18 Years Later, DC’s The Dark Knight Has Found Its Match

DC has been lagging in the movie department ever since the MCU took off, with Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy standing out as the last great saga from DC. While Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel has been praised by a notable portion of the fanbase, there hasn’t been a wide consensus on projects from DC since The Dark Knight.

Even Nolan’s third entry, The Dark Knight Rises, proved considerably more divisive. And in the years since, DC fans have been crying out for a comeback for these incredible heroes, which ultimately fell flat thanks to the underwhelming performance of the DCEU. But now, it appears as though The Batman Part II could finally dethrone The Dark Knight for best DC movie.

The Dark Knight Has Reigned As The Best DC Movie For Almost Two Decades

It was clear from the start that Nolan was never the man to create a larger shared comic book universe on the big screen, which made it all the more surprising when the acclaimed director stepped in to direct not just one Batman film, but an entire trilogy. And with that, he managed to create a stunning character arc that dug deep into the lore of the Gotham Guardian.

Unfortunately, it appears to have also set the bar to an extremely high standard, which negatively impacted the DC movies that followed. Sure, there were some highs in the DCEU, and Aquaman managed to overtake The Dark Knight at the box office, but before and after, nothing comes close. And more than that, the ratings for Nolan’s The Dark Knight are leagues ahead of the competition.

While some movies have come close with either the wider audience or the critics, no other project has had a positive consensus that climbed as high as The Batman since The Dark Knight. And in the years since the film was released, its popularity has only increased thanks to hit projects like The Penguin expanding the Matt Reeves Batverse, and providing some consistency while the rest of the DCEU collapsed.

Now, as the DCU begins to recover some of the audience trust that was lost in the last decade or so, it falls to The Batman Part II, as one of the flagship projects from the newly formed Elseworlds, to bring fans back to the cinema and make an attempt at overtaking The Dark Knight.

The Batman Part II Looks Like It Could Rival The Dark Knight

Similar to The Dark Knight, The Batman Part II is set to feature a story that is heavily tied in with the Dent family, and sees Harvey Dent begin his journey in Gotham, initially as an uneasy ally to the Batman, before he becomes the monstrous Two-Face. The story is also supposed to draw inspiration from The Long Halloween, which was also one of the primary inspirations for the story that played out in The Dark Knight.

The Batman Part II is also set to include The Penguin, as played by Colin Farrell, whose story was majorly fleshed out in the spin-off TV series, The Penguin. With these two elements, this sequel has a strong opportunity to compete with and overtake The Dark Knight as the most popular and widely celebrated DC movie to date.

Will The DCU Proper Be Able To Top Either The Dark Knight Or The Batman Part II?

However, the DCU still appears to be the major focus for DC Studios and Warner Bros. While Matt Reeves’ Batverse is proving to be a popular series, it stands apart from the rest of the mainline stories, and it’s unclear what will happen if it continues to outshine the projects that spawn from that universe.

Thankfully, there are plenty of major projects coming to the DCU proper, and its future appears to be bright. As long as James Gunn and the rest of the creatives can build it more meaningfully and successfully than what came before, there is a solid chance that this will also overshadow The Dark Knight trilogy at some point. Still, until then, The Batman Part II remains DC’s best hope for a new sensational hit.