In the middle of the 1990s, Val Kilmer received a very noteworthy cinematic honor: the role of Batman. For what would become Batman Forever, Kilmer was chosen to take over from Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne.
His Caped Crusader would face off against Tommy Lee Jones’ Two-Face and Jim Carrey’s Riddler in this film. While Kilmer’s stint as Bat man was a one-off, the actor has talked about his desire to reprise the role after playing Tom “Iceman” Kazansky in Top Gun: Maverick.
Val Kilmer revealed that he gave up playing Bat man in 2020, 25 years after Batman Forever was first released, after realizing that it didn’t matter who was wearing the cape.
With the release of superhero films like Spider-Man: No Way Home in December, which paired Tom Holland’s Peter Parker with Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s interpretations of the same characters, and The Flash, which will reintroduce Michael Keaton’s Bat man (unfortunately, we’ll never know what he did in the now-cancelled Batgirl), the multiverse era is upon us.
As a result, Val Kilmer will at least consider returning to the role of Bat man now that the proverbial table has been set for actors who played superheroes in previous films many years ago. Following Keaton and Adam West, Kilmer was the third actor to portray the DC Comics superhero in a live-action, full-length film.
Val Kilmer: the voice problem
It’s important to note that Val Kilmer now has a raspy voice and frequently uses an electric voice box plugged into his trachea to communicate. This is due to his battle with throat cancer.
So it stands to reason that he wouldn’t sound like he did in Bat man Forever if he were to play Bat man once more. In spite of that obstacle, it would be intriguing to see Kilmer in the Batsuit again, whether or not he spoke briefly.
Kilmer mainly spoke as Iceman in the aforementioned Top Gun: Maverick through text, but he did pronounce a few phrases at the conclusion of his emotional sequence with Tom Cruise’s Maverick, and his voice was later digitally edited for clarity.
