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zwolanerd

I guess I just like liking things

Paul Simon famously sang "Everything looks good in black and white," but I don't think he ever saw this picture

Paul Simon famously sang “Everything looks worse in black and white,” but I don’t think he ever saw this picture

If you want to argue that it should be “Movie Batmen” you’re going to have to go elsewhere because I think it could be either. I chose “Batmans” because it sounds funnier. Also, I’m only including one animated Batman movie at this time.

7. Lewis Wilson – Played Batman in some serials in the 40s, but I haven’t seen them, so I can’t really rank him.  In this instance “can’t really rank him” means “gets stuck at the bottom.” Sorry, Lewis.  I’m going to guess, though, by what I’ve read about those serials that this ranking wouldn’t change if I had seen

6. Adam West – I understand why people like the campy movie and series, I just don’t.

5. George Clooney – I think George made a decent Bruce Wayne, or at least would have if the script had called for it.

4. Val Kilmer – I love Val in other stuff, but he suffers here because his movie wasn’t good. That’s not technically his fault, I don’t think.

3. Kevin Conroy – I know at least one reader who is going to be angry that Kevin isn’t at the top. He’s fantastic, and for many folks he’s what they think of when they think of Batman.  Batman: Mask of the Phantasm was for the longest time the best Batman movie there was, and his work in the Arkham video games were movie-like enough that he gets bonus points from me for them, too.

2. Christian Bale – The only nitpick you can have with him is the Batman Voice thing he does in the last two movies, but that’s just because you don’t like hearing it.  It would mess with criminals’ heads, I think, and it was the right choice. It was part of the persona.

1. Michael Keaton – Listen, I know Christian Bale is the best movie Batman, so don’t give me any grief.  These lists aren’t about “best,” though, they’re about “favorite.” I still remember all of the griping around the choice of Michael Keaton back in the day – “A comedian! Playing Batman!” – but not only did he do a great job, he also had the sense to leave the series when he saw what Joel Schumacher was planning for the next entry and that might make him the smartest guy on this list. And we all know Batman is super smart, y’all.

 

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