Batman Begins

Evil fears the knight.

RELEASED 10 Jun 20052h 20m★ 7.7 TMDB★ Essential pick

Driven by tragedy, billionaire Bruce Wayne dedicates his life to uncovering and defeating the corruption that plagues his home, Gotham City. Unable to work within the system, he instead creates a new identity, a symbol of fear for the criminal underworld - The Batman.

WATCH NOTE

Covers Christopher Nolan's 2005 live-action theatrical feature. US theatrical release was June 15, 2005, following a May 31 Tokyo premiere; the catalogue's June 10 date and earliest commercial international availability remain unverified. Alfred Pennyworth, James Gordon and Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow resolve to existing official DC identities. Ducard's adaptation-specific alias mapping and remaining supporting official profile matches, complete on-screen credits and supporting, uncredited, photographic and silent/background appearance coverage remain under review. Runtime sources differ: Rotten Tomatoes lists 140 minutes, BBFC records cinema presentations of 139:54 and 140:55 and a home presentation of 134:15, BFI lists 134 minutes and AFI 160. Preserve the existing 140-minute runtime pending presentation-specific reconciliation. Batman: Gotham Knight is a separate animated anthology intended between this film and The Dark Knight; its material is excluded from this feature's coverage.

Why it matters in DC

This is the foundation of the Dark Knight trilogy's Bruce Wayne: a man who turns personal trauma into a constructed public symbol. Understanding why he chooses Batman makes the later films' challenges to that symbol more meaningful than a sequence of escalating villains alone.

Watch these first

4 titles to watch before Batman Begins — 40h 7m in total.

Chase MeOptional background0h 6m★ 7.1
A separate adaptation of Batman; useful for comparison, but unrelated to Batman Begins’s story continuity.
Batman: Mystery of the BatwomanOptional background1h 14m★ 6.7
A separate adaptation of Batman; useful for comparison, but unrelated to Batman Begins’s story continuity.
Justice League UnlimitedOptional background14h 57m★ 8.3
A separate adaptation of Batman; useful for comparison, but unrelated to Batman Begins’s story continuity.
The BatmanOptional background23h 50m★ 8.0
A separate adaptation of Batman and Alfred Pennyworth; useful for comparison, but unrelated to Batman Begins’s story continuity.

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How these titles are selected

Story prerequisites are curated. Likely prerequisites are inferred from sequel numbering or explicit synopsis references. Recommendations are earlier stories in the same continuity; background picks are separate adaptations. Series lists cover whole shows, not an episode-by-episode watch order.

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Where it fits in the DC universe

Batman Begins is title 1 of 3 in our The Dark Knight Trilogy viewing sequence. Begin with Batman Begins, Christopher Nolan's origin story for Christian Bale's Batman. Continue with The Dark Knight and then The Dark Knight Rises, which complete this separate trilogy. Batman: Gotham Knight is an animated anthology intended to fit between the first two films and is optional companion viewing.

Explore this viewing sequence