(UPDATED for 2022)
It's still February, still the month of Valentines, and I've got another romantic themed countdown for the occasion ... this time tying in with Gotham's famous Dark Knight. Unlike Superman or Spider-Man, Batman has never had a stand-out girlfriend, in fact, his love interests change in just about every movie, much like the James Boned women. With twelve theatrical movies in total, I thought it would be fun stop and rank all twelve of Batman’s theatrical girls friends, in my own personal opinion, from least favorite to absolute favorite.
#12 Julie Madison played by Elle Macpherson, from "Batman and Robin"
In this movie, Bruce Wayne has a rather pointless love interest, who has no bearing on the film at all, is mainly kept off to the sidelines, and thus, there’s nothing else to really say about her.
#11 Kitka played by Lee Meriwether, from "Batman: The Movie"
In this early Batman outing, the villainous Cat-woman has a relationship of sorts with Bruce Wane, all while posing as a girl named Kitka. While Bruce is head over heals for her, this relation is only leverage, and in the end, it becomes her most powerful weapon against our hero. While a solid portrayal of Cat-woman, she just can't rank any higher, as there's no real love in the relationship, and for the villain, it's all a means to an end.
#10 Rachel Dawes played by Maggie Gyllenhaal, from "The Dark Knight"
The only cast change in this squeal was for Batman’s girlfriend Rachel. Originally, she was played by Katie Holmes in “Batman Begins”, but now she’s played by Maggie Gyllenhaal. Thankfully, she looks just like an older version of Katie Holmes, and she even delivers a more dignified performance then her predecessor. Having said that, I truthfully felt a little more chemistry between Katie Holmes and Christion Bale. In fact, for all her faults, I actually found Katie Holmes to be a pinch more memorable. That’s not to put down Maggie Gyllenhaal, as she’s definitely a bright spot in regards to her performance, but she just didn’t leave that big an impact on me either. Truthfully, I think it had more to do with the written character as opposed to the performance. I just felt that Rachel contributed more to “Batman Begins” as opposed to Rachel in "The Dark Knight".
#9 Selina Kyle played by Anne Hathaway, from "The Dark Knight Rises"
Speaking personally, this is one of my absolute favorite portrayals of Cat-Woman by a mile ... although, I think she's just okay when viewed as a love interest. She and Batman do have chemistry when their just two vigilantes working together … and in that regard, they’re just a dynamite pair. Whenever they're on screen fighting together, infiltrating a bad guy base, or just plain walking together, it’s an absolute thrill. Also, I came from a generation that grew-up with Anne Hathaway in Disney movies like “The Princess Diaries” and “Ella Enchanted”, so I couldn’t even imagine her pulling off a passable Cat-Woman, but she really did. Every inflection she gives as this character is spot on, she has a lot of energy, and is clearly having a blast with this role. So, while obviously not best love-interest, this is still a shining performance in the actress’s carrier.
#8 Wonder Woman played by Gal Gadot, from "Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice"
The introduction of Wonder Woman played by Gal Gadot was absolutely my favorite part of this whole crossover movie. Granted, she isn’t even in the film for very long, nor is she written into the film very well, but still, she absolutely thrilled me whenever she was on screen. Gal Gadot shined in the role, she had terrific chemistry with Bruce Wayne, and it was just plain awesome to see Wonder Woman fighting for the first time in a live action movie. Also, her theme song was freaking amazing! It’s actually kind of ironic that neither Batman nor Superman have any stand out music tracks in this movie, yet Wonder Woman has a score that left me exhilarated. However, my positives are more for her as an individual then a love interest, so I just can't bring myself to rank her any higher.
#7 Batgirl voiced by Rosario Dawson, from "The Lego Batman Movie"
Now let’s look at Batgirl, who thankfully is old-enough in this film to have a romantic relationship with Batman. Honestly, I never understood why other shows and spin-off material would push a relationship between the two, especially when one character was half the age of the other. Well, this film finely got it right ... although, I admittedly liked her more as just plain police commissioner Barbara Gordon. However, it’s still cool to have Batgirl there to complete the Batman family, and I even liked the purple and yellow redesign of her costume. She’s voiced by Rosario Dawson, who I’ve had a small crush on ever sense I saw the 2005 musical "Rent", and even though she’s not present on screen, I still think she has a beautiful voice.
#6 Selina Kyle played by Michelle Pfeiffer, from "Batman Returns"
Our hero's biggest character arc in this squeal is a relationship with Cat-Woman, and more specifically her alter ego Selina Kyle. The two could relate to living with split lives, and they even shared an engaging chemistry on screen, but I just don’t think it was developed enough, especially when their story is sidelined in favor of everyone else’s character arcs. Michelle Pfeiffer at least owned the role, and while not one of my absolute favorite love interests, she certainly shined as a great villain ... but that's for another list.
#5 Rachel Dawes played by Katie Holmes, from "Batman Begins"
I know I'm a minority on this one, but here she is ... Rachel Dawes, played by the very cute Katie Holmes. This character is admittedly a mixed blessing, and the one thing that fans point to as a weakness in the film. For my money, she's devoid of common clichés, as she doesn’t run around in a hot dress, she can take out a super-villain like the Scarecrow, and the chemistry between her and Bruce feels natural. Rachel even teaches the hero important morals like ... “it’s not who you are underneath, but what you do that defines you.” ... which makes her a decent role model. The down side is that Katie Holmes, despite her best efforts, just doesn’t feel right in the role. She just looks and feels too much like a high school student rather than someone working in a District Attorney office, and she certainly doesn’t look like someone who’d get paired with Batman. Regardless, the positives of her character for me are just enough to out-way the negatives.
#4 Dr. Chase Meridian played by Nichol Kidman, from "Batman Forever"
Nichol Kidman plays Bruce Wayne's most attractive love interest named Dr. Chase Meridian, and while she's very appealing, she admittedly also comes off as mixed potential. This character as written on paper had a lot of promise to be, perhaps Batman’s best love interest. I love the idea of a girlfriend that’s a psychiatrist, and it’s a cool idea for her to be in love with one of the hero’s identities, but dismissive of the other. Also, in general, I love Nichol Kidman, and it’s awesome to see her in this kind of role.
Putting aside her obviously attractive screen presence, I think she has the coolest eye brows of any Batman girl. There’s just something about that look and stair of hers that makes her feel bad ass when paired with Batman. Unfortunately, while she’s written as a character with both brains and brawns, neither of them is utilized effectively in this film. It’s as if all the right ingredients are there for a strong female lead, but something just falls short on the delivery. I think the movie got too distracted by capitalizing her as the good-looking eye candy for Batman to rescue, before utilizing her potential strengths to leave a memorable impression. Never the less, she still ranks higher then most as a personal favorite ... I mean it's Nichole Kidman, and she was one of my first movie crushes, so that alone puts her in my top five.
#3 Selina Kyle played by Zoe Kravitz, from "The Batman"
This is the first time Cat-Woman is depicted as a full-on protagonist, and it’s great to see how these two crime fighters work together. While they don’t always see eye to eye, she never once dose anything against Batman, and it just feels like a welcome change-up. This is also a rare case in which I found myself preferring Selina Kyle on screen over Cat-Woman, as Zoe Kravitz is dynamite in the role, looks great using her feminine whiles to her advantage, also has long sharp fingernails, and even her relation with Batman is great. While it’s not the best written romance between the two, I find it one of the best acted, as well as one of the best staged. I love when they share a strong bonding scene, the two are on a rooftop, silhouetted against a beautiful sun-rise backdrop ... it's great.
#2 Vicki Vale played by Kim Basinger, from "Batman"
Our lead girlfriend in the original Tim Burton classic is Vicki Vale, played by the lovely Kim Basinger. She’s a surprisingly likable, albeit cliched damsel in distress, always in need of rescuing, always losing her shoes, and always screaming.
However, despite being such an obvious cliché, she could still stick up for herself, she was supportive, yet had her limits, and it just made her a really fun character to have present. As for the girl always loosing her shoes, Kim Basinger was actually the tallest person on set, so she always had to go around either bare foot or sock footed in order to appear shorter then either Michael Keaton or Jack Nicholson. One side note, I really like Vales wardrobe, as most of Batman’s girl friends are always in black attire, but Vale was always in white, and that was a much cooler contrast to both Batman and the dark, Gothic surroundings.
#1 Andrea Beaumont voiced by Dana Delany, from "Batman Mask of the Phantasm"
Let’s finally cut to the chase, Bruce’s love interest Andrea Beaumont is in my opinion the absolute best female lead from any Batman movie. She’s fearlessly independent, can fight for herself, but is also brimming with personality, and still keeps her femininity in check when acting tuff. Her voice is supplied by the exceptionally talented Dana Delany, who’s best known for voicing Lois Lane in the 90’s animated “Superman” TV series. Her relationship with Batman is naturally one of the films strengths, as it plays with our emotions by mixing the hopes and dreams of a beautiful life with the darkness of reality. I’ll admit, I don’t know if such polar opposite people as Bruce and Andrea would actually get together, but their on-screen chemistry still works, and I genuinely wanted to see them get together. Surprisingly, as the film goes on, we discover that Andrea has quiet the tragic backstory herself, and even makes Batman’s complexities look tame by comparison. All around, their my favorite couple from this long standing franchise, and one of the main reasons this particular movie stands as one of my absolute favorites.
Thanks for reading my countdown ... and continue to enjoy the movie couples you Love!
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