The brilliant private joke between Michael Keaton and Tom Holland
In 1989, Michael Keaton appeared onscreen in the second film adaptation of the DC hero Batman. The film was directed by Tim Burton, who imprinted his own artistic identity into the tone and style, and was the first instalment in Warner Brothers’ initial Batman series. Fighting against Keaton’s Batman was Jack Nicholson’s Joker, with Kim Bassinger playing the role of Wayne’s love interest Vicki.
The film was a commercial and critical success. It racked up over $400 million in box office totals and received global praise for its direction, performances, and soundtrack. During its release time, it was the fifth-highest grossing film and was followed by Batman Returns three years later, which was also highly acclaimed and loved.
Burton’s Batman played a part in cinema’s fascination with comic books and superhero films. However, the next two sequels (Batman Forever and Batman & Robin) were panned and poor in quality. This steadied superhero films and compromised critics taking them too seriously as cinematic contributions.
However, DC’s rival Marvel changed the outlook on the genre with the first adaptation of its most iconic character. In 2002, horror director Sam Raini directed Spiderman, which starred Tobey Maguire as the title hero. The film and its sequel are considered some of the greatest superhero films of all time and allowed comic book adaptations to be what they are today.
14 years after the character’s first film appearance, the Marvel Cinematic Universe re-introduced the character for another re-con, following Sony‘s The Amazing Spiderman, where Andrew Garfield played the role.
Captain America: Civil War was released in 2016 and featured several beloved Marvel superheroes alongside the Avengers. The MCU’s version of Spiderman was a new character, played by British actor Tom Holland.
Despite his appearance being spoiled in the trailer, Holland’s appearance as Peter Parker was an immediate hit with Marvel fans. It only took a year for the character to get his own film in the Marvel franchise, with Spiderman: Homecoming being released in 2017.
Fans of both Marvel and DC films were in for a treat as the villain Vulture was played by none other than Batman actor Michael Keaton. So what happened when an actor who starred in some of DC’s best adaptations as its face character walked onto a Marvel set?
Keaton and Holland have shared how they took the whole scenario as one huge inside joke. Holland revealed that while filming Spider-Man: Homecoming, Keaton would shed the Vulture character for the Dark Knight. The Beetlejuice actor would whisper “I’m Batman” to Tom Holland during fight scenes as if it were a comic fan’s dream of DC and Marvel crossing paths. “We have a fight in the movie and I punch him. He turns around and says [in a deep voice], ‘I’m Batman.’ He kept doing Batman quotes on set,” Holland shared.
The actor also shared one detailed story: “There’s a great scene—it’s not in the movie, it was cut short—where I carry the Vulture out of the flames when he nearly dies and I rescue him”. He spoke about Keaton’s commitment to the joke, adding: “I lay him down on the sand and he says… ‘why did you save me?’ And I’m like, ‘because I’m Spider-Man,’ and then he goes, ‘But I’m Batman!’”.
