All 7 Batman movie directors ranked from worst to best

2. Tim Burton

Directed: Batman (1989), Batman Returns (1992)

There are few directors out there quite like Tim Burton. He has such a unique and identifiable style in his productions that you can tell what a Tim Burton movie is by just watching a few seconds of it. And that’s an experience like no other.

The man is renowned for adapting the Caped Crusader for a modern day with his 1989 movie setting the tone (and standard) for what a modern superhero movie could look like. With its eerie tone and art deco design, Batman introduced us to a Gotham City that belonged in the pages of a comic book, personifying all of the elements of the source material for the big screen in a way that would have been thought to be impossible just a year beforehand. And the oddest thing about all of that is that it’s less of a Tim Burton movie than its sequel. But it’s still a Tim Burton movie.

Burton’s tighter grasp on the creative control in the 1992 sequel was clear. Batman Returns is more of a Tim Burton movie than a comic book movie, and it’s beautiful because of that. With  unsettling visuals, a much more Gothic city (and architecture made out of nightmares) and twisted caricatures of characters as the heroes and villains of the piece (all against a backdrop of the holidays), Batman Returns is an eerie masterpiece of cinema. It’s the most vivid Batman movie ever made, and Burton is responsible for that.

The director’s two DC movies are very different movies, but both are Tim Burton movies. They are also two legendary chapters in The Dark Knight’s screen success that changed the game for the comic book movie genre. And they have both aged incredibly well.

Batman and Burton at their very best.