3. Batman - Batman & Robin
Why's he hated? Batman & Robin unfortunately came out after the fiscally successful but critically maligned Batman Forever. As such, fans were anticipating a sh*tty film before it even got in theatres. So when the film opened on a batsuit - complete with nipples so pointy they looked like they had been fondled by Mr. Freeze himself - the rest of the film was a done deal. Ironically, for a film as over-the-top as Batman & Robin, the criticism I often hear of BatClooney is that he's bereft of character. He doesn't have the quirkiness of Keaton or the presence of Kilmer. He's just an occasionally-mugging straight man to all the wackiness of the film. Clooney himself recognized how unpopular the film was and promised to refund any fan who didn't like the film (which I have yet to receive, by the way).
Why's he underrated? While fans try to assert that Clooney was the blandest of the Batmen, it's important to remember that the franchise had moved miles away from being a character study of any kind (arguably for good reason). The first Batman film had already established the character, Batman Returns was an expressionistic look at his psyche, and Batman Forever was a very literal look at his psyche. We get it: Batman is messed up. There wasn't anything left to learn about the character by the time Batman & Robin was released. Therefore, they went for a light-hearted campfest instead. BatClooney was a throwback to the Adam West version from the '60s: a confident, mildly eccentric playboy who happened to be a superhero. Honestly, BatClooney is the only Batman interpretation that is all-out wish fulfilling: he actually looks like he's having fun being a superhero.