Batman has been on screen since 1943, and nearly every actor who has worn the cowl faced a skeptical crowd first. Some turned doubters into diehard fans. One is still joking about his costume decades later. Here's how each Dark Knight left his mark on Gotham.

Lewis Wilson (1943)

Wilson was in his early 20s when he became the first actor to play Batman, in a 15-chapter serial made during World War II. His Batman was a government agent chasing a Japanese spy, and the serial's wartime propaganda hasn't aged well. It did give fans the Batcave, plus a slimmer, mustached Alfred the comics quickly copied.

Photography: Columbia Pictures

Robert Lowery (1949)

Lowery took over for Batman and Robin, a 1949 serial with Johnny Duncan as the Boy Wonder. The budget was so thin that Batman drove a regular Mercury convertible instead of a Batmobile. Critics mocked the baggy costumes and sloppy continuity, but the serial still ran all 15 chapters.

Photography: Columbia Pictures

Adam West (1966 - 1968)

West's Batman ran for 120 episodes plus a 1966 movie, and it's still the brightest, silliest take on the character. Cartoon sound effects like Pow! flashed across every fight while the Joker and the Penguin hammed it up. West played it completely straight, which is exactly why it worked. The role followed him for life, all the way to voicing a mayor named Adam West on Family Guy.

Photography: 20th Century Fox Television

Michael Keaton (1989 – 1992, 2023)

When Keaton, then known for comedies like Beetlejuice, landed the lead in Tim Burton's Batman, Warner Bros. reportedly received tens of thousands of angry letters from fans. He proved them wrong. The 1989 film was a smash, and his brooding Batman returned in 1992's Batman Returns. Keaton suited up again 31 years later in The Flash.

Photography: Warner Bros.

Val Kilmer (1995)

Kilmer had the tough job of following Keaton in Batman Forever. Director Joel Schumacher swapped Burton's gloom for neon, pitting Kilmer against Jim Carrey's Riddler and Tommy Lee Jones' Two-Face. The movie outearned Batman Returns, but Kilmer's quiet, serious Batman often got lost in the chaos. He left after one film. Kilmer died in 2025.

Photography: Warner Bros. Pictures

George Clooney (1997)

Clooney faced off with Arnold Schwarzenegger's Mr. Freeze in Batman and Robin, with Alicia Silverstone joining as Batgirl. Endless ice puns and the infamous nipples on the Batsuit made it a critical disaster, and Clooney has cracked jokes about how bad it was ever since. He got a small shot at redemption with a surprise cameo as Bruce Wayne in 2023's The Flash.

Photography: Warner Bros. Pictures

Christian Bale (2005 - 2012)

Bale led Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, which dragged Batman into something close to the real world. His gravelly Batman growl became an instant punchline, but he nailed the split between the tortured hero and Bruce Wayne's shallow playboy act. The Dark Knight crossed $1 billion worldwide, and Heath Ledger won a posthumous Oscar for his Joker.

Photography: Warner Bros. Pictures

Kevin Conroy (1992 - 2019)

For a generation of fans, Conroy's voice simply is Batman. He started with Batman: The Animated Series in 1992 and kept going for three decades, voicing the character in dozens of movies, cartoons and the Arkham video games. In 2019, he finally played Bruce Wayne on camera in the Arrowverse. Conroy died in November 2022.

Photography: Warner Bros. Animation

Ben Affleck (2016 - 2023)

Affleck's casting sparked a fan petition, but he debuted as a bulky, battle-worn Batman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. The movie drew rough reviews, though plenty of critics singled out his performance. He returned for four more DC films. Affleck also planned to write, direct and star in a solo movie called The Batman before stepping away from the project.

Photography: Warner Bros. Pictures

Robert Pattinson (2022 - Present)

Pattinson plays Batman in just his second year on the job in Matt Reeves' The Batman. This version is more detective than billionaire, a reclusive Bruce Wayne chasing Paul Dano's Riddler through a rain-soaked Gotham, and he makes plenty of mistakes along the way. The gritty take won over fans who still pictured him in Twilight. Reeves' sequel, The Batman Part II, is in the works.

Photography: Warner Bros. Pictures