The Character of Batman

Batman is currently the most popular comic book figure, due in large part to the success of the live action film The Dark Knight. The box office doesn't lie on this one, The Dark Knight holds the record for highest grossing weekend opening of any movie, ever. Right now, I doubt even Tony Stark could knock Batman off of his proverbial popularity throne. Yet as timeless as Batman is, his character has gone through dramatic transformations over the years, often acting as reflections of changes happening in society at the time.

A few years ago, bringing up the topic of Batman during normal conversation would have been considered weird. Batman was not the "cool" thing, definitely something reserved for comic book nerds and children at heart. Speaking of children at heart, that reminds me of my favorite interpretation of Batman outside of the comics:

Batman: The Animated Series


Batman: The Animated Series takes a darker, more realistic tone than most of the previous Batman incarnations. Yet it is still outlandish enough to remind viewers of the comic book that it is based on. The various plots used in Batman: The Animated Series were very well written and show parts of the Batman's history, which allows the viewer to relate to him better. Compared to the Batman cartoons that are on today, Batman: The Animated Series easily beats out the competition:



Now that we have seen why Batman: The Animated Series is the best cartoon version, most likely due to a lack of nachos, let's see how it compares to recent, more realistic takes on the character of Batman.

Overall, Christian Bale does a good job as Batman. The only problem is that he is not really intimidating. But with a voice that sounds like a 40 year old chain smoker, it would be hard to intimidate anyone.

Note: The first two videos may be a bit...intense for some viewers.

A Few Different Interpretations on Batman:

Christian Bale

A Musical Interpretation

Kevin Conroy (Voice Actor in Batman: The Animated Series)

Michael Keaton

But truly, no comparison of Batman can be made without, at the very least, a brief mention of his foe, The Joker. When I mention the Joker, Heath Ledger is the actor who will come to most people's minds. But before there was Heath Ledger, there was another...and I'm not talking about Jack Nicholson. I'm talking about the fact that a Jedi played the role of The Joker for many years.

That's right everyone: Mark Hamill, the guy who portrayed Luke Skywalker in Star Wars, played the voice of The Joker on Batman: The Animated Series. Apparently, he turned to the Dark Side after he realized his agent wasn't as good as Harrison Ford's.

Now, I will leave you with one more interesting tidbit I found out about Batman, he can also sing the blues.

Batman Sings!
This picture is ironic, because Batman would never do this. Bruce Wayne might...but not Batman.