Ten cerebral superhero films to rival The Batman

With an added ‘The’ for extra gravitas, Matt Reeves’ fresh take on The Batman is picking up generally favourable notices both for the movie and Robert Pattinson’s interpretation of the character, which apparently makes Christian Bale’s dour Bruce Wayne a happy-go-lucky scamp in comparison. The Spectator’s Deborah Ross wasn’t convinced by yet another dark twist on the superhero but elsewhere the film has received solid reviews.

The Caped Crusader has seen many iterations on film, the most recent being Ben Affleck’s constipated billionaire, which never really caught on with audiences.

Christopher Nolan’s three motion pictures (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises) raised the bar for both Batman films and superhero movies as a whole, earning praise from critics who previously shunned the genre.

With Reeves’ new movie upping both the grimness ante and the political subtext of TDKR (which was seen as anti the Occupy movements of the time), The Batman promises to be a superhero flick that film snobs can be seen to enjoy.