Assembly Of The Batmen!

Alo Party Peoples.

You know what? Last time got pretty heavy. So lets talk about something a little less charged. Okay? Okay.

So.

By now you have all heard that Ben Affleck has been cast as Batman in the upcoming Superman/Batman movie. Which hasn't got a title yet, so I'm going to call it The Dark Knight Returns until they come up with one. (Warner Bros. you want that? Take it. You own the rights already;) 

I would go over the various Batmen in the comics, like one Moviebob did with Robin. But since its Batman there has only ever been one person behind the mask. 

So what I'm going to do, is discuss every actor to play Batman. Live Action, voice work, pantomiming, or otherwise. In roughly chronological order. 

By my count there are eight.

Some ground rules. Only official versions. Only Bruce Wayne which means no Batman Beyond. I'm not going over whoever did his voice on the Super Friends. Because that is very difficult information to find, and nobody cares about the Super Friends.

Lets go.

1. Adam West. (1966-1968)

He's the one everybody's heard of, well at least he was before 2005. He was on the 60s TV show. Which is the initial reason that anybody outside of comics fandom gives a damn about Batman. Between the shows first and second season, a big-budget film version was made. Which got a wide theatrical release. 

It was pretty successful at that too. And it was well recived. I love this blustery nonsense. Still the only live action version to do Robin successfully. Unfortunately, due to some very complicated rights issues, this is the only version of Batman that you can't own.(except for the film version, which has been released on every format under the sun)

Which is a shame, because it is arguably the most significant. But fortunately, someone recorded or found all the episodes and put them up on YouTube in conveinent season playlists. :)

2. Micheal Keaton (1989-1992)

This is the guy that a lot of people associate with the role. For the record I like his portrayal. He does the best Bruce Wayne/Batman combination, while Bale does a better Bruce Wayne.

This film was a massive success. I can't think of a similar success before this other than the Richard Donner Superman.

It's funny that so many people petitioned for Affleck to reconsider. Because that's how a lot of people reacted to Keaton back in 89. On the grounds that he had done one silly comedy before hand called  "Mr. Mom" which I haven't seen.

Batman, overall holds up, it has problems to be sure, and parts of it have aged horribly, but it holds together. Batman Returns on the other hand, is terrible, avoid it. D:

3. Kevin Conroy (1992-1996) (2009/2011)

This guy did Batman's voice for Batman: The Animated Series, which kicked off the incredibly sucessful DC Animated Universe. Which many people consider to be vastly superior to it's comic book counterpart. This is a lot of peoples favorite version of the character, and for good reason. 

The animation quality was great, the writing was great. They got Luke Skywalker to voice The Joker. Awesome!

Eventually in 2009 the majority of the voice cast returned to do work on a video game. Batman: Arkahm Asylum, which before you ask I have not played, but I hear is really good. In 2011 they did so again for the sequel, Arkahm City

It's great stuff. And is well worth checking out. :)

4. Val Kilmer (1995)

After Batman Returns was deemed too dark for a mainstream audience. Warner Bros. decided to boot Burton from the directors chair and find someone who would make it more marketable. Burton did stay on as a producer and signed off on his replacement.

Enter Joel Shumaker. Who initially wanted to do a prequel. But gladly accepted the task of brightening up the property with a sequel instead.

Most of the cast got axed, except Alfred and Commisioner Gordon, the series finally found a Robin in the form of Chris O'Donnel. And Keaton left to be replaced by Val Kilmer. But I have not seen it, so I can't really judge.

The resulting film Batman Forever, I haven't seen, but it wasn't that well recived, despite being a big hit. To a lot of fans, Shumaker became infamous for supposedly ruining the Batman movies. And that infamy would only grow with...

5. George Clooney (1997)

Batman And Robin. It doesn't work. All the parts were stunt cast with famous people. Even though casting Jack Nickelson as the Joker started that tradition, at least with the villans. Batman himself was not spared from this, when Kilmer wisely decided to jump ship, they recast the part again. With George Clooney.

I'm not familiar with this actor, maybe he's been good elsewhere. But he is terrible here. 

People hated this film, and it underperformed at the box-office. Which effectively killed the DC movie business until the later years of the superhero boom, when The Dark Knight jump started them again.

6. Rino Romano. (2004-2006)

I seriously don't know why Warner Bros. decided to do another Batman cartoon. I have no idea if this series was good or not. I almost considered leaving him off the list. 

They decided to set it outside of continuity of the DCAU. It might be in continuity with the Teen Titans cartoon from around the same time. Which I really liked. If this is anywhere near as good as the Titans. Go look at it.

7. Christain Bale (2005-2012)

For long after 1997 there was a concerted effort to not repeat that asthetic. Which is why the X-Men in their first movie looked like very well dressed frog people.

Enter Christopher Nolan. Who was contacted to bring back the Batman movies with a straight up reboot. (when they tried this again with Superman it failed spectacularly, you know which movie I am referring to.) 

The Dark Knight saga is a much more serious take on the character. And it's probably the darkest they could have done while still appealing to a mass audience. The first two are great films. Rises on the other hand. Dissapointment. 

I already gave my opinion on these films. It's the only post left in the August 2013 category. Needless to say, People like these films for a reason.

Like I said Bale does the best Bruce Wayne. But as Batman..... It's the voice. It's always that voice.

8. Deidrich Bader (2008-2011)

This guy did voice work on Batman: Brave and the Bold, which was a love letter to the Silver Age of comics, and the Adam West show. It is absolute nonsense, and I love it.

Perhaps I am biased here. This being my first exposure to the character. But I mean it. 

About the show itself. Every week Batman would team up with another hero to stop a villain plot in a ludicrous fashion.

Bader himself, he does a good job. He has absolutely ridiculous dialogue to deliver, but he never shows any sign of busting out laughing. And he delivers it well.

I love the stuff. It's well worth checking out, especially if you like the Adam West show. :)


Hats off to all, have a nice day, and lets keep the Web weird. Shall we?


Greg.B