Find Out Why Batman Had That Voice

Christian Bale may have left his onscreen Batman duties behind him a while ago, but he will always be Batman in our hearts — or, if not there, in interviews that refuse to stop asking him about it. And who are we to complain, when it provides us with more stories? This one concerns the origins of Christian Bale's legendarily deep/gritty/manly Batman voice. Apparently the voice came about purely as a way for Bale to cope with his heavy/ridiculous (but badass) superhero costume during the audition. Here's what he told MTV:

They put me in Val Kilmer’s suit. It didn’t even fit properly, and I stood in it and I went "I feel like an idiot." What kind of guy walks around, dressed like a bat? And is then going to go "Hello, how are you? Just ignore that I’m dressed as a bat." [...] I went "I can’t do this in a normal voice. I have to become a beast in order to sell this to myself."

And so become a beast he did. Although that didn't stop his wife from laughing at him:

I went home that evening, and my wife said, "How’d it go?" I went, "I kind of did this," and I showed her, and she went, "Oh, you f***ed that one up, didn’t you?" Thank God they went for it.

And he even commented on Batfleck!:

[The bat-voice] ain’t for everybody. Ben’s obviously going to have to do his own thing, but it was the only way that I could find how to get into that and to justify wearing the fricking Batsuit. Otherwise, he’s just loopy beyond belief. He’s loopy, but he’s loopy with a method to his madness.

Now we're picturing a version of Batman Vs. Superman that somehow includes both Christian Bale's Batman and Ben Affleck's Batman duking it out for best Batvoice and best costume — strutting their stuff through Gothan in some kind bat-competition. But throw Batkid in their and you know who would automatically win.

(Hint: It's Batkid)