10 Actors You Didn’t Realise Played Batman

10. Lewis Wilson - Batman (1943)

You can't talk about actors who portrayed the brooding DC superhero without mentioning the one who started it all. Even though Adam West is mislabelled as the first live-action Batman, that title belongs to Lewis Wilson.

Wilson made his screen debut in a 15-part serial called Batman four years after the character launched in Detective Comics #27. Being 24 at the time, Wilson is also the youngest person to play the cowled crimefighter in live-action.

At a glance, the serial has little in common with its comic book counterpart. Instead of being a vigilante detective, Bats is a secret agent hired by the US government to battle a Japanese doctor called Daka.

However, the show cannot be dismissed since it devised several elements that were implemented into Batman lore. The show debuted the Bat Cave before the comics did. Although Alfred was originally depicted in the comics as a bumbling, portly sidekick, the show revised him into a loyal servant, which was then incorporated into the source material.

Sadly, Wilson didn't have much luck after this serial. For the remainder of his career, he mainly played minor uncredited roles. In 1954, Wilson quit show-business entirely and became a worker at General Foods.