Who’s your best Batman?

[Ralif Redhammer]

Tough choice between Keaton and Pattinson. I had to eliminate Bale because of the voice.

I think it goes beyond just the voice. In the attempt to make a more "grounded" Batman, I think a lot of the style was lost. The tumbler is one of my least favorite versions of the Batmobile. When Bale was first announced, I thought the guy that played Patrick Bateman was perfect casting. But something was just missing in the delivery, in my opinion.

It's a toss-up between Keaton and Pattinson for me as well. Both did a great job (in different ways) at showing how Bruce Wayne's trauma shapes his life as Batman, turns Bruce Wayne into the mask.

 

[Ryujin]

I think it goes beyond just the voice. In the attempt to make a more "grounded" Batman, I think a lot of the style was lost. The tumbler is one of my least favorite versions of the Batmobile. When Bale was first announced, I thought the guy that played Patrick Bateman was perfect casting. But something was just missing in the delivery, in my opinion.

It's a toss-up between Keaton and Pattinson for me as well. Both did a great job (in different ways) at showing how Bruce Wayne's trauma shapes his life as Batman, turns Bruce Wayne into the mask.

The Tumbler really never looked like a Batmobile, to me.

 

[Imaculata]

I love Keaton's live action Batman.

But lets be honest, when you think of Batman, you hear the voice of Kevin Conroy.

 

[ART!]

I love Keaton's live action Batman.

But lets be honest, when you think of Batman, you hear the voice of Kevin Conroy.

I hear Will Arnett, but I understand!

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

The Tumbler really never looked like a Batmobile, to me.

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Is it a neat design? Sure. But it looks like a futuristic military vehicle (which, granted, is what it's supposed to be); there's nothing that feels very Batman-y other than it being black. Compare it with Keaton's Batmobile, which is incredibly, absurdly stylized, or Pattinson's Batmobile, which looks like a modded muscle car, the kind of thing that could hide in plain sight on the streets of Gotham.

 

[GrimCo]

I think Kilmer has a similar problem to Affleck where he just didn't have enough to work with too see if he's good or not.
Kilmer was reserved, which might have worked if he had more time. But in a movie with Jim Carrey, Tommy Lee Jones going full ham, and introducing a teen heartthrob Robin, he's practically forgettable.

Also, batsuit nipples.

To be fair, Sonar Suit, which was way cooler, with that silvery black armored look, didn't have bat nips

Yea, i get you. It's hard to compare them all in a vacuum, we tend to look at them with context of how good the movies themselves were (and in Batman forever, let's be honest, Jim Carrey stole the show). I get why most people pick Bale's Batman as the best one. Dark Knight trilogy were legit good movies, not just good superhero movies. Same with Burton's Batman movies (like Keaton, but he sucks as Wayne, is good Bats though). West was in old campy tv show ( and IMHO, it was more kids show than Batman the animated series). But Affleck, Clooney and Kilmer got short end of the stick.

As for Robin, I always forget that Chris O'Donell was Robin. That guy will always be Callen from NCIS

 

[Morrus]

The tumbler is one of my least favorite versions of the Batmobile.

Weird how these things work. It's my favourite.

 

[payn]

Weird how these things work. It's my favourite.

Me too. The stylish batmobiles always seemed strange to me because they stick out like a sore thumb. I know the tumbler does too, but it looks liek it could be a government or military vehicle and not "the batmobile".

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Me too. The stylish batmobiles always seemed strange to me because they stick out like a sore thumb. I know the tumbler does too, but it looks liek it could be a government or military vehicle and not "the batmobile".

I think the very divisive feelings re: the Tumbler speak to the two disparate visions of Batman, where most Batmedia leans more towards one or the other.

The Tumbler is for the "quasi-realist" side of Batman, for people who want to see a Batman who could perhaps almost actually exist, where things basically make a kind of sense, rather than being deeply stylized. Unfortunately Nolan was all over the road on this. Batman Begins is pretty silly, but then The Dark Knight almost manages to make Batman feel real and for a lot of people was thus "Peak Batman" (I'm not really one of them but I can respect it). Then The Dark Knight Returns starts off with similar vaguely exaggerated-reality vibes (like, Bales Bats has lost all the cartilage in his knees!), before, in third act, lapsing into extremely stylized nonsense.

Keaton and his Batmobile (and also BTAS and related) represent the utterly stylized and stylish urban gothic fantasy of Batman, as a wildly larger-than-life figure combatting very stylized and ridiculous - but nonetheless somehow chilling - villains. Post-Burton things went off the rails, losing the charm and the darkness of Burton's movies.

I think one reason the Robert Battinson movie is very popular is that it pretty much exactly split the difference, but instead of pissing off both groups as one often does when splitting the difference, it pleased a lot of people from both, because it was a good movie with a ton of style. It also made Batman feel weirdly modern in a good way, whereas even Nolan's works had made him feel a bit dated. It has a Batmobile that very much reflects this split.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Weird how these things work. It's my favourite.

Yeah, I suppose it depends on how a person likes their Batman. Different takes resonate with different people. I tend to prefer the more stylish takes on Batman.

But more than anything with Batman, what I really want is a film version of Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth.