Batman: Arkham developer slams DC plan to use same actors across games and movies

Announced on 31 January, co-CEO of DC Studios James Gunn has stated that the actors playing heroes and villains on the silver screen will also be the ones to voice them in animated shows and video games.

This is a curious choice. Hypothetically, if this was a hard and fast rule, we would be without the historic performances of Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill as Batman and Joker. I argue that it's not necessary to match them up as it removes opportunities for voice actors to try out for the roles. Be that as it may, it makes sense, as DC attempts to align its multitudes of properties into a new era, however former Batman Arkham senior character artist Del Walker has voiced their displeasure at Gunn's decree.

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"I'll never work on a DC title ever again if that's upheld," said Walker, mentioning Tara Strong's performance as Harley Quinn that has been praised time and time again across animated shows and video games. "These writers and voice actors do 100 versions of everything. They are in the booth doing 600 lines of dialogue just to end up with 20 of the best in the game. You think you're going to get Robert Pattinson to outwork a VA actor? And for a budget that makes sense? Good luck."

Walker shone a spotlight on the elephant in the room there - asking Robert Pattinson to voice Batman in a new game would be very expensive and tough to justify when a huge number of very talented voice actors already exist. We'll have to see if Gunn goes back on his word once he gets the receipts.