How Michael Keaton Reinvented Batman for the Big Screen
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 1 окт 2024
- Donate to support the striking members of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA!
▶The Entertainment Community Fund: entertainmentc...
▶The Snacklist: actionnetwork....
▶Join this channel to get access to perks:
www.youtube.co...
▶Patreon: / steveshives
▶PayPal: www.paypal.me/...
▶Venmo: venmo.com/that...
▶Twitter: / steve_shives
▶Facebook: / thatguysteveshives
▶Instagram: / steve.shives
Listen to the Late Seating podcast:
▶RSS: / sounds.rss
▶Soundcloud: / late-seating
Listen to The Ensign's Log podcast:
▶RSS: / sounds.rss
▶Soundcloud: / the-ensigns-log-podcast
#batman #batmanreturns #brucewayne #michaelkeaton #michaelkeatonbatman #batmanmovies #batmanmovie
Burton's neo-noir Gothic aesthetic for Gotham City has also had a huge influence on how Gotham City is depicted in media.
A lot of younger fans don't realize just how much of Batman came out of this movie, and how insane the reactions were to Keaton being cast.
I remember a panel from "Crisis on Infinite Earths" -- which came out just 4 years before this movie -- where Arkham Asylum is depicted as...a hospital! Just a regular-looking hospital. It's hard to even imagine now.
"Burton's neo-noir Gothic aesthetic for Gotham City has also had a huge influence on how Gotham City is depicted in media."
Yeah, Especially the Batmobile's design.
@@christophercarey3232 Yonder Batmobile looked sleek & high tech while having the look of a Nash Rambler.
@@kevinkeeney9418 Arkham was supposed to be something like a suburb of Hell. It was a dumping ground for irrevocably, irredeemably LOST SOULS. It would've inspired Dante while writing the Inferno.
So, my dad never liked Michael Keaton as Batman, in his words, "Because he's too small. Batman needs to be a big guy, like Adam West."
This is how I first learned, as a child, that even intelligent people that I respect can be petty dipshits sometimes.
Burton said in an interview that he cast Keaton because of the eyes. The eyes had to come through the suit and cowl, and Keaton's eyes had that touch of madness.
17:14 "It turns out some days you can get rid of a bomb." I hope you're proud of what you've done. You monster.
The exchange that sold it for me:
It's Japanese.
How do you know?
Because I bought it in Japan.
Just something about how he threaded the tones among humor, ego, and a surprising shyness.
I've always wondered if Wayne Enterprises even exists in the Burton/Keaton version. There's no reference to it in either film, and at one point Max Shreck refers to Wayne as a “trust fund goodie goodie."
I imagine Keaton's Bruce Wayne is completely anti-social (given that Knox didn't even recognize him, despite being a native Gotham journalist). No public face, no captain of industry-- just an awkward loner living with his butler in an old mansion on the outskirts of the city. What better cover for Batman?
I think the Wayne family in that continuity is just _very_ old money, to the point that Bruce doesn't even _need_ Wayne Enterprises to maintain the family fortune and finance the Batman's war.
In other words, Tim Burton.
It worked for Kent Allard.
Burton/Keaton films all felt like sequels. Even B89 felt like a sequel. A lot of things were assumed in the film - the wealth, the how he becomes Batman, where everything comes from. Exposition was never a strong point for Burton...
@@AaronLitz Bruce is *almost* the Anti - Stark ( as in Tony ).
Kevin Conroy is the best Batman. However without Michael Keaton to lay the groundwork, we would not have any of the great Batman performances we have seen since.
Kevin Conroy is the best Batman, Michael Keaton is the best live action Batman.
May Conroy rest in peace... the *best* Batman. No one can beat the team of Conroy and Hamill.
My thoughts exactly!!
Adam West was the bat best. The sign says so!
Gotta agree with ya there. Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill are Batman and joker. Then Keaton and Jack, and then bail and ledger. But still 89 Batman paved the way for the animated series.
I truly believe that Keaton should portray an elderly Bruce Wayne in a Batman Beyond movie.
He's about the right age.
And like the video pointed out, he makes a fantastic Bruce Wayne and Bruce Wayne is not the Batman in Batman Beyond.
Seeing his entrance into the flash made me cringe, I didn’t like what they did with keatons Batman. Muschietti who directed the flash should never touch keatons Batman ever again.
The man is a terrible writer for Batman, Keaton knocked it outta the park tho in that movie but it was nothing like his entrance in Batman beyond the series.
I think that ridiculously long gun was the main hero of the movie.
I just like Michael Keaton. Birdman is in my top ten favorite movies and im pretty sure if anyone else starred in The Founder, i would have hated that movie.
The Founder was not the movie I expected, and I would agree it's because of Keaton. And I still remember seeing Johnny Dangerously with my older sister who took me to it when I was like 8 or 9. I thought that movie was hilarious.
@@BuckeyeStormsProductions _Johnny Dangerously_ is just really fun, and is so full of quotable lines that my friends and I always end up quoting it at least once per game session in our weekly _D&D_ campaign, with only _Ghostbusters_ being quoted more often.
_"Did you know your last name is an adverb?"_
_("Go get'er, Ray!"_ gets quoted at least once a game, along with the other "Ray" quotes like _"What did you do, Ray?!"_ as well as stuff like _"Listen, do you smell something?!")_
Aside from the big climax parts, Michael Keaton’s Batman is Batman by way of Bugs Bunny. That wry smile, the bomb switch, it’s like he’s moments away from saying “Ain’t I a stinker?”
Also, side note, this is the second time Chris Walken has been cast as an evil industrialist named Max. There’s typecasting, but that’s just weird.
On the subject of Batman by way of cartoons, you could have employed the infamous Doofenshmirtz paraphrase:
"If I had a nickel for every time Christopher Walken played an evil industrialist named Max, I'd have two nickels...which isn''t a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice." 😉😁
I didn't grow up in America so I didn't hear the skepticism of casting Michael Keaton. As a childhood fan of the character I loved that movie. It was dark but creative. There are wonderful aspects of German Expressionism that raise it above other action films. It doesn't try to logically apply comic book fiction into a real world.
Let's also give credit to Michael Keaton on forever influencing the design of the 'Bat' cowl with his eyebrows.
Michael Keaton's portrayal was also a formative influence on my understanding of who Batman is. I rewatched both last year after seeing Pattinson's Batman. Especially filtered through all of the even darker, grittier Batmans (or Batmen?) that followed, his first outing is more cartoonish than I remembered it being, but I think that's part of why it works so well. It's very balanced-the cartoonishness still has a dark and noir-ish vibe akin to its contemporaries Dick Tracy, Roger Rabbit, and the first Ninja Turtles movie. So it's very much a product of its era, but I think all of these movies hold up in terms of performance, story, humor, design, and overall mood and style. Michael Keaton is still a top-tier Batman, and the same goes for Tim Burton as director.
17:20 Ha! “Some days you just can’t get rid of a bomb!” was my favorite line from the 1966 Batman film. Thanks for the reference! 👏🏻
Michael Keaton was my favorite Bruce Wayne, hands-down. As someone on the spectrum, he was far and away the most relatable to me since he was awkward and kind of weird as opposed to the other Bruce Waynes.
Agreed , his weirdness was also uniquely cool as fuck too somehow
Keaton's genius was in taking a very flatly-written character (pair of characters?), and breathing life into him/them, when both the screenplay and the director were very obviously more interested in the villains than in the hero. Not just avoiding being blown off the screen by a wildly scenery-chewing Jack Nicholson, but actually going toe-to-toe, and succeeding while being encased in 50 pounds of rubber, is no mean feat. I'm still an Adam West man, though. But then, I Am very old...
Oh, Adam West will always be THE Batman... come on, Bat Shark Repellant? Nothing beats that camp. When it comes to "serious" Batman... yeah, Keaton knocked that shit out of the park.
Did you know your last name's an adverb?
Keaton's greatest strength as an actor is his almost manic-charisma. He's friendly, terrifying and overflowing with energy all at once.
So, the thing is, a silver serving tray *could* stop a bullet, if it was small enough and hollow-point. Given the size of Joker's pistol in that scene, it would still hurt like a bastard, but probably the bullet wouldn't go in you and you'd survive.
While for most super hero portrayals I can usually point to one specific actor as MY "insert name", Superman and Batman are major exceptions and Batman especially so. MY Batman is Adam West, but also Keaton, but aslo the voice actor from the Super Friends cartoon from the 1st season onward until West took over the role. MY Batman is also Kevin Conroy though. So I'm lucky to have so many to choose from, but not so much since Keaton is the onky living one. Ironic since I grudgingly saw the film opening night, thoroughly sure it'd be too dark and Keaton too ill-equipted to play the part.
The original version of Batman in 1939 did kill his bad guys and carried a gun. Detective Comics #27 he threw a man off a roof and later knocked his boss into a vat of acid. The change to make Batman someone who doesn’t kill was important because it would inspire people that vengeance doesn’t mean you have to be like those that wronged you.
it might also be said that in 1989 there werent super hero movies and tv shows coming out every couple of months like it is now. it can probably be said that the whole marvel and dc universe movies and shows started with keaton's batman.
I'd say it started with Reeve's Superman.
Reeves and Patterson essentially did a more grounded version of what Burton and Keaten did. Which is good, because I prefer Gotham to be gothic over it looking like downtown Pittsburg, with all do respect to Pittsburg.
No Gothamite would be surprised to learn Keaton’s Bruce Wayne dresses like a rubber bat at night. They’d only be surprised to learn he fights crime in it.
The original Batman also should be taken as a comedy. I don't know why no one talks about the funny scene near the end where Batman found the Joker as Joker was going up the stairs of the church, and was trying to get up to him before Joker does anything bad. Joker doesn't know Batman is behind him. On the first floor of the church, Batman accidentally knocks down a pew, and the entire church pew setup falls like dominos, seemingly forever, alerting Joker that he's coming. Batman is so good when he fucks up.
I think Tim Burton always understood the close kinship between comedy and horror, and while they were not overtly either thing, Burton's Batman movies actually rode that line in tone. It turned out to be a pretty good choice for the character and his world. Keaton plays Batman/Wayne very straight, but as this tightly wound guy constantly riding the edge of mental breakdown, and I think his comedy background fed into that.
I preferred Batman Returns too--I was more of a Tim Burton fan than a Batman fan at the time, and I liked that Burton was being very, very Burton here to a degree he had not been in the first one.
I totally agree even though Tim Burton Batman films had a slighty campy tone they had dark edge to them. The Christopher Nolan films even though they were really good films, they took themselves far to serious. If I was given a choice I would pick Tim Burton films anyday.
This casting was a brilliant move by Burton. He wanted someone to play Bruce Wayne first, and it set the standard.
There is an adage that comedic actors do drama better than dramatic actors do comedy. They understand timing. Keaton proves that.
As an aside Johnny Dangerously is one of my favorite movies. So happy Keaton has had a resurgence
I LOVE Johnny Dangerously! Such a great movie.
I really liked him as Batman. I agree that his portrayal of Batman set the standard for the modern takes on the character. He could have been totally run over by Jack Nicholson, and he wasn’t. That alone sets his performance above many others!
"Could you just whip up a sonnet, something...a dirty limerick?"
"One has just sprung to mind."
Alfred's comedy is so underrated.
_Batman_ was the first movie I went to see multiple times in the theatre. As a ten year old it blew me away, and I couldn't get enough of it. Keaton absolutely defined the character for a generation and beyond. Speaking of beyond, I would still _love_ to see a _Batman Beyond_ movie with Keaton as old man Bruce Wayne. The older he gets, the more perfect he becomes for the role.
I remember the poster just having the Batman Insignia, not the word Batman.
He’s the best Batman because he encompasses the most important aspect of Bruce Wayne in that he LOVES being the g-damn Batman.
Okay... I literally grew up on Adam West's Batman. I watched it eating dinner every... what? Wednesdays and Thursdays? Even then I didn't care for the cartoon-ie-ness of the show, I was a tweenie, even though the term wasn't around then. I was also watching the Man From U.N.C.L.E. and Star Trek. Then, in the early 1980s I wrote a Batman fanfic, it is posted on AO3. Yes, in the Adam West Batman 'universe.' I'll say that when I write fanfic, even when I inject my people into their universe, the heroes have to have a major hand in saving the day. I can't say I thought Keaton was the best Batman ever, I kinda liked that new guy a bit more. I think he looks more like my image of Bruce Wayne, heck, even Adam West was a very good Bruce Wayne - he needed a girdle in the costume... and I always said he had the wrong chin for my vision of Batman.
Batman 89 was the first grown-up movie my dad took my to see. I can still see line outside the theater where we waited. Such an awesome experience, and a treasured memory. I probably watched our VHS copy 1000 times the next few summers.
Well, until Jurassic Park came out. But that's another story.
I knew Michael Keaton would be perfect for Batman when I saw him in the movie "Dream Team".
"I'm an escaped mental patient with a history of violence."
Hey, don’t forget, Batman set a guy on fire with the Batmobile in Returns.
That bomb call back to the original Adam West Burt Ward movie was great.
Keaton ....Burton... Batman Beyond.. NOW
George Clooney Batman may be the worst films in the franchise, however I think (actually) George Clooney might be an OK BatMan.
Just goes to show that assuming actors can only play one kind of part is daft. Actors are trained to inhabit a variety of roles. Yes, some may have a particular talent for one genre or another, but to condemn the majority to reprise their first successful film for the rest of their career, as Hollywood execs seem to do, is a waste. I suppose they're simply afraid of risk, since the public seems to agree with their opinion and want to see an actor in the same role over and over again.
For the algorithm!
You make great content.
Keaton completely re-invigorated the live action Batman... I respect Bale's performance but no one can really touch Keaton, especially since he gave birth to Conroy and Hamill in the cartoon. Bless them all.
12:08: To be fair, the puny pistol the Joker has in that scene looks like it could be stopped by an especially thick sheet of paper.
Don't forget the song by Prince.
Batman was so much better than Batman Returns.
My favorite scene always cracks me up in Batman returns, when the penguin throws the ice princess out of a window of a high-rise Selena reminds him that he said he was just going to scare her, he responds: "She looked scared to me!!"😂
I admit, as a long time Bats fan, I could not imagine Keaton as Batman ... and then he did the most astonishingly brilliant version, up against a Joker that tried to steal the show, but didn't quite ... the only thing that beat the lines in this version, was when Wayne and Selena Kyle are dancing in the second one and realize who they're dancing with and the decision not to fight ... Damn. Maybe not the most brilliant set of movies (there are large swatches of the second one I could live without) But Keaton was ... just about perfect for me ... the dichotomy of Wayne and Bats is just ... yeah. And I had Bats comics that were 12 cents when I purchased them.
I will 100% agree that Keaton is the best live action Batman.
I do think that Michael Keaton is an iconic Batman.
Just to make Steve feel old: I'm a little younger, so I have less attachment to Keaton's Batman (I was far too young to watch the 1st when it came out, but do remember a ton of the merchandise that was put out for Batman Returns) - I'm actually much more of a fan of Val Kilmer & Batman Forever (I even enjoy the much-maligned Batman & Robin, it's entertaining camp even if it's not a fantastic movie) and had already built up a love of Adam West's Batman by the time I could see Keaton/Burton's. I'm not just talking about the films themselves, as I dislike aspects of Keaton's Batman (such as his glee in beating up enemies) and aspects of his Bruce Wayne (though I think he's fine, just not great). Admittedly, however, I can agree with Steve that much of what works about Keaton's characterization comes from Keaton, and I concede that this film was such an influence on Schumacher's films (no matter what people may say, they definitely just heighten aspects of what we got from '89 & BR) and what has become the perfect template for Batman: the 90s animated series version voiced by the late legend Kevin Conroy, brought to us by Paul Dini, Bruce Timm, and the rest of that fantastic crew.
It feels oddly rare to find another Val Kilmer Batman fan; I imagine we’re about the same age 😅Totally agree with you that the Schumacher films give us a new distillation of the Burton films.
Keaton's Bruce Wayne is such a cool dude that Steve Jobs ripped off his whole look, right???
"It turns out some days you *can* get rid of a bomb."
Yes, yes, yes, yes, YES, I love it, I love it, I love it 😁
🖤🦇 Batman 🦇🖤 My Batman 🖤🦇🖤
"Some days, ya CAN get rid of a bomb" 😂😂😂 👏🏻👏🏻
Beautiful.... just... Beautiful.
Michael Keaton Is The Real Batman No One Can Replace Him As Batman He Is The Real Batman 1989-2024
Subbed becasue you said you like Batman Returns better than Batman 89!
5 duckies... or his life.... or a bunch of guys smoking around oxyacetylene tanks
My friends and I still regularly quote _Johnny Dangerously._
_"It shoots through schools!"_
I tried quoting Johnny Dangerously to my mother once. Once!
@@davemlbc _HA!_
Michael Keaton is the best Batman ever!!! Absolutely I agree! Michael brought the darkness that Bruce Wayne would have had to have been and the awkwardness for a man who lost his parents, grew up alone, and stayed in the dark and had bats around him all the time. He's a little off! The fact that they portray Bruce Wayne in other films as a Playboy well adjusted rich guy is ridiculous and it makes no sense whatsoever! Christian Bale was okay as Batman he's probably number two for me but another honorable mention of a great Batman is in the Lego movies! I thought that depiction of Batman was also spot on because if he wasn't dark and weird he would definitely be dark and arrogant and crazy! So great video. I love Michael Keaton!!!❤
If you watch the Batman movie Tim Burton are the Golden Age Batman Joel Schumacher Silver age Batman Christopher Nolan is the modern Batman
Ben Affleck is a good 2nd tho... Michael Keaton is the 🐐...
13:21 - A deliberate reference to HMS Pinafore's "A British Tar", or happy accident?
The thing ill never forget is how Batman 89 retconned The Joker to be the killer of Bruce Wayne's parents.
"I made you... You made me first."
EDIT: Ayyyyy you hit on that! :D
It was so logical and iconic, I believed that bit until way later into my adult life. Happens when you're 9 when watching the movie.
Tim Burton’s introduced Batman’s greatest arch-enemy, the head-turn 😂
I appreciate the focused take on Keaton as Batman. I think there is a lot to say about the characterization of the villains and of Bruce Wayne in the Burton movies, and I don't have a lot of positive things to say about them, but you are right in highlighting Keaton's performance as Batman. Without Burton, we probably wouldn't have Batman: the Animated Series, so I have to grudgingly give him props for his tone and the art direction of those Burton Batman films. But again, Keaton was really good, and he set a standard.
"No killing unless it's funny."? That sounds sort of familiar...
🖤🦇🖤🦇🖤🦇🖤🦇
I was 10 when the Michael Keaton version came out. I watched it probably three or four times a week (Because it was 1989 and what else was I going to do). But seriously It's still my absolute favorite Batman and Joker.
Mel Gibson as Batman, Tim Curry as the Joker and Sharon Stone as Vicki Vale, according to imdb were other casting choices.
Also, Kurt Russell? Alec Baldwin? Ray Liota? :D
Keaton rules.
HI, Fellow Hellscape Resident!
I admit that I blinked a few times, when the casting was announced.
AND that I did NOT like the actual movie. (I have a horror story related to that day, which has come to shape my comic-book fandom into its present Crotchety Old Man State. (You may have heard it... The ‘I created you, you created me’ argument. 🤬🤬🤬🤬))
But I did enjoy Keaton’s performance, especially as Bruce Wayne. Felt as though he was playing Wayne as the alter ego.
I've heard kids on YT referring to Batman '89 as the "original" Batman movie. Wtf? This is the first 'new' Batman movie. Batman '66 and '40s serial Batman are 'old', 'original'. One thing is certain, *I* am not 'old' :D
Wait...I thought only killing when it's funny was the Joker's rule. Although that might have just been a line from Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?
There was always a mystique around the first Batman movie for me. It seemed like a big deal to my, also, 9 year old self. I didn't get to see it in the theater myself, but my parents brought me home a baseball cap with the bat logo on it. (Side note: when I first saw the hat, I though it was some weird mouth on it as opposed to the bat symbol)
Coming from the 60s Television Batman series I was always more interested in the villains (I adore the Burgess Meredith Penguing and of course Thanks for everything, Julie Newmar). Maybe I'll rewatch and actually have a look at Batman...
I LOVE Keaton. My favorite live action Batman (although I classify Adam West's Batman as a singular other thing). I'm not convinced he'd intended to kill Joker, but he sure didn't mind it. The clown with the bomb though.... I'd hate it if I wasn't laughing too hard. Also, he set that other clown on fire. But more than just Keaton.... Pfiffer and Walken were PHENOMINAL. Devito was good too, but not in the same way where when I look at him, I see him as the character. Maybe because he was so grotesque.
Adam west is actually the BEST BATMAN EVER! Get your act together Steve.
Two words: Batman Beyond. Michael Keaton told me once that he believed that Joker did not kill Bruce's parents, that Bruce's memory was unreliable. Any substantial threat that could believably stand-in for the mugger would take that role in his mind. Joker went along it because his own memory was unreliable and it does sound like something he'd do, also it gave greater intimacy to their dynamic which you know Joker is all for. Val Kilmer discussed this with Mr. Keaton and had insisted that Batman Forever reference this several times or he'd walk from the project. Bruce is mentally ill. Being Batman is his way of controlling his illness, weaponizing his own madness and evil for a better cause. He can't trust his own mind or emotional stability, thus his code. And Alfred. Speaking of, Batman Beyond had one big absence: an Alfred. Someone trustworthy that thinks the Batman thing is crazy, but remains loyal to the Waynes and to Terry, maybe someone whose family was saved by both Bruce (financially, hiring an ex-con single father/mother) and Batman (health-wise).
Hopefully they get a pale, dark haired pretty boy with gray eyes for Terry. I am...99.5% straight but even as a kid I had a bit of a crush on Terry: the bad boy who forced himself to be better out of love for his family, that mix of looks and personality. He was the only male character that confused me that way. That he was secretly Batman and a partial heir to a Billionaire (or was it Trillionaire by that point?) was the cherry on top. Straight up loved Ten, though. Really wanted Terry and Ten together, yet was puzzled by my jealousy of both characters. That said, I believed Max was better for Terry's life. Girlfriend or best friend, Terry NEEDED Max in his life. Probably why Dana wasn't ever jealous of her, I think she accepted they were a package deal and likely always had been. If Max had wanted Terry, there wasn't shit Dana could've done about it. Lucky for her, Max was devoted to Terry and the McGinnis family: the sister/daughter that chose them.
I don't really like super hero stuff, but I did enjoy Keaton as b'man.
Adam West will always be my b'man.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 💯🖖🏾
"Sometimes you can get rid of a bomb"... someone should have told that to The Flash (2023) executives.
I *really* liked Michael Keaton as Batman. He pulled off both sides of this character-Batman & Bruce Wayne-well.
I never boughy Keaton as Batman, still dont. At least MY Batman. I could never imagine the Keaton character training under RA' s Al Ghul and the league of Shadows. Or trained in multiple martial arts. But I actually really liked his two movies, especially the aesthetic . I prefer this universe over Nolan's everyday. But that's because of the more comic book feel, and look. I never can understand the infatuation with the " reality" and " relatable" . Or the grounding of a Super hero movie. Isn't it SUPPOSED to be outlandish and crazy? Don't we go to the movies to escape reality? Anyway, as much credit as Keaton rightfully gets for his role, its really Burton who brought this all to life. Its his world. It gets mistaken for dark. But its mych more than that. Its.. its...haunting, eerie, odd, strange. No this is a Burton world through and through ( Returns especially). This is what Batman would be if created by Burton, not Finger.( with a little help from Kane I suppose). Just like in Nolan's iteration the Joker stole the show. But Keaton was great as Batman , and a very psychologically scarred Bruce Wayne.
Ok, ok...but after telling Dick that killing is wrong, he pulls out a bunch of fake silver dollars and winds up indirectly killing Two-Face.
I liked Michael Keaton as Batman, but to me Harrison Ford circa 1980-82 at his Indiana Jones/Blade Runner peak will always be the Best Batman Who Never Was.
A year or so ago I was having this pop iny head was wow Batman Returns Batman lived long enough to become the villian. A capitalist who thwarted a visionary looking in storing energy to be used later for the benefit of humankind. 😂 Justice for Shrek but i absolutely loved Batman, i had to endure watching tue campy ones with my stepfather in the late 80s esrly 90s. I did like Corridor Crew's remake of the recent movie trailer with Adam West in it. Truly bridged the campy with the serious. 😊
Keaton is fine. Most of the rest of the movie is skippable.
Super Girl is good too
(Edit: In new Flash movie)
"No killing unless it's funny" So batman works off of Roger Rabbit rules here? Interesting.
I'm not the first person to say it but it's important enough to me to say it too: No Conroy without Keaton.
And specifically here, I'm talking about *Bruce* not Batman. Although the overall sensibility of TAS is owed to Burton's take on the modern Bats, I think the most important single contribution that TAS made to the overall mythos is the depiction of "Bruce in the Cave". You know who I mean - that voice that's low, but not as low as it is in the mask. The turtleneck. The serious demeanor but absolutely with a fair degree of humor lurking around. The occasional decrease in intensity level that you never see in Public Bruce's intense foppishness or Bats' intense intensity. This is a Bruce who can ...even if only for moments at a time...relax.
And Keaton created that. Timm and Conroy perfected it, but it wouldn't have been an idea without Keaton's more measured approach to Bruce. His Bruce wasn't Bruce in the cave - as Steve notes, he's just...Bruce. Awkward, inexplicably intense, Bruce. It just so happens that this Bruce is at his least awkward in the cave, alone with Alfred (cf. the immediate way he tenses up when Vicki surprises him in said cave - it's not just "dammit you know my secret," it's also "dammit you're in my sanctum sanctorum").
No Conroy without Keaton.
Entitled fandom outrage has been as old as superheroes themselves.
Quite unhealthy, too.
I guess, Keaton inspired them to cast Bale later on. Keaton is the absolutely great neurodivergent take on Bruce Wayne. I find a Bruce Wayne with PTSD / ADHD / autistic traits super-credible. Having a hyperfocus on sciences and detective work kinda screams for the Batman narrative. I kinda like the idea of Batman or Bruce Wayne having a few therapy sessions with Hugo Strange in order to deal with his emotions. That would be so cool.
Funny thing, after the 2022 The Batman seeing the 1989 Batman has a lot from the 1960s Batman in it. There are even a few gags lifted from the 1960s show.
I was about 6 when I saw Batman Returns in the theater, and it absolutely blew my little mind. Somehow the theater experience is crap compared to what it once was. The movie was the main focus then, maybe I got some candy, maybe. Now it's wholly a vehicle to sell you crap, no pretense, the product placement is the movie. Also yes I had the Batman and Joker 'action figures,' the toy merch game is OLD 🍿🎥
Steve, I'll listen to you read a take-out menu, but I almost wish you'd waited until you'd seen The Flash before doing this BBE. I'm curious as to how you end up feeling about the Batmen in that film, as "fanservice-y" as that might've been. Maybe do an addendum once you've seen it?
Jeez, Steve. The second movie is called "Bat2man".
I disagree about people not remembering Clooney's Batman. I'm pretty sure everyone still remembers how ridiculously miscast and hilariously bad he was 😂
Having not been born when Batman 89 was released, and way too young to have seen Batman Returns in theaters, the Flash was the first time I got to see Michael Keaton's Batman on the big screen. Though the movie was far from perfect (thanks in part to all the DCU reboot business), Keaton was easily the best thing about it. Funny that just like how he defied all those naysayers back in 1989 that he wasn't the right choice to play Batman, he pretty much defied anyone who thought he was too old to play Batman again in the Flash (not that I'm surprised). Sure would be nice if they do make a Batman Beyond movie with him someday soon, even though WB already denied they would a few months back. I already thought that it would be a nice follow up project for him and Tim Burton after they film the Beetlejuice sequel, just like Batman 89 was for them after the first Beetlejuice.
I didn’t like him killing in his universe, joker being the killer oh his parents, dent and Gordon were extremely dull and had no character. And that’s it, those are vital tho for Batman. But overall, micheal Keaton is the only Batman that exists just like how Tobey maguire is the only Spider-Man to ever exist. Frickin cinematic actors took there roles and made it beyond legendary
Give yourself over to absolute pleasure, Stevie!
The eorld is burning on the brink of nuclear annihilation as fascism takes a firmer grip on us all the time.
Plus I'm ugly and dying from kidney disease...fan service is all I have.
😅
In my opinion Batman Returns is the best Christmas movie. It seems like Batman's no killing rule doesn't apply to clown (or maybe "evil" clowns) and I'm ok with that.
I completely agree that Michael Keaton transformed Batman for the better and I love the Adam West show reruns. The 1989 movie made me obsessed with Batman. I had the T-shirt, drew the logo all over my notebooks at school. We are the same age and until this day Batman is in my heart always.
I remember being hesitant going into see this version of Batman because Michael Keaton just didn't have the physique to be Bruce Wayne. I was an adult by the time this came out, grown up with Adam West and the tv show, but I'd also read a great deal of the comics. When referencing a guy wo had bee working out and training since he was eight, does Michael Keaton embody the Alpha Male? Not really. However after I'd seen the movie I started thinking that rather being a hulking brute of a man, Bruce opted instead to make himself less obviously physically powerful in order to blend in, so make it harder to put the pieces together. After that I was okay with it.
I dare you to attempt a "Best Batman" episode with Val Kilmer.
Maybe for April Fools Day?
I loved how, in accepting the Kennedy Center Honors, George Clooney said he had hopes for world peace because no matter where he went in the world EVERYONE, even in small towns with no TV, agreed that _he_ was the worst Batman ever.
Val Kilmer's Batman wasn't that bad. I think he's underrated.