Batman Movies Ranked Worst to Best (Including The Batman)

The Batman is now out and seems to be a major box office success, as well as a big hit with the majority of Batman fans. Now that audiences all over the world have seen The Batman, fans are going back to reshuffle and reorganize their Batman movie rankings! Our ComicBook Nation Podcast team is going toe-to-toe over which Batman movies are the best – but how do YOU rank them? Check out the list below and let us know in the comments! 

[RULES: To be considered for this list the film has to be a DC theatrical movie release that focuses on Batman as the primary character. Team-up films (Justice League) and home release videos do not count. 

12. Batman & Robin

The worst Batman movie ever is still the worst. Both the director (Joel Schumacher) and writer (Akiva Goldsman have apologized for making it. Bat-nipples were a sin. We shall not speak of it again!

11. Batman Forever

The fact that Joel Schumacher got two chances to direct Batman movies is still unbelievable. But then again: Jim Carrey was a scene-stealer as Riddler; Val Kilmer wasn’t a bad Batman; Nicole Kidman was a stunner, and Seal’s “Kiss From A Rose” is a classic. Batman Forever wasn’t a total loss. 

10. The Dark Knight Rises

The drop-off from Christopher Nolan’s crime-thriller masterpiece (The Dark Knight) to this strange and muddled finale to the Dark Knight Trilogy left so many fans underwhelmed. From Nolan’s take on Bane (a garbled Tom Hardy) and Catwoman (Anne Hathway’s “Selina Kyle”); to the baffling choice to retire Batman for much of the story and the “twist” everyone saw coming a mile away (Marion Cotillard’s Talia al Ghul), The Dark Knight Rises is a master class on wasted potential.

9. The LEGO Batman Movie

Arguably more of a Batman movie parody than a Batman movie – but also arguably better than some Batman movies that ended up feeling like parodies (see above). The LEGO Batman Movie is an irreverent send-up of the Batman character and the various ways he’s been portrayed in media – but also a touching character story about Bruce Wayne’s emotional damage and his genuine need to fix it. It’s not really going to scratch your itch for a thrilling Batman movie – but as an introduction for kids that also a humorous breakdown of the character for adults, it’s good to have. 

8. Batman (1966)

The show was quirky, funny, and a revolutionary milestone for superhero TV; the movie was all of those same things for superhero movies. With its big “event” villain team-up (Joker, Penguin, Riddler, Catwoman) and multi-platform connection (TV show and movie), Batman ’66 now seems even more revolutionary. A showcase of classic actors (Adam West, Lee Meriwether, Cesar Romero) and still-classic tropes (Bat-Shark-Repellent FTW!). Easily the most “fun” Batman movie we’ve ever had. 

7. Batman v Superman: Ultimate Edition

No one is supporting that theatrical mess, but Batman v Superman‘s Ultimate Edition was a deep story of who both Batman (Ben Affleck) and Superman (Henry Cavill) are, as defined by the context of the modern world, and one another. For whatever gripes people had about this film (and there were many), Zack Snyder’s choice of Ben Affleck as Batman has proven to be a smart one. Despite his muddled place in the franchise, Affleck has remained in discussion as arguably the best Batman actor of the bunch. This movie is the reason why.

6. Batman Returns

Tim Burton’s second Batman movie set a strange precedent for the franchise, where one villain simply wasn’t enough, and Batman seemed to get swallowed up by the villains of his film. In the case of Batman Returns, those villains were Danny DeVito’s Penguin, Michelle Pfieffer’s Catwoman, and Christopher Walken’s evil tycoon, Max Shreck. So we were (mostly) good with it. Plus, it’s hard to find a good Batman movie that also doubles as a Christmas movie… 

5. Batman Begins

Christopher Nolan stepped into the dead husk of the Batman movie franchise as a relatively unknown indie movie director with an eccentric storytelling signature. Like Burton before him, no one really expected great things of a Nolan Batman film – and few were pleased when the English director assembled a mostly UK cast of actors (Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Cillian Murphy, Tom Wilkinson) to play iconic DC Comics characters. Katie Holmes remains one of the bigger examples of miscasting in superhero movies (hence why she was recast later), and Bale’s Batman voice and stiff-neck suit were also in need of improvement. 

Batman Begins‘ non-linear storytelling in its first act, and “grounded, real-world” vision of Batman threw a lot of viewers when it hit theaters ($373.7M worldwide on a $150M budget). However, the strength of Nolan’s vision and a traditional superhero boss battle with the third act twist helped a bigger mainstream audience discover and appreciate the film on home video. That slow-burn success allowed Nolan the chance to come back and blow the entire world away with his second Batman film… 

4. The Batman

Director Matt Reeves has created the most visually-stunning vision of Batman and Gotham City yet – and Robert Pattinson conquered early skepticism to deliver a unique, nuanced, and compelling vision the Batman character. Plus, Pattinson may look better than any other actor in his Batsuit. While not perfect, The Batman finally delivered a live-action Batman detective story worthy of the character. 

Full Spoiler-Free Review of The Batman HERE

3. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm

By now the Batman animated movies could fill out their own rankings list – but only one stands out as a genuine piece of theatrical cinema. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm hit theaters when the creative team behind the groundbreaking Batman: The Animated Series (Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, Alan Burnett) was in its prime. The film is at once a powerful Batman (and Bruce Wayne) character drama, a good detective story tied to Batman lore, and the introduction of a breakout new character: Phantasm. The fact that a canonized Batman story about Phantasm is currently being told in DC Comics (Tom King’s Batman/Catwoman) is a  testament to what this “cartoon” achieved. 

2. Batman (1989)

Tim Burton, Michael Keaton, and Jack Nicholson were far from the top names most DC fans thought when fan-casting a Batman movie in the late ’80s. Keaton was known for being a comedic actor; Nicholson was a leading man/sex symbol and Burton was master of his own weird world of cinema – Prince handling the soundtrack was an even stranger addition to the creative mix.

And yet, despite early “backlash” (for what it was in the pre-Internet days), Batman ’89 became a milestone hit that did for the Dark Knight everything that Richard Donner had done for Superman. In fact, Batman ’89 didn’t just make Batman a blockbuster mainstream movie star – with its black suit and darker Goth themes, the film single-handedly redefined the entire Batman character. It also made the case for why supervillains can be every bit as deep and dramatically compelling as their hero counterparts (see: Joker). 

1. The Dark Knight

Nolan’s Batman movie masterpiece is still the best of the bunch. The Dark Knight isn’t just a Batman movie: it’s one of the better pieces of crime-thriller cinema ever made, with one of the best villain performances of any film, period (Heath Ledger’s Joker). More to the point: The Dark Knight is one of the best Batman stories, of any medium, to truly get the character and his deepest themes – and then, offer audiences outcomes and messages that were far from the black/white, good/evil divide of classic comic books (and their movie adaptations). 

Since Nolan made The Dark Knight, Batman and DC Comics stories as a whole have been much freer about marrying sophisticated art and comic book pulp into a fine brew (see: DC Black Label). It’s easy to see how the current generation of Batman storytellers were all influenced by Nolan’s work – particularly The Dark Knight. 

Will Matt Reeves finally unseat the king of Batman movies with his own sequel film? Or do you rank The Batman as the best? Let us know in the comments!