Michael Keaton didn’t see much of ‘Batman Returns,’ hasn’t seen the ‘The Dark Knight’ trilogy

More than half a dozen actors have played Batman and his billionaire alter ego Bruce Wayne over the years, but for whatever reason, Michael Keaton (who played the Caped Crusader in Tim Burton’s “Batman” and “Batman Returns”) continues to stick out as the quintessential movie Dark Knight for many. Sorry, Christian Bale!

Maybe it was because Keaton was the first actor to play Batman in a big-budget DC Comics movie, or maybe it was the fact that the “Mr. Mom” actor wasn’t the most likely choice for the role but made it work with his trademark, go-for-broke intensity. Whatever the reasons, where Val Kilmer and George Clooney’s respective turns as the World’s Greatest Detective are now mostly forgotten by movie audiences, Keaton’s portrayal of Batman remains iconic more than 20 years after he last donned the black cape and cowl.

See also: How much would it cost to be Batman?

The “Beetlejuice” actor hasn’t had much to say about his tenure as Batman in the intervening years. In fact, Keaton hasn’t really had much to say about anything to anyone, granting few interviews other than the requisite junket and talk show appearances when a new movie of his comes out. Since the late '90s, Keaton has become famously reclusive, and seemed happy relegating himself to supporting roles and voice work in kid’s movies, like Lindsay Lohan’s dad in “Herbie: Fully Loaded” and the doll Ken in Pixar’s “Toy Story 3.”

But Keaton's Bat-silence finally ended recently when he appeared on comedian Marc Maron's WTF podcast to talk about family, comedy, his career, and more.

When the subject of the "Batman" movies came up Keaton talked in depth about his earliest meetings with director Tim Burton. The pair had just successfully collaborated on the supernatural comedy "Beetlejuice" and Burton was looking for someone to play Bruce Wayne and his crime-fighting alter ego in his version of "Batman." After reading the script, Keaton came back to Burton with some notes.

“He’s ridiculously depressed. He’s a vigilante. He’s got this issue…” Keaton recalled telling Burton, thinking that he might have been off the mark in his assessment of the comic book superhero.

“That’s exactly what I want to do,” replied Burton, much to Keaton's surprise.

Keaton hilariously admitted that he "didn't even see much of the second one,” referring to 1992's "Batman Returns," and talked about how he disagreed with the approach that Burton's replacement, director Joel Schumacher, wanted to take for "Batman Forever." Keaton told Maron that he wanted his third outing as the Caped Crusader to be an origin story for the character -- in the vein of Christopher Nolan's 2005 "Batman Begins" -- but that the director and the studio didn't want to do that. That disagreement along with problems with the script led Keaton to give up the role that had made him famous.

Keaton also commented on Nolan's "Dark Knight" trilogy, saying that the British director is "so talented, it’s crazy," but subsequently confessed that he'd only seen bits and pieces of the modern day Bat-flicks.

See also: Christian Bale's comments leave the door open for more 'Dark Knight' sequels

It's cool to hear Keaton talking about the character since he clearly has a genuine love and appreciation for Bruce Wayne/Batman. Though he probably won't be playing the part again any time soon, the 61-year-old actor seems poised for a bit of a Hollywood comeback. A memorable role as the police captain in the comedy “The Other Guys” and the villain role in the upcoming “RoboCop” remake mean that we'll probably be seeing more of the former Dark Knight on the big screen very soon.