Ranking The 8 Actors Who’ve Played Batman

Holy fickleness, Batman! The Dark Knight has been played by more actors than any other superhero in mainstream entertainment history with an escalating total of eight. Given that the Caped Crusader is amongst the best of the cape-bearing warriors, this is not terribly surprising. Until recently, the majority have lasted just one film, but with the 2012 blockbuster, The Dark Knight Rises, Christian Bale became the first man to play the Bats more than twice on the big screen. However, that trend seems to be heading towards a different direction, as Ben Affleck (AKA Batfleck) and The LEGO Movie’s Will Arnett have each played Batsy twice. And if you put the DC Extended Universe’s plans for expansion into mind, with two more projects already in production, the numerical possibilities for Batfleck movies are impossible to calculate. But, as we all know, not all of the Batmen have been so awesome – in fact, there's one that we're sure comes to everyone’s mind. So, from worst to best, here are our rankings for the numerous Batman actors from over the years. Also, please note that we're excluding the 1940s and ‘50s serials, as well as the various video game and animated spinoffs in an effort to keep all of our readers in the loop. George Clooney (Batman & Robin) No surprises here. Clooney has gone on to say that he ruined the franchise with this 1997 flop, so we're sure that he would place himself here anyways. His acting career was just taking off when he was cast in Batman & Robin, with his breakthrough performance coming just the year prior in Quentin Tarantino’s From Dusk Till Dawn. As such, producers probably felt they had a great hand when they landed the rising star. But Batman & Robin turned out to be a disaster. Fans and critics alike hated the Joel Schumacher creation, despite the impressive cast (which also included Arnold Schwarzenegger and Uma Thurman). And with the strange and foreign inclusion of “flamboyancy” to Batman’s personality, as well as the infamous Bat-nipples, you can’t blame any of them. The bust received 11 Razzie nominations in total and is frequently ranked among the worst films of all-time. Yes, it's that bad. And though Clooney was universally distasted for his rendition of the superhero, it didn’t have any longterm effects on his career – we all know how that’s going. At the very least, it's given him something to joke about during interviews. Val Kilmer (Batman Forever) When Michael Keaton opted out of making a third Batman movie (a moment in his life that would later turn into an Oscar-nominated role in Birdman) because of the new director, Schumacher, the list of actors reportedly considered for the role is remarkable – Ralph Fiennes, Daniel Day-Lewis and Johnny Depp were included. But it was Val Kilmer, whose performance in Tombstone impressed the director, who eventually took the cowl. Allegedly, though, he never read the script. Whoops. It turned out that neither Schumacher or Kilmer did a lot of research going into the project, as the two quickly learned one thing: that they didn’t like each other. The production was bothersome, as Kilmer and the director constantly butted heads. Schumacher later described his star as “childish and impossible.” Only God (and the crew) knows why. The film, as well as Kilmer’s performance, did better than Batman Returns at the box office, but got mixed reviews. Though Bob Kane, the infamous creator of Batman, thought Kilmer was the best and truest to his vision, the actor was destined to be a one-and-done hero. Will Arnett (The LEGO Movie, The LEGO Batman Movie) It would have been easy to exclude any presence of Batman in The LEGO Movie on this list had it been any other actor in the role. But, Arrested Development star Will Arnett made the toy-ish character a comedic gold mine for the film and as a result, earned himself his own spinoff movie. The LEGO Batman Movie, another animated smash, landed earlier this year and was a great success. The film excelled in its satirical attack on how the character’s been played as of late. And the timing for the first LEGO film’s release was perfect – it was long enough after The Dark Knight Rises that it could play with Christian Bale’s rough-and-tough persona, and far enough before Batman V Superman that Arnett could sneak in as a new Batman before all the hype over Ben Affleck’s debut could rupture and wipe him out. The result was a Batman who will go down in the books as one of the funniest, wildest and freshest takes on the character. From any number of his ridiculous antics, to his self-feeding ego, Arnett’s Caped Crusader forced kids and parents alike to embrace him, and with the immense praise for the standalone movie, don’t be surprised if we see this Batman again very soon. Ben Affleck (Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice) After initial criticism for his casting in Zack Snyder’s Batman V Superman, fans lightened up to the idea of a Batfleck. We can’t be totally sure why there was such a change in attitude, but perhaps it was his unpredictably dark performance in David Fincher’s mega-success Gone Girl that turned some heads. He also demonstrated his skills in the badass department with the action flick The Accountant, which was enjoyed by audiences but received mixed reviews. Batman V Superman has been out for a while now and the general consensus is that it really wasn't that good. However, the critics have been kind to the Batfleck, with many agreeing that Affleck’s rendition as the world’s greatest detective was one of the few things worthwhile about the project. The Good Will Hunting creator was able to successfully bring back the charm of the billionaire, while also making the character a seasoned, crime-fighting veteran. Donning the costume from The Dark Knight Returns, he even had some grey hairs. Time will ultimately tell how Affleck ranks with the other actors on this list, but he's already been assigned to numerous other DC Extended Universe projects, including Justice League and his own Batman film, so it seems like he'll be the sole wearer of the live-action cowl and cape for quite some time. Michael Keaton (Batman, Batman Returns) There was a 20-year hiatus before Adam West lost his exclusivity on Batman. And when it was announced that director Tim Burton and Michael Keaton were set to create a new film about the Caped Crusader, many of the comic fans, who foresaw another Adam West-type Bats, were not happy. In fact, Warner Bros. received so many protest letters that they hired Bob Kane, the character’s infamous creator, to be the film’s creative consultant. And with that came the first Dark Knight. Keaton possessed the charm and good looks of a billionaire playboy, but also, as producer Jon Peters put it, “he’s got that explosive, insane side.” We all remember that scene (“You wanna get nuts?! Let’s get nuts!”), and Keaton’s portrayal of the Bat remains beloved by critics and fans alike. So much so that he became the first actor to reprise the role when 1992’s Batman Returns was released. Though it's not aged as well as it could have, Keaton really was the first to capture the mysterious and darker side of Batman, a performance that would later influence all the later Batmen to come. Christian Bale (The Dark Knight Trilogy) After Joel Schumacher’s crippling films, it seemed that Batman was destined to remain a joke. Then came Christopher Nolan, the acclaimed director of Memento, who set out to reinvent the franchise with Batman Begins. With Christian Bale at the helm, Nolan certainly did so, creating the first entirely dark Dark Knight. Bale’s performance reminded several critics of his turn in American Psycho. However, they weren’t impressed by his now-trademark voice - even famous voice-actor Kevin Conroy thought it was “ridiculous.” Next, however, came the universally beloved The Dark Knight, a film so great that even Bale’s “off-putting” speech could be ignored. Now that the trilogy has ended with 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises, Bale’s Batman is fondly reminisced, and always comes into the discussion of “who’s the best?” When it comes to quality, there's no question that Nolan’s films are at the top. But the nearly incomprehensible voice cannot be ignored, and as great as he was, how much help the director offered Bale is unknown. It's because of that that we don’t put him at the top. Adam West (Batman, Batman: The Movie) Boom! Zam! Ka-Pow! Ouch! There are a few things that immediately come to mind when we think of Adam West’s era as the Bat: the cartoonish adverbs, the wall climbing, the Joker’s moustache (yes, Caesar Romero refused to shave his trademark ‘stache off), and the Boy Wonder’s many “Holy!” proclamations. West’s time under the cowl certainly had a level of lightness surrounding it that not many of the other Batmen had, and because of that, he's often left out of the running in these kinds of lists. But Adam West, over his years on the ‘60s Batman series, has spent the most time in the Batcave. His goofy charm, and over-the-top portrayal of Batman has had fans either raging or rejoicing for over fifty years. And though he has a lot of supporters, there are many who believe his laidback approach to the Caped Crusader lessens the character. However, in the 1960s, the Batman TV Show and West were hits. You’ve got to remember that the badass Christian Bale wouldn’t even be born for nearly 10 more years, let alone play the Bat. So audiences had no perspective into the darker realm of the Batman psyche, and without that knowledge, West’s elegance, charm and goofiness was a lot of people’s first and favorite glimpse of the Batman. Kevin Conroy (Batman: The Animated Series, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm) Kevin Conroy has loaned his voice to the Caped Crusader in almost every form. Though we may not be able to put the actual face to the voice, for a lot of us, he's still the definitive Batman. Conroy most famously voiced the Bat in Batman: The Animated Series, which debuted in 1992. Since then, he’s done three other Batman series, a bunch of animated movies (the most recent one being the filmic adaptation of Alan Moore’s graphic novel, The Killing Joke), and video games, including the four-part Arkham series. But perhaps his most successful, and his best rendition as Batsy took place in 1993 alongside his Joker-voicing comrade, Mark Hamill, with the animated film, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. Since 1992, the voice of Batman has belonged to Kevin Conroy. Though his adaptation may sound warmer, Conroy makes Bruce Wayne and his alter ego a crime-fighting mastermind, always depending on his intelligence and strategy. The actor gave Batman to a whole new generation and played a large part in turning the once campy crime fighter into the Dark Knight.