20 Action Movie Sequels Since 2000 That Don't Suck

Batman & Robin, Steel, Catwoman, Green Lantern….you can see why Stan Lee referred to DC Comics as “Brand Ech.”

Kudos to Christopher Nolan and David Goyer for giving Batman back his dignity, surrounding him with terrific supporting characters who weren’t just there to service the plot and grounding it all in a dark, gritty universe that’s more Frank Miller than Joel Schumacher. Then for doing it again and again, without succumbing to the law of diminishing returns.

It could’ve been down there with Spiderman 3, X-Men: The Last Stand and Superman III as a third sequel that does it all wrong, but The Dark Knight Rises successfully builds on its predecessor, adds some interesting characters and raises the stakes. Forget The Avengers: this is the one all subsequent superhero films need to top.