Every Batman and Superman movie, ranked

19. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

Batman versus Superman? Cool! Even cooler with Gotham across the river from Metropolis, suggesting cultural divides between super-cities. Too bad 2016's epic nonstarter bungles its smash-up with spin-off teases, Iron Man 2's government-oversight plot, and whatever Lois Lane (Amy Adams) is doing with that bullet. Director Zack Snyder had a big idea pairing Ben Affleck's seasoned Bruce against Henry Cavill's rookie Clark, but they're identical monoliths of brute-force melancholy. The ultimate battle suffers from CGI sludge, an obvious eventual alliance, and "Martha!" If only Warner Bros. had just let Snyder make his Killer Superman vs. Machine Gun Batman movie. —Darren Franich

18. Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)

This infamous cheese-fest is better than Batman v Superman for two reasons: It's one hour shorter, and Christopher Reeve. No question, the star's final superfilm exemplifies diminishing returns. Peace begins topically with Kal-El eradicating all nukes. That plan requires hurling missiles into the sun, which — thanks to Lex Luthor (check-cashing Gene Hackman) and his nephew Lenny (oh, Jon Cryer) — creates evil charisma void Nuclear Man (Mark Pillow). Scholars can debate whether the long-haired blond anti-Superman is dumber than BvS' digital sewer monster Doomsday. We choose the mullet. —D.F.

17. Superman III (1983)

Anyone who turns this on expecting to see a buddy comedy between Superman and Richard Pryor (already a strange proposition) is bound to be disappointed, because they spend most of the runtime separated into two different movies. Christopher Reeve's Clark Kent embarks on a comedic homecoming trip to Smallville (which doesn't really make sense because the bumbling "Clark" persona was invented for his double-life in Metropolis and would be unrecognizable to high school classmates, but whatever). Meanwhile, Pryor's Gus Gorman is so good at embezzling money that he somehow becomes a corporate cyberterrorist. Annette O'Toole makes a super cute Lana Lang (which led to her even better Superman-adjacent performance as Ma Kent on Smallville), drunk naughty Superman is a pretty fun sight, and the evil computer climax resonates a bit now that we're all freaking out about A.I. again — even if it makes you wonder why they won't just do Brainiac in one of these movies already. —Christian Holub

16. Justice League (2017)

Look — this superteam bonanza remains a mulch of career-ending controversy, paradoxical corporate missions, and the questionable need for another gigantic film about teasing Darkseid for later. Viewed just as a Superman movie, Joss Whedon's rewrites give Cavill his best material, reimagining Man of Steel's moody messiah as an old-fashioned pose-for-the-kids champion (with, yes, a visible non-mustache). Viewed just as a Batman movie, Snyder's HBO Max expansion lets Batfleck plasma-rifle a crapload of parademons. Any Justice League cut stitches one bad comic saga (the '90s Death of Superman) into an alien invasion commanded by the unbelievably lame Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds). —D.F.

15. Batman Forever (1995)

Jim Carrey was on top of the world in 1995. Having just starred in The Mask, Dumb and Dumber, and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective in the previous year alone, Carrey's over-the-top performance as the Riddler must have seemed fresh and zeitgeist-y to those seeing Batman Forever in theaters. Absent that context, it's nonsensical and cringe-inducing (his master plan involves terrorizing Gotham citizens with a...brain box?) especially since Tommy Lee Jones is bringing the exact same manic energy. You'd think that a movie featuring Two-Face would have more time for differentiation and tonal surprise. Ah well, we got one eventually.

Val Kilmer makes for a pretty middle-of-the-road Batman — not as painfully miscast as George Clooney, but not as delightfully kinky as Michael Keaton. Speaking of kink, the film's true highlight is Nicole Kidman's performance as Dr. Chase Meridian, the world's worst criminal psychologist, but more importantly a beautiful woman who is unapologetically horny for Batman. Amidst our modern deluge of completely sexless superhero fare, that's one element that actually has aged well. —C.H.

14. Man of Steel (2013)

Nothing has been more polarizing in modern superhero movie discourse than the Snyder-verse, which began with a 2013 film that feels like a direct response to Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight. ("Oh, you liked a grittier, darker Batman? Well, we're going to do the same thing now for DC's beacon of hope.") Nolan produced the flick, and with Zack Snyder at the helm, Man of Steel brought us a more brooding, haunted Kryptonian strongman seemingly destined to wander the world a shell of himself. He's trapped in endless philosophical and moral debates with the ghostly memory of his dead father while struggling to integrate into his adopted home world of earth. Despite what you think about the still-ongoing debates about Superman killing Zod, the joyless factor deserves its critiques. It also takes some of the intrigue away from what this film is setting up. (If you're going to pit Batman against Superman, but both of them are emotional cutters, where exactly is the nuance?) Henry Cavill, though… I mean… The hunk of man meat made chest hair great again in pop culture. —Nick Romano

13. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

The last and least of Christopher Nolan's Batman films, The Dark Knight Rises also made minimal impact on pop culture — outside, that is, of Tom Hardy's still-baffling performance as Bane. Everyone who's seen this movie probably has their own impression of the guttural guerilla leader, though none is better than James Adomian's incredible work on the Harley Quinn animated series. The rest of the movie is full of equally indecipherable choices (Anne Hathaway has many talents, but Catwoman she is not) and head-scratching questions (how does Batman make it from a pit in the Middle Eastern desert to a sealed-off Pittsburgh Gotham in such a short amount of time, anyway?), but at least Hardy is having fun. As ridiculous as either of the Joel Schumacher Bat-films without the self-awareness to realize it, The Dark Knight Rises does deserve credit for giving its hero a proper finale in an age of never-ending zombie franchises. —C.H.

12. Superman Returns (2006)

Arguably the first major legacy sequel, this 2006 curio embeds newcomer Brandon Routh in Christopher Reeves' movie world, borrowing John Williams' score, Marlon Brando's face, and so many Kryptonian crystals. This Superman returns after five years in deep space, finding Lois (Kate Bosworth) a mom to young Jason (Tristan Lake Leabu) and engaged to handsome Richard White (handsome James Marsden). Jason is secretly Superman's child, a plot twist that focalizes the unusual lost-love mood of this Lois and Clark relationship. It could've been a superpowered Before Sunset — except the baby-faced leads are way too young. Nowadays, Kevin Spacey costarring in a Bryan Singer film makes Returns a film without many loud defenders, though it's an endearing labor-of-love attempt to honor the Richard Donner films' soaring sincerity. —D.F.

11. Batman & Robin (1997)

We've reached the point where Batman & Robin is so bad it's now good. No. It's camp, which means it has achieved immortality. George Clooney may not jump to the top of the charts when ranking Hollywood's best Batmen, but the 1997 film has taken up space in the minds of queer movie lovers. A cult hit may be too strong of a phrase, but its appreciation has only grown. A Batsuit with nipples! Flashing close-up shots of Clooney and Chris O'Donnell's rubber-clad bubble butts! Mr. Freeze's legion of evil hockey players! Clueless star Alicia Silverstone! It's like Uma Thurman is declaring from inside her sexy pink gorilla suit, "I'm going to give the gays everything they want." One could even call the film timely again. Before the Poison Ivy of HBO Max's Harley Quinn came along, here was a climate-conscious villain whose only mission was to save Mother Gaia. She walked so Greta Thunberg could run. —N.R.

10. Batman Begins (2005)

It feels right to place this film so close to Batman & Robin, since Christopher Nolan's supposedly "gritty" take on the Bat-mythos was a direct response to the candy-colored campiness of Joel Schumacher. Batman Begins successfully revitalized the Dark Knight as a film franchise, but nearly 20 years later Liam Neeson's Ra's al Ghul doesn't necessarily seem any less outsized than Arnold Schwarzenegger's Mr. Freeze, while Nolan's portrayal of Gotham City clearly owes more to Blade Runner than Taxi Driver. Still, Batman Begins powerfully expressed the aspirational nature of its central hero: "If you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, then you become something else entirely: A legend, Mr. Wayne". It also had an undeniably seismic influence on subsequent franchise reboots — which, depending on your opinion of the current Hollywood landscape, is either awesome or terrible. —C.H.

9. Batman: The Movie (1966)

Like a sparrow with a machine gun, this ecstatic spandex caper makes sweet loud music. Between TV seasons, Adam West and Burt Ward headlined a big-screen Bat-venture full of more: more villains, more vehicles, more brassy surf-jazz melodies. The shark punch is one sight gag among many, and Lorenzo Semple Jr.'s daffy script makes room for a delirious double-crossing romance, with Lee Meriwether's Catwoman undercover as a Wayne-attracting Soviet. Batman '66 looks more unconventional with every passing decade of by-the-numbers Gotham grimness. Like, name one other Batman who fought bad guys on a submarine while holding a kitty cat. —D.F.

8. The Batman (2022)

Gotham's broodiest vigilante has gotten darker and grittier with every iteration, so it was only a matter of time before he went full emo. Matt Reeves' ambitious 2022 noir tries to put the "detective" back in World's Greatest Detective, following a new millennial Bat (Robert Pattinson) as he hunts the murderous Riddler (Paul Dano). The result is a dark mystery with even darker color grading — more hard-boiled whodunnit than smash-'em-up superhero blockbuster. Not everything here works: The indulgent, 167-minute runtime (!) should have been slashed in half, yet somehow we still wish more time was devoted to Batman's budding romance with Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz). But even amidst all the doom and gloom, Pattinson shines, slathering on the black eyeliner and moping around to Nirvana. Gotham has never seemed so…goth. —Devan Coggan

7. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993)

Kevin Conroy is often overlooked by the mainstream when debating the best Batman actors of all time, but the late performer, who died Nov. 10, 2022, gave a definitive performance. Phantasm is his tour de force. Paired with an inspired Joker performance from Mark Hamill, a hero-villain dynamic that has echoed throughout the animated space, the film is an effective Batman story. Bruce is torn between his two lives as a wealthy businessman and a masked vigilante, and there are two brand-new characters we hadn't yet met in any form to facilitate that conflict. Andrea Beaumont (Dana Delany), a woman Bruce first meets while the two are visiting their dead parents' gravesites, could've been his shot at a normal routine if she hadn't Dear John-ed him. And just as Bruce worries Gotham's criminals have stopped fearing Batman, in comes the Phantasm, a figure directly linked to Bruce's past, whose crimes (e.g., killing the city's mob bosses) get blamed on the Dark Knight. Mask of the Phantasm proves that some of DC's best movies have been already happening for years in animation. —N.R.

6. Batman (1989)

Technically, the 1989 movie is the first "serious" Batman film, a far cry from Adam West cavorting in a cape. But there's a delightfully zany energy to Tim Burton's first superhero flick, which reimagines Gotham as a noirish playground of dark alleys and over-the-top parade floats. Michael Keaton is better in the later Batman Returns (more on that one in a minute), but he brings a glowering charm to his first outing as the Caped Crusader. Meanwhile, Jack Nicholson oscillates between campy and menacing: One minute, his sinister Joker is pontificating about the devil in the pale moonlight, and the next, he's boogieing to Prince. In fact, the entire film can't decide whether to embrace the silly or the serious — and yet somehow, that atonal balance works. It's the cinematic equivalent of Burton turning to the audience and saying, "You wanna get nuts? C'mon, let's get nuts." —D.C.

5. The LEGO Batman Movie (2017)

Is LEGO Batman the movie that best understands Batman? It might be! In an onscreen canon littered with campy vigilantes, broody emo kids, and gun-toting psychopaths, Will Arnett's tiny toy hero might be Batman in his purest form. Under all the self-referential jokes and sight gags, 2017's LEGO spin-off understands who Bruce Wayne is: a troubled, slightly narcissistic man-child who'd rather put on a cape than confront past traumas. The result is a film that's clever, heartfelt, and very, very funny. It's certainly the only Batman movie where Jemaine Clement's Sauron teams up with Eddie Izzard's Voldemort, and the entire thing has a sort of ramshackle, kids-in-the-sandbox charm. (It's also the rare example of IP crossover done right, and it's way better than Warner Bros.' other braggy crossover films, like the extremely subpar Ready Player One and the even subpar-er Space Jam reboot.) The LEGO Batman Movie is proof that sometimes, the biggest heroes are only 3 inches tall and made of plastic. —D.C.

4. The Dark Knight (2008)

Batman Begins introduced audiences to a starkly different Batman than they had seen before, but it wasn't taken so seriously until 2008's The Dark Knight. That's largely due to Heath Ledger's approach to Joker, a role the late actor reshaped into the new Macbeth — the kind of "prestige" character that can earn the star attached to it Oscars love. (Both Ledger and Joaquin Phoenix have now won Academy Awards for playing Joker.) We can talk endlessly about this complex villain and the moral conversations the film has in real time with its audience — which critics and fans already have had — but it's also just a blast. It's the kind of superhero movie that can be both gritty and fun: a riveting cat-and-mouse game bolstered by a Hans Zimmer score that slaps, dynamic camera shots from cinematographer Wally Pfister, layered supporting players like Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent and Maggie Gyllenhaal's Rachel Dawes, and iconic lines we're all still quoting to this day. Some men just want to watch the world burn, and some audiences want to watch those men watch the world burn. —N.R.

3. Superman II (1980)

Fans of this 1980 classic generally fall into two camps. Maybe you're Team Richard Donner, the original director who was fired halfway through and treated Superman with a kind of solemn awe. Or maybe you prefer the Richard Lester cut, the Hard Day's Night director who infused the sequel with goofy slapstick. Either way, there's one thing we all can agree on: Christopher Reeve has never been better. Reeve is Superman, whether he's facing off against a glowering Zod (Terence Stamp) or getting beat up in a diner. It's long been said that Reeve is the greatest special effect in superhero film history, and that's never been truer here: Nerdy Clark Kent and noble Supes have never felt so real, and the actor switches effortlessly between the two, just by raising an eyebrow or relaxing his shoulders. The love affair between Clark and Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) is both swoon-worthy and heartbreaking (although the less said about that amnesia kiss, the better). You really will believe a man can fly — especially if that man is Christopher Reeve. —D.C.

2. Superman (1978)

From one point of view, it might seem odd to say that the first modern superhero film is still one of the best. Are we really arguing that the genre hasn't improved at all since 1978? Not exactly. It's just that superhero movies have changed so much since Richard Donner's pioneering effort that watching the original Superman in 2023 now feels like opening a mysterious alien object that traveled across countless sparkling galaxies in a spiky spinning starship to remind the human race of beauty and wonder. None of our modern green screens and volume technology can compete with the simple magic of watching Christopher Reeve fly through the sky on those invisible wires — or switch effortlessly between Clark Kent and Superman just through posture and syntax.

Gene Hackman's Lex Luthor has the coolest supervillain lair this side of Watchmen's Ozymandias — wouldn't you also want to hang out with your henchmen in a bachelor pad beneath Grand Central Station, complete with indoor pool and Belle-worthy library? Although Superman II makes a convincing case for the value of pitting the Man of Steel against equally powerful enemies, the climax of the first Superman is a testament to the true value of superhero stories. After all, what is the point of this fantasy if not imagining a role model so powerful and so good they are willing and able to save us from anything — even time itself? —C.H.

1. Batman Returns (1992)

Glorious cinematic mania. Burton made a 1992 Bat-sequel that's part-fairy tale, part-satire, nonstop horrorshow, and still the greatest superhero screen romance. Michelle Pfeiffer is beyond legendary as Selina Kyle, lonely everygal–turned–sadomasochistic feline avenger. She's a mad woman in every sense, well-matched by Oswald Cobblepot (Danny DeVito) as a ravenous fish-manstrosity. An embarrassment of riches gives Returns a third antagonist, the vampiric tycoon Max Shreck, played with maximum weirdosity by Christopher Walken. Keaton isn't sidelined, though. He's more bemused here than in Batman '89, and the baddies offer psychological challenges to his caped crusading. Sparks fly between Bruce, Selina, and their costumed selves. A merrily deranged prologue gives Penguin an inverted Dark Knight origin, making Oswald another baby aristocrat orphaned by parents who didn't want him. ("You're just jealous because I'm a genuine freak and you have to wear a mask!" is still the sharpest Batman take in any Batman screenplay).

Famously more demented than any studio or every parent expected, the film's final act edges into tragedy, even as the missile-armed waterfowl start marching. Returns tops this list because it is this list, encompassing luscious absurdity and twisted emotional psychology, going fully biblical (watch out, firstborns!) while giving every character a playful sense of humor. It's the move equivalent of a sonnet and a dirty limerick. All that on Christmas? Oh Holy Knight, Batman! —D.F.