10 Best Movie Trilogies Ever Made

It would be a little misleading to give Christopher Nolan, the British director who bailed the Batman out of movie jail, all the credit for creating the conditions whereby comic book movies can dare to take themselves – and be taken – seriously. The afore-mentioned Raimi and Bryan Singer did their bit with the Spider-Man and X-Men franchises respectively, but Nolan took things to another level.

The Joel Schumacher days of sidekicks and Bat-Credit Cards were instantly tossed down the well when Batman Begins arrived in movie theatres in 2005. Taking a leaf out of Richard Donner's Superman playbook, Nolan assembled a cast of Oscar-calibre actors and elected to tackle the story of Bruce Wayne by depicting his decision to turn vigilante as believably as possible.

Nolan succeeded, but Batman Begins was merely a conservative appetiser for The Dark Knight, in which Christian Bale's Batman is mentally, morally and physically pushed to his limits by Heath Ledger's demented Joker. It remains the gold standard for comic book movies and we can only wonder how The Dark Knight Rises would have turned out had it not been for Ledger’s terrible, untimely passing.

The final instalment is entertaining but flawed, and most people's least favourite of the three. But it’s still a good film, and that's the true legacy of Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy: the 'superhero' proviso just isn't necessary.