25 Greatest Warner Bros Movies Ever

Batman Returns is the most theatrical, the most baroque, the most gloriously grotesque of all of the Batman movies, and it stands now as a model for how darkness in superhero movies should actually be done. And for how to properly play Bruce Wayne, come to that.

So why is it better than Batman? Well, the villains for one. While Jack Nicholson's Joker is great, Catwoman and The Penguin (not to mention Max Schreck) are far more Burton-like, far more expressive of Gotham's inherent strangeness (which has been missing from more modern Batman movies) and more beautifully grotesque.

Of course, Warner Bros. initially balked at the strangeness and the darkness and changed direction, but in hindsight, their initial faith in Tim Burton as the perfect creative instrument to reinvent Batman was proven precisely correct. After all, the alternative was Joel Schumacher and day-glo silliness.