9 Strangest Film Casting Choices (That Actually Worked)

Tim Burton's Batman films were dark and unflinching and a big part of there grit came from Michael Keaton, who become the definitive Batman for an entire generation. His visceral and thoughtful performance as Bruce Wayne/Batman did come as a surprise to comic fans and the film-going public because to that point he had been tied almost exclusively to comedies.

A former standup comedian himself, Keaton's biggest roles before Batman had been as Jack in Mr. Mom, and Burton's own dark comedy Beetlejuice. Audiences knew him as a funny man with great comedic timing and particularly after Beetlejuice, comic fans could have seen him as The Joker... but not Batman.

Comic fans were concerned that Keaton wouldn't exude the raw psychological trauma or the playboy facade of the Batman they knew. He was too short, too slight, and not nearly serious enough. But Keaton was all too happy to prove his doubters wrong. He gave a stirring performance in Batman that involved eerie combat sequences, an honest examination of Bob Kane's creation, and brilliant chemistry with Jack Nicholson's Joker.