Major Spoilers EIC Stephen Schleicher lives by two maxims, the second of which is “Everything is better with Batman.” (The first is a well-guarded secret, but probably akin to “Sleep is for the weak.”) In the years since the Dark Knight burst onto the scene, there have been a great many attempts to (you should excuse the expression) do justice to his story in live-action. The latest, Fox Network’s ‘Gotham’, has the added twist of being a Batman story with no Batman in it, a zen koan in one-hour drama form, while former Batmen George Clooney and Michael Keaton has both recently weighed in on their contributions to the franchise on social media, with one saying he has “zero interest” in Bat-flicks and the other giving a tongue-in-cheek apology for his time in the mask. The question of who is best in the cape and cowl is an interesting one (though I do ask that nobody use the ridiculous term “Batfleck”, as we’re not savages here) which leads us to today’s caped crusading query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) is disqualifying voice-only actors, because… Well, because I can, and Kevin Conroy would probably sweep the rankings, asking: Which actor gives the best Batman live-action performance in your eyes?
6 Comments
1989 film will probably forever remain my favorite Batman movie, so Michael Keaton. I dont think anything they can up with will ever surpass that feel when I was 9 years old and saw it for the first time.
Keaton was pretty entertaining, especially as Bruce Wayne.
“Batfleck” sounds like some future part of Batman’s arsenel within his utility belt. What it is or what it does, I have no idea.
I’m torn between Michael Keaton and Adam West for very different reasons.
Adam West is my second favorite, his Batman is so different so its pretty hard to compare.
I’ve gotta go with Keaton, I just really like that movie. It was the first Live-Action Bats I saw.
When I was a dumb kid who didn’t know any better I remember being aghast that the new Captain of the enterprise was some old guy. Similarly Keaton did not look like the kind of person I could imagine capable of Batman levels of physicality. Boy did I get them wrong.
It bugs me sometimes that people credit the Nolan films for going dark with the character. I guess it’s easy to forget the past when you’ve been traumatised in the interim with Schumacher’s bat-nipples.