Val Kilmer’s voice falters in his haunting last ‘Batman’ post two months before his death at 65 following long battle with illness

After a devastating years-long battle with throat cancer and deteriorating health, Val Kilmer has passed away at the age of 65.

The death of the beloved actor – known for his work in Top Gun (1986) and Batman Forever (1995) – was confirmed by his family to the NYT on Tuesday night.

HIs throat cancer battle, which began in 2014 and saw him undergo chemotherapy, radiation and surgery before being declared cancer-free in 2021, forced him to step back from the Hollywood spotlight.

While he stopped attending red carpet events in 2019, Kilmer kept up with fans by sharing his artwork and rare selfies to his Instagram.

And less than two months before his death, Kilmer published what would be one of his final social media posts on February 23, 2025.

He uploaded haunting footage of himself hanging out in a padded room with artist/musician David Choe, which was originally filmed and posted by Choe in 2021.

The star looked relatively healthy with a slim build, clean-shaven face and his hair worn slightly long. 

In the clip, Kilmer, whose vocal cords were damaged by his throat cancer treatments, spoke briefly before trying on a custom Batman mask made for him by Choe.

Kilmer, who famously played the caped crusader 30 years ago, quips that it’s ‘been awhile’ since he’s re-lived his Batman glory days.

After putting it on, Kilmer stares into the camera before panning to a colorful Batman portrait that was presumably painted for him by Choe.

Along with the video, Kilmer shared visuals of Choe’s other Batman-related artwork as well as clips of the artist talking about his love for the superhero. 

Kilmer did not caption the February 2023 post, which garnered nearly 30,000 ‘likes’ from his 634,000 Instagram followers. 

Kilmer’s actual final Instagram post was published on March 22. 

It featured a photo of one of his original paintings, which he’d signed and posted on his website for sale.

‘It’s got that late-night glow,’ he wrote of the artwork. ‘Cool tones with a low burn, like when the camp fire cools down but you’re still wide awake.’

While Kilmer’s passion for art stemmed from childhood, he made it his primary focus after his ailing health forced him to give up acting.

News of Kilmer’s untimely death has shocked fans and Hollywood. 

His daughter Mercedes Kilmer, whom he shared with ex-wife Joanne Whalley, revealed he passed from pneumonia in Los Angeles on Tuesday. 

Aside from Mercedes, 33, he is also survived by son Jack Kilmer, 29. Kilmer was married to their mother Joanne from 1988 until 1996.

Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 and underwent surgery, including a tracheotomy which significantly impacted his ability to speak. He was later declared cancer free. 

Kilmer was known for his role as Iceman in the 1986 hit movie Top Gun and as Batman/Bruce Wayne in the 1995 Batman Forever. He also famously played musician Jim Morrison in the 1991 film The Doors.

Kilmer last attended a public red carpet event in 2019.

He joined fellow actors, like Ben Donenberg, at Simply Shakespeare’s Live Read of The Merchant Of Venice, which was held at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles on October 28, 2019.

Kilmer, who covered his 2015 tracheostomy with a neck scarf, appeared in high spirits as he posed for photos with his daughter Mercedes.

Kilmer underwent both radiotherapy and chemotherapy for his cancer as well as a tracheostomy a procedure to create an artificial hole in this neck to help him breathe.

The latter permanently damaged his vocal cords and consequently forever altered his speaking voice.

In the Amazon Prime documentary entitled Val, Kilmer spoke candidly about living with the consequences of throat cancer including having to use an electric device called a voice box on the artificial hole in his throat to talk.

‘I obviously am sounding much worse than I feel. I can’t speak without plugging this hole [in his throat],’ he said.

A voice box device is most commonly a battery-operated machine that produces sound to create a voice, and is used to help those suffering with throat cancer communicate.

The actor, who also had to have meals through a feeding tube, explained some of the other challenges.

‘You have to make the choice to breathe or to eat. It’s an obstacle that is very present with whoever sees me,’ he said.

Kilmer has previously detailed how he was unaware he had throat cancer until one day he coughed up ‘coagulated blood’ and called for an ambulance before passing out.

He then woke up in a Santa Monica hospital after an emergency tracheotomy for throat cancer.

In 2020, Kilmer said he ‘healed very quickly’ following his throat cancer diagnosis, in an interview with Good Morning America.

‘This is a tracheotomy,’ he said while holding his hand to his throat, ‘to help me breathe because the glands in my throat swelled up as well’.

When asked what he misses the most about his voice, Kilmer told GMA: ‘That I had one! And that I didn’t laugh like a pirate.’

Kilmer was one of Hollywood’s most prominent leading men in the 1990s before numerous spats with directors and co-stars and a series of flops dented his career.

Over the years, Kilmer gained a reputation as temperamental, intense, perfectionistic and sometimes egotistical.

‘When certain people criticize me for being demanding, I think that’s a cover for something they didn’t do well. I think they’re trying to protect themselves,’ Kilmer told the Orange County Register newspaper in 2003.

‘I believe I’m challenging, not demanding, and I make no apologies for that.’

He made his film debut starring in the spy spoof Top Secret! (1984) before appearing in the goofy comedy Real Genius (1985).

He rocketed to stardom as Tom Cruise’s co-star in the smash 1986 hit Top Gun (1986), playing naval aviator Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky, and decades later appeared alongside Cruise again in the 2022 sequel Top Gun: Maverick.

Kilmer was thrilled for the opportunity to reprise his role as Iceman in Top Gun: Maverick. The actor was famous for playing the calm, cool rival to Tom Cruise’s Maverick in the original 1986 film.

However, when the actor admitted in a 2013 interview will Larry King that he had not been approached about appearing in a proposed Top Gun sequel, Cruise reportedly rallied the troops to ensure his buddy was included.

In an interview with People, producer Jerry Bruckheimer declared, ‘Tom said he wasn’t going to make the movie without him.’ As such, once the final script was approved, it made allowances for Ice who had been promoted to Admiral to take part in the fun.

‘So the fact that he was able to do it and he worked with us on the script,’ explained the producer, ‘to have him there and be a part of it was a really emotional day when we filmed him. Because you want to see those two on the screen again, Iceman and Maverick going at it. And that’s what movie making and audiences love.’

Kilmer’s final ever film role left tears in fans’ eyes as he returned to screens and his poignant final appearance has reemerged online in light of his death aged 65.

AI technology was used to regenerate his voice in the 2022 blockbuster after Kilmer’s vocal chords were damaged following his tracheotomy in 2014.

Iceman communicated with Maverick via typed words on a screen, with some of Kilmer’s words regenerated via AI being heard out loud.

After their emotional on-screen conversation, where Iceman advised Maverick to ‘let go’ of the past and move on, scenes saw Maverick attending his friend’s funeral.

Viewers were reduced to tears at the emotional scenes at the time and fans have been re-watching the poignant moment after the news of Kilmer’s death.

Comments included: ‘This Scene hits 10 times harder now… RIP Val’; ‘Time to watch Maverick again. There couldn’t have been a better sendoff. RIP Val Kilmer’;

‘What a fitting send off for Val Kilmer, thank you for giving us Iceman. Rest in peace’; ‘Rest in Peace Mr. Kilmer, a great actor and a beautiful final film performance’;

‘This is how you show respect and honor for legacy characters and their relationships. Beautiful scene’; ‘We love you Iceman. Fly high in paradise. RIP Val.’

The scene was equally as moving for Kilmer and Cruise as the American actor previously revealed there wasn’t a dry eye in the house during filming. 

Speaking in his Amazon Prime documentary in 2021, Kilmer admitted: ‘I would purposely play up the rivalry between Tom’s character and mine, and what ended up happening is true method fashion.’

He added: ‘It was fun to play up the rivalry between our characters, but in reality I’ve always thought of Tom as a friend – and we’ve always supported each other.’

He goes on to use his actual voice to communicate with his longtime pal in a moment which Kilmer described as: ‘Very personal and moving.’

It definitely seemed to be a rollercoaster of emotions for the two A-listers as director Joseph Kosinski described a touching moment between the longtime pals. 

He said: ‘After one of the takes (we only did a few) I noticed that both Tom and Val had tears in their eyes. It felt like a genuine moment between two old friends.’

Kosinski added that the two stars helped each other raise their acting performances in a show of true spirit.

He said: ‘You’ve got two masters at the top of their game playing the most iconic characters of their careers. I think there is a lot of Maverick in Tom, and Iceman in Val, so what you are seeing onscreen is an authentic friendship that has lasted over 36 years.’

Kilmer also gushed over being a part of the film second time around as he said: ‘It was lovely. The whole experience, you know, 36 years to make this film. There were so many moments in making it that were very special, incredibly unique.’

Speaking specifically on working with Tom he added: ‘He’s an actor that I greatly admire, so it was wonderful.’

Tom also admitted emotions were high on set as he spoke about reuniting with his on screen rival on Jimmy Kimmel in 2023. 

He confessed: ‘I just want to say that was pretty emotional. I’ve known Val for decades, and for him to come back and play that character… he’s such a powerful actor that he instantly became that character again.

‘I was crying, I was crying. I got emotional. He’s such a brilliant actor, I love his work.’

Val’s son, Jack recalled how ‘stoked’ his father was to be joining the cast.

‘[My sister,] Mercedes, and I went down to San Diego to that big naval base for the shoot with Tom Cruise and everyone. And there were hundreds of extras of real pilots coming up to us and telling us that the first Top Gun inspired them to join the Navy and the Air Force.’

‘It was one of the proudest moments of being American that you could think of really.’

Kilmer starred in director Ron Howard’s fantasy Willow (1988) and married his British co-star Joanne, with whom he had two children before divorcing.

One of his most challenging roles came in director Oliver Stone’s The Doors (1991) in which he played Jim Morrison, the charismatic and ultimately doomed lead singer of the influential rock band The Doors.

To try to persuade Stone to cast him, Kilmer put together an eight-minute video of himself singing and looking like Morrison at various points in his life. Kilmer’s own singing voice is used in the film.

The Doors ushered in the highest-profile years of his career. In the 1993 Western Tombstone, he played Old West gunfighter Doc Holliday.

He had two commercial successes in 1995, co-starring with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in the crime drama Heat and succeeding Michael Keaton as the Caped Crusader in Batman Forever, the third installment in the Batman series.

Batman Forever was received tepidly by critics, and Kilmer was upstaged by co-stars Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey. Kilmer pulled out of the next Batman movie.

Director Joel Schumacher called Kilmer ‘the most psychologically troubled human being I’ve ever worked with.’

In 2020, Kilmer revealed he had been single since the year 2000 in his memoir, I’m Your Huckleberry.

‘I haven’t had a girlfriend in 20 years. The truth is I am lonely part of every day,’ he wrote.

‘I’ve always found women infinitely more interesting than men. Perhaps that’s why we’ve always gotten along. We are big oafy elephants…and they are butterflies.’

Val was pictured kissing Winona Ryder in 2005 and claimed to have dated his Alexander leading lady Angelina Jolie in 2004, but apparently they were not committed relationships.

Kilmer has loved some of the most beautiful women in the world including romances with Daryl Hannah and Cindy Crawford.

The Jay and Silent Bob Reboot actor has especially kind words for his ex-girlfriend Cher, who allowed him to move into her Malibu guest house after he was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2015.

‘Once Cher works her way inside your head and heart, she never leaves. For her true friends, her steadfast love and loyalty never die,’ Val wrote.

Despite his acclaimed career, Kilmer never received an Oscar or Emmy nomination, with his closest brush with a major award being a 2012 Grammy nomination for Best Spoken Word Album for The Mask of Zorro.