For nearly a century, Batman has remained one of the most popular superheroes in pop culture. As you’d expect, his movies, particularly the live-action films, are a big reason for that. Beyond the Caped Crusader’s appearances on the big screen, several additional reasons might explain Batman’s endearing popularity today – the now-classic comic books written by comic legends like Frank Miller, Alan Moore, or Neil Gaiman, his constant relevance through various TV shows and video games, or his equally iconic rogues gallery of villains all immediately springing to mind.
As important as these things have been in securing Batman’s place in the comic book fandom today, a key explanation for Batman’s continuing popularity today can be directly tied to the numerous films featuring the Dark Knight in action.
From award-winning superhero films from the 2000s to kitschier interpretations of the character, here is every movie featuring Gotham’s famous Dark Knight, ranked from best to worst.
The Dark Knight (2008)
Easily one of director Christopher Nolan’s best movies and one of the best superhero movies of all time, The Dark Knight did more than raise the bar on comic book films. It challenged all movies to be so good. The acting, action, pacing, music, dialogue, and more mature themes earned the movie acclaim, and Heath Ledger gave a defining performance of the Joker, winning him a posthumous Academy Award.
Not only is it a great superhero movie, but it is also a must-watch film that should absolutely be seen by everyone, whether you’re a fan of Batman or not.
The Batman (2022)
Learning that a dangerous serial killer known as The Riddler (Paul Dano) has begun terrorizing Gotham, the masked vigilante Batman (Robert Pattinson) sets out to solve the murders, uncovering secrets about his own past in the process.
The Dark Knight might seem an insurmountable benchmark for Batman films today, but 2021’s The Batman came close to matching it. Like Nolan’s vision of Gotham, director Matt Reeves’ interpretation of Batman’s universe was intense and gritty, closer in style to the setting of a David Fincher horror film. As expected, Pattinson did a fantastic job as a startlingly modern interpretation of Bruce Wayne, portraying his version of Batman as someone inherently broken, desperately dedicating himself to saving Gotham from its own rampant waves of crime.
Batman (1989)
The first “serious” Batman movie and the film that helped redefine the character, this 1989 classic is known for setting the standard for the superhero genre in the decades to come. Starring Michael Keaton cast-against-type as Batman (he was known for his more comedic roles at the time), the movie focuses on the Caped Crusader’s battle against the psychopathic gangster, the Joker (played by the legendary Jack Nicholson).
There is so much to love about this movie that knowing where to start is impossible. From the brilliant performances to the macabre vision of Gotham City that director Tim Burton brings to the screen, its influence on the world of Batman cannot be overstated.
Batman Begins (2005)
The movie responsible for reigniting an entire generation’s interest in Batman, the first movie in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy remains an incredible superhero movie to this day. Loosely based on Frank Miller’s classic Batman: Year One, Batman Begins focuses on Batman’s origin story, explaining how Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) came to fight organized crime in Gotham City in the first place.
Featuring fan-favorite villains Ra’s al Ghul (Liam Neeson) and Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy), Batman Begins was praised by fans and critics alike for Bale’s performance and the emotional and psychological aspects of Bruce Wayne’s character – something that had never been extensively explored before in a Batman movie.
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
When the now crime-free Gotham City is threatened by a masked mercenary named Bane (Tom Hardy), Batman (Bale) must return to crime-fighting after a nearly decade-long retirement. The third and final entry in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises had a lot to live up to with the overwhelming success of The Dark Knight.
While it may not have measured up completely to its predecessor, The Dark Knight Rises still makes for a fittingly strong entry to Nolan’s trilogy, offering a satisfying conclusion to the series.
Batman Returns (1992)
After the mysterious Penguin (Danny DeVito) emerges from the sewers of Gotham with a plan to kill all of the city’s firstborn sons, Batman must try to stop him, all the while playing a game of cat and mouse with the equally enigmatic Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer).
This sequel to the wildly popular 1989 Batman stars a returning Michael Keaton once again as the Dark Knight. Admittedly, director Tim Burton may have gone a little too dark in some aspects of the story. Still, there’s no question that Batman Returns makes for an entertaining (if slightly disturbing) movie with great performances by the three main leads.
Batman: The Movie (1966)
Fresh off the success of the first season of the popular Adam West Batman series came 1966’s family-friendly superhero film, Batman: The Movie. Featuring most of the original series’ main cast, the movie focuses on Batman and Robin (Burt Ward) as they battle the villainous team of The Riddler (Frank Gorshin), Joker (Cesar Romero), Penguin (Burgess Meredith), and Catwoman (Lee Meriwether), all of whom plan to hold the world hostage with an invention that rapidly dehydrates people.
Batman: The Movie is about as lighthearted a Batman movie as you’ll find, full of wacky dialogue, zany action, and plenty of “Swoosh,” “Kapow,” and “Ouch!” sound effects during fight sequences. Amazingly, it’s only slightly more cartoony than the later Joel Schumacher-produced Batman films.
The Flash (2023)
Trying to keep up with the MCU’s ongoing foray into the Multiverse, The Flash attempted to merge every pre-existing version of Batman into one film. With appearances from Ben Affleck, George Clooney, and Michael Keaton, it’s as much a Batman movie as it is strictly a Flash film.
Though not nearly as good as the premise makes it out to be, The Flash has plenty of enjoyable moments, with Keaton himself effortlessly slipping back into the cape and cowl of the Tim Burton-era Batman. A formal goodbye to the DCEU as fans knew it, it’s perhaps most worth watching for Keaton’s return alone.
Batman Forever (1995)
After a criminal mastermind known as The Riddler (Jim Carrey) appears and begins partnering with the unstable crime boss Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones), Batman (Val Kilmer) reluctantly joins forces with a young hero named Robin (Chris O’Donnell) to stop them.
It’s nearly as weird as Batman & Robin but not quite as bad; this movie’s main issue is its hopeless miscasting. Kilmer gives a particularly robotic performance as Batman, with Jones and Carrey seemingly trying to one-up each other in some sort of bizarre, over-the-top acting competition. Abandoning Tim Burton’s darker approach with his earlier Batman movies, director Joel Schumacher attempted to infuse some lighthearted silliness into this movie reminiscent of the original Batman series. As you’ll see, the decision was … questionable, to say the least.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
Initially billed as the DC equivalent to the MCU’s Avengers film, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was the long-awaited cinematic mash-up between Superman and Batman that audiences had waited for decades.
Unfortunately, the finished film completely failed to live up to its momentous hype, forcing audiences to grit their teeth through two and a half hours of atrociously written dialogue and surprisingly bad CGI. As hackneyed as most of the film is, Ben Affleck hands in an admirably hard-boiled version of the Caped Crusader, borrowing plenty of inspiration from Frank Miller’s older iteration of the character from 1986’s The Dark Knight Returns.
Justice League (2017)
One of the most disappointing mainstream films of the 2010s, Justice League single-handedly killed what little momentum the DCEU had in the middle of the decade. An embarrassing crossover that somehow managed to be even worse than Batman v Superman, fans can accurately describe Justice League as the final nail in DC’s cinematic coffin.
As underwhelming as most of the movie is, Justice League deserves some praise for its cast’s performances. In the case of Affleck’s Batman, the World’s Greatest Detective maintains an excellent comedic rapport with both Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman and Ezra Miller’s Flash (a relationship that took center-stage with 2023’s The Flash years later).
Batman & Robin (1997)
A movie so bad George Clooney himself reportedly still offers fans who saw it in theaters a refund. Batman & Robin was responsible for single-handedly derailing the original Batman franchise. A direct sequel to Batman Forever, the film stars Clooney as the Dark Knight in his first and only outing as the character.
Assisted by Robin (Chris O’Donnell) and Batgirl (Alicia Silverstone), Batman races against time to stop Mr. Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman) from destroying Gotham City. This movie was laughably bad – full of cheesy, ice puns, cartoonish dialogue, and odd aesthetic design choices, making it one of the strangest Batman movies ever made and by far the worst.
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