There’s a good reason why it feels like we get a new Batman every couple of years. In a world where superheroes reign supreme, the Dark Knight still stands head and shoulders above the rest. With a killer rogues gallery and immense psychological depth, the world’s greatest masked detective offers endless adaptation possibilities for the big (and small) screen.
As such, it’s fascinating to look at the various actors who have worn the cape and cowl, putting their own signature spin on Bruce Wayne. Just like the lineup of Jokers we’ve gotten over the years, each of these performances offers its own takeaways for aspiring stars. Here are eight of the most well-known actors who’ve played Batman, with a deep dive into what each brought to the role.
Adam West in “Batman” (1966–1968) and “Batman: The Movie” (1966)
Lewis G. Wilson and Robert Lowery played Batman first in various film serials, but for many, the first-ever live-action Batman is none other than Adam West. These days, he’s often seen as the odd man out when dissecting the character’s history; his version in the 1960s TV series was goofy and cartoonish, in stark contrast to the brooding, overly somber Caped Crusader we’ve become accustomed to.
But that silliness is a feature, not a bug. When West spoke with Pioneers of Television about “Batman,” he explained how it was the kind of comedy he had always wanted to do. More than that, though, he wanted to “make it funny and ludicrous and absurd, in a sense, but always kind of believable.”
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That’s the key: West’s Batman might be humorous, but West never feels above the material. There’s an earnestness to the actor’s portrayal that actually helps it age better than if he was simply playing for laughs. It captures a time and tone—specifically the colorful, gee-whiz feeling of comic books’ Silver Age—that’s fascinating to watch alongside any modern grimdark take on the hero.
Michael Keaton in “Batman” (1989), “Batman Returns” (1992), and “The Flash” (2023)
Tim Burton’s 1989 “Batman” introduced a darker take on the character led by a risky casting gamble. Burton chose Michael Keaton to don the cape and cowl, despite the fact that the actor was primarily known for comedic roles like “Mr. Mom” and “Beetlejuice.” But Keaton’s off-kilter energy turned out to be exactly what the part called for—this is a Bruce Wayne you truly believe often.
In an interview with GQ, Keaton explained his method: “To be honest, I never thought about Batman. It was always Bruce Wayne. Who’s Bruce Wayne? You start with that.”
It’s a good reminder that every superhero part is essentially a dual role. Who is this person when they’re in costume, who are they when they take it off, and how does one affect the other? In Keaton’s case, he plays Bruce Wayne like the trauma of his parents’ murder has made him uncomfortable in his civilian suit. He almost feels more sane when he’s dressed up like a bat and beating up the bad guys.
Kevin Conroy in “Batman: The Animated Series” (1992–1995) and “Batman: Mask of the Phantasm” (1993)
For an entire generation, the voice they hear in their head when they read a Batman comic is Kevin Conroy’s. The actor provided the voice for the Dark Knight in an array of projects, notably “Batman: The Animated Series” as well as “Batman Beyond,” the animated feature “Batman: The Mask of the Phantasm,” and the “Batman: Arkham” video game franchise.
The keystone of Conroy’s performance is how he expertly moves back and forth between his “Batman voice” and his “Bruce Wayne” voice, a distinction that gives the character depth. This was Conroy’s goal from the start, stemming from his profound understanding of the character.
“Batman… He’s a complicated guy, and that voice can’t be just a quirky voice that you as an actor put on,” he told DC. “It’s a state of mind that you have to get into because that voice comes from such a deep well of pain. If you don’t really do it genuinely, it sounds artificial. It sounds like you’re just putting on a funny voice. You really need to invest it with a lot of emotion and a lot of backstory.”
Val Kilmer in “Batman Forever” (1995)
Keaton proved the naysayers wrong, so it was a bit of a disappointment when both he and Burton did not return for this second sequel, paving the way for Val Kilmer to take the reins in Joel Schumacher’s “Batman Forever.”
Kilmer is one of the few one-and-done Batman actors, and that definitely sums up his ethos surrounding the character. His performance is primarily defined by how little the updated Batsuit allowed him to move, and whether or not the final result was successful—the reviews were not kind—Kilmer certainly leaned into the idea of “Batman” as something that restricts any humanity inside the costume. Speaking to the New York Times, the actor remembered a time when Warren Buffett’s grandkids visited the “Batman Forever” set and proceeded to ignore him entirely to play with props.
“That’s why it’s so easy to have five or six Batmans,” he said. “It’s not about Batman. There is no Batman.”
George Clooney in “Batman & Robin” (1997)
Out of all the live-action Batman performances, George Clooney’s in Schumacher’s “Batman & Robin” has become the easiest to mock—just as Clooney himself has done. The actor has good-naturedly apologized several times over the years for his overtly campy portrayal. (The film was a critical and box office dud, putting the character on ice until 2005.)
“You’re also much more willing to make fun of yourself [later in your career]. When you’re young, you’re always trying to protect something,” Clooney told GQ in 2024. “When I first got to the place where I could pick a movie, I took everything that came my way. Because I didn’t understand that I was going to be held responsible for the movie. So I get offered “Batman & Robin,” I call my friends like, ‘I’m going to be Batman!’ You don’t really think it through. And then after I did that for three films, where they didn’t really work, I was like: Oh, I’m going to be held responsible. I need to go back to: good script, good director, if I’m allowed to pick.”
Clooney learned that lesson after becoming an established actor, but even for budding actors, it’s important to remember there’s just as much to learn from bad experiences as there are from good ones. Sometimes a gig just doesn’t work out, and that’s OK. Clooney’s proven himself a good actor time and time again, even winning a best supporting actor Oscar in 2006 for Stephen Gaghan’s “Syriana.” All you can do sometimes is reflect and try to do better on the next one.
Christian Bale in “The Dark Knight” trilogy (2005–2012)
Before being cast as Batman, Christian Bale was perhaps best known as the overly slick sociopath Patrick Bateman in Mary Harron’s “American Psycho.” That experience, playing a corporate suit with something missing behind his eyes, certainly informed his performance in Christopher Nolan’s trilogy of films, in which Bale tried to truly separate his Bruce Wayne from his Batman.
“In the early Batman films, even the Tim Burton movies, there was always that moment when, as Bruce Wayne came into shot, the audience would groan,” Bale said. “The perception was that without his mask Batman was bloody boring, so we had to develop him into something more engaging.”
That comes across in the finished product, with Bale playing Bruce as almost unlikable, in order to throw people off the scent of his extremely moral Batman. The entire performance, like most anything Bale does, is a lesson in pure commitment to the part. Prior to “Batman Begins,” the actor had lost a startling amount of weight for Brad Anderson’s “The Machinist.” He had just six months to pack on muscle to convincingly play a man who spends his nights fist-fighting thugs.
We don’t recommend that extreme a commitment, but it does highlight how every single role—even a billionaire who dresses like a bat—deserves to be taken seriously.
Ben Affleck in the DC Extended Universe (2016–2023)
It’s a high bar to clear, but Ben Affleck’s Batman may be the darkest adaptation of the character. This is due to a combination of factors, including the turbulence in the actor’s personal life at the time as well as the behind-the-scenes shake-ups of the DCU. But all of that also collided with the material, which finds Bruce Wayne deep into his career, beaten down by the losses he’s suffered.
“He’s living in this gray zone. He’s more broken, not slick,” Affleck told the New York Times. “He’s filling the hole in his soul with these increasingly morally questionable nighttime excursions—fighting crime as well as by being this playboy.”
Starting in Zack Snyder’s “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” Affleck plays the character with a palpable heaviness; you feel like you’re watching someone soldier on despite being so, so tired. It’s a fascinating exercise to watch Affleck navigate this nearly antagonistic arc. It’s also, for better or worse, a revealing look at what an actor can be asked to do in a big tentpole role. When Warner Bros. replaced Snyder with writer-director Joss Whedon for 2017’s “Justice League,” Affleck featured in several jokier reshoot moments that feel tonally at odds with the Bruce Wayne we’d met before.
Robert Pattinson in “The Batman” (2022)
In contrast to Affleck’s version, Robert Pattinson’s Batman is relatively new to his nightly crime-fighting gig, and the actor pours that early-stages awkwardness into his performance. The key is to watch him as a Bruce Wayne who hasn’t figured out how to juggle the two personas; he’s all downturned glances and hunched shoulders, more socially awkward than social playboy.
And then there’s his voice, which director Matt Reeves revealed is Pattinson’s go-to starting point into his characters. “Recently, Rob was telling me that he never plays a character with exactly his voice,” Reeves said. “The voice is one of his ways in.”
Once you know it, you can see that technique across Pattinson’s career, not only in “The Batman” but also recent fare like Bong Joon Ho’s “Mickey 17” and early work like Catherine Hardwicke’s “Twilight.” It’s a great takeaway for any actor—even if it’s not the voice, find a constant that helps activate your creativity.
