In fact, it wasn't just Batman films - after "Steel", DC wouldn't release another film until 2002 and even then "Road To Perdition" certainly wasn't a superhero film - you'd have to wait either another year until "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" (which is a bit of an is-it-isn't-it case as we'll see when we come to review it) or 2004's "Catwoman" (shudder) for one of those.
So now seems as good a time as any, especially as we've officially got 20 reviews in the can (plus the one bonus) for this series, to take a look back at DC's film output in the 20th century from 1951's "Superman And The Mole Men" right up to "Steel" which we reviewed last week. From the good to the bad to the out-and-out absurd, let's take a look back at what we've seen so far...
21. STEEL (1997)
Take a snore-inducingly generic '90s action film by numbers which is basically a low-rent cross between "Luke Cage" and "Iron Man", add a hopelessly lost Shaquille O'Neal, a man who really should never have left the basketball court for Hollywood on this evidence, in the title role and cram him into the ugliest looking superhero outfit known to man. Congrats, you've just come up with the worst film on this list and if you look at the competition down here, that's quite some achievement for this utterly boring misfire. Avoid at all costs.
20. SUPERGIRL (1984)
If Superman 3 showed that the wheels on the Man of Steel's franchise were wobbling slightly then Supergirl is where they well and truly came off. Despite a promising cast (Peter Cook, Peter O'Toole, Faye Dunaway), this film is comprehensively sunk by an abysmal script, terrible acting and a plot with more holes than a Swiss cheese. You can only begin to imagine what this all adds up to but suffice to say don't bother watching it, you'll only feel like a terrible fool if you do.
19. JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA (1997)
Twenty years before the DCEU Justice League film stunk up cinemas worldwide came this ultra-low budget straight-to-TV movie which was supposed to kick off a Justice League television series that thankfully got nixed. Looking like it was made in 1987 rather than 1997, poor special FX, clunky dialogue and a plot which blunders over into outright silliness (and not in a good way) make this attempt at a "Friends" style "superheroes as housemates" series starring the Flash, Green Lantern, Fire, Ice and the Atom a total turkey.
18. SUPERMAN 4: THE QUEST FOR PEACE (1987)
By this point the Superman wagon had comprehensively crashed and burned with directors and producers dropping like flies and Warners cutting the budget for the fourth film by two thirds. The net result was a badly edited film which had plot holes galore, a lousy script and despite being the most recent of the four films actually looks the most dated. So bad it put Superman on the cinematic backburner for two decades.
17. THE RETURN OF SWAMP THING (1989)
Did anyone really ask for a Swamp Thing sequel? With original director Wes Craven long since moved on to bigger and better things, Anton Arcane and his green nemesis return for a second outing with Heather Locklear and comic B-movie veteran Sarah Douglas dragged along for the ride. The result is a hideously bad B-movie which plays it for laughs and misses by a mile every time. Avoid like the plague.
21. STEEL (1997)
Take a snore-inducingly generic '90s action film by numbers which is basically a low-rent cross between "Luke Cage" and "Iron Man", add a hopelessly lost Shaquille O'Neal, a man who really should never have left the basketball court for Hollywood on this evidence, in the title role and cram him into the ugliest looking superhero outfit known to man. Congrats, you've just come up with the worst film on this list and if you look at the competition down here, that's quite some achievement for this utterly boring misfire. Avoid at all costs.
20. SUPERGIRL (1984)
If Superman 3 showed that the wheels on the Man of Steel's franchise were wobbling slightly then Supergirl is where they well and truly came off. Despite a promising cast (Peter Cook, Peter O'Toole, Faye Dunaway), this film is comprehensively sunk by an abysmal script, terrible acting and a plot with more holes than a Swiss cheese. You can only begin to imagine what this all adds up to but suffice to say don't bother watching it, you'll only feel like a terrible fool if you do.
19. JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA (1997)
Twenty years before the DCEU Justice League film stunk up cinemas worldwide came this ultra-low budget straight-to-TV movie which was supposed to kick off a Justice League television series that thankfully got nixed. Looking like it was made in 1987 rather than 1997, poor special FX, clunky dialogue and a plot which blunders over into outright silliness (and not in a good way) make this attempt at a "Friends" style "superheroes as housemates" series starring the Flash, Green Lantern, Fire, Ice and the Atom a total turkey.
18. SUPERMAN 4: THE QUEST FOR PEACE (1987)
By this point the Superman wagon had comprehensively crashed and burned with directors and producers dropping like flies and Warners cutting the budget for the fourth film by two thirds. The net result was a badly edited film which had plot holes galore, a lousy script and despite being the most recent of the four films actually looks the most dated. So bad it put Superman on the cinematic backburner for two decades.
17. THE RETURN OF SWAMP THING (1989)
Did anyone really ask for a Swamp Thing sequel? With original director Wes Craven long since moved on to bigger and better things, Anton Arcane and his green nemesis return for a second outing with Heather Locklear and comic B-movie veteran Sarah Douglas dragged along for the ride. The result is a hideously bad B-movie which plays it for laughs and misses by a mile every time. Avoid like the plague.
16. BATMAN & ROBIN (1997)
Yes, I'm surprised it's not rock bottom of this pile as well but at least the fourth Batman film veers over into "so bad it's actually funny" territory in places. However, it's still an unmitigated disaster with the garish neon visuals only matched by the ultra-dumb cartoony script. Add in to the fact that they have a hopelessly lost George Clooney as the Caped Crusader (and we thought Val Kilmer was bad), an amazingly even more lost-looking Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl (this film pretty much killed her previously promising acting career stone dead) and a monosyllabic Arnie as Mr Freeze ("Let's kick some ice!") and the picture is depressingly complete. Chris O'Donnell as Robin (another whose career was pretty much sunk by this film) and Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy both at least put in a valiant shift but there's little they can do to stop this film crashing and burning horrifically. So awful it essentially put the Batman franchise on ice for almost a decade.
15. WONDER WOMAN (1974)
Yes, I'm surprised it's not rock bottom of this pile as well but at least the fourth Batman film veers over into "so bad it's actually funny" territory in places. However, it's still an unmitigated disaster with the garish neon visuals only matched by the ultra-dumb cartoony script. Add in to the fact that they have a hopelessly lost George Clooney as the Caped Crusader (and we thought Val Kilmer was bad), an amazingly even more lost-looking Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl (this film pretty much killed her previously promising acting career stone dead) and a monosyllabic Arnie as Mr Freeze ("Let's kick some ice!") and the picture is depressingly complete. Chris O'Donnell as Robin (another whose career was pretty much sunk by this film) and Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy both at least put in a valiant shift but there's little they can do to stop this film crashing and burning horrifically. So awful it essentially put the Batman franchise on ice for almost a decade.
15. WONDER WOMAN (1974)
DC's first attempt to bring Diana Prince to the big screen was unfortunately a total flop - in fact, "Wonder Woman" plays out more like a bad '70s Marvel film with lots of padding, a thin plot full of holes and next to no action. Future long-stay TV actress Cathy Lee Crosby does her best in the circumstances and Ricardo Montalban is reasonable enough as the sleazeball chief bad guy but overall this is massively forgettable.
14. THE FLASH (1990)
Similar to its successors, the first Flash movie (the TV pilot in the States) isn't totally awful but it hasn't aged well with dated special effects, poor acting and a slow plot. After being given supernatural speed by an accident involving a chemical lab and a lightning strike, Barry Allen is on a mission to track down the biker gang who offed his brother. Similar to the '70s and '80s Marvel TV series, it's unfortunately easy to see why this incarnation of the Flash never made it past one series...
Similar to its successors, the first Flash movie (the TV pilot in the States) isn't totally awful but it hasn't aged well with dated special effects, poor acting and a slow plot. After being given supernatural speed by an accident involving a chemical lab and a lightning strike, Barry Allen is on a mission to track down the biker gang who offed his brother. Similar to the '70s and '80s Marvel TV series, it's unfortunately easy to see why this incarnation of the Flash never made it past one series...
13. WONDER WOMAN RETURNS (1978)
Inferior to its predecessor, "Wonder Woman Returns" was the TV film which saw the series rebooted with a new 1970s backdrop and Diana Prince setting off on a new series of adventures with Steve Trevor Jr, son of the original. Unfortunately, as well as not having aged well, this suffers from the exact opposite problem of a lot of '70s Marvel/DC films in that it tries to cram too much into a modest 75 minute time frame leaving a rushed and garbled film with plot holes the size of planets. There's the germ of a good idea here but it just isn't executed very well unfortunately.
Inferior to its predecessor, "Wonder Woman Returns" was the TV film which saw the series rebooted with a new 1970s backdrop and Diana Prince setting off on a new series of adventures with Steve Trevor Jr, son of the original. Unfortunately, as well as not having aged well, this suffers from the exact opposite problem of a lot of '70s Marvel/DC films in that it tries to cram too much into a modest 75 minute time frame leaving a rushed and garbled film with plot holes the size of planets. There's the germ of a good idea here but it just isn't executed very well unfortunately.
12. THE FLASH 3: DEADLY NIGHTSHADE (1991)
The third film in the early '90s Flash trilogy sits in between the other two in terms of quality and is hobbled by pretty much the same problems, namely dated special FX and clunky dialogue. However, after a decidedly forgettable first half the introduction of the violent psychopath Deadly Nightshade as an adversary for the Flash and his partner the original Nightshade helps to perk things up a bit and at least makes this a bit more watchable if you persevere with it.
The second Flash film suffers from most of the same pitfalls of its predecessor (wooden acting, a terrible script and some hilariously dated special FX) but is at least partially redeemed by the unexpected presence of Mark "Luke Skywalker" Hamill as the Flash's nemesis the Trickster who puts on an enjoyably OTT (without being too ridiculous) performance hamming it up in the villain's role. Flash 2 is otherwise pretty much standard low budget chod but at least it's not quite as terrible as some of the other films from this era...
10. SUPERMAN AND THE MOLE MEN (1951)
Arguably the first proper superhero movie of the modern era, "Superman and the Mole Men" is a real oddity in that it plays out more like a chilling morality tale on racism set in midwest America that just happens to have Clark Kent and Lois Lane in it. Given the constrictions of the timeframe though it's watchable enough and at least at a mere 58 minutes in length it doesn't outstay its welcome.
9. THE NEW WONDER WOMAN (1975)
9. THE NEW WONDER WOMAN (1975)
Aka "the one that set up the TV series that everyone's actually familiar with". This relaunch of the Wonder Woman series may be hilariously cheesy and naff in places (especially the ridiculously dated special FX) but at least it's a big improvement on its predecessor in that it at least has some sort of plot to actually get your teeth into. Pretty obvious why this is the version that got picked up.
In which a pre-"Nightmare on Elm Street" Wes Craven tries his hand at resurrecting the ailing "Swamp Thing" franchise and just about gets away with it. Simple no-brainer B-movie fun which is only let down by the final fight scene which well and truly blunders over the border from "suspend your disbelief" to "okay, this is just silly now".
Yes, there's no denying that it's a huge step down from the first two Superman films but even though the inclusion of Richard Pryor added pretty much nothing to the film and the fact that a lot of it veers over into unwelcome slapstick silliness, "Superman 3" actually isn't quite as bad as a lot of people make out (certainly it's way better than "Superman 4" and "Supergirl" for a start). Like "Swamp Thing", it's pretty much simple no-brainer fun which kills a couple of hours on a rainy afternoon nicely.
6. BATMAN FOREVER (1995)
Although a massive step down from the first two Batman films, rather like Superman 3 this isn't quite the disaster it's sometimes painted as although it's a supremely schizophrenic effort. Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones (yes, that Tommy Lee Jones) make for a fantastically OTT '60s Batman villain style pairing as Riddler and Two Face and Chris O'Donnell puts in an honest shift as the much-maligned Robin. However, Val Kilmer and Nicole Kidman both look comprehensively lost as Batman and Chase Meredith respectively (though less so than George Clooney a couple of years later) as if they're the only ones in the film trying to play it straight. Although Batman Forever just about manages to scrape by as above average, the warning signs were very much there as to what would come next...
5. BATMAN (1966)
Quite simply, the '60s Batman film does what it says on the tin and is a riot of technicolour silliness and enjoyably hammy (without going too far OTT) acting which is pretty much the definition of "so bad it's actually awesome". Yes, it very much isn't the Tim Burton or Christopher Nolan version of Batman but if you want something to put a smile on your face and cheer you up after a miserable day then this will definitely do the job.
We reviewed the Richard Donner cut of "Superman 2" in this blog which is probably the better version as it's more of a straight continuation from the first film. Like its predecessor, a proper old-school superhero epic with Christopher Reeve again doing a great job in the lead role, Gene Hackman making a worthy adversary as the slimy Lex Luthor and Terrence Stamp backing them up well as the unhinged General Zod. Add to that a great script with genuinely shocking moments such as seeing a suddenly-human Clark Kent getting seven bells beaten out of him by an obnoxious truck driver and you've got a genuine classic here.
The first genuine superhero epic of the modern age and it still holds up well now. It says a lot about "Superman" that even at two and a half hours it doesn't outstay its welcome, covering Superman's backstory nicely while still finding time to give the main plot of the film pitting Christopher Reeve's Superman against Gene Hackman's scheming Lex Luthor enough air time. Funny, heartbreaking and breathtaking all at once, there's a good reason why this has rightfully attained the status of being an all-time classic.
2. BATMAN (1989)
After a long run of disappointing DC films in the mid-'80s, Batman well and truly got things back on track. Tim Burton's dark cinematic direction suits the film down to the ground and with Michael Keaton on good form as Batman and Jack Nicholson well and truly stealing the show as the deranged Joker, this film definitely raised the bar for both superhero films and comic book tie-ins.
1. BATMAN RETURNS (1992)
It was always going to be difficult to top the first Batman film but fair play to Tim Burton, he very much managed it. With a more measured story featuring the Penguin (an excellently vitriolic Danny DeVito) emerging from the sewers and running for office while demonising Batman, it seems like an oddly prescient film in this day and age. Add in Michelle Pfeiffer doing an excellent femme fatale turn as Catwoman and you've got a dark masterpiece which still holds up as the best pre-millennial DC movie.
2. BATMAN (1989)
After a long run of disappointing DC films in the mid-'80s, Batman well and truly got things back on track. Tim Burton's dark cinematic direction suits the film down to the ground and with Michael Keaton on good form as Batman and Jack Nicholson well and truly stealing the show as the deranged Joker, this film definitely raised the bar for both superhero films and comic book tie-ins.
1. BATMAN RETURNS (1992)
It was always going to be difficult to top the first Batman film but fair play to Tim Burton, he very much managed it. With a more measured story featuring the Penguin (an excellently vitriolic Danny DeVito) emerging from the sewers and running for office while demonising Batman, it seems like an oddly prescient film in this day and age. Add in Michelle Pfeiffer doing an excellent femme fatale turn as Catwoman and you've got a dark masterpiece which still holds up as the best pre-millennial DC movie.
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