Ranking every live-action Batman movie from worst to best

Photo: The Dark Knight Courtesy DC Universe PR

1. The Dark Knight (2008)

It’s not hyperbole to say that The Dark Knight changed the culture of the superhero genre.

As the predecessor to The Dark Knight Rises, Batman was a secondary character in a way as Nolan opted to shift the focus to everyone else in Gotham including  hotshot attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) and of course, Heath Ledger’s Joker.

Controversy surrounded the film from the moment the late Ledger’s name surfaced as Joker. Sadly, he’d never see the performance that made him a household name or witness his Joker’s legendary status.

By the time this film arrived in theaters, fans had an idea of what they wanted from Batman and Joker. What we got was a masterful tale of two co-dependent men who couldn’t survive without one another. Joker was the star from the opening scene which saw him orchestrate a bank robbery. Unlike Jokers of the past, Ledger’s Joker didn’t have palpable history.

No one knew who he was or where he came from, as evident by his many takes on the permanent smile scarred onto his face.  Joker’s paradoxical reasoning behind his violence was that anyone, including Batman, could become like him.

His point was proven by inadvertently turning a political hero, Harvey Dent, into the diabolical sociopath Two-Face. Batman bore the responsibility of Dent’s death, making him a wanted criminal and sending him into the shadows until Bane forced him to emerge once again in The Dark Knight Rises.

With an all-star cast, Nolan reshaped a genre with a film that reigns as the greatest live-action Batman film of all time and arguably one of the best superhero movies of all-time as well.

Do you agree with our rankings of the live-action Batman movies? Which Batman movies would you have ranked higher or lower? Share your thoughts and personal rankings in the comments section!