Cast any actor from any era for your dream Batman cast.

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

The Dark Knight Returns with a late 1960s cast and director:

Charlton Heston as Batman, Peter O'Toole as the Joker, and Sean Connery as Commissioner Gordon under the direction of Stanley Kubrick.

[Praetor]

The Borgified Corpse wrote:

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As always, Jackson Archer, I'm glad when you & I are on the same wavelength. Here's hoping Warner Bros. is sophisticated enough to allow 2 very different flavors of Batman to coexist.

One thing I've noticed in the "Funniest Superhero Lines" thread is that there's a lot of quotable stuff from the Tim Burton movies but not so much from the Chris Nolan movies.

Thirded. Although Burton's vision of "prime" Batman isn't nearly the same as what, ideally, I think he should be, I respect his vision and I think it would be absolutely PERFECT for "Dark Knight Returns." And since everyone is keen to make everything dark, there it is.

I guess I'm the only one who had any tolerance for Val Kilmer?

I can't really add much to the great suggestions already. My definitive version of Batman is the TAS version, and I suppose the most iconic live action version in my mind is Christian Bale, although that might have been different had Alec Baldwin played him in Burton's films, or had Clooney played him in a non-Schumacher film.

Two casting suggestions I haven't seen yet are Hugh Laurie (circa now) as the Joker and Vince Vaughn (in serious "Psycho" mode, but his age now) as a TAS-style Clayface.

[sojourner]

Suprised no one suggested this yet:

Max Schreck as Max Schreck

[suarezguy]

Batman ... early 90s Alec Baldwin
The Joker - Gene Wilder, mid-to-late 80s Bill Murray or Robert Walker (Strangers on a Train)
Two-Face ... 70s or early 80s Al Pacino or 00s Joaquin Phoenix
The Riddler ... late 90s Matt Damon
Mr. Freeze ... Hugo Weaving
Poison Ivy ... Uma Thurman

[The Borgified Corpse]

Praetor wrote:

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Thirded. Although Burton's vision of "prime" Batman isn't nearly the same as what, ideally, I think he should be, I respect his vision and I think it would be absolutely PERFECT for "Dark Knight Returns." And since everyone is keen to make everything dark, there it is.

Look at it this way. Dark Knight Returns & Tim Burton's 1st Batman movie are the only 2 times I can recall Batman using guns.

I'm not always satisfied with everything about Burton's Batman movies but I think his version of Gotham City has been the best. And while his versions of the Penguin & Catwoman were great deviations from the source material, he really made them his own; same with Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne.

I guess I'm the only one who had any tolerance for Val Kilmer?

I like him better as time goes on but he's still my least favorite. I found him a little bland and I didn't think his look was right at all. Actually, George Clooney comes closest to my vision of how Batman should look, even more than Christian Bale. Michael Keaton was totally counterintuitive but worked for a Tim Burton Batman. Under any other director, I suspect Keaton would have been totally wrong.

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

The Borgified Corpse wrote:

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Look at it this way. Dark Knight Returns & Tim Burton's 1st Batman movie are the only 2 times I can recall Batman using guns.

Batman's code of rejecting guns and refusing to kill has been around for a very, very long time, but was nevertheless an addition to the Batman mythos rather than part of the original design of the character. In the very early comics Batman did sometimes use guns and was willing to kill:

[MeanJoePhaser]

Out Of My Vulcan Mind wrote:

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Batman's code of rejecting guns and refusing to kill has been around for a very, very long time, but was nevertheless an addition to the Batman mythos rather than part of the original design of the character. In the very early comics Batman did sometimes use guns and was willing to kill:

Because he's the hero Gotham doesn't deserve, but the one it needs right now. So we'll hunt him because he deserves it. Because he's not our hero. He's a violent guardian, a watchful executioner. A death knight.


You know what? They should have gun-toting Batman in the next movie, not the actual Batman but as an AMERICA'S MOST WANTED t.v. recreation of what the authorities believe happened to the people Dent actually killed. They could use lines from those early comics. Even funnier, cast someone known as the recreation Batman, even a former Batman actor like Clooney or Kilmer...

[Captaindemotion]

COunt me in as another fan of Kilmer's Bat. He wasn't ideal for the role but I thought he did a lot better than Clooney or Keaton. Made a dashing, athetic Batman and captured the playboy side of Bruce Wayne along with the brooding intensity.

Two points of view on this thread I really don't get though. One is the Clint-as-old-Batman one. Never did get that idea. I like Clint but if he was to be a comic character, he'd be a perfect Judge Dredd or Nick Fury. But he's too blue-collar for Bruce Wayne - I just can't see him convincing anyone as a playboy/ business man type. He's too one-dimensional to play Batman, even the grim old avenger of TDKR.

The other POV I'm (respectfully) not getting is the idea of Tim Burton doing TDKR in his Batverse. To me, the two just wouldn't gel at all. Burton's Gotham was almost fairy-tale esque, it fitted very much in the milieu of the rest of his movies. Batman Returns especially - it's easier to imagine Edward Scissorhands co-existing in this universe than Superman. Whereas TDKR was almost hyper-real, splicing tv clips and talking heads to achieve its topicality. When has Burton ever gone for that approach?

I would have thought that Zach Snyder, Tony Scott or Neil Bergkamp (District 9) would be ideal directors for a live-action TDKR.

I also don't see even an older grizzled Michael Keaton as the Batman/ Bruce Wayne of that story. I'd prefer Robert Redford from around the time of The Last Castle, Harrison Ford circa Air Force One, maybe even Tom Berenger as he is now.

[DigificWriter]

Batman Forever really gets a lot of crap that it doesn't entirely deserve. Aside from Tommy Lee Jones' too-over-the-top performance as Two Face (which is sad), it's actually quite a good film, and I really enjoy Kilmer's performance as Bruce Wayne/Batman; it really feels like he's channeling Michael Keaton, at least to me.

[Admiral James Kirk]

Aragorn wrote:

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Just as the subject line says -- any actor, any age, from any era, for any role. If you were to put together your dream cast for a Batman movie franchise, who would you choose?

Batman: Not really sure. Not a lot of actors I like for this part. I've always wondered what Kevin Conroy would have been like if he'd played the part live action. After watching the latest season of Smallville on DVD I've become fascinated with the idea of Sam Witwer playing the part. He's got the darkly handsome looks and he can play damaged really well. Would love to see him tackle Batman.

Jim Gordon: Nick Nolte

Alfred: Clifton Webb

Joker: James Woods or Crispin Glover or Mark Hamill.

Bullock: Robert Costanzo

Riddler: Robert Englund because he was so great on The Batman.

Bane: Arnold Schwarzenegger

Robin: Don't hurt me but... Burt Ward. He just seemed like the truest representation of the young Dick Grayson.

Nightwing: Chris O'Donnel. Fuck you. I like 'im.

I can't think of anyone else right now.

[The Borgified Corpse]

MeanJoePhaser wrote:

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Because he's the hero Gotham doesn't deserve, but the one it needs right now. So we'll hunt him because he deserves it. Because he's not our hero. He's a violent guardian, a watchful executioner. A death knight.

You know what? They should have gun-toting Batman in the next movie, not the actual Batman but as an AMERICA'S MOST WANTED t.v. recreation of what the authorities believe happened to the people Dent actually killed. They could use lines from those early comics. Even funnier, cast someone known as the recreation Batman, even a former Batman actor like Clooney or Kilmer...

I like that. I could totally see Clooney, Kilmer, or even Chris O'Donnell playing the actor recreating Batman.