Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
The top 10 Batman actors ever
George Clooney: Before embarking on a career that has yielded eight Oscars nominations (with two wins), Clooney was saddled with a Bat-disaster that was nominated for a whopping 11 Razzie Awards – including “worst screen couple” for Clooney and Chris “Robin” O’Donnell. This high-camp extravaganza lacks even the winking charm of the 1960s series. Lewis Wilson: Just four years after Bob Kane and Bill Finger’s character debuted in Detective Comics in 1939, Bruce Wayne made his screen debut in 1943’s 15-part serial Batman, in which the hero must battle Dr Daka, a Japanese mastermind who wields his own death ray (as the racial overtones of the World War II era, 18 months after Pearl Harbor, rear their head).
Making his screen debut aged 23, Wilson faced criticism for his chunky physique and his strong Boston accent – setting up a long legacy of Batman actors enduring public drubbings. Robert Lowery: An athletic actor, Lowery inherited the cape for 1949’s Batman and Robin setting up a long tradition of performers first donning the dark cowl while in their thirties. Lowery had the requisite physical flair for the heroic role, later becoming better known for Westerns. Val Kilmer: Three decades after Adam West went from playing Doc Holliday (in TV’s Colt .45) to playing Batman, Kilmer made the identical pivot but he was a oneand-done after 1995’s Batman Forever. Ben Affleck: The easy joke here is that “Batfleck” – in last year’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – was a stiffer performer than a piece of Lego plastic. But the truth is that he found some resonance as an older, greying Batman with gravitas. Adam West: It can be harder now to fully appreciate just what West accomplished five decades ago. Many Bat-fans may belittle the high camp of the mid-1960s TV series but West struck the perfect vocal tone: commanding but warmly amusing, as if his baritone was forever delivering a fourth-wall wink to the audience. Kevin Conroy: In much the same way that we relish Mark Hamill’s vocal work as the Joker, we hold Conroy’s quarter-century of service as the voice of the animated Batman in high regard. As such, we must rank him above such other worthy Bat-voices as Olan Soule and the shorter-term Rino Romano, Diedrich Bader, Will Friedle and Jeremy Sisto. Will Arnett: Pixar knew from the outset with Toy Story that when voicing plastic, emotionally resonant vocal performances are crucial. And so with the Lego films, Arnett emerged as the ideal Batman, hitting that sweet spot between a gruff and gravely spoof of Christian Bale’s half-asthmatic Batman and the wrinkles of winking comedy. As long as Lego Batman lives, Arnett has earned a gig for life. Christian Bale: He was an ideal choice for reviving the franchise in 2005 – uncannily inhabiting the suit like a cinematic Tom Brady. Bale weathered blow-back for the sometimes near- indecipherable husky rasp of a delivery, yet somehow it worked opposite Nolan’s inspired villains, particularly Heath Ledger’s immortal Joker. Nolan had to bring Batman back from the cinematic dead; on that count, he was a beast. Michael Keaton: Would Keaton have been given a fan’s chance in an age of social media? As it was, the criticism was brutal. But director Tim Burton knew in 1989 what so many could not see: he had the rare ability to walk the line between comedy and drama. Being a bit under 1.8m tall doesn’t much matter if you can pull off the Batsuit; and beneath that cowl, Keaton happened to have the perfect chin for the job. – The Washington Post