The Great Batman Debate

So I was watching "My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman", George Clooney was on and there was a brief mention of his batman days in which he's mentioned in the past he always apologizes for, which is unnecessary in my opinion.

Anywho, this resparked a conversation I've had with a few people about what makes a good batman, who played the character best and why(I won’t be including pre 80s). Now this may ruffle a few feathers but I speak no lies so relax.

Alrighty, there are two characters that you need to be able to portray in order to be "The Batman". So there's Billionaire Bruce Wayne and The Vigilante Bat. . . . not everyone can play both. Now of course there are other factors such as writing, source material, ect. So keeping that in mind there are  obviously some issues throughout the various Batman’s over the years.

 Some people met one standard and not the other, some met none. I welcome conversation in the comments as people are entitled to their own opinion and it's stimulating for the brain but keep it civil. Okay, so we’ll start with Val Kilmer and George Clooney as both their movies were directed by Joel Schumacher. [On a side note these are a couple of my guilty pleasures, don’t judge me]

In short George was the better Batman, Val had the better movie.
George was a plausible Bruce Wayne, I wasn’t buying his Batman though, however, I do think under different circumstances he would’ve been more believable but oh well. To be honest Val was kind of painful to watch. He was stiff as if he was constantly thinking about what’s next and how to execute it. There wasn’t really any personality, nothing but the name and costume to tell you who he was. He was practically just a business man with a hobby.

Which brings me to Michael Keaton whom was quite lively. His performance wasn’t what I would have thought of for Batman but for the time it was made and the way it was filmed it fit. Still not ideal, I think his Bruce was better than his Batman but in all it worked nicely and worked just as well if not better his second time playing Batman.

On to Christian Bale, granted just about everything in his trilogy was set up perfectly and as it’s a trilogy you get to see the character development which adds a whole other layer. You saw how his parents affected him, how he came to build himself into The Bat and how he lived up to his billionaire playboy persona in the public eye and methodological thinker in private to be a step ahead.

Lastly, Ben Affleck. I think the choice to not introduce as Batman with an origin story was smart, however, I don’t think Ben fits this character.[He’s not the only miscast in my opinion, not necessarily in the bad sense] He reads as more of a grouchy detective than anything else. Yes, he’s supposed to the older, jaded Bruce Wayne but that’s not how it comes across, especially when Henry Cavill IS Superman and the dialogue doesn’t help either. I didn’t watch justice league in full to think otherwise, I saw several clips which give me the same impression. That being said time to rank the best to worst.

Christian Bale | The Dark Knight Trilogy 

Michael Keaton | Batman Returns/Batman 

George Clooney | Batman and Robin

Ben Affleck | Batman vs Superman/Justice Legue

Val Kilmer | Batman Forever