A cursory glance at my column may lead one to think I’m staunchly in the Marvel comics camp. I hope to dissuade those assumptions today. I enjoy both Marvel and DC equally and believe that they both offer excellent characters and stories.

We’ll look at my top five favorite DC movies. I’ve cast a wide net that contains both live action and animated offerings to showcase the films I feel best represent what I enjoy about DC.

5. The Dark Knight (2008)

So I know some people will have a problem with this one’s placing, but hey still top five.

Batman is probably DC’s most popular and profitable character so a reboot was inevitable. The Dark Knight continues where Batman Begins left off with Batman having a confrontation with his archnemesis: The Joker.

Heath Ledger’s Joker is the standout of the movie, his performance constantly demanding your attention. Aaron Eckhart’s Harvey Dent is the other great performance in the film with the rise and fall of his character embodying the film’s theme of “dying a hero or living long enough to see yourself become a villain”.

While a great movie, it isn’t my favorite Batman film. Batman plays second fiddle to Dent, Gordon and The Joker and probably has the weakest arc in the film.

That said this one is a pretty good adaptation of two Batman stories I enjoy, Batman: The Man Who Laughs and Batman: The Long Halloween.

4. Shazam! (2019)

The only DCEU movie on the list, this is a really fun movie that works so much because it embraces the goofy cheese of the premise.

Superhero movies are often called power fantasies and Shazam! is kind of the ultimate one of those. A kid that becomes a full grown adult superhero with a magic word is super relatable to a younger audience. The movie also delves into some very real, heartfelt drama about abandonment and family.

The only downside I see is that the movie can’t use the character’s name. You see “Shazam” is the wizard that gives Billy Batson his powers, while his superpowered form was referred to as “Captain Marvel” which you can see leads to some confusion with Marvel’s Captain Marvel. Honestly the whole Captain Marvel name troubles could be its own full length column.

On the whole, Shazam! is a fun superhero romp with a lot of heart.

3. Batman (1989)

This is the movie that, along with the graphic novel “The Dark Knight Returns”, set the tone going forward for most modern portrayals of Batman.

This movie also has some of the same problems as The Dark Knight, where Batman comes off as largely a side character, but here it kind of works, making Batman into this urban myth that the characters and audience both get to discover and unravel.

The movie’s gothic visual aesthetics help to give Gotham City its own identity and introduces Danny Elfman’s excellent Batman theme as well as my favorite on-screen Batmobile design.

My favorite scene in the film is actually when The Joker busts into the museum with his crew while Prince’s Partyman plays. It’s a scene that I feel really embodies the goofy nature of the Joker, a portrayal I feel most modern takes on the character miss.

2. Superman: The Movie (1978)

Superman is my favorite DC hero. People will talk about him being too overpowered, too good or just plain boring. I would disagree with those people. Superman’s inherent goodness is what makes him such an excellent and inspiring character and nobody embodies that quite like Christopher Reeve did.

Superman: The Movie is groundbreaking as a superhero film and was massively influential on the Superman mythos going forward. Many of the designs for the phantom zone, The Fortress of Solitude and Krypton itself were inspired by this film’s aesthetics.

As mentioned above, Christopher Reeve is the best Superman hands down. Showing strength and confidence while also managing to be kind and friendly. Reeve even shows us in one, single, uninterrupted take how the change from Clark Kent to Superman happens. Before our very eyes its like the man changes into someone completely different, a testament to the actor’s abilities.

The theme by John Williams is instantly iconic and one of the best superhero themes ever.

1. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993)

And here is my number one, an animated film, but one that I believe best capture’s Batman’s character.

Mask of the Phantasm is set within the same continuity as the excellent Batman: The Animated Series, and sees Batman confronted by both a new vigilante that is killing crime bosses and the return of his former lover Andrea Beaumont.

The film is told in a nonlinear style that shows us scenes of Batman’s early crimefighting career and his struggles between his vow to fight injustice and his love for Andrea.

One of my favorite scenes is Bruce speaking to the graves of his parents, apologetic that he wanted a chance at a normal life, that he didn’t count on “being happy”. It’s a power scene and look into Bruce’s psyche, made all the more tragic when the relationship fails due to outside circumstances that push Bruce further into that dark corner of his mind and ultimately donning the cowl and becoming Batman.

This movie shows the kind of results you can get when you mix creators passionate about a character, a strong cast, excellent animation and a wonderful score. This is my favorite Batman film, my favorite DC film and one of my favorite animated films of all time.

Next week we’ll take a look at a spoiler review for WandaVision.