While one could make an argument for the optimism of Superman, the youth of Spider-Man, or the ambition of Iron Man, it’s pretty cut and dry that the most popular superhero of all time is Batman. He’s a character our popular culture has been drawn to time and time again, and with nine feature films devoted to the Dark Knight, he’s certainly the most prolific. Which is why I decided to revisit each of the previous Batman films and rank them, from worst to best.

Batman is a character who’s given us some of the best superhero movies of all time, and some of the worst, with the tone and approach varying wildly over the last few decades. It's fascinating to see how the same character can be interpreted so differently, and to be honest, after rewatching all of these movies I could certainly make an argument that each one has merit in one way or another. So without further ado, let’s get down to it.

RELATED: Why 'The Batman' Trailer Makes Me Genuinely Excited for Yet Another Batman Movie

13.) Batman & Robin

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Batman & Robin is a bad movie. But understanding the history of Batman onscreen, specifically the TV series and the 1966 film, leads one to understand what director Joel Schumacher was going for here. And you know what? He kind of pulls it off in a couple of scenes. Whereas Batman Forever dipped its toes into camp territory, Batman & Robin dives in headfirst, wading around in a sea of puns and jokes and gags galore. The problem is, the movie can’t reconcile its cartoony nature with also trying to tell a genuine Batman story, and the whole ensemble is used so poorly that you can see them struggling to find something real to hold onto from scene to scene.

George Clooney is woefully miscast, failing to deliver both the dry humor and the brooding complexity of Batman/Bruce Wayne, Chris O’Donnell continues to wonder what he’s doing in a Batman movie at all, and Alicia Silverstone pops up for no reason and makes zero effort to affect any kind of character whatsoever. And then there’s Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was famously paid a whopping $25 million for his work as Mr. Freeze, and who received top billing on all marketing materials. He and Uma Thurman’s Poison Ivy are actually the most effective in this film, delivering their lines with the utmost camp and really putting the shine on as the movie progresses. So scenes in which polar-bear-shoe-clad Mr. Freeze conducts an orchestra of goons in a rendition of “Snow Miser Song” kind of work, because Schwarzenegger understands that he’s essentially in a cartoon.

Visually the film feels more akin to a performance of Batman on Ice at the Ohio State Fair than a theatrically released motion picture, complete with odd lighting choices and massive, over-the-top sets. Batman & Robin’s biggest sin, however, is that it’s dreadfully boring. Akiva Goldsman’s script is lifeless, and the whole thing is a complete miscalculation in trying to evoke the playful spirit of the TV series, with a not-so-subtle focus on advertising the film’s many toys and action figures within the context of the movie.

Can a campy Batman movie work in this modern era? I don’t know, but Joel Schumacher’s attempt to inject a fun and kid-friendly atmosphere into the franchise with his second Batman film was a disastrous failure, stopping the series in its tracks and leading Warner Bros. to seriously rethink its approach to the superhero genre. The one good thing that came from Batman & Robin—aside from some glorious GIFs—is it led to a complete reinvention of the franchise from the ground up.

12.) Justice League (2017)

Justice League 2017
Image via Warner Bros.

Justice League isn't really a Batman movie, so its inclusion on this list is mainly for completionist's sake given that it continues the DCEU. And really, Batman doesn't have all that much to do in the film. Technically he's the one who assembles the Justice League and makes the decision to reanimate Superman's corpse with an alien electrical box, but when things kick into high gear Batman is... somewhat useless. He's just a dude with some tools, which isn't a great match for the monstrous Steppenwolf.

As a film, the theatrical cut of Justice League is really bad. It's woefully boring, and despite the whole "Joss Whedon scenes vs. Zack Snyder scenes" debate, the entire thing feels authorless. Steppenwolf is a simple, uninteresting, one-dimensional villain whose entire "thing" is "I wanna rule the world"; the action is either too kinetic to understand what's going on or strangely by-the-numbers; and none of these characters seem like they really truly care about anything at all. They say they do, and they act like they do, but it all lacks conviction.

Justice League is not without a few bright spots, however. Wonder Woman continues to be the shining beacon of hope in this DCEU, and Ezra Miller's Flash is at least compelling. But Ray Fisher's Cyborg is a one-note exposition machine (having had his entire arc cut to bits), and the choice to turn Jason Mamoa's Aquaman into a straight-up dudebro is... a choice I guess.

As for Ben Affleck's Batman, while he stood out in Batman v Superman, here he seems like he's showing up out of complete and total obligation. He says he feels bad about the whole Superman dying thing, but the film never really digs into it in a way that's interesting or compelling. And given that there's a full ensemble to juggle, we don't get near enough time to follow-up on the issues that made Affleck's Batman so interesting in BvS.

It's almost impressively forgettable, and so disappointing. And in contrast to the far superior Zack Snyder's Justice League, it's even more frustrating.

11.) Batman Forever

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Image via Warner Bros.

Warner Bros.’ pivot to a more kid-friendly Batman movie by ousting Tim Burton and bringing in Joel Schumacher to direct resulted in a severe visual and tonal shift for the franchise, swapping out Michael Keaton for Val Kilmer and Art Deco production design for something akin to a neon-infused 90s house party. But Warner Bros.’ intention wasn’t to up the franchise creatively—they wanted it to be more family-friendly and, of course, sell more toys. They succeeded wildly as Batman Forever outgrossed its predecessor by nearly $100 million, but it also put the franchise on a path towards implosion.

Batman Forever isn’t a terrible movie, but it’s not a terribly good one either. Coming off the vitality of Keaton in Batman Returns, Kilmer is downright boring as Bruce Wayne/Batman. And while the canted angles and theatricality of the film is a somewhat interesting throwback to the TV series at first, it soon becomes monotonous and eventually incongruous with the film’s “serious” scenes. The addition of Chris O’Donnell’s hotheaded Robin to the team wasn’t a bad idea, but its execution is poor as Robin comes off as more of a nuisance than a sidekick, and Nicole Kidman does little more than bat her eyelashes in the thankless role of Dr. Chase Meridian.

The film’s saving grace is Jim Carrey, whose comedic persona was on the rise at the time of Batman Forever’s release, and whose maniacal energy is a bolt of lightning to the movie’s ensemble. It’s still a little weird to see Tommy Lee Jones as Harvey Dent (even weirder when you know he couldn’t stand Carrey on set), but his rapport with Carrey’s Riddler is fine enough, and Carrey’s performance sells the fun of the villains’ ridiculous evil plot.

Schumacher was clearly trying to bring the franchise back to its roots with the camp and “fun” nature of the TV series and 1966 film, but he’s at odds with himself as he also tried to take a serious look at Bruce Wayne’s psyche. The dramatic weight fails to catch when surrounded by such colorful nonsense, but for the film’s intended audience, colorful nonsense was like crack. Full confession: I was kind of obsessed with Batman Forever as a kid, and I imagine I wasn’t alone. It’s not a very good movie—Batman or otherwise—but rewatching as an adult, it has its (few) moments. There’s just enough here to make it interesting, and to land it above its sequel, but it pales in comparison to most of the Batman oeuvre.

10.) Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (Ultimate Edition)

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Image via Warner Bros.

Batman is one of the best aspects of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, but that's not necessarily saying much. Credit is due to Zack Snyder for opting to bring a very different kind of live-action Batman to the big screen, and Ben Affleck does a swell job of inhabiting a grizzled, "over it" Batman who's given up trying to do the right thing for straight-up murdering bad guys now. The theatrics are a bit over the top and Batman's dialogue is certainly lacking in gravity, but it's actually Affleck's performance as Bruce Wayne that shines brightest in the pic (especially in the longer "Ultimate Edition"). He easily slips into the billionaire playboy role, and even when Wayne is attending to "very serious business", there's a charm to Affleck's performance that's refreshing.

But Batman v Superman isn't just a Batman movie, and indeed the decision on the part of Snyder and Warner Bros. to flood the film with as much set up for an interconnected DC universe bogs the movie down with convoluted character motivations and way out-there choices (Batman's "Knightmares" in particular really don't make much sense within the context of this movie, even if they may or may not be foreshadowing for things to come).

There's also the doom and gloom of it all, as Snyder crafts an absolutely joyless superhero movie despite the fact that he's dealing with the two most iconic characters in comic book history. Superhero movies don't need jokes, but they do need to be entertainingChris Terrio's script is too busy throwing in as many philosophical asides as possible while stumbling around for some sort of thematic throughline, but it never coalesces into anything resembling coherence.

The extended Ultimate Edition improves both on a storytelling and character level, but taken as a whole Batman v Superman is like someone made a stew out of 37 other different stews. Despite setting up some fascinating arcs and developments (the sequence showing Bruce Wayne's POV of the Superman/Zod fight is still incredible), Snyder falls short on almost every single one. It builds to a lackluster finale with a hideous CG villain, and we're left wishing we had seen three separate movies starring Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman respectively instead of the jumbled mess that is BvS.

9.) Zack Snyder's Justice League

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Image via Warner Bros.

While Zack Snyder’s Justice League is a radically different film than the abysmal 2017 cut, the story arc of Batman is fairly similar. He feels guilty about Superman’s death and is trying desperately to be the glue that holds the titular team together. But the execution in Zack Snyder’s four-hour opus is far more compelling and far more satisfying than the 2017 version of the movie, and we do even get some additional Batman scenes that further dive into the character’s guilt. Snyder’s version also mostly does away with the weird flirtation between Batman and Wonder Woman, which felt out of place in 2017’s Justice League.

But if we’re just judging the movies themselves and not necessarily Batman’s arc, Zack Snyder’s Justice League is still leaps and bounds better than the theatrical version of the film. This is an operatic epic, full of wild ambition that really digs deep into its central characters thanks to its epic runtime.

RELATED: Here's How 'Zack Snyder's Justice League' Would Have Connected to Ben Affleck's Solo Batman Movie

Even the chapter delineations make the experience of watching Zack Snyder’s Justice League more akin to reading a novel than watching a blockbuster movie, and characters like Cyborg and Flash finally get full, rich arcs. It’s unlike any other superhero movie because it is a pure, unfiltered, epically long distillation of Zack Snyder’s vision that could never have been released theatrically. That unique quality doesn’t automatically make this superior to any other superhero movie ever made – it still has plenty of faults inherent to Snyder’s work, and plenty of scenes where more does not equal better – but it does make watching it a singular viewing experience. And in a climate inundated by two-hour smashy smashy superhero blockbusters that all blend together, Zack Snyder’s Justice League is something of a breath of fresh air. Blemishes and all.

Truthfully, the only reason this film is below The Dark Knight Rises on this list is because it's not technically a full-on "Batman movie."

8.) The Dark Knight Rises

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Image via Warner Bros.

For the first hour or so, The Dark Knight Rises is pretty good. The decision to jump forward in time eight years allows us to see a broken and reclusive Bruce Wayne, having given up the mantle of Batman once and for all. We get to see him spurred out of retirement, we’re introduced to promising newcomers like Anne Hathaway’s Catwoman and Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s do-gooder cop John Blake, and it’s exciting to see Batman getting back in the saddle. But once Bane’s nonsensical plans become clear and he begins to take over Gotham, the film kind of devolves into a bit of a convoluted mess.

This second time jump is misguided, as it lets all the air out of the balloon so to speak and we’re left wondering just exactly how the mechanics of a madman holding a city hostage for five months works. And we still don’t really know why Bane is doing all this, which gives little weight to his actions. The big Talia Al Ghul reveal is too little too late—she should’ve been set up as the villain much earlier, to give us a sense of emotional stakes—and John Blake’s “twist” name reveal is unnecessary. For someone so interested in carving his own path, much of Christopher Nolan’s trilogy-capper feels like fan-service, and it’s ill-fitting.

But as I said, there’s still stuff to like about the film. It’s handsomely crafted, with cinematographer Wally Pfister and Nolan pushing IMAX cameras to their limits. And Hathaway’s performance as Catwoman is pretty terrific, putting a clever twist on the Selina Kyle/Catwoman dynamic, while Christian Bale does some of his best dramatic work of the series opposite Michael Caine, as they argue over the future of the Batman persona.

RELATED: 'The Dark Knight Trilogy' Production Designer Walks Us Through the Creation of Each Film

Ultimately, though, the film is a disappointment. Whereas Heath Ledger’s Joker is menacing from the get-go, Tom Hardy’s Bane is a conundrum. His true motivation makes sense, and is genuinely interesting, but we don’t get there until the end of the film, so for the first two hours we’re left to wonder why we should care about this guy who talks funny and occasionally punches people. And just as Batman starts to develop some interesting new relationships, he’s sidelined and whisked away to the Lazarus Pit while Gary Oldman’s Commissioner Gordon spends most of the film in a hospital bed.

Coming off of something so great as The Dark Knight, we were bound to be disappointed with whatever followed. But what makes The Dark Knight Rises so frustrating is that it’s almost really interesting. It has most of the pieces there, they’re just not arranged in a compelling way, leaving what should’ve been a dramatic and emotional conclusion to fall flat.

7.) Batman (1989)

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Image via Warner Bros.

While Christopher Nolan rightly gets a lot of credit for reinventing the superhero movie genre, Tim Burton is equally deserving for the somewhat radical nature of 1989’s Batman. We forget, but at the time Batman had not been on the big screen in over two decades, with his last onscreen iteration being a campy, funny portrayal that acknowledged the inherent ridiculousness of a guy dressing up as a bat and fighting crime. With Batman, however, Burton attempted to envision the practicalities of the character, melding the silly nature of the TV series with a more grounded, darker interpretation of the titular hero.

It works to a point, as Burton attempts to delve into the dichotomy at the heart of the Batman/Bruce Wayne persona but never really fully realizes the idea. The original songs by Prince are ill-conceived and make for an odd fit with Danny Elfman’s theatrical score, and Kim Basinger’s Vicki Vale starts off promising but never really goes anywhere. But it doesn’t really matter, because Jack Nicholson keeps things entertaining with his maniacal take on the classic villain Joker and Michael Keaton brings a curiosity to Bruce Wayne/Batman that adds a new dimension to the character.

You can feel Burton coming close to grasping the delicate balance between theatricality and reality but never quite reaching it, and in hindsight even the filmmaker admits that he’s not fully satisfied with the film. Indeed, a writers strike and numerous rewrites during filming led to a muddled production process, but the end result isn’t bad. Batman is totally watchable, and from a visual standpoint it’s pretty spectacular—the art deco production design is downright inspired. It simply falls a bit short of greatness, but luckily Burton would fully realize his vision for Batman in the film’s superior sequel.

6.) Batman: Mask of the Phantasm

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Image via Warner Bros.

The legacy of Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is that of a cult hit of sorts. Until The LEGO Batman Movie, it was the only animated Batman film to get a wide theatrical release – a last-minute decision for the Direct-to-Video movie that somewhat hobbled its chances of success. Indeed, Mask of the Phantasm was a box office bomb when it hit theaters in 1993, but a positive critical reception and the success of animated Batman adaptations on the small screen spurred many to seek it out, only to discover it’s a genuinely great Batman story.

Mask of the Phantasm is full-on film noir as flashbacks reveal Batman’s early crimefighting days which are juxtaposed with a more weary, frustrated version of the character in present day. It’s also a full-on detective story, as Batman is trying to find out who keeps murdering all these crime bosses, and how it connects to a story from his past. That detective angle is something the live-action films have thus far failed to really nail, as they’re hobbled by having to deliver spectacle-driven action sequences vs. pure gumshoe detective work.

Directed by Eric Radomski and Bruce Timm, Mask of the Phantasm is pretty darn terrific. It’s unique in the legion of Batman movies for reasons stated above, it looks fantastic (drawing from the Gothic Batman: The Animated Series aesthetic), and the story is genuinely moving and surprising.

5.) The LEGO Batman Movie

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Image via Warner Bros.

The LEGO Batman Movie is certainly the funniest Batman movie ever made. Director Chris McKay's Batman-centric spinoff of The LEGO Movie tackles the character's long, winding history with nods and references to every other big screen Batman film, as well as the inclusion of a cadre of Batman villains both iconic (Mr. Freeze!) and crazy (Condiment Man!). The film's sense of humor is sharp, and it throws a lot at the screen in terms of Easter Egg visuals, and while not all of it sticks, it's coming at such a fast rate, and with such incredible volume, that it mostly works.

What makes The LEGO Batman Movie special, and why it's a very good Batman movie in its own right, is it digs into the character's humanity with a depth that hasn't been touched before. Batman Begins delves into Batman's origins, and how fear drives his decision to become The Batman, but The LEGO Batman Movie takes a serious look at Batman's psyche and humanity. He's a man constantly lauded for his deeds, but at heart lives a solitary and lonely life, shutting out anyone from ever getting close to him.

Batman is also kind of a dick, which The LEGO Batman Movie understands. To don the cape and cowl with zero superhuman abilities takes a great deal of confidence, and that confidence often comes at the expense of humility or even warmth. LEGO Batman forces the character to take a serious look at his deeds and way of life, and consider whether the net outcome is good or bad. That's ambitious and ballsy for an animated movie aimed at kids.

The film doesn't reach the thematic or emotional heights of Christopher Nolan's first two Batman movies, or the satirical ambition of Batman Returns, but it succeeds where almost every other Batman movie has failed: as a great movie about Batman. These other live-action efforts are often concerned with set visit spectacle or flashy villains, sometimes for good reason, but The LEGO Batman Movie really zeroes a focus onto Batman himself to incredibly silly and surprisingly thoughtful results.

4.) Batman (1966)

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Image via Warner Bros.

Batman’s first major big screen adaptation is a very silly movie, entirely contrary to how we currently view Batman in the modern pop culture realm, and it totally works. Director Leslie H. Martinson’s Batman was released in theaters just two months after the first season of the Batman TV series ended, with Adam West and Burt Ward’s portrayals of Batman and Robin quickly on the rise towards their eventual iconic status. The dynamic duo makes for a hilariously pleasant and ceaselessly polite pairing as they square off against every major Batman villain—Joker, Penguin, Catwoman and Riddler—over the course of the film, with the baddies teaming up in an effort to kidnap members of the United World Organization’s Security Council, thereby instilling global chaos.

Batman is most famously notable for its campy nature, and the film is indeed “in on the joke” so to speak—this is a movie in which Batman runs around trying to dispose of a giant bomb for two minutes, only to keep running into obstacles from fishermen to a gaggle of nuns. West’s dry delivery is unmatched, and it’s funny to see Frank Gorshin’s portrayal of The Riddler come across as the most “stable” of the villainous ensemble in the wake of Jim Carrey’s unhinged performance. Some of the action sequences drone on for a bit too long, and the film comes close to monotony at times, but its wit and humor do a fine job of keeping things interesting. 

But Batman is also unflinchingly earnest, and the inherent goodness of the titular hero and his sidekick are the key to what makes Batman so great. We’ve been inundated with a dark, complex iteration of the character for over twenty years now, which isn’t a bad thing, but with Batman it’s nice to see the hero portrayed as someone who is unflinchingly good. Batman is wildly entertaining and never takes itself too seriously, but it also has a big, beating, humanistic heart that makes it all feel worthwhile.

3.) Batman Begins

Image via Warner Bros.

Of all the Batman movies over the years, Batman Begins marked the most radical shift in pretty much every way. Gone were the theatrics and, in the case of Batman & Robin, buffoonery, replaced by an entirely grounded and realistic approach to the character. What would happen if someone actually became Batman? That’s essentially the credo that informs the execution of Batman Begins, which for all intents and purposes is really a talky, serious drama with a couple of bouts of action, not an action movie with silly costumes. It was a wildly ambitious gamble on the part of co-writer/director Christopher Nolan, and it paid off in spades.

Batman Begins is a pretty extraordinary start to one of the most iconic trilogies in film history, with Christian Bale bringing a gravitas to the character of Bruce Wayne/Batman that we had yet to see. You can feel the devolution of Gotham weighing on Bruce’s shoulders, and you inherently understand why he makes the decision to do something about it. But Bale’s performance also isn’t without its charms, and his rapport with Michael Caine’s Alfred is a downright delight. Indeed, Batman Begins is actually quite funny, with some necessary comedy bits sprinkled throughout to keep the grounded doom and gloom from becoming too punishing.

RELATED: Composer James Newton Howard Explains His Collaboration With Hans Zimmer on the Batman Films and Why He Didn't Score 'The Dark Knight Rises'

And credit to Nolan for actually crafting a movie about something. Batman Begins isn’t ambitious simply because it attempted such a realistic approach to the superhero genre, but it was also gutsy of Nolan and co-write David S. Goyer to essentially craft this Batman film as a post-9/11 story. Begins is all about the notion of fear and how we, as humans, react to that fear. Batman’s staunch stance against killing is born out of vengeance, as his training with the League of Shadows leads him to the philosophy that to kill is unjust, and every person—no matter their crime—deserves a fair trial. Well, unless you’re Ra’s Al Ghul on a speeding train, of course, in which case, see ya!

While the third act does become a tad muddled, with Batman’s solution to ridding the world of Ra’s Al Gul seemingly in direct contrast with his philosophy, the fact remains that the rest of the film is downright tremendous. It’s weighty without being preachy, it’s serious without being self-serious, and Nolan’s handle on character and theme is remarkable. Batman Begins kicked off a slew of imitators and an entirely new approach to the “reboot” idea, but Nolan wasn’t about to be undone, as he took this foundation and in its sequel built his masterpiece.

2.) Batman Returns

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Image via Warner Bros.

Batman Returns is brilliant. Having taken a stab at the character with 1989’s Batman, and more importantly having honed his aesthetic and filmmaking techniques further with 1990’s Edward Scissorhands, director Tim Burton came back swinging and he knocked it out of the park. From the word “go” you can feel the confidence that Batman was lacking, as Burton envisions an elaborate prelude that introduces the origin stories of both Penguin and Catwoman, with Danny DeVito and Michelle Pfeiffer delivering instantly iconic performances. Pfeiffer in particular is tremendous here, bringing a dangerously unpredictable quality to Selina Kyle while still managing to keep the character playful—albeit in an insane kind of way.

In a stroke of genius, Burton enlisted Heathers scribe Daniel Waters to work on the screenplay, and the result is a film that’s not only fun as hell, but also thematically thought-provoking. Here, in a comic book movie featuring a sewer-dwelling creep that has penguin hands, Burton decides to make a biting political satire, turning Christopher Walken’s city businessman Max Shreck into quite possibly the film’s most despicable villain of all—and this is a movie in which Penguin’s plan involves dumping children into toxic waste.

Perhaps the only negative about Batman Returns is that, with the tremendous characterization of Penguin and Catwoman and the dimensionality of Shreck, Batman kind of gets the short end of the stick. But mirroring Burton, Michael Keaton is much more assured in the role this time around, unafraid to get a bit more spirited and completely nailing the more dramatic beats of the character. Even with the somewhat lacking screentime, the film does a fine job of exploring the duality of the Bruce Wayne/Batman persona and juxtaposing that with Selina Kyle/Catwoman, with the latter filling a much more satisfying role than as a simple villain or love interest.

Even Danny Elfman tops himself when it comes to the film’s score, with his fairy tale-esque take on the music offsetting some of the more graphically dark and violent aspects of the movie. Indeed, this is without doubt the darkest Batman movie of them all, and possibly the darkest superhero movie of the modern era. I reiterate: Penguin’s plan involves murdering children by dropping them into toxic waste. And yet, Batman Returns also manages to be one of the funniest superhero movies of all time, with Keaton, Pfeiffer, De Vito, and Walken firing on all cylinders. There’s one scene in particular, between Pfeiffer and De Vito as they’re hashing out their plan to take down Batman, that evokes the tone of the TV series perfectly. It’s playful without devolving into camp, and just knowing enough that it lets audiences in on the fun.

It’s a minor miracle that Batman Returns was released as a major studio superhero movie, and while the film did solid business, Warner Bros. was clearly taken aback by the final result. The studio’s fear would ultimately lead to the demise of the franchise, but six films later Batman Returns remains one of the absolute best Batman movies—and one of the best superhero movies—of all time.

1.) The Dark Knight

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Image via Warner Bros.

It’s honestly a pretty close race between #1 and #2 on this list, but Christopher Nolan’s masterwork The Dark Knight lands the top spot by a hair. Just as Batman Begins eschewed the hallmarks of the superhero genre, The Dark Knight is essentially an epic crime thriller in the vein of Heat, only this epic crime thriller happens to star Batman. It’s one of the rare sequels that tops its predecessor in nearly every regard (although not the first Batman film to do so), with Nolan, cinematographer Wally Pfister, and star Christian Bale all besting their respective work on Batman Begins—and that movie was pretty darn good already.

We can’t talk about The Dark Knight without discussing Heath Ledger’s undeniably iconic performance as The Joker. Nothing against Jack Nicholson, but this is the definitive Joker portrayal and one of the best onscreen performances of all time. Ledger is a man possessed, wholly inhabiting a character fueled by chaos and giving us a turn that is wholly terrifying and endlessly watchable. What Ledger does here is nothing short of phenomenal—you can’t see a shred of Ledger in this performance—and it’s made all the more frustrating by the fact that this was clearly an actor about to hit another level at the time of his passing.

Nolan and co-writer Jonathan Nolan wisely pit the film as a character triptych between Batman, Gordon, and Harvey Dent, with the latter coming to vivid life through a shining performance by Aaron Eckhart. Nolan’s handle on theme here is deft and precise, presenting Harvey’s purity and passion for justice as Batman’s potential exit route before using the Joker—an agent of chaos—to corrupt the best of the best, putting Gotham’s humanity (and future) in jeopardy.

Even Maggie Gyllenhaal, here replacing Katie Holmes, is great, bringing a new dimension to Rachel Dawes and making her essential to Wayne's story just before her demise. The storytelling and construction here is impeccable, and even if the final set piece is a tad unnecessary, Nolan keeps such a tight handle on theme and character throughout that you don’t really mind. The Dark Knight has already solidified its place in cinematic history, not just as a superhero movie but as a film period, and for good reason. This thing is an exquisitely crafted house of cards, except its foundation is character and theme, not action set pieces or flashy performances. To put it more succinctly, The Dark Knight is, quite simply, the best.

KEEP READING: Christopher Nolan Films Ranked From Worst to Best