It is more complex than The Dark Knight, and while not quite as grotesque and Gothic as Burton's Batman Returns, it obviously understands the need for Gotham City to be a character in a way Nolan and the DCEU never managed to convey. While The Batman is not the best Batman movie ever, Matt Reeves' aesthetically-striking, philosophically deep meditation on Batman and Bruce Wayne's identity takes what makes its superiors great and blends them together. But how does The Batman compare to every other Dark Knight movie? Here's every Batman movie ranked from worst to best. Related: Here's Why Alfred Calls Batman "Master Bruce"Īdam West, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale, Ben Affleck, and Robert Pattinson have all played the Batman in movies, with varying degrees of success. Even when a film has failed miserably, Bruce Wayne has returned to the big screen before long, usually with a renewed sense of energy and purpose.
One constant in Batman's movie output, however, is popularity. The trend now seems to be a reinvigorated take on the Dark Knight promising a grittier, darker vision of Bruce Wayne's alterego, with every Batman movie exploring and deconstructing DC's most interesting hero in increasingly complex ways. Various shades of the Batman palette have been explored in live-action, including tortured nocturnal menace, campy comic book crime-fighter, and visceral, realistic urban vigilante, with each iteration enjoying varying degrees of success.