It’s hard to discuss Batman, who is known as the Dark Knight, without mentioning the generations of actors who have brought the character to life. However at times, it has seemed like these immensely talented men – Michael Keaton, Christian Bale, and Ben Affleck for example – all tend to get far more credit than their co-star Val Kilmer.

Kilmer’s performance as Batman came as quite a relief to the franchise seeing as how he had some pretty big shoes to fill in following Adam West and Michael Keaton. However, his portrayal was just not received with nearly the same level of enthusiasm for those who had been following the series so far. His acting abilities were undeniable; however, it seems that fans could never fully accept him in the role.

With that being said, these are the 5 reasons Val Kilmer was an awesome Batman –

He Brought A New Bat-Dad

Val Kilmer in Batman Forever
Val Kilmer in Batman Forever

Sometimes people think Batman and Bruce Wayne have nothing more to do with each other, but they’re both an essential part of each other’s makeup. Robin is a great example of that because; throughout the times he has been in the continuity. He has shown a major contribution to the groundbreaking status and the character development of all three men involved: Batman, Robin, and Batman himself. And for that reason, we can say there is no adequate substitution for either one of them without mentioning the roles played by each individual one and how they complement that person as well as help each other grow from it as long as you say it nicely.

He Played The Best Emo Batman

Val Kilmer in Batman Forever
Val Kilmer in Batman Forever

Having the right equipment is extremely important when going out on a crime-fighting adventure. Fact is, his parents both died and while he may have conquered a lot of things in his years upon years of working towards justice — this particular tragedy has been something that sticks with him every single day. Because of that fact alone, Bruce Wayne can be downright morose sometimes. And let’s face it; what is brooding if not being sad and emo all the time? So yeah – brooding definitely comes easier for Donny Kilmer than for any other actor who has played the character before.

Kilmer Was Bob’s Favorite

Val Kilmer in Batman Forever
Val Kilmer in Batman Forever

When asked to choose the actor who portrayed Batman the best, comic book legend Bob Kane’s answer surprised everyone. Instead of picking between actors like Michael Keaton, Adam West, Kane actually picked up the name of Kilmer. During an interview following the release of Val Kilmer’s film, Kane spoke about how much he admired how tastefulness that he had brought to the character.

He Portrayed The Perfect Chemistry With Nicole

Val Kilmer in Batman Forever
Val Kilmer in Batman Forever

Even superheroes fall in love, and Batman Forever was one of the few big-screen adventures that showed that. When Bruce Wayne fell in love with Dr. Chase Meridian, their relationship provided some much-needed insight into Batman’s personal life and ended up becoming one of the standout aspects of the film. While it certainly did help that both had a perspective on the subject (they were both unable to choose between Bruce and his alter ego), it was also helped along by good chemistry between Nick Kirmner and Nicole Kidman.

Kilmer Performed Most Of His Action Scenes

Val Kilmer in Batman Forever
Val Kilmer in Batman Forever

In modern-day Batman movies, one can never fail to mention the impressive fight scenes. However, it wasn’t always this way. The early Batman films did not have those modern-day fight scenes in them and so there was a lot of room for improvement with later Batman movies. In fact, Costume Designer Bob Ringwood said that Val Kilmer trained really hard and pushed his body to its limits by fighting while also wearing a padded suit that weighed roughly 20 kgs worth of weight! He pushed himself as far as he would go to get the two guns shooting out at each other at the end of the film and he ensured that he used real bullets so that both himself and Jim would stop any one of the bad guys should anything happen.

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