batman

These are dark days for the Dark Knight.

We ranked 75 years of Batman movies in one list.

In the tradition of ScreenCrush series like You Think You Know Movies and You Think You Know TV comes a new YouTube series: Top Five! Every two weeks (or so; we’ve got a lot of other stuff going on), ScreenCrush editor and critic Matt Singer will count down a particular topic from the world of movies (and probably write these introductory posts in the third person).

It’ll be a cold day in hell when Batman joins the ranks of Arrow, Flash, Supergirl or Legends of Tomorrow on The CW, but LEGO has a way of bringing everyone together. See for yourself, as a new promo features the CW stars voicing their LEGO counterparts opposite Will Arnett’s LEGO Batman as part of a weeklong promotion.

If Gotham’s Joker-heavy “Gentle Art of Making Enemies” serves as any kind of reminder, it’s that the FOX drama will often rise as close as it can to costumed Batman villains without taking the plunge. That said, one of its most enduring creations may finally suit up, as Cory Michael Smith’s Edward Nygma appears to become a costumed Riddler in the April return trailer.

Gotham never exactly hid the fact that Cameron Monaghan’s “Jerome” was intended as a prequel stand-in of sorts for The Joker, but boy, if the final Season 3 episode until spring isn’t punctuating it with a bang. See for yourself in a “white-band” trailer for next week’s “The Gentle Art of Making Enemies,” as FOX finally confers a certain Joker name, amid all the madness.

At some point we’re all going to have to stop asking, “Is this real life?! Is this really happening right now?!” The daily proliferation of surreal news headlines will never feel normal (nor should they), but it’s the frequency our country is operating at now, and it will likely continue at this pitch for the next four years, which officially kicked off today. In the latest episode of The Surreal Life, Donald Trump basically plagiarized Bane, Tom Hardy’s mush-mouthed villain from The Dark Knight Rises, in his inauguration speech.

Gotham has not been particularly coy with Cameron Monaghan’s return as our sort-of-Joker Jerome, though we’ve yet to see the villain up and about. That chances with a new midseason return promo, in which Jerome’s resurrection veers closer to a very famous comic tale.

After years of watching a certain segment of fans argue over which Enterprise captain was the best, I think it might be time for Star Trek fans to admit that they’re no longer the leader in casting fan arguments. Now all the cool kids want to argue over which Batman actor played the role best. While the obvious answer for most millennials would be Christian Bale, I tend to gravitate towards the early performances of Michael Keaton, a Batman who was a bit more believable as an intellectual than subsequent versions of the character. To each their own, I suppose.

2017 promises to be the biggest year yet for superhero movies, with eight confirmed major studio releases between February and November --- and a still unconfirmed ninth release expected from Fox. Highlights of the year include the first solo superhero movie with a female lead in over ten years, the first Spider-Man movie set in the extended Marvel Cinematic Universe, and an inexplicably gritty reboot of Power Rangers. There's a lot to look forward to, and a few movies to be skeptical of, so the editors of ComicsAlliance have decided to rank this year's eight confirmed releases in ascending order of excitement. We've tallied our editors' individual votes to arrive at a definitive list of the most (and least) anticipated superhero movies of 2017.

Rough year for Ben Affleck, noted Jennifer Garner spouse and one-time star of Gigli. His big starring vehicle Batman v Superman made a whole lot of money but was critically reviled almost across the board, his latest directorial effort Live by Night got a quiet and unceremonious limited release that was buried in the holiday craziness, he was spotted sadly vaping in a car, and now a pall of uncertainty has been cast over his future. He’s confirmed for Zack Snyder’s upcoming Justice League crossover, but Affleck’s relationship with the Dark Knight’s cowl and cape may be getting a bit strained. In a new interview, Affleck indicated that what was once presumed to be set in stone is, in fact, still up for debate.

If there’s one arrival Gotham fans are more excited for than The Dark Knight himself, it’s the return of Cameron Monaghan’s proto-Joker “Jerome.” 2017 trailers made clear we’d see the character again, but does a new premiere photo from “Smile Like You Mean It” reveal a familiar faceless grin? Might there be a bizarre tie-in with The Dark Knight itself?