The Dark Knight Rises Lifting the Bat-Bells II: Bale's physique

[Shazam]

His appearance for The Dark Knight looked like he just stepped off the set of Rescue Dawn. I'd like for him to at least go to his The Prestige physique, I know we'll never see buff Bale again.

Over the years...Bale has become known for how he prepares for certain roles......taking amazing amounts of weight off for certain roles. He looked great in Batman Begins.....He actually beefed up. Looked like a "trained Batman" should (unlike the scrawning Keaton).

But in the second film, I think he had just come off of some vietnam film or something, that required that he AGAIN, go very skinny!

So his Bruce Wayne looked a little gaunt in the face,

I do hope he puts back on the "Begins' weight for this last movie.....

Did anyone else notice this, too?

Over the years...Bale has become known for how he prepares for certain roles......taking amazing amounts of weight off for certain roles. He looked great in Batman Begins.....He actually beefed up. Looked like a "trained Batman" should (unlike the scrawning Keaton).

But in the second film, I think he had just come off of some vietnam film or something, that required that he AGAIN, go very skinny!

So his Bruce Wayne looked a little gaunt in the face, his frame a little smaller than in "Begins". Observe....

He looks almost ill........

 

[Fudgie]

Keep him at Dark Knight weight. That was perfect. Not too big and puffy like in Begins, but not too skinny either.

 

[Yurka]

Batman in my opinion should always come off as intimidating, and in DK I really didnt feel that at all. With Bane in DKR now, I doubt Bale will go past the size he was in DK just to keep the contrast.

 

[kvz5]

This was his latest pic (in China) so I'm expecting him to look more or less like this in TDKR:

 

[The Chris]

You know, considering what he goes out and does every night and the amount of fight and pain he goes through every night, that look was probably the point for TDK. I mean it made a lot of sense to me, him looking like that, and him wanting to give it up and hoping the mission was finite. I'm curious to see how he looks in this new one.

 

[KRIM]

Bale bulks up for Batman Begins: "WOW! Finally we have an actor playing up Bruce's immense dedication in physical perfection to better prepare himself for any opposing force. This man was born to be Batman!"

Bale slims down for The Dark Knight: "WOW! Bale is so method he took into account Batman's physical turmoil from his nighttime activity, and purposely maintained a slimmer physique to reflect his exhaustion. He's even more Batman than Batman in the comics!"

Bale _________ for The Dark Knight Rises: ???

 

[storyteller]

Well Chris Evans changed the game up. Batman needs to be bigger then Captain America.

 

[KalMart]

The kind of bulk he had for BB made him look too stocky, and took away from a sense of height (especially surrounded by such tall actors)...he doesn't really have the kind of frame to keep looking tall and broad as he packs on heavy muscle...like, say, Hugh Jackman or Dolph Lundgren. I think his physique in American Psycho would probably be ideal...like a well-built olympic gymnast.

 

[Bruce Malone]

Over the years...Bale has become known for how he prepares for certain roles......taking amazing amounts of weight off for certain roles. He looked great in Batman Begins.....He actually beefed up. Looked like a "trained Batman" should (unlike the scrawning Keaton).

But in the second film, I think he had just come off of some vietnam film or something, that required that he AGAIN, go very skinny!

So his Bruce Wayne looked a little gaunt in the face,

I do hope he puts back on the "Begins' weight for this last movie.....

Did anyone else notice this, too?

Over the years...Bale has become known for how he prepares for certain roles......taking amazing amounts of weight off for certain roles. He looked great in Batman Begins.....He actually beefed up. Looked like a "trained Batman" should (unlike the scrawning Keaton).

But in the second film, I think he had just come off of some vietnam film or something, that required that he AGAIN, go very skinny!

So his Bruce Wayne looked a little gaunt in the face, his frame a little smaller than in "Begins". Observe....

He looks almost ill........

His face has no bearing on how fit his body is however. His face in TDK is much closer to his normal everyday face. In begins he really buffed/puffed up and you saw him with a puffier face which is actually not natural to him. He has sharp cheek bones naturally.

However for sake of continuity, it makes sense to have a puffier fresh faced batman in the 1st only to start looking more guant and haggered out due to stress and battle.

 

[JAK®]

Well Chris Evans changed the game up. Batman needs to be bigger then Captain America.

Why? Captain America is peak human plus extra. Batman is just extremely well-trained.

At most they should be the same size.

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

You know, considering what he goes out and does every night and the amount of fight and pain he goes through every night, that look was probably the point for TDK. I mean it made a lot of sense to me, him looking like that, and him wanting to give it up and hoping the mission was finite. I'm curious to see how he looks in this new one.

I really like this idea... And with Rachael's death/Being on the run, he would probably look even more haggered in the new one.

Although I would like to see him get slightly bigger than The Dark Knight, if only to make it seem that he could feasibly go up against Bane.

 

[craigdbfan]

I was watching Begins last night and realized how much cooler bulky Wayne is for me. Must be all those Jim Lee drawings that have been floating in my head.

 

[Tacit Ronin]

This thread should be changed to "general" physique thread so we can also include Hardy and Hathaway.

 

[Fudgie]

I was watching Begins last night and realized how much cooler bulky Wayne is for me. Must be all those Jim Lee drawings that have been floating in my head.

He looks the same in The Dark Knight

 

[craigdbfan]

The suit does a nice trick of hiding his loss of weight.

Check out the cheekbones though they're far more protruding than they were in Begins.

 

[I Am The Knight]

Yeah, you can notice it in the face.

I guess I prefer my Batman to be bulkier. He really had an awesome physique in BB. I get why people say he looked "unhealthy" in TDK.

 

[craigdbfan]

The bulky look has always been my favorite look for Wayne/Batman.

It just looks right. I hope he gets that big for TDKR as a way of showing the type of physical shape he has to be in to fight off both the police and criminals. It'll make an even bigger impact for me knowing that Bane also took down Batman when he was a complete physical threat (despite his psychological status which may be very weak at this point).

 

[KalMart]

The 'bulky look' doesn't quite look right on Bale for this type of thing, though...not on his frame without making him look shorter and stockier...which you don't want for Batman. If it was someone naturally taller and lankier like Hugh Jackman, yeah he could get really big and still look quite tall. Even guys like Hemsworth (Thor) and Evans (C.A.) have a different type of chassis to biuld upon. But for Bale...muscular and toned but still lean, like he was in Am. Psycho would probably work best with his frame so as not to take away a sense of height/proportion. They can add more sense of shoulder width and such with the suit. In BB, with teh suit, it just made his torso look fatter...not really big and linebacker-like.

They've also surrounded him with quite tall costars in this series, too...from Neeson to Freeman to Hauer and even Caine. Kinda' makes him out to be shorter no matter how much muscle he puts on.

 

[craigdbfan]

I kindly disagree.

It's never been that big of an issue if Batman is shorter than others as most of the other DC heroes are taller than him anyway. Just take a look at Wayne in a party in this panel. A bulky 6 feet is what I think Wayne looks best as but thats just me because I think how Bale looked in Begins totally embodies Lee's Wayne.

 

[Yurka]

^Agreed, Bales BB physique was ideal Batman for me.

 

[The Joker]

I get why people say he looked "unhealthy" in TDK.

I don't. I think it's absurd hyperbole of the highest degree. He never once looked unhealthy in any way in TDK. Go watch The Machinist for an unhealthy looking Bale.

KalMart, I think you're spot on. It's no wonder Nolan told Bale to trim down a bit after Begins. He looked TOO bulky in it. I hope Nolan said it to him again for TDKR.

 

[I Am The Knight]

I don't. I think it's absurd hyperbole of the highest degree. He never once looked unhealthy in any way in TDK. Go watch The Machinist for an unhealthy looking Bale.

KalMart, I think you're spot on. It's no wonder Nolan told Bale to trim down a bit after Begins. He looked TOO bulky in it. I hope Nolan said it to him again for TDKR.

I have seen The Machinist. I know it's hyperbole, but it is the internet. I will say again that I just prefer his BB look...

Bale did look kinda bulky in the mask in one scene, but besides that I loved how big he was.

 

[kvz5]

I don't. I think it's absurd hyperbole of the highest degree. He never once looked unhealthy in any way in TDK. Go watch The Machinist for an unhealthy looking Bale.

KalMart, I think you're spot on. It's no wonder Nolan told Bale to trim down a bit after Begins. He looked TOO bulky in it. I hope Nolan said it to him again for TDKR.

I'm pretty sure that's what Nolan told him for TDKR. Because if they wanted him to bulk up, we would've seen the change already.

 

[craigdbfan]

I disregard the notion that he looked unhealthy as thats flat out fallacy. He is still pretty big in terms of muscles just nowhere near as Begins.

But if we're talking about preference I still largely would like Bale back to Begins physicality again it's way more comic accurate especially with the modern Wayne.

I have seen The Machinist. I know it's hyperbole, but it is the internet. I will say again that I just prefer his BB look...

Bale did look kinda bulky in the mask in one scene, but besides that I loved how big he was.

^Agreed, Bales BB physique was ideal Batman for me.

Yeah, I'm with you guys. I know some think he looks fine in TDK but if we're talking about being more precise in nailing the Wayne from the comics then his Begins physique is spot on. There's no arguing that.

 

[The Joker]

I'm pretty sure that's what Nolan told him for TDKR. Because if they wanted him to bulk up, we would've seen the change already.

Very glad to hear it