Given his more than eighty-year history in comics, Batman has become one of the biggest superheroes in all of pop culture, which has allowed the Caped Crusader to leap from the pages of funny books to television, video games, and, naturally, movies. Across his time in existence, Batman has starred in nearly a dozen feature films, plus serials in the 1940s, countless animated movies, and that’s not even counting the cameos he makes in movies that don’t carry his name. For Batman fans, we’re at a point where there are plenty of movies that satisfy the need to watch a film starring the World’s Greatest Detective and the villains from DC Comics.
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That said, the wait between new movies in the series can be a long one. Currently, we’re still waiting, over three years and counting, on the sequel to Matt Reeves’ The Batman. Between that highly anticipated follow-up and the DCU’s promised The Brave and the Bold movie, it’s really unclear when fans may get their next new Batman movie. The good news is that even though that timeframe is getting longer, there’s no shortage of other titles worth watching while we wait. These movies should hold you over while you wait for more Batman, and they will almost certainly help you look at the Batman movies you have now in a brand new light.
5) Blade Runner
Christopher Nolan has never been shy about his love and appreciation for the Ridley Scott sci-fi classic Blade Runner for as long as the director has been talking about his influences (it ranks up there with Kubrick for a title the Oscar-winner routinely mentions). Nolan has also been quick to always mention it as a totemic source of inspiration for his 2005 revival of the DC hero, Batman Begins, but seeing the original movie itself is one thing beyond simply knowing that it is baked into the DNA of the movie.
The significance that Blade Runner has to Batman Begins can be seen immediately. Scott’s movie follows Rick Deckard, a former cop who hunts down replicants, and is set against the rainy backdrop of a vast futuristic city. In the film, the megacity that the story largely takes place in feels like the result of decades of expansion and building on a regular city, so much so that it only grows higher and more futuristic, leaving behind layers of history as the world continues to innovate. Nolan embraced this for his interpretation of Gotham City visually, which was baked into the narrative with the various parts of town and the Wayne-centric public transit system that are key to the plot. Watch Blade Runner and then put on Batman Begins, and you’ll see the influence beyond just the constant rain.
4) Heat
Batman Begins may have worn its influence of a sci-fi classic on its sleeve, but the 2008 sequel, The Dark Knight, took its embrace of realism to another level and made sure that it was swayed by something that had even more grit, Michael Mann’s 1995 crime thriller, Heat. There’s an immediately obvious influence from Heat onto The Dark Knight, as both make high-stakes robberies a key part of their set pieces, but it goes even deeper than this.
The primary narrative push of The Dark Knight is the battle between Batman and The Joker, which feels like a direct riff on Heat‘s two leads, Al Pacino’s Vincent Hanna, a detective, and Robert De Niro’s Neil McCauley, a lifelong thief. Heat’s iconic diner scene between the two is the clear basis for the interrogation sequence between the characters, but the underlying tension between them, the dance of their struggle, if you will, is a direct riff on Heat and its two characters. Watching the Michael Mann movie and then going into Nolan’s film will forever change how you watch the Oscar-winning sequel.
3) Batman: The Movie
It’s easy to forget that between Seasons 1 and 2 of the 1966 Batman TV series, which starred Adam West and the entire ensemble cast of the adaptation, made their way into theaters. Tim Burton’s 1989 feature film may often be considered the first Batman movie, but technically, the Technicolor adventure with West still in the cape and cowl was there beforehand (and if you want to get even more technical, the 1943 Batman serial was the real first one). The campy tone and wacky qualities of the West-starring Batman may not always be what fans think of when they picture the character, but it’s a pivotal chapter in the character’s history; plus, this movie is the source of both the iconic quote, “Some days you just can’t get rid of a bomb” and the wildest Bat-gadget ever, Shark Repellent.
2) Se7en
If Matt Reeves’ The Batman is your latest obsession, and the wait for that sequel is the reason you need something to watch right now, you need look no further than David Fincher’s Se7en. Yes, this thriller is certainly more gruesome than any Batman movie you’re going to find, but the influence that it had on Reeves’ film is palpable. From the insomnia-inducing detective work that the characters find themselves wallowing in, to the general ambiance of a rainy city haunted by a villain with creeping hands and unclear motives, The Batman is practically a sister movie to Fincher’s classic. Maybe watch them on alternating nights, though, as they’re both major time commitments.
1) Batman & Bill
Everything we’ve noted up until this point has either been movies with extreme influence on notable Batman movies or a forgotten chapter in the character’s history. For our final suggestion, we want to give you one that will actually alter what you think about the history of Batman and his place in comic books as a whole. Up until a certain point, every Batman adaptation featured the title card “Batman Created by Bob Kane,” but many comic fans knew this wasn’t entirely the truth, and this documentary by Don Argott and Sheena M. Joyce explores the story of how Bill Finger finally got his due from DC Comics and history itself.
Key credit when it comes to classic comic book characters is something that is often as mythologized as the characters themselves, with Stan Lee one of the most famous to take credit for the work of others. Beyond the Marvel legend’s history with this, Batman’s origins have a similar uncertainty. Though Bob Kane came up with the initial idea for a “Bat-Man,” history has proven that Finger actually created most of the totemic ideas that defined the superhero. Batman & Bob goes in-depth on this story, and offers an actual perspective-shifting look at the hero.
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