Fans have been debating for years, and will continue to debate for decades to come, which actor is the greatest incarnation of Batman. As one of the most iconic figures in popular culture that’s been reinvented and updated so many times, any new individual that straps on the cape and cowl instantly possesses the ability and potential to put themselves into the conversation.
It seems impossible to imagine now, but there were folks that widely celebrated the idea of George Clooney suiting up as the Dark Knight as an inspired choice when it was first announced, and in a couple of years from now, some people might be left looking very foolish for criticizing the casting of Robert Pattinson based entirely on his association with the Twilight franchise.
Naming the best Batman ever is never going to generate a unanimous response, but a new poll has nonetheless crowned Christian Bale as the greatest Caped Crusader to grace our screens. The star of the Dark Knight Trilogy took the top spot with a massive 42% of the vote, miles ahead of his closest competitor Adam West, who surprisingly came in second with 14%, just one percent ahead of Michael Keaton.
The rest of the rankings were rounded out by Ben Affleck, voice-only duo Kevin Conroy and Will Arnett, and Val Kilmer and Clooney taking the bottom two spots as Joel Schumacher’s two Batman movies still find themselves widely dismissed as the worst the franchise has had to offer.
Affleck’s appearance in The Flash will see him become the first person to play the World’s Greatest Detective four times in live-action and could lead to more outings in the future, while The Batman‘s first trailer looked to promise something special. As such, if this poll gets taken again in a few years’ time, the rankings may end up turning out entirely different with Affleck, Keaton and Pattinson all bringing something special to the table.