Maybe the people saying Batman vs Superman are young kids or people just getting into the DC movies since hero movies are bigger today than they were years ago. If people don’t know others exist they’ll pick the decent movie that they likd the least but we should remember that there’s a reason why Batman vs Superman is already a cult classic, the darkness in it was great - it needed to be dark, just as the show Gotham needed to be dark. I can’t see how Gotham being dark could work against it in any way but I guess the community can get pretty picky about things they shouldn’t. It happens. Personally, I couldn’t imagine it as bright in cheery any more than I could imagine Titans as bright and cheery.
I like Ben Affleck as Batman. There’s nothing wrong with Ben playing Bruce either, it was certainly a better job than Clooney and Kilmer. If someone would try to convince me otherwise, I might consider them innocently ignorant on the matter. Clooney and Kilmer were dumb Batmen, Affleck was far from playing a dumbed-down Dark Knight. At least he was more intelligent than Bale’s but maybe not as intelligent as Keaton’s. Let’s be honest, Keaton is still the smartest and more strategic Batman. This shows with his ability to do more with less - he did more without all the military-grade tech and gadgets that Bale’s Batman was given so let’s not forget that fact.
I sure shouldn’t even have to mention Adam West’s version of Batman who maybe the dumbest Dark Knight Detective of all time, you know, get tricked into thinking things like bedsheets over a sofa in the shape of henchmen aren’t henchmen?! Or 1943 Batman parking the Batmobile in the front of Wayne Manor in broad daylight. Why is nobody talking about those movies? These particular film versions of Batman are less about precision and experience and more about depending luck/accidental success.
Which would I choose as the worst one? Hope you’re ready for my wall of text.
I’m gonna throw shake things up in here and say Batman 1966.
First off, the heroes’ costumes get me. The only thing I could think when watching this particular one was “Why does Catwoman get a high-quality leather costume that looks like it’s worth thousands while Batman and Robin get costumes that look as if they are made by kids?” A valid question, indeed. It was a bit sexist there without any real reason to be. Sigh, I always wished it had given the same amount of love into the male suits. They could have upgraded the suits over time or something at least but even that, was far too much to ask.
And so, the point is that technology for suits/costumes weren’t behind. It was just sexy female costume was prioritized to draw more audience. The fact that Julie Newmar’s suit can easily be put up against any suit in 2019 proves just that (Still my favorite suit of all time). Thus, that was the first thing that turned me off about old '66 Batman in general. Not even the main thing, just one worth mentioning.
The movie itself didn’t age well either, it was unneeded because we had the show and it didn’t fill any plot holes the show was missing or anything. It had the Bat-Copter, a shark and other things that tried to give it a new flair but let’s look at it this way, you don’t typically hear people talking about those things. You do hear people talking about the classic Batmobile though.
Another thing, not a fan of live action movies with too many villains. An hour and 30 minutes isn’t the best amount of time to focus on 4 or 5 arch-villains and on top of that, splitting that time up with trying to introduce new vehichles or/enemies. Quality over quanity, folks!
The movie is a classic and yet, one of the worst on-screen representations of Batman in my opinion, and even more so of what a Batman movie should be. That said, I love the show. Rest in piece Adam West. Last thing I remember him in was Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham. I didn’t like West as Batman but he was a great Bruce Wayne. That’s still something worthy of applause.