Batman faces off against aliens in the new Batman: Fortress comic miniseries
Batman faces off against aliens in the new Batman
While Superman is mysteriously reported missing, Batman faces an alien invasion and reunites the remaining members of the Justice League. This is the narrative premise of the new Batman: Fortress comic miniseries, written by Gary Whitta, screenwriter of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and drawn by Darick Robertson.The new comic miniseries Batman: Fortress
Batman: Fortess will be divided into 8 issues and the first will hit American shelves on May 24th. Whitta, who previously worked with Robertson on the Image Oliver comic, still unpublished in Italy, said he was thrilled to be able to realize his lifelong dream of writing a story centered on the dark knight.Recover the our article Batman - the essential comics to dive into the world of the Dark Knight. if (jQuery ("# crm_srl-th_culturapop_d_mh2_1"). is (": visible")) {console.log ("Edinet ADV adding zone: tag crm_srl-th_culturapop_d_mh2_1 slot id: th_culturapop_d_mh2"); } DC Comics has fueled the hype surrounding the new miniseries, explaining how there will be numerous twists that will revolutionize the way you know Superman. This is the official synopsis:
When an alien ship enters the Earth's atmosphere suddenly the electricity fails, communications are interrupted and the Earth falls into chaos. Only Superman could save the world, but no one knows where he is. It will then be up to Batman to defend the planet by facing what appears to be a mission impossible.
Still on the subject, we remind you that DC Comics has announced the new creative team of the regular series on Batman will debut with the # 125 expected in American comics next June. Team that takes over from Joshua Williamson and Jorge Molina after the sudden departure of James Tynion IV.
if (jQuery ("# crm_srl-th_culturapop_d_mh3_1"). is (": visible")) {console.log ("Edinet ADV adding zone: tag crm_srl-th_culturapop_d_mh3_1 slot id: th_culturapop_d_mh3"); } And don't forget that on March 3 the highly anticipated The Batman will arrive in Italian cinemas, directed by Matt Reeves which will see Robert Pattinson in the role of the dark knight (here you can listen to the entire soundtrack, already available in streaming).
Waiting for Batman: Fortress Metropolitan Legends recovered on Amazon
Ranking The Batman Movies From Worst To Best
We are officially just one week away from the release of Matt Reeves’ superhero reboot film The Batman, and my review drops Monday morning right here at Forbes so be sure to check back for that. In preparation for this newest interpretation of the Caped Crusader, I rewatched all of the live-action Batman movies, and today I’m ranking the Batman movies from worst to best.
Christian Bale stars in 'Batman Begins'
Source: Warner Bros.Let me say again, this is a ranking of the live-action Batman films. The movies have to be official studio theatrical releases, which means no fan films, fan edits, or director’s/extended cuts released only on Blu-ray or streaming.
There are also many animated Batman movies, and a few (Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, The Lego Batman Movie, Batman: The Killing Joke), even got theatrical releases. Some of those are terrific, and in fact a few are among the very best adaptations of Batman in animation or live-action, so stay tuned for my ranking of the top animated Batman films soon.
I’m also excluding Batman’s appearances in most of the team-up movies (with one exception, which I’ll explain below). That means this list won’t include Justice League, Suicide Squad, or Zack Snyder’s Justice League (which had limited theatrical screenings in addition to its home/streaming release). Nor would I include the upcoming The Flash movie featuring multiple Batmen, or the Batgirl movie featuring a supporting turn for Batman.
None of those team-up films are specifically “Batman movies,” Batman doesn’t have the majority of screen time in any of them, and including them would be more of a ranking of Batman appearances. And would I judge such films based on the Batman scenes, then, or judge the Batman appearance by the rest of the film around it?
There is one film in which Batman’s role is so clearly a lead/co-lead position, and his own story and arc dominate most of the film, and luckily it’s a film that includes an actor and incarnation of Batman otherwise not found in the rest of the eligible films on the list, so I’m glad to be able to include it. That said, it’s the theatrical version I’ll be ranking here, which unfortunately is not as good as a later-released extended cut, and I must admit my opinion of the theatrical cut has been affected by seeing such a superior longer version, so that all affected its position in the rankings.
When my review of The Batman releases next week, I won’t immediately make any after-the-fact edits to this list to incorporate The Batman. I’m still deciding precisely where it would place and I want to see it at least one or two more times before I decide for sure how I feel about it’s place among the rest of bat-cinema. That said, I will make some preliminary statements about where I currently think it will wind up on this list, and once I’ve seen it a few more times I will come back with a definitive ranking alongside the rest of the Batman movies.
So without further ado, here is my ranking of the Batman movies from worst to best! I’ll count them down from #9 to #1, and keep in mind that “worst” really only applies to one film here (which I’ll still have some surprisingly kind words for), the rest are more like “degrees of decent to good to very good to great.”
9. Batman & Robin (1997) — Widely denounced as one of the worst superhero films of all time and blamed for temporarily killing the franchise, there are lots of worse superhero movies than Batman & Robin (including Steel, The Spirit, Supergirl, and Catwoman). So while I won’t attempt any contrarian revisionism about Batman & Robin’s quality or reputation, I do want to note that adults aren’t the only fans of these comics and films. Most of us became fans as children. While of course I recognize Super Friends and the 1966 Batman show were low-budget unserious portrayals, that doesn’t make them any less vital to my introduction to and love of Batman.
That doesn’t mean every Batman movie should be kid-friendly, but we shouldn’t freak out or spend a quarter of a century denouncing the one single modern Batman film that dared appeal to children. The action, sets, costumes, and sense of big goofy fun is faithful to an entire era of Batman comics from the 1950s through the 1960s, and plays like a high-budget — yet half-hearted — spiritual successor to the 1966 TV series.
However much it’s crammed with toy promos and noise-color-chaos overkill, some viewers enjoy the escapist spectacle of it all. Director Joel Schumacher knows how to direct action and provides a few decent character moments and subplots. The cast, led by George Clooney, seem to actually care somewhat about their performances when they aren’t in masks and capes, and Uma Thurman’s entertaining scenery-chomping villain is straight out of the 1966 TV series.
Still, this is easily the worst Batman movie, regardless of whatever mercy I have for it now that I’m older and more mellow (it also helps to have gotten so much great Batman content over the last two decades). Even an otherwise fine Batman costume is ruined with gaping, ill-aligned, mopey eye-holes in the cowl, Barbara/Batgirl has a shamefully simplistic arc that exists to serve Alfred’s subplot, and for all of the expense that went into it, many of the sets and costumes come across cheap and flimsy.
8. Batman (1966) — Already holding a special place in my heart, this film gained additional respect from me when viewed as part of a rewatch and is why the term “worst” truly only applies to the previous entry on my list. It’s amazing how much it gets right in terms of characterization, story structure, and faithfulness to the source material of the time. Yes, it’s campy and aimed at kids, and yes it had some low-rent production values, but it’s also brilliantly realized and manages to easily disprove the refrain from modern critics that there can be “too many” villains in a movie.
The entire classic rogues gallery is represented and are all in top form, portrayed by an impressive all-star cast fully invested in their wild assortment of personalities. It’s worth noting that Batman & Robin isn’t the only later film to take inspiration from the 1966 adaptation and TV series, as the other three entries in the original four-film Batman franchise run all had certain stylistic and tonal similarities to the series.
But it’s Adam West and Burt Ward who make it all work. Their dry sense of humor and earnest straight-laced portrayals take every aspect of their silly world at face value. West’s Bruce Wayne isn’t a false face or role he merely plays at, either. He hobnobs with other aristocrats, tries to seduce women he’s only just met, and treats Alfred like an employee — a respected and well-treated employee, to be sure, but still not a family member and certainly not a father figure. And West’s Batman isn’t a vigilante who’s trying to reform a dangerous city full of corrupt cops and politicians. He’s a public servant deputized by a police force he fully respects and assumes is honorable, and he always adheres to the law and rules of fair play.
There’s a surprising amount of action for an older kid’s movie, even if it’s strictly of the G-rated variety, and plenty of various bat-themed vehicles and gadgets to go along with the colorful costumes and crazy sets. And you’ll find better storytelling than you’d expect from a movie made to promote a low-budget kid’s show. That’s because it’s written by the excellent Lorenzo Semple Jr., whose early season work on the Batman TV show was likewise driven by a love of the characters and material, and was far more sophisticated and less silly than later seasons. And director Leslie H. Martinson’s work on action TV programs helped him keep the pace moving.
7. Batman Returns (1992) — I’ll catch flack for ranking this one so “low,” but I remind you that most films on this list are at least “fine” to me, if not “good.” And Batman Returns, despite my criticisms, is a good film. This is another example of age and time giving me a different perspective, as I used to dislike this film because we had only a few Batman movies and this one felt more style than substance, with a Batman who seemed to enjoy killing and a Bruce Wayne with little character development.
I figured out that watching it in black and white with the volume off, closed captioning on, and Wagner music playing in the background creates the illusion of watching an old German expressionist Batman film. Since this movie takes a lot of inspiration from films like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Metropolis, this new viewing approach was especially effective at putting me in a proper frame of mind and expectations to better appreciate it.
My complaints remain the same: Bruce Wayne is treated like he’s not very interesting, Batman seems happy to kill people, there’s too much creepy sexual humor with Penguin, Gotham seems deserted most of the time, and the action sequences aren’t thrilling. That said, the film looks spectacular, Michael Keaton is an awesome Batman, and Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman is iconic. This bat-cowl is also the best of the first four films, and challenges the cowls in The Dark Knight Trilogy.
The major thing this film gets so right, and which Burton did a great job with in his both of his Batman films, is the atmosphere and moody gothic sensibilities. It’s something no other films on this list nailed so well (to the extent they tried, which wasn’t much for some of them). That extends to Batman’s personification itself, founded on the impression he makes, the figure he strikes, and the myth he inspires.
6. Batman Forever (1995) — If I felt Burton’s Batman lacked the clearer heroic hook I prefer for the character and his Bruce Wayne was often treated as an uninteresting diversion until Batman could show up again, then those feelings at least were appeased by Joel Schumacher’s under-appreciated (in the modern internet age, at least) retcon of Burton’s approach. Val Kilmer was a worthy successor to Keaton, and got much more to work with in his Bruce Wayne arc (which is even better in the superior Red Book Edition fan edit of the film). He also made for a more action-oriented Batman, with plenty of big action set pieces and fist-fights.
Two-Face is admittedly transformed here into a glow-in-the-dark cartoon character who eats up so much scenery the set builders must’ve worked double-time, but a little desaturation and some choice editing would turn this into something more typical of an action/superhero movie villain. And where others saw unacceptable camp in Jim Carey’s Riddler, I saw a funny homage to Frank Gorshin’s portrayal in the 1966 TV show. And Chris O'Donnell’s Dick Grayson/Robin is frankly a cool combination of the best elements from each of the comic book Robins.
The character interactions and emotional arcs all resonate well and collide nicely, the first time that’s really happened in a Batman film (probably because this is the first of the series to treat Bruce Wayne as if he’s every bit as interesting as Batman). It’s true, however, that there’s too much camp, too much neon and 90s-style excess in some of the visuals, but then again this is a film that’s leaning into its roots from the TV series to recapture the younger viewers and family audiences. Does it go too far? Yes, indeed. But less often than you might think, and surrounding that ungraceful noise is a lot of good storytelling and heroic action-adventurism.
If Warner had released something equivalent to the fan edit Red Book Edition of this film into theaters, then it would have wound up one spot higher on this list. I hope Warner releases that cut (which they can just obtain for free since they own it, or simply splurge for a re-edit of the same footage themselves) on HBO Max, it would go a long way toward improving Batman Forever’s — and Schumacher’s — reputation.
5. Batman (1989) — Tim Burton’s first reimagining of Batman in live action had a long, difficult road to the screen and faced many obstacles, none so daunting as Batman’s own reputation. The public remembered him as the campy do-gooder from the TV series, studios remembered him as a failed and ridiculed children’s show that the public grew sick of. Michael Uslan is the man who kept the dream alive, buying the rights to the character and eventually convincing Warner Bros. that Batman had a future as a serious blockbuster franchise capable of exceeding the success of the Superman franchise. Enter Tim Burton, Michael Keaton, and Jack Nicolson, and the rest is $411 million worth of cinema history.
All of that success was for good reason. Batman is a remarkable production, a triumph of style and tone and vision. Like its title character, it creates an impression, a feeling, a waking dream that’s all ideas and expression more than any process of cause and effect. Except that Batman is all about cause and effect, of course. But Burton is interested in the chicken-and-egg nature of it all when considering the complicated world of human emotion, of loss and redemption, of transformation and devolution. Thus for Burton it becomes the impression of cause and effect, the feeling that it cannot be understood or held to account, and the dream that we can transcend our mortal limitations to change our nature and reshape the world around us or let it reshape us (in our own image or in its own image, goes the deeper subtext).
Each time I rewatch this film, I cannot help but cringe at how often women’s “lines” are simply to scream loudly, how often the fight scenes underwhelm, and how Bruce’s characterization doesn’t give us much insight into him as either a regular person or a masked hero/vigilante. We can only try to judge his personality and intentions based on his actions, which are frequently kind of iffy and questionable. And as before, I am bothered by this Batman’s willingness to not only kill but to act eager to do so (going so far as to literally announce his intention to kill a villain, and then trying to do so but failing, and then doing so a second time and succeeding) and to seem happy or unfazed by it afterward. He seemed not to have a rule or even any real moral hesitancy about it.
On the other hand, that’s part of the brilliance of Burton’s approach — we aren’t even told Bruce Wayne is Batman, we aren’t told who or what Batman even is, we don’t know his intentions or why he’s doing what he does, it’s all a mystery within the story and we find out only when other people in the story learn the secrets. Of course there are hints, and the story assumes we will probably have figured it out pretty fast if we didn’t already know, but it still invests in its own mystery and lets the story roll out at its own pace. While Bruce and Batman remained unknown and unknowable to us, that too is by design and adds to the larger sense of moral ambiguity and dream/nightmare understanding of the film’s world. And it contains clear influences from specific comic book tales and is faithful to several incarnations of Batman and his villains.
4. Batman v Superman (2016) — This is the one and only team-up movie on the list, and it only made the cut because Batman is co-lead and gets most of the screen time, and this is the only film featuring Ben Affleck portraying director Zack Snyder’s version of the character that I could include in the rankings here. And let’s face it, the list would feel incomplete and more than a bit weird if it completely omits the first DCEU Batman. Even this film is pushing the bounds of fairness, since I have to weigh the overall film’s good points even when they don’t include Batman, and I also have to hold the film’s flaws against it even if they don’t hurt Batman’s appearance and arc in the film. See why I resist including team-ups?
For the record, I’d rank the Ultimate Edition of Batman v Superman one spot higher on this list, if that were the version released in theaters. The absence of its important character development, plot points, and structural integrity make a rewatch of the theatrical cut even more painful. Those edits weigh heavier. That said, what’s left is still pound for pound the best page-to-screen adaptation of Batman in costume on this list. His fight scenes, his costume, and especially his aura and the impression he creates is similar to what Keaton achieved. His Batman is a creature, an urban legend, a scary beast that attacks from the shadows and which can’t be anticipated or stopped.
Surrounding this Batman is a story about everything Batman used to believe in, everything he hoped to accomplish, and how all of those beliefs and hopes were eroded after too many years in too dark of a place. It’s Batman at the end of his rope, fighting his war on crime through sheer inertia and instinct rather than any sense of purpose or mission anymore. A Batman in need of redemption. A Batman facing a new world of heroes and being shaken to his core. A Batman become the villain. A Batman who fails. Batman v Superman is about all of that, and it’s about how Superman is the source of hope and inspiration that Batman and the entire world desperately need and have been waiting for, if only we were willing to hope again.
This is bound to be the most controversial ranking on my list, either for including the film at all or for its position — which will enrage some fans for being too high and others for being too low, of course. But I stand by my support of the film, and the Ultimate Edition plus the passage of time have combined to somewhat improve Batman v Superman’s reputation, and I feel it will keep improving as time goes by.
3. The Dark Knight Rises (2012) — I fully admit my initial reactions to this film at the time of its release has changed after many subsequent viewings over the years of this movie and the other Batman films. Not that I think it’s bad, by any stretch of the imagination. It remains one of the top three films on this list, and everything I loved about it and expressed about how and why the story and arcs work remains true. It filled a particular role for fandom and the Batman saga’s reputation at the time after Heath Ledger’s death and the subsequent shakiness of Nolan’s intentions and the franchise’s future.
However, it’s also true that the things I loved about it shone so brightly at the time of its release, and the role it played in a larger sense was so important and resonant at the time, have inevitably faded some over the years. In the moment, all of those hopes and wishes and expectations we had for the future of the franchise, filled with more villains adapted into an expanding bat-world rooted in illusionary realism, became subordinated to the reality of the third and final film. Whatever disappointments existed about losing this incarnation of Batman so early when there remained so much promise and so much room left to explore, we were overwhelmed by the story we got and all of the beauty and excitement and resonance it held.
But that sense of “what could’ve been” and the potential for a long and glorious bat-world after Batman Begins and The Dark Knight has repeatedly come back to haunt fandom. What if someone else had stepped in after the second film to keep the series going? What if this Batman had merged with The Man of Steel’s Superman? Batman retiring after just a couple of years, only to return for a few days before retiring permanently, grew harder to ignore as time went on. And beyond this, the film’s flaws became more noticeable over time, and its virtues less able to overshadow those flaws.
It remains a remarkable achievement, the only film to give Batman a happy ending to his career, capping a trilogy with as clear a literal and thematic beginning, middle, and ending as I’ve ever seen. The scope, scale, and audacity somehow managed to feel larger and more ambitious than most other superhero movies that came before with their world-threatening crises brought about by superhumans, aliens, or monsters. Time has simply clarified how the context is part of the impact, which means the more distance we get from that context — including how the film operates on its own as opposed to within a larger overarching narrative that are part of its larger context — the easier it is to judge this great film’s merits alongside the rest of the franchise.
2. The Dark Knight (2008) — While it doesn’t top my own list, this is probably the movie at the top of most other people’s Batman lists, and with good reason. From Ledger’s brilliant Oscar-winning performance to the glorious score by Hans Zimmer, from the increased sense of dramatic realism to the tragedy of Harvey Dent, from an always-timely examination of extra-judicial methods by state and private actors to a complex analogy about what we gain and what we lose in the fight against terrorism, The Dark Knight fundamentally changed how Hollywood, the press, and the public thought about superhero films and their artistic value.
Several fabulous sequences and shots stand out in our collective memories — the thrilling opening heist, the mesmerizing interrogation scene, Dent and Joker at the hospital, Alfred telling Bruce “We burned the forest down, Batman in Hong Kong, Joker with his head out the police car window. When we think of what makes The Dark Knight great, it’s these scenes that first come to mind, especially those featuring the Joker. But it is Bruce/Batman’s arc on a collision course with Harvey Dent’s arc that turns this into a transcendent experience. When in the final moments Batman chooses to take the blame and become the villain in the eyes of society because that’s the way he can best serve Gotham’s needs, this explosive convergence of themes and reversal/fulfillment of character arcs is equivalent to a religious experience.
The boy asks why Batman is running, Gordon sadly intones, “Because we have to chase him,” and we feel it in our bones. A chill goes up our spine when Gordon says, “Because he's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we'll hunt him. Because he can take it.” And as Batman races out of the darkness into the light, with Gordon proclaiming him “a silent guardian, a watchful protector. A dark knight,” it is difficult not to cheer. Upon that powerful foundational arc and through line, the rest of The Dark Knight’s greatness is built. None of the rest holds up if the underlying strength of Bruce/Batman’s arc doesn’t support it and enhance it.
In this way, The Dark Knight put in place everything necessary for a long-lived Batman franchise, with the Joker hinting that he and Batman would continue their macabre dance for eternity and the concept of escalation firmly cemented. This grounded approach is what works best for Batman, in terms of being the most popular and successful approach and framework for the character in film. So The Dark Knight looked like the perfect way to bring the rest of Batman’s world to life at last, so it was time to bring on the rest of the rogues, we all thought. Sadly, it was not to be.
1. Batman Begins (2005) — Still the best overall Batman movie on this list, this film finally brought to vivid life the Batman in my head, a serious grounded version of a troubled man fighting and overcoming his own inner demons to become a heroic symbol of hope for the human spirit. There was a brief time when I ranked The Dark Knight and/or The Dark Knight Rises ahead of Batman Begins, but it is this film more than the other two that has not only stood the tests of time but in fact improved with age. The flaws fade and matter less, while the best aspects shine brighter.
Batman’s origin, it turns out, is one of his most interesting and exciting stories to tell. That it’s just the starting point, and that where it leads is to something as thrilling as being Batman, speaks volumes about how intriguing and entertaining his journey is. Bruce goes from a cynical, vengeful young man to a man with good intentions but whose lack of vision leaves him lost in the world. Then he transforms again, from that lost man into someone who sees past his own pain and no longer aspires to vengeance. It’s not enough for him to inspire fear in his enemies — he wants to inspire hope in those he protects. And where the League of Shadows sees itself as an eternal necessity, Batman works to put himself out of business. This slow change, his commitment to it, and his learning process are wonderfully portrayed by Christian Bale. Here, as in Batman Forever, we get a Bruce Wayne who is just as interesting as Batman.
While this film introduced the idea of portraying Batman with illusionary realism, Batman Begins leans heavily toward the pretense of realism yet still has space for more fantastical ideas. Masked villains, Batman flying, a tank driving on rooftops, sci-fi weapons and gadgets, fear gas and a secret ninja army — this is what made many of us assume Nolan’s bat-world could figure out ways to fit some of the other more wild villains into an otherwise pseudo-realistic world. It wasn’t until The Dark Knight that Nolan veered the heaviest into even more grounded sense of realism.
As the years pass, every rewatch of this trilogy makes me appreciate Nolan’s first film of the series even more for managing to nail the sense of illusionary realism while retaining the best aspects of the comics. I think as much as we all loved the sense of realism in The Dark Knight, there was still a hope that a third film would mix the best elements of both, for a dark crime thriller on par with the second film but with more comic book elements and an expanded bat-world similar to Batman Begins. While the somber ending to The Dark Knight delivers an emotional punch, the uplifting exchange at the end of Batman Begins — with Gordon saying, “I never said thank you,” and Batman replying simply, “And you’ll never have to,” — followed by Batman soaring away above Gotham City, is the best and simplest testament to Batman’s heroism.
And there you have it, dear readers, my countdown of every Batman movie, ranked from worst to best!
My full review of The Batman publishes Monday morning at 9am, so be sure to check back for that. And stay tuned for more coverage of The Batman, Batman’s franchise, and the DCEU in the days and weeks ahead, including my ranking of the top 10 best Batman animated movies.
