9. The Dark Knight Rises
Comic book films have been rapidly gaining momentum in the last 4 years or so, and while all of that momentum finally culminated with The Avengers, there was another superhero movie of 2012 also worthy of such acclaim. The Dark Knight Rises was a milestone for Christopher Nolan who was, arguably, the most popular director of 2012. He was able to finish his Batman trilogy with a solid third entry that has garnered an incredibly high level of critical acclaim and box-office success. The anticipation for this movie was almost palatable in the days leading up to its release and there was no other movie this year that people were more eager to praise or bash. Whether The Dark Knight Rises was a good movie or not is arbitrary at this point because it will forever be tied to 2012 as one of the defining films of the year.