How to Watch the Batman Movies in Order

The good news is there are so many Batman movies to watch that you could stay at home for quite a long while before getting through them all. The bad news is the Batman movie franchise has also gone through many reboots, there's no consistent chronology to serve as a viewing guide. So we recommend watching them in order of release or by series.

This article only covers Batman movies that were released theatrically. It doesn’t include direct-to-video animated releases or animated films in which he’s not the main character, such as The Lego Movie. 2016’s Batman: The Killing Joke is also not on the list since it only ran in theaters for a one-night event.

Michael Keaton in Batman (1989) — Warner Bros. Pictures

How to Watch the Batman Movies in Order of Release

While most Batman movies are available to stream on HBO Max, others are on separate platforms or unavailable online altogether. If you don’t have an HBO Max account, you can rent most Batman movies from iTunes, Amazon, and other online movie rental services. Availability is constantly changing, so a film available on one streaming service today may be gone tomorrow.

Movie	Release Date	Where to Watch
Batman	July 1943	Available to buy on Amazon
Batman and Robin	May 1949	Available to buy on Amazon
Batman: The Movie	July 1966	Available to rent and buy on Amazon
Batman	June 1989	DC Universe
Batman Returns	June 1992	HBO Max
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm	December 1993	DC Universe
Batman Forever	June 1995	HBO Max
Batman & Robin	June 1997	HBO Max
Batman Begins	June 2005	HBO Max*
The Dark Knight	July 2008	HBO Max*
The Dark Knight Rises	July 2012	AMC+
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice	March 2016	HBO Max
Suicide Squad	August 2016	HBO Max
The Lego Batman Movie	February 2017	HBO Max
Justice League	November 2017	HBO Max
Joker	October 2019	HBO Max, Hulu
The Batman	March 2022	Not yet released

Although Batman (1943) and Batman and Robin (1943) aren’t available to stream on any major platforms, both serials are on YouTube in their entirety. You should be able to find them through a quick Google search.

How to Watch the Batman Movies by Series

Although there are a few outliers, we can separate the Batman movies into three main series: the Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher era, Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy, and the DC Extended Universe. Here’s the order you should follow if you watch them by franchise.

Movie	Series	Where to Watch
Batman	Batman Serials	Available to buy on Amazon
Batman and Robin	Batman Serials	Available to buy on Amazon
Batman: The Movie	Batman Television Series	Available to rent and buy on Amazon
Batman	Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher era	DC Universe
Batman Returns	Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher era	HBO Max
Batman Forever	Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher era	HBO Max
Batman & Robin	Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher era	HBO Max
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm	Batman: The Animated Series	DC Universe
Batman Begins	The Dark Knight Trilogy	HBO Max*
The Dark Knight	The Dark Knight Trilogy	HBO Max*
The Dark Knight Rises	The Dark Knight Trilogy	AMC+
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice	DC Extended Universe	HBO Max
Suicide Squad	DC Extended Universe	HBO Max
Justice League	DC Extended Universe	HBO Max
The Lego Batman Movie	The Lego Movie Film Series	HBO Max
Joker	"Separate Earth" DCEU	HBO Max, Hulu
The Batman	"Separate Earth" DCEU	Not yet released

*Batman Begins and The Dark Knight are available on HBO Max right now but will be moving to Peacock by the end of 2020.

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