30 Best Batman Animated Movies, Ranked
Batman is arguably DC’s best-written superhero. Of course, not everyone is going to agree on that one, but Batman has consistently been the subject of the highest-rated superhero movies and has been featured in a variety of adaptations. This article is going to talk about these adaptations, but only in animated form, as we are going to bring you the best Batman animated movies, ranked from worst to best.
Most of them will be standalone works with Batman as the main characters, but we are also going to include those animated movies where Batman was featured in a larger role, alongside some other heroes and characters.
30. Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Aquaman: Rage of Atlantis
Release Date: July 22, 2018
Running Time: 78 minutes
The Justice League is in a hurry to neutralize the bounty hunter Lobo, who is busy searching the storage warehouse for alien artifacts. Learning that the action takes place on the Lake of Fear, Aquaman hurries to the place to use his power to command the water element and prove his usefulness to the Justice League.
Arriving before the others, he realizes that he is in the desert and his skills are useless. Lobo easily deals with the hero. Despite the help of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Cyborg and the new Green Lantern Jessica Cruz, the space mercenary manages to find a glowing ball and fly away with it.
To brighten up the bitterness of defeat, Aquaman invites his friends to Atlantis to celebrate the anniversary of his coronation. However, underwater, Aquaman’s half-brother, who calls himself the Master of the Ocean, gathers the Atlanteans and turns them against the king, declaring him a usurper.
29. Batman: Gotham by Gaslight
Release Date: January 12, 2018
Running Time: 78 minutes
In Gotham City’s Victorian era Bruce Wayne operates as the bat-clad vigilante, Batman, who is feared by all. One night, Batman saves a wealthy couple from being robbed by three orphans (Dickie, Jason, and Timmy) and defeats their abusive manager, Big Bill Dust. At the same time, Ivy, an orphan turned exotic dancer and prostitute, becomes the new victim of the mysterious serial killer called “Jack the Ripper”, who ruthlessly kills Gotham’s poor and destitute women.
Gotham citizens believe that Batman and Jack are the same man. Theater actress Selina Kyle, a protector of women from “Skinner’s End”, berates Gotham Police Commissioner James Gordon and Police Chief Harvey “Bulldog” Bullock for their failure to stop the Ripper murders. Later that night, Selina acts as a decoy for the Ripper. She works, but the Ripper takes over during their fight until Batman arrives. After escaping, Batman asks Gordon to help him arrest the Ripper.
28. Batman: Hush
Release Date: July 19, 2019
Running Time: 82 minutes
Bruce Wayne attends a gala where he meets Selina Kyle and her childhood friend and esteemed neurosurgeon Thomas Elliot, but is forced to leave when Alfred warns him of Bane’s kidnapping of a child. after which he saves the boy and defeats the criminal, Batman is approached by Lady Shiva, who informs him that a stranger has used the Lazarus Pit, taking advantage of the internal struggles in the League of Shadows and therefore asks him to investigate him.
Shortly after, Catwoman steals the ransom money and Batman chases her across the rooftops until a figure hurts him seriously injuring him: Bruce is saved by a gang of criminals by the same Catwoman and Batgirl and, while the latter helps him, Selina delivers the money stolen from Poison Ivy, who controls her with her hypnotic kiss.
27. Justice League vs. Teen Titans
Release Date: March 26, 2016
Running Time: 79 minutes
The Justice League battles the Legion of Doom (Lex Luthor, Toymaster, Weather Wizard, Cheetah, and Solomon Grundy). Weather Wizard flees when his comrades are defeated, but becomes possessed by the shadows of Trigon’s minions. Robin (Damian Wayne) disobeys his father’s orders to get the civilians to safety, thinking he can help the Justice League fight the possessed wizard and assault him, defeat him, and force Trigon’s shadow out of his body.
Upset that there is no response to this event and for his son to learn about teamwork, Batman sends Robin to join the Teen Titans. Meanwhile, Trigon’s minion possesses Superman, inflicting visions of demonic shadows on him. Robin meets the Titans’ leader Starfire, who is Nightwing’s girlfriend and members Raven, Beast Boy, and Blue Beetle, but her lack of respect for others causes friction.
26. Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: The Flash
Release Date: February 13, 2018
Running Time: 78 minutes
Atom visits the Hall of Justice, where he meets Batman, Superman, their pets Ace the German Shepherd, the superdog Krypto, and Cyborg. They are joined by Wonder Woman, Plastic Man and Firestorm and invite the Atom to join the Justice League. Suddenly, an alarm goes off and Lois Lane reports that the Joker has attacked Metropolis.
Meanwhile, waking up at exactly 8:00 a.m., the Flash helps the people of Central City by taking out Captain Cold and Captain Boomerang. Belatedly discovering Batman’s missed signal, he heads to Metropolis, where the Atom has found an antidote and cured the victims. The Flash returns the transformed Daily Planet building to its original appearance and apprehends the Joker. Suddenly, someone who looks like the Flash appears, but with the color of the costume reversed.
25. Batman: Bad Blood
Release Date: January 20, 2016
Running Time: 72 minutes
Batwoman intercepts a group of criminals in Gotham City including the Electrocutioner, Tusk, Firefly, Killer Moth, and others. When a fight ensues, Batman arrives. They are confronted by the apparent leader of the criminals, a man called the Heretic, who detonates explosives planted in the premises. Batman pulls Batwoman to safety and apparently perishes in the explosion.
Two weeks later, a worried Alfred Pennyworth sends a distress signal to Nightwing. Meanwhile, Damian Wayne watches a news report about Batman’s disappearance and sets out to return to Gotham. Katherine Kane, Batwoman’s civilian alter-ego, meets with her father Jacob to explain that she feels responsible for Batman’s apparent death.
24. Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Release Date:
Running Time: March 31, 2019
At Powers Industrial, young Barbara Gordon witnesses the theft of the power generator by the Foot Clan and the fight between them and 4 creatures, which Barbara Gordon identifies as metahumans. She reports this incident to Batman, who deduces that his company will be next on the list, the various stolen elements allowing to create a disperser capable of spreading a product, like poison, on the whole city.
He, therefore, confronts the Foot Clan at Wayne Enterprises and manages to defeat them without too much difficulty. However, Shredder intervenes and manages to neutralize him. It turns out that the metahumans spotted by Batgirl are actually the Ninja Turtles, who have learned that Shredder has a new partner in Gotham and are trying to identify him.
23. Batman: Under the Red Hood
Release Date: July 27, 2010
Running Time: 75 minutes
The Joker captures Jason Todd aka Robin, Batman’s ally, and tortures him until Batman arrives to save his apprentice. The rescue fails when the building explodes. Five years later, as Batman struggles to recover from the death of the second Robin, what appears to be a gang war breaks out in Gotham.
The baron of the underworld, Black Mask, indeed sees his activities attacked by a newcomer masked called Red Hood. The latter gradually takes control of the drug trade by ensuring the protection of the traffickers of the city against Batman and the current leader, Black Mask. His methods are extremely violent and end up triggering the beginning of an escalation. It eventually emerges that Red Hood is actually Jason Todd, the former Robin, brought back to life thanks to Ra’s al Ghul.
22. Son of Batman
Release Date: April 22, 2014
Running Time: 74 minutes
Batman is visited by his former love, Talia, the daughter of Ra’s al Ghul and leader of the League of Assassins. She informs him that his father has just died following an armed assault on their lair, ordered by Deathstroke, a former member of the League. Talia entrusts her son Damian to the Dark Knight to protect him from Deathstroke.
Batman decides to take the young man under his wing and a new duo forms to protect Gotham City from the criminals who haunt it. However, the young boy, drunk with anger, wishes at all costs to find Deathstroke in order to avenge the death of his grandfather and endorses the costume of Robin.
21. Batman and Harley Quinn
Release Date: July 21, 2017
Running Time: 74 minutes
Batman and Nightwing discover that Poison Ivy and the Floronic Man have formed an alliance and, very reluctantly, decided to seek out Harley Quinn, Ivy’s best friend, to find out where the two are hiding. Batman then lets Nightwing find Harley while receiving information from the ARGUS: thanks to them, Batman discovers that Ivy and Woodrue have stolen the information on the birth of Swamp Thing and kidnapped a scientist named Harold Goldbloom who could help them replicate the process and transform all human beings into humanoid plants.
Nightwing finds Harley working as a waitress in a restaurant, having fled the underworld after being released, and after spending the night together and fighting her, he manages to convince her to help them.
Harley then leads the dynamic duo to Bludhaven’s Slaughter Swamp, where Ivy is saddened to see her friend help Batman: Dr. Jason Woodrue mortally wounds Dr. Goldbloom to keep him silent while he and Ivy escape. The dying Goldbloom, however, reveals that the two are heading to Louisiana, where the chemicals suitable for their plan are found.
20. Batman vs. Robin
Release Date: April 7, 2015
Running Time: 80 minutes
After stealing the Batmobile, Robin reaches an abandoned warehouse where she suspects some kidnapped children are. His theory of him is confirmed and then begins to fight with Anton Shott, the Dollmaker, who has transformed some of his little victims into his personal army. Shortly after, the two are joined by Batman, who frees the hostages while his son sets off in pursuit of Shott.
After cornering him she decides not to kill him, but just then a strange hooded man appears out of nowhere and, telling him to trust his instincts, rips the heart out of Shott’s chest with a single blow. Batman, who arrived shortly after, finds an owl feather on the corpse.
Back home Bruce has dinner with his new partner, Samantha Vanaver, to whom he shows his city improvement project, introducing Damian to her, however, telling her that he is just her tutor. The relationship between the little boy and his father goes through many ups and downs, both with and without the mask, above all because mutual trust is scarce between the two and because Damian is still strongly linked to the ideology of his grandfather Ra’s al Ghul.
19. Batman: Gotham Knight
Release Date: July 8, 2008
Running Time: 76 minutes
Batman: Gotham Knight is a 2008 omnibus film directed by various directors. It is a collective film consisting of six animated episodes inspired by the character of Batman. The film is set over a period of time between Christopher Nolan’s two films Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008), even if several elements of the episodes are not linked to the canon of Nolan’s film trilogy. Four supervillains appear in the episodes: Deadshot, the Scarecrow, Killer Croc, and the Man in Black.
18. Justice League: Throne of Atlantis
Release Date: January 13, 2015
Running Time: 72 minutes
In the Atlantic Ocean, the USS California submarine picks up human threats approaching the submarine through sonar. The submarine is attacked and the entire crew is killed by the enemies. At the S.T.A.R. Labs Justice League headquarters Cyborg, who recently received environmental upgrades in an operation that replaced his remaining lung, receives news from Colonel Steve Trevor, the link for the Justice League since Darkseid’s invasion.
At the Mercy Reef restaurant in Maine, Arthur Curry, drunk after the recent death of his father, fights a group of thugs when they wanted to eat the lobster Arthur was talking to. He defeats them and when the last man tries to stab him, his knife shatters into pieces against Arthur’s chest. After throwing him into the ocean, Arthur leaves, unaware that Mera and Dr. Steven Shin are watching him.
Cyborg uses a boom tube to teleport into the submarine and discovers handprints on the hull and that several nuclear missiles are missing. He is then attacked by the same enemies and takes damage from his escape, though he takes a knife-like weapon from one of his attackers.
17. Batman: Assault on Arkham
Release Date: July 25, 2014
Running Time: 76 minutes
After Batman arrests the Riddler and returns him to Arkham Asylum, Amanda Waller, director of ARGUS, a secret federal paramilitary organization commanding Task Force X, reforms the unit, which this time is made up of Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, Killer Frost, King Shark, Black Spider, and KGBeast.
The group, led by Deadshot, must infiltrate Arkham and then find the Riddler’s staff where sensitive information stolen from Amanda Waller is hidden, without suspecting that one of the team members is in charge of a “mission ” different, while obeying the directives of their “employer” under penalty of seeing their heads explode because of mini-bombs placed in their necks.
Their mission must be done with the utmost discretion so as not to alert Batman, who is already busy looking for the bomb that the Joker, freshly returned to Arkham, has hidden in Gotham City.
16. Batman: The Long Halloween
Release Date: June 22, 2021 (Part 1) / July 27, 2021 (Part 2)
Running Time: 85 minutes (Part 1) / 87 minutes (Part 2)
Gotham City is experiencing an unprecedented crisis. The Falcone family reigns supreme and the city is plagued by crime, violence and corruption. In addition, a mysterious killer nicknamed Holiday goes after the underworld and leaves behind many corpses. Batman will then join forces with Captain James Gordon and prosecutor Harvey Dent to stem this wave of violence.
15. Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman
Release Date: October 21, 2003
Running Time: 74 minutes
The Penguin and Rupert Thorne carry out an illegal business to sell state-of-the-art weapons to criminals, hidden behind the facade of a passenger transport company. But his plans are cut short with the arrival in Gotham of a new vigilante: Batwoman.
With a team of high-tech gadgets and powerful punches, Batwoman proves to be an amazing vigilante. When Thorne and The Penguin see that their plans may be ruined by the appearance of Batwoman, they hire Bane to eliminate the new vigilante, paying him with funds they receive from a grant from the National Government.
14. Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox
Release Date: July 30, 2013
Running Time: 81 minutes
While visiting his mother’s grave, Barry Allen, the alter ego of the superhero The Flash, receives news that someone is attacking the museum dedicated to him in his hometown, Central City. Arriving on the spot he discovers that the handful of criminals is led by his nemesis, Professor Zoom, who intends to destroy a large part of the city thanks to bombs and thus tarnish the name of the scarlet sprinter. However, thanks to the intervention of the Justice League, everything is for the best.
Barry then wakes up at work and discovers that many things are different from what he remembered: his mother is still alive, he has lost her powers and the world is on the brink of the war that afflicts him.
Meanwhile, Batman, much more aggressive than usual and equipped with firearms, attacks Yo-Yo to find out where the Joker has taken Judge Dent; the death of the criminal is only thwarted by the arrival of Cyborg, who in vain asks the Dark Knight to join the front to fight against the regime imposed by Aquaman and Wonder Woman.
Barry then heads to the Batcave and, discovering it, Batman begins to storm him with blows: Barry tries to placate him, coming to understand that he has not Bruce Wayne in front of him but his father Thomas.
The two, after discovering that Zoom’s uniform is in Barry’s ring, sense that Zoom, thanks to his powers, has returned to the past and changed the time continuum to destroy Flash forever. Meanwhile, Wonder Woman and her Amazons discover that Lois Lane has infiltrated their new realm to provide information to Cyborg and decide to capture her.
13. Batman vs. Two-Face
Release Date: October 8, 2017
Running Time: 72 minutes
Batman and Robin are invited to a top-secret demonstration hosted by Professor Hugo Strange and his assistant, Dr. Harleen Quinzel, that could possibly change the future of Gotham forever. Along the way, Batman stops at Gotham State Penitentiary to visit Catwoman (whose suicide attempt in the first film failed) to hand her a book of poetry by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
This is something that will keep her busy for the next 36 months of her life until she is finally released from prison. At the lab, they meet prosecutor and Bruce Wayne’s ally in the war on crime Harvey Dent, famous for arresting a gang of coin counterfeiters while keeping a two-sided coin as a memento of the case.
12. Justice League Dark
Release Date: January 24, 2017
Running Time: 75 minutes
Throughout the world, thousands of people commit crimes of all kinds, explaining that their victims are demonic creatures. The Justice League begins to investigate and as Superman and Wonder Woman immediately go on the supernatural trail, Batman is dubious. That same evening, he is possessed by a spirit that covers the walls of his room with the name “Constantine”.
Five days earlier, John Constantine, a famous occultist, is in Las Vegas with his friend Jason Blood playing poker in an underground gambling den against three demons, who once beaten, throw themselves on him. However, he manages to push them back to hell thanks to Etrigan, a demon linked to Jason, and to get his hands on the Stone of Dreams, a powerful artifact of black magic that he decides to keep at home, in the House of Mysteries.
11. Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
Release Date: December 12, 2000
Running Time: 76 minutes
The Joker reappears in Gotham City, seemingly unchanged, after 40 years away. He has taken over the Jokerz gang, stealing high-tech equipment from them, with Batman (Terry McGinnis) hot on their heels. The final robbery occurs at a Wayne Industries building, as Bruce Wayne announces his return as head of the company. During this theft, the Joker appears in public, and escapes.
Terry wonders, and with Bruce Wayne not providing him with answers, he then seeks to obtain some from Barbara Gordon, former Batgirl and commissioner of Gotham City, but without success. Bruce Wayne then demands that Terry return his costume, and sends it back.
Later, Terry is attacked by the Jokerz at a nightclub. He understands this to mean the gang is aware of his secret identity. Terry gets rid of the Jokerz and goes to Wayne Manor, in the Batcave, where he saves Bruce Wayne from poison gas poisoning. At Bruce’s bedside, Barbara Gordon tells Terry the truth about the Joker’s death.
10. Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders
Release Date: October 6, 2016
Running Time: 78 minutes
In Gotham City, the four biggest criminals (the Joker, the Penguin, the Sphinx and Catwoman) pose a terrible threat. The superheroes Batman and Robin will face these villains and will even have to go into space to thwart the diabolical plan of their enemies.
9. Batman: The Killing Joke
Release Date: July 22, 2016
Running Time: 77 minutes
Batman: The Killing Joke tells the origin story of the Joker, one of Batman’s greatest enemies, who after becoming a bankrupt comedian teams up with various criminals for a great deed. In the present, to prove his insanity he kidnaps Jim Gordon and brutally attacks something that has tormented him forever; his daughter Barbara. Batman sees the situation and will have to face his deadliest enemy once again.
8. The Lego Batman Movie
Release Date: January 29, 2017
Running Time: 104 minutes
Always managing to save Gotham City from the attacks of the criminals, Batman became insolent to better hide his deep loneliness. Upset by his attitude, his sworn enemy the Joker lets himself be locked up in Arkham Asylum. But both Batman and Barbara Gordon, the new police commissioner, suspect a hidden plan.
To finish him off, the Dark Knight and his trusty sidekick Robin send him to the Phantom Zone. Unfortunately, the clown manages to free himself from his prison with extraordinary power. Batman will have to confront his worst fears to save the city.
7. Justice League Dark: Apokolips War
Release Date: May 5, 2020
Running Time: 90 minutes
The Justice League—newly joined by Lex Luthor, John Constantine, and his companion Zatanna—learning that Darkseid is about to invade Earth, prepares a preemptive strike directly against Apokolips and his master, while the Teen Titans remain on Earth for the protect. However Darkseid, through Cyborg, has access to the attack plans.
Upon arriving on Apokolips, the League members discover that Darkseid has been waiting for them and several of them are killed by “Paradooms”, genetic hybrids of Parademons and Doomsday, while Constantine, in front of the real butchery taking place and after Zatanna’s brutally savage death, flees.
Two years later, the Earth is, via Lex Luthor, under the yoke of Darkseid, who intends to empty it of its magma to feed his world and to continue his global conquest of the universe by attacking the Green Lantern Corps.
Meanwhile, Superman, Lois Lane, and Raven attempt to reunite the last remaining forces to attempt a suicide mission to free the universe from the threat of Darkseid. To this end, they will appeal to the League of Assassins, the Suicide Squad and John Constantine, who sees this as his last chance for redemption.
6. Batman: Year One
Release Date: October 18, 2011
Running Time: 64 minutes
After years away, Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham City, eighteen years after watching his parents die before his eyes, preparing to wage his own war on crime. At the same time, Lieutenant James Gordon arrives in town with his pregnant wife, Barbara, and is on a mission to restore order to a corrupt police force. The two men try, in their own way, to eradicate the corruption and violence that reigns in Gotham. When a mysterious vigilante appears, Gordon is put on the Batman case.
4. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Release Date: December 25, 1993
Running Time: 78 minutes
During a meeting of crime bosses in Gotham City, gangster Chuckie Sol was killed by a mysterious figure shortly after Batman broke into the meeting. Given the similarity between Batman and the mysterious figure, Batman is blamed for the death of Chuckie Sol.
Councilor Arthur Reeves tells the media that Batman is a public threat to the city, then attends a party at the villa of Batman’s alter ego, billionaire Bruce Wayne, and teases him about unrequited love and how he let his ex-girlfriend, Andrea Beaumont, go.
Then Bruce remembers meeting Andrea at the cemetery one day. That same night, Bruce puts on a mask and sets out to prevent a robbery. He succeeded but was discouraged by the fact that the criminals were not afraid of him. Almost at the same time, Bruce starts making love to Andrea, and after a while, he proposes to her, but Andrea mysteriously disappears with her father, Carl Beaumont, and returns the ring to him with a message to forget her.
Believing he has lost only a chance at a normal life, Bruce puts on a Batman mask for the first time. Again in the present, a mysterious avenger finds and kills another gangster, Buzz Bronski. Batman reveals that Andrea’s father has a common past with the murdered gangsters. The next target is Salvatore Valestra, who discovers that a mysterious avenger is killing members of his old mob and realizes that he is next in line and asks the Joker for help.
3. Batman Ninja
Release Date: April 24, 2018
Running Time: 85 minutes
While battling Gorilla Grodd, Batman is caught in his time machine and sent to feudal Japan. He is hunted there by samurai in the service of the Joker. While escaping, he encounters Catwoman, also time-bound for two years, who tells him that Gotham’s criminals are all there and have become feudal lords after abusing the daimyō.
Batman and Catwoman must therefore intervene to prevent the villains from re-writing history. To achieve this, Batman and his allies will have to learn the arts of ninjutsu to defeat their enemies led by Lord Joker who seeks the total domination of the feudal state and the final destruction of the dark knight.
2. Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero
Release Date: March 17, 1998
Running Time: 70 minutes
With the support of an Inuit boy named Kunac and two pet polar bears, Hotchka and Shaka, Freeze continues his quest to finally be able to reunite with Nora. The woman’s condition, however, begins to deteriorate rapidly when, due to a submarine accidentally emerging from underwater, her cryogenic tube is damaged.
Desperate, Freeze returns to Gotham City (still protected by Batman, Robin, and the mysterious Batgirl) with his companions, and asks his former colleague, Dr. Gregory Belson, for help in finding a cure. Belson determines that Nora needs an organ transplant, but due to her rare blood type there are no suitable donors available.
1. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
Release Date: September 25, 2012 (Part 1) / January 29, 2013
Running Time: 76 minutes (Part 1) / 76 minutes (Part 2)
The plot takes place in the near future, where Batman is only a memory for those who knew his crusade against crime and a myth for the youngest. It’s been eight years since Batman last appeared, the crime rate has gone sky high again in Gotham, and a new group of criminals, calling themselves the Mutants, have surfaced. Faced with the atrocity of their crimes, Bruce Wayne, aging and weakened, will revive the Dark Knight.
Batman, activating to stop the multiple gangs born from the dissolution of the gang of the mutants sees reappearing an old enemy of the past. Indeed, motivated by the return of Batman, the Joker escapes and causes serial murders. With the final stand between Batman and his greatest enemy, more violent than ever, inescapable, Superman, having entered the service of the government for more than 10 years, asks Batman to cease his activities which make him uncomfortable.
Batman succeeds in bringing down the crime rate where the laxity of the government does not change anything, which does not fail to embarrass them at the highest point. Superman then leaves the choice to Bruce: retirement or death.