Brandon Vietti suggested Bruce Greenwood for the role of Batman to Greg Weisman and voice director Jamie Thomason after working with him on the Batman: Under The Red Hood DVD feature. They liked what they heard so as Weisman says “we quit while we were ahead and cast Bruce.”  (Ask Greg 16-Sep-11). I was rewatching the Star Trek remake move the other day when it dawned on me that Greenwood’s role as Captain Christopher Pike (the Captain of the Enterprise before Kirk gets his hands on it) in Star Trek is very similar to his role as Batman in Young Justice. He’s the older voice of authority who has to inspire these young kids be they sidekicks or Starfleet cadets to become a true team.

The Batman is Bruce Wayne. Young Justice aren’t doing detailed origin recaps for every character, but this Batman appears to be a fairly classic version. He’s Bruce Wayne, he lives in Gotham City, he has a Batcave (not seen, but referenced), and he lives in Wayne Manor with a butler called Alfred (seen in issue #0 of the spin-off comic). Four years ago Bruce Wayne took in the orphaned Dick Grayson and trained him to be Batman’s partner, Robin the Boy Wonder. Aside from Batman and Robin’s work in Gotham City Batman is also the current leader and a co-founder of the Justice League.

When Robin and his fellow sidekicks rebelled and investigated Project Cadmus they were doing so partly based on Batman’s suspicions about the place. This demonstrated the usefulness to him of a covert group which could operate outside the glaring media spotlight now focused on the superstar Justice Leaguers. He had the Justice League set them up in their old headquarters as Young Justice, but he reserved for himself the right to dispatch them on missions (“Independence Day”, “Fireworks”).

This Batman appears gruff and formidable, but is a keen judge of character. He dispatched YJ on their missions to investigate the Venom supply on Santa Prisca (“Drop-Zone”) and to take Amazo to STAR Labs (“Schooled”). In both cases he was careful to commend Young Justice when they are successful. He was particularly mindful of Superboy’s father issues and attempted to speak to Superman about it during the Amazo incident (“Schooled”).

He’s the Batman – world class martial artist, genius, world’s greatest detective, cool gadgets, and a Batcave beneath his mansion.