The kids of the 1990s will forever cherish Batman: The Animated Series as the
best and most definitive portrayal of Batman and the Gotham City Rogues. The
series redefined the whole concept that people had about comic books and
also provided an absolute revamp and iconic stature to the villians. Although
most shows before that aimed at staying comic book true, but, the 1999 series
Batman Beyond which was linked only to The Animated Series. This is why we
feel that if they ever decide to make a Batman Beyond film then it must
feature Michael Keaton who is the ideal guy to play Bruce Wayne on the big
screen.
Keaton has already played a younger Bruce Wayne
The biggest advantage that Keaton has in playing old Bruce Wayne is the fact
that he has already played a younger Bruce Wayne in two movies made by Tim
Burton in 1989 and 1992 and that’s just about the Batman that we grew up
with. Similar to Conroy, Keaton also happens to be the best depiction of the
Dark Knight, in fact, he is more impressive than Christian Bale also the fact is
that Bale is way too young to play old Bruce Wayne. Thereofre, the relevance
with an older Batman will obviously be found in Keaton because we have seen
his movies many times over the last two decades. Assuming if we go for a
senior actor, neither Val Kilmer nor George Clooney would fit as smugly as
Keaton does. Isn’t it? Alejandro González cast Michael Keaton in his Oscar
winning film Birdman, for this reason only, unmindful of the other roles played
by Keaton over the years, people still remember him only as The Batman. If a
movie starring an aged Bruce Wayne mentoring someone in the Batman garb
then it has to feature the actor who played Bruce Wayne decades back. That
would establish a clear connection with the Batman character and his timeline.
Spider-Man: Homecoming, He played the main villain
In last year’s runaway hit Spider-Man: Homecoming, Keaton played the main
villain with great finesse and his performance was highly appreciated and that
is a clear proof of Keaton belonging to the comic book based movies. He has
already played a younger Batman, therefore, it would be a challenge for him
creatively to play an aged version of the same character. In that show he
comes across as a short-tempered, grumpy, hut and lonely person who is
trying to widen the distance between himself and his former Batman self and
legends. He was shown to be aging, weakening and once it was shown that
right in the center of a high action rescue mission, he suffered a heart attack
which compelled him to point a gun towards the bad guy to protect his own
life. He continues being the wealthy guy, but, physically weakened and aloof
with just a dog for company. That’s when he is unwillingly dragged into the
world due to a grumpy mentor-mentee relationship with a teenager whose
father was killed. The role was full of extreme emotions and challenges that a guy like Keaton would relish.
Another reason why we want to see Keaton play
Not just that, there is another reason why we want to see Keaton play. Back in
1989 when he was selected to play Batman, all laughed at the choice and
found it to be weird. They made fun of the fact that a comedian was picked up
to play a role as dark as Batman. People even said that it would become
another repeat of the Adam West performance. However, Keaton made them
eat their words when he absolutely nailed the portrayal of a stylish and
confident Bruce Wayne who didn’t like being pushed into the corner. Keaton
proved that he was a great leading star material, who suffered setbacks in the
2000s, but, still came back mightily courtesy Birdman and Spotlight. That’s why
rather than casting some old timer to play the legendary character, the best
option would be to go for the guy who made Batman such a big cinematic
phenomenon. At least it would have a lot of credibility. Just like how Conroy
added legitimacy to the TV series, Michael Keaton would validate the movie
version of the same series.
Finding a voice for batman
After Batman: The Animated Series and its follower The New Batman
Adventures was over and Batman Beyond was announced, viewers were
unsure about the concept of a Batman show based in distant future.
However, ocne the first episode was aired, the truth was out there. It
was certainly going to be great because it had a good link to the highly
acclaimed The Animated Series Universe and narrative. Who told this to
us? The clarification was provided by Kevin Conroy getting cast as the
aged Bruce Wayne who would also play a grumpy Alfred and also the
Oracle. Conroy was widely regarded as the true Batman voice. After he
got cast as Batman, the character took a real and acceptable shape.
There was no doubt that the casting of the actor to play Terry in the
Batman Beyond movie would lead to some debate, but, according to us,
there is only one apt choice to play the aged Bruce Wayne. Michael
Keaton is 66 and despite the cartoon series’ Wayne being close to 90,
Keaton has got a lot working for him regarding this role.
