Lego Batman voice actor avoided copying Will Arnett in Legacy of the Dark Knight

Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, developer TT Games’ new Arkham-like Batman game, aims to capture the legacy of so many versions of the character, mostly through the lens of his film appearances. As Lego Batman actor Shai Matheson put it, the goal of the character and his voice “was to have something that was all the previous Batmans and none of the previous Batmans.”

Matheson told Polygon over a video call that finding his version of Batman included walking a tight rope between inspiration from all the other iterations of the character and finding a voice that was wholly unique. “It had to be neutral,” he said. “We were telling a brand new story of a brand new Batman that had to fit in with all those familiar faces and references from all the [versions] that we recognize. So in a way, it’s a new story, but it’s an old story. It’s a remix.”

Matheson didn’t originally intend to be Batman. Before landing the role, the star of Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight auditioned for another character. (He didn’t specify which one out of respect to the actor who landed the role.) “I guess they heard something there that they liked and so they recalled me, but for the role of Batman,” Matheson said.

He’s a lifelong Bat-fan, and his first Batman film was the Michael Keaton Batman in 1989. “I was probably too young, and I was a little bit scared, but also mesmerized and enthralled by it,” he said.

That fandom gave him a sense of comfort when auditioning for the character. “Whether they like my take or not, it’s up to the gods of casting,” he said. “I might’ve said it to Mark [Green], the [game] director, I said, ‘I can definitely do this. I just need them to know it.’”

Image: TT Games/Warner Bros. Games via Polygon

TT Games liked Matheson’s original approach to the character and that he “didn’t try to do a Batman voice.” He landed the role and started recording lines about a week later. “If it was my way, I’d [want] two months [to] go play all the Arkham games, go and read all the comics, the big storylines — just do research,” Matheson said. “But actually, I think in hindsight it was an asset because I shouldn’t have been influenced by anything else.”

Legacy of the Dark Knight takes Batman through several different eras of the character’s movie adventures. Each chapter pulls from a different film or series, like the opening chapter’s The Batman-inspired car chase or chapter 2’s Flugelheim Museum sequence straight from Batman. Due to all the different iterations of Batman that the game bounced between, Matheson had to ensure he stayed true to his own version of the character. “It was a conscious effort not to imitate or mimic [anyone],” he said.

He mentioned different times when he’d record a line and it would sound too much like Will Arnett, for example, who famously voiced the character in 2017’s The Lego Batman Movie. (“I guess men with a deep voice can go husky or gravelly — at some point we all sound the same.”) “It’s really important to have your unique take rather than try and be like someone else,” Matheson said.

Image: TT Games/Warner Bros. Games via Polygon

Legacy is such a prevalent theme of the new game, and few fictional characters have a legacy like Batman. In Matheson’s eyes, Batman’s humanity is what keeps people coming back for more stories and to further build upon Batman’s legacy. “I think it’s just a lot more interesting to have a character that’s flawed, not perfect, but wants to do good,” he said.

If Batman’s legacy is that of a deeply human character portrayed in a multitude of ways, one who means something different to so many people, what does Matheson want his own legacy to be?

“I don’t know. ‘He tried his best.’ I don’t know,” he said with a laugh. He’s focused on enjoying the opportunities that come his way and being able to make people laugh through them, which he called “such a privilege. I know it sounds like a little trite, but what a privilege to make people laugh. So the fact that I can be in a job that allows me that access to people to sort of give them some form of enjoyment and entertainment, I think that’s incredible.”

For some players, Matheson will be their first Batman, and that’s part of his legacy too. He thinks of the impact Michael Keaton as Batman had on him as a fan growing up or how Robin Williams inspired him as a performer. “To think about doing the same for someone else is just almost too big to think of,” he said. “I’m aware of it sort of intellectually. That’s just incredible that I will be someone’s first Batman — what a privilege.”