The One Superhero Movie Christopher Nolan Called Extraordinary

Christopher Nolan is often hailed as the director who redefined the superhero genre with his Dark Knight trilogy, but the filmmaker has made it clear that he stands on the shoulders of giants.

While his gritty and grounded version of Gotham City became a global phenomenon, Nolan has frequently expressed his admiration for the directors who came before him. He seems particularly moved by the work of Tim Burton, whose vision of Batman in the late 1980s and early 1990s set the original gold standard for the character.

Nolan once shared with Ain’t It Cool News that he found Burton’s approach to the Caped Crusader to be absolutely extraordinary. He described those earlier films as being very idiosyncratic and noted that they felt like a unique kind of mad studio film. Burton’s 1989 masterpiece, which featured Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne and Jack Nicholson as a legendary Joker, created a stylized world that felt entirely its own.

According to Nolan’s comments to Verbicide, the beauty of Burton’s work was the specific world he built for Batman to inhabit. He praised the great gothic vision that was consistent across the films and felt it perfectly suited the character.

Nolan noted that while Burton created a fantastical world for the hero, his own goal was to see an ordinary world where a citizen of Gotham would view Batman as someone truly extraordinary.

Even as Nolan moved in a more realistic direction, he still found joy in the foundational elements that Burton’s films embraced. He explained that part of the fun in his own creative process was answering the big logic questions, like how Batman got his suit or how the Batcave was actually built with Alfred’s help. Nolan referred to these origin details as the candy of the movie, showing that even a serious director can enjoy the more playful side of filmmaking.

As of early 2026, Christopher Nolan is currently in the middle of one of the most ambitious projects of his career. Following his massive Oscar success with Oppenheimer, he is deep in post-production for his next epic, an adaptation of Homer’s The Odyssey.

The film, which is scheduled to hit theaters on July 17, is being described as a mythic action spectacle that was shot entirely using brand-new IMAX film technology across locations like Greece, Italy, and Scotland.

The cast for this new venture is a true “who’s who” of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Matt Damon leads the film as Odysseus, marking his third collaboration with Nolan, while Tom Holland stars as his son, Telemachus.

The ensemble also features Anne Hathaway as Penelope, Zendaya as the goddess Athena, and Robert Pattinson as Antinous. Other major names attached to the project include Charlize Theron as the witch Circe, Lupita Nyong’o, and Jon Bernthal, making it one of the most star-studded lineups in modern cinema history.

Nolan has described this version of the ancient story as foundational, incorporating elements of horror, mystery, and romance into a massive $250 million production. Fans are already lining up for what is expected to be the cinematic event of the summer, with early ticket releases reportedly selling out in record time.

Do you think Christopher Nolan’s upcoming adaptation of The Odyssey will be able to top the cultural impact of his Dark Knight trilogy when it arrives in theaters this summer? Share your thoughts in the comments.