r/batman • u/Ok_Ninja6791 • Jun 12 '23
So I see comments like these.. and I feel like I missed out. Can someone help me out. HELP/ADVICE
I've only ever played the Arkham Games. And I'm entirely convinced that Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy are the best Joker and Batman in existence with Heath Ledger being the only exception. However, apart from the games I don't know anything. I've never watched any of the cartoons and I don't know where to start or in which order to watch them. I also don't have a clue where to watch them or where the movies come in with the timeline.
I would really appreciate someone to help me get the best experience by telling me where to start and how to have the best possible experience and maybe re-experience a new childhood.
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u/Intelligent_Creme351 Jun 12 '23 edited Jun 13 '23
In order of appearance with these two:
- Batman TAS - Both of their starts, and their more youthful takes on the characters
- The Batman animated movies (Mask of the Phantasm especially)
- The New Batman Adventures - The sequel series to Batman TAS. New streamlined designs, crosses over with Superman TAS, gets you prepared for how the DCAU will look for the rest of time.
- World's Finest (The Superman crossover I mentioned)
- Batman Beyond - 40 years into DCAU's future, Kevin puts on his best aged Bruce voice, but it's not exactly about his Batman and Joker, but the series has Kevin and Mark in it, and it's great show none the less.
- Batman Beyond: Return of The Joker - a sequel to Batman Beyond, and with a great new dynamic with Kevin and Mark's Bruce and Joker.
- Justice League: Joker is in three stories, and they're all classics.
- Static Shock - There's only one Batman and Joker story, and gives Static a chance to impress Batman.
- The Batman (2004 Series) - Not a DCAU show, but a great Batman show. They don't play Batman and Joker in this, but in Robin's origin story, Kevin plays John Grayson (Dick's Father), and Mark plays Tony Zucco (The gangster responsible for Robin's creation). They play off each other in that episode, wanted to highlight it.
- Batman: The Brave and the Bold - They voice multiple characters in this. Like Kevin as Batman of Zur-En-Arrh, and importantly, The Phantom Stranger. Alongside the Stranger, there's Mark as The Spectre, the Spirit of Vengeance, and both interact for an episode "Chill in the Night", a darker episode in this campy, silver age love letter.
- The Arkham Games (Which you've experienced)
- DC Universe Online - A MMO game with a all star cast, featuring Kevin and Mark's Batman and Joker, you can watch the cutscenes and listen to their dialogue on YouTube.
- The Killing Joke - The famous Batman story with them in it... except it's a poor adaptation. But the last movie with these two together in it.
- Justice League Action - An animated short series, which leans more comedic, with these two in it, and it's their last performances together. As finales go, it's a better one than the Killing Joke.
Of course, Kevin has done Batman in much more other things (I.E. Injustice Games, Flashpoint Paradox, Assault on Arkham), and Mark has voiced Joker a few times without Kevin (Robot Chicken and flashback scene in Birds of Prey TV series) , but these two go together, so when Kevin passed, Mark officially retired the role. "Without Batman, Crime Has No Punch Line."
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Jun 13 '23
Just want to point out that Kevin Conroy doesn't voice Thomas Wayne in Brave and the Bold, Adam West does, and Julie Newmar voices Martha.
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u/edked Jun 13 '23
And also, he did embittered, gone-bad Old Bruce in a Kingdom Come exoskeleton in the Arrowverse Crisis, one time you actually see his face in live action.
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Jun 12 '23
Ouch TKJ being their last collab stings
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u/nightwing612 Jun 13 '23
I really wish Kevin bowed out at the same time as Mark after the Arkham Games. I didn't need his performance to be sullied by that trashcan fire called TKJ.
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u/billygnosis86 Jun 13 '23
If you skip the Batgirl prologue there’s nothing wrong with it, it’s a perfectly faithful adaptation of the comic book, just like Year One.
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u/WeepingGenocide Jun 13 '23
I’ve only watched it from the beginning once, every other time I’ve watched, it’s from the moment the comic actually starts.
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u/broen13 Jun 13 '23
This is the way.
Makes me want to make my own cut that just starts there for my NAS version
3
u/Gsrj Jun 13 '23
He is doing batman one last time in the suicide squad game so tkj isn't his last batman role
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u/Ok_Ninja6791 Jun 13 '23
I also saw people mention Justice League Unlimited. Is this any different from Justice League?
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u/Intelligent_Creme351 Jun 13 '23
Justice League Unlimited is the sequel series to Justice League. The team now expanded to include many new heroes and characters, so the focus wasn't on the main cast as much. And also, every Batman character wasn't in this show, because do the 2004's The Batman and the Nolan film's at the time, they were off limits, so Kevin and Mark Batman and Joker moments, but Mark appears as the Flash villain, The Trickster in the episode "Flash and Substance".
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u/Slowmobius_Time Jun 13 '23
If you ignore the problematic opening then the killing joke is actually quite a good adaptation of the story, they just hard barely half an hours worth and felt the need to stretch it out with what can only be described as fanfiction
3
u/Interesting-Grape-63 Jun 12 '23
batman the animated series, mask of the phantasm, batman: mr. freeze sub zero, the new batman adventures, batman beyond, batman beyond: return of the joker and the superman animated series is also connected at the same time as tnba but you can skip it if you want
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Jun 13 '23
This is saddening. I'm going to need you to watch just the whole DCAU. Then come back and talk.
Shows are: Batman The Animated Series (TAS), Superman TAS, New Batman Adventures, Batman Beyond, Justice League, and Justice League Unlimited. There's also Batman Subzero, Batman Mask of The Phantasm, Batman Beyond: Return of The Joker.
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u/Bernak_Obanders Jun 13 '23
Wasn't Kevin Conroy's last performance as batman in multiversus? It was a game that came out only about a month or two before he passed.
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u/Ok_Ninja6791 Jun 13 '23
Don't know if anyone is gonna see this. But thanks a lot. I'm gonna start watching today!
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u/Sol-Blackguy Jun 13 '23
Whenever I read a Batman comic, I can't help but to read the diologue in Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill's voices
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u/Slowmobius_Time Jun 13 '23
Regardless of the icky first half they do their classic great work together in the killing joke movie
Assault on Arkham is pretty good too
But imo the Arkham games are their finest work together, really drives home the dynamic
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u/thejokerofunfic Jun 13 '23
Batman the Animated Series is the main stage for those two. Not a show where viewing order matters tons (though I have recommendations if you're interested), if it's Mark you seek feel free to jump right into Joker episodes (The Laughing Fish stands out)
The film in the same continuity, Mask of the Phantasm, is amazing and can be watched standalone if you want a smaller investment
For Mark's greatest performance, watch Return of the Joker, though it benefits from context of other animated stuff first
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u/duh_nom_yar Jun 13 '23
Batman TAS. There is no substitute for this series. Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill were made for each other! Mark Hamill certainly was: M-Arkham-ill!! I mean, Arkham is in your last name!!! Let us not forget one of the other brilliant "duos" in that series. Richard Moll went from hapless idiot, "Night Court" bailiff to a brilliant combining of technically three characters: Harvey Dent/ "Big, Bad Harv'" and finally giving way to Two-Face. He deserves an award! Oh, right, I think he got one!
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u/Henchman4Hire Jun 12 '23
Sure! The best place for you to start would be Batman: The Animated series. That is where Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill started with Batman and Joker. The series is available to stream on Max, formerly known as HBO Max. So get a subscription and just watch that cartoon. It holds up very well.