Two weeks ago the legendary Kevin Conroy, the voice of Batman, unfortunately passed away of cancer. In honor of his memory I’ll be looking at my personal favorite movie in which he voiced the cape-crusader, “Batman/Superman: Public Enemies” (2009, directed by Sam Liu).

Lex Luthor (voiced by Clancy Brown), the arch nemesis of Superman (Tim Daly), has been elected president of the United States and has framed The Man of Steel for a crime he didn’t commit. With only Superman and Batman (voiced by the late Kevin Conroy) being the only ones to know what really happened, it’s up to The World’s Finest to clear his name. 

As if that wasn’t enough, a kryptonite meteor the size of a small country is making its way towards Earth. If it makes an impact, it will kill almost every living thing on the planet.

Something that the film does really well is making friendship between The Big Blue Boyscout and the Dark Knight feel very natural. In most adaptations the two of them have a distrust but a grudging respect for the other. But that’s usually not the case in the source material; in fact, despite all their differences both Batman and Superman have nothing but respect and admiration for each other, and this film shows that perfectly.

A good example of this is when Batman is dragging Superman through a sewer after he was shot with a kryptonite bullet. The entire time the two of them are just talking with Superman reminiscing on the good old days while Batman is trying to get him to safety.

The story also shows that while the two of them are usually called the “The World’s Finest” that’s because whenever the two of them ever work together they can achieve almost anything.

The voice cast is the very same from the 2000s “Justice League” cartoon show, with the respective actors returning to play their roles. With special mention going to Clancy Brown being a stand-out highlight as the president of the United States.

Brown knows exactly when to play the slimy, underhanded, manipulative, businessman-turned-politician and when it’s time to go full ham, and he’s great either way.

Something else the movie does well is actually explaining why the American people would ever elect a businessman, with no political experience, who is very shady, and who has, at best, a tenuous relationship with the law, because this movie came out when that was seen as unrealistic.

But the reason they give is actually pretty sensible, it’s shown in a prologue that the country was in a very bad state, it was practically in a state of anarchy, and in desperation the American people elected Lex Luthor.

Though despite its strengths the film still has its fair share of weaknesses.

The artstyle, while fitting for most of the characters, some characters don’t come out looking unique enough because there is a lack of diverse body types. 

For instance almost every male character has the exact same silhouette of a bodybuilder under heavy steroid abuse, this look is fine for some characters, like Superman, but when put on  Batman it looks kind of ridiculous and makes one wonder how such a large body mass is able to be so stealthy. This also has the effect of making the colorful heroes in tight spandex all look similar. 

The movie also isn’t too friendly to viewers who are just getting into the world of superheroes and may only know the big names, as the film has its fair share of heroes and villains that aren’t well known in the mainstream. 

A good example of this would be Captain Atom (Xander Berkely) and Power Girl (Allison Mack), fairly important characters in the movie, but if one doesn’t know who they are before going in the viewer may just be confused on who they’re supposed to be and why they’re important.

The movie was very much made for fans of the source material or those who have at least seen the 2000s cartoon show.

Another flaw is that, despite the title being “Batman/Superman: Public Enemies”, the story mostly focuses on and is about Superman, with Batman feeling a bit like a side character. 

Couple that with the fact the movie is barely over an hour long, then if one is a Batman fan, they might be disappointed by the fact that the focus isn’t more even.

“Batman/Superman: Public Enemies”, like the comics the story is based on, can be a fun time, starring the two biggest heroes that DC has to offer. And it is just one of many examples of Kevin Conroy’s legacy as the Caped Crusader.