Every Batman Movie Opening Scene Ranked From Worst To Best
2. The Batman
Matt Reeves took a bold step to the left with the opening scene of The Batman, which really feels completely different to any other Batman movie to date.
Eschewing the temptation for an energetic set-piece featuring hero or villain, Reeves instead takes his time with a patient, suspenseful sequence that feels more akin to a David Fincher thriller than a superhero epic.
The Batman opens with an unseen figure, evidently The Riddler (Paul Dano), watching Gotham City mayor Don Mitchell Jr. (Rupert Penry-Jones) and his family from afar on Halloween night.
Reeves lingers on Mitchell watching his own mayoral debate on the news, before Mitchell answers the phone and we realise the Riddler has been standing behind him in the darkness all along.
The Riddler then leaps from the shadows and beats Mitchell to death with a hammer, before pulling out the duct tape and starting to stage the murder scene as a provocation for Batman (Robert Pattinson).
It's utterly chilling and lets audiences know that the Dark Knight hasn't ever faced a villain quite this believably unnerving before.
It also leads into one hell of an introduction to our new Batman himself, between the film noir-style voiceover narration and the absolute fear that the Bat-Signal strikes into the hearts of Gotham's criminals.