One thing you can always count on in the world, besides death and taxes, is that whomever is announced to play the title role in a live-action upcoming Batman movie will get shredded online and in the media. Going back to the '80s, Michael Keaton's casting as Batman was even highly lambasted long before the Christian Bale decision was criticized, Ben Affleck got crushed when he was the pick, and Robert Pattinson’s casting was met with the same kind of criticism, until the world finally got to see them each in action.
So far, seven men have played Bruce Wayne in live-action Batman movies, but only a smaller few have managed to satisfy the biggest DC fans with their visceral appeal, in-depth understanding of the character, badass persona, and the overall nature of the performance. The question is, which is the best to play the Dark Knight in the best superhero movies yet? While there are no right or wrong answers as far as I am concerned, I do have a definitive ranking of my personal choices for the best Batman actors in descending order, which I will now present to you below.
7. Val Kilmer
Val Kilmer has as much talent as any actor in Hollywood and when he is using his powers for good, he can be amazing – such as in Tombstone as Doc Holliday or as Iceman, whom he would reprise in Top Gun: Maverick. Too often though, for one reason or another, he doesn’t use those powers the way he should and, as a result, the parts he plays suffer. His performance in the title role of 1995's Batman Forever – the first of two DC movies directed by the late Joel Schumacher – sadly, falls under the latter situation.
Despite portraying a Batman who knows how to make a great entrance, Kilmer plays the part very blandly. In fact, there is hardly any real emotion from him. He’s not campy like Adam West or serious like Christian Bale. Kilmer is somehow… just boring and he makes most of the movie boring, leaving Jim Carrey as one of the best depictions of The Riddler and Tommy Lee Jones hamming it up as Two-Face to save the picture.
6. George Clooney
George Clooney’s biggest problem with his Batman isn’t the character or even his acting. It’s the movie: 1997’s Batman & Robin, which – despite having some fans these days – is thought to be a sequel that never should have happened by many. Schumacher did not like it and Clooney has been open about his distaste of the film and his mown performance, which is not actually THAT bad and would inspire gleeful reactions with a cameo at the end of The Flash in 2023.
It starts with his version of Bruce Wayne, which Clooney plays exactly how you would expect him to play the role, as a charming rich guy with a million-watt smile – just like the former ER cast member himself. If there is any complaint there, it’s that he is TOO much like Clooney and lacks the social anxiety and brooding inner darkness Wayne should have. In the end, it comes down to the material, which is laughable, but not in the charming way that the '60s TV show is known for.
5. Adam West
Speaking of the ‘60s Batman TV series, it and its feature-length spin-off (released months after the show premiered) are so different from what modern audiences expect from Batman, that it’s hard to fit the late Adam West into this list. Of course, we have to, because he is simply brilliant in the way he fits the role into the funky, campy, psychedelic production that isn’t so much dated as it is set like stone in a very specific time in pop culture.
His show and movie relied on Batman’s rogues gallery – which included multiple, equally iconic on-screen iterations of Catwoman – to bring the action and drive the plot, so West, as Batman – along with Burt Ward as Robin at his side – needed to be a Jack Webb-like foil. A by-the-book lawman of sorts who didn’t take the bait dangled in front of him by his enemies. What some people may see as stiff is really just stoic, just like Batman should be. West probably influenced every actor since him to play the Caped Crusader in a certain way, whether they admit it or not.
4. Christian Bale
Now, here is where things are about to take a controversial turn. To preface, I think there is no denying that Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy entries are among the best live-action Batman movies ever and are single-handedly responsible for reviving the franchise and superhero movies as a whole after Batman & Robin’s bomb. However, I cannot say that Christian Bale’s portrayal is particularly the reason why I enjoy them or revisit them on a regular basis, as I have a few issues with this take on the character whom I hold dear, and his extremely grating, unnecessarily gravelly voice is just one of them.
I have never been a fan of the way these films underplay Batman’s reputation as a detective, depict his combat skills as awkwardly robotic and severely lacking in imposing brutality, and give him strange character motivations – such as when Rachel’s death drives him to become a recluse in The Dark Knight Rises, which is something the Batman I know would never do. Nonetheless, while his iteration is not my favorite, Academy Award winner Bale’s performance – a wonderful blend of intimidating stoicism, unwavering darkness, and a dash of anti-social apathy that he seems to borrow from playing American Psycho’s Patrick Bateman – works brilliantly in the world Nolan crafts here. That alone deserves him a spot among the top Batman actors.
3. Ben Affleck
The decision to cast Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice may have been the most controversial of them all – nearly breaking the Internet with comic book fans going nuts criticizing the decision. Here’s the thing, though: he was actually pretty good! In fact, when I compared Batfleck to Christian Bale’s portrayal, I ended up picking the former as my favorite between the two. Why?
Well – even though Bale is probably the better detective and Affleck is pretty loose with Batman’s no-killing rule – he is easily the most physically imposing take on the character we have ever seen in live-action; has a merciless, fearsome, fighting style unlike any other; and building an identity-concealing voice changer into his cowl is a brilliant touch. As for his performance: I think the Academy Award-winning filmmaker and vastly underrated actor stands out tremendously well with a unique shade of Wayne’s inner darkness that brilliantly comes through in his demeanor and serves as a perfect way to bring Frank Miller’s older interpretation of the character to the big screen. It makes me sad we could not see even more of him since the DCEU is being replaced with the DCU.
2. Robert Pattinson
Speaking as someone whose favorite Batman movie of all time is The Batman, I can understand why it may seem like ranking Robert Pattinson as the second best actor to wear the cape and cowl ever is a product of recency bias. However, this is a character I have been infatuated with and studied with close attention for most of my life and I genuinely believe this portrayal of the Dark Knight and the performance behind it is something we needed to see on the big screen.
In addition to, arguably, the best chase scene in a Batman movie ever, director Matt Reeves’ 2022 hit gave us the film noir-inspired detective version of the character that cinema had yet to embrace, crafted a world that felt grounded without being too bogged down by ultra-realism, and (most importantly) made the title character the real star by telling the story almost entirely from his perspective. No longer is Edward Cullen from Twilight Pattinson’s definitive role, because his performance as the Dark Knight – while a little too moody for some people’s taste – is on its way to becoming this generation’s definitive Batman for portraying the hero with a refreshing sense of humanity and hope.
1. Michael Keaton
Even in a world with a Batman performance as strong as Pattinson’s, it is still easy to understand why Michael Keaton’s return to the role in The Flash was in such high demand and so widely celebrated upon release. To put it simply, he’s the best – and not just because he has one of the coolest cinematic Batman suits or, arguably, the best live-action Batmobile. The secret lies in his diversified approach to playing both the hero and the man underneath the mask.
In two of the best Tim Burton movies, Keaton played Wayne as socially anxious and with a tendency to fly off the handle, while portraying Batman as strong and stoic, hardly revealing any emotion, and lacking dialogue in Batman Returns upon request, believe or not, to allow silence to be his ally. Each of the Academy Award nominee’s successors have clearly been inspired by his focused and equally intriguing balance of the two alter egos, but none have captured it to quite the same degree. Keaton is as much Bruce Wayne as he is Batman, and that is why he remains the finest actor to assume the role in a live-action setting.
Now, to be perfectly honest, my true, all-time favorite actor to play Batman is still the late Kevin Conroy, whose many great vocal performances as the Dark Knight are nothing short of legendary. However, this was a list of live-action movie actors, specifically. Do you agree that Keaton is king in that regard, or do you think Kilmer and Clooney have been unfairly overlooked?
