Adam West gets back in the Batmobile

[Brian Damage]

Adam West barely recognizes Gotham City these days. “Batman is so dark now,” the 80-year-old actor said with a carefree chuckle. “The new films, they are grim, Gothic, full of explosions, mayhem. It’s the way of things, I suppose, the whole world seems darker.”

Well, the world was also heaving with angst back when West wore the cape for 26 months of prime-time silliness that began in January 1966. The native of Walla Walla, Wash., became an icon of camp with his masked-man deadpan and, for much of America, his version was the enduring definition of the caped crusader for decades.

That’s changed after the cemetery cabaret of Tim Burton’s Bat-movies and the ferocious revenge films of Christopher Nolan, whose “The Dark Knight” hit the billion-dollar mark at the box office a few weeks ago. Batman now seems closer kin to Dracula and Dirty Harry than he does Dick Tracy, but that don’t tell that West who is still dancing the Batusi and enjoying his busy role as an elder statesman of farce.

“I look at [it] this way: They’ve got the ‘Dark Knight,’ and I was the bright knight,” he said with the breathy, oddball diction that still keeps him in demand as a voice actor in animation. “Or maybe I was even ... the neon knight.”

West has an upcoming appearance on “30 Rock,” and there’s also his ongoing voice work on “Family Guy,” on which he plays Mayor Adam West; that namesake role, along with his portrayal of himself (albeit, a cat-obsessed version of himself) on the loopy Nickelodeon series “The Fairly Oddparents” has given him entire new generations of fans who have never seen the odd “Batman” series except maybe in snatches on YouTube. There’s also his voice roles in “Chicken Little,” “Meet the Robinsons” and animated Batman shows on which he played the mayor of Gotham, not its infamous mystery man.

“I’m like Madonna, I keep reinventing myself,” said West, who splits his time between Palm Springs and Sun Valley, Idaho. “I get called ‘Mayor West’ a lot in airports. I’ve been very fortunate to have a fan base that keeps growing and the work gets such a warm response and humor from people.”

This week, West is back in a familiar comedy vehicle -- literally. The new film “Super Capers,” yet another superhero parody (it follows “Hancock,” “My Super Ex-Girlfriend,” “Zoom,” “Sky High,” “Superhero Movie,” etc.), opened Friday and while its showing in just 80 theaters nationwide, it’s a memorable gig for West because it puts him back in the driver’s seat of his most famous ride.

“It’s a very bright comedy adventure. In it I’m a cab driver whose gotten a hold of the Batmobile and converted it to a taxi cab –- with air conditioning,” West said. “I meet up with a young guy who’s trying to be a super hero, played by an actor named Justin Whalin, who is quite good, and I’m able to drive him around on some of his misadventures.”

And how was it to sit in that grand old tail-finned time capsule? “It was great,” he said. “All those things that you do in a long career come back pretty easily once you get your hands on the wheel.”

The film’s cast reads like a game of celebrity Mad Libs (Doug Jones from “Hellboy,” June Lockhart from “Lassie,” Tom Sizemore from the courthouse), but after years of comic book conventions and car shows West is more pleasant than proud. "It’s a family film which means you can take anyone from a 2-year-old to your great-granny to it and they probably would all enjoy it,” he said. “I’m happy to be part of that.”

Like William Shatner of “Star Trek,” West spent a considerable amount of his career feeling smothered by his short-lived but unforgettably eccentric TV role from the 1960s: “I remember the struggle that I had,” West said. “I mean, I did the Music Center in L.A., I did the Mark Taper Forum, I did regional theater, anything I could to keep working. I think it’s an actor’s obligation, if possible, to keep working, playing the instrument. But, yes, there were a lot of doors closed for a long time.”

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