For as long as I can remember, Batman has been a pivotal part of my creative life.
Since sporting a baggy ‘Batman For President’ sweatshirt as a little kid riding on my Uncle Bruce’s Honda motorcycle, watching Adam West’s campy rendition in reruns of the vintage Batman TV show, buying the debut issue of Frank Miller and Klaus Jansons’s pioneering The Dark Knight Returns graphic novel, or attending the opening of director Tim Burton’s Batman at the Westwood Theater in Los Angeles, this pop culture treasure has remained relevant to me.
My love for the character extends to late-night gaming sessions caffeinated on gallons of Diet Coke playing Batman: Arkham Asylum, interviewing Batman: The Animated Series’ creator Bruce Timm, or sitting beside the legendary Batman artist Neal Adams for hours at comic cons, Batman’s shadowy influence, cool demeanor, and psychological complexity seem as alluring and ever-watchful as ever.
Whether he’s known as the Dark Knight, the Caped Crusader or the main component of the Dynamic Duo with his trusty sidekick Robin the Boy Wonder, this fearless vigilante and champion of justice who first appeared in the pages of Detective Comics #27 back in May of 1939 – one of the best Dark Knight stories – is perhaps the greatest fictional character ever created. Imbued with equal parts of Zorro, Sherlock Holmes, and the pulp icon called The Shadow, Batman is the embodiment of someone who has channeled their inner pain to become a beacon of hope and righteousness.
Batman through the ages
Cloaked in gothic black and equipped with an arsenal of ‘wonderful toys’, Batman is an intimidating hero for the ages, one that, due to his absence of any true superhuman powers, relies on his keen intellect, lightning reflexes, physical prowess, and preternatural powers of deduction.
Created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, Batman was born in pre-World War II America during the Golden Age of comics when there were clear distinctions between good and evil. The billionaire playboy industrialist Bruce Wayne became a nocturnal crusader after his parents were shot dead in Crime Alley after a showing of The Mark of Zorro in Gotham City. He took up the emblem of a bat to instill fear in criminals and honed his mind and body to sheer perfection.
Over the decades the character would be reinvented in myriad media, appearing in the ‘40s in matinee Batman serials at the local movie house after receiving his own Batman solo comic and remaining a fixture in DC’s Detective Comics line – if you’re wondering where these fit in a timeline, here’s how to watch the Batman movies in order.
Batman becomes a breakout hit in the ‘60s as a cultural sensation beside James Bond and The Beatles with his own hit TV series, plastered on lunchboxes, buttons, posters, t-shirts, toys, and bedsheets, then debuting in cartoon form as part of the 1970s Super Friends show on Saturday morning, and finally struck the limelight of Tinsel Town in Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman movie starring Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson.
Today, Batman is DC Comics’ most popular character of all-time, currently being featured in a half-dozen different titles and graphic novels. We’ve got a new Batman feature film coming out in 2026 titled The Batman Part 2, which is a sequel to The Batman, Batman theme park rollercoasters, Batman videogames, and a fresh Batman animated series created by Bruce Timm called Batman: The Caped Crusader.
Directors Tim Burton, Joel Schumacher, Christopher Nolan and Matt Reeves have all had their time in the Bat Cave with their own interpretive visions and fans have differing opinions of which portrayal is the truest Batman to them. Myself, I’m rather partial to Robert Pattinson’s laconic ‘Year Two’ embodiment of the unrelenting protector of Gotham City, with Christian Bale coming in a close second. With his rogues gallery of formidable foes like The Joker, The Penguin (which has a new Max spinoff show called The Penguin), Scarecrow, Catwoman, The Riddler, Harley Quinn, Bane, Poison Ivy, Two Face, Mister Freeze, Ra’s al Ghul, and Killer Croc, Batman is one seriously busy dude keeping streets safe.
So on this most auspicious of occasions known as Batman Day, it’s the perfect time to reflect on the origins and evolution of this mysterious crimefighter and discover the multitude of ways to watch the best Batman movies on the best streaming services as well as all immediate Bat-needs in films, animated series, and TV shows.
To sink your soul into the bounty of Batman fare, there are boundless opportunities to figuratively (or literally if you desire) don the cowl and cape to honor him. So let’s discover where you can secure your fix of the Dark Knight during this heroic day of remembrance.
Batman, on demand
A great place to start is Batman’s official streaming home on Max, the platform owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent corporation of DC Comics. As a respectable sampler for those in the US, Max is currently offering five seasons of Gotham (those in the UK can find it on Prime Video) featuring younger proto-versions of Bat-universe heroes and villains.
Moving on, you’ll find a bonanza of Hollywood’s flagship Batman feature films including 1989’s Batman, 1992’s Batman Returns, 1995’s Batman Forever, 1997’s Batman & Robin, 2005’s Batman Begins, 2008’s The Dark Knight, 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises, and 2022’s grim and gritty The Batman showcasing a standout performance by Robert Pattinson – read our picks of the 10 best performances from the Batman movies.
Also on Max, animation aficionados can gravitate to creator Bruce Timm’s ‘90s classic Batman: The Animated Series and the futuristic Batman Beyond, as well as The Batman, and Batman: The Brave and the Bold. More adventurous types should consider 2017’s The Lego Batman Movie or the Ultimate Edition of Zack Snyder’s operatic Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League, and the intriguing black-and-white cut, Justice League: Justice is Gray.
And if you’re eager for a solid recommendation from the dozens of excellent DC Animated Universe feature films Max is presenting, you cannot go wrong with the horror-tinged Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham, which is adapted from a 2000-2001 Elseworlds comic book miniseries written by Hellboy’s Mike Mignola and Richard Price.
Over on Netflix, Batman is predictably absent except for the atrocious mess called The Flash and two decent kids animated series, Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, which don’t feature among our pick of the best superhero movies.
Finally, Amazon’s Prime Video scored a huge prize when they landed Bruce Timm’s new 1940s-set noirish animated series, Batman: The Caped Crusader, which quickly became one of the best Prime Video shows. Plus Prime Video is also the exclusive destination for a pair of Technicolored Batman gems from the 1960s: all 120 episodes of the Batman TV series that aired from 1966-1968 and 1966’s super fun Batman: The Movie.
However and wherever you dance the Batusi today, a Happy Batman Day to all!
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