Ben Affleck Is the Best Live-action Batman
When someone asks me who I think the best Batman is, the answer is always, always, always Kevin Conroy. He has voiced the character for more than 25 years in basically everything but live action films, and has become the Batman of a generation. Check that. He is the Batman of all generations. He’s so good that nobody else even comes close. That being said, his opinion on other actors who have taken on the Mantle of the Bat carries a lot of weight in my mind.
Last weekend, the guys from CBR had a chance to chat with Kevin Conroy at San Diego Comic Con as he was promoting his new animated film, Batman and Harley Quinn. They asked him if he keeps up with the “other Batmen.” He responded,
“Yeah, I see them… You know, I thought it was weird when Warner Bros. didn’t give the franchise to one actor when the first started doing the films. You just assumed they were going to cast a Batman and he was going to carry the whole franchise. But then when I saw the different ones — Michael Keaton and Val Kilmer, [George Clooney], and Christian Bale — all the different takes, this was really smart, because each actor does it so differently. And I love seeing all the different takes. I think some of them get Bruce Wayne more than they get Batman, and some of them get Batman more than they get Bruce Wayne. I think Ben Affleck has probably gotten the best balance of the two. He’s a really good Bruce Wayne and a really good Batman.”
So apparently, Kevin Conroy, the definitive Batman, thinks that Ben Affleck is the best Batman and the best Bruce Wayne. Of course nobody would expect him to say that he was the best of the bunch, but I have to admit that I’m not terribly surprised by this. I thought that Affleck brought a lot to the role and did a really good job with it. While I’m not a fan of some of the sadistic, murderous aspects of his portrayal, overall he did a fairly good job.
What are your thoughts? Do you like Ben Affleck as Batman? Aside from Kevin Conroy, is there a better Batman out there?
