The caped crusader, the protector of Gotham, the Dark Knight, the World’s Greatest Detective, the inimitable Batman turns 75 this month. First featured in Detective Comics #27, Batman is the secret identity of Bruce Wayne, a billionaire businessman who lost his parents at quite an early age and has dedicated his life to protecting his city.
Although Batman has been on screen since the 1940’s, it was really the Adam West show and later the Tim Burton films that really put him on the film map. Here are ten of the villains he has protected Gotham from over the years on the big screen.
1. The Joker.
atman’s greatest enemy, The Joker has featured in various small screen shows and on the big screen. However, the best of these performances are Jack Nicholson’s interpretation of the menace and Heath Ledger’s slightly more sinister depiction. Ledger even picked up an Oscar for his role and deservedly so. Give him all of the awards for this.
2. Poison Ivy
Woefully underwritten in the terrible Batman and Robin, we had to include Poison Ivy in this list for her appearance in the animated series alone. She still needs to be used in a future Batman film, it’s a shame she hasn’t been used to her full potential.
3. The Riddler.
You can say what you like about how bad Batman Forever actually is but Jim Carrey as the Riddler was phenomenal. The perfect amount of crazy, Carrey really embodied the old school Riddler that we could really get on board with. If Nolan had gone ahead with the Riddler in his Batman series, it would have been a different story.
4. Two-Face.
Another villain who has featured twice in the prominent Batman films, Two-Face was played by both Aaron Eckhart in The Dark Knight and Tommy Lee Jones in Batman Forever. In the old series, Jones played Two-Face as a somewhat stupid, jokey character while Eckhart really gave him motive and emotional depth. You may see a pattern developing here, Nolan knows how to really bring a character to the big screen.
5. Ra’s al Ghul.
Yes, Batman had been around for quite a while but it began to be taken seriously with the brilliant Batman Begins which featured Neeson’s Ra’s al Ghul. Developing an arc that would continue over the three films, Ra’s al Ghul was Wayne’s mentor but one that believed in murder. Batman just can’t get on board with the murder thing. Ever.
6. Bane.
Featuring in the Dark Knight Rises, Bane would stop at nothing to end Batman but it turns out he had purpose and a good one at that. In the comics, it doesn’t exactly play out in Batman’s favour. Despite serious issues with the sound created from his mask, Tom Hardy still managed to make Bane both frightening and in some ways, completely endearing.
7. Penguin
He didn’t seem like he could create that much havoc but Penguin was just bad to the bone straight from the start. His ruthlessness along with the backing of some of the richest people in Gotham led him to become one of the Bat’s greatest enemies. He had a nice umbrella to boot.
8. Scarecrow.
We couldn’t have written this article without mentioning Scarecrow who over the course of the Nolan films becomes less and less intimidating but that said, he did nearly kill all of Gotham with lethal poison and he certainly drove more than a few people a bit mad.
9. Catwoman
Let us get this straight and get it straight right now, there is no other Catwoman besides the glorious Michelle Pfieffer, the right amount of stunning, smart and extremely ambitious. It’s just a shame she falls in love.
10. Mr. Freeze.
Yes, we know, he’s not exactly the greatest villain or one we would like to take too seriously but Mr. Freeze was just all kinds of hilarious. You couldn’t ignore Arnie here. The less said about it the better.
