The Batman

Unmask the truth.

RELEASED 1 Mar 20222h 57m★ 7.7 TMDB★ Essential pick

In his second year of fighting crime, Batman uncovers corruption in Gotham City that connects to his own family while facing a serial killer known as the Riddler.

Why it matters in DC

A second-year Batman investigates corruption that reaches into his own family's history, placing detective work at the centre of this continuity. The film establishes the Gotham explored in The Penguin, making its institutions and criminal power structures as important as its masked antagonist.

Watch these first

4 titles to watch before The Batman — 5h 28m in total.

Batman: The Long Halloween, Part OneOptional background1h 25m★ 7.4
Batman: The Long Halloween, Part TwoOptional background1h 27m★ 7.4+1 before this
InjusticeOptional background1h 18m★ 7.3
Catwoman: HuntedOptional background1h 18m★ 5.8

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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

The Batman is title 1 of 3 in our The Batman Saga viewing sequence. The Batman establishes the separate Gotham shared by this film, The Penguin and The Batman: Part II. Its investigation and aftermath provide the setting for Oz Cobb's television story. Neither the Dark Knight trilogy nor the DCEU supplies this Bruce Wayne's past, even though the films use familiar characters and locations.

Explore this viewing sequence