5 Underrated Batman Movies You Probably Haven't Seen
He’s the world’s greatest detective but even Batman would struggle to scout out all the best movies about the Caped Crusader. Honestly, we’ve lost count of how many Batman movies there have been now – but between solo live-action outings, standalone animated features, and bit-part appearances in various team-up films, there has been A LOT.
Even the most casual filmgoer knows the merits of The Dark Knight trilogy, while more experienced Bat-fans will hold a soft spot for Tim Burton’s Batman and Batman Returns. Personally, I think The Batman is the most faithful, most exciting adaptation of the grimy streets of Gotham City we see in the graphic novels. We're going to have to wait even longer for the follow-up to that one, though.
So, what do you do when you’ve watched and rewatched the big hits? Well, you throw up the Bat-Signal and wait for the heroes at JustWatch to come along and feed you five recommendations for the best, most underrated Batman movies you might have missed.
Ironically, one of my favourite iterations of Batman is a show where the man under the mask is not even Bruce Wayne. Batman Beyond is probably the coolest TV series ever made, quite frankly. The visual style matches the fantastic art deco vibes of Batman: The Animated Series, but with a more neon, futuristic twist, the villains are all fresh and exciting, and we see an older, grizzled Bruce take young Terry McGinnis under his wing. What more could you want?
How about a feature length animated movie about McGinnis trying to solve the mystery of how the Joker has seemingly been resurrected decades after he was thought to have died? Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker is the perfect blend of old and new, bringing back a legendary villain while offering up an innovative and original story that doesn’t feel forced. You’ll have to pay for the privilege of watching this one, but it’s well worth giving the £3.49 to Apple TV for.
My five-year-old son is absolutely obsessed with Batman, as any child should be. The problem is, beyond the kiddy cartoons, there’s not a lot I can actually watch with him. Most Batman movies are either too violent or too long, but Merry Little Batman solves both of those issues. We watched it back in 2023 when it first came out, and probably watched it another three or four times that Christmas. We now watch it at least a couple of times every year, sometimes not even during the festive period.
Funnily enough, the focus here isn’t on Bruce Wayne either, but on his son, Damian. Don’t worry, though, the vast array of Batman’s rogues gallery are out in full force to keep things firmly rooted in the lore of Gotham. It’s a super fun tale that combines light, family-friendly humour with a great story and a charming, quite unorthodox animation style. Merry Little Batman is just over an hour-and-a-half long and is free on Amazon Prime Video, and it’s the ideal gift for any time of the year, not just at Christmas.
We could debate it for hours, but for me, the best Batman comic book story ever written is Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns. It’s a story of an older, very angry and disillusioned Bruce Wayne who decides to step up and do something about the mess that Gotham City has become since he retired. It’s a brutal and profound apocalyptic tale, and the animated adaptation is wonderfully faithful to its source material.
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns was split into two parts originally, but you can rent the whole thing (all two-and-a-half hours of it) from Apple TV for just £3.49 right now. If you’re into movies like Mad Max: Fury Road and The Book of Eli, you’ll absolutely love this version of Batman.
However, if you’re looking for something slightly more playful, The Batman vs Dracula is a brilliant blend of macabre, horror vibes and poppy visuals. Besides, how can you resist seeing the two most famous bats of all time facing off against one another? While the likes of Joker and Oswald Cobblepot feature, it’s the iconic Dracula who takes centre stage against ol’ pointy ears on this occasion.
It’s very much in the same vein as those classic Scooby-Doo cartoons from decades gone by. My son loves that kind of thing, so we gave this movie a go, and I would say it was right on the edge of what he deemed too scary, so bear that in mind.
As we mentioned at the start of this list, there are countless versions of Batman across a range of different mediums. While his origin story always remains the same, different writers have taken the Caped Crusader beyond that fateful moment in Crime Alley into lots of exciting and enthralling directions. Nothing encapsulates that variety more than the animated anthology, Batman: Gotham Knight.
It was originally conceived as a bridge between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, but this film works equally as effectively as a standalone study of the hero’s status and people’s perceptions of him. You get six unique accounts from a cross-section of Gotham City citizens, all with their own style of animation. Batman: Gotham Knight ranges from gritty, realist anime to a more twisted and surreal aesthetic, and for just £2.49, you can rent it all from Amazon Video.
