Batman: The Animated Series Had A TV Batman 'Crossover' That Only Real Fans Remember

Building on the success of director Tim Burton's "Batman" films, "Batman: The Animated Series" brought the titular vigilante — voiced by the great Kevin Conroy — to the small screen in a big way. Paul Dini and Bruce Timm's brainchild reimagined Gotham City, Batman, and his many iconic villains for a new generation of DC fans, successfully launching the DC Animated Universe in the process. At the same time, the series even managed to pack in some meta nods to the history of the Caped Crusader and his numerous adaptations.

One that might have slipped by you if you're not a massive Batman fan takes place in the episode "Beware the Gray Ghost." The story follows Batman as he unexpectedly teams up with his childhood hero, Simon Trent, aka the Gray Ghost. Trent previously portrayed the Gray Ghost character on television, instilling ideals like courage and justice in Bruce Wayne early in his life. For the episode, Trent is voiced by none other than Adam West, who famously played Batman on the live-action "Batman" TV series from the 1960s and its spin-off film.

Surprisingly, "Beware of the Gray Ghost" isn't the only Batman project that sees West work as a different DC character opposite a beloved Batman actor.

Though it's not as highly regarded as "Batman: The Animated Series," "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" still deserves credit as a solid adaptation of the Dark Knight's corner of the DC Universe. From 2008 to 2011, the comparatively simpler and more comedic series ran on Cartoon Network, showcasing Batman's (Diedrich Bader, who also voiced the character on "Young Sheldon") team-ups with various DC heroes. Little do more casual DC fans know that over the course of the program, Bader joined Kevin Conroy as a Batman voice actor who worked with Adam West on a Batman production.

West landed two voice credits on "The Brave and the Bold," both stemming from Season 2. He makes his debut on the show as Proto-Bot — a big clumsy robot Batman builds and instructs to help out around the Batcave instead of fight crime to avoid collateral damage — in the episode "Plague of the Prototypes!" He ultimately helps thwart Black Mask's (John DiMaggio) scheme to take over Batman's Batbots. West's name returns to the "Brave and the Bold" credits in "Chill of the Night!" where he voices Bruce Wayne's father, Thomas Wayne.

While he'll always be synonymous with the '60s "Batman" continuity, Adam West's contributions to the DC world extend far beyond it. Even without his cowl, he turned in some fun and memorable voice performances opposite other talented Batman actors.