Adam West and Burt Ward are attending Silicon Valley Comic Con on Saturday, April 22. Although the various movie versions of Batman has led to a slew of different actors taking on the cape and cowl (Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer and George Clooney in the Burton/Schumacher era, Christian Bale in The Dark Knight Trilogy and Ben Affleck in the DCEU), few have managed to so shape the character's perception in popular culture as seismically as Adam West.
West played Bruce Wayne and his crime-fighting alter-ego alongside Burt Ward as the ever holy Dick Grayson aka Robin in the 1960s Batman TV series and its spinoff movie. The show's camp is of a very different tone to the Batman present today both on screen and in print, but this Silver Age pastiche has found its own place in pop culture. The popularity of West's run has led to the actor's continued prolificity, epitomized by the actors returning to voice their iconic roles in last year's animated movie, Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders. Although it's become a rather easy punching bag in comparison to the modern dark ages of the character, there's a lot of love out there for West's take, especially when it's taken in the context of the then-contemporary comics.
Today, Silicon Valley Comic Con announced that West and Ward will be attending the event on Saturday, April 22. This is set to be the first time the pair have been together in the Bay Area in over a decade and will reportedly mark their final ever appearance in Northern California.
The pair played Bruce and Dick for what is now an eye-watering 120 episodes over three seasons between 1966 and 1968; the show was typically made up of weekly two-parters starring a variety of guest stars, ranging from Caesar Romero as Joker to Vincent Price as Egghead. Although that's a short time frame, the sheer prolificacy of the show led to Batman 1966 having a major impact on the comic book genre, reshaping its core character in the public perception and catalyzing a later darker move for the medium.
Aside from their SVCC appearance, the duo are still very busy. Both will be back in Gotham one more for a sequel to Return of the Caped Crusaders (against William Shatner as The Riddler), while West is set to appear in DC TV comedy Powerless.
The Silicon Valley Comic Con is now in its second year and will take place on April 21-23, 2017. Grant Gustin, star of The CW's The Flash is also set to appear, and as the inaugural year of Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak's brainchild managed to attract the likes of Stan Lee, William Shatner, Jeremy Renner, Nathan Fillion and Michael J. Fox, he and the Dynamic Duo could likely be matched by many more.