RIP Val Kilmer

Actor portrayed Batman, Jim Morrison among many other roles

Val Kilmer in the promotional poster for 1985’s “Real Genius.”

Actor Val Kilmer has died at age 65, as reported by the New York Times and other sources.

Kilmer portrayed an action-ready Batman, a razor-sharp pilot called Iceman and a hard-drinking Doc Holliday among his many memorable roles. He was facile in comedies like “Top Secret,” emphatic in dramas like “The Doors,” where he played frontman Jim Morrison, and eminently watchable in everything in between.

I still quote from his performance as the super-intelligent college student Chris Knight in “Real Genius” regularly.

In “Real Genius,” Kilmer’s Chris Knight is about to graduate, and takes a new prodigy, Mitch (Gabe Jarrett) under his wing to show him how the brainy and zany among us live. But when they find out their research may be used for a secret weapon of assassination, they take matters into their own hands. Martha Coolidge (“Valley Girl”) directs, and the kooky cast of super-smart characters make for an appealing comedy that hasn’t aged too badly. Future fans of Ryan Reynolds’ sassy-smart wisecracker persona can likely see some early DNA here in the Chris Knight character.

Ten years later, Kilmer suited up as another Knight, this time the Dark Knight, who lightened up a bit after the two Michael Keaton excursions.

In 1995, Kilmer took on the role of Bruce Wayne and Batman in “Batman Forever,” a Bat-film that I think gets a little underrated in the post-2000s flood of superhero content.

Joel Schumacher took over as director in "Batman Forever." Bruce finds himself in a love triangle with his alter ego and Nicole Kidman’s sexy psychologist Dr. Chase Meridian. The origin of Robin (Chris O’Donnell) is right from the comics and manages a good introduction for a character Tim Burton had twice avoided in “Batman” and “Batman Returns.”

Kilmer leaves an impressive filmography — and a 2021 documentary called “Val” that covers his life, his career and his battle with throat cancer.

There are many more Kilmer movies worth viewing, from “Top Gun” to “Tombstone,” to “Heat” and “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.”

Matthew Price, matthew@matthewlprice.com, has written about comics, entertainment, film, and a variety of Oklahoma topics and industries for more than two decades. He is the co-owner of Speeding Bullet Comics in Norman.