Top 25 Best DC Movies Of All Time

DC Comics, the apparent success holder to putting the superhero genre in the lucrative section has given the world an entertainment lot that cannot be replaced, and yes, not even by Marvel. Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and not forget the Joker and it is home to many other amazing characters, DC has not always been a merit holder but also was not a lower echelon either. Its, Dark and Criminal theme has never failed to put up exemplary work done by the incomparable creator line. Well, there is much to adore about DC but so that you can experience it first hand, get on to The 25 best DC movies of all time.

1. The Dark Knight (2008)

DC Comics has never been able to put higher standards after 2008’s The Dark Knight- a sequel to Batman Begins of 2005. Claimed as the best adaption of comic books until now, Christopher Nolan brought an epic that put DC Comics higher than even Marvel. The finest ensemble cast, its splendid performance especially of Heath Ledger who just made even an antagonist loved by the viewers, the practical scenes, the thoughtful writing, direction, and everything you can think in a movie is just meritorious.

The movie though got hype due to the sudden death of Ledger who rightly donned the character of Joker in the film, it was all worth it. A masterpiece in the crime thriller and superhero genre, The Dark Knight is Batman and alliance’s fight against an anarchic man who tests the limits of the protagonist. Be careful that you do not play the Joker’s quotes on repeat- you know, the full version is even worthy too.

2. Batman Begins (2005)

The first installment to The Dark Knight Trilogy and inspired by The Man Who Falls, Batman: Year One, and Batman: The Long Halloween DC Comics, Batman Begins garnered praises from all over the world mainly for the emotional touch Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer tried to five it. Exploring Bruce Wayne’s journey to becoming Batman and taking responsibility to save Gotham City from the popular DC Comic villain Ra’s al Ghul and enduring antagonist Scarecrow, the movie became the quintessence of superhero movies in the 2000s.

As Nolan does, he just put the computer-generated scenes onto the backburner here too, and produced a realistic version of the Comic that became the highlight in the industry while making the movie gritty in all senses.

3. Superman II (1980)

It’s fortunate that at last, after the heightened director drama, Superman 2 came to the realization- while it still being a big question that whether Richard Donner could have done better or Richard Lester did justice to the direction.

Found better than the 1978 predecessor, the superhero movie was shot on a big budget and became quite popular in the era as it delves just not into heroism, but romance, and emotions too.

Starring Christopher Reeve who is reprising his role as Superman, the recital is about the superhero sacrificing his powers for the love of his life soon finding that he had made the biggest mistake when alter-motive criminals from his homeland Krypton starts wreaking havoc on the earth.

4. Superman (1978)

Superman was a first that made the superheroes a legacy and costumes a denotation of their power while highlighting science fiction as a potential genre in the era.  The sound effects, special effects to assist the superhero, its powers, and the imaginative world along with the cinematography were not really the first of its kind to have found new standards after the Richard Donner-directed movie.

The tale explores the journey of how a scientist’s son from the planet Krypton reaches Earth to save himself but turns out to be a savior of Earth, humanity, and truth after finding out the power he gets from the molecular structure he got.

The film was received well and was better than its successor in the Box office collection which justified its high-budget filmmaking.

5. Wonder Woman (2017)

Putting an appeasing end to the tolerance of many, Wonder Woman broke many records and not to say, hearts too when the movie ended with Captain Steve Trevor’s death. Does he returns or not is not a cliffhanger anymore after Wonder Woman 1984.

Talking about this first full-fledged venture of Princess of Themyscira who’s now Diana Prince outside of the protected province where only women exist, it is directed by Patty Jenkins and is a prequel to  Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) where Gal Gadot made the first appearance as Wonder Woman.

The tale is about Diana’s struggle to stop World War I after she gets a hint that the war is being prompted by the long-time enemy of Amazons (people of Themyscira). While she departs from her land into the open and more liberated world, the journey becomes exciting with her getting known to her powers and men.

6. Batman Returns (1992)

Is it the Batman who always tussles with the epic antagonist or the Batman series is just lucky to get the best actor for the portrayal of the villain? We obviously cannot erase Joker and his quotes from our minds but before that Max Shreck as Christopher Walken has done wonders to make the movie even more intriguing. Danny DeVito as Oswald Cobblepot / Penguin has also got the attention of critics along with Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne or Batman.

This second installment to the Batman series of the 1989-1997 era, is all about Batman’s fight against Penguin and Shreck who are hell-bent to take control of Gotham City, and obviously the former cannot let it happen.

7. Batman (1989)

Again saying, the Batman whether played by either Michael Keaton or Christian Bale has mostly got overshadowed by Joker, the ultimate adverse interest of Bruce Wayne. The amazing casting obviously has turned out the best from the available lot.

A revolution to the high-budgeted movie or Sci-Fi, and the entertainment industry itself is Tim Burton directed. The makers wisely put The Joker, Batman’s archenemy in just the initial stage for a groundbreaking start as the tussle literally stirred viewers’ imaginations. The frightening, haunting, and dark visualization and storytelling put in the plot have made it even better and suitable for the characters.

8. Joker (2019)

Depravity and ghastliness, that’s the bottom line of The Joker- Batman’s greatest foe to date. With 2019’s Joker the character found so much attention that it was called overreach by filmmakers and writers to glamorize the villains.

Joaquin Phoenix who donned the role of insane clown and standup comedian has rightly portrayed the character to be limelight and finding glory in the era of superheroes. The Todd Phillips-helmed and Scott Silver-written psychological crime thriller dwell into the story of how the failed clown went down to become a ghoulish figure.

Even after being engulfed into controversy right after the trailer release, the movie became a box office success and garnered many accolades to its name including the Academy Award.

9. Batman: Return of The Caped Crusaders (2016)

When Batman series is all about, crime, intense and claustrophobic ambiance, devilish enemies, and the terror that followed bringing back the 1960s brazenly silly, smart, and self-aware Batman is just a much-needed change.

The animated series released in 2016 is a grouping of archenemies the Joker, the Penguin, the Riddler, and Catwoman against Batman who with his accomplice Robin tries to stop the quartet from their altar motives. The twist of Batman growing up hostile, after the dose of Batnip that the four has imbued him with spice up the animated movie even more.

10. Teen Titans Go! Vs. Teen Titans (2019)

Who do you side with- the modern Teen Titans GO quartet or the ones from 2013’s Teen Titans? Yes, the name correctly suggests the plot- the two Teen Titan teams from different worlds fight to decide which one is better but to wake them up the supervillain  Trigon driving all through the multiverse steals back Raven from both eras. To save their Ravens both teams put aside their differences and fight against the Trigons to bring back their Ravens.

If you are one who has lived both eras of Teen Titans then it’s definitely a treat for you to watch them together.

11. The Suicide Squad (2021)

Majorly improved version of its predecessor- that’s what we can call it and does the credit for the over-the-top performance of the sequel to Suicide Squad (2016) go to its new direction, James Gunn? The one, who has put The Guardians of the Galaxy of Marvel on new heights right from the start but later got fired for unspeakable reasons.

Let’s get back to The Suicide Squad which has a great ensemble including Idris Elba, John Cena, Margot Robbie, Sylvester Stallone, and David Dastmalchian among others who play convicts doing deeds to get a lighter exchange in return. This time the Gunn while taking reference from the 1980s Suicide Squad of John Ostrander and various war films, assembled the squad to disrupt the remains and traces of a DC Comic villain called Starro the Conqueror, a starfish.

12. The Batman (2022)

The Batman is the latest take on the Caped Crusader. The movie is directed by Matt Reaves who s famous for directing Planet of the Apes movies. In this movie, the detective side of the superhero is explored. The Riddler was the main antagonist of the movie, while other antagonists like The Penguin were also there. Robert Pattinson has played the role of a young Batman very well. The movie beautifully explores the organized criminal underworld of Gotham City.

The movie was liked by most of the fans and they are expecting a sequel soon. Several spin-off series were also rumored to have been in development after the success of this movie.

13. The Lego Batman Movie (2017)

The 2017 computer-animated superhero comedy came out pretty well and heightened expectations from Chris McKay for whom it was a directorial debut. The movie saw Will Arnett coming back as Batman along with other titular cast members including Ralph Fiennes, Rosario Dawson, Michael Cera, and  Zach Galifianakis.

The Lego Batman covering the plot of Batman overcoming his fears to rule out the malice plans of Joker was the second installment in the Lego movie series and garnered praises for all the things it can including humor, animation, soundtrack, voiceovers, and visual styles among other things. The box office collection for the movie went up to $310 million, where the budget for the movie was $80 million.

Fans were heartbroken when the sequel Lego Superfriends was announced in 2018 and got canceled later as the franchise owner changed to Universal Pictures.

14. A History of Violence (2005)

Every so often DC has left some epic entertainment dose to claim the era on its name and one such epitome is A History of Violence which was termed as the best and nearly perfect movie of the 2000s. Helmed by David Cronenberg who once again did wonders with this 2005 movie and scribbled by Josh Olson who with his subversive imagination brought out a complex yet simple presentation of an entangled man who leads the story.

The ensemble contains the star of all time Viggo Mortensen who portrayed Tom Stall- an uncomplicated-looking family man who was peacefully passing his days with his wife and two children until he caught the eyes of people worldwide after a heroic venture of saving people from robbers.

15. The Road To Perdition

With DC Comics, the only thing you can remember is the Superheroes but you need to get out of it especially when movies like The Road To Perdition exist. Sam Mendes took a great challenge taking the adaption which had few words and was more imagery in nature. But the movie spoke for itself and critically got acclaimed for direction, performance, themes, settings, cinematography, and visuals. Setting the standard the movie won many awards including the Academy awards and did well on Box office with a worldwide collection of $181 million in 2002.

The ensemble where Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jude Law, and Daniel Craig were included became the star of the town and earned acclamation for the wonderful portrayal.  The live-action movie was about a father-son duo that is on the path of taking revenge on the mobster who killed their family members. Set in the Great Depression Era the movie beautifully conveyed its message of revenge’s consequences while the love between the father-son duo was adored highly.

16. Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

Don’t know what you will call it but this is one of the most awaited movies after the first sequel keeping the expectations buoyed or even surpassing them, came greatly into the effects of COVID-19. The film hasn’t even made it to the breakeven point not because it was deflected by viewers but due to its release in December 2020, the pandemic era.

But it gave a new route to the entertainment world with its release as a straight-to-streaming film on HBO Max where it reined as the most-streamed movie of 2020. Ninth edition to DC Extended Universe the series iterates the following story of its predecessors with Wonder Woman finding new enemies in Maxwell Lord a powerful business trying to put his business back on the trail in adverse ways and the renowned DC Comic antagonist Cheetah who was once Diana’s friend. The Patty Jenkins-directed movie uncovers the havoc when a magical entity called Dreamstone finds its place in the plot.

17. Aquaman (2018)

Created by Paul Norris and Mort Weisinger the character was brought to the big screens in 2008 and became the highest-grossing DC Comics movie adapted ever with a collection of $ 1.148 Billion worldwide. Directed by James Wan the movie is the story of Arthur Curry / Aquaman (Jason Momoa) who’s born half human and half Atlantean makes him able to communicate with the water creatures but he has to fight his stepbrother King Orm who has the motive to destroy the surface world after bringing together seven underwater kingdoms.

Though the movie though took viewers’ hearts and got hit with negative remarks by critics for the story, scribbling, and dialogue. However, it appeased critics in other fields especially Momoa’s portrayal garnered praise in a lot.

18. Watchmen (2009)

Zack Snyder literally has a great hand in the recognition that DC movies have got and we are talking about him because this 2009 dystopian drama is helmed by him. Watchmen, based on a limited edition Comic released in 1986-1987 went through development hell and almost was out of the picture until Snyder was hired. The movie covering the Cold War era (1985), brings together the now-retired superheroes when they lose one of their kind. The twists with superheroes’ morality being tested entertain the viewers to great lengths.

Patrick Wilson, Jackie Earle Haley, Billy Crudup, Carla Gugino, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Malin Åkerman, and Matthew Goode are lead roles in the ensemble of Watchmen.

19. Constantine (2005)

The fans who are waiting for Constantine 2 know how well this 2005 horror cum superhero movie is. The makers including Francis Lawrence as director were able to put the two genres together successfully where John Constantine played by Keanu Reeves becomes an accomplice of a policewoman who has to investigate her twin sister’s mysterious death. John having the ability to talk to dead and alive and being able to roam Hell and earth brings the truth about the ploy that can take the world down.

Taken from DC Comics named Hellblazer the movie also stars Rachel Weisz, and Shia LaBeouf in lead roles.

20. Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

Until unless two main superheroes from the same production house don’t go into a tussle, the franchise isn’t complete and here DC Comics had it with the name Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. Batman/Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) after Superman’s Metropolis battle has a belief that the latter could be a threat to humanity in the world and hence take on the motive to bring down Henry Cavill’s character.

Directed by Zack Snyder, the movie first time brought together the two great superheroes in the same frame also Wonder Woman played by Gal Gadot had her first appearance in the movie. The movie though couldn’t cross the expectation it was able to make the business $873.56 worldwide in 2016.

21. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Batman is in exile and being forced by a terrorist to come back in costume and save his Gotham City from the dangerous motive of the gory villain- this is the story of the third film in The Dark Knight Trilogy. Even when Christopher Nolan heisted to take on the role of Director, the movie did great with a whopping gross of $1 billion.

The storyline was adapted from various comic books including Knightfall, The Dark Knight Returns, and 1999’s No Man Land. Released on July 16, 2012, the movie broke many records and set new ones which are yet not crossed by any movie. The critics appraised the movie for its direction, cast performance, music score, and cinematography.

Believe it or not, the movie is still named one of the best superhero movies to date.

22. Birds of Prey (2020)

Birds of Prey made an entry for a DC Comic character to have its own series. The story is based on Harley Quinn, the ex-girlfriend of Joker who after being thrown out on the street struggles to cope with the pain. However, Harley Quinn played by Margot Robbie gathers herself up and gangs up with Huntress, Black Canary, and Renee Montoya to save a girl from the Gotham City gangster Roman Sionis.

The character after movie highlighted the chaotic character and Margot received compliments for the portrayal. The movie did well at the box office and in the eyes of critics too.

23. Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021)

If you ditched the movie thinking it’s the same as the Justice League released in 2017, then re-think and watch the epic cut from director Zack Snyder. The movie is even called Zack Snyder’s Justice League. The movie made an entrance when the 2017 version which was modified by new director Joss Whedon after the original director Snyder left the movie halfway because of his daughter’s death- didn’t do well at the box office and in the review-box of the critics. Many demanded Snyder’s version and finally, in 2021, DC came up with Justice League directed in a way Snyder preferred.

Due to Covid, the movie was released on HBO Max and the Snyder Cut did wonder when the movie became the fourth-most-streamed film on the OTT Platform. The version was termed better than the 2017 movie when compared to direction, visual style, action sequences, characterization, action sequences, and especially the balance director kept wonderfully between humor and emotions.

The plot revolved around a group of the mightiest superheroes of DC including  Batman (Ben Affleck), Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), Cyborg (Ray Fisher), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), The Flash (Ezra Miller), and Superman (Henry Cavill) forming an army to stop villainous Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds) and his great army from overpowering Earth.

24. V for Vendetta (2005)

In 1988, DC Comics debuted the political drama series with ten issues and in 2006 the series came up as a feature film. The dystopian political drama revolved around masked freedom fighter V who uses terrorist actions to bring down the government and the oppressive society. His acts tangle Evey Hammond played by Natalie Portman in the procedure that becomes a helping hand for the fighter.

In the era when the movie was released, many anarchists took advantage and endorsed their views against the government though the movie came out well at the box office and critics praised the movie.

25. Man of Steel (2013)

Superman is on the way to save Humanity from General Zod after knowing about the origin of his powers! Henry Cavill plays Clark Kent, the Kryptonian who gets recognized as Superman after realizing the powers he got. Directed by Zack Snyder, Man of Steel relooks the origin of Superman after the original Superman film series. The 2013 movie grossed well at the box office but had its direct sequel finally canceled recently.

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