Our Definitive Ranking of the 40+ DC Comic Book Movies

When I was a kid, I was an avid comic book collector. I spent so many hours poring over the pages of different back issues, living with my favorite heroes and seeing what they're all about.

I never in my wildest dreams thought as a kid that there would be massive movies that took these characters seriously, but here we are.

While Marvel has created a global empire, there is another studio fighting for dominance in the superhero realm.

From Christopher Nolan’s grounded, gritty Batman reboot to Zack Snyder's mythological universe, and onward into James Gunn’s fresh new chapter, DC’s cinematic trajectory has been a wild, fascinating roller-coaster ride.

Here is every live-action DC feature film ranked from worst to best.

Let's dive in.

46. STEEL (1997)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Kenneth Johnson
• Writer: Kenneth Johnson
• Cast: Shaquille O'Neal, Annabeth Gish, Judd Nelson, Richard Roundtree

This is not a good movie. It's sort of the butt of many jokes, and I don't want to go overboard; it just feels like a marketing stunt.

45. CATWOMAN (2004)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Pitof
• Writer: John Brancato, Michael Ferris, John Rogers (Screenplay), Theresa Rebeck, John Brancato, Michael Ferris (Story)
• Cast: Halle Berry, Benjamin Bratt, Sharon Stone, Lambert Wilson, Frances Conroy

There are very few movies I think are so bad they kinda get good, and this is one of them. Despite Halle Berry's raw charisma, aggressive early-2000s MTV-style editing, bizarre cat-magic origins, and the famous CGI-heavy basketball scene, ruins it.

44. JONAH HEX (2010)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Jimmy Hayward
• Writer: Neveldine & Taylor (Screenplay), Neveldine & Taylor, William Farmer (Story)
• Cast: Josh Brolin, Megan Fox, John Malkovich, Michael Fassbender, Will Arnett

I saw this in an empty theater in 2010, and maybe that was a good thing. A bafflingly chaotic 81-minute Western comic adaptation that had the cast to be great!

43. THE RETURN OF SWAMP THING (1989)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Jim Wynorski
• Writer: Neil Cuthbert
• Cast: Louis Jourdan, Heather Locklear, Sarah Douglas, Dick Durock

This is a real movie. I had no idea it existed until this week. It leans heavily into B-movie comedy. It is so strange.

42. BATMAN & ROBIN (1997)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Joel Schumacher
• Writer: Akiva Goldsman
• Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, George Clooney, Chris O'Donnell, Uma Thurman, Alicia Silverstone, Michael Gough

Infamous for its bat-nipples, pun-heavy dialogue, and toy-commercial aesthetic. This movie got them to stop making Batman movies; it was so hated. I think overhated, but the campy version of this was kind of a harsh juxtaposition with the other Batman films.

41. GREEN LANTERN (2011)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Martin Campbell
• Writer: Greg Berlanti, Michael Green, Marc Guggenheim, Michael Goldenberg
• Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, Mark Strong, Angela Bassett, Tim Robbins

Before Ryan Reynolds found his calling with Deadpool, he was baxscialyl jsut a CGI guy i this movie., It wasted his charisma and tried to make him a hero that clashed with his pwrsona. It never quite got there.

40. SUICIDE SQUAD (2016)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: David Ayer
• Writer: David Ayer
• Cast: Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, Jay Hernandez, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Cara Delevingne

Look, I’ll be honest… I wasn’t familiar with the Suicide Squad before the movie was announced. But a bunch of villains teaming up to defeat an even greater evil? Cool idea!

The resulting film was…less than cool. David Ayer had six weeks to write this script before he rushed into pre-production. It shows. The entire film’s messy. Forget the narrative issues, the craft on display isn’t even polished. There are noticeable ADR and sound issues throughout the movie.

This particular collection of anti-heroes left something to be desired. Consider Jai Courtney’s character—Boomerang. He is all-powerful because of… a boomerang. No, really. That’s his superpower. I cannot imagine something lamer and less interesting. While Margot Robbie provides a spark, she’s bogged down by the material she’s given. Even the inimitable Viola Davis looks confused to be there. A promising premise is squandered here.

39. SHAZAM! FURY OF THE GODS (2023)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: David F. Sandberg
• Writer: Henry Gayden, Chris Morgan
• Cast: Zachary Levi, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Rachel Zegler, Adam Brody, Ross Butler, Lucy Liu, Helen Mirren

Where the first film succeeded on heart and child-like wonder, the sequel succumbs to bigger set pieces and generic mythological villains that kinda neuter the good time.

38. BLACK ADAM (2022)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
• Writer: Adam Sztykiel, Rory Haines, Sohrab Noshirvani
• Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Aldis Hodge, Noah Centineo, Sarah Shahi, Marwan Kenzari, Quintessa Swindell, Pierce Brosnan

Dwayne Johnson spent fifteen years bringing this story to the screen, all for it to be remembered as part of a DC universe that never went forward.

37. JUSTICE LEAGUE (2017)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Zack Snyder (and Joss Whedon, uncredited)
• Writer: Chris Terrio, Joss Whedon (Screenplay), Chris Terrio, Zack Snyder (Story)
• Cast: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, Ray Fisher, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane

The premise of the Justice League is that superheroes band together to fight evil. You would imagine that’d be the goal of this film…to put Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Flash in a room and have them play off each other to have them fight someone.

Well, this film makes one curious decision. Superman’s dead for three-quarters of it. His return is inevitable, of course, because he’s… Superman. Yet, we have to wait. And wait. And wait…

When Superman’s away, the heroes must square off against Steppenwolf, an incomprehensible and one-dimensional villain, not the Canadian rock band. The movie’s not as pitch black as Batman v. Superman, but its sense of humor is a series of snappy one-liners that often fail to land. A dream team, sure. A dream movie, certainly not.

36. WONDER WOMAN 1984 (2020)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Patty Jenkins
• Writer: Patty Jenkins, Geoff Johns, Dave Callaham (Screenplay), Patty Jenkins, Geoff Johns (Story)
• Cast: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal, Robin Wright, Connie Nielsen

A vibrant 1980s aesthetic and great work from Pedro Pascal as Maxwell Lord can't overcome watching this on my couch during COVID and wishing we had Chris Pine back to have fun with, which is the heart of the movie.

35. AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM (2023)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: James Wan
• Writer: David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick (Screenplay), James Wan, David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, Jason Momoa, Thomas Pa'a Sibbett (Story)
• Cast: Jason Momoa, Patrick Wilson, Amber Heard, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Nicole Kidman, Randall Park

The final entry in the original DCEU pivots into a buddy-comedy adventure between Arthur and Orm that's very silly. It feels like an echo of the far more energetic 2018 original.

34. SUPERMAN RETURNS (2006)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Bryan Singer
• Writer: Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris (Screenplay), Bryan Singer, Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris (Story)
• Cast: Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth, Kevin Spacey, James Marsden, Parker Posey, Frank Langella

Brandon Routh captures Christopher Reeve's warmth brilliantly, and John Williams’ score still thrills. But, as a direct homage to Richard Donner's era, its melancholy tone and lack of real action kept the whole thing from taking off.

33. JOKER: FOLIE À DEUX (2024)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Todd Phillips
• Writer: Todd Phillips, Scott Silver
• Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Zazie Beetz

Points for being daring enough to be a musical, sort of, and also a courtroom drama that shakes up the format. While Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga commit fully to the bit, its deliberate rejection of traditional comic tropes left wide audiences polarized.

32. THE FLASH (2023)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Andy Muschietti
• Writer: Christina Hodson (Screenplay), John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein, Joby Harold (Story)
• Cast: Ezra Miller, Sasha Calle, Michael Shannon, Ron Livingston, Maribel Verdú, Michael Keaton

This has one of those multi-timeline narratives that were really hot in the 2020s with hero stories. It is like seeing all your old friends get together for a different movie. It is anchored by emotional scenes between Barry and his mother, along with Michael Keaton's return in the cowl as the ideal mentor.

31. THE LOSERS (2010)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Sylvain White
• Writer: Peter Berg, James Vanderbilt (based on the Vertigo/DC series by Andy Diggle & Jock)
• Cast: Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana, Chris Evans, Idris Elba, Columbus Short, Oscar Jaenada, Jason Patric

Before Chris Evans was Captain America and Zoe Saldana was Gamora, they starred in this breezy, highly entertaining Vertigo imprint action-comedy. It's essentially The A-Team with stylized comic panache. I think it would have made a better TV show.

30. SHAZAM! (2019)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: David F. Sandberg
• Writer: Henry Gayden (Screenplay), Henry Gayden, Darren Lemke (Story)
• Cast: Zachary Levi, Asher Angel, Mark Strong, Jack Dylan Grazer, Djimon Hounsou

Part Big, part superhero origin story, Shazam! brought much-needed heart, humor, and self-contained family drama to the DC universe. I'm always going to like a hero that is from Philly and embraces it.

29. BLUE BEETLE (2023)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Ángel Manuel Soto
• Writer: Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer
• Cast: Xolo Maridueña, Adriana Barraza, Damián Alcázar, Raoul Max Trujillo, Susan Sarandon, George Lopez

A charming, character-first origin story. I really liked the characters in this world, and wish we got more from them. Xolo Maridueña brings genuine charisma to Jaime Reyes, and the Reyes family unit steals the movie.

28. THE KITCHEN (2019)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Andrea Berloff
• Writer: Andrea Berloff (based on the Vertigo/DC miniseries by Ollie Masters & Ming Doyle)
• Cast: Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish, Elisabeth Moss, Domhnall Gleeson, James Badge Dale, Common, Bill Camp

I am a massive ducker for mafia anything, and this mixes that and comics perfectly. It was adapted from the DC Vertigo comic, and boasts a fantastic lead trio. But uneven pacing slows the movie down, even as it gets cooking.

27. BIRDS OF PREY (AND THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE HARLEY QUINN) (2020)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Cathy Yan
• Writer: Christina Hodson
• Cast: Margot Robbie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Rosie Perez, Chris Messina, Ella Jay Basco, Ewan McGregor

A neon-infused, R-rated action comedy with incredible fight choreography and an unhinged Ewan McGregor as Black Mask. That's all you can ask for, really! It gives Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn room to shine outside the shadow of the Joker.

26. SUPERGIRL (2026)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Craig Gillespie
• Writer: Ana Nogueira
• Cast: Milly Alcock, Matthias Schoenaerts, Eve Ridley

It cannot have been easy adapting Tom King’s beloved Woman of Tomorrow run, but Milly Alcock was a really fun hero. She had this raw energy as Kara Zor-El.

25. BATMAN FOREVER (1995)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Joel Schumacher
• Writer: Lee Batchler, Janet Scott Batchler, Akiva Goldsman
• Cast: Val Kilmer, Tommy Lee Jones, Jim Carrey, Nicole Kidman, Chris O'Donnell

A movie with some of the craziest acting I have ever seen from the villains. Schumacher injected neon colors and comic flair into Gotham. Val Kilmer makes for an underrated Bruce Wayne.

24. TEEN TITANS GO! TO THE MOVIES (2018)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Peter Rida Michail, Aaron Horvath
• Writer: Michael Jelenic, Aaron Horvath
• Cast: Greg Cipes, Scott Menville, Khary Payton, Tara Strong, Hynden Walch, Will Arnett, Kristen Bell, Nicolas Cage

The odd kids movie that knows adults are in the audience , too, and caters to them. We love it. A surprisingly hilarious, self-skewering satire of Hollywood’s superhero industrial complex. I think this movie is a hidden gem.

20. RED (2010) & RED 2 (2013)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JZ_moituIo

• Director: Robert Schwentke (1), Dean Parisot (2)
• Writer: Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber (based on the Homage/WildStorm/DC comic by Warren Ellis & Cully Hamner)
• Cast: Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Karl Urban, Mary-Louise Parker, Brian Cox

I grouped these together because I think they are pretty equal in everything. They were adapted from Warren Ellis’ WildStorm/DC comic. You get this good spy movie with one of the best casts. RED gives you retired black-ops agents against the CIA. Watching Helen Mirren wield a heavy machine gun alone makes this a riot.

19. V FOR VENDETTA (2005)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSA7mAHolAw&t=2s

• Director: James McTeigue
• Writer: The Wachowskis (based on the Vertigo/DC graphic novel by Alan Moore & David Lloyd)
• Cast: Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, Stephen Rea, Stephen Fry, John Hurt

Adapted from the iconic Vertigo/DC graphic novel, this dystopian thriller gave the world an enduring cultural symbol. Hugo Weaving's theatrical performance behind the Guy Fawkes mask is legendary.

18. THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE (2017)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Chris McKay
• Writer: Seth Grahame-Smith, Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Jared Stern, John Whittington (Screenplay), Seth Grahame-Smith (Story)
• Cast: Will Arnett, Zach Galifianakis, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, Ralph Fiennes

Wow, this movie is so funny. I could watch it over and over. It's not higher because I guess I am more emotionally invested in the others, but maybe it should be higher. Will Arnett’s gravelly, narcissistic Dark Knight and a pitch-perfect supporting cast deconstruct 80 years of Bat-lore with endless affection, heart, and non-stop visual wit.

17. WATCHMEN (2009)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Zack Snyder
• Writer: David Hayter, Alex Tse
• Cast: Malin Åkerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Carla Gugino, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson

Zack Snyder’s shot-for-shot translation of Alan Moore’s unfilmable graphic novel is a stylized, ambitious piece of cinema. Jackie Earle Haley's Rorschach is instantly iconic. They changed the ending, but I really didn't mind it, since I felt like blaming it all on heroes felt logical.

16. ZACK SNYDER'S JUSTICE LEAGUE (2021)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Zack Snyder
• Writer: Chris Terrio (Screenplay), Chris Terrio, Zack Snyder, Will Beall (Story)
• Cast: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Gal Gadot, Ray Fisher, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller, Willem Dafoe, Jared Leto

A four-hour epic that completely redeems the butchered 2017 theatrical cut. You get the Greek God movie that Snyder wanted to do all along, and I felt like I was moved by one or more scenes that developed characters fully and believed in its story.

15. MAN OF STEEL (2013)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Zack Snyder
• Writer: David S. Goyer (Screenplay), Christopher Nolan, David S. Goyer (Story)
• Cast: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Antje Traue, Russell Crowe

Let’s give it to DC and Warner Bros. They know how to cut a GREAT trailer. This thing is a work of art. It might be one of the best I’ve ever seen. By the time Superman’s sitting across from Lois Lane, I was salivating and I was surprised.

I’ve never been the biggest Superman fan. His relative invincibility bores me. Batman’s just a rich guy in a suit. Theoretically, he can die at any moment. Superman can survive bullets and bombs and everything in between. Yet, I was encouraged.

While the film didn’t meet my lofty expectations, it’s a serviceable origin story with some poignancy. Kevin Costner’s Jonathan Kent grounds the story and provides moments of complexity and emotion amidst the constant city wreckage.

Michael Shannon’s Zod is a well-motivated villain. The film takes its cue from Nolan’s work with Batman, but the drama’s not as rich, the dialogue’s not as sharp, and the humor is non-existent.

14. THE SUICIDE SQUAD (2021)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: James Gunn
• Writer: James Gunn
• Cast: Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, John Cena, Joel Kinnaman, Sylvester Stallone, Viola Davis, David Dastmalchian, Daniela Melchior

This movie was so weird. It came out during COVID, and that was the last time I watched it, but I liked it, and it played into the craziness in fun ways. James Gunn brought heart, gore, and absurd humor to this soft reboot.

13. SUPERMAN (2025)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: James Gunn
• Writer: James Gunn
• Cast: David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Edi Gathegi, Anthony Carrigan, Isabela Merced, Nathan Fillion

James Gunn kicked off the new DC Universe by bringing hope, color, and earnest humanity back to Metropolis. You were so excited to see a bright superhero movie that felt like everyone was having fun making it. David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan capture the timeless spark of Clark and Lois effortlessly.

12. WONDER WOMAN (2017)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Patty Jenkins
• Writer: Allan Heinberg (Screenplay), Zack Snyder, Allan Heinberg, Jason Fuchs (Story)
• Cast: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Robin Wright, Danny Huston, David Thewlis, Connie Nielsen, Elena Anaya

Wonder Woman is an iconic character. She is badass, she is funny, and she is inspiring. And yet, when DC started production on the film, when Diana’s journey was finally coming to screen, I was a little nervous.

The studio didn’t have the best track record (see above), and this character deserved a great movie. Wonder Woman was destined to create a movement.

I just hoped the film would live up to its promise.

Separating a movie from its movement can be hard. I still remember getting a text from my little cousin opening weekend, as she sat in a packed theater with her Wonder Woman headband on. It was amazing. I desperately wanted the movie to live up to her, and so many people’s expectations.

They’d waited so long for this story to be told and well… Patty Jenkins, a visionary director criminally ignored by the studio system for years, delivered a fantastic film.

Gal Gadot is pitch-perfect, and Chris Pine is an excellent partner in crime. The movie really plays with the fish-out-of-water element expertly as we watch Diana navigate the strange society that was 1910s London. Check out our interview with the director of photography.

Its character work isn’t its only strength. The No Man’s Land set piece is a moment that will go down in movie history. Wonder Woman was wondrous after all.

11. JOKER (2019)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Todd Phillips
• Writer: Todd Phillips, Scott Silver
• Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy

I thought I was going to hate this movie, and I definitely did not. It was such a brave and exciting take on a villain. It's a 1970s character study masquerading as a comic book movie. Joaquin Phoenix's haunting, Oscar-winning performance turned this low-budget Elseworlds experiment into a billion-dollar cultural phenomenon.

10. BATMAN (1989)

Batman (1989) Official Trailer #1 - Tim Burton Superhero Movie www.youtube.com

• Director: Tim Burton
• Writer: Sam Hamm, Warren Skaaren (Screenplay), Sam Hamm (Story)
• Cast: Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl, Pat Hingle, Billy Dee Williams, Jack Palance

Looking back, this movie just has a lot of un with its core premise and delivers us a mocie thatfeelsl ike a comic book. It's the cultural phenomenon that birthed the modern superhero blockbuster. Jack Nicholson's iconic Joker and Michael Keaton's brooding Bruce Wayne set against Anton Furst's majestic Gotham City redefined what these movies could be forever.

9. CONSTANTINE (2005)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Francis Lawrence
• Writer: Kevin Brodbin, Frank Cappello
• Cast: Keanu Reeves, Rachel Weisz, Shia LaBeouf, Tilda Swinton, Djimon Hounsou, Peter Stormare

When I saw this as a kid, it blew my mind, and I think it still holds up. It's so fantastic, and Reeves makes you believe in everything on screen. Though it strays from John Constantine's British Hellblazer roots, this Vertigo/DC occult thriller has built a massive cult following. Peter Stormare’s chilling Lucifer cameo is so dynamic and earned.

8. THE BATMAN (2022)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Matt Reeves
• Writer: Matt Reeves, Peter Craig
• Cast: Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz, Paul Dano, Jeffrey Wright, John Turturro, Peter Sarsgaard, Andy Serkis, Colin Farrell

Matt Reeves is working on his reboot of the reboot now, and I am all in. Je delivers a procedural noir detective story that the character has been itching for. Robert Pattinson plays a bruised, reclusive Bruce Wayne, while Greig Fraser’s cinematography makes Gotham feel dangerous and alive.

7. BATMAN RETURNS (1992)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Tim Burton
• Writer: Daniel Waters (Screenplay), Daniel Waters, Sam Hamm (Story)
• Cast: Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Michael Gough

Yeah, Mnichelle Pfieffer in this movie changed what I thought of girls when I saw it at five years old. I was like...they can play in the clubhouse. We got an unfiltered Tim Burton fairy-tale that ripped plus Danny DeVito’s tragic, grotesque Penguin make this one of the most auteur-driven superhero films ever made.

6. THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2012)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Christopher Nolan
• Writer: Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan (Screenplay), Christopher Nolan, David S. Goyer (Story)
• Cast: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Morgan Freeman

This movie is so big and so weird, you kind of just have to embrace it. It's an operatic finale to Nolan’s trilogy that wants you to have fun but also take it very seriously. Tom Hardy’s imposing Bane and Anne Hathaway’s sharp Catwoman close out Bruce Wayne’s arc with epic scale and undeniable emotion.

5. BATMAN BEGINS (2005)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Christopher Nolan
• Writer: Christopher Nolan, David S. Goyer (Screenplay), David S. Goyer (Story)
• Cast: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy, Morgan Freeman

Nolan announced to the world that the Superhero movie had changed with this gritty reboot of the franchise. He grounded Batman in real-world fears and added some theatrical ninja training and psychological weight to his early days. It drew audiences in and made us take these films seriously.

4. BATMAN: MASK OF THE PHANTASM (1993)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Eric Radomski, Bruce Timm
• Writer: Alan Burnett, Paul Dini, Martin Pasko, Michael Reaves
• Cast: Kevin Conroy, Dana Delany, Hart Bochner, Stacy Keach, Abe Vigoda, Mark Hamill

Imagine everything you love about Batman: The Animated Series, but on the big screen. As a kid, this rocked my world. As an adult, it still rocks my world. Regarded by die-hard fans as one of the single best cinematic depictions of Batman’s origin and heartbreak ever released theatrically.

3. A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE (2005)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: David Cronenberg
• Writer: Josh Olson (based on the Paradox Press/DC graphic novel by John Wagner & Vince Locke)
• Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, Ed Harris, William Hurt

I am hoping this gets even more people to see this weird little movie that absolutely will rock you. Adapted from the Paradox Press/DC graphic novel, Cronenberg’s Oscar-nominated thriller explores the terrifying eruption of past violence into small-town life. Viggo Mortensen is breathtakingly intense. Ed Harris has never been better as a terrifying villain.

2. THE DARK KNIGHT (2008)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Christopher Nolan
• Writer: Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan (Screenplay), Christopher Nolan, David S. Goyer (Story)
• Cast: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman

Not just the gold standard for DC, but one of the greatest crime thrillers ever put to film. This movie rocks on every level, and it's so cool that it exists and is this good. Heath Ledger’s magnetic, Oscar-winning performance as the Joker elevates this into a masterclass of tension, escalation, and thematic weight.

1. ROAD TO PERDITION (2002)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Sam Mendes
• Writer: David Self (based on the Paradox Press/DC graphic novel by Max Allan Collins & Richard Piers Rayner)
• Cast: Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jude Law, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Stanley Tucci, Daniel Craig

This is the GOAT of DC movies, even if you think it's cheating. It's based on the DC/Paradox graphic novel by the same name, and it's one of the best gangster movies ever made, too. It is so gorgeous to look at; I find it awe-inspiring.

Sam Mendes crafts a gorgeous, melancholy mob masterpiece. Tom Hanks and Paul Newman deliver powerhouse performances in a story driven by fathers, sons, and a cycle of violence. Everything about it is wonderful and perfect.

Summing Up The DC Movie Ranking

This was a hard andl ong task, but I had fun doing it and revisiting some of the movies I love, and a few others I wish I could skip.

DC is part of WB, which just sold to Paramount, so it's hard to know exactly what's ahead for them, but we'll keep an eye on it and let you know as it develops.

Let me know what you think of this ranking in the comments.