The top 10 Batman movie moments

The top 10 Batman movie moments. By Simon Miraudo.

Christopher Nolan‘s The Dark Knight Rises has arrived in cinemas; the final entry in his Batman series, and a gauntlet thrown in the direction of anyone who dares to reboot the caped crusader in its wake. It’s been a long, beautiful, thrilling, heart-breaking, Katie Holmes-forgetting ride, and we’ve had a wonderful time hanging with Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) and his rotating gallery of ruffians. To send them off in style, we’re sharing our picks for the trilogy’s 10 finest movie moments. Yes, we’re including scenes from The Dark Knight Rises, so consider this a mild spoiler warning. But don’t worry; we don’t give much away. The same cannot be said for Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. We spoil the hell out of those two!

10. “The tumbler? Oh, you wouldn’t be interested in that.” (Batman Begins)

Too many origin films begrudgingly arm our hero to the hilt and squeeze them into a uniform without sharing with us their sense of discovery. Before Nolan’s series plumbed the depths of evil, it had a bit of fun with gadget man Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman). Video evidence.

9. “Some men just want to watch the world burn.” (The Dark Knight)

Alfred (Michael Caine) has so many memorable monologues, it feels unfair to list just one. His justification of The Joker’s madness is the “jewel” of them all; a “jewel” the size “of a tangerine” in fact. Video evidence.

8. “Dr. Crane isn’t here right now.” (Batman Begins)

Cillian Murphy‘s Scarecrow was a novel villain in the first flick, especially once sent mad by his own fear-inducing toxin. The way he perceives “The Batman” whilst under the influence is straight out of our nightmares. Video evidence.

7. “Harvey, it’s OK. It’s alright. Listen, someone…” (The Dark Knight)

Rachel Dawes’ (Maggie Gyllenhaal) death in The Dark Knight is perhaps the most shocking moment of the trilogy; a symbolic shift into much darker territory, just when we thought it couldn’t get any more grim. As you can see from Aaron Eckhart‘s (soon-to-be-two) face, Harvey Dent doesn’t deal with it very well. Video evidence.

6. “Your punishment must be more severe.” (The Dark Knight Rises)

Comic book fans will know what to expect from Bane (Tom Hardy) and Batman’s first showdown in The Dark Knight Rises. It’s a gruelling sequence, complimented by the taunting Hardy’s hilarious vocal cadence and spectacular brutality. Video evidence.

5. “I’ll look into it.” (Batman Begins)

At the time we had no idea what exactly was to come, but the teaser at the end of Batman Begins – in which Detective Gordon (Gary Oldman) provides Bats with The Joker’s calling card – remains one of the best in superhero movie history. Video evidence.

4. “How about a magic trick?” (The Dark Knight)

Heath Ledger‘s Joker differentiated himself from previous incarnations with this supremely dark and devilishly funny prank. It inspired one of the biggest laughs of the series, despite being horrifically violent. Video evidence.

3. “Feel terror cloud your senses.” (Batman Begins)

It took a long time for Bruce Wayne to don the cowl in Batman Begins, but that was just fine by us. We were instead treated to some spectacular League of Shadows training sequences at the hand of Ra’s al Ghul (Liam Neeson), culminating in a drugged-out ninja test. Video evidence.

2. “Rise.” (The Dark Knight Rises)

You’ll know it when you see it. Listen to the score in the meantime.

1. “Eject sequence initiated.” (The Dark Knight)

Nolan gets a lot of guff for his occasionally muddled direction of action, but detractors need only look to The Dark Knight‘s centerpiece for a devastating rebuttal to their argument. From the moment the Batpod emerges out of the self-destructing Tumbler, to the ridiculous truck-flip at the end, this has more fan-sating money shots per second than any other sequence in the Batman series. Thanks Chris! Video evidence.

Discuss: We missed so much! Not one mention of Anne Hathaway! Forgive us! Tell us where we went wrong…