Bat Battle: Who's The Best Movie Batman?

"Jack Nicholson as the Joker. Can't argue with that."

No. No, you can't. And if you do, you're a f*****g retard. Thank you, Cracked, for acknowledging that Jack Nicholson is the best damn Joker there ever was and ever will be.

7/1/2009 10:46:00 PM

Plangkye

Apart from the costume, which has obviously improved over time given the increased technology, Adam West remains the most awesome Batman (that is, if like me, you just watch it for laughs)!

6/4/2009 10:21:42 AM

DHeadshot

One more improvement for Batbale: the mask. Adam West's looks surprised, but Batbale looks pissed - in a "I'm pissed you're still around and not in jail or hospital" way.

3/8/2009 12:29:18 PM

tacamaral

Dude, they didn't mention the bat-summoner sonar thing in the gadgets sections. I almost shat myself when that happened.

2/14/2009 11:11:12 PM

sundance

I BatBale not just for looks and that sexy deep throated bat voice he does...but because he nails that brooding, troubled personality that I think Batman should have.

With BatKilmer coming in second place

2/10/2009 12:34:28 PM

mila

Three notes
1. BatBale is, from a lady's perspective, the only hot one. Yumyum.
2. The gravelly voice scares the bejesus out of me. That is the POINT. Making the criminals fear you is rather necessary when you are Batman.
3. Maggie Gyllenhaal > Katie Holmes, but she still sucks. I'd vote for Kidman's character out of all the women mentioned in this article. Having Harley Quinn as a villain might be excellent, depending how they do it.

1/26/2009 6:09:56 PM

WiseWillow

It is legal to stab whoever cast George Clooney as Batman right?

1/22/2009 5:52:03 PM

davo

After reading a lot of Batman comics if somebody still thinks Schumacher's junkie riddler(?) or Burton's Joker was 'The' Real Joker, then ALL those comics must be junk. Because all that matters is Quality and not Quantity.

I suggest you all discard everything else and read the following Top 25 Critically Acclaimed BAT-NOVELS (Especially No. 3 - 'The Killing Joke') at www.IGN.com. This is the Solution once and for all.

Except No. 17 and 20, I possess all those Bat-Novels plus 'War-Games' and I recommend them to all wannabe (and pretending) Bat-Fans. And then decide for yourself which movie-Batman and movie-Joker stands where.

12/23/2008 10:52:34 PM

Amol

not for nothing, but bigM is right. A friend has read all batman comics since 5 and says the same thing: Jim Carrey's riddler was more like the Joker in the comics. Carrey's riddler was just Jim Carrey wearing a riddler suit, basically.

And i don't think Bale was the best batman, although the fact he's batman for 90% of the movie made it bearable.

Either way i just went to the theater repeatedly to see Ledger's joker, since i found him uber sexy as a madman - as the joker, i dunno.

12/15/2008 7:26:02 PM

rin

Adam West. Number One. All Time. Everyday.

12/9/2008 7:17:37 AM

J3NN13B3AN

I am such a big fan of you since last year. Wish everything goes well for you. Can you do me one favor? just tell me is it you on W e a l t h y s o u l M a t e .C O M .

12/1/2008 4:22:12 AM

alicehuang

'Murphy2112', If we talk of the Frank Miller's novel 'Year One' then Batman Begins(2005) had a lot more similarities with it than Batman(1989) had, such as:
1. MAJOR ONE: Corruption depicted in the legal system.
2. The fight scenes (Batman landing right between in the centre of three to four baddies on an elevated platform and giving them a spanking in all directions.)
3. Batman being cornered in an abandoned tenement in 'Year One' (Arkham Asylum in 'BB') and calling on the help of the bats to rescue him and then the fight scenes later on.
4. The climax in both where someone who calls himself The Joker has caused some trouble and Commissioner Gordon summons the help of The Batman.

I don't recall any similarities between 'Year One' and 'Batman(1989)' which anyway was just only the first movie version of

Batman made under the supervision of Bob Kane and not Frank Miller.

Also BB had major similarities with 'The Man Who Falls'.

The big difference between Nolan's Batman and the previous movie versions was that Nolan based him on a 'WHAT IF BATMAN
COULD EXIST IN A REAL WORLD' type of environment: just like the Frank Miller's Batman in 'Year One'or any other Frank Miller Batman. While the 1989, 1992, 1995 movie versions were NOT. They just explored The Batman just the way any other superhero could have been: OF the children, FOR the children. Miller's and Nolan's Batman were never meant for the children. BB and TDK are not meant for children to watch.

11/27/2008 7:43:10 PM

Amol

To me, Tim Burton's Batman was "darker" and far more entertaining. I fell asleep in Batman The Dark Knight....

11/26/2008 2:09:15 PM

tomasie

hahaha...Cracked has a crush on Bale...hahaha, i mean Mr. Pinkerton does..

Well aside from that, BatBale is unarguably the best; his costume made sense; its dark, scary and made-to-kick-ass function, his portrayal made sense; a true playboy and a scary boogeyman when costumed, his voice though some evidently do understand made sense, since many have already pointed out people are not as stupid as the comics made you to believe, heck technology isn't stupid too, so changing his voice was a smart move so to speak and the unorthodox redesign of the batmobile was nice. Plus if any of you remembered, when the batmobile was destroyed in TDK, all he was using was the bat.. or was it knightcycle, anyway, he lost his car, so maybe in the next sequel he's going to have a new one replaced making more sense since his tech evolves as his necessity does...remember he changed his armor specs???

11/16/2008 6:10:51 AM

Teban

This was the first article I read on Cracked and honestly, I still almost pee every time I read it, it's that goddamn hilarious.
Bale is by far the best. I was honestly never a Heath Ledger fan before he died, although I was deeply saddened by it. His Joker was absolutely amazing and was exactly what I was looking for in a bad guy: a completely crazy bastard who doesn't care about anything and just wants to go out taking as many innocent people as possible. He crushed it and any bad guy after him is going to suck, especially if there's another Spider Man movie... yeesh.

11/12/2008 11:45:00 PM

BlueRose

Sorry, Amol, but you couldn't be more wrong about Keaton's Bruce Wayne. Remember "You wanna get nuts?? Come on, let's get nuts!!"? That scene alone makes him the best Wayne this side of Bale, who pulls off Bruce almost exactly as Miller wrote him in Year One.

11/7/2008 5:02:47 PM

Murphy2112

Why is Adam West even on the list? He's a Batman from a different time, and he's only campy because that's how he was like in comics. Seriously, pick up an issue of Batman from the 50's or 60's, and he's giving lectures on safety and respecting your elders. You should've talked about Kevin Conroy(from the cartoon.) Michael Keaton was good. I haven't seen Batman in a while, but from what I remember, he kicked ass and was a classy Bruce Wayne. Plus, his Batmobile is the best. I liked Kilmer too, and it's a shame he was only in one picture. Clooney is by no means a bad actor, but Batman he aint. I like Bale a lot,his costume is the best(The only problem is that it's impossible to see the Bat Symbol), and if he just works on his voice, he'll have it made.

10/30/2008 6:19:57 PM

Thanosied

bruce wayne is one of the most well known people in gotham. if he didn't disguise his voice, it would be way too easy to find out who batman is.

bale IS batman to me.

and i even grew up with all the others as well- though adam west's batman was before my time, so i had to catch it in reruns.

10/23/2008 9:28:16 PM

xxxero

Kilmer had everything correct about him except one: he was in a Bad Movie. One simply canNOT refer to Bad scenes in a Badly scripted Bad Movie by a Bad Director to explain why the actor was not good to play his character. I understand, Kilmer could have never replaced Bale, but he would have easily replaced Keaton (who even though was a good Batman, WAS a wimp Wayne). Even if we forget that Keaton was the least good looking and had the least physicality required for an ideal Wayne/Batman respectively, we still cannot forget that he never had the ideal Wayne magnetic personality to attract females. He was a plain idiotic wimp as Wayne.
Whereas while Kilmer was definitely muscular/handsome of the two, his was unfortunately limited by the Bad Movie itself that he worked in that did no justice to the character of any roles in it, least of all Batman. Also, we can’t forget that Kilmer did play a very good playboy-Wayne of whatever the script allowed him to. That is what is important (where Keaton failed). Because once you’re inside the caped costume, it does not matter who is inside it, because nobody’s going to recognise you anyway. So the character that must be given more priority is of ‘Wayne’ where one can’t hide behind a costume.
Remember, Kilmer was a good Wayne/UNDERUSED Batman in a bad movie by a bad director. Keaton was a good Batman /wimp Wayne even in an overall OK movie by a very good director. Even worse was that, unlike Keaton who got two opportunities as Batman under the very good director to prove himself as Wayne and yet failed on all points as Wayne, Kilmer never got a second chance to prove himself as Batman even though he had proved himself as Wayne, no… not even under the same hellish director.

MY POINT: If the physically strong, play-boyish Kilmer was that good as Wayne under the hellish Schumacher, imagine how great he could have been in costume (Batman) under the very good Burton.

As for Bale, he’s leaps and bounds ahead of the two. As for ‘Batman & Robin’, every thing was wrong about it and so was Clooney who only played ‘himself’ both as Batman/ Wayne. Anyway, except when the movies are called ‘Syriana’, ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ and ‘Confessions of a Dangerous Mind’, Clooney is all himself everywhere. I seriously hope they destroy all records/sources of that B&R-crap.

10/18/2008 12:24:59 PM

Amol

For me Adam West is the original live action Batman. So he will forever rock hard. Plus as a nine year old the comic book "pows, and Bangs" that appeared in every fight seen where great. Michael Keaton was a kick ass Batman just because he had that creepy voice, which I imagined was what the Bat should sound like. However Christian Bale is the greatest Batman ever, by default because he stared in The Dark Knight. Which is hands down the best Batman movie/comic book ever. Thanks of course to Heath Ledger for being the most inspiration Joker on film, or in a comic. Cool list. Good job. Oh, and by the way. Batman, and Robin was the worst Batman ever, and the gayest. But I don't blame Val Kilmer because he played in the movie Pump Up The Volume which will forever rock. And was the movie that introduced me to Black Jack Gum.

10/7/2008 2:13:56 PM

MonaLisa1