The best superhero TV show of all time, according to IMDb

To reverse the old cliché, good villains mean nothing without a strong hero to oppose them. “Batman: The Animated Series” also gave us the ultimate and cutest adaptation of the Caped Crusader himself. Batman's characterization does the same thing exactly right the balance of dark and light as the overall tone of the series.

The soul of the animated Batman rested in Kevin Conroy; she may not be with us anymore, but she is still there to a voice for Batman without controversy. Conroy was gay and still in the closet for his career when he landed the role of Batman. In 2022, Conroy wrote a short comic called “Finding Batman”. explaining how having to wear a mask in his life prepared him for the voice of Batman:

“It seemed to roar with 30 years of frustration, confusion, denial, love, longing… for what? An anchor. A port. A sense of security, a sense of identity. Yes, I can relate. Yes, this is terrain I know well , I felt Batman rising from within.

Conroy's Batman wasn't just one that inspired fear, but one that kids (or adults who first watched him at a younger age) could look up to, and who was allowed to be vulnerable like Conroy in his greatest Batman moment. Some highlights include “Nothing to Fear,” where Batman is haunted by his father's disapproving spirit, only to be overcome with the now-immortal line, “I am vengeance! I am the night! I am Batman!”

In You Can Dream, Bruce Wayne wakes up in a world where he was never Batman and his parents are still alive. The usually controlling Batman is confused and ultimately can't deny when something is too good to be true. In “I Am The Night” we see a rare self-loathing of Batman as he feels that he still has not done enough despite all his dedication and sacrifices.

The two-parter Robin's Reckoning mainly features Batman's sidekick Boy Wonder as he comes face-to-face with his parents' killer Tony Zucco, but Batman/Conroy has a strong supporting role. I've never forgotten his last line in the episode when he admits he was scared Robin might get killed running after Zuko.

This Batman even sees the light in the bad guys (well, most of them). Just watch “Two-Face” or “Baby Doll” or “Harley's Holiday” where he comforts a semi-reformed Miss Quinn by reminding us that we all have bad days. “Nice guys like you shouldn't have bad days,” replies a touched Harley.

I see the same ethos in Conroy's Batman Peter Cullen uses to voice Optimus Prime in Transformers — “Be strong enough to be gentle” — and from that came the best Batman of all time.

“Batman: The Animated Series” is streaming on Prime Video.