What do people automatically think of when they hear Michael Keaton mentioned in casual conversation? It could be Batman, Beetlejuice, or maybe even Birdman. He's created some iconic characters over his 70 years, and his cinematic range has been a treat to watch. Keaton began his acting career in the 1970s, with small television roles in Maude, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Afterwards, he began leading bigger, mainstream films as the title character in Beetlejuice and, of course, as Bruce Wayne/Batman in Batman and its sequel Batman Returns.
Surprisingly, he's only been nominated for one Oscar (without winning) for the 2014 film Birdman, and yet he is considered to be one of the most talented actors of his generation and his films have made billions at the box office. He is having a bit of a superhero renaissance at the moment, appearing as Vulture in the MCU (within films like Spider-Man: No Way Home and Morbius), and even reprising his old Batman character in the upcoming DC film The Flash. It’s time, then, to take a look back at the best films of Michael Keaton's career.
9 Mr. Mom
Keaton shows his sensitive side in this early family comedy about Jack Butler (Keaton), a man who is laid off from his engineering job during the 1980s recession while his wife goes back to work as an executive. Jack is relegated as the stay-at-home dad and learns to grow with his children and understand the struggles that his wife endured when she was saddled with those duties. Mr. Mom is one of Keaton’s more lighthearted films, and it sheds some much-needed light on a family affected by the recession. Keaton’s performance is one that doesn't take itself seriously, with a goofy charm and earnestness typical to his early roles
8 Beetlejuice
Beetlejuice was the first collaboration with Keaton and director Tim Burton. Keaton plays the zany, care-free demon that helps a deceased couple frighten-off a group of people who have settled in their house. This is probably one of Keaton’s most memorably campy roles, and what really sets him apart from his other roles is the look of Beetlejuice, which Keaton helped develop. The character sports a green and wily hairdo, large dark circles around his eyes, tattered clothing, and mold emanating from his skin, not to mention the raspy, energetic way he speaks. It’s fair to say that Keaton’s look stood out in cinema history to the point where people couldn't even recognize that it was him.
7 Batman
Keaton and Burton teamed up once again to make the cult classic Batman. The film follows Keaton’s Bruce Wayne as he struggles with the trauma of losing his parents to Jack Nicholson’s Joker in this Gothic adaptation of the caped crusader. After Adam West’s juvenile translation of The Dark Knight, director Tim Burton took the Batman franchise into much darker territory. Keaton was able to transform the character into a shadowy legend and each Batman film has based their standards around what he brought to the table. Keaton easily and expertly balances his rich aristocratic performance as Bruce Wayne with his brooding counterpart Batman and become what many fans idolize as the best Batman performance on the silver screen. No offense to Christian Bale, of course.
6 Batman Returns
What do you know? Batman Returns is another Burton/Keaton collaboration, The Dark Knight goes up against the Penguin (Danny DeVito) and gets entangled with Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer). Keaton once again dawns his signature cape, costume and mask, but his performance is more intimate this time, especially when sharing the screen with Pfeiffer. The actor uses his quiet confidence and charm to keep the audience drawn in., so that even when he wears his batsuit, the audience never forgets that the man behind the mask is still human and is, therefore, flawed with his own past. Keaton’s performance never makes people forget that aspect, and perfectly fits with Burton's ever darker, grim sequel.
5 Dumbo
While many critics condemned the film for claiming that it lacked heart, this couldn’t be further from the truth, as Dumbo locates emotion in surprisingly genuine places. Keaton isn’t the one adding heart, though; he portrays the villainous V.A. Vandevere who finds the flying elephant Dumbo in the news and attempts to exploit the creature for his own profits. Keaton (working with Burton yet again) comes off as devious and deceitful, and it remains a uniquely cruel character in his filmography, utilizing the actor's natural charm to easily manipulate others.
4 The Founder
Everyone knows the fast-food franchise McDonald’s, but fewer people know about how the franchise began. Keaton plays the eager and ambitious salesman Ray Kroc, who stumbles upon a fast-food restaurant called McDonald’s owned by two brothers, Richard (Nick Offerman) and Maurice (John Carroll Lynch). Kroc goes into business with the brothers only to eventually buy them out and become the CEO of McDonald’s. This is a story of lies and deceit where, in this case, the bad guy actually wins and Keaton comes out on top. The Founder is a great example of how capitalism and the corporate world works, and how greed transforms good intentions.
3 Toy Story 3
In all fairness, most people forget that Keaton lent his voice to a talking Ken doll in Toy Story 3. It’s not his most memorable performance, but he does a great job with it nevertheless, and the film received universal acclaim. Keaton’s Ken doll is portrayed as a narcissistic dandy compared to his love interest Barbie’s more cunning, if still self-absorbed, personality. Of course, Keaton's vocal performance flew under the radar when sharing time with Tim Allen’s Buzz Lightyear and Tom Hanks’ Woody, but still entertained zealous Disney/Pixar fans, and taps into Keaton's early comedic sensibilities well.
2 Spider-Man: Homecoming
Many Spider-Man fans will say that Alfred Molina as Doctor Octopus or Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin are the best villainous iterations in the franchise, but Keaton’s Adrian Toomes/Vulture is something that was fresh and sinister beyond words. Toomes is a salvager in New York when he is fired by Tony Stark’s employees. He and his associates smuggle the equipment that they found from the Battle of New York, seen in The Avengers, and they make their own technology, with Toomes creating tech-savvy wings and dubbing himself 'the Vulture.' Unlike so many other Spidey villains, Vulture has a motivation that isn’t about ruling the world and being driven mad by a science experiment. He runs an illegal tech cartel to support his family and if he needs to kill Spider-Man to do it, it will be done. He is at the top of his game in Spider-Man: Homecoming, but is gaining traction as a popular villain in upcoming films.
1 Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
This was the first and only film where Keaton received an Oscar nomination, though he should have won. Birdman tells the tale of a has-been (former superhero) actor named Riggan Thomson who attempts to make a comeback in a Broadway play. However, his former Birdman persona explains to him that Birdman is a part of his identity and the actor and character are one and the same. This is a Keaton film that, along with his turn as Batman, shows how identity can create or destroy a person’s path, and only Keaton’s talents could have brought this character to life. He taps into his own personal history and career as Batman, and Alejandro Inarritu does a brilliant job with his mock single-take film, following the actor through an epic identity crisis. It's arguably Keaton's best film and performance.