All Batman Films Ranked From Worst To Best

Please note that only films with Batman as the main protagonist were included, so no Lego movies and no Suicide Squad. Also, we only dealt with films that were intended for cinema, and not home movies such as the DC animated films, awesome as they are.

Joel Schumacher's 2nd and last Batman film was a total disaster in almost every single way. It was so bad that the Batman franchise froze for 8 years! While George Clooney is a pretty solid Batman and both main villains Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman) and Mr. Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger) are not that bad, the rest of the film is just ridiculous. From the too campy atmosphere and the silly story to Batman's nipples (yes, you're welcome to google it), the film just reeks from over-trying and not giving too much thought at the same time. And what does Joel Schumacher thinks about it? He's very sorry, and wants to apologize to the fans. At least he's honest about it. Talking about honest, here's an Honest Trailer for the film, which pretty much sums up everything.

Another Schumacher film, Batman Forever is a little bit better than Batman & Robin, mostly due to Jim Carrey's amazing performance as The Riddler. The rest is OK at most with Val Kilmer as a too cool Batman and Tommy Lee Jones as a too silly Two Face. Unlike Batman & Robin this film had a lot of potential and one can only dream about what it could have been. Again, the Honest Trailer makes a good job at pointing all the faults of this movie, nipples included.

What was suppose to be a masterpiece turned out to be a disaster. Visionary director Zack Snyder tried to bring some of the magic he brought to the big screen in Watchmen and 300, but managed to come up with two and a half hours of over seriousness, lazy storytelling and an earsplitting sound. There's some good in it - Ben Affleck does a good job as Batman, the special effects are pretty cool and the action is fun to watch, but it could have been much better. Here's a video by Nerdwriter which explains exactly where the film failed. OK, and an Honest Trailer.

Batman 1966 was the first time the caped crusader made it to the big screen. The film is based on the famous TV show starring Adam West as Batman, and known for its campy atmosphere and silly bat-gadgets (google the shark repellent bat spray to understand just how much). Unlike Schumacher's film, batman 1966 remains fun to watch even 50 plus years after its release, just don't expect depth, coherence or logic.

Yes, we are aware it's suppose to be a team film, but it mostly revolves around Batman, AND he's the undisputed leader of the Justice League, so we might as well include it. While it's better than Batman V Superman, there's still something missing, and it was good to know that DC decided to change direction after this film with pretty good films such as Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Shazam. And yet, it's just too serious at times, yet extremely silly at others. Yes, the Honest Trailer will show you just how much.

Christopher Nolan's trilogy saved the franchise after Schumacher's disasters, but unfortunately the ending is also the weakest part. Christian Bale is doing an amazing job as Batman, Tom Hardy is an awesome Bane and Anne Hathaway is a great Catwoman, and yet... Maybe it's the fact that the first two films were so good, the film's length or the over complicated plot, but The Dark Knight Rises just feels like it could have been better. It's still a very good film, and we hope we'll see more like it in the future. Yes, there is a Honest Trailer.

Will Arnett did such a great job as Batman in The Lego Movie, that a spin-off was only a matter of time. In this film Batman realizes he might be a great hero, but also a great douche, and a lonely one. He sets off on a journey to discover himself, and while it may sound like a serious film, it's actually one of the greatest comedies of the 2010's, and the best super-hero parody ever.

Another soul searching Batman, but unlike the Lego one, Christian Bale is nothing but serious. After the amazing Tim Burton films and the less so Schumacher, Christopher Nolan got a shot at bringing the dark knight to the screen, and boy we're so lucky he did. Leaving any humor out of the equation, Nolan asked questions about vigilantes, villains and the connection between them. The main villain of the film was Scarecrow portrayed by the brilliant Cillian Murphy. The film also featured a very British Alfred portrayed by the amazing Michael Caine. Here's the Honest Trailer, in case you needed it.

There are many debates whether the first or second Tim Burton Batman film is the superior, so we'll give them a tie, with the sequel a little bit behind. It's still a magnificent film which turns Gotham into a black and white, almost early 20th century German expressionist playground with Michael Keaton as Batman, Michele Pfeiffer as Catwoman and Danny DeVito as the Penguin. The only bad thing about this film is that it was Tim Burton's last Batman adventure; we can only imagine what he would have done with Batman forever. If you really want to find out what's not working in this film, check out the Honest Trailer below.

More than 20 years after his first appearance on the big screen, Batman made his debut in Tim Burton film, which set the tone for the rest of his cinematic career. Burton relied on German expressionist aesthetics, hard-boiled film noir and the breakthrough comic books The Killing Joke by Alan Moore and The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller. Michael Keaton got the part, even though he was known as a comedic actor, and proved how clear Burton's vision was. The Joker was portrayed by Jack Nicholson in a magnificent performance, topped only by the next Joker on this list. Yes, we couldn't leave the Honest Trailer out.

The Dark Knight is not just a good super-hero film or the best Batman film, it's one of the greatest films ever made. Christian Bale is back as Batman and this time he's facing The Joker portrayed by the late Heath Ledger, who won a posthumous Academy Award for his performance. The film also broke the record for Academy Awards nominations for a film based on a comic book, and won several other important awards. If you haven't seen it yet, now is the time, and if you have, it's always a good time to re-watch this amazing piece of cinema. Obviously, it deserves an Honest Trailer.