Batman he is undoubtedly one of the most recurring and exploited characters from a comic strip in the history of audiovisual entertainment. Designed by Bob Kane e Bill Finger, is one of the symbols of DC Comics, as well as one of the most loved characters in the history of American comics. In 2021 it will come out The Batman, new film dedicated to the character with Robert Pattinson in the guise of the hooded crusader. While waiting to see the good Pattinson wearing the iconic costume in action, let's retrace together the story of the famous masked vigilante, from his beginnings to the latest film and television incarnations.
Lewis Wilson and Robert Lowery - Batman (1943) and Batman and Robin (1949)
Many are mistakenly convinced that the first film of Batman be that of Tim Burton 1989. Actually the first real film adaptation dedicated to the Bat Man dates back to 1943. The more experienced will know that Batman made its comic book debut in 1939, and that this first cinematic incarnation came just four years after that debut.
La Columbia Pictures produced two film serials, the first in 1943 and the second in 1949, both consisting of 15 episodes each. In the first, entitled Batman, the protagonist was played by Lewis Wilson, while in the second, entitled Batman & Robin, the role of Bruce Wayne / Batman was filled by Robert Lowery.
We are speaking, of course, of two children of their time, and it is impossible to judge these two incarnations of the character in a completely objective way. However, there remain two important interpretations for the future of the character in the world of cinema, also given the excellent success of critics and audiences that the two serials enjoyed.
Bruce Wayne rating: SV
Batman rating: SV
Adam West - Batman (1966 movie) and Batman (1966-68 TV series)
A speech similar to what was done in the previous paragraph can also be done with the iconic Batman of Adam West. The actor wore the clothes of the crusader of Gotham for well- 3 seasons, For a total of 116 episodes between 1966 and 1968. In 66 a film was made, Entitled Batman, which was directed by Leslie H. Martison, which is effectively the first full-color feature film in history for the character.
Here too, it is a vision of the character daughter of his times, who in his own way has become as iconic as Adam West himself, who over the years has become a true symbol of camp and thanks to .
Bruce Wayne rating: SV
Batman rating: SV
Michael Keaton - Batman by Tim Burton (1989-92)
In the far 1989, when it was decided to bring back to the big screen the dark Knight, many found very little spot on Michael Keaton to play the famous vigilante. Tim Burton, however, he was right. The filmmaker not only gave birth to an authorial cine-comic (through his gothic fairytale style), but gave fans a startling Batman, sombre like never before. The public, accustomed to a more ironic and funny Batman, found themselves in their hands a dark, violent story, with important themes and a dystopian and disturbing Gotham.
In the end, Keaton's Batman turned out to be a good bet, and he performed well as both Batman and Bruce Wayne. As a billionaire, Keaton was perfect in playing an elegant man with a haughty air, without neglecting the more melancholy and pensive side of the character, who is marked by the traumatic loss of his parents.
In the role of Batman, however, a great job was done especially with regard to the costume. Putting aside the "clothes" with the amateur air of the 40s and 60s, director Burton gave the audience a Dark Knight ... really dark. The costume was shiny and black, with only a few hints of yellow, perfectly in symbiosis with the Gotham conceived by Burton. The vocal timbre of Keaton as Batman is also excellent, scratched and hoarse but never forced. The costume is perhaps slightly aged, mainly due to the static neck that prevented the actor from moving naturally, but compared to the atrocities of Joel Schumacher still remains today an excellent visual interpretation of the character.
Bruce Wayne rating: 9
Batman rating: 8
Val Kilmer - Batman Forever (1995)
After the excellent success of critics and audiences, Tim Burton and Michael Keaton left the saga due to some creative differences with the production. The ball passed to the aforementioned Joel Schumacher, and the new actor who would play Gotham's executioner would be Val Kilmer.
In the infamous it was Schumacher it turned towards a much less authorial and more carefree vision of the character, aimed at a younger audience. Burton's dark hues began to fade in favor of more colorful and opulent environments, with over the top characters without any kind of deepening.
Eventually Batman Forever, in hindsight, it wasn't even a bad Batman movie, and it had some good gimmicks such as a perfect fit. Riddler played by Jim Carrey. However, it remains a mediocre film, with a forgettable Val Kilmer.
Like Bruce Wayne, Kilmer tried to follow in the footsteps traced by his predecessor Keaton, but thanks to an uninspired writing and an overly bitter interpretation, the final result was only discreet, never reaching the various facets brought into play by Burton in the previous films .
The costume, although it followed the style of the one seen in Tim Burton's films, added some unlikely nipples which still today are the object of ridicule by fans. Kilmer, in the guise of Batman, was unable to replicate the mark Keaton's vocal characterization, and in general his interpretation of the character is all too woody.
Bruce Wayne rating: 5,5
Batman rating: 5
George Clooney - Batman & Robin (1997)
If Batman Forever was just a wake-up call, Batman & Robin it destroyed the franchise in an almost irreparable way. Authorship was dead and gone to make room for merchandising production. The film, in fact, was conceived solely to create and sell Action Figures... and at the time, the undersigned asked his parents to buy him the whole set, and then managed to convince them (I was only three years old, I couldn't know!). From this point of view, the film directed by Schumacher it was futuristic, since it anticipated by several years what would later become the battle plan of the Disney with its franchises.
After Kilmer left, the role of Batman was filled by George Clooney, whose career was on the rise due to the famous series ER of which he was the protagonist. The Batman & Robin movie was a unprecedented commercial flop, and was heavily (and rightly) crushed by critics. The characters, good or bad, were ridiculous and grotesque (just think of Bane / Scourge, or at the bars of Mr. Freeze always inherent to ice). A film so disastrous that it almost irremediably compromised the careers of young people Chris O'Donnell e Alicia Silverstone, respectively Robin e Batgirl.
George Clooney he was a bad Bruce Wayne, emptied of all the depth of the character, and also a bad Batman, with comic moments out of time like that of the Bat-credit card. Here too, the costume is provided with embarrassing nipples, and in the end it even turns to a chromed costume that is anything but sober; very bad. At least in the years following the flop, Clooney he admitted he almost had ditched the brand, even if it must be admitted that the faults were not all his, on the contrary.
Bruce Wayne rating: 3,5
Batman rating: 3
Christian Bale - Nolan Trilogy (2005-2012)
Batman at the cinema seemed to have come to an untimely commercial death, but after almost ten years of absence he thought about it Christopher Nolan to resurrect the character from his own ashes. The director, who was on the rise in those years thanks to films such as Memento, entrusted the role of Bruce Wayne to Christian Bale. Nolan decided to bring a much more realistic Batman to the screen, depriving his universe of that fantasy component that was instead present in previous films but especially in comics. Nothing Superman, no characters over the top, but only the crudeness of the world and a Gotham made up of crime and mafia. The three films of which Bale stars, Batman Begins, The dark Knight e The Dark Knight - The Return, managed to bring the character back to the attention of the general public, raising his popularity to levels never seen before and launching Nolan as one of the most promising directors of the new millennium.
Batman then returns to being an authorial product, very different from Burton's Batman but still following a very personal narrative imprint. Nolan's goal was to deconstruct the figure of the hero, talking a lot about Bruce Wayne and the underworld around him and less about Batman. As disappointing as the last chapter of the trilogy was for many, The dark Knight still remains today one of the best cinecomics ever. Bale, for his part, gave the audience a Batman and a Bruce Wayne on the verge of perfection. The actor was able to perfectly replicate the despondency and the sense of guilt that grip the soul of Bruce, managing however to perfectly alternate in the role of the billionaire womanizer.
Like Batman, however, we talk about the best interpretation of the character. A Dark Knight who, in addition to mere physical strength, also uses ingenuity, in addition to his countless technological devices. However, the investigative component is missing, barely mentioned and completely absent in the previous cinematographic interpretations of the character. Hopefully, this side of the character can finally be fully explored in The Batman with Robert Pattinson. The armor that serves as a costume got fans talking, but it is perfectly in line with the realistic mood of the story.
Bruce Wayne rating: 9,5
Batman rating: 9
Ben Affleck - DC Extended Universe (2016-2017)
In hindsight, the Batman's Ben Affleck it turned out to be all smoke and little roast. The premises were encouraging, and seeing the Dark Knight and theMan of Steel in a dedicated film it was a winning basic idea, too bad for the bad realization and for involuntarily comic scenes (someone remembers Martha?). But if in Batman v Superman it wasn't all to throw away, Justice League prematurely ditched the expansion plans of the DC cinematic universe, which now continues with stand-alone films linked only loosely to each other.
Visually, Affleck's Batman fits perfectly, both as a vigilante and as a billionaire. Much more muscular than previous film interpretations, it is very reminiscent of the Batman seen in it The Return of the Dark Knight di Frank Miller, and the costume is a blatant reference to that story. This Batman is aged, disillusioned and above all violent… maybe too much. He kills without too much trouble, and maybe it's time for fans to have a cinematic Batman that doesn't kill. We'll see what the director has in mind Matt Reeves in The Batman.
It must be said, however, that this Dark Knight angry, far from his moral principles, it would have been interesting if deepened a little, too bad that Batman v Superman has preferred to bring up too many things without giving space to the internal conflict of the character and his hatred towards Superman. Justice League, from this point of view, has done nothing but worsen the situation, trivializing the character, and with a clearly listless Ben Affleck. Self DC e Warner had had more patience, instead of pursuing the battle plan of the The Marvel movies, we would probably be speaking in very different tones. The excessive haste, however, has led to a Batman with excellent intentions, but very bad in the realization, which at least visually is a joy for the eyes especially in Batman v Superman. Such a pity.
Bruce Wayne rating: 6,5
Batman rating: 6-
Special Mentions - Lego Batman and TV Series
Batman is one of the most chameleonic characters in the history of audiovisual entertainment. Movies, cartoons, TV series, video games. The bat man, throughout his history, has had a thousand different faces and voices, and one of the most memorable is certainly the incarnation of the character seen in Lego Batman. Voiced by the comedian Will Arnett and first appeared in that little masterpiece by The Lego Movie, in Lego Batman the Gotham Crusader was explored in a way never seen before.
What the character had been missing up to that moment was a (not unintentionally) entertaining and sparkling interpretation key, which however did not put aside its peculiar characteristics. The Lego version Batman is just perfect, ironic and self-deprecating but who manages not to betray the psychology underlying the character. The way in which the Dark Knight is treated, in this incarnation, is light but never superficial, and issues dear to him are addressed such as loneliness and melancholy, feelings that must be countered with the creation of a new family ... what we are themselves to create us.
The Lego version of Batman has a respect for the character who is miraculous, given his parodic nature, and this paradoxically makes him the best incarnation of the character on the big screen. Obviously incomparable with the versions "in flesh and blood", this Batman still deserves a 10 with no ifs and buts!
Finally, we conclude this long discussion by talking about the appearances of the Dark Knight on the small screen. Various actors have lent their faces to this character over the years. Just think of Iain Glen in the second season of Titans, or the young Bruce Wayne played by David Mazouz appeared in Gotham. And of course let's not forget about Kevin Conroy, historical voice actor of the character in animated series and in various Batman: Arkham who recently played Bruce Wayne in the television crossover Crisis on Infinite Earths.
In short, a character who in almost a hundred years of history has changed his face countless times, and next year will change his appearance again. Robert Pattinson is preparing to take up the legacy of the Dark Knight, and there is nothing left for us to do but wait for his big screen debut in 2021. Will he be able to keep us from regretting the best cinematic incarnations of the character?
