on the fact that Bruce Wayne on Titans was the worst ever. But before Titans, Zack Snyder’s Batman was also a killer. Snyder’s version was that Batman’s time in Gotham has made him so dark that he was now willing to cross the line which he didn’t earlier. He was willing to go past his code. It’s understandable what Snyder tried to do here. This killer Batman takes was very fitting for the story Snyder was trying to tell. But as great as Batfleck was, having made Batman a killer, you lose the essence of who Batman actually is.
This is how WB has been constantly berating Batman by turning him into a killer. This is not the way to bring other characters into limelight. Joker is the perfect example of how to focus on other characters than just Batman. The Injustice Storyline is so great because Batman stresses on not killing willingly in it. That is also why Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy is also sacred. So, we need to get back to the days where Batman was not a killer.
WB has been focusing on Batman villains with The Suicide Squad movies and Birds of Prey. That’s great, but they seem to have left Batman behind while doing that. Ben Affleck’s Batman movie could’ve been awesome. But instead, we’re getting Matt Reeves’ The Batman with Robert Pattinson. And now our only plea to Matt Reeves is, please save Batman! Make him the world’s greatest detective. Make him fight as valiantly as Batfleck, but don’t make him a killer. His moral code needs to be sustained.
Let’s see what Matt Reeves does with The Batman.
