Andy Muschietti’s ‘The Flash’, which hits French theaters tomorrow, marks the return to comedian Michael Keaton’s bat-winged vigilante costume, which he portrayed for Tim Burton in the 1989 adaptations and 1992. Since then, half a dozen actors have succeeded him in the role, with more or less success.
This great return of Michael Keaton in Batman had been announced in the fall of 2022, when the first information on The Flash began to leak, much to the delight of fans, which allowed Warner and DC Comics, behind all these adaptations, to maintain an ideal promotional “buzz” to pre-sell the film to potential audiences.
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And it was both a surprise and an evidence, so much fashion in Hollywood – for fifteen years now – is nostalgia, and the “remixing” of the heroes and successes of yesteryear, what many consider a lack of inspiration, in parallel with the updating of the great franchises and sagas, those concerning superheroes for the most lucrative.
A better “generational” Batman?
It is also quite ironic to note how this return of the 71-year-old comedian in the costume of the bat vigilante electrified amateurs and moviegoers, when we know how much director Tim Burton had to fight at the time ( the first modern Batman dates from 1989) to impose an actor then considered too small, not well known or charismatic. His performance and the tremendous success of the film in the world (411 million dollars in revenue) had ended up convincing even the most reluctant.
For journalist Nico Prat, pop culture specialist and editor of the Filmo TV platform, if some consider Michael Keaton as the “best Batman”, it is mainly because they grew up with him in the role.
The people who think today that there was never a better Batman than Michael Keaton are ultimately the people who grew up with him.
Nico Prat, editor of Filmo TVat franceinfo
“Ask younger people, 25 or 30, they will tell you that for them it is Christian Bale. And certainly if you ask the same question in fifteen years, you will be answered Ben Affleck. forget that Batman is a “doudou”, it was the same in the comics or in the television adaptations with Adam West in the 60s, we prefer what we are most attached to. So, clearly, for me, Michael Keaton is the best Batman, but because it was my first, you have to be honest and dare to say it.
Bale and Pattinson on pole, Clooney trailing
Not necessarily the same references and preferences for Vesper, pop culture videographer, who specifies from the outset that as a good fan of animation, she is above all a client of the excellent series broadcast in the 90s. But concerning the “live” adaptations she gives us her assessments, starting with the worst:
“The worst will be the easiest for everyone, it’s George Clooney, but hey, saying it, we’re not hurting anyone, especially since he himself admitted that he almost had to he alone cast the character for Hollywood. And you only need to have eyes and therefore to have seen the film to be of the same opinion for the worst performance. I really like Ben Affleck’s performance, but I hate the movies (by Zack Snyder, editor’s note) so each time it’s half core picks and half default. I loved Robert Pattinson in The Batman. And like many, I think Christian Bale is very good, but it’s a bit Normand’s choice, you don’t really choose, and if you’re told “my favorite is Christian Bale or Michael Keaton” no one is going to be offended, after all.”
In short, you will have understood, there are almost as many “best Batman” as spectators, everything is a matter of periods, generations, and the performances themselves. Even if Michael Keaton seems to be unanimous. And given the cardboard, both critical and public, of the latest episode (The Batman by Matt Reeves in March 2022, 770 million dollars collected worldwide, editor’s note) it is not at all to be excluded that other actors will put on the famous costume in new adaptations in the future.