Would you like a The Dark Knight Returns adaptation?

[Blade Hoarder]

Yes, much more interesting. Bale did that for two films. Never matched Keaton' awkward first meeting with Vicky Vale. Or him wilding out against Joker in Vale's apartment. Or him trying to explain to Vale who he really is.

I think it's because the flamboyant persona is so obviously fake. So there's a palpable distance. And the pained persona hidden underneath usually translates to him brooding. Bale is good at brooding, don't get me wrong. But it's fairly one note.

Keaton genuinely stumbling through society, not quite knowing how to navigate through BS high society talk is much more humanizing.

 

[The Joker]

There was nothing interesting about it at all. It was just plain awkward and felt totally out of character. Adam West's sophisticated, smooth talking, philanthropic Bruce Wayne who seduces women with milk and cookies felt more in character and interesting. Part of the brilliance of the Bruce Wayne persona is that is the real mask he wears. That's the image he presents to the world to hide his true self. Even the great BTAS understood the importance of this;

That's something the Burton version completely missed. Thus why it was a less interesting version. I never felt that duality. You get the human Bruce Wayne moments when he is being himself around Alfred, Dick and anyone else who knows who he really is. Plus it is no less humanizing to see someone put on a facade to hide their inner pain. People do it every day. You hear of it all the time. Including with celebs. Look at the late great Robin Williams for example. Hiding all the pain and depression behind a mask of being one of the funniest happiest guys in the world. You'd see him in interviews, being as funny as he was in movies. Never have a clue that he was so unhappy to the point that he wanted to end his own life; Dr. Jeffrey Gardere: Robin Williams Used Comedy to Hide Pain

Just like Batman hiding his anger and pain behind the facade of a carefree womanizing playboy. Very humanizing and very relatable. Putting on a front to hide the inner pain. Its what a lot of people do. I sincerely hope its something Reeves' Wayne has, too. No Bruce Wayne has ever been depicted the way the Burton one was. And hopefully they never will because I think its a terrible Wayne characterization.

 

[Bayne]

No.

TDKR has a lot of influential ideas in it that were important to the franchise, but as a story in and of itself, I honestly don't like it all that much. The mutants are a pathetic excuse for a villain which come across mainly as a fictional justification for treating all criminals as subhuman and Superman just taking orders from the govt. makes no sense. Most of the good parts of the story have already been adapted in other forms - which is a good thing - and the only thing left I'd still actually want to see on screen is Carrie Brown. And even that's not that important to me.

 

[JimThompson]

There was nothing interesting about it at all. It was just plain awkward and felt totally out of character. Adam West's sophisticated, smooth talking, philanthropic Bruce Wayne who seduces women with milk and cookies felt more in character and interesting. Part of the brilliance of the Bruce Wayne persona is that is the real mask he wears. That's the image he presents to the world to hide his true self. Even the great BTAS understood the importance of this;

That's something the Burton version completely missed. Thus why it was a less interesting version. I never felt that duality. You get the human Bruce Wayne moments when he is being himself around Alfred, Dick and anyone else who knows who he really is. Plus it is no less humanizing to see someone put on a facade to hide their inner pain. People do it every day. You hear of it all the time. Including with celebs. Look at the late great Robin Williams for example. Hiding all the pain and depression behind a mask of being one of the funniest happiest guys in the world. You'd see him in interviews, being as funny as he was in movies. Never have a clue that he was so unhappy to the point that he wanted to end his own life; Dr. Jeffrey Gardere: Robin Williams Used Comedy to Hide Pain

Just like Batman hiding his anger and pain behind the facade of a carefree womanizing playboy. Very humanizing and very relatable. Putting on a front to hide the inner pain. Its what a lot of people do. I sincerely hope its something Reeves' Wayne has, too. No Bruce Wayne has ever been depicted the way the Burton one was. And hopefully they never will because I think its a terrible Wayne characterization.

I could not disagree with this more.

 

[Batmannerism]

There was nothing interesting about it at all. It was just plain awkward and felt totally out of character. Adam West's sophisticated, smooth talking, philanthropic Bruce Wayne who seduces women with milk and cookies felt more in character and interesting. Part of the brilliance of the Bruce Wayne persona is that is the real mask he wears. That's the image he presents to the world to hide his true self. Even the great BTAS understood the importance of this;

That's something the Burton version completely missed. Thus why it was a less interesting version. I never felt that duality. You get the human Bruce Wayne moments when he is being himself around Alfred, Dick and anyone else who knows who he really is. Plus it is no less humanizing to see someone put on a facade to hide their inner pain. People do it every day. You hear of it all the time. Including with celebs. Look at the late great Robin Williams for example. Hiding all the pain and depression behind a mask of being one of the funniest happiest guys in the world. You'd see him in interviews, being as funny as he was in movies. Never have a clue that he was so unhappy to the point that he wanted to end his own life; Dr. Jeffrey Gardere: Robin Williams Used Comedy to Hide Pain

Just like Batman hiding his anger and pain behind the facade of a carefree womanizing playboy. Very humanizing and very relatable. Putting on a front to hide the inner pain. Its what a lot of people do. I sincerely hope its something Reeves' Wayne has, too. No Bruce Wayne has ever been depicted the way the Burton one was. And hopefully they never will because I think its a terrible Wayne characterization.

I agree with pretty much all of that. And RIP Robin Williams, someone I admired since childhood.

IMHO only the Nolan/Bale version of Batman managed to capture the 3 faces of Bruce Wayne:
- Batman the rage filled from vigilante who thrives on spreading fear, a constructed facade;
- Bruce Wayne shallow billionaire trust fund playboy, also a constructed facade; and

the real Bruce Wayne, resourceful and meticulous planner, a bit tortured and obssessed but essentially a good person trying to do what seems right. This is the person we see when Bruce talks to Alfred - I mean who wouldn't want to have regular heart to heart chats with Michael Caine. I have an uncle who's a cockney and about Caine's age, and I always think of him when I see TDK.

Anyway I'm not saying that this version of Batman is perfect - but it's my favourite, and to me the most layered.

 

[super85]

Keatons Batman was good, His Bruce Wayne, especially the public version , was not. I didnt find it interesting at all, and I think all the other Batman actors have been better as Bruce. My favorites being Affleck and Bale.

 

[Rorschach2012]

I still don’t know why they didn’t use a voice modulator for Bale’s Batman. That’s the only thing that keeps him from being a better Batman than Keaton.

Bale’s voice in BB was actually great though.

 

[The Batman]

I enjoyed Keaton's version of Bruce, but no, its no improvement on either comics Bruce at his best or Bale's Bruce, especially since the Burton films were often a case of style over substance.

 

[Rorschach2012]

BB and TDK are perfect, but I’ll take both Burton Batman films over TDKR any day. I think I even like BVS better than TDKR.

 

[JimThompson]

A lot of this for me is just a matter of degree. I prefer Keaton's version of the character, but I have enjoyed all the live action takes on the character so far.