Polygon ranks the Batman movies
Riddle me this, reader. What’s black and brooding and now streaming on HBO Max?
It’s The Batman, of course! Robert Pattinson’s grumpy take on Gotham’s preeminent masked vigilante is now more widely available to watch, and what better excuse could there be to rank the 13 theatrically released Batman movies?
Our crack team of Polygon movie scientists got together to submit our individual Bat rankings, averaging them out to come up with this Very Exact ranking of our favorite Bat movies. But in the process, we discovered… we actually like all these movies in different ways and for different reasons! Batman movies have ranged from pure camp to ultra-serious to everything in between, and they all pretty much succeed at their respective goals at the end of the day. So if your favorite Bat movie is low on this list, take heart in the fact that we like it, too.
For more Bat movie coverage, check out our suggestion on three different orders to watch the Batman movies in, and our list of the best animated Batman movies and where you can watch them.
More of a sequel to Man of Steel than a true Batman movie, this nevertheless gets a place on the list due to Batman’s prominent placement in both the title and the plot. The first live-action movie with both Batman and Superman in it, it also featured the first live-action theatrical appearance of Wonder Woman and the first appearance of Ben Affleck as Batman. Also, it kind of rules! Yes, even though it’s technically 13th on our list!
After Bruce Wayne witnesses the destruction of Man of Steel firsthand, he views Superman as an existential threat to humanity. Similarly, Superman learns of Batman’s actions and sees him as a threat to the safety of the citizens of Gotham. Lex Luthor
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