In honor of The Dark Knight‘s 10th Anniversary today, ComingSoon.net is celebrating every motion picture iteration of Batman… well, at least their chins. That’s right, we’re counting down who cut the best jawline of all the movie Batman stars from the 1943 black & white serial all the way through Batfleck. Check out our list of All 10 Movie Batman Stars Ranked By Chin in the gallery below, and be sure to debate every single one of our rankings in the comments!
Ten years ago today, Christopher Nolan’s groundbreaking blockbuster The Dark Knight was released. Commemorating the 10-year anniversary, Warner Bros. Pictures is bringing the film to four select IMAX locations for an exclusive, one-week engagement, beginning August 24, 2018.
With The Dark Knight, Nolan broke new ground—shooting select sequences of the movie with IMAX film cameras—making The Dark Knight the first major feature film to utilize IMAX 70mm film and take advantage of the format’s massive scale and increased resolution. The movie was hailed by both critics and audiences and went on to be the top-grossing release of 2008.
The exclusive limited engagement will offer the public an extremely rare opportunity to see The Dark Knight on the biggest screens possible, as it was intended to be seen—in IMAX 70mm film—offering a uniquely immersive cinematic experience. Tickets for the opening day go on sale this Friday, July 20, with showtimes only announced for August 24. The theatres will list additional showtimes for subsequent dates closer to release.
The Dark Knight will be playing for one screening a day at the following theatres:
AMC Universal Citywalk IMAX, Universal City
AMC Lincoln Square IMAX, New York City
AMC Metreon IMAX, San Francisco
Ontario Place Cinesphere IMAX, Toronto
The Dark Knight stars Christian Bale in the title role and Heath Ledger, who won an Oscar for his performance as The Joker. The ensemble cast also includes Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Morgan Freeman.
Nolan directed The Dark Knight from a screenplay written by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan, story by Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer. Emma Thomas, Charles Roven and Christopher Nolan produced the film. Benjamin Melniker, Michael E. Uslan, Kevin De La Noy and Thomas Tull served as executive producers.
All 10 Movie Batman Stars Ranked By Chin
-
#10. Will Arnett
While Will Arnett's voice portrayal of the caped Crusader is hilarious ("Darkness! No parents!") the animated design of him is severely lacking in the chin area.
-
#10. Will Arnett
Even though he is completely without a chin, with only a small little line to indicate a dimple, the character still earns plenty of laughs in both The LEGO Movie and The LEGO Batman Movie.
-
#9. Robert Lowery
The second man to ever play The Dark Knight onscreen was Robert Lowery, who took over for Lewis Wilson in 1949's The New Adventures of Batman and Robin, the second of Columbia's two 15-chapter serials based on the comic book character.
-
#9. Robert Lowery
As with the original serial, the production suffered from low production value and bad costumes, but it didn't help that Lowery has the jawline of a bored grocery store clerk.
-
#8. Christian Bale
Christopher Nolan's revisionist take on Batman in Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises helped modernize the character, making him both relatable and more grounded than he had ever been before.
-
#8. Christian Bale
However, Christian Bale's intense portrayal of Bruce Wayne/Batman doesn't deliver in the chin department. In fact, we dare say his pointy Welsh chin may be among the weakest of all the live-action portrayals. You're still one of the best Batmen ever, Christian!
-
#7. Val Kilmer
When Joel Schumacher took over the franchise from Tim Burton for 1995's Batman Forever, he cast Val Kilmer hot off of the western hit Tombstone.
-
#7. Val Kilmer
While the film was a smash hit, Kilmer became a one-hit wonder and was cast aside for the likes of George Clooney on the sequel. While he made a decent Bruce Wayne, Kilmer's Batman persona was a bit awkward and forgettable, and that soft chin of his didn't help things.
-
#6. Lewis Wilson
Making his film debut at age 23, Lewis Wilson was the first actor to ever portray the Caped Crusader on the big screen in 1943's The Batman, a 15-chapter serial released by Columbia Pictures.
-
#6. Lewis Wilson
Although the ill-fitting costume was awful, Wilson's jawline had a lot of brute power as he fought alongside Robin against a Japanese agent operating in Gotham City during World War II.
-
#5. Michael Keaton
The casting of Michael Keaton in 1989's Batman was roundly criticized by fans... until they saw him completely reinvent the character as the dark, brooding vigilante we all love.
-
#5. Michael Keaton
Keaton's arch eyebrows made him a perfect Bruce Wayne, and his jawline was decent, going with a deadpan, less-is-more expression. It's not quite the jawline from the comic books, but it fits in with the overall weirdo persona of Burton's Batman and Batman Returns.
-
#4. Adam West
Over the course of 120 episodes aired on the ABC network from 1966 to 1968, The Adam West/Burt Ward iteration of Batman became iconic for its colorful pop art sensibility and satiric tone. That carried over into the 1966 movie version of the show as well.
-
#4. Adam West
While the show may have been silly, it was always West's style to play the character completely(even ridiculously) straight, thus keeping him true to the Dick Sprang-era of the comic books. West represented the square-jawed hero to maximum effect, and later reprised the part in two direct-to-video animated movies, Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders and Batman vs. Two-Face just before he passed away in 2017.
-
#3. George Clooney
This may be a controversial ranking, but this is not a BEST BATMAN ACTORS list, is it? Based solely on jawline, Clooney may actually be one of strongest and most comic-accurate versions of The Dark Knight, even though the 1998 movie Batman & Robin is utter campy trash.
-
#3. George Clooney
In fact, Clooney was cast as Val Kilmer's replacement specifically after director Joel Schumacher began drawing a Batman cowl over the actor's picture in a From Dusk Til Dawn newspaper ad, so it was the chin that sold him!
-
#2. Ben Affleck
Whatever you may think of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad or Justice League, you have to admit that Batfleck LOOKS amazing in that costume.
-
#2. Ben Affleck
With his powerful dimpled chin and world-weary attitude, Ben Affleck's portrayal of Batman is arguably the closest (visually) we've ever gotten to a comic-accurate Caped Crusader onscreen. We only hope that one day Affleck gets to appear in an actual GOOD Batman movie worthy of his portrayal.
-
#1. Kevin Conroy
A lot of Bat-fans believe that Batman: The Animated Series is the best representation of the character in any mass media form. It was Kevin Conroy's deep, powerful voice that lent this Batman the gravitas it needed, and carried that through into the theatrically-released 1993 animated movie Batman: Mask of the Phantasm.
-
#1. Kevin Conroy
A more kid-friendly reworking of "Batman: Year Two," Mask of the Phantasm gave moviegoing audiences a Bat-chin you could slice tomatoes with, and man was it awesome. All hail the greatest Batman chin of them all!
