Holy Secret Identities, Batman! Meet the Actors Who Have Played the Dark Knight

Lewis G. Wilson

Lewis has the distinction of being the first actor to play Batman, in this case for the 1943 film serial of that name. That story spanned 15-chapters that were presented weekly on Saturdays along with cartoons, newsreels and so on. The actor apparently had no interest in discussing having played Batman, even when the character was exploding in the 1960s. As noted by blogger Andy Fish, "Lew went on to Broadway where he'd gotten some notices and as World War II got underway, he was signed with a contract to Columbia Pictures and soon cast as Batman. He's also the youngest actor to play the role having been only 23 at the time. Wilson did a stellar job as aristocrat Bruce Wayne and a somewhat menacing Batman. I'm sure to him it was just a paycheck to put food on the table, and again playing a comic book character who had only been around four years couldn't have seemed like much of a big deal then. Wilson was rumored to shun mention of the Batman role, requests for interviews during the 1966 Bat-craze were turned down, and there were even newspapers that reported he had been dead for a few years. Not so. He had just given up on Hollywood. There are a few signed bits of memorabilia and Wilson died in San Francisco in 2000 at the age of 80."

Interesting tidbit about Lewis is that he and his first wife had a son named Michael G. Wilson, who eventually became the stepson of James Bond producer Albert R. Broccoli, and currently runs the 007 franchise with his stepsister, Barbara Broccoli.

Matt Crowley

One of the biggest radio drama shows that ever aired was The Adventures of Superman, and that show also represented the first non-comic book team-up of the Man of Steel and Batman. Bringing him to audio life was radio actor Matt Crowley, who lived from 1904 to 1983. When Superman actor Bud Collyer took vacations, Superman would be indisposed and Batman would take his place.

Robert Lowery

When a second Batman movie serial was put into production — 1949's Batman and Robin — actor Robert Lowery (1913-71) was brought on to play the character. Like its predecessor, it consisted of 15 chapters, and this time had the duo go up against a black-hooded criminal mastermind (all the criminal masterminds seemed to wear hoods in those serials), the Wizard.

Robert's career consisted largely of roles in action films like The Mark of Zorro and The Mummy's Ghost, and Westerns like The Homesteaders, Young Guns of Texas, and Johnny Reno.

In the film, Robin was played by actor John Duncan, who, when he was 88, was interviewed by npr.org, and reflected on the experience of shooting Batman and Robin: "In the old days, when we did the film, Bob Lowery and I had so much fun doing the film that we didn't even think about what people thought. Y'know, whether they thought, 'It's just for kids,' or something like that. We just had a ball making that." The writer then mentioned the durability of the Batman brand which turned John reflective: "I'm a skip and a hop from 90 years old. Y'know, I'm still walking and talking and all my friends are dead, and most of the actors I knew are passed away. So it's kinda lonely up here, it really is. But yeah, I'm surprised it keeps going on and on. I'm thankful — I'm thankful for it, that the recognition is still there."

Adam West

The first wave of Batmania truly came with the 1966 arrival of the Batman TV series starring Adam West in the dual role of Batman and Bruce Wayne, with Burt Ward as Robin and Yvonne Craig as Batgirl.

Before his death last June, we had the chance to talk to West in the aftermath of his series being released on Blu-ray for the show's 50th anniversary, and we wondered if it felt like 1966 all over again. “Yes, in a way it does, because the excitement is noticeably the same," he said. "I mean, if I put a thermometer into the excitement water, it would read about the same as when the show broke in 1966. And, personally, what does an actor want? I guess to be loved every time he goes out onstage or before the camera. ‘Love me! Appreciate my work! I’m really doing my best here!’ If I made people happy, and I know I have, and I’ve given them a lot of laughs, then I’m a happy guy. Of course, there was a time when I was typecast so terribly, and up for a number of big features, I couldn’t get. The producers casting would say, ‘No, what would happen if he went to bed with the leading lady? They’d forget the whole story — 'Look, it’s Batman in bed.' That was a problem, but I decided years ago to love the character, because people love it, and I should be grateful to have that. My God, to be one of the few icons around… this is neat.”

The show burned very brightly for a couple of years, but then burned out, and Adam found himself restored to a sense of normalcy, not an easy thing to adjust to. "Look, I grew up on a farm in Walla Walla, Washington, I worked in the fields for years, among other things, and when things break that big for you and you become like a rock star, of a kind, it’s tough to deal with. But I’ve been very fortunate, I just stayed drunk! [in a lower voice] He said comfortable, not drunk!

“In the '60s," he added, "there were three Bs: Batman, Bond, and Beatles. And I was asked to play Bond after Sean Connery for On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. And then The Beatles talked to me about playing drums instead of Ringo — but he turned out to be a great guy."

Olan Soule

Looking at him, you'd never expect Olan to be the voice behind Batman, but he was for quite a number of years. You've heard the comedian and character actor bring both the Dark Knight (before he really became dark) and Bruce Wayne to life in the following:

The Batman/Superman Hour (1968)
The Adventures of Batman (1970)
Sesame Street (1970)
The New Scooby-Doo Movies (1972)
Super Friends (1973)
The All-New Super Friends Hour (1977)
Challenge of the Super Friends (1978)
The World's Greatest Super Friends (1979)
Super Friends (1980)

Michael Keaton

You would be hard-pressed to find a more controversial casting of a famous character than Michael Keaton for Tim Burton's 1989 production of Batman. There was such outrage in the fandom about it, which was kind of shocking in its vitriol. Then they saw him in the role and suddenly changed their tune. Keaton reprised the role in 1992's Batman Returns too. Speaking to shortlist.com, he said of the film's impact on the superhero genre, "Tim changed, or started, everything. And I’m proud of the choice I made, in terms of how to play Batman. It’s probably easier now because Tim paved the way, and if I did anything to pave the way, I’m proud of that, too. I’ve never seen [a superhero movie] beginning to end. Oh actually, I saw the first Spider-Man — I thought that was really good. You can step into it more easily now, is my guess. Technically, [superhero movies] do everything for you. They create a world where all you’ve basically got to do is show up, not [screw] it up too much, and you’ll come off OK."

Kevin Conroy

He first entered the world of Batman by voicing the character in the classic 1992 show Batman: The Animated Series and he set the bar for the character in animation. In describing the Batman experience to us, Kevin says, "I have to admit that I'm really lucky to have grabbed this brass ring when they were handing out brass rings, because this character doesn't ever get boring. He's so complicated. The depth of him is so interesting. The fact that all of this energy comes out of this dark pain, that keeps him, to me, endlessly interesting.

"The challenge to me," he continues, "has been keeping it fresh through the years. Not letting it get stale, because the range that you can play in Batman is very small. He's not that demonstrative. He keeps things very close to the chest, which is part of why I like doing Bruce Wayne as an alternative voice and as an alternative sort of personality, because it gave me somewhere else to go as an actor with playing a character. This whole other world. This other persona. This Bruce Wayne guy. The Batman character, it's a very small kind of palette of colors that you can play with, so you've got to keep it really, really rich and really deep and alive. He's such a complicated character that he helps you do that."

Val Kilmer

After Michael Keaton decided to leave the film series when director Tim Burton did, Val Kilmer came aboard to take on the dual role of Batman/Bruce Wayne in 1995's Batman Forever. In it, he teamed up with Chris O'Donnell's Robin and went up against Jim Carrey's Riddler and Tommy Lee Jones' Two-Face. A few years ago, the actor spoke at the C2E2 comic book convention, where he actually related the challenges of wearing the Bat-suit. “The suit takes an hour to get into," he said, "and you can’t do it by yourself. And then you can’t hear, because there are really no earholes in it. Also, you can’t turn your head and you can’t go to the bathroom by yourself. Plus, you fall over quite easily. It was like wearing a wetsuit that was several times tighter than one anyone else would wear, and then when you add the cape, it’s almost psychedelic. Then I realized one day what wearing that suit was like. It was, ‘Oh! This is what being old feels like.' No one really listens to you any more. You can’t really talk or hear. You’re always falling over and someone has to help you go to the bathroom and get dressed.”

George Clooney

Yep, on the way to superstardom, George Clooney made a pitstop to play the Dark Knight in 1997's Batman & Robin, which was a critical failure and didn't fare as well as its predecessor at the box office. But director Joel Schumacher commented in the film's official production notes, "I saw George in From Dusk Till Dawn and recognized immediately that he not only had looks and talent, but real movie-star charisma as well. Then, while flying from one coast to another, I actually began to draw Batman's cowl onto George's face in a newspaper advertisement for From Dusk Till Dawn. He looked perfect, and I immediately suggested the idea to (Warner Bros. chairmen) Bob Daly and Terry Semel.

"I think Michael Keaton and Val Kilmer were both wonderful as Batman," Schumacher continued, "but I think George is the best of all. What always bothered me a little bit about Val was the comparatively small age difference between him and Chris O'Donnell. But I think that was perfect for Batman Forever, because in it, we were still dealing with his being haunted by his parents' death, and not having resolved his problems from boyhood. George Clooney, though, is very much a man, a wonderful actor and, of course, he's extremely handsome. He not only looks very much like Bruce Wayne in the comic books — which Bob Kane has often commented upon — but I also think that George has brought a real humanity and humor to the piece, an accessibility that I don't think anybody else has been able to offer, and that's his unique contribution."

Troy Baker

Popular voice actor Troy Baker, who has voiced the Joker a number of times, has actually done the same for Batman in a variety of LEGO animated films, including Lego Batman: The Movie — DC Super Heroes Unite (2013); Lego DC Comics: Batman Be-Leaguered (2014); Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League vs. Bizarro League (2015), Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League: Attack of the Legion of Doom (2015); Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League: Cosmic Clash (2016); Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League: Gotham City Breakout (2016), Lego DC Comics Super Heroes (2018).

Christian Bale

The next major evolution of Batman on screen came in the form of Christian Bale in Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008), and The Dark Knight Rises (2012). In our exclusive interview, Christopher Nolan — the director of the trilogy — reveals that he views the character in three distinct ways, whereas in the past he's been seen mostly as a duality. "To me," he explains, "particularly from comics and all, I've always seen it as three people. You've got Batman, who is the warrior, as it were. He's the vehicle for all of Bruce Wayne's rage; essentially the channel for that rage. Then you have the public face of Bruce Wayne, which is as much a mask as the cowl is. That rather flippant, frivolous playboy image is as much of an act or as theatrical as putting on the cape and mask. Then you have the private Bruce Wayne. I view the private Bruce Wayne as not being so much emotionally vacant as emotionally damaged. I think there are certain people in his life, Alfred being the obvious one, who through which you see the private Bruce Wayne and interact with him. He's emotionally damaged in a way that Alfred can understand, and therefore he can relate to the private Bruce Wayne. I think that certainly taking on the film there is a responsibility to flesh out Bruce Wayne, the psychology of him a little more than has been done in films previously that were dealing more with the duality between Batman and Bruce Wayne."

As to Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman, he adds, "Christian is an actor who will completely reinvent himself for every role, so he doesn't carry past associations, particularly coming to this role. I think that Bruce Wayne requires a degree of anonymity to really get to the heart of someone who is emotionally damaged and hollow in a way that the character is. He has an incredible dedication to his craft that, frankly, is not unlike Bruce Wayne. You look into Christian Bale's mind and you believe in the possibility of this man dedicating himself to become somebody as extraordinary as Batman. That was essential for any kind of realistic, believable telling of this tale."

Diedrich Bader

Currently co-starring in ABC's American Housewife, Diedrich Bader provided the voice for Batman in the lightest (but more hip) version of the character since the Adam West series in Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2008-11). Each episode of which saw the character teaming up with a different DC Comics character. Before the show premiered, he gave an interview to Newsarama in which he related, "I knew there were big shoes to fill. There is kind of a type of voice people expect. To do something completely different, well it wouldn’t be Batman. So the perimeters are sort of set. Essentially, what I bring is a bit of lightness and sense of humor that others either shied away from or weren’t allowed to pursue. He’s still the Dark Knight. What we do is have Batman’s sense of humor come from the narrative, when he talks about the guest stars. He has a different guest superhero every week. Sometimes two. That is a lot of people. We really reached deep into the lexicon of DC and brought them out. I think many of them have been virtually forgotten. We also imbue many of them with a sense of humor. Still, it’s Batman’s sense of humor and his sensibility, which is one of irony. He’s a witness to the craziness these guys bring. I think that’s what makes the show interesting."

Bruce Greenwood

Bruce Greenwood, who in recent years has played Captain Christopher Pike in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek films, has voiced Batman on a number of occasions. In 2010 he did so for the first time for Batman: Under the Red Hood, at which time he related to us, "I didn’t come in with too many preconceptions. I read the script beforehand, and the emotional through line of the story is what I’m trying to connect to. So when the director asks you to give it a certain tone, then you just go for that. But it was interesting to work this way. [Vocal director] Andrea Romano provided the visual — she’d describe everything. So you just kind of close your eyes and she’d set the scene and you could really imagine it very clearly, and then you do your thing.”

Bruce also voiced Batman for the Young Justice TV series, and the animated film Batman: Gotham by Gaslight (2018).

Ben McKenzie

Actor Ben McKenzie, who currently plays James Gordon on FOX's Batman prequel series Gotham, voiced the Dark Knight in the 2011 animated film Batman: Year One, which, as the title suggests, looks at his first year as a crimefighter. He conveyed to collider.com, "He's a younger Bruce Wayne/Batman. It’s a twenty-something guy who is coming back to Gotham, who is trying to exact justice, but is unsure of himself a little bit in terms of how he is going to be able to do this. And he gets himself sort of in over his head in certain situations as Batman. So, he’s feeling out this new life. He's just less sure of himself."

Peter Weller

The actor who famously played Robocop, among many other roles, took on the part of an older Batman in the two-part animated adaptation of one of the most acclaimed graphic novels ever, The Dark Knight Returns. The films were released in 2012 and 2013 and saw Batman fighting back against anarchy, the government and Superman. In fact, elements of that storyline made their way into the live-action feature Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Jason O'Mara

Jason O'Mara, whose TV credits include Life on Mars, Terra Nova and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., began voicing Batman in the animated films Son of Batman and Justice League: War (both 2014), Batman vs. Robin and Justice League: Throne of Atlantis (both 2015), Justice League vs. Teen Titans and Batman: Bad Blood (both 2016), *Justice League Dark_ (2017) and this year's forthcoming The Death of Superman. At the time of Justice League Dark, we were able to sit with him and asked whether or not there was an opportunity for the character of Batman to evolve.

"This is the New 52 universe, which is supposed to mean there are 52 parallel realities in the DC multiverse," Jason explains. "So clearly there are all different kinds of Batmans. My Batman is not involved with the Killing Joke Batman or the Arkham video Batman. And there are other versions of Batman. This version of Batman I play, he's a dad. Nightwing has graduated the Batcave and left the mantle for Damian to become Robin. He just put the Justice League together in Justice League: War. He sent Damian to train with the Teen Titans, almost like boarding school. That's the Batman that we're exploring. It's nice to have a kind of Batman that isn't the 'I work alone, I'm darkness, I am the night' kind of thing. This version of Batman has all of this very specific emotional baggage. I don't think we could ever just ignore any of that. If we continue with this Batman, I think we will be continuing to tell stories in that vein. To me, it would be unfair to this Batman to go a different route. Besides, we have Kevin Conroy for that. I think that darker, kind of standalone Batman is Kevin territory to me. Whereas, I'm kind of the Batman who's got his family baggage."

David Mazouz

When the TV series Gotham was conceived, the idea was that young Bruce Wayne would be a peripheral part of the show, but the actor playing him, David Mazouz, was so good that the producers have given him more and more to do, and we've gradually been watching him evolve ever more closely to the Batman persona. Prior to the fourth season starting last September, he discussed his new "outfit" for the show with Newsarama: "It was really, really exciting getting fitted for that. At the end of last season, Bruce was just in a flowing overcoat and even in that was really cool. Then as you’ve seen in the promos, he gets this leather jacket and custom-made mask, so when I put that on — I must have been fitted six times — it was just so exciting and fits so perfectly. It was a great feeling and great moment."

Popular belief is that the very last episode of Gotham will reveal Bruce in his full Batman regalia.

Actors Who’ve Played Batman

Will Arnett

Funnyman Will Arnett has done an amazing job voicing Batman, somehow managing to convey a vulnerability to the character that we've never seen before. He voiced him in The Lego Movie (2014), The Lego Batman Movie (2017), and will do so again in 2019's The Lego Movie Sequel. Explains Will to LAtimes.com, "Lego Batman doesn't know that he is an animated character — and by that, I mean, I approached him as a character I'm playing with an inner life. I'm not just talking in that voice."

Ben Affleck

Ben Affleck, despite his various roles throughout his career, certainly is no stranger to the idea of superheroes. He played Marvel's Daredevil in the 2002 film of the same name, and portrayed actor George Reeves, who in turn was cast as Superman in the '50s TV series The Adventures of Superman in 2006's Hollywoodland. A decade later, he became Batman in 2016's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which he reprised a year later in Justice League.

In terms of how his Batman has evolved, he explained to us exclusively, "In Batman v Superman, Bruce was a man obsessed with the past and the wrongs he perceived had been done by Superman's hand. What he went through in that film gave him a totally different understanding of those events and of who Superman really was. In Justice League, he realizes the hope that Superman gave to the world and that, without him, the hope is gone as well. In this film, he is starting from a place of looking forward; he knows there is extreme danger coming, and he now sees the value of including others in his fight."

In terms of fighting alongside those other characters that have actual powers, he adds, "I think Bruce is in a unique place to be able to appreciate what these metahumans can do — to a certain extent he can do some of that, too — but to also understand, unlike the others, how much work goes into his ability to be Batman. Every iteration of Batman has explored the history behind his becoming this vigilante, so maybe he's the most motivated of the group in a way."

Robert Pattinson

The former Twilight franchise hunk is back in the blockbuster film business, playing the title character in The Batman, an origin story from director Matt Reeves. The film premiered on March 3, 2022 and had plenty of buzz ever since Robert’s casting was announced in May 2019. Matt was impressed by Robert’s string of gritty independent film roles he took on after the four-film Twilight saga came to an end in 2012. “The people who were excited, I knew it was because they knew Rob’s work post-Twilight. The people who weren’t excited, I knew it was because they didn’t know Rob’s work post-Twilight,” Matt told Esquire U.K., adding that no actor has ever been cut some slack when cast to play the Caped Crusader.

“There has been no actor, when his announcement that he was going to be playing Batman in one of the feature films was announced, that has not received a backlash,” the director added. Rob’s casting didn’t come close to getting the critical response that Ben Affleck’s did, which came with nicknames such as “Batfleck” and plenty of brutal memes.