Hey Guys!
Cam here.
Now that we have Christian Bale hanging up the cape and cowl, we now have seven actors who have taken up Batman’s mantle; some were a success, and a some failure. But here is a list of all 7 previous “Batmen”.
1. Lewis G Wilson
This actor played the very first Batman/Bruce Wayne just as the comic book character became very successful in the 1940s. At 23 he was the youngest actor to play playboy millionaire Bruce Wayne, but the show replaced him after a while. After the show ended he did not experience any success until 1951 in the movie Bowanga Bowanga. His son became a big director in Hollywood doing a couple of Bond Films. Wilson died in 2000.
2. Robert Lowrey
Lowery took up the series when Lewis was kicked off the show. Lowery was a classic actor, previously starring in films like The Mask of Zorro, ironically a character which Bob Kane actually based Batman on. But in the end they only made one movie of it. There was a crossover in 1956 with The Adventures of Superman, but it was only for one episode. Lowery officially quit after that crossover.
3. Adam West
This Batman Series was one of the best and the worst of Batman. Adam West got the role of the caped crusader because of his James Bond looks. A movie was made out of the series and it was hugely successful. The 1960’s Batman Series only lasted from 1966-1968 until it came back in 1977 with The New Adventures of Batman which was more of a Saturday morning kid’s show.
4. Micheal Keaton
20 Year’s later after the Tv Show and the Animated Show came the Live Action Movie Batman and Batman Returns with Director Tim Burton. The movies were a summer blockbuster with Batman coming out in 1989, and Batman Returns came out in 1992. The co-creator of Batman, Bob Kane was their creative consultant.
5. Val Kilmer
Ok this was a whole new scenario, new Director and starring actor. This Batman Movie was always called the beginning to the Batman downfall. When it came out it was aimed at kids and young teens. It was not made for small children. There was no gritty Gotham like Burton directed, and it was nothing compared to the entertaining 60’s Batman either. Joel Schumacher directed this film and Batman was played by Val Kilmer, with Chris O’Donnell playing Robin. The movie was a flop and ended up like ash……but wait there’s more.
6. George Clooney
They made a sequel! Hands down this would have been one of the worst of them all. New actor but same director. Playing Batman was George Clooney when his career was just taking off from the TV Show ER. Clooney was offered and signed on to other movies, but he chose the Batman role with this being as bad as the other Batman Forever. This is when Batman became unpopular to read or look at.
7. Christian Bale
When WB announced there was going to be a new Batman reboot, Christopher Nolan stepped in. He directed Movies like Memento and Insomnia, and when he was doing the casting calls for Batman people like Billy Crudup, Jake Gyllenhaal, Joshua Jackson and Cillian Murphy auditioned, but Nolan wanted Christian Bale based on Bale’s earlier movies. When Batman Begins came out in 2005 it was a hit. The public, the critics and of course The Batman Nerds. Then Christopher Nolan Came out with another hit, The Dark Knight which made more money than any other Batman Films. But sadly when you have success there always must be failure. When the death of Heath Ledger (the actor who played Joker died when the movie was just about to be released) occurred, Heath was posthumously nominated for, and received a lot of awards and was mentioned by fellow actors as an amazing actor and friend. Now we have the third instalment to the franchise, The Dark Knight Rises. Thank You Christopher Nolan.
– Cam
Source- Denofgeek