Favorite Batman

[Guest Vern Gagne]

No questions. Adam West is in class by himself.

 

"Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb."

[Guest J*ingus]

West is indeed in a class from his own.

 

For the modern era, I think Keaton was the best Batman, but Clooney was the best Bruce Wayne, if that makes any sense. Kilmer can go fudge himself.

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

Keaton was awesome.

[Guest the 1inch punch]

Goddammit am i the only Kilmer fan out there

[Guest The Man in Blak]

Michael Keaton was the total package to me. Clooney and Adam West looked like total idiots as Batman, and Kilmer couldn't seem to hold it together on either side of the mask.

[Guest cabbageboy]

I don't count Adam West since that was TV camp stuff in the 60s. As said earlier, Keaton was probably the best Batman, Clooney the best Bruce Wayne, but Kilmer was pretty good as both so I voted for him. Plus, Keaton and Clooney both were in a crappy Batman movie (B. Returns and B. and Robin) whereas Kilmer did it once, did it pretty well, and got out while he could.

[Guest the 1inch punch]

Kilmer did it once, did it pretty well, and got out while he could.

he jumped before he could be pushed

[Guest Flyboy]

My name in a thread... *sniff* You guys shouldn't have really.

 

I'd say Keaton, though.

[Guest Lethargic]

I voted for Kilmer. I think Clooney COULD have been a really good Batman if he hadn't got stuck in that crappy movie. He didn't really get a chance to show anything in that piece of crap. Kilmer's still wasn't that good but it was better than that. If Kilmer was in the first one it might've been really cool. As it is, he's still better than the midget Batman that has to wear 6 inch heels just to be taller than his leading ladies.

[Guest DrTom]

I had to vote for Val. He looked the part the best under the mask (thin lips, square jaw), and I thought he did a good job with a poorly written script. Keaton was good as Bruce Wayne, but Batman is supposed to be an imposing character, and I just can't feel intimidated by Mr. Mom. Clooney wasn't very good, IMO, though the movie he was in was dreadful all around.

 

I heard that Val didn't return as Batman due to some problems with Ah-nult.

[Guest MrRant]

I don't count Adam West since that was TV camp stuff in the 60s. As said earlier, Keaton was probably the best Batman, Clooney the best Bruce Wayne, but Kilmer was pretty good as both so I voted for him. Plus, Keaton and Clooney both were in a crappy Batman movie (B. Returns and B. and Robin) whereas Kilmer did it once, did it pretty well, and got out while he could.

But there was the original Batman movie so he counts.

[Guest NazMistry]

Keaton all the way.

He was simply put 'The Man To Play Batman'.

[Guest starvenger]

Fuck 'em all. Kevin Conroy (who voiced Batman in TAS) was better than all of them combined.

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

Batman Returns RULED. It was the ONLY one of the Batman films that used the villans to furthur Batman's character. Each time Bruce battles them he fights a side of himself he fears.

 

Max Schrek: This side represents Bruce wayne, the side that must compromise ethics to get it done sometimes.

 

Catwoman: Catwoman is the vigilante, Batman doesn't want to become: A heartless killer.

 

Penguin: Penguin represents the side of him that still feels the loss of his parents and thinks he is a freak for what he is doing.

 

The fire Clown: The Part that likes to be set on fire

[Guest Karnage]

Fuck 'em all. Kevin Conroy (who voiced Batman in TAS) was better than all of them combined.

Mark Hamill was also the best Joker in Batman TAS.

[Guest pochorenella]

Michael Keaton all the way, even though Batman Returns sucked IMO (he was good there but the movie as a whole I didn't like.)

 

George Clooney as a smirking Batman? No way.

 

And Adam West? No offense to gay people, but he looked damn gay everytime.

[Guest the 1inch punch]

What does everone think of Will Friedle, who does Batman Beyond

[Guest J*ingus]

I dunno, the kid on Batman Beyond seems more like a jumped-up Robin than anything else.

[Guest CoreyLazarus416]

Wasn't Will Friedle on Boy Meets World as Eric?

 

Batman Beyond = ownage...until we get to the really fucking stupid stuff (Ink?!).

[Guest Kahran Ramsus]

I heard that Val didn't return as Batman due to some problems with Ah-nult.

 

Val's problem was with Joel Shumacher, not Arnold.

[Guest Lethargic]

Who cares about those old Batmen when we're fixing to get Colin Farrel as Batman and Josh Hartnett as Superman! Yay! I'm so happy.

 

Wait. No, I'm not. That's the gayest shit I've ever heard.

[Guest cynicalprofit]

WEST WAS BATMAN, PERIOD. Hes carried the act and maintained the image of Batman, all the other guys are trying to FORGET their Batman roles. West is all I was Batman, and I was better then the rest, and I can STILL kick all of their Bat asses.

 

Still his best Batman role was as the Gray Ghost, just because it completed the circle if you will for him.

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

Lethargic: Talented thespian JUDE LAW is slated to play the man of steel.

[Guest Lethargic]

Jude Law left the movie around 2-3 weeks ago. It's Josh Hartnett now.

 

The funny thing is that you said that like it was better. None of the three should even be allowed on a Batman or a Superman set much less playing the title roles.

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

If cOlin can play Bullseye he can do batty. That said, I agree with you 100 % about Harnett. Two things can save this movie:

 

Tim Roth as Joker

Harvey Kietel as Com. Gordon

[Guest Tony149]

Adam West will probably be know as the first Batman, but Michael Keaton takes the prize as best modern day Batman.

 

A little run down on the modern day Batmans.

 

Keaton - Considered by many to be the best modern day Batman.

 

People were calling for this guy's head when he was originally cast. Did a great job in Batman (1989), which got a lot of people off his back.

 

Keaton also had excellent facial expressions as Batman. His eyes looked damn serious when he had the cape and cowl on.

 

Val Kilmer - Did a good job.

 

George Clooney - Was the best Bruce Wayne. I belive even the late Bob Kane (Batman creator) said George was the best Bruce Wayne.

 

Wasn't a great Batman, but it would of been interesting to see how he would of done with a better script.

[Guest areacode212]

I've exhausted my Batman & Robin rage in an earlier thread from a month or so ago (about the worst movies ever or some shit)

 

But here's an interesting snippet from an interview with George Clooney (from http://dolshouse.com/library/gc_ml_10_00.htm). His line about Bruce Wayne being rich and studly, so he should "get over it" was basically how he played the character (he said the exact same thing in an interview from before the movie was released, in which he was asked how he would portray Wayne), and it's why I think he was a terrible Bruce Wayne. It's too bad because physically, he fit the part perfectly. Oh, well, it's not entirely his fault--a good director would have steered him the right way:

-----------------------------

 

Q: You've often joked you were the actor who destroyed the Batman franchise.

A: It's a pretty horrendous film. Joel Schumacher is a good friend of mine. Akiva Goldsman, who wrote it, is a very close friend of mine. None of us really did it right. I got a call from Joel right after I made the deal for The Peacemaker, and he said, do you want to play Batman in the next film? And I jumped up and down, and screamed and said, Yes, I will play Batman.

 

Q: Did your excitement falter when you read the script?

A: I thought it was a bad script. But again, a gigantic break. Batman changed everything. Without Batman, I wouldn't ever have gotten to do Out of Sight. And as bad as it was, Batman & Robin was still a gigantic hit. It still made $230 million worldwide, plus tons of merchandise.

 

Q: The other three films may not have given Batman much to do, but this one turned him into the organizer of a superhero daycare center.

A: Batman movies have always been the story of the bad guys. Bruce Wayne sits around, going, It's so hard to live because my parents were killed when I was little. We as an audience, go, OK, you're rich, you're schtupping the most beautiful babes in Gotham City, you've got a mansion and the coolest gadgets. Get over it. Other than that, it's been about the Joker or the Riddler. There wasn't much for me to do and I didn't do it very well. There are reasons.

 

Q: What were they?

A: One of them was it was intimidating. They were paying me $3 million to do it and that was a lot of money even though it was a $110 million film and they paid Arnold $20 million. Also, the entire film was completely looped—even when Bruce Wayne is sitting there talking to Alfred. I am the most hated man on the looping stage. As likeable as I like to be everywhere else, on the looping stage I'm the devil. After the first season of "ER," I never looped. I hate looping and every time I see a loop on screen I notice the dead air and see how it takes away from the performance. I'd rather hear scratching noises in the background and get the real performance. It's part of where the studio system went wrong, trying to gloss over everything.

 

Q: But isn't that just part of filmmaking?

A: I knew that in the last part of The Perfect Storm we were going to loop because you couldn't hear any of it. But the looping in Batman & Robin sucked the life out of the film.

 

Q: When you got those bad reviews for the first time in your career, was it a blow, or were you hardened by the earlier series futility?

A: I'd never been thumped before, so I took it hard. But you have to say, OK, this lets me get other films made. You know you're going to take some hits along the way. But it still hurts when they come.

 

Q: The Batman experience seemed to be a wake-up call for you.

A: They pay you to do publicity for a film, but I draw the line in lying about it. You find ways to talk around it. You say it's the biggest movie I've ever seen and working with these guys was one of the greatest times of my life. You say everything but the fact that the movie is an hour too long and just doesn't work. I decided after Batman that I wanted to be sure I could go in and say, "I'm really proud of the film." So I didn't do a job for a year. I just focused on finding the right script.

[Guest meanmaisch]

The cheesemiester himself, Adam West

[Guest Lethargic]

You ever heard about the Batman sequel that Clooney had? He came up with this idea for one last sequel to that series, which would then allow them to start all over in the future, and he pitched to Warner Brothers. It was gonna be a really dark movie and Batman would end up getting killed in the end, but instead of dying he would wake up in Arkham Asylum. It would turn out that his parents murders eventually drove him insane. The Batman and everything just happened in his head. It was just a big long dream he had been having cause he was crazy. And you would see characters in there with him. Like a Wizard of Oz kind of thing. Like whoever played the Joker or Catwoman or Riddler or whoever would actually be people that either worked in the asylum or were other patients. And it would just end with Bruce Wayne sitting in the corner of his little padded cell in a strait-jacket.

 

Warner Brothers of course said....yeah right. But I think that's actually a pretty cool concept. And it would've been a nice way to tie up the last series of films and kill them off so they could start fresh in the future.