He’s the iconic superhero with wings and a topflight car full of crafty bad guy catching gadgets, and this week marks 85 years since Batman’s first magazine appearance.
The character has since made multiple big and small screen appearances with Robert Pattinson set to reprise his role in The Batman Part II scheduled to hit cinemas in October 2026.
Playing the part proved both a critical and box office disaster for George Clooney and Ben Affleck, who were slated for their turns.
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And despite Christian Bale delivering one of the best and darkest Batman portrayals to date, 2008 film The Dark Knight has been dubbed the most cursed comic book adaptation of all time. Here Kim Carr looks at why…
No laughing matter
(Image: Warner Br/Everett/REX/Shutterstock)
Riding high on the success of Brokeback Mountain, Australian actor Heath Ledger was ready to throw himself into a completely different character from the cowboy struggling to come to terms with his sexuality. Cast as The Joker in The Dark Knight he spent six week alone in a hotel room making a diary of the character including pictures of hyenas, reading all the comic books and trying out different voices then “closing my eyes and meditating on it,” he said.
Heath’s voice went so dry while delivering his Joker’s eerie rasp that he began licking his lips, which became a creepy trademark of his portrayal of the villain. It also helped keep the prosthetics of his scar wet and stuck to his face. Heath threw himself into walls when Christian refused to smack him at full power and his insomnia increased such was his commitment as the character’s thoughts raced through his brain.
On April 4 around 3pm Heath was found unconscious in bed by his housekeeper Teresa Solomon and massage therapist Diana Wolozin at his Manhattan apartment. Diana tried mouth-to-mouth resuscitation which failed. An autopsy confirmed the 28-year-old died from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs six months before The Dark Knight was released.
Family ties
(Image: EPA)
On July 21 in 2008 Christian Bale was at London’s Dorchester Hotel preparing for the film’s premiere. But the celebrations were marred when his mother Jenny, then 61, and sister Sharon, then 40, complained to police the next day and he was questioned over an alleged assault after a row was said to have broken out.
Police found insufficient evidence to support a conviction. After a decade of non-communication, in 2019 Jenny told the Daily Mirror as her son was in London for the BAFTA Awards: “Yes, we are talking.”
Not so crafty crash
(Image: Diep Nep on YouTube)
On August 4, 2008, Morgan Freeman, who played Lucius Fox, cheated death when the 1997 Nissan Maxima he was driving flipped over multiple times near his home in Charleston, Mississippi at 11.30pm. Aged 71 at the time, the motor went off the road when the actor overcorrected his steering.
The car belonged to Demaris Meyer, a female in the passenger seat at the time of the accident. Morgan required a four-hour operation to fix his left arm and hand, which to this day still causes him pain. After being cut out of the wreck, which landed in a ditch, Morgan was left with permanent nerve damage, agonising shoulder pain and a diagnosis of fibromyalgia.
Talking about how the accident affected his golf in 2012 Morgan said: “I play one-handed, I swing with my right arm. I suffered nerve damage and it hasn’t gotten better. I can’t move it.” At the 2023 Oscars he was photographed still wearing a compression glove to boost circulation.
Wrapped around
(Image: Collect)
Riding in the back seat of a Nissan 4×4, special effects technician Conway Wickliffe died after crashing into a tree at 20mph as he leaned out of the window to film a stunt Batmobile due to blow up which was travelling next to him. The New Zealander was in the vehicle with another special effect technician called Bruce Monroe-Armstrong, who failed to make the turn in time.
Pod of bad luck
(Image: PR handout)
While filming in Pittsburgh, actress Anne Hathaway’s stunt double was shooting a scene outside at building the Carnegie Mellon University, which was being used to depict Gotham City Hall in the movie. Driving a two-wheeled Batpod bike wearing Catwoman’s bodysuit, the double careered down the stairs of the building and crashed into the camera equipment.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
