Why Val Kilmer Quit Batman

1. Why He Really Left

Kilmer had spent his entire life fully immersing himself in roles, desperately trying to find the detail and specificity within the characters he was playing. It's what he'd been trained to do in the prestigious Drama division of the Juliard School, at the end of the day. Unfortunately, he realised during this exchange with a real life version of his superhero alter-ego that the titular bat-role required an actor to be as unspecific as possible.

Which is something he just didn't want to do.

He looked the part and wore the suit as well as anyone had up until that point or has ever since, but Kilmer clearly likened wearing the costume to torture. Once he had stripped away the cape and utility belt, he finally felt as though he was free to explore the human condition again. It didn't matter that Bob Kane himself said he was the best Batman on-screen. It wasn't enough.

Kilmer wasn't the first Batman to bail, he wasn't the most recent and he might not be the last. However, you can't help but feel as though this exit was one infused with more bitter disappointment than the highest profile ones in Affleck and Keaton. They, after all, were decisions based on the quality of the movies and the production experience. Kilmer's was more personal.

Clearly, Kilmer took on the role as he felt he'd been given an opportunity to flex his acting chops and wanted to play in the sandpit which Tim Burton had set up in 1989's Batman and his fantastic follow up Batman Returns. Yet, what he got was a frustrating experience on set and damning realisation that he was simply a lifeless body sitting behind the real star of the show.

Since the days of over-the-top villains and bat nipples were brought to a merciful end, we've seen arguably the greatest ever depiction of the character in a feature series in Bale's aforementioned portrayal throughout Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy.

Sadly, you can't help but wonder what Kilmer would have offered to the role if he'd been given a similarly gritty, authentic canvas to paint on.

That's a scenario we'll probably never be able to see realised on the big screen, but at least the 25 year old mystery behind why our 'Forever' Batman vanished into the darkness has finally been put to bed.