Val Kilmer reveals why he walked away from 'Batman'

Kilmer had essayed the caped superhero and his alter ego, the millionaire Bruce Wayne, only once in the 1995 release, "Batman Forever".

For long, Kilmer cited scheduling conflicts as the reason for stepping away from the franchise, and for not appearing in the next release of the franchise, "Batman & Robin", which released in 1997.

Now, in an interview to New York Times, Kilmer has for the first time said that he did not enjoy playing Batman, and that a set visit by special guests led to this realisation, reports hollywoodreporter.com.

It happened after a visit to the set from billionaire businessman Warren Buffett and his grandchildren. He recalled that one day during production he had to wear the Batsuit because "some special guests were stopping by the set".

The children weren't interested in talking to Kilmer, and just wanted to play with fancy props and ride in the Batmobile. That's when Kilmer realised he doesn't want to wear the mask, as anyone could do it.

"That's why it's so easy to have five or six Batmans. It's not about Batman. There is no Batman," he said.

There were reports that he ruined several future projects for himself with his Batman stint. To which, he said: "Everyone has to work out their own salvation. How to live and by what morality, and I found that the part that I feel bad about is hurting somebody in the process."

The actor said that he loved playing characters with depth like Doc Holliday in "Tombstone", and if that wasn't possible then he wanted to have fun with entertaining characters.

"I would've loved to have been on ‘Saturday Night Live' as a regular," he said.