West’s Batman was played for laughs. His ultra-serious caped crusader delivered intentionally ridiculous dialogue with impossible sincerity and deadpan timing. And he wasn’t afraid of spandex, wearing a costume that was a literal translation of the blue and grey skintight gear from the comics, making him an even more outrageous figure in a series that was already full of them. “The new movies, Batman is very full of vengeance and deep-seated angst and so on,” Mr. West told the group at one point. “They’re very dark.” I did ask him if he had any advice for other actors playing Batman. After all, no actor in history has put in the same amount of hours in the costume (in the costume, the brilliant Kevin Conroy doesn’t count since he didn’t have to actually wear the cape) as Adam West did over the course of his series’ 126 half-hour episodes. Ouch. I wonder if he’s familiar with the “my parents are dead!” Batman strip. I’m sure Mr. West isn’t advocating for another strictly comedic take on the Dark Knight (although the Batman: The Brave and The Bold animated series was a wonderful flirtation with that), but more that Batman could stand to lose a little bit of the baggage. Recent Batman comics writers like Grant Morrison, Scott Snyder, Tom King, and their respective artistic partners have done a better job striking a balance between the character’s tragic past informing his crimefighting drive without painting him as a completely humorless fighting machine. Perhaps by the time we get around to Ben Affleck’s The Batman solo movie, things will have shifted a bit.
