Film

Batman

Name: Batman
Genre: Action, Adventure, Crime
Released: 1943
Cast: Lewis Wilson, Douglas Croft, J. Carrol Naish, Shirley Patterson, William Austin

Other titles called Batman: the 1966 film, the 1966 series (ABC), the 1989 film.

A 1943 serial where Batman and Robin chase a Japanese spy ring turning scientists into mind-controlled zombies across wartime Gotham. It's camp before camp had a name—all cliffhangers, pulp intrigue, and deadpan heroics. Essential viewing for anyone curious about where Batman came from, or how differently we told stories in chapters.

TMDb rating

3.1

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy old-fashioned serial cliffhangers, where each short chapter ends on a jolt and the plot runs on pure momentum rather than character depth.

Skip it if you bristle at wartime propaganda and a Japanese villain drawn in crude stereotype, or you dread more than four hours of creaky 1940s serial pacing.

What it asks of you: Expect a long haul split into short chapters, with stretches of brisk action, plain dialogue and little interior life, so it rewards viewing in small doses.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Dark Knight2008

Nolan's Batman is what you get when a crime thriller and a superhero film merge completely. It's the spiritual endpoint of everything Batman has become—serious, morally complex, thrilling.

But It's three hours, very dark in mood and visually, and the ending is deliberately unsatisfying. Not an escape, a reckoning.

Batman: The Animated Series1992

The best Batman ever made. Perfect tone, perfect animation, perfect stories. It reinvented the character for an entire generation and holds up without reservation.

But It's episodic; not every episode lands equally. The first season looks slightly rougher than later ones, which bothers some people.

Batman: The Killing Joke2016

Alan Moore's graphic novel is a masterpiece about the Joker and Batman's relationship. Lean, vicious, funny, and the art is extraordinary. It reframed both characters permanently.

But It contains sexual violence depicted on the page. It's also relentlessly dark and bleak, with no redemption in sight.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Batman

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Metropolis1927

Both are products of their eras using the tools of their time to explore how a powerful figure wages war on systemic corruption. Metropolis just does it with robots and workers' riots instead of spies and gadgets.

Fritz Lang's science-fiction epic is the grandfather of all superhero stories. It asks the same questions this 1943 Batman does—about justice, power, and who protects the city—but with visionary ambition.

But It's silent and five hours long, with intertitles and 1920s pacing. The restoration is flawless, but silence demands concentration most viewers won't have.

Batman Begins2005

Nolan's first Batman film is a triumph of world-building and character. It asks how a traumatized person becomes a symbol, and answers honestly. The action is clear and brutal.

But The villain's plan is convoluted and the third act drags slightly. Bale's voice in the suit takes adjustment.

Batman Returns1992

Burton's baroque masterpiece treats Gotham as a character itself. Catwoman and Penguin are complex and weird. It's visually unlike anything else—operatic, sexual, strange.

But The plot is messy and overstuffed. If you need a superhero film to be straightforward, this will frustrate you.

Batman: The Long Halloween, Part Two2021

A noir detective story wrapped in a superhero package. Rich art, faithful to the comics, genuinely mysterious. It feels like a 1940s crime novel that happens to have capes in it.

But It's animated and split into two parts. The pacing is slow and methodical; it doesn't rush to action.

Batman: The Long Halloween, Part Two poster

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm1993

A gem from the animated series expanded into a film. It's a love story and a mystery simultaneously, with gorgeous animation and a villain who rivals the Joker.

But It's relatively short and slight compared to modern Batman films. The villain's motivation is sentimental rather than grand.

The Batman2022

Reeves makes Batman a detective first and a fighter second. It's moody, violent, and obsessed with Gotham's corruption. If you liked Se7en, you'll see why here.

But It's three hours and relentlessly grim. The action is choppy and hard to follow. Pattinson's performance is intentionally monotone.

Kiss Me Deadly1955

Both feature a hero pursuing shadowy enemies through an urban underworld during periods of national fear. Both use serial-style plotting and montage to build dread, but where Batman is earnest, this film is seductive corruption.

Robert Aldrich's noir is brutal, cynical, and genuinely disturbing. It treats a private detective's investigation with the paranoia and espionage tone of this Batman serial, but as a genuinely nasty world.

But It's misogynistic by design and proud of it. The sexual violence is treated casually. The politics are dark and ugly.

The Third Man1949

Like this Batman serial, it's a postwar narrative about espionage and betrayal set in a corrupt city, using the apparatus of thriller plotting to explore what loyalty means when everything is compromised.

Carol Reed's masterpiece is a spy thriller with moral ambiguity at its heart. Vienna after World War II is a maze of double-crosses, black markets, and betrayal. Visually astonishing and narratively perfect.

But Orson Welles is barely in it despite top billing. The zither score is charming but omnipresent. It's a thinking person's thriller, not an action film.