Michelle Pfeiffer delivers one of the most committed Batman villain performances ever in 1992’s Batman Returns. This version of Doctor Crane is also quite easy on the eyes. The only villain to appear in all three of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight films, Scarecrow ( Cillian Murphy) began the trend Nolan pioneered of fantastical supervillains grounded in reality. It tied up the film’s themes, but it’s hard to top the action of defeating Ledger’s Joker. We decided just to do the Riddler on steroids.”Īaron Eckhart is the definitive big-screen Harvey Dent, but his Two-Face is perhaps the only part of The Dark Knight that felt rushed, with the final minutes of the film after the Joker (Heath Ledger) is defeated devoted to Two-Face. ( This was the toned-down version?!) Schumacher told Heat Vision last year he wanted a Riddler that you believed could outsmart you: “We sort of feel that with Jim - that there is a mind like Robin Williams and other great comic minds - where they are just ahead of you. Screenwriters Janet and Lee Batchler wrote the role for Robin Williams, and say when Jim Carrey came on board, he played the character a little more “straight” (i.e., toned down). Tommy Lee Jones had to be convinced by producer Peter Macgregor-Scott to take on the role (“I don’t get it,” the producer recalled Jones saying after reading the script), and though there’s nothing wrong with his portrayal per se, it’s not enough to get him above the middle of the pack. Miranda Tate’s reveal in the final act of the film that she is in fact Talia al Ghul (Marion Cotillard) was among the most disliked parts of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, with the fan-favorite character’s plot feeling rushed and not given the due it deserves. a toy-friendly direction) for follow-up Batman Forever. And yes, it’s pretty awful objectively - but he’s also among the most quotable big-screen villains of all time (thus why he edges out Ivy).įor those unhappy with the turn Joel Schumacher’s Batman took, look no further for someone to blame than grotesque villain Penguin (Danny DeVito), who was so un-toy friendly that the powers that be looked for a new direction (i.e. Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is held up as everything that is wrong with Batman & Robin. Sorry Batman & Robin, you are three for three. Robin (Chris O’Donnell) and his infatuation with Ivy irritated fans to no end (we cannot forgive those rubber lips). Poison Ivy ( Uma Thurman) isn’t totally to blame for her lackluster big-screen debut. Bonus points for anyone who can name a worse example in any big-budget comic book movie. This Bane (Jeep Swenson), on the other hand, is an inarticulate brute and considered one of the worst big-screen comic book villains ever. In the comics, Bane is not only a physical match for Batman, but an intellectual match.

Battman villians