It takes more than that to be trusted to carry a film. You're talking about 150m + production resting on the back of a guy who does appearances. He was good in that fanfilm - no argument, but there's no way the studio would feel comfortable casting him -- I'm betting Batman will be a Brit, as I wrote earlier -- Nolan likes to cast from his neighborhood.
You may be right, but I hope not.
Regardless of the money made from Nolan's Bat-films, I think casting Bale was a mistake. In my opinion, he just wasn't a good Batman.
The lispy, mouth-breathing, dog-barking voice just sucked, in my opinion. If you're casting Batman, you have to cast
Batman. Bale was an ok Bruce Wayne, but I don't think he conveyed the inner turmoil that created the Bat. He wasn't believable to me. Keaton was great, but didn't have the physique to pull it off, hence the muscle suit. Kilmer could have been good. Clooney looked good in the suit and was an acceptable Bruce Wayne, but that movie was just bad. It's hard to judge him from that standpoint.
Batman is a big guy, a badass. He's spent his life training and educating himself. He has an above aveage intellect, but isn't necessarily a genius. He wants to kill the bad guys, but he knows that if he does then he becomes one of them. He doesn't need the armor, but he has it if he thinks it's necessary. What I see in a Batman is the little boy who is trying his best to make sure what happened to him doesn't happen to anyone else.
That's the key.
His anger is boiling just below the surface, but he never allows himself the luxury of fully letting go.
That's what I see with Kevin Porter. He understands what the character is all about, and conveys that in the voice.
Then there's the costuming. In the Bale movies it was just bad, in my opinion. Bale's face looked squished in that cowl. The cowl was bad. The cape looked like velvet. It looked like an afterthought, and not a part of the cowl. The rubber suit in the first one and the armor in the second and third ones just weren't believable to me.
Batman is a badass. If he needs armor to protect him from his opponents, it makes him look weak.
In my opinion.
After all this, I'd like it to be known that I think Kevin Porter's Batman is closer to the comics than anything I've ever seen. Just look at the guy's face.
Listen to the voice.
And just for emphasis, look at this Alex Ross cover art proposal. It's as if he had Kevin Porter modeling for it:
