Have you ever wanted to kick out someone’s teeth when they did you wrong? Do you find yourself questioning whether or not the woman holding the scale of justice has her blindfold on tightly enough? Well, my friend, there might be a vigilante in you yet! If this is the case, then you’re probably a fan of Batman as well. Batman is the original dark hero spawned from a desire to bypass an often inept justice system to take matters into his own hands. His big screen resume, however, isn’t really consistent in portraying the bad-ass persona he is intended to possess.

Upon his conception in the late 1930s by Bob Kane, Batman represented a new, darker interpretation of what a superhero could be as he fought underground forces. The years following gradually took the edge off of the character. Tim Burton, the early director of the move franchise, drew inspiration for his film versions of Batman from author Frank Miller’s 1986 graphic novel, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. After two decades of seeing Adam West’s 60’s-style Caped Crusader run around in bright spandex, giving ridiculously hokey one-liners while dodging blows on his masculinity, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns resurrected the inner demons of the character that made him so appealing. Burton took this tortured version of Batman to the theaters with the first two Batman movies, Batman (1989) and Batman: Returns (1992). In these early films, Batman distributed vengeance without reserve as he dealt with villains that caused the Gotham City police force to stumble over themselves.

Fortunately, the power of teamwork and gadgets (designed for a toy shelf instead of actual crime-fighting) won the day. Unfortunately, fans of Batman lost out as the character’s essence was nearly decomposed beyond repair.

Alas, when Tim Burton handed the directorial reins to Joel Schumacher for Batman Forever (1995) in favor of a more distant role, it was like replacing a good, strong whiskey with a fruity daiquiri. Casting took a turn for the worse as well. Val Kilmer’s Batman lacked flare with his robotic delivery of lines and yielded the foreground to a cast of flamboyant and fun cast of villains played by Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey. Batman became so lame that it was almost justifiable to root for the bad guys as they tried to kill him off using a sick game of Battle Ship. According to this movie, it’s more fun to be a villain instead of a justice-seeking vigilante, right? If that’s true, then the fundamental case for anyone wishing to be like Batman is defeated.

You’d think that producers looking to make another installment in the Batman series would bolt in the opposite direction of Batman Forever and return to the roots of success. Well, they didn’t – stupid. The fourth movie, Batman and Robin (1998), brought back Joel “Batman-Ignorant” Shumacher to direct. This time Tim Burton had nothing to do with the movie – good choice, Tim. In this film, Gotham is transformed into a city of lights resembling the aftermath of a neon-bomb explosion. It doesn’t really seem like a fit for the Dark Knight. Casting, yet again, was an issue. If Val Kilmer took the energy out of Batman, then a 40-something George Clooney put the character into a coma. At least Val could look menacing at times. Clooney’s Batman was an innocuous grandpa. Dealing with the two mischievous, crime-fighting teens, Robin and Batgirl, while coping with a dying butler really distracted Batman from exacting vengeance on criminals in order to honor the memory of his murdered parents. Batman became a softy and rightfully got the crap beat out of him. Fortunately, the power of teamwork and gadgets (designed for a toy shelf instead of actual crime-fighting) won the day. Unfortunately, fans of Batman lost out as the character’s essence was nearly decomposed beyond repair.

With the failure of Batman and Robin, the character figuratively hibernated in his Bat Cave for nearly a decade. In 2005 Batman returned to theaters with new look and new attitude thanks to director Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins. The movie was shot in Chicago, eliminating the neon folly of the previous set while adding a greater sense of realism. Now, Batman roves the city in a military-style beast of a Batmobile, wearing an all black suit without glitz or gloss. The bad-ass look is back. Casting for the lead role was also successful. Lead man Christian Bale has a history of playing disturbed individuals ( American Psycho, 2000) and is a perfect fit to play a violent hero haunted by a dark past. The film involves more action and deeper insight into the origins of Batman with less glamour and sappy dialogue. Finally, we have Batman as he was intended to be: ruthless, morally ambivalent, elusive, and angry. The sixth installment to the series, The Dark Knight, is slated to open in theaters Summer, 2008. With Nolan back at the helm and Bale back in the Bat suit, we can expect that the newest strain of Batman films will continue to present a proper portrayal of America’s favorite vigilante.