Who was the best Batman?

Which acter best represents your ideal of Batman?

  • Adam West - Batman Tv Series / Legends of the Super Heroes

    Votes: 8 10.0%
  • Bruce Tomas - Onstar telivision spots / Birds of Prey Tv series

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Dick Gautier - 1970s PSA

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Micheal Keaton - Batman / Batman Returns

    Votes: 21 26.3%
  • Val Kilmer - Batman: Forever

    Votes: 1 1.3%
  • George Clooney - Batman and Robin

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Christian Bale - Batman Begins / Dark Knight

    Votes: 50 62.5%


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Felon

First Post
Well, it's really a matter of whether we're talking about who was the best Batman or who was the best Bruce Wayne. In the movie's, you'll see Wayne get way more air time. Batman's mostly going to be some stuntman.

Bale makes a great Wayne, but he obviously can't do a deep bass voice, so when he's in the batsuit we get a blatantly fake and terrible-sounding voice instead.

I was fine with both Clooney and Kilmer, in and out of the batsuit. It was everything else about those films that was wrong.

Keaton was badly miscast. His Wayne was a socially-retarded, emotionally-shut-down, inarticulate, muttering man-child. And of course, as everyone correctly assessed before the movie came out, he's physique is pretty unheroic. As noted in this thread, his face is also wrong for the mask.
 




Steel_Wind

Legend
I like Bale a lot, but I preferred Keaton.

It's not logical that a short comedic actor should be able to pull off Batman at all. But he did. It's a credit to Tim Burton that Keaton was ever cast in the first place.

It was the look of Keaton as Batman that did it for me, specifcially the face and the eyes. He looked *dangerous* and slightly crazed when he was in Caped Crusader form.

Let's be honest: Batman is a bit of a loon. Keaton had that dark haunted bit down well.
 

Hand of Evil

Hero
Epic
Micheal Keaton is the best. There has to be a way for adjustment of the times, 20 years, we are talking a lot of votes that did not see Batman on the big screen.
 


Klaus

First Post
Well, it's really a matter of whether we're talking about who was the best Batman or who was the best Bruce Wayne. In the movie's, you'll see Wayne get way more air time. Batman's mostly going to be some stuntman.

Bale makes a great Wayne, but he obviously can't do a deep bass voice, so when he's in the batsuit we get a blatantly fake and terrible-sounding voice instead.

I was fine with both Clooney and Kilmer, in and out of the batsuit. It was everything else about those films that was wrong.

Keaton was badly miscast. His Wayne was a socially-retarded, emotionally-shut-down, inarticulate, muttering man-child. And of course, as everyone correctly assessed before the movie came out, he's physique is pretty unheroic. As noted in this thread, his face is also wrong for the mask.
I totally agree with Felon here. I'm old enough to have watched the 1989 Batman on the theatres, and Keaton made for a lousy Batman. He was slightly better in Batman Returns, but still no cigar.
 

Felon

First Post
Echo that. Sorry, Felon.
Everybody's entitled to an opinion, though to me it's a bit like Rosie O'Donnell getting the part for Wonder Woman, failing to be true to both the character's physique and personality, and then getting ovations for it from fans. Total non sequitor.

Guess it's a "root for the underdog" or "dark horse" sort of thing, cheering on a guy who really doesn't measure up. If Keaton was merely physically inadequate, but offered up some degree of intensity, then maybe I could see everyone looking past the little-man-in-big-fake-muscle suit. But Keaton's portrayal wasn't intense; it was meek, quiet...his Batman voice was a little whispery, mumbling thing.

I totally agree with Felon here. I'm old enough to have watched the 1989 Batman on the theatres, and Keaton made for a lousy Batman. He was slightly better in Batman Returns, but still no cigar.
Yeah, I've been in these discussions before. It's clear that I just don't get whatever Keaton's appeal was, and nobody ever really sells their PoV that well.
 
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