Batman: Every version of Gotham City ranked from worst to best

1. Batman Returns

Gotham City is meant to strike fear into the hearts of those who live in it. It’s supposed to make audiences uncomfortable and yet intrigued at the same time. It’s designed to be vivid in every imaginable way. No version of Gotham City pulls that off quite as well as the one seen in Batman Returns.

The 1992 film is a direct sequel to 1989’s Batman, so we can’t exactly explain why Gotham City looks completely different, but it definitely has something to do with director Tim Burton having more creative control this time around. Needless to say, the film benefited from it, because Gotham was instantly more alive than it was in its predecessor, serving as the perfectly macabre setting for the perfectly macabre story that was about to unfold.

It had all the tall skyscrapers you would expect from the city, but it covered it in a layer of gruesomeness that really can’t be put into words. Whether it was the more Gothic architecture, the eerie Shreck Cat-faces littered throughout the buildings or the constant spotlights which cast shadows everywhere, this Gotham was unsettling. Even covered in snowfall, it looked eerie. Beautiful. But eerie.

Gotham City belongs in a twisted nightmare, and Burton’s second outing personified that. Some adaptations have alluded to the evil within, but Batman Returns showcased how that evil had begun to manifest through its own horrifying architecture. This is what Gotham really looks like when the curtain is pulled back, and it’s always a sight to behold.