Summary
Live-action adaptations of comic-book characters and universes are a common sight these days. Yet, while the likes of Iron Man and Aquaman had to wait many years to be adapted, theBatmanuniverse has been getting adaptations fairly regularly since the ’40s.
Initially, the character had his own serials and TV shows. Then, Batman movies became a regular occurrence. Of course, any tale involving the Caped Crusader tends to include other classic characters from the comics. From Jim Gordan to The Joker, here are the main Batman characters and all the actors who’ve played them in live-action movies and television.
Batman And Robin (1949)
Batman (1966-1968) and Batman (1966)
Michael Gough
Batman (1989), Batman Returns (1992), Batman Forever (1995), and Batman & Robin (1997)
Birds Of Prey (2002-2003)
Michael Caine
Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008), and The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Gotham (2014-2019)
Jeremy Irons
Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn Of Justice (2016), Justice League (2016), Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021), and The Flash (2023)
Andy Serkis
The Batman (2022)
Alfred Pennyworth is vital to the Bruce Wayne character. So, it’s no surprise that he’s been in most of the live-action Batman projects dating back to the ’40s. Back then, he was first played by William Austin, and then Eric Wilton took over the role. Nine other actors followed those two.
Michael Caine from the Dark Knight trilogy was one of the stand-outs as he delivered some exceptional performances in the Christopher Nolan movies. The Gotham and Pennyworth series provided unique takes on the character because they featured younger versions of him, played by Sean Pertwee and Jack Bannon, respectively. The latter didn’t even have a Bruce Wayne to deal with.
Arrow (2014)
Margot Robbie
Suicide Squad (2016), Birds Of Prey (2020), and The Suicide Squad (2021)
Ecco from the Gotham series is a lot like Harley Quinn and is loosely based on her, but she isn’t technically the same character.
She may be one of the most beloved characters in the Batman and DC universe, but Harley Quinn has not made many appearances in the live-action world. In fact,she has appeared much more often in video games. This is because she wasn’t invented until the early 90s, which is fairly recent for a comic book character.
Her first live-action portrayal came in the short-lived Birds of Prey TV series, where Mia Sara played her. Then, 11 years after that series ended, she appeared as a cameo in an episode of Arrow. Cassidy Alexa served as her body, but Tara Strong actually provided her voice. Her main live-action adaptation, though, came in the DCEU, where Margot Robbie played Harley in three movies and helped increase the character’s fame.
Zoe Kravitz
The typically morally ambiguous Catwoman has appeared in live-action more often than most other Batman characters. Three different actresses portrayed her during the ’60s, as the mantle switched around a few times.
In the early ’90s, Michelle Pfeiffer took on the role for the Batman Returns movie in what was a very memorable performance. Halle Berry also gave a memorable performance as a non-Selina Kyle version of Catwoman in 2004. Yet, she and the movie in which she featured are remembered for the wrong reasons. Since then, Anne Hathaway, Camren Bicondova, and Zoe Kravitz have impressed fans with their versions of the thief.
Suicide Squad (2016) and Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021)
Barry Keoghan
Several of the greatest comic-book portrayals ever have come from actors playing The Joker. Cesar Romero was the first to don the clown makeup and create problems for Batman. Nobody attempted to live up to that portrayal until the late ‘80s when Jack Nicholson gave the world an equally compelling Joker.
The most captivating version, however, came from Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight. He played a darker andscarier clownthan his predecessors. This began a new trend of darker Jokers as the several that followed Ledger delivered similarly creepy performances. Most notable was the one from Joaquin Phoenix in the fascinating Joker solo movie.
Burt Ward
Batman (1966-1968), Batman (1966), Legends Of The Superheroes (1979), and Supergirl (2019)
Batman Forever (1995) and Batman & Robin (1997)
Brenton Thwaites
Titans (2018-2023)
There are plenty of Robins in the comic books, but in live-action, it’s usually Dick Grayson you see on screen. He is the original version of the sidekick, after all. He made his live-action debut in the 1943 Batman serial, where he was played by Douglas Croft. Just a few years later, Johhny Duncan portrayed the character in the 1949 Batman and Robin serial.
Then, Burt Ward took over the role and had arguably the best run as the character. Not only did he appear in the Batman TV series and film from the ’60s, but he’s also made some more recent appearances, most notably in Supergirl. In the 90s, Chris O’Donnell portrayed the character with mixed results. Yet, the most recent Dick Grayson was Brenton Thwaites, who played a dark version of the character in the Titans series.
Savannah Welch
Titans (2021)
There is a ‘Barbara Gordon’ in The Dark Knight, but she is Jim Gordon’s wife instead of his daughter. They do have a daughter in the movie, but she isn’t given a name.
The world has seen several different versions of Barbara Gordon in live-action. The first was Yvonne Craig in the ’60s Batman series. She portrayed a traditional version of the character, as she fought crime as Batgirl.
The 1997 Batman and Robin movie was far from traditional. That stretched to Alicia Silverstone’s Barbara, who had the last name Wilson in the movie and wore a unique Batgirl suit. Dina Meyer portrayed the character in the Birds of Prey series, mainly as Oracle. In Gotham, Jete Laurence played a young version of Barbara. Then, Savannah Welch had a stint as Oracle in the Titans series.
Pat Hingle
Gary Oldman
Justice League (2017) and Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021)
Jeffrey Wright
Jim Gordon is a key character in the Batman universe, and, in a live-action sense, he’s been around the caped-crusader since 1949. In that black-and-white series, the character was played by Lyle Talbot. Color TV was around by the next time Gordon appeared in a live-action series, as that occurred in the ’60s series with Neil Hamilton taking on the role.
Interestingly, in the ’90s, the world saw multiple different Batmen, but only one Gordon, as Pat Hingle held the role throughout that time. Gary Oldman took the mantle for Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy and did a great job. After that, Ben McKenzie, J.K. Simmons, and Jeffrey Wright have all played the character in different projects.
Batman (1989), Batman Returns (1992), and The Flash (2023)
Batman Begins (2005) as Young Bruce Wayne
Christian Bale
Brandon Spink
Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn Of Justice (2016) as Young Bruce Wayne
Ben Affleck
Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn Of Justice (2016), Suicide Squad (2016), Justice League (2017), Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021), and The Flash (2023)
David Miller
Gotham Knights (2023)
Some Batman fans may consider Adam West to be the original live-action Batman. Yet, Lewis Wilson actually played the character first in the ‘40s. West took over the mantle in the ‘60s and gave one of the most iconic portrayals of the character. Michael Keaton also did a great job in the Tim Burton Batman films. At the time, he seemed like a dark and serious version of the Caped Crusader.
However, Christian Bale’s Batman, which featured in The Dark Knight trilogy, was even darker. Ben Affleck’s version continued the dark trend, and he was captivating enough in the role that he elevated the heavily criticized Batman Vs. Superman movie. Robert Patterson donned the cowl for Matt Reeves’s The Batman. Many fans initially questioned his casting, but he delivered as the famous hero and helped make the movie one ofBatman’s best live-action efforts.
