Who is the definitive onscreen Batman? Michael Keaton? Christian Bale? Kevin Conroy?
A strong case could be made for any one of them. For some fans, though, no one will ever be able to take the place of Adam West, the star of the campy 1960s Batman TV series,
West was not the first actor to play Batman and his billionaire alter ego Bruce Wayne. By the time he donned the cowl in 1966, six other actors had already played the Caped Crusader, beginning with Lewis Wilson in 1943s The Batman. However, West managed to leave an indelible mark on the character, becoming the Batman for generations of TV audiences.
Now, to commemorate the shows 50th anniversary, West, along with his co-star, Burt Ward (aka Robin), will reprise their career-defining roles, voicing the characters in a new animated movie.
The news comes from West and Ward themselves, who spilled the beans last weekend during a Q&A session at the Mad Monster Party in Charlotte, North Carolina. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Ward told fans they "can look forward to a new animated Batman full-length, 90-minute feature, coming out on the 50th anniversary." Assuming he doesnt just mean the anniversary year, that would put its release date on Jan. 12, 2016.
The Batman TV series has seen something of a resurgence recently following the settlement of a longstanding legal feud between Warner Bros. (which owns Batman publisher DC) and 20th Century Fox concerning rights to the TV show.
Since then, Warner Bros. has released the entire series on Blu-ray and begun to publish a monthly comic titled Batman 66 that maintains the same over-the-top, colorful tone of the West version.
Given DCs history of basing animated movies on specific comic books (i.e. Batman: Year One, The Dark Knight Returns), its possible that this new feature-length film could be based on one of the stories from the Batman 66 comic.
Speculation aside, one things for certain, though: Ben Affleck is going to have his work cut out for him in Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice if he wants to be 2016s best movie Batman.
A strong case could be made for any one of them. For some fans, though, no one will ever be able to take the place of Adam West, the star of the campy 1960s Batman TV series,
West was not the first actor to play Batman and his billionaire alter ego Bruce Wayne. By the time he donned the cowl in 1966, six other actors had already played the Caped Crusader, beginning with Lewis Wilson in 1943s The Batman. However, West managed to leave an indelible mark on the character, becoming the Batman for generations of TV audiences.
Now, to commemorate the shows 50th anniversary, West, along with his co-star, Burt Ward (aka Robin), will reprise their career-defining roles, voicing the characters in a new animated movie.
The news comes from West and Ward themselves, who spilled the beans last weekend during a Q&A session at the Mad Monster Party in Charlotte, North Carolina. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Ward told fans they "can look forward to a new animated Batman full-length, 90-minute feature, coming out on the 50th anniversary." Assuming he doesnt just mean the anniversary year, that would put its release date on Jan. 12, 2016.
The Batman TV series has seen something of a resurgence recently following the settlement of a longstanding legal feud between Warner Bros. (which owns Batman publisher DC) and 20th Century Fox concerning rights to the TV show.
Since then, Warner Bros. has released the entire series on Blu-ray and begun to publish a monthly comic titled Batman 66 that maintains the same over-the-top, colorful tone of the West version.
Given DCs history of basing animated movies on specific comic books (i.e. Batman: Year One, The Dark Knight Returns), its possible that this new feature-length film could be based on one of the stories from the Batman 66 comic.
Speculation aside, one things for certain, though: Ben Affleck is going to have his work cut out for him in Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice if he wants to be 2016s best movie Batman.
