Although it was 1978’s Superman: The Movie that first proved that comic book movies could be a viable venue for blockbuster storytelling, Batman was the first superhero to become truly fixated within American cinema. The notion of Bob Kane’s legendary masked vigilante coming to the silver screen was one that invited both anticipation and skepticism, and Warner Brothers certainly took advantage of the vastness of the character’s history on the page. The Batman film franchise is one of the most diverse within cinematic history; although some entries are dark, moody noir thrillers with existentialist themes, others are campy guilty pleasures that engage in some of the more humorous interpretations of the character.
