All 7 Actors Who've Played Batman On The Big Screen, From 1966 to Now

Published Oct 9, 2026, 12:02 PM EDT

Once head of Screen Rant's Star Wars coverage and co-lead of Superheroes, Tom Bacon now works with the movies and books teams. He's a lifelong fan of the fantasy and sci-fi genres, and loves franchises such as Doctor Who and Marvel. You can find him on Twitter @TomABacon, on LinkedIn @tabacon, or on Muckrack under tombacon.

Tom has a wide range of interests, and he continues to serve his university as a volunteer chaplain. He's heavily involved with his local church, and anyone who checks him out on Twitter will swiftly learn he's into British politics too.

Created in 1939, Batman has been adapted for the big screen more than any other superhero. Columbia Pictures brought the Dark Knight to theaters in 1943 and 1949, but these were very different to the modern movies; they were serials, foreshadowing the rise of TV. They were also very different to the Batman we know and love, serving more as propaganda than anything else. This Batman worked for the U.S. government as a contract agent. The first big-screen Batman villain was actually a Japanese scientist who wanted to turn Americans into zombies.

Let's face it, though; when we talk about Batman in film, nobody is referring to the serials. These are forgotten parts of Batman lore (not to mention more than a little cringe-worthy, complete with Yellow Peril allusions). In truth, Batman's big screen journey began in 1966, and it was nothing like the Dark Knight we've come to know and love. But that's the magic of comic book adaptations; the source material can inspire so many different versions based on the same character. Here are all seven live-action Batmen who've taken to the big screen since the 1966 classic.

7 Adam West

Born 1928, Died, 2017

• Appeared in: Batman (1966)

Don't forget to pack your shark repellent bat-spray for the Batman 1966 movie, which spins out of the classic 1960s TV show. Back in 1965, the American Broadcasting Corp (ABC) bought the rights for a live-action TV show starring Adam West and Burt Ward as Batman and Robin. An accomplished American actor, West had worked with ABC before on shows like The Rifleman, and had actually appeared in quite a few movies too. His big break came when producer William Dozier cast him as a James Bond-style spy in a commercial, and liked him so much he offered Ward the part of Batman.

"We’re trying to create a folk hero," Ward told the LA Times. "The kids take it straight, but for adults, we have to project it further … When Batman was a comic it wasn’t camp, but the show is." So was the 1966 movie, a classic in Batman history that's impossible to take seriously. This is a movie where Batman suffers "holy heartbreak," where some days you just can't get rid of a bomb, and where Batman and Robin go flying in the Batcopter. Ward is the reason it works, because he treats the absurdity with delightful gravitas. He knew it was comedy, but he gave it his all, and it shows.

6 Michael Keaton

Born 1951

• Appeared in: Batman (1989), Batman Returns (1992), The Flash (2023)

Fast-forward to 1989, and Tim Burton gave viewers a whole new take on Batman. Burton turned Gotham City gothic, and made Batman a true Dark Knight; he cast Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne, a controversial choice given he was best known for comedies such as Mr. Mom and Night Shift. "He’s got all that wild energy in his eyes," Burton explained at the time. "Which would compel him to put on a bat-suit... He does it because he needs to, because he’s not this gigantic strapping macho man."

Keaton's Batman stood at the absolute center of every scene, dominating them all by sheer force of personality. He dined out on the psychological complexity of the character, giving Batman a true sense that he was a troubled soul who'd never gotten over his childhood trauma. Keaton reprised the role in Batman Returns, but ultimately moved on; Warner Bros. brought him back for The Flash and Batgirl in the 2020s, but Batgirl sadly became a tax write-off.

5 Val Kilmer

Born 1959, Died 2025

• Appeared in: Batman Forever (1995)

Warner Bros. wanted a more family-friendly tone for Batman Forever, and Keaton bowed out. Val Kilmer was already a household name after Top Gun, but he caught director Joel Schumacher’s attention after his portrayal of Doc Holliday in Tombstone. "Val was my first and only choice (after Keaton)," Schumacher told the LA Times. He'd been pushing Warner Bros. to go younger, and felt that Kilmer was a very handsome Batman in a comic book brought to life.

Oddly, this actually became a common criticism at the time; Kilmer was handsome but flatter, giving the characters of Bruce Wayne and Batman less complexity than Keaton. Kilmer did have a multi-picture deal for Batman, but he clashed with Schumacher, and reportedly found the experience exhausting. "He sort of quit, we sort of fired him," Schumacher told Yahoo. "It probably depends on who's telling the story." Kilmer himself says he quit Batman because nobody was interested in him — just in the costume and the props.

4 George Clooney

Born 1961

• Appeared in: Batman & Robin (1997)

Batman Forever was the highest-grossing film in 1955, and Schumacher returned for Batman & Robin. He was replaced George Clooney (fresh from ER), who showed a very different kind of Batman; less brooding, more bickering with Chris O'Donnell's Robin. "He was Bruce Wayne as the warm and fuzzy boy next door," producer Michael E. Uslan told The Independent in a retrospective.

Clooney himself has always apologized for his Batman, admitting he feared being the one who killed the franchise. But those fears aren't really fair; many of his comments move on from his own portrayal to some of the random decisions (the bat-nipples on the costume, for example), or awful dialogue in the script. In truth, he didn't really have much of a chance.

3 Christian Bale

Born 1974

• Appeared in: Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008), The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Batman & Robin didn't kill the Batman franchise, but it did force Batman to hit the pause button. The Dark Knight wouldn't return until 2005, courtesy of visionary director Christopher Nolan. Nolan wanted to tell the definitive Batman origin story in a more realistic (or, as he put it, "relatable") world, and Hollywood superstar Christian Bale was the first actor he met for the role. As Nolan explained in an interview with Film Comment:

"But given the stakes, the studio was always going to need me to put together a group of actors to be screen-tested. And we got the old costume out and shot the tests and Christian just owned it in a way that was very close to the conception that we were putting together in the script. In terms of the potential for rage that this character has, the axe that this character is carrying with him, he was able to project that very well in his test and have that underlie not only Batman but also Bruce Wayne the playboy. There’s a darkness that the character has been infused with by tragedy at an early age, and it’s the engine that drives everything that he does."

2 Ben Affleck

Born 1972

• Appeared in: Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (2015), Justice League (2017), Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021)

Zack Snyder wanted a different kind of Batman for the DCEU, an older and world-weary version of the Dark Knight. He chose Ben Affleck for the role in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice; "He’s a movie star now in the greatest definition of the word," Snyder explained in an interview with Film Link. "He has gravitas. We’ve greyed his hair a little, and we’ve made him look a bit rough and rugged, in a good way. He’s a great actor, and he’s a big person. He’s 6’4”, and in the boots, he’s 6’6”. I don’t like a small Batman…I like my Batmen bigger!"

It's impossible to separate Ben Affleck's Batman from the controversial story decisions Snyder made with the character. His dark, atmospheric take on an older Batman triggered a massive reaction online, with some appalled that this was a Batman who killed in brutal fashion. Joss Whedon toned this aspect down in Justice League, reducing Batman to a man who believed his superpower was simply his wealth, and Snyder returned to present his own version of that ensemble movie four years later after a popular campaign. Affleck sadly never had his chance to star in that much-anticipated solo movie.

1 Robert Pattinson

Born 1986

Appeared in: The Batman (2022)

The latest Batman is Robert Pattinson. The Twilight star's filmography has developed over the years, but he always wanted to play Batman; "I’d had Batman in my mind for a while," he told Variety. "It’s such an absurd thing to say. I sort of had an idea to do it, and I’d been prodding [director Matt Reeves]. He didn’t accept any prods. I kept asking to meet him. And then [when I did], I had to kind of try to imagine what he’d written, and I hadn’t even read the script. I’d come with this pad full of notes."

Reeves had been impressed by Pattinson's "chameleon-like" approach to acting in Lost City of Z, The Rover, and Good Time, and loved Pattinson's audition. Pattinson's take on Batman His Batman is a return to the brooding intensity of previous versions, and he offers a controlled performance that's psychologically unsettling. His Bruce Wayne is deeply conflicted, and very visibly traumatized — explaining why he's the kind of person to dress up as Batman.