Wonder Woman Vs The Dark Knight: Which Is Better?

7. Standalone Appeal

It's important to remember that, for the casual audiences who compromise most of the box office for these giant movies, standalone appeal is important: people want to be able to duck in and out of these adventures without needing to do "homework" by swotting up on vital prior movies.

To that end, The Dark Knight is, of course, a sequel, and though it operates well as a single film, its meaning and general appeal are no doubt enhanced by having seen Batman Begins beforehand. It also concludes on an extremely enticing cliffhanger that pretty much makes The Dark Knight Rises essential viewing.

There thankfully aren't any convoluted Justice League set-ups to be found in Wonder Woman, and admirably, the movie plays extremely well on its own, even taking an unexpectedly restrained approach to teasing further DCEU adventures in its present-day frame narrative.

Winner: Wonder Woman refusing to end up a commercial for the next DCEU movie is highly admirable, and it overall just feels more self-contained than The Dark Knight.