![]() We are not including the 1966 film version of the Batman TV series because most of those villains - indelible as they are - originated on television. First, the parameters here are live-action Batman and Batman-adjacent theatrically released movies released from 1989 forward. With The Batman adding a new Catwoman, Penguin, and Riddler to the mix, this seems like a good time to rank the Bat-villains’ various big-screen incarnations, measuring how they stack up as movie characters, as performances, and as bad guys.īefore we get started, let’s lay out the kinds of ground rules that the villains of Gotham City would never abide by. (There are some exceptions: Whither Clayface? Or Scarface? Or Baby Doll, who should really be called Dollface?) Whether going for gritty (relative) realism or cartoony craziness, the rogues’ gallery continues to provide a funhouse-mirror reflection of Batman’s own troubled psyche. (Though admittedly they bow to no one in hotness.) Still, cinema has continued chipping away at Batman’s rogues’ gallery, bringing many of his most memorable foes to life. Now, of course, the pendulum has swung the other way Marvel’s heroes tend to be the marquee attractions, to the point where Iron Man looms large over the proceedings despite dying several movies ago, and the “too many villains” problem has become the “underwhelming villain” problem. These standards formed in large part because of Batman’s so-called rogues’ gallery: the comics industry’s best collection of colorful, disturbed, and eye-catching bad guys, attracting the attention of A-list performers at a time when superhero movies were far from a sure thing. This dynamic was firmly established in the Tim Burton Batman movies, where Michael Keaton gracefully underplayed opposite various alumni of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and quickly gave way to the “too many villains” problem, where producers attempted to give us too much of a good-bad thing. ![]() The Marvel Cinematic Universe model has become so dominant that it’s easy to forget how effectively it has dismantled a long-held superhero movie paradigm: That the hero with his (or her, but mostly his) name in the title would cede scene after scene to the starry, over-the-top antics of the movie’s villains. Photo-Illustration: Vulture Photos by DC Comics and Warner Bros.
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