How Many Batman Movies Are There?

There are 11 Batman movies in which the Caped Crusader leads, split into eight main films and three spin-offs. The main run starts with Batman (1989), directed by Tim Burton, and continues through Batman Returns (1992), Batman Forever (1995), Batman & Robin (1997), Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008), The Dark Knight Rises (2012) and The Batman (2022). The three spin-offs are Batman (1966), directed by Leslie H. Martinson, the animated Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993) and the animated The Lego Batman Movie (2017). If you want to know which one to press play on first, our batman movies in order guide sets out both the release order and the chronological order.

Nine of the 11 Batman movies are live action and two are animated. The live action films are Batman (1966), the four films from Batman (1989) to Batman & Robin, the Dark Knight trilogy and The Batman (2022), so the same nine are the answer if you ask for all Batman movies not animated. The two animated films could hardly be more different in scale. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm was the first animated Batman film to get a theatrical release, according to TheWrap, and it took about $5.9 million worldwide, per Box Office Mojo. The Lego Batman Movie (2017), with Will Arnett voicing Batman, cost $80 million to make and took about $312 million worldwide, according to The Numbers.

The eight main films fall into three eras, each tied to a director. Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher made the first four films between 1989 and 1997, and three different actors wore the cowl across them: Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer and George Clooney. Batman (1989) earned about $412 million worldwide on a $35 million budget, according to Box Office Mojo, while Batman & Robin cost $125 million and took about $238 million, the smallest return of those four. Christopher Nolan then made the Dark Knight trilogy with Christian Bale from 2005 to 2012, and both The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises grossed more than $1 billion worldwide. Matt Reeves began the third era with Robert Pattinson in The Batman (2022), which Box Office Mojo lists at about $773 million worldwide.

Nine actors have played Batman across the 15 films that feature him, counting the ensemble films. Six lead the solo live action films: Adam West, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale and Robert Pattinson. Ben Affleck is the seventh live action Batman, in the ensemble films, and Kevin Conroy and Will Arnett are the two voice Batmen in the animated spin-offs. Keaton, who played Bruce Wayne in the first two Burton films, returns in the role in The Flash (2023). Our batman actors in order page puts each of them in sequence, and the batman cast page covers the rest of the ensemble.

Four films feature Batman as one member of a larger cast, and they are not counted among the 11. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Justice League (2017) were directed by Zack Snyder, with Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne. Zack Snyder's Justice League, a 242 minute cut released on streaming in the US on March 18, 2021, reworks the 2017 story. The Flash (2023), directed by Andy Muschietti, gives Michael Keaton's Batman a supporting role beside Ezra Miller's Barry Allen. In the watch order, Batman v Superman follows The Dark Knight Rises, Justice League follows The Lego Batman Movie, Zack Snyder's Justice League follows Justice League, and The Flash follows The Batman (2022).

The Batman films have one TV series attached to them, The Penguin, an eight episode crime drama from HBO. It premiered on September 19, 2024, finished on November 10, 2024, and stars Colin Farrell as Oz Cobb, the same character he plays in The Batman (2022), with Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone. Lauren LeFranc created it and served as showrunner, with Matt Reeves and Dylan Clark as executive producers. The story starts shortly after the film and follows Oz as he tries to take over Gotham's underworld once Carmine Falcone is gone, and Batman does not appear. The show is billed as a limited series, no second season has been confirmed, and it earned 24 Emmy nominations, the second most of any program that year. The shoot ran for 112 days across New York City, Westchester County and Long Island.

The Batman Part II would be the twelfth film led by Batman, but it is still in production and is not in the count. Matt Reeves directs, with Robert Pattinson, Colin Farrell and Andy Serkis reported to return and Sebastian Stan and Scarlett Johansson reported as new cast. DC Studios paused production on October 5, 2026, saying the pause was temporary while Reeves deals with a family matter, and TheWrap lists the US release as February 18, 2028. For the latest on cast and dates, see the batman part 2, and for the full run of what Batman looks like on screen, return to the batman movies hub.