2. Batman Begins (2005)
Eight years after the disastrous Batman and Robin almost killed the franchise, Christopher Nolan made his blockbuster debut with spectacular results. Not just one of the best superhero movies ever made, or the first part in one of the all-time great trilogies, but the yardstick by which all reboots are now measured. Ditching the neon and nipples approach that blighted Joel Schumacher's time at the helm, Nolan instead opted to take the franchise back to basics. Everybody knows Batman's origin story, but this was the first time we had seen it unfold onscreen. It is a testament to the quality of the movie that it's an hour before Christian Bale even dons the cape and cowl, but this Batman movie copes just fine without the title character. Despite the somewhat patchy action sequences, the distinguished cast are great across the board and the movie deserves its reputation as the greatest reboot of all time. Although it took less than than $375m against an $150m budget, Batman Begins was a critical and commercial success given the catastrophic nature of the last film in the franchise. Of course, this led to almost every reboot citing Batman Begins as an inspiration; Casino Royale, Terminator Salvation, Star Trek, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Sherlock Holmes are all recent reboots that have directly cited Nolan's movie as an inspiration.