Every ‘Batman’ Movie Ranked, from ‘Batman & Robin’ to ‘The Dark Knight’ (original) (raw)
Superhero movies have ebbed and flowed in terms of popularity since Christopher Reeve first took flight in 1978’s “Superman.” But if there’s a character that will always be welcome by the filmgoing public, it’s Batman. Since Tim Burton brought the iconic DC comics character into the modern blockbuster age with his 1989 take on Gotham City, the Caped Crusader and his gallery of iconic rogues — from the devilish Joker to the seductive Catwoman — have been constant fixtures of cineplexes everywhere. Every film starring the character seems destined to do decent (if not exceptional) business: “Batman & Robin,” considered a financial disappointment that briefly killed the franchise off, still made over $200 million.
It’s not a surprise that Batman is the hero we most love to see on our movie screens. He’s both one of the most relatable superheroes of them all and the one most unlike ourselves: an ordinary man without any powers who rises up to become a hero, who’s also an outrageously handsome billionaire with a tortured past that makes him all the more intriguing. So much of the Batman comics mythos features distinctive elements embedded in the broader pop culture — the crime ridden Gotham, the sleek Batmobile, the iconic supporting cast of friends and foes — begging to be reinterpreted. And Batman is such a malleable character, capable of lighthearted fun and searing melodrama, that filmmakers have had genuine success going in either direction of the spectrum.
While we as a collective culture have never exactly been deprived of Batman media for any significant length of time, the next few years promise to feature more than enough content for even the most religious Batfan. The new DC cinematic universe that will be launched next year with “Superman Legacy” will of course feature a Batman film, in Andy Muschietti’s “The Brave and the Bold,” which will focus on Bruce Wayne and his son Damian (one of many characters to take on the mantle of Robin). While that franchise is getting started, 2022’s “The Batman,” Matt Reeves’ take on the character starring Robert Pattinson, is still set to receive sequels, with the first releasing in 2026. That’s on top of spinoffs like “The Penguin,” an HBO crime drama that takes a memorable supporting character from the Reeves film and gives him a new story to run around in.
With “The Penguin” streaming on Max now, IndieWire is taking a look at the best and worst of “Batman” on film. For the purposes of this list, we only considered films that received theatrical releases and star Batman as a main (or nearly main) character. This excludes a variety of direct-to-DVD animated films (ranging from futuristic flicks like “Return of the Joker” to steampunk takes like “Gotham by Gaslight”) that have been produced starring the character, as well as the delightful Amazon Prime Video Christmas film “Merry Little Batman.” It also excludes spinoffs like the Joker films from Todd Philips, the infamous Halle Berry “Catwoman” movie, or the Harley Quinn “Birds of Prey” film, as well as both versions of “Justice League” and “The Flash,” in which Ben Affleck’s Batman is just one of the headlining heroes. There’s also several film serials starring the character we’ve omitted from consideration. Read on for all 13 “Batman” movies, ranked from worst to best.
13. ‘Batman Forever’ (1995)
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Its immediate sequel is far more infamous, but ‘Batman Forever’ is the actual nadir of the Batman film franchise. This garish, unbearable, bloated monstrosity from Joel Schumacher is a cartoon come to life in the worst way, subjecting the audience to two hours of zany mugging with no charm or weight to support it. Like many ‘Batman’ movies, its an affair that his villains dominate, and the team-up here — Jim Carrey’s hyperactive Riddler and Tommy Lee Jones’ cold Two-Face — is the least inspiring of them all, with Carrey in particular giving one of his most grating performances. Val Kilmer is a dull replacement for Michael Keaton under the mask, Chris O’Donnell’s Dick Grayson is an unbearably whiny take on one of comics’ most iconic characters, and the whole thing passes by without a single memorable fight or moment worth grasping on to. There are highlights — Nicole Kidman is a hoot in the sexed-up underwritten love interest role, and the soundtrack (including U2 and Seal hits) is iconic — but not enough to save the film from the very bottom of this ranking.
12. ‘Batman: The Killing Joke’ (2016)
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‘The Killing Joke’ just barely meets the criteria for this list — it was released in theaters as a one-day-only special event. Had it stuck around longer, it’s likely the execrable adaptation of the iconic Alan Moore graphic novel, exploring the psychology behind the Joker, would be way more notorious than it already is. Sam Liu’s animated film expands the story with a completely original prologue focusing on Barbara Gordon/Batgirl (voiced by Tara Strong), in an effort to soften the comic’s infamously flippant treatment of her. It has the opposite effect: The additions reduce Barbara to a clingy starstruck girl obsessed with Batman, and contain a truly woeful sex scene between the two that overshadows every other choice made. Worse, the prologue has no impact on the real story, which is otherwise a straightforward — if rather blandly rendered — adaptation that feels diluted by the new additions. It’s fun to hear Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill reprise their ‘Batman: The Animated Series’ roles in a darker setting, but ‘The Killing Joke’ is otherwise a misguided disaster.
11. ‘Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice’ (2016)
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Credit where it’s due: Ben Affleck does an okay job in his introduction as Zack Snyder’s version of the Caped Crusader, in the film that set up the now-aborted DC Extended Universe. It’s just that Snyder’s vision of the character is, at best, wildly misguided. Darker interpretations of Bruce Wayne and his dark persona exist, of course, but in ‘Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice,’ he’s a borderline psycho who mows down his opponents with guns and bombs, with nary a sense of moral conflict. The ‘who will win’ mashup movie is terrible for a ton of reasons — the insipidly dreary tone, Jesse Eisenberg’s terrible Lex Luther, the utter cringe that is the Martha scene — but even without those issues, Snyder’s conception of Batman is too brutally unlikable to hold up to snuff.
10. ‘Batman and Robin’ (1997)
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Easily the most notorious film on this entire list, ‘Batman and Robin’ is frequently declared one of the worst movies ever made. That’s probably true — Schumacher’s follow-up is an utter mess of tangled plotlines, cheesy punchlines, and incoherent action. But all those qualities make ‘Batman and Robin’ approximately 50 times more watchable than ‘Dawn of Justice’ or ‘Forever’ could ever hope to be. A confoundingly weird, often bizarrely psychosexual update of the 1966 ‘Batman’ spirit for the late ’90s, ‘Batman and Robin’ strands George Clooney (who has never been less charming in his life) in a world of nippled Batsuits, Bat Credit Cards, and wildly hammy villains like Arnold Schwarzenegger (miscast to comical levels as the tragic Mr. Freeze) and Uma Thurman (not good but undeniably memorable as the femme fatale Poison Ivy). It’s all a total mess from start to finish, but you’re lying to yourself if you don’t admit there’s a dopamine rush to hearing Schwarzenegger scream ‘What killed the dinosaurs? The Ice Age!’
9. ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ (2012)
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Admittedly, it was always going to be hard for Christopher Nolan to live up to ‘The Dark Knight’ and its rapturous reception. But, while it was still well received from fans at the time, it’s hard to say that the concluding chapter of ‘The Dark Knight’ trilogy really holds together. There are definite highlights, to be sure — Christian Bale is still solid as ever in the central role, and Tom Hardy is a hoot as the roided up, hammy version of Bane. But the actual plot is a bit of a mess, filled with holes and inconsistencies and unfortunate class subtext Nolan probably did not intend. Both Marion Cotillard and Anne Hathaway are given a disservice by the scattered narrative, and the film eventually sputters to an oddly underwhelming conclusion. It’s not a terrible film — at its best, there’s some great setpieces to entertain — but it’s hard not to feel a sting of disappointment by the time the credits roll.
8. ‘Batman’ (1989)
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The film that started cinema’s love affair with Batman, Tim Burton’s original 1989 blockbuster feels a bit quaint and basic in comparison to everything that came afterward. Still, the fundamentals are right on the money: the Gotham Burton and production designer Anton Furst create is a wonderfully gothic and seedy world in itself, providing the broader public with a darker vision of the Caped Crusader than they’re used to. Michael Keaton is an inspired choice for Batman, as a muted and downcast outsider trying to find justice in a tragic landscape, while Jack Nicholson is a hoot as the effortlessly funny but still undeniably dangerous Joker. Their conflict is the right blend between drama and entertainment, a darkly entertaining soap opera that knows it’s a little silly but still has the stakes to keep you breathless until the climax.
7. ‘Batman: The Movie’ (1966)
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A total lark from start to finish, Leslie H. Martinson’s theatrical ‘Batman’ film translates all the lunacy and cheese of the 1966 Adam West TV show without any concern of adding weight to the adventure. Instead, ‘Batman: The Movie’ is a proudly unserious expanded episode of the poppy series, beginning with West battling a sea creature with Bat Shark Repellant, and expanding into an ultimate showdown against a united force of supervillains — Joker (Cesar Romero), Penguin (Burgess Meredith), Riddler (Frank Gorshin), and Catwoman (Lee Meriwether, whose replacement of Julie Newmar from the show is the one disappointment in the film). While fans remain divided on the merits of West’s tongue-in-cheek Batman to this day, those who can loosen up and appreciate a lighter take will find the film to be an utterly delightful time.
6. ‘The Batman’ (2022)
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There are some pretty severe issues with Matt Reeves’ ‘The Batman’ — at three hours, it’s an exhausting film to get through, and you can feel all the hot air unnecessarily extending the thing in pretty much every act of the story. The attempt to reframe and focus on Batman as a detective is intriguing but falls short, mainly because his pursuit of The Riddler (Paul Dano) is never exactly the most compelling mystery. For all of its narrative issues though, ‘The Batman’ excels at something greater: vibes. It looks terrific, finding a perfect balance between the Nolan films’ realism and the Burton films’ stylized gothic landscapes to build a grim but heightened Gotham, dark and noirish (cinematographer Greig Fraser shoots the film beautifully) with a delightful emo tinge. The casting is down pat too, from Robert Pattinson as the most downbeat Batman we’ve had to Zoë Kravitz’s scrappy Catwoman to Dano’s genuinely terrifying Riddler to Colin Farrell as an unrecognizably piggish Penguin. If that’s more of a solid foundation for promising followup movies than a great film, it’s hard to complain when that foundation is so enjoyable.
5. ‘The Lego Batman Movie’ (2017)
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Will Arnett’s bombastic Batman was the breakout star of 2014’s much-better-than-it-should-be ‘The Lego Movie,’ a hilarious, histrionic, childish take on the character that doubled as a parody and as a loving tribute. While it’s easy to imagine a spinoff of that version of Batman as more irritating than enjoyable, the remarkable thing about Chris McKay’s ‘The Lego Batman Movie’ is that it manages to wring some real human emotions out of its plastic protector. Focusing on Batman as he struggles to expand his roster of Gotham heroes, it frames the blowhard as a child too scarred from the death of his parents to allow anyone else close. ‘The Lego Batman Movie’ is a pleasure for multiple reasons — its hilarious parody of modern superhero movies, its beautiful animation, its nerdy references and easter eggs to all of the character’s history — but it’s the earnestly sweet story about the Caped Crusader finding a real family in Michael Cera’s adorable Robin that makes it a great kids film.
4. ‘Batman Begins’ (2005)
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It’s wild, in hindsight, to look at the calendar and realize there was only an eight-year gap between ‘Batman and Robin’ and ‘Batman Begins.’ Christopher Nolan’s first take on the character feels like it’s out of a completely different world compared to Schumacher’s campy blockbuster, presenting Gotham City as a world that’s just as close as possible to our own. The grit of Nolan’s take on the character hasn’t fully held up to the passage of time: if anything, it’s a little silly that a man in a batsuit occupies such an otherwise normal world. And yet, ‘Batman Begins’ is a dark realistic reboot done right, using its more down-to-earth take as a window into exploring the character of Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne and his search for a way to channel his childhood pain into action. Nolan’s expertise as a director makes for brilliant fight scenes, and a great supporting cast — Gary Oldman and Michael Caine as dry versions of Gordon and Alfred, Liam Neeson as a sublimely lethal Ra’s al Ghul — enrichens the world of Gotham better than any other Bat film. As far as tellings of Batman’s origins go, no other film needs to bother when ‘Batman Begins’ did the stellar job it did.
3. ‘The Dark Knight’ (2008)
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Greeted with a rapturous reception from fans in 2008, ‘The Dark Knight’ has obtained such a cornerstone status over the years that its power threatens to be a bit diluted: There are only so many Joker memes one can take. But ‘The Dark Knight’ is still nearly as good as you remember it being, a gritty crime thriller that digs into questions about whether or not heroes can truly exist in a corrupt world. The only issue is, in spite of the tragedies he undergoes, Bale’s Batman ends up feeling a little irrelevant: The actual drama exists around Gordon, Two-Face, and all the characters trying to navigate the madness unleashed in Gotham. That’s less of a problem than it sounds when the result is so wildly compelling, an entertaining blockbuster that doubles as a story of morality and inner darkness. And Heath Ledger’s Joker is a once-in-a-lifetime performance from the late actor that’s terrifying and beautifully unhinged in equal measure.
2. ‘Batman: Mask of the Phantasm’ (1993)
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The actual best adaptation of Batman isn’t any of the films on this list: it’s Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski’s ‘Batman: The Animated Series,’ which introduced a generation to a noirish, haunted Caped Crusader through a series of immaculate standalone episodes that reinvented and redefined his rogue’s gallery. ‘Mask of the Phantasm,’ directed by Timm and Radomski and released in theaters between the first and second seasons of the show, isn’t the crowning achievement of the duo or the team behind the series. But it’s still an excellent Batman adventure in its own right, managing to pack more potent emotion, drama, and intrigue in its 78-minute runtime than most films on this list are able to in three hours.
Introducing an original antagonist — the menacing masked Phantasm — the film finds Kevin Conroy’s Batman setting out to clear his name after the mysterious killer’s massacre of Gotham’s most notorious criminals gets pinned on him. As Bruce Wayne, Batman reconnects with a former flame, and ponders whether he should abandon his crime-fighting days for a more normal life. No other Batman film more poignantly explores the tension between the character’s two lives as ‘Mask of the Phantasm’ does, while also mixing moody animation, genuine romance, and cracking fun into the proceedings. And Conroy and Mark Hamill as Batman and the Joker are both at their best in the film, which gives the voice actors meaty material that they absolutely devour.
1. ‘Batman Returns’ (1992)
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Controversial with fans at the time of its release as a weird, fairy tale vision of the Batman mythos, Tim Burton’s ‘Batman Returns’ still feels as fresh and surprising 30 years later as it did when it first hit theaters. While the original ‘Batman’ film was a mostly true-to-the-text take on the character, ‘Batman Returns’ feels like a distorted, feverish vision of Gotham, as a pit of corruption cloaked in snow. While Danny DeVito is a hoot as a grotesque Penguin, the heart of the film lies in Michelle Pfeiffer’s definitive Catwoman, an ordinary citizen turned seductive and damaged creature of the night. The love affair between her and Michael Keaton’s even more adrift and lonely Bruce Wayne makes for the only truly sexy superhero film ever made, an indelibly twisted star-crossed romance with a downcast ending you’d never find in a more traditional blockbuster. If all of that makes ‘Returns’ sound like too much of a departure from Batman to be the greatest Batman film, what makes it really sing is how it zeroes in on the core tragedy and sadness of the character, his inability to find true peace and healing. A story of lost souls in a damaged society, ‘Batman Returns’ isn’t just the weirdest Batman film, it’s still the best.