Batman Villains
Nothing lights up a movie screen better than a good villain. A good villain proves to be a suitable foe for the movie’s hero. A better villain will even throw in a degree of humor and a certain likeability. From the first “Batman” film in the 1960s, to the current “Batman Begins”, moviegoers have seen the caped crusader battle a number of opponents. What Batman villains have graced the screen?
Based on the series starring Adam West and Burt Ward as the crime fighting heroes, the first Batman movie saw Catwoman (Lee Meriwether), Joker (Cesar Romero), Penguin (Burgess Meredith) and Riddler (Frank Gorshin) join forces against Batman and Robin. Their ultimate goal? To take over the world, of course, by using a dehydrator against one of the world’s top counsels.
This movie was the first appearance of Michael Keaton as Batman. Although Jack Palance portrayed crime boss Grissom, Batman’s main nemesis was the Joker (Jack Nicholson), who had plans to take over
Christopher Walken’s Max Shreck was no match for the duo of Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer) and the Penguin (Danny DeVito). Batman had his hands full with Max and Penguin, who had plans to take over the city by making Penguin the next mayor. Although Catwoman had her own agenda, she still joined forces for a short time with Penguin to annihilate Batman.
Val Kilmer’s one and only foray as the caped crusader was 1995’s “Batman Forever”. This was also the first of the recent movies that included Robin a.k.a. Dick Grayson (Chris O’Donnell). This time around Harvey Dent a.k.a. Two Face (Tommy Lee Jones) had revenge on his mind; blaming Batman for an acid incident that left him scarred and homicidal. Add to the mix a disgruntled employee of Wayne Enterprises, Edward Nigma (Jim Carrey), who evolves into the Riddler. Two Face and Riddler team up, using a machine that reads brainwaves, in order to put an end to Batman once and for all.
George Clooney and Chris O’Donnell teamed as the dynamic duo in this 1997 film that also included Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl. Although crime was on the mind of Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman) and Bane (Jeep Swenson), Arnold Schwarzenegger played the more sympathetic character, Mr. Freeze.
The latest installment of the Batman series stars Christian Bale as the man under the mask. Although not as evil as some their counterparts, Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson) and Richard Earle (Rutger Hauer) do have a touch of villainy. However, the top villains to look for in this film are Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson) who is Gotham’s crime boss, Ra’s Al Guhl (Ken Watanabe) who is one of Bruce Wayne’s first mentors and Dr. Jonathan Crane a.k.a. the Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy) who is a doctor at Gotham’s Arkham Asylum.
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