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There's been a lot of speculation in recent weeks regarding a rumoured reboot of the DC universe in September following the final issue of Flashpoint. DC has now confirmed these rumours. They're planning to publish 52 issue 1s in September, with all the heroes made younger and updated for modern readers.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=136835312

This means we'll be seeing updated versions of all the familiar Batman characters and their origin stories. It'll be interesting to see if these comics incorporate any elements from the movies into the new canon.

New downloadable Batman game coming to XBox 360, PS3 and PC.

Batman: Arkham City may be the center of superhero attention right now, but the Dark Knight has another trick up his sleeve. Warner Bros.' development studio Monolith Games is working on a downloadable multiplayer Batman title called Gotham City Impostors.

In this Batman-themed first-person shooter, players take on the roles of ordinary people (one is dubbed "the Office Bat") pretending to be Batman and "impostors" of dastardly bad guys. At a presentation at a pre-E3 event this week, we were shown an image of the Joker flipping the camera the bird. Oh, and he wasn't wearing any pants.

In a mode we watched called Psych Warfare, players defended a battery hooked up to a brainwashing machine while the opposing team tried to destroy it in a capture-the-bomb-style back-and-forth. According the WB and Monolith, Gotham City Impostors will be highly customizable, and players will be able to tweak their characters' body styles and weapons.

Gotham City Impostors is planned for release on Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network and PC.

http://uk.xboxlive.ign.com/articles/116/1168524p1.html

[PRE-BATMAN]

A lot has been written about Christian Bale's impressive physical preparation for the Batman films. So here's my attempt to compile a similar overview of Keaton's training. Feel free to exchange opinions and trivia about Keaton's action movie roles, martial arts training and general suitability for the part of Batman. This has always been a major point of contention regarding his Batman and it seems like everyone has an opinion on the matter.



Regarding the height issue, conflicting reports state he's either 5'9 or 5'10. Whichever it is, he's about average height for a Caucasian male and roughly four inches shorter than Batman's height in the comics (though he's the same height as the Dick Grayson Batman from the current comics).



To be fair though, only one Batman actor has actually been as tall as the comic version and that was Adam West. According to the IMDB, Christian Bale is only 2 inches taller than Keaton. Kilmer is about the same height as Bale, and Clooney is only half an inch taller than Keaton. Technically none of them are big enough to portray Batman. So accepting that none of them are physically right for the role, the question really becomes – was Michael Keaton any less appropriate than the other actors?


PRE-BATMAN

Dann Gire defended Keaton's casting in Cinefantastique, citing the actor's turn in Touch and Go (1986) as evidence of his onscreen formidability:

"He's not tough enough." You obviously didn't see TOUCH AND GO, a 1986 feature in which Keaton played a Chicago hockey player. Those guys aren't cream puffs. In an early scene, Keaton checks a group of would-be muggers in the parking lot with a couple of powerful kicks and some basic man-handling. Late in the story, Keaton chases down a rapist on the beach and beats the stuffing out of him. Trust me, this guy is tough enough to be Batman.

http://www.batmanmovieonline.com/articles.php?showarticle=21
   
In Touch and Go Keaton's character is a professional athlete, and the role called for him to do a fair amount of skating, running and fighting. There's a scene early in the film where he's shown working out in a gym and his physique is apparently that of a healthy average man in good shape.



He made some other comedies in the 80s that required varying degrees of physical action, including The Squeeze (1987), Beetlejuice (1988) and The Dream Team (1989). But his first really demanding physical role would be Batman 89.


BATMAN

Most sources report Keaton trained for two months in preparation for the first Batman film, building himself up to handle the heavy and constrictive costume and learning kickboxing from his stunt double, British martial artist Dave Lea. We only get a brief glimpse of his physique in the movie itself during the scene where he's training with the gravity boots. He has his back to the camera and the darkness makes it hard to discern much detail. Some have speculated it could be his stunt double. But Dave Lea had shoulder-length hair at the time of filming, so it seems more likely it's Keaton himself.



We know from our own interview with Lea that most of the fighting/action scenes were performed by stuntmen. Having said that, Keaton can clearly be seen performing some of the fighting in the movie himself. He famously injured his leg shooting the rooftop fight at the start of the film, pulling a muscle when he side-kicked one of the muggers through a doorway.



There's also the issue of the deleted Batman vs. Bob fight. Lea said he didn't know anything about this in the interview, and the behind the scenes footage clearly shows Keaton performing the fight himself. So it's safe to assume he did this one on his own. It's also clearly Keaton beating up Jack Nicholson in the final showdown.

All in all, I'd say he was in fairly average shape when he made the first film. Not bad shape, but not especially good either. In his defence though, he didn't have much preparation time. His casting was announced in July 1988 and filming commenced at the beginning October that same year. By contrast, Christian Bale had an estimated six months to prepare for Batman Begins.


BATMAN RETURNS

The last film he made before shooting Batman Returns was the action thriller One Good Cop (1991), so he was already in pretty good shape from that. But he also had more time to prepare for Batman Returns than he had for the first film. And since the production was based in Los Angeles, closer to where he lived, he was able to more effectively coordinate his training before filming commenced.



He once again trained with Dave Lea, his kickboxing instructor and stunt double from the first time around. Commenting on Keaton's kickboxing skills in Michael Singer's Batman Returns: The Official Movie Book (page 21), Lea said:

Michael was an incredibly fast learner on the first Batman, and by now there isn't much more I can teach him.

He didn't show off his physique in the movie. He did however host an episode of Saturday Night Live in 1992 just after Batman Returns came out. And in one of the sketches he displayed some brawn while beating up a character played by Chris Farley. He wasn't steroidal or anything, but he appeared to be in slim athletic shape, with better muscle definition than he had in the 89 movie. This is probably the closest we'll get to knowing what his physique was like under the suit in the second film.



It's also documented in many of the 'making of' books/articles that while Dave Lea returned as his stunt double, Keaton still performed a lot of the action/fight sequences in Batman Returns himself.

Dave Lea:

Oh yeah, we got him doing a few fights like when he drives up in the Batmobile and Michelle Pfeiffer is being held up by a clown. Tim [Burton] wanted me to get him doing something on camera, so yeah we got him involved more. Definitely.

http://www.batmanmovieonline.com/features.php?display=73


Dave Lea quoted in Michael Singer's Batman Returns: The Official Movie Book (page 45):

Michael never got fed up or frustrated with his training because it was always something new and enjoyable. The rooftop fight was the first major battle between Batman and Catwoman, so we really had to make it dramatic and strong. For me, to see Michael and Michelle working so hard was really astounding.

Second unit director and stunt co-ordinator Max Kleven quoted in Michael Singer's Batman Returns: The Official Movie Book (page 45):

Michael and Michelle are both doing their own stuff on that rooftop and its pretty unusual for two stars to do so much physical work.

POST-BATMAN

Following Batman Returns Keaton didn't make another action movie until Desperate Measures (1998). And then he really pulled out all the stops to get in shape.



While he recently appeared in the action comedy The Other Guys (2010), as well as playing a contract killer in his directorial debut The Merry Gentleman (2008), neither of those roles where really physically challenging. The last time he took a leading role in an action-oriented picture was the 2003 euro-thriller Quicksand. It'll be interesting to see if Keaton ever makes another action movie, and if so what kind of shape he'll be in when he films it.

Just a heads up for everyone in the UK. ITV4 have started rerunning the old Adam West Batman TV series. They're showing two episodes back to back every day. First at 8:50 in the morning, then again at 3:00 in the afternoon. I think the latest episodes are the ones at 3:00, while the morning episodes are repeats of the 3:00 episodes from the previous day.

They're currently showing the first (and best) season. Today's episodes were a False-Face story. Tomorrow it's a Catwoman two-parter.

Batman Returns fans should definitely tune in for next Monday's episodes: 'The Penguin Goes Straight' and 'Not Yet, He Ain't' – as the movie sequence where the Penguin uses a remote control to hijack the Batmobile was taken from this story.

I was just wondering if anyone knew of an alternate version of Batman?s departure following Napier?s fall into the vat of chemicals. In the final cut of the film, Batman sees the shadows of some police officers converging on his position, then throws a smoke bomb onto the ground and escapes using the grapple gun.

However, the original script has a slightly more interesting version of this scene where Batman is held at gunpoint by the police and raises his hands in a pretence of surrender. He then flicks two smoke capsules onto the ground and escapes using the grapple gun while the police fumble blindly in the smoke.

GORDON
                  Goddammit, we had him!

        COPS level their guns on Batman.  A couple of them appear
        at either end of the catwalk, effectively blocking his
        escape.  He takes in the situation, HANDS ON HIS BELT.

                                GORDON
                  Hold it right there..

        Batman raises his hands in a gesture of surrender.  As
        the COPS advance from both ends of the catwalk -- he
        flicks two tiny capsules at the nearby wall.

        A BLINDING FLASH OF LIGHT.  Colors burst in a wild pyro-
        technic display.  COPS stumble backwards, momentarily
        dazzled, as a THICK WALL OF BLACK SMOKE conceals Batman
        from view.

        A tiny grappling hook rockets out of the dense curling
        cloud and catches on the edge of a window in the roof.

                                COP
                  Look!

        The COPS are FIRING WILDLY into the smoke.  But the BLACK
        MAJESTIC FIGURE OF THE Batman whips upward, DISAPPEARING
        into the shadowy heights, safely out of range.

                                COP
                  ... Who is this guy?

                                GORDON
                         (to Cop)
                  I don't know and until we find
                  out, keep a lid on it.

This version of the scene is featured in the comic book adaptation.



And after viewing some of the special features on the DVD, there appears to be some behind-the-scenes footage showing this version being filmed.
This picture would also seem to verify that the alternate version was shot.



I?m assuming there was an earlier cut of the film that had this version of the scene intact (along with the scene of Knox being found under Batman?s cape on the steps of the cathedral), and that this served as the basis for the comic adaptation. But can anyone confirm this? And does anyone know why this scene might have been changed? It actually sounds more interesting than the version seen in the final cut.

I've started this thread in an effort to create a comprehensive list of everyone Batman has ever killed in the comics, whether by accident or intent. I've tried to provide scans for as many examples as possible.

Hopefully people will add to list with other examples that I've overlooked. But for now, here are some that I've found.


The Case of the Chemical Syndicate - Detective Comics #27 (1939): he punches Stryker into a vat of acid

Justice: Detective Comics #28 (1939) - he throws one of Frenchy Blake's henchmen off a roof

The Batman Meets Doctor Death - Detective Comics #29 (1939): he kills Jabah by lassoing a rope around his neck and breaking it

Return of Doctor Death - Detective Comics #30 (1939): he kills Mikhail by breaking his neck with a well-aimed kick

Batman Versus the Vampire (Part II) - Detective Comics #32 (1939): he shoots Dala and the Monk dead while they are asleep

The Batman Wars Against the Dirigible of Doom - Detective Comics #33 (1939): he carries a gun and uses it to shoot some machinery aboard a dirigible, causing an explosion that kills a number of henchmen. He later switches clothes with another bad guy and places him in a death chamber to die in his place. At the end of the story he kills Dr. Krueger by knocking him out with gas pellets and causing his plane to crash


Peril in Paris - Detective Comics #34 (1939):he knocks out the Duc D'Orterre and leaves him to drive over a cliff


The Case of the Ruby Idol - Detective Comics #35 (1940): he kicks an opponent onto another villain's sword, impaling him. Later he knocks Lenox out of a window to his death

The Screaming House - Detective Comics #37 (1940): he knocks Count Grutt against a sword that impales him through the head

The Giants of Hugo Strange - Batman #1 (1940): he open fires on a group of gangsters using the Batplane's machine gun. One of the bad guys escapes, so Batman drops a cable from the Batplane and hangs him. At the end of the story he uses gas pellets to knock the last bad guy off a rooftop

The Horde of the Green Dragon - Detective Comics #39 (1940): he kills a Chinese assassin. Later in the story he wipes out the Green Dragon Tong by crushing them beneath a giant statue

Wolf, the Crime Master - Batman #2 (1940): he breaks the neck of Adam Lamb (aka The Wolf) by punching him down a flight of stairs

The Crime School for Boys - Batman #3 (1940): he throws a criminal off a roof

The Strange Case of Professor Radium - Batman #8 (1940): he drowns Professor Radium

Professor Strange's Fear Dust - Detective Comics #46 (1940): he knocks Hugo Strange off a cliff. The Earth-Two Strange's death in this issue was later retconned during the Bronze Age, but this story marked his final fatal appearance during the Golden Age

Money Can't Buy Happiness - Detective Comics #47 (1941): he kills a gangster by knocking him out while he's driving and causing his car to crash headlong into a tree

The Brain Burglar - Detective Comics #55 (1941): he punches a foreign agent into a vat of molten steel. Later in the story he throws two more bad guys off a dirigible

The Two Futures - Batman #15 (1943): he kills some Japanese soldiers by throwing a bayonet into the tire of their car and causing it to crash. Later he crashes a plane into an Axis warship, killing everyone aboard

The Angel, the Rock and the Cowl - The Brave and the Bold #84 (1969):  he destroys a German plane using a hand grenade. At the end of the story he uses dynamite to blow up a convoy of German soldiers as they are crossing a bridge

A Bat-Death for Batman! - Batman #221 (1970): he throws the villain Otto into a pit with frenzied animal that kills him

You Only Die Twice! - The Brave and the Bold #90 (1970): he knocks out a criminal and throws his unconscious body into the sea where he presumably drowns

Swamp Sinister - Batman #235 (1971): he punches Striss into a puddle of chemicals that infect him with a lethal disease

Vengeance for a Dead Man - Batman #240 (1972): he euthanizes Mason Sterling by deactivating the life support machine connected to his brain (Sterling tricked him into doing this)

The Menace of the Fiery Heads! - Batman #270 (1975): he punches Watkins into a statue, which then topples onto him and breaks his neck

The Corpse Came C.O.D. - Batman #271 (1976): he uses a sonically-charged amulet like a grenade to kill the Vedic cult leader and set fire to his temple while the cult members are still inside

Heart of a Vampire - Detective Comics #455 (1976): he shoots Gustav Decobra through the heart with a bow and arrow

Dead Man's Quadrangle - The Brave and the Bold #127 (1976): he ignores a criminal's mayday call, deducing it to be fake. It then transpires that the call was genuine, and the criminal has drowned as a result of Batman's inaction

Batman-Ex - - As in Extinct! - Batman #288 (1977): he uses a bad guy as a human shield by hurling him into the trajectory of the Penguin's gunfire, killing the man in the process

Skull Dugger's Killjoy Capers! - Batman #290 (1977): he electrocutes Dugger by throwing him into a nest of electrified cables

Time...My Dark Destiny! - The Brave and the Bold #157 (1979): he causes a helicopter to crash and the pilot is killed in the explosion


Where Walks a Snowman - Batman #337 (1981): he uses the flash of a marker flare to knock Klaus Kristin (aka. the Snowman) off a cliff.

The Crystal Armageddon! - The Brave and the Bold #159 (1980): he kills a member of the League of Assassins by throwing him against a wall made from a lethal formula, which then causes the assassin to turn to crystal and die. Batman knew this would happen and had actually warned someone against touching the wall earlier in the same scene

The Monster in the Mirror - Detective Comics #517 (1982): he kills Marley and drinks his blood

Those Who Live By The Sword - The Brave and the Bold #193 (1982): he stomach throws Bloodclaw off the Woodrow Wilson Bridge


The Messiah of the Crimson Sun - Batman Annual #8 (1982): he kills Ra's Al Ghul by drawing his spaceship into lethal sun rays

Night of Blood! - The Brave and the Bold #195 (1983): he stabs the vampire Gunnarson through the chest with a wooden table leg.

Batman: Year Two - Detective Comics #575-578 (1987): he takes Chill to Crime Alley, whereupon the Batman unmasks himself and reveals his true identity. He disarms Chill and turns the gunman's own weapon against him. Batman places the gun to Chill's forehead and is about to shoot him when suddenly the Reaper kills him first. Disappointed, Batman chases down and confronts the Reaper for the last time. At the end of the confrontation, the Reaper plummets to his death, taking the secret of  Batman's true identity with him. But before he falls, he tells the Dark Knight "I didn?t think you were a killer? I see now I was wrong," implying that Batman would have killed Joe Chill had he not got to him first


Son of the Demon - (1987): he causes a helicopter crash that kills everyone on board. At the end of the story he kills Qayin by kicking him into some electric cables

Skeeter - Action Comics Annual #1 (1987): he stabs Skeeter through the back with a wooden stake

The Cult (1988): he guns down an innocent man during a hallucinogenic trance. Later he uses the Batmobile's armaments to demolish a building in orders to kill the rocket sniper on the rooftop. At the end of the story he cripples Deacon Blackfire and incites his follower's to turn on their leader. Robin tries to help Blackfire, but Batman stops him, then stands back and watches with a smile on his face as Blackfire is torn apart

Ten Nights of the Beast - Batman #420 (1988): he traps KGBeast in an underground chamber and leaves him to starve/suffocate

Consequences - Batman #425 (1988): he topples a pile of cars onto a villain, crushing him to death

Cosmic Odyssey (1988): he uses an Apokoliptian gun to blast a hole through the chest of one of Darkseid's soldiers

Shaman - Legends of the Dark Knight #1 (1989): Bruce Wayne accidentally knocks Tom Woodley off a mountain cliff. Woodley shows up alive and well many years later, but at this point Bruce believes his clumsiness has caused the death of a fellow human

Trash - Detective Comics #613 (1990): he kicks two bad guys into the back of a garbage truck and they are killed in the grinders

Succession - Detective Comics Annual #4 (1991): in vision of the future foreseen by Waverider, Batman kills Ra's al Ghul and later blows up himself and the entire League of Assassins, including Talia al Ghul


In the Dark Places - Batman #576 (2000): he kills a helicopter pilot by throwing a knife into the tail rotor of his helicopter and causing it to crash

All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder #1 (2005): he kills a group of corrupt policeman by ramming into their car with the Batmobile

All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder #2 (2005): he runs down several police motorcyclists and then incinerates a group of pursuing police vehicles using the rocket thrusters on the Batmobile

The Big Show - Detective Comics #814 (2006): he fights the army of madmen know as 'the Body', knocking several of them off rooftops and luring the rest to a building site where he has planted explosive charges. He then escapes via the Batwing, detonating the bombs as he goes and wiping out the madmen

The Beautiful People - Detective Comics #821 (2006): he knocks Johnny Lange in front of an oncoming train

All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder #7 (2007): he uses thermite and bleach to set fire to a gang, and continues to beat them up while they burn

Joe Chill in Hell - Batman #673 (2008): during an hallucinatory fantasy Batman hounds Joe Chill and drives him to the brink of suicide, then hands him a loaded gun and watches as he kills himself

Superman and Batman VS Vampires and Werewolves (2008-2009): he kills several vampires and werewolves in this series using stakes and a UV gun


How to Murder the Earth - Final Crisis #6 (2009): he uses an Apokalips gun to poison Darkseid

Bronze Night - Batman/Doc Savage #1 (2010): in this story Batman uses firearms in a cavalier manner and admits that he may be responsible for killing criminals

That's all I've got for now, but I'm sure there are plenty of other examples out there. Please add any you can think of.

The Nostalgia Critic compares Batman (1989) against The Dark Knight (2008) to decide which is the superior movie.
http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thatguywiththeglasses/nostalgia-critic/7184-batmanvsdk