Comic Book Fans: Is Tim Burton's Batman Accurate?

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i have read a lot of batman comics over the last few years, and i don't think burton adapted batman very well. to my fellow comic fans: do you agree or disagree?

I am speaking not as a comic book fan, but as a Tim Burton fan. I don't care whether or not he stayed true to the comics; I enjoyed his dark and atmospheric take on Batman. I especially like what he did with the Penguin in Batman Returns. Well, OK, I admit I'm biased - I enjoy Burton's dark and atmospheric take on every franchise he touches, from Pee-Wee Herman to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to Alice in Wonderland, to everything in between.

I agree. I liked Jack Nicholson as the Joker.

Comics Alliance recently did a two-part review of the original Tim Burton Batman movie, and it's pretty obvious the two guys reviewing it (big comic book fans, obviously) felt it was atrocious.

Part 1

Part 2

I remember liking it as a kid, but I recently rewatched part of it and couldn't help but agree with them. It felt like one giant, dark toy advertisement (not nearly as bad as Schumacher's films in this regard, at least).

Of the two Batman franchise additions in the 90's, the four live-action films and the animated series, which is more accurate to the comic books?

Bruce Timm's Batman is true to the spirit of the character and as far as I'm concerned is the defining iteration.

just for the record, i don't mind when burton fans say they like burton's films more, its when they start claiming the burton films are closer to the comics that i really get pissed off. BTW, did you know that Batman has three villains modeled after alice in wonderland (the mad hatter and tweedledum and tweedledee

Was there really anything wrong with Batman himself in the Burton films? It seems to me Burton only screwed with the villains, while Batman stayed pretty true to the comics.

Even as a die-hard Burton fan, I am able to see that his interpretations of Batman were not faithful to the comic books. I haven't read the comics, but watching Burton's Batman films caused me to want to research the Batman characters and compare their comic versions with the ones in the films. For example, I know that the Penguin is supposed to be a "gentleman of crime" in the comics rather than a deformed psycho with abandonment issues as seen in Batman Returns.

Oh yeah! I knew that the Batman universe has a Mad Hatter. I even watched a clip from TAS where Batman fought him. I would love, love love to see a live-action Batman film where the Mad Hatter is the main villain. Maybe Christopher Nolan will make that happen in another Dark Knight sequel or something.

trust me. they screwed him up as well. #1 batman in the burton films kills people, while in the comics he ansolutely does not. #2 bruce wayne in the burton films is a socially awkward weirdo, while in the comics bruce wayne is acting like a rich guy. #3 michael keaton is not physically fit at all in either of the two burton films, getting his ass kicked a lot, while in the comics bruce wayne is very physically fit and is kicking ass. there are tons of other things he go wrong with the character, and i can list them, but i'd be here all day

One thing to remember was that the Writers Guild went on strike while they were developing the first Burton film. That's why the third act has a number of moments that would go against textbook Batman (Kim Basinger getting into the Batcave, Batman killing Joker, etc.) Given the money WB had invested in the film, they weren't going to wait for the strike to resolve itself. Long story short, script doctors took more liberties than usual due to the primary screenwriters being on strike.

Eh....I guess. I agree the depiction of Bruce Wayne was inaccurate in the Burton films, but I thought the depiction of Batman was pretty good. Bale was a better Bruce Wayne, but Keaton was a better Batman.

Keep in mind I'm not a Burton or Nolan fanboy. I liked Burton's first Batman movie better than Batman Begins (which I liked, but it had some problems), but I like Dark Knight better than either of them. I loved Batman Returns as a kid, but I now realize how dumb it is.

Last edited by SadAspy on 03 Jun 2011, 6:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Shortpacked made a great comic about that a few months back:

ok, that's no excuse. also, batman is killing more often in batman returns AFTER the writer's strike

how?

Speaking as someone who paid $80 for a Batman tattoo, I know how Batman geeks can get. They'll loudly complain about the films being unfaithful to the comics, but take it from me, there's no "accurate" Batman. When a character has been around for almost a century and has been depicted in countless different ways, there's no "correct" interpretation. And if you want to get technical about it, Burton's Batman is much more faithful to the original 1940s Batman, who wasn't above killing his enemies. The Adam West Batman was also very faithful to the comics that were being published at that time (the 1960s). Whether Burton's Batman is faithful to the comics depends on which comics you're reading and which you personally accept as "your" Batman.