Who is the Best Batman

Batman is one of the most popular superheroes of all time and is beloved by both superhero fans and movie fans alike. Many actors have attempted to dawn the cape and cowl, bringing audiences some amazing, and some... not so amazing performances. With so many actors playing the Dark Knight many people consistently debate who exactly was the best. To decide objectively we will see how each actor fared under certain criteria and the winner of each criteria gets one point. The Batman with the most points is THE BEST BATMAN.

Criteria: a) Origin Story b) Portrayal of Bruce Wayne c) Appearance d) Batmobile e) Gadgets f) Fight Scenes g) Movie Review h) Fan Reaction i) Iconic j) Relationships k) Portrayal of Batman

Round 1: Origin Story

Every single Batman movie finds a way to bring up the tragic events that made Bruce Wayne the Caped Crusader and as a result every interpretation of Batman has their own origin story. With all of them following virtually the same story except for minor changes it is quite difficult to decide which Batman had the best origin story.

Michael Keaton's Batman is definitely worth mentioning in this sense, due to the heavy emphasis Batman (1989)had on its origin story, and the unique twist of making Joker the man who killed Bruce Wayne's parents. However, the origin story in Batman Begins, based on the comic book Year One has to take this one as the whole movie is about this and it is extremely well done. From the death of his parents, to training with the League of Shadows and then becoming the Batman, this origin story just has it all.

Winner: Christian Bale

Round 2: Bruce Wayne

As you probably know, Bruce Wayne, the billionaire playboy philanthropist is the Batman. Being able to play Batman requires a deeper role of learning how to play the disturbed and complicated Bruce Wayne. This requires suave, a deep level of acting and overall charm.

Ben Affleck is probably the closest to the comic book interpretation of Batman compared to any other actor. He looks like him, acts like him and is able to balance the billionaire and vigilante lifestyle. On the other hand, George Clooney is the best Bruce Wayne... on paper. Unfortunately George Clooney's portrayal did not end up working out on the big screen. However, Christian Bale's portrayal took a deeper and darker tone due to his amazing acting abilities. Christian Bale may have been the first actor to make Bruce Wayne interesting and relatable instead of just a place holder for when Batman comes back.

Winner: Christian Bale

Round 3: Appearance

Physique and athleticism is critical for a hero without powers that runs around beating up Gotham's worst goons at night. As a result the actor portraying him needs to have an amazing physique if he is going to be believable as the Batman.

Val Kilmer had a good physique playing the Batman, and although it was not the greatest, he was probably the first Batman to actually have a somewhat intimidating physique. Christian Bale had an amazing and extremely believable physique as Batman in Batman Begins, but as the movies went on he seemed to have leaned out and did not worry about keeping a big intimidating physique anymore. Standing at 6'4" and 231lbs, Ben Affleck has the most believable and intimidating physique as Batman, making his portrayal in the cape and cowl look a lot more realistic and comic-like at the same time.

Winner: Ben Affleck

Round 4: Batmobile

Adam West had one of the most iconic batmobiles to this day as its originality was truly a game changer for the future Batman movies to follow and is a vehicle that movie fans still love. To add, Christian Bale's Batmobile was probably the most realistic for its purpose and the motorcycle that came with it is an absolute fan favourite. That being said, Michael Keaton's Batmobile has to be the most sleek, accurate to the comics and definitely has the coolest tech attached.

Winner: Michael Keaton

Round 5: Gadgets

Batman needs his gadgets to be effective against his diverse rouges gallery and as a result it is critical we see which Batman was best equipped. I would love to say Adam West's shark repellent or George Clooney's Bat-Credit Card takes the win on this one, but I am going to be pretty realistic and objective.

Christian Bale had some cool and realistic gadgets, but the idea that he did not really have a hand in the creation of most of them kind of takes away from it. However, these gadgets are amazing in their own right, such as his sonar vision and deserves a mention. On the other hand, Ben Affleck's Batman had some really cool and comic-like gadgets that were more than likely made by Bruce Wayne and Alfred while even being able to allow Batman to go toe-to-toe with the likes of Superman. However, Micheal Keaton was a pioneer in some of the most iconic gadgets such as the grapple gun, and the remote control batarang, to add its comical-likeness makes it really fun to watch.

Winner: Micheal Keaton

Round 6: Fight Scenes

Batman's athletic prowess and photographic memory has allowed him to master 127 different forms of martial arts, and he definitely uses it. When a Batman movie is announced, most fans are excited to see some fun action scenes, so let us see who did it the best.

Val Kilmer and George Clooney had some really fun and comical fight scenes that were reminiscence of Adam West, who by far has one of the most iconic fight scenes in movie and television history. Christian Bale also had some great fight scenes, especially those found in the Dark Knight such as his fights with Bane. With that being said, Ben Affleck by far has the most insane and entertaining fight scenes, which really brings Batman's fighting abilities to life. His warehouse fight scene is a prefect example of this and hopefully future Batman movies follow in these foot steps.

Winner: Ben Affleck

Round 7: Movie Reviews

The Batman movies are extremely critical for movie fans all over the world, and have really left their mark. An actor can truly make or break a movie and leads us to see just how good the movie was when deciding which of these highly respected actors had the best interpretation of the Caped Crusader.

The actors with the best reviews seem to be Adam West, Michael Keaton and Christian Bale

Adam West: Batman: The Movie - Rotten Tomatoes: 78% IMDB: 6.5 CSM: 3/5

Michael Keaton: Batman (1989) - Rotten Tomatoes: 71% IMDB 7.5 CSM: 3/5 Batman Returns - Rotten Tomatoes: 80% IMDB 7.0 CSM: 5/5

Christian Bale: Batman Begins - Rotten Tomatoes: 84% IMDB: 8.2 CSM: 4/5 The Dark Knight - Rotten Tomatoes: 94% IMDB: 9.0 CSM: 5/5 The Dark Knight Rises - Rotten Tomatoes: 87% IMDB: 8.4 CSM: 4/5

Winner: Christian Bale

Round 8: Fan Reactions

Sometimes, movie reviews are not an accurate way to determine whether or not actual hard-core fans enjoyed the Batman portrayal infront of them, as a result we will be looking at Rotten Tomatoes audience score to give us a better idea of this.

Michael Keaton:

Batman(1989): 84% Batman Returns: 73%

Christian Bale:

Batman Begins: 94% The Dark Knight: 94% The Dark Knight Rises: 90%

Most fans seem to be most attached to either Michael Keaton's or Christian Bale's Batman based on their generation, but based on these audience scores, Christian Bale has to take the win.

Winner: Christian Bale

Round 9: Iconic

Batman is considered one of the most iconic heroes of all time, and a major part of that is his movie portrayals, but which actor carried the load in making Batman sky rocket into icon status.

Everybody recognizes Adam West's "BOOM, BAM, POW" and iconic building climb, while Christian Bale become the Batman for a whole generation while inspiring and motivation countless people. However, it was Michael Keaton's Batman that inspired games like the Arkham series and even the beloved Batman: The Animated series, due to their character development and dark comical tone.

Winner: Michael Keaton

Round 10: Relationships

Although he "works alone" Batman relies on a lot of people including his teams such as the BatFamily and the Justice League while also relying on his infamous rogue gallery to get the attention of most audiences, but which Batman portrayed these relationships the best.

Val Kilmer and George Clooney introduced a new Robin and Batgirl which ended up inspiring a new interpretation of these pivotal characters, while Michael Keaton's Batman portrayed an intense dark rogues galley. On the other hand Ben Affleck has amazing chemistry with the rest of the Justice League members, but heavily lacked good villains. Christian Bale managed to have the best of both villains and allies through his support systems of Lucius Fox, Jim Gordon and Alfred and had original and beloved portrayals of villains such as Scarecrow, Bane and the Joker.

Winner: Christian Bale

Round 11: Portrayal of the Batman

A lot goes into playing the Batman and a lot of things need to be considered, however we need to decide which actor dawned the cape and cowl the best.

Adam West is the original Batman to a lot of people and did a great job with what he had. Christian Bale took that portrayal to another level through Christopher Nolan's new, refreshing and original take on the hero. However, Michael Keaton just managed to pull off the Batman itself in such a unique way that it really pioneered Batman's dark tone on the big screen. The idea that he really portrayed something criminals would be afraid of by not seeming human in his ability to tolerate pain made him a Batman that will be remembered for generations.

Winner: Michael Keaton

CONCLUSION

Batman is one of the most iconic and beloved heroes in film in general let alone the comic book genre, but this has led to a lot of debates on who portrayed him the best. It was obvious that this was going to mainly be between Christian Bale and Michael Keaton, as these were the Batman portrayals that belong to a generation. Usually this argument is won based on the generation of the people arguing, however based on the above criteria Christian Bale is the best Batman. This was as objective as I could be, in fact I wanted Michael Keaton to win, but I definitely do not disagree with the results due to Christian Bale's amazing and ground-breaking portrayal as the Dark Knight.

WINNER: CHRISTIAN BALE