All 31 animated Batman movies ranked from worst to best

31. Batman: The Killing Joke

Have you ever seen a movie where everything was in place for the perfect blend but, for one reason or another, it just didn’t come together in the finished product? Batman: The Killing Joke is sadly one of those movies.

It was an adaptation of Alan Moore’s chilling comic book (a comic book that changed the landscape for Batman stories), DC animated movies had a great reputation, and it even brought in iconic Batman: The Animated Series veterans Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill to voice Batman and The Joker. But it just didn’t work.

There are various reasons for that, some revolving around the animation or the fact that its source material hasn’t aged as well as you might think, but its biggest issue was its handling of Batgirl. The comic is notorious for the scene in which The Joker shoots Barbara Gordon, paralyzing her and ending her career as Batgirl. In a misguided attempt to give her more than that, the movie includes a completely unrelated subplot that dehumanizes her and adds a completely unnecessary romantic relationship between her and Batman.

The movie is at its best when it’s focusing on the Batman/Joker dynamic and that’s largely because Conroy and Hamill are, as always, brilliant. It’s just a shame that the glimmers of brilliance couldn’t carry The Killing Joke to the heights fans hoped it would achieve. It might have been a different story if the first 30 minutes didn’t exist.