If Michael Keaton had stayed on as Batman

[héad.casé]

I know he didn't want to do Forever because it was too light hearted and even turned down $15 million to return to the role because he didn't think he'd able to play Batman that way (though he did show up for costume fitting), but if he did stay, how would Batman Forever be looked at?

[willywonka666]

Jun 7, 2012 8:36:55 GMT -5 héad.casé said:

I know he didn't want to do Forever because it was too light hearted and even turned down $15 million to return to the role because he didn't think he'd able to play Batman that way (though he did show up for costume fitting), but if he did stay, how would Batman Forever be looked at?

Lighthearted? Mr. Mom didn't want to do lighthearted? I can understand it though I guess from his viewpoint as the first 2 and especially the first one are considered the best

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

Jun 7, 2012 8:39:34 GMT -5 willywonka666 said:

Jun 7, 2012 8:36:55 GMT -5 héad.casé said:

I know he didn't want to do Forever because it was too light hearted and even turned down $15 million to return to the role because he didn't think he'd able to play Batman that way (though he did show up for costume fitting), but if he did stay, how would Batman Forever be looked at?

Lighthearted? Mr. Mom didn't want to do lighthearted? I can understand it though I guess from his viewpoint as the first 2 and especially the first one are considered the best

Not wanting to do a lighthearted film and not wanting to play a dark character lighthearted are different things.

[Sephiroth]

While there were some humorous one liners in Batman and Batman Returns, the films were for the most part a dark, moody affair. Keaton portrayed Bruce Wayne as a semi-tormented man struggling to balance out his double life with a desire to lead a normal existence, including his desire to have a love interest in his life. With Batman Forever, the series took a decidedly more campy twist that just would not have suited the way Michael Keaton portrayed the character.

[Deleted]

Yeah, Keaton would have been a bit out of place in Forever. I actually still like the movie, having rewatched it a few months ago, but his style of Batman would've been pretty out of place in it.

Though if they, like, announced a Dark Knight Returns movie starring Keaton, I'd probably go f***ing nuts, since the guy's awesome.

[SHAKEMASTER TV9 is Don Knotts]

Michael Keaton: Chicks dig the car. *moves eyebrows*

[Hit Girl]

Jun 7, 2012 9:11:27 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

Yeah, Keaton would have been a bit out of place in Forever. I actually still like the movie, having rewatched it a few months ago, but his style of Batman would've been pretty out of place in it.

Though if they, like, announced a Dark Knight Returns movie starring Keaton, I'd probably go f***ing nuts, since the guy's awesome.

That would be a cool idea.

[Cyno]

BF and B&R would still be terrible movies. They'd be better, but Keaton couldn't save the movie from awful scripts and Schumaker's directing.

[Michael Coello]

Jun 7, 2012 11:43:11 GMT -5 Cyno said:

BF and B&R would still be terrible movies. They'd be better, but Keaton couldn't save the movie from awful scripts and DCs' executive meddling.

Fixed.

[Push R Truth]

Keaton could have salvaged the bat nipples

[OGBoardPoster2005]

I would have loved to have seen Keaton in a Dark Knight Returns adaptation. He's at the right age for it, its there along with my dream of a Batman Beyond movie with Adam West as Bruce continuing on from the 60's series.

[CMWaters]

Jun 7, 2012 11:50:03 GMT -5 OGBoardPoster2005 said:

I would have loved to have seen Keaton in a Dark Knight Returns adaptation. He's at the right age for it, its there along with my dream of a Batman Beyond movie with Adam West as Bruce continuing on from the 60's series.

Well, while not the same, they did do something similar to that in an episode of Kim Possible one time. West played pretty much himself under a different name, and the male lead of the show and sidekick to the title character became the replacement hero.

Bonus was that the male lead/title character sidekick was also voiced by Will Friedle, who voiced Terry McGinnis on Batman Beyond.

[Glitch]

Jun 7, 2012 9:11:27 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

Yeah, Keaton would have been a bit out of place in Forever. I actually still like the movie, having rewatched it a few months ago, but his style of Batman would've been pretty out of place in it.

Though if they, like, announced a Dark Knight Returns movie starring Keaton, I'd probably go f***ing nuts, since the guy's awesome.

Hell, I'd watch The Dark Knight Rises if it had Keaton.

[Citizen Grimm]

Huh, I wonder how Keaton would've done in Christian Bale's role in the Nolan's Batman trilogy.

I know he would look too old to be Bruce Wayne but I'm really curious to see how he would've played it.

[erisi236]

If people thought duck boats and penguin rockets were cool then I don't see anything that was so objectionable in Forever.

Forevers greatest crime is not having Billy Dee Williams as Two-Face.

[Sephiroth]

Bale is not bad as Batman-though that awful voice he does is incredible obnoxious. The Bale version of Bruce Wayne is more classical; younger fans may not know it, but right up to the 80's Bruce Wayne put on a public persona of being a spoiled, self-centered, bumbling playboy to throw people off from ever suspecting he was Batman. In more recent times Bruce Wayne has been refashioned as a well respected philanthropist and socialite-and Keaton's portrayal was a big part of what caused this change. I will also give that Bale definitely has the physicalify of the part-the right physique and the right movement for the character. Keaton was too lean and he portrayed Batman as slow and methodical when he is supposed to be very agile and light on his feet.

["I'm Batman..."]

The Dark Night Returns would be a cool movie.

[The Ichi]

I've said it before, but I actually think that George Clooney was a PERFECT choice for Batman, and under a more competant director, it would have showed.

[Perpetual Nirvana]

Jun 7, 2012 13:28:03 GMT -5 erisi236 said:

If people thought duck boats and penguin rockets were cool then I don't see anything that was so objectionable in Forever.

Forevers greatest crime is not having Billy Dee Williams as Two-Face.

Batman Returns didn't have a scene where Penquin shows Max Shreck how to punch a guy while the guy just stands there and does nothing.

That about sums it up.

[Bub (BLM)]

Jun 7, 2012 13:19:50 GMT -5 Citizen Grimm said:

Huh, I wonder how Keaton would've done in Christian Bale's role in the Nolan's Batman trilogy.

I know he would look too old to be Bruce Wayne but I'm really curious to see how he would've played it.

He wouldn't have done that stupid growly voice, that's for sure. Nolan and Bale seemed completely lost on the standard part of Batman lore where his Batman voice is his REAL voice, and he puts on a higher-pitched voice as Bruce Wayne when in public.