Michael Keaton saw the writing on the wall - although it's doubtful he could have foreseen the moribund joke Joel Schumacher would reduce the franchise to in the coming years, it's fortunate that he was turned off by Batman Returns.

And then came the suits, with their brilliant ideas:

"I knew we were in trouble in talks for the third one when certain people started the conversation with ‘Why does it have to be so dark?' ‘Why does he have to be so depressed?' ‘Shouldn't there be more color in this thing?' I knew I was headed for trouble and that it wasn't a road I was going to go down."

And we know the rest of the story. Batman thrived in the '90s via Bruce Timm and Paul Dini's masterful animation, but the post-Burton Batmovies were horrendous. Keaton left with his dignity intact - not every former Batman can say the same.