‘He was & always will be my Batman’: Mark Hamill confirms his favorite Batman and now we’re crying

Batman has been played by some incredible talents onscreen, ranging from Adam West’s early iteration of the Dark Knight in the ’60s to Christian Bale’s brooding and athletic version in Christopher Nolan’s celebrated trilogy.

While there has been a long-standing debate about who the best live-action actor is for the role so far, there’s usually only one answer on fans’ lips when asked about their voice-over favorite: Kevin Conroy.

And it appears that Batman’s arguably biggest adversary, Joker, also thinks so. Mark Hamill, who famously played the cynical supervillain in various DC Comics animated projects, confirmed that Conroy “was & always be my Batman.”

Hamill and Conroy had a long-standing partnership as Batman and Joker, which was beloved by fans. It began with the 1992 show Batman: The Animated Series, which is credited with introducing a darker flavor to the caped crusader’s tale, along with the debut of Harley Quinn, who became a fan-favorite character over time.

Here’s the complete list of titles Hamill and Conroy appeared together in:

• Batman: The Animated Series
• Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
• The Adventures of Batman & Robin
• Superman: The Animated Series
• The New Batman Adventures
• Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
• Batman: Vengeance
• Justice League
• Static Shock
• Batman: Arkham Asylum
• Batman: Arkham City
• Batman: Arkham City Lockdown
• Batman: Arkham Knight
• Batman: Arkham VR
• Batman: The Killing Joke
• Justice League Action
• Lego DC Super-Villains
• Scooby-Doo & Guess Who?
• Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths — Part Three

Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths — Part Three marked the final project where Conroy lent his voice to Batman, following his death in November 2022. The third segment in a three-part animated superhero film series, it was released on July 16, 2024.

Hamill was understandably quite emotional when Conroy passed away and declared he wouldn’t play the role of Joker in the future. He had already revealed that he would only pick projects that Conroy confirmed as Batman, saying in an interview with Empire:

“They would call and say, ‘They want you to do the Joker,’ and my only question was, ‘Is Kevin Batman?’ If they said yes, I would say, ‘I’m in.’ […] We were like partners. We were like Laurel and Hardy. Without Kevin there, there doesn’t seem to be a Batman for me.”

Mark Hamill has had a celebrated career playing the Joker, receiving nominations for two Annie Awards, an Interactive Achievement Award, a Spike Video Game Award, winning a British Academy Games Award for best performer.