Let's get this straight immediately - Christopher Nolan's service to Batman should be rewarded with a special Dark Knighthood: his vision for a rebirth of the character was monumentally successful, and he has committed the definitive screen version of a number of Batman characters (to date,) including The Joker (a close won victory,) Two Face/Harvey Dent, Scarecrow, Commissioner Gordon and Bruce Wayne. Those achievements will never be taken away from him, and when criticism appears levelled at The Dark Knight Rises, it is all a matter of relativity: judged against the high standards of its predecessors, and the expectations it built, the final execution was not what it should have been. But for many, The Dark Knight Rises is untouchable - the fans who spew the most hyperbole tend to ignore the writing flaws, the plot-holes and the inconsistent editing that made it a relatively disappointing end to what could have been one of the greatest trilogies ever released. As it stands, Nolan's Dark Knight is still probably the best superhero trilogy ever made - the highs of Raimi's first two Spider-Man movies could have pushed Batman Begins and The Dark Knight fairly close, but the abominable issues with Spider-Man 3 cos that series dearly (and likewise with the original X-Men "trilogy,") and beyond that the contenders are sparse. But the assertion that The Dark Knight Rises confirmed that Nolan's trilogy as one of the greatest, or the single greatest movie trilogy of all time (depending on where you look) does considerably disservice to an army of superior trilogies. So, with that in mind this one goes out to all of the fanboys who deal in hyperbole: the following movie trilogies were vastly superior to Nolan's Dark Knight series. Their flaws were less noticable, and less bewildering, their execution was more balanced all the way through the trilogy, and they didn't disappoint on their own high expectations.
Honourable Mention
George A Romero's Dead Trilogy The first three entries in George A Romero's zombie epidemic trilogy were essential releases, though Day Of The Dead was comparatively less heralded (especially at the box office) and are far more important films than anything subsequently released to the genre they created. Dripping with allegory, and open cultural-critique wounds, the films ostensibly invented the zombie movie, and remain triumphant. But it's hard to ignore what has happened subsequently, both with Romero's own lackluster sequels, and Zak Snyder's surprisingly superior remake of Dawn Of The Dead, which does take a little shine off the original.