Which Batman movies exist in YOUR mind?

[xiphias]

So, I was just talking to my cousin Mike, who stated that Batman Begins is the first Batman movie made.

I disagreed, and pointed to Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, and Mike conceded the point, changing his claim to "Batman Begins is the first live-action Batman movie.

But I was wondering: in your own personal brain, which of the following do YOU acknowledge the existence of?

The Batman: 1943 with Lewis Wilson and Douglas Croft, a 15-episode Columbia serial.

Batman: 1966 with Adam West and Burt Ward ("Some days, you just can't get rid of a bomb.")

Batman Fights Dracula: 1967 starring and directed by a bunch of people you've never heard of, somewhere in the Philippines

Batman: 1989 with Michael Keaton, directed by Tim Burton

Batman Returns: 1992 with Michael Keaton, directed by Tim Burton

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm: 1993, animated, with Kevin Conroy as Batman, directed by Bruce Timm, written by Paul Dini.

Batman Forever: 1995, Val Kilmer, directed by Joel Schumacher

Batman & Robin: 1997, George Clooney, directed by Joel Schumacher

Batman: Dead End: 2003, Clark Bartram as Batman, written and directed by Sandy Collora -- an eight-minute independent film someone put together

Batman Begins: 2005, Christian Bale, directed by Christopher Nolan

Note I'm leaving out a number of direct-to-video movies, 'cause this is about Batman shown in movie theaters.

Comments

[juliansinger.livejournal.com]

Well, I admit that they all exist.

But the serial is not in my mental landscape, nor is the Dracula one.

I /wish/ Batman and Robin wasn't in my mental landscape, but alas, it is.

(And the indie is not known to me.)

[anhelometuo.livejournal.com]

Batman Fights Dracula

Bwuhahahaha, I *have* to see that. XD

[teddywolf.livejournal.com]

I have seen some bits of the 1943 serial, and it's not bad.

Aside from that, which I don;t consider a movie because it's a serial, Batman and Batman Returns are the only two live action Batman movies. I might be willing to concede Batman Begins once I see it. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm was quite good. I am noticing a distinct lack of the Batman Beyond movie, however.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Wasn't released to theaters, I didn't think. If I'm wrong, I'm more than happy to put "Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker" in.

[mattblum.livejournal.com]

I suspect he was referring to Batman Beyond: The Movie, but as the linked IMDb page shows, it was indeed never released in theatres.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

Holy sequels, Batman! Of COURSE it's the 1966 film! First and best!

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

If I still had a paid account, I'd be doing polls like:

Joker: Caesar Romero, Jack Nichalson, or Mark Hamil?

Penguin: Danny DiVito, David Ogden Styers, or Burgess Merideth?

And so forth.

[king-tirian.livejournal.com]

I don't think the canon has figured out who the Penguin is yet. It actually might turn out that it was Danny Divito came closest, as painful as that movie was.

I saw the first few seasons of the animated series, and it was stupendous how well they covered canon. Mark Hamill is totally the Joker, except that I guess Jack is the only one that actually was a homicidal maniac. Julie Newmar is Catwoman, and anyone who says differently is itching for a fight. I haven't seen it yet, but I have reason to hope that Bale is Batman.

And Carrie Kelly is Robin. I'm just saying.

[voltbang.livejournal.com]

Keaton and Bale both did batman justice. Bale was better, but Keaton did a fair job. There's plenty of other actors I would like to see in the black suit, shame that no one else has tried. I would particularly like to see Val Kilmer give it a go, but that's just because I love his performance in "Doc Holiday".

[mattblum.livejournal.com]

Um, Val Kilmer did give it a go, in Batman Begins, as mentioned in xiphias's list. It was pretty bad.

[mattblum.livejournal.com]

D'oh! I linked to the right movie, but wrote the wrong title! It was Batman Forever, of course.

[voltbang.livejournal.com]

No he didn't. I checked. Never happened. No movie by that name, certainly not with Doc Holiday in it. Maybe you had a nightmare or something? Next you will be telling me they made a sequel to highlander.

[mattblum.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see. Sorry--it's late, and my ability to recognize irony has obviously suffered.

Much as I'd like to, I can't pretend that such movies don't exist. It would, for instance, be hard to acknowledge that Star Trek VI (which wasn't great, but was worth seeing) existed without also acknowledging that Star Trek V existed.

Besides, I have to admit it's a bit fun to gripe about how bad such movies are. I have to have seen the Highlander sequels to talk about how godawful they were, right?

[mattblum.livejournal.com]

The 1966 Adam West movie is terrific camp, and has some great lines, including the one you quoted. I also like "Quick! Get the Bat Shark Repellant!"

The Tim Burton movies were very good, I thought, though I never really cared for the way they portrayed the Penguin in the second one.

I profoundly wish I hadn't seen the Val Kilmer and George Clooney ones, but I did. To be fair to Clooney, it wasn't his fault his movie was so very, very bad, but he certainly wasn't enough to rescue it, either.

I haven't yet seen Batman Begins, but am looking forward to it.

[gingicat]

Is Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker one of the direct-to-video movies you left out?

In any case, Kevin Conroy is my favorite Batman/Bruce Wayne, with Michael Keaton an interesting second choice.

[greenlily.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm a fanfic nerd, so obviously I have no problems with infinite multiple versions of the same universe, all of which are canon for someone.

That being said, I'm apt to go with the 2 Burton movies. I haven't yet seen the new one (yes, even though Christian Bale's in it. Just have not had time.) but I'm prepared to accept that it might be more canonical than the Burtons.

[marquisedea.livejournal.com]

I'm really no expert, but I really was just unimpressed with Batman Begins as a movie. The supporting characters and even Christian Bale himself didn't come off with all that much genuine personality.