While this was his first time playing both roles together, Troy Baker had experience portraying both Batman and the Joker beforehand. He’s one of the most prolific American voice actors working, and noted for his range, so it’s not surprising he stepped into both parts at different times.
In 2013, Baker played the Joker in the video game “Batman: Arkham Origins” opposite Roger Craig Smith as Batman. The first two games, “Arkham Asylum” and “Arkham City,” had reunited Kevin Conroy as Batman and Mark Hamill as the Joker from “Batman: The Animated Series.” Since “Origins” was a prequel, the characters needed to sound younger, and Baker delivered on “Mark Hamill’s Joker, minus 20 years.” He’s since reprised the Joker in a handful of video games and animated films since.
Baker first started voicing Batman in the “Lego Batman” video games and the animated film “Lego Batman: The Movie — DC Super Heroes Unite.” The better gauge of his Bruce Wayne, though, is from the Telltale Games’ “Batman” series, a point-and-click narrative game where the player must guide the path a young Batman takes. (Anthony Ingruber played the Joker in these games.)
In a behind-the-scenes interview for “Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” Baker explained that playing both Batman and Joker together was something he’d wanted to do for a while (see the full video below):
“This has been the greatest lesson in patience, cause I’ve had this idea for the longest time […] You never would’ve thought to cast somebody to do double duty like that before, cause it’s stupid, and fortunately there were people that were stupid enough to believe that maybe it could work.”
It works because Baker is the type of voice actor who can play multiple characters and you’d never guess it’s the same guy speaking into the mic. His natural voice is baritone (just listen to him voicing “Naruto” villain Pain), and so a natural fit for Batman. However, he can also raise the timbre and cut loose for when he’s playing the Joker.
Baker’s dual casting is not unprecedented, though. Take how Josh Keaton has played both Spider-Man (in “The Spectacular Spider-Man”) and Norman Osborn (in the 2017 “Spider-Man” cartoon), or how David Kaye is the only actor who’s played both Optimus Prime and Megatron in “Transformers.” Playing both the hero and villain in the exact same movie, on the other hand, was definitely taking that to the next level.
