3. Danny Elfman's Score
Danny Elfman and Tim Burton are practically conjoined. When picturing a Tim Burton movie its hard not to hear Elfmans themes playing in the background. Although in recent years Elfmans work has been criticised for its slight sameness, with lots of jingly jingly sounds, theres no denying that when hes at his best hes a master composer. Elfman was fairly new to composing music when he signed onto Batman, but he more than met the challenge. He sets the tone with The Batman Theme, which starts out mysterious before bursting into triumphant life. It completely captures the spirit of the movies, and it was so popular that it was reused for the Batman animated series that got most children out of bed on a Saturday morning. In contrast the score for The Dark Knight Trilogy, while effective, isn't nearly as memorable. Elfman refined and improved on his work for Batman Returns, where his score got even darker to match the tone of the movie. The rich gothic sound he brought to the Batman universe had a lasting impact on the character, and even inspired a lot of knock-off scores. Elfman himself was guilty of this with his theme for Sam Raimis Spider-Man, but if he was going to copy anyone, it may as well be himself.