It’s great that the CW’s Crisis on Infinite Earths is bringing back different actors who played various incarnations of Superman and Lois Lane, and that the event’s digging deep into WB history to give Smallville and Birds of Prey stans the kind of fan service they could scarcely dream of. But what everyone’s really hyped to see is Kevin Conroy as live-action Batman.
Iconic a character as Batman is, Bruce Wayne’s face is something that the public’s generally willing to accept as something of a blank slate. Adam West, Michael Keaton, George Clooney, Christian Bale, Ben Affleck, and even Robert Pattinson look nothing like one another, but at different points in time, we’ve all been like “sure, why not?” But when it comes to what Batman and Bruce Wayne sounds like, the general consensus is that Kevin Conroy is the gold standard. There are plenty of other voice actors who’ve done the character justice, but Kevin Conroy’s voice is the Batman voice.
That’s what makes it so wild that the actor’s playing the character in the flesh for Crisis on Infinite Earths. The CW knows you’ve been dying to see what this Bruce will look like and the network’s just released the first photo of him sporting a rather interesting suit. It’s unclear whether it’s a proper Batsuit, mind you, but the combination of high-tech shoulder padding that sits on top of a tailored business suit suggests that whatever’s happening the photo involves Bruce mixing it up with some foes.
The CW also dropped a handful of other photos showing Brandon Routh and Tyler Hoechlin’s respective Supermen looking shocked about something (presumably the same thing), and Candice Patton as Iris West-Allen and Bitsie Tulloch as Lois Lane teaming up to do some investigative work. Elsewhere, Tom Welling’s Clark Kent is tending to his farm duties, but the worried look on his face suggests that whatever the other Supermen have discovered is something that he’s also going to have to get involved in.
Crisis on Infinite Earths begins with Batwoman on December 9.
For more, make sure you’re following us on our Instagram @io9dotcom.