6) Olan Soule (The Batman/Superman Hour, The New Scooby-Doo Movies, Super Friends, And Many More)
Olan Soule is closely associated with animations of Batman, having provided his voice talent for the character for over 15 years of television animation. While Adam West portrayed the character in live-action, Soule handled the cartoon side of the Dark Knight, eventually handing the microphone to West as his successor.
Providing the voice of Batman from 1968 – 1984 meant that Soule filled what would otherwise have been a gaping void in the multi-media history of Batman, and brought the character to an entirely new generation of fans outside of comic book readers.
5) Adam West (The New Adventures Of Batman, Tarzan And The Super 7, Legends Of The Superheroes And Many More)
The voice work of Adam West as Batman is at once understandable, and surprising. The actor is synonymous with the character, thanks to his live-action incarnation, but was also famously type-cast. The fact that West eventually embraced his position as Caped Crusader is perhaps testament to the strength of his connection to Batman.
4) Will Arnett (The Lego Movie, The Lego Batman Movie)
“Darkness! No parents!”
And with that, Will Arnett’s animated Batman perfectly captured the core of the Dark Knight, while keeping with the high comedy of the box office smash hit, The Lego Movie.
With his unique voice, he created a Batman that played out the way we have all secretly long feared the Caped Crusader really is – a terrible, terrible person. Taking the self-assured swagger of Bruce Wayne and inserting it straight into the cape and cowl, we are left with a vigilante who thinks more of himself than the people he is supposed to be helping.
If we could, in reality, have a comic book-esque alternative timeline, perhaps Will Arnett would make a fine live-action Batman. He certainly couldn’t do any worse than George Clooney, after all. But as it is, we must be content with the animated Lego figure version, which will return to cinema screens in his very own movie – which he no doubt believes he deserves – in 2017.
Published: Nov 10, 2015 02:06 pm