Robert Pattinson’s outing as the Caped Crusader in Matt Reeves’ The Batman has already been met with critical acclaim, with so many seeing him as giving one of the best Batman performances to date. He has some stiff competition, though, and another completely beloved version of the character is Michael Keatons, with both versions having some similarities but also stark differences.
It ultimately comes down to personal preferences about what Bat-fans want from their Batman, and while both give a quieter, darker Batman performance, they are wholly unique with so many different elements for fans to observe and dissect.
The Batsuit
Before the release of any Batman movie, fans always get excited about how the iconic Batsuit will be brought to the big screen this time around. Both Burton and Reeves’ movies offer unique approaches to the suit.
Pattinson dons perhaps the most grounded Batsuit to date and, ultimately, one of the very best, fitting the overall vibe of the film and the character for this movie perfectly with its tactical approach and the freedom of movement it allows. Keaton’s two Bat-suits with the yellow Bat symbol and black rubber are iconic even with the dated cowl. Keaton’s suits are far stiffer than Pattinsons, with vastly different symbols and overall approaches.
The Batmobile
Another aspect of Batman that fans wait in anticipation of before every release is the Batmobile. Those driven by Keaton’s and Pattinson’s Batman could not be more different.
Keaton’s is stylized and classic, with a look that every fan will forever remember. It fits Burton’s movies well with its look and its gadgets. Pattinson’s maybe the most unique in its groundedness to date. It is a part-stunt car, a part-muscle car, and is incredibly badass. This is another aspect of the characters that will ultimately come down to personal preference as both fit their films so well and are two of the best Batmobiles ever.
The Backstory
The Batman origin story has been told on-screen a plethora of times, including in Batman (1989). Everybody knows it, and it is perhaps the most iconic superhero origin story alongside Spider-Man.
Batman rightfully elects not to tell fans this story again, whereas back in 1989, it arguably needed to be told. That is not the only difference, though. Keaton’s Batman’s parents were killed by Jack Napier (the Joker), whereas it is unknown who killed Pattinsons. It seems near-impossible that the Joker did so in Reeves’ universe. On top of these differences, Keaton’s Batman seems to have long come to terms with the deaths of his parents, not forgetting it, but simply getting on with life in its wake, whereas Pattinson’s character is nearly enough consumed by those events.
The Relationship With Alfred
In The Batman, there is a lot of tension between Alfred and Bruce, with Batyman being in his infancy, the two cannot see eye to eye on the best way to do things, and Bruce is a bit nasty to Alfred at points too.
The relationship between Keaton’s Batman and Michael Goff’s Alfred is more classic, the loyal butler and carer to Bruce, there is not a lot of tension there. This dynamic between Serkis and Pattinson is hopefully explored in newer movies as they set their relationship further apart from past iterations.
The Relationship With Gordon
In The Batman, Gordon and Batman are a duo, trying to take down the Riddler together, and even in the short time that Batman has been around in this universe, they have a close-knit dynamic that is fun to watch.
Keaton’s Batman has a scarcely touched-on relationship with Pat Hingle’s Gordon. They are friendly, but they are not much of a team. They help each other but are not out there on the case together, there is not a lot of tension or depth there like there is between Jeffrey Wright and Pattinson, and they interact rarely in the films which put the Burton/Schumacher Gordon low in the Jim Gordon rankings.
The No-Kill Rule & Overall Aggression
Batman is famous for his no-kill rule, his way of stopping himself from going over the edge, from becoming one of the things he vows to stop. Not every movie obeys this, though, and Michael Keaton’s Batman never followed it.
Robert Pattinson’s Batman did, though. Despite being incredibly violent and bone-breakingly aggressive, perhaps overly so, he always managed to scrape himself back from crossing that line. He does not pull any punches and causes severe damage to people throughout the staggeringly dark film but manages to keep his victims alive, something Keaton’s Batman never spent much time focusing on.
The Experience
It is well established that Pattinson’s Batman is in his second year of perusing the streets of Gotham as the masked vigilante. He is young and has so much to learn about his role as the silent protector of Gotham.
This is where he differs from every live-action Batman except for Christian Bale in Batman Begins. Keaton is already vastly experienced as the Dark Knight in his two films, and Affleck is also an older, unique live-action version of the character. It will be interesting how far in time the next Pattinson Batman film will move.
The Bruce Wayne Factor
How Pattinson’s Batman differs most notably from every other Batman is the lack of Bruce Wayne, or rather the lack of separation between the personas of Batman and Bruce, which every other Batman film has distinctly separated.
Keaton had a whole separate life as Keaton, which, itself, was unique from Bale’s three personalities, but it was still a distinct Bruce Wayne, a billionaire with a social life with a reputation. Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne is akin to an emo recluse, stuck in his dark, gritty Batcave thinking about the streets of Gotham. He does not attend social events and struggles to realize that he needs to have a separate mask from Bruce Wayne as well as his cowl as the Caped Crusader.
The Showcasing Of Detective Skills
One of the best aspects of The Batman is how the titular character is truly a detective, at crime scenes, picking apart the riddles and putting together the various puzzle pieces to take the Riddler down.
Bale’s Batman did have some detective elements, but not like Pattinsons, while Keaton’s had very, very little. This is not necessarily a criticism, Keaton’s Batman is awesome and iconic, but no other Batman lives up to the detective reputation that Batman has in the comics.
The Anger & Angst
Keaton’s Batman was no happy-go-lucky guy, he was shown to have emotional depth and real internal turmoil. Pattinson’s angst and anger, though, was a level of Nirvana-esque grunge never shown before in live-action Batman films.
The young Batman seems incapable of getting out of that state of angst, whereas Keaton was firmly in control of his emotions for most of the time. Keaton did have outbursts, he did feel deep, burning anger. But from the sunglasses indoors due to the uneasiness of sunlight to the black eyeshadow to the obsessing over being Batman and forgetting about Bruce Wayne, that emo-kid angst from Pattinson differs greatly from the legendary Keaton Batman.
