Christian Bale's Batman vs. Micheal Keaton's Batman.

Who was the better Batman?

Bale by MILES.

Bale was a better Bruce Wayne while Keaton was a better Batman.

I honestly don't know who was overall better.

Bale by light years.

Absolutely

If you believe that you are no true Batman fan. He was good as Bruce Wayne, and he could have been a good batman. As far as the corny voice and repetitive fighting style you have Christopher Nolan to blame. Also I see you have 31 post, welcome to Comic-Vine.

Nah, Keaton by far, IMO.

Better gadgets. Gorgeous Batmobile. Better at fighting. Had the stalker quality of Batman.

Though I'm not saying that Bale was bad by any means, less his voice, I don't think he was as good a Batman as Mike Keaton

In my opinion, anyone who thinks Burton did Batman better than Nolan does not read Batman comics.

Micheal Keaton was all wrong for Batman. He was bland, uninteresting, and looked bored the whole time. Not to mention he did not have the right physique to pull off Batman/Bruce Wayne.

Bale embodied the rage and beast of the Dark Knight which drives Bruce Wayne.

Far better than Keaton's stiff, Clint Eastwood wannabee.

Bale was a better Bruce and Batman

@thedarkknight9283: that throat cancer voice of his still annoys me -.-

I feel like this thread comes up every other week...

mk

Bale.

Bale

Ben Afflelck.

Personally I really don't understand why people are so enamoured with Bale, he made for a pretty dull Bruce/Batman as far as I'm concerned, he was ok and everything, but as Bruce he always seemed bored, and as Batman he wasn't intimidating.

The guy who played Harvey Dent had a lot more personality (though his transition to Two-Face could've been better), I thought he came across as pretty likeable in his scenes, Joker was also very memorably done. Bale just left me cold.

I'm hoping Affleck does a good job, hopefully we'll have an amiable BTAS Bruce Wayne to go along with the intense Bruce Wayne of Burton, the bored Bale Batman and the campy (and awesome) Adam West Batman.

I liked Michael Keaton better. He could smile in the ridiculous giant rubber bat suit and still look intimidating. Christian Bale's voice while being Batman is so silly.

Bale was a better Bruce.

Keaton was a better Batman. He could fight AND was really smart.

Keaton, Bale's stupid out of breath smoker's voice always took me out of the movie.

Ugh not this again lol

Ill say it one last time I guess and this way I can be done with this forever:

I like both, but as a Batman fan Bale's interpretation is a far more complex and multidimensional character, so I prefer that to a more shallow version. Not necessarily Keaton's fault, but his Batman was always secondary to the "character" of Gotham in Burton's movies. And for these reasons Bale's Batman and Bruce are much more fleshed out and consequently, if I absolutely HAD to choose, it'd be Bale.

There. Now I can wash my hands of this whole thing.

LOL

Bale easily. Was more muscular, bigger, actually looked intimidating, had a cool voice (thought it did get ridiculous at one point in TDK), had better gadgets, better suit, better batmobile, better batcave, better movies, better stealth skills, smarter, and better fighting skills.

Definitely Bale, the voice got annoying but besides that it really wasn't even close.

Bale by galaxies. Keaton was a spazzy, A.D.D ridden Batman who just sat in the dark and brooded all night til crime happened. And does he even own a company??

Keaton.

I thought Keaton was a better Batman. Christian Bale's Batman voice sounded almost comical. Bale's Batman has Keaton's beat in almost every other aspect but every time Bale talks as Batman he sounds like he's trying way too hard.

As far as their portrayal of Bruce Wayne goes that's more difficult for me. Keaton had less to work with and yet was much more convincing as the psychologically scarred orphan. Keaton can convey a lot more with just expression or body language as opposed to Bale who is more dependent on the dialogue alone. Examples of this from Keaton would be the scene in the Batcave when he's remembering his parents murder while watching the Joker broadcast, and when he confronts the Joker in Vicky Vale's apartment.

I also felt, that while Bale's Bruce Wayne was more closer to the comics as the bored playboy millionaire by day, it was too boring and looked incredibly phony. It reminded me of Tyrone Power's Diego Vega when he's trying to act like a dandy, although that was actually entertaining. Batman:TAS had a good grasp on the Bruce Wayne persona in public but that was a cartoon.

Bale's Batman was awful. His Bruce Wayne was decent. Both actors are victims of their directors though.

I suspect Affleck will blow both out of the water though. We will see.