Val Kilmer’s Iconic Roles: From Top Gun to Batman Forever (2025)

The late Val Kilmer had an illustrious acting career in his lifetime, with roles ranging from Batman inBatman Foreverto the late Jim Morrison in The Doorsbiopic.

“Fame wasn’t my priority, and I had it,” Kilmer toldThe New York Timesin May 2020, despite his lengthy list of movie credits. “I was gambling with being able to maintain the status, and I would’ve won my gamble, except for 2008. I just lost my home like a million other people. It was pretty awful.”

Following notable roles in the likes of Tombstone, Heat and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, the actor quickly began choosing his future projects carefully based on his passions. Because of this, Kilmer was initially hesitant to play Iceman in the popularTop Gunfilm.

“I didn’t want the part. I didn’t care about the film. The story didn’t interest me,” theactor wrote in his bookI’m Your Huckleberry: A Memoir, noting that he barely tried during his audition. “My agent, who also representedTom Cruise, basically tortured me into at least meetingTony Scott saying he was one of the hottest directors in town. … I read the lines indifferently and yet, amazingly, I was told I had the part. I felt more deflated than inflated. I had to get out of there.”

While it took considerable convincing for Kilmer to join the 1986 picture, he was more interested in reprising his role for a quick cameo in the 2022 sequel,Top Gun: Maverick.

Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2015 but didn’t publicly share his diagnosis until two years later. He died at age 65 in April 2025. His death certificate released by the Los Angeles County Department of Health confirmed his cause of death was pneumonia.

Scroll down to relive Kilmer’s best roles through the years:

Kilmer reprised his iconic role as Iceman for 2022's Top Gun: Maverick for a brief scene with Cruise's titular character. "It was like no time had passed at all," he told Entertainment Weekly about working with his co star once again via email. The emotional onscreen reunion also nodded to Kilmer's battle with throat cancer, having Iceman communicate with his old rival primarily through the written word, as the now-Admiral Kazansky is suffering from an illness that has affected his ability to speak.

Kilmer played Kazansky, a fellow recruit at the United States Navy training facility alongside Tom Cruise’s Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. The two actors both reprised their roles in the May 2022 sequel.

The Cowboy Poet Outlaw Madman author starred as Madmartigan in Ron Howard’s 1988 fantasy film about a young farmer tasked with protecting a special infant from an evil queen’s reign.

Inspired by the 1960s-era rock band The Doors, Kilmer portrayed its late lead singer, Jim Morrison, in the biopic of his life.

The 7 Below actor played Doc Holliday in the action-packed western film, which also starred Kurt Russell and Sam Elliott.

The Palo Alto star acted with Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro, playing a trio of professional thieves who felt pressure from the Los Angeles police force after unknowingly leaving behind a clue on the job.

Kilmer joined an elite club of actors who’ve donned the Batsuit to portray the Caped Crusader. In the 1995 iteration, Kilmer’s Batman battled Harvey Dent (Two-Face) and Edward Nygma (The Riddler) alongside Dr. Chase Meridian and Robin.

The Birthday Cake star voiced Egyptian folk legend Moses in the animated drama as the young prince sought to learn his true identity and destiny as the chosen deliverer of his people.

Kilmer acted alongside Robert Downey Jr. in the 2005 film where a New York-based thief is sent to Hollywood to train with a private detective for a prospective movie role before teaming up to solve a murder mystery.

The Spoils of Babylon alum played the villainous Dieter Von Cunth in the 2010 picture, who’s set on destroying Washington, D.C. using a dangerous nuclear warhead. Will Forte’s MacGruber is sent to defeat his former rival.

Kilmer recounted his childhood, film roles and cancer battle in the 2021 documentary, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.

“It feels like yesterday and yet it has been a lifetime. As I write this, my documentary is getting ready to premiere at Festival De Cannes. And as grateful as I am for being selected with this high honor, I look forward most to sharing my life’s story with all of you,” he tweeted that July, gushing about the emotional project. “Here’s to giving every day the opportunity to be the most beautiful of your life.”

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