The streets of Gotham City are some of the most notoriously crime-ridden in all of comic book lore, but even Gotham’s petty thieves and powerful crime bosses know better than to linger out after dark for too long.
That’s not for fear of running into their criminal competition, but out of the possibility of encountering Gotham City’s mysterious defender of the night, the Batman.
Debuting in the pages of Detective Comics in 1939, billionaire Bruce Wayne famously became Batman after the murder of his parents as a child, determined to protect the innocents of Gotham from falling victim to his own tragedy.
While Batman does not possess the kind of superpowers his fellow heroes on the Justice League do, he compensates for through an array of Bat-gadgetry, and even more importantly, his own iron will and physical strength, which includes decades of martial arts training.
Batman is well-known for being one of the most formidable and versatile martial arts masters in the DC universe, Bruce Wayne having spent years studying different fighting styles around the world in preparation for his eventual return to Gotham City as the Caped Crusader.
Batman’s skills as a fighter have frequently played a prominent role in his many cinematic appearances, with Batman movies increasingly featuring elaborate and powerful martial arts fight scenes that showcase the true extent of the Dark Knight’s indomitable spirit and skill as a warrior.
With so many Batman movies and so many Batman actors, the ranking of Batman’s best big-screen smackdowns is an action-packed delight, indeed.
So, don your cowls and ready your Batarangs, KFK readers – here, in descending order, are the Top 10 Best Batman Movie Fight Scenes!
10. Batman vs. Bane Rematch – “The Dark Knight Rises”
Tom Hardy’s Bane may have broken the Bat in “The Dark Knight Rises”, but the Caped Crusader (Christian Bale) returns to save Gotham City with a hero’s resolve.
Compared to the infamously choppy editing of the fight scenes in “Batman Begins”, there’s much more clarity to the filming of Batman and Bane’s battles in “The Dark Knight Rises”, and director Christopher Nolan gives their rematch some major stakes with Gotham facing literal nuclear annihilation should Batman fail.
Bane’s power punches are also exactly as impactful as his reputation implies with Bane able to cause a stone pillar to crumble, but Batman’s sheer determination and training ultimately carry him through to a well-deserved win.
9. Batman vs. Bane – “The Dark Knight Rises”
The concluding chapter of Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy brings Batman out of an 8-year retirement, making Tom Hardy’s wall of pure muscle that is Bane even more of a challenge.
As in their first comic book meeting in the “Knightfall” story arc, it doesn’t go well for Batman, who gives his all against Bane only to not only be defeated but end up crippled by Bane’s notorious back-breaker.
Though it’s a loss for Batman, his refusal to accept defeat still makes it one of his greatest cinematic fight scenes (and one of the best to showcase the techniques of Keysi Fighting Method), Batman a hero who will fight for the people of Gotham no matter what the cost to himself.
8. The Train Station Fight – “The Batman”
Robert Pattinson’s Batman literally steps out of the shadows on Halloween night to deal with criminals terrorizing the citizens of Gotham City in Matt Reeves’ “The Batman”.
The introduction to Pattison’s Caped Crusader is right out of a horror movie with Batman slowly emerging from the darkness without a word.
Batman’s pummeling of the gang’s leader followed by his proclamation of “I’m vengeance” would have made the list all by itself (and indeed, that moment was a meme all over the internet for well over a year before “The Batman” was released), but Batman brings his fighting skill to the rest of the gang to make the point of how much he means business.
Robert Pattinson’s Batman might be a comparatively young and inexperienced Caped Crusader, but he still packs quite a punch!
7. The Cathedral Showdown – “Batman”
Michael Keaton’s Batman must rescue Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger) from the clutches of the Joker (Jack Nicholson) in the Cathedral climax of Tim Burton’s “Batman”, but he’ll have to get through one of the Joker’s most unstoppable henchman (Cilver Curtis) in order to do so.
The late Dave Lea served as Michael Keaton’s stuntman on both of Burton’s “Batman” films, and despite the infamous restrictions of the cowl on the wearer’s mobility, still does a great job of bringing the Caped Crusader’s martial arts skills to life in the Cathedral brawl of “Batman”.
The fight also works as well as it does due to Batman himself taking some real punishment from his much bigger and stronger enemy, but Batman is very much a thinking fighter, and as we see by the end, he gets the upper hand with the element of surprise on his side.
6. Batman vs. The Riddler’s Henchmen – “The Batman”
With The Riddler (Paul Dano) intent on flooding Gotham City, Batman must put a stop to his plot with a dozen of the Riddler’s henchmen standing in his way.
The final fight of “The Batman” actively builds upon the movie’s opening fight scene in a much longer and more elaborate battle, with Batman being pushed to his limits with the stakes at hand and bringing all of his Bat-gadgets into play to gain the upper-hand.
When the chips are down, Batman even finds himself going a bit more overboard than he’s usually comfortable with, showing just how much Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne is still getting used to his life as a crime-fighter.
“The Batman” does spread its action scenes out a bit over the course of its 3-hour running time, but they definitely hit hard as its finale shows.
5. The Knightmare Fight Scene – “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”
The Knightmare future of Zack Snyder’s DC films is indeed a terrifying possible future, with Darkseid having conquered Earth and Batman leading a resistance movement while plotting with the surviving members of the Justice League to prevent this future from ever happening.
Just how challenging that is becomes clear in the glimpse into the Knightmare that “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” provides, when Batman’s cover is blown and he’s forced to fight the soldiers of Darkseid’s militia.
Ben Affleck’s stuntman Richard Cetrone (a seasoned martial artist and student of Dan Inosanto himself) handles Batman’s brawling duties in the one-shot fight, which is both an enthralling single-take fight scene on its own and one that shows just how hellish a world under Darkseid’s rule would inevitably become when a swarm of Parademons swoops in.
Batman’s been in some challenging battles, but the Knightmare future is a whole other beast.
4. Batman vs. The Russian Prison Guards – “The Flash”
“The Flash” opens the gateways of the DC Multiverse after Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) travels back in time to save his mother, bringing his Scarlet Speedster into contact with Michael Keaton’s Batman in a new alternate reality.
What makes that crossing of the multiverse’s streams (or, more accurately to how “The Flash” describes it, spaghetti strands) even better is that Michael Keaton’s Batman can kick butt like never before.
The Dark Knight does exactly that when he and the two Barry Allens of different realities bust into a Russian prison, with Batman single-handedly taking down every guard in by far the best fight scene Keaton’s Dark Knight has ever had.
Such is the power of the DC Multiverse, not only giving long-retired DC stars comeback opportunities, but their greatest action scenes, as well!
(Be sure to also check out KFK’s interview with the fight coordinator of “The Flash” and “Zack Snyder’s Justice League”, Mike Lambert!)
3. The Underground Tunnel Fight – “Zack Snyder’s Justice League”
The internet rallied around the cry of #ReleaseTheSnyderCut for years, and it was finally realized with the 2021 release of Zack Snyder’s original cut of “Justice League”, fittingly titled “Zack Snyder’s Justice League”, and among the many surprises of the movie was another great fight sequence with Ben Affleck’s Batman.
When the newly formed Justice League battles Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds) and his Parademon army in one of Gotham city’s underground tunnels, Batman takes charge of taking down Parademon’s with uppercuts, spinning kicks, and some new Bat-toys, including his new vehicle “The Nightcrawler” and his gauntlets capable of absorbing lasers from alien weapons.
The first time the Justice League band together to defend Earth in a movie simply requires some great action, and “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” delivers on that mandate with some slick moves from the Dark Knight.
2. Batman vs. Superman – “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”
It’s right there in the title – “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” which sees Ben Affleck’s Batman and Henry Cavill’s Superman to go toe-to-toe before the Justice League can be formed.
Heavily inspired by their comic book fight in Frank Miller’s “The Dark Knight Returns” (which director Zack Snyder is a huge fan of), Batman and Superman’s duel is born out of a misunderstanding each has of the other’s intentions, but it also makes their core character traits central to how they approach each other when they begin as adversaries.
For all his Kryptonian might, Superman holds back from giving everything he can out since he’s not the merciless monster Batman thinks he is.
Batman, meanwhile, always plans ahead, tricking Superman into a sense of false comfort before leveling the playing field with Kryptonite gas pellets.
However, these only act as an equalizer in their fight rather than an instant victory – a very welcome alternative to simply holding up a rock to Superman in order to come out on top – requiring the Dark Knight to still hold his own against the Last Son of Krypton in a brawl that smashes every wall and pillar around them until Superman is finally able to make a friend of the enemy that Batman once was.
…And in at no. 1 is…
The Warehouse Smackdown – “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”
In 2016, it finally happened. After years of Batman movie fight scenes that were often hit or miss, Zack Snyder’s “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” finally delivered a sharp, powerfully impactful, outstandingly well-choreographed Batman movie fight scene the likes of which the world had never seen before.
Batman, of course, is well known for being among the greatest martial artists in all of superhero lore. While his fighting skills were occasionally showcased in strong action scenes before, more often than not, Batman movies failed to truly show the kind of seasoned, grizzled, well-trained martial arts warrior Batman truly is and to the extent of what his fighting capability really is.
Then, along came the warehouse rescue of “Batman v Superman”, and the rest is history.
Richard Cetrone once again steps into the cowl to bring Batman’s fighting skills to life, and martial arts nerds can pick out a multitude of different disciplines and techniques from Batman’s fighting style (indeed, YouTuber Godzilla Rex did exactly that.)
Moreover, the finesse of Batman’s absolutely pristine combat skills is matched by his mindset that he will simply never back down when there is an innocent person to be saved, in this case, the adoptive mother of Superman himself, Martha Kent (Diane Lane).
Batman all but tells the warehouse full of henchmen “Get out of my way!” when he bursts through the floor, and by the end, all of them surely wish they had done so.
There’s simply no contest to be had – Batman’s warehouse rescue in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” is the all-time best Batman movie fight scene…by a long shot!
