Recommendations of the Editorial team
Everyone can decide for themselves whether Val Kilmer was the best Batman. He was certainly not the most famous. Most fans and critics love the passive-aggressive Christian Bale (2005-2012, for director Christopher Nolan) and the counter-and line line-up Michael Keatons in the Tim-Burton strips (1989-1992). Adam West from the Sixziger TV series was the clown. George Clooney the clown with the nipples. Robert Pattinson from “The Batman”, the latest film, was the emo boy.
Val Kilmer did not quite fit into this list. He was a little too pretty, and Joel Schumacher’s “Batman Forever” a little too bright.
Kilmer never really felt connected to his role as Bruce Wayne / Batman. The “Batman Forever” cinema year 1995 was important for him, because he was also seen in Michael Mann’s action thriller “Heat”, alongside Al Pacino and Robert de Niro. But after 1995, the then 33-year-old would no longer get bigger roles. He had his last cinema appearance at the age of 62, alongside Tom Cruise in the “Top Gun” continuation “Maverick” from 2022.
Drawn by larynx cancer, Iceman (Val Kilmer) speaks with his old rival Maverick (Tom Cruise) about the new generation of Airforce pilots, and how to pass on his heir.
Around five weeks before his death from pneumonia, Val Kilmer, who was also a recognized painter, had published a small parody of his most famous role on Instagram.
Val Kilmer on Instagram:
In the video, Kilmer, which was ill with larynx cancer, also speaks. “I’m ready,” he says, with the usual fragile voice. And a caped crusader rubber mask is about that looks like an expressionist Batman alb dream. “It’s a while ago!” He says. 30 years, yes. So Val Kilmer played the Batman here one last time. So he could laugh over his old hero.
The image on Instagram then shows the abstract Batman. And there is also a Batman video with action characters to be seen, underlaid with Danny Elfman’s “Batman Theme”.