Batman & Robin is one of the most infamous superhero movies ever made, and its cast have a lot to answer for, no matter how successful they may have been following the film’s release. Easily considered to be the worst live-action Batman film by many, Joel Schumacher’s 1997 flop needs little introduction among die-hard DC fans thanks to its reputation for childish one-liners, terrible costumes, and an utterly nonsensical plot. Much of the film’s cast has gone on to do better things since, with Batman & Robin being an unfortunate stain on their resumes.
For what it’s worth, the cast of Batman & Robin is quite star-studded, featuring some names that were quite high-profile at the time, and have only continued to endure in pop culture recognition in the decades since. The initial roster of actors may have been one of the few things Batman & Robin got right, even if it wasted the potential of its talented performers. With a measure of lesser-known actors also mixed into the bunch, it’s fascinating to see where the film’s stars have gone in their careers since.
10 George Clooney Played Batman
Clooney Returned As Bruce Wayne In 2023’s The Flash
If there’s one actor in particular who regrets his involvement in Schumacher’s Batman & Robin, it’s George Clooney. Replacing Val Kilmer, who didn’t return from Batman Forever, Clooney’s Dark Knight wasn’t exactly dark or a paragon of justice, spending more time flexing his income to buy an expensive auction date than fighting crime. George Clooney was already a recognizable leading man thanks to his success in the hit medical drama ER at the time, and has since become an even more lauded Hollywood icon.
Despite Clooney’s public apologies for Batman & Robin, the actor actually did go on to reprise the role of Bruce Wayne for a brief cameo in 2023’s The Flash. Though he went on to garner further acclaim as the protagonist in O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Ocean’s Eleven following Batman & Robin, in recent years, Clooney has spent more time behind the camera as a producer and director. That being said, he starred across Brad Pitt in 2024’s thriller Wolfs, and is poised to star in an upcoming Noah Baumbach Netflix release.
9 Arnold Schwarzenegger Played Mr. Freeze
Schwarzenegger is still one of the most recognizable names in Hollywood
Top billing on Batman & Robin actually went to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Mr. Freeze, the film’s primary antagonist. Schwarzenegger was already a venerated 80s action star by the time of his one and only foray into superhero filmmaking, presenting the film with a strikingly miscast ice pun-dispensing villain making up what is easily one of the former bodybuilder’s worst performances. Schwarzenegger’s legacy has become somewhat uneven following Batman & Robin, thanks in large part to the start of his political career.
Becoming the governor of California in 2003, Schwarzenegger would hold on to the title until 2011, leaving little room for movie-making activities during the following years. In the wake of this political career, plenty of controversies surrounding the Hollywood legend began to surface. Schwarzenegger’s most recent acting gig was in 2019’s Terminator: Dark Fate, which saw him once again return as the iconic face of the T-800 android.
8 Chris O’Donnell Played Robin
O’Donnell has spent the majority of his post-Robin career in a single TV show
To this day, Chris O’Donnell remains the only actor with the honor of playing a true live-action Robin, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Blake in The Dark Knight Rises notwithstanding. Prior to being cast in Batman Forever, O’Donnell was mostly known for romantic dramas like In Love and War and Mad Love, perhaps owing to Schumacher’s desire to play up the hearthrob aspect of the character. O’Donnell returned as the Boy Wonder in Batman & Robin, despite Batman himself getting recast.
In the years following the film, Chris O’Donnell has had something of a drier filmography compared to his fellow Batman & Robin castmates. His last film appearance was in the 2010 comedy-drama A Little Help. More of a television actor, O’Donnell has spent the majority of his career busy as the shapeshifting Special Agent G. Callen in NCIS: Los Angeles, which only ended syndication in 2023.
7 Uma Thurman Played Poison Ivy
Thurman has continued to maintain a career as a recognizable actress
Uma Thurman was just getting her start as a recognizable Hollywood actress by the time she played Dr. Pamela Ivy, a.k.a. Poison Ivy, in Batman & Robin. Often hailed as Quentin Tarantino’s muse, Thurman starred in Pulp Fiction several years prior, and went on to headline the irreverent Kill Bill duology in the early 2000s. In recent years, Uma Thurman seems to be making a hotly-anticipated return to action movies following an impressive run on Broadway in the late 2010s.
Thurman’s most recent role was in the 2024 drama Oh, Canada, a film which told the story of a Canada-fleeing draft dodger during the Vietnam War. The widely-recognized starlet has been no stranger to TV as well, showing up on streaming as recently as 2022 in the brief-lived thriller Suspicion and the anthology drama Super Pumped. She’s also poised to return to the action genre in the upcoming female-led Ballerina Overdrive, not to mention a return to superhero movies in particular in the sequel The Old Guard 2, currently in post-production at the time of writing.
6 Alicia Silverstone Played Batgirl
Silverstone has remained a consistently working actress
Just as Batman Forever told the origin story of Robin, having him already a pre-established member of the Bat-Family by Batman & Robin, Schumacher’s Batman follow-up would introduce yet another new hero in Alicia Silverstone’s Batgirl. Rather than the traditional origin of the commissioner’s daughter, Barbara Gordon, this version of Batgirl is instead Alfred’s niece, going by the name of Barbara Wilson instead of Barbara Gordon. Ever since the tragic vaulting of Warner Bros. Batgirl movie, Silverstone has remained the only cinematic version of the heroine.
Silverstone has maintained an impressively consistent catalog of credits in the years following Batman & Robin through to the modern day. Her most recent appearances have been in the horror-comedy adventures Krazy House and Y2K, suggesting a new favorite genre for the former music video star to work in. Silverstone is also no stranger to TV roles, voicing Queen Marlena in Masters of the Universe: Revelation and popping up in the most recent season of American Horror Story.
5 Michael Gough Played Alfred Pennyworth
The late British performer is still fondly-remembered
Michael Gough’s charming performance as the steadfast English butler Alfred Pennyworth is among the best of Batman & Robin, almost making up for the film’s other crimes. Gough was one of the few to reprise his role in all four Batman films starting with Tim Burton’s Batman and ending with Batman & Robin, mentoring three different incarnations of Bruce Wayne. Prior to that, Gough was a lauded actor known for his appearances in classic Hammer horror films and British sci-fi television.
Michael Gough only appeared in a handful of films following Batman & Robin, already an accomplished actor by the time he stepped into the neat shoes of Alfred Pennyworth. The last and most well-known of these was 2010’s Alice In Wonderland, another Tim Burton feature Gough starred in, in which he lent the dulcet tones of his warm voice to the humble Dodo Bird, Uilleam. Gough sadly passed away at the impressive age of 94 the next year, leaving behind a treasured legacy.
4 Pat Hingle Played Commissioner James Gordon
Hingle left an impressive legacy as a character actor
Oddly enough, despite the origins of Batgirl being changed to be Alfred’s niece rather than Commissioner Gordon’s daughter in Batman & Robin, Gordon still appears in the film, played by Pat Hingle. Like Michael Gough, Pat Hingle maintained the character of Commissioner Gordon from 1989’s Batman all the way up to Batman & Robin. Prior to the big-budget superhero films, Hingle was a character actor who appeared in hundreds of films, particularly within the filmography of Clint Eastwood, the two being close friends.
Sadly, also like Michael Gough, Batman & Robin appeared towards the end of Pat Hingle’s cinematic career leading up to his death in 2009. Of the films leading up to his passing, the best known was the Will Ferrell-led comedy Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Hingle is also credited with a posthumous role thanks to the release of the 2019 Shaft remake starring Samuel L. Jackson, made up of archival footage featuring Hingle.
3 Elle Macpherson Played Julie Madison
Batman & Robin is one of the top model’s few notable acting roles
Not primarily an actress, Elle Macpherson’s appearance in Batman & Robin is one of her few on-screen appearances. Macpherson plays Julie Madison, Bruce Wayne’s girlfriend who proposes to him only to be rejected, unaware of his double life as Batman and the dangers that come with it. Macpherson is better known as a model than as an actress, boasting a record five cover appearances in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and founding her own line of skincare products and lingerie.
Macpherson’s movie and TV show appearances are sparse, with Batman Forever being one of just 10 movie credits, the most recent being the 2001 rom-com South Kensington. Macpherson has also appeared on TV as a mentor and host on Britain and Ireland’s Next Top Model and Australia’s Next Top Model, though she did maintain a role as a recurring character on the hit sitcom Friends. The runway superstar’s most recent public ventures have been as a co-founder of the supplement company WelleCo.
2 John Glover Played Dr. Jason Woodrue
Glover has become quite familiar with DC villains since Batman & Robin
Mr. Freeze wasn’t the only villainous scientist with a stake in the plot of Batman & Robin. The film also featured the acting talents of John Glover as the mad Dr. Jason Woodrue, the creator of the “Venom” supersoldier drug. Usually typecast in such antagonistic roles, Glover’s most famous character prior to Batman & Robin was Daniel Clamp in Gremlins 2: The New Batch, an eccentric billionaire who ends the film married to a female Gremlin.
Of all the cast members of Batman & Robin, John Glover may have had the closest relationship to DC Comics characters going forwards, playing Lex Luthor’s dark patriarch Lionel Luthor in Smallville up to season 7. He also plays a similar supervillain father in 2019’s Shazam!, typecast in an oddly specific role. Most recently, Glover seems to be returning to the Gremlins franchise in the upcoming Gremlins: The Wild Batch, though it’s unclear if he’ll be playing the same character.
1 Robert Swenson Played Bane
A professional wrestler still best-known for Batman & Robin
An athlete through and through, Robert Swenson was a professional wrestler, boxer, and stunt artist who appeared in a mostly-masked role in Batman & Robin. Fittingly enough, the musclebound performer (who once held the Guinness World Record for largest biceps in the world) played Bane, Batman’s classic Venom-injecting enemy who is watered-down into a witless henchman in Batman & Robin. Alongside Batman & Robin, Swenson starred in four other action movies.
Tragically, Robert Swenson passed away the very same year Batman & Robin was released at the young age of 40 due to steroids-related complications, shocking his co-stars. He appeared posthumously in Beyond Batman: Frozen Freaks and Femme Fatales – The Makeup of ‘Batman & Robin’, a behind-the-scenes documentary of Schumacher’s film that put special emphasis on Swenson’s impressive Bane makeup. By far the only actor of Batman & Robin still best-known for his role in it, Swenson’s pro-wrestling legacy continues to endure.
Upcoming DC Movie Releases
-
Joker: Folie a Deux
Release Date October 4, 2024
- Superman (2025)
Release Date July 11, 2025
- Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow
Release Date June 26, 2026
- The Batman Part II
Release Date October 2, 2026
Joker: Folie a Deux
Superman (2025)
Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow
The Batman Part II