The Best Batman Movie of 2010s Better Than The Dark Knight Rises Is Now Streaming for Free

In 2012, two Batman movies hit the screen. Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises got a billion-dollar marketing push, IMAX screens, and a decade of think pieces. Meanwhile, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1, and its 2013 Part 2 went straight to DVD and quietly turned out to be the better film.

The animated two-part movies adapt Frank Miller‘s landmark comic almost panel for panel. While the movie borrowed pieces of that same comic and sanded down the edges, the animated version simply filmed the whole thing.

And right now, you can watch both parts of The Dark Knight Returns on YouTube for free, with ads and without a subscription needed. The timing could not be better. 2026 marks the 40th anniversary of Miller’s comic, and DC has spent the whole year celebrating it.

The Dark Knight Returns Is Based on Frank Miller’s Best Batman Comics

In Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Bruce Wayne is 55 and has not worn the cowl in ten years, ever since Jason Todd died. During this time, Gotham has rotted. A gang called the Mutants owns the streets, the news anchors treat the collapse as entertainment, and Bruce sits in his mansion drinking while something inside him claws to get out.

What follows is Batman fighting his way back into the spotlight. He fights the Mutant Leader, a resurrected Two-Face, and a Joker who wakes up the moment he hears Batman is alive. There is also a teenage girl named Carrie Kelley who appoints herself Robin. And Superman gets sent by the US government to shut him down.

When Frank Miller published this as a four-issue series in 1986, it revolutionized the Dark Knight’s tone. Batman stopped being the bright detective of the 60s and became grim, obsessive, and genuinely frightening. Nearly every dark Batman you have seen since traces back to this story.

The film is remarkably loyal. Director Jay Oliva and writer Bob Goodman kept Miller’s page layouts, his satirical TV news chorus, and even his blocky character designs. Splitting it into two 76-minute halves meant nothing had to be cut for time.

Peter Weller voiced a gravelly Bruce, Ariel Winter played Carrie, Michael Emerson voiced Joker, and Mark Valley was Superman.

Why The Dark Knight Returns Is Better Than The Dark Knight Rises

Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises | Credits: Warner Bros. Pictures

The Dark Knight Rises adapted elements of Frank Miller’s 1986 comic, but it did not commit to the retired and broken Bruce Wayne as The Dark Knight Returns did. Christopher Nolan’s movie only used the aesthetic of Miller’s comic without the argument underneath it.

In the live-action movie, Christian Bale’s Batman is dragged back into the fight and gets his back broken by Bane, only to return and then retire again permanently. We see him sipping coffee in Florence, suggesting that Batman was a phase he needed to outgrow.

Miller’s book says the exact opposite. Bruce cannot stop, will not stop, and the story treats that compulsion as both his curse and the only thing keeping Gotham alive.

The animated version also just works better as a story. It has the Joker, who Rises could not use. It has an actual final boss in Superman, which turns the ending into a genuine ideological brawl. Carrie Kelley fights beside Batman for the entire second half instead. There is no thin motivation and no plot hole here.

Which of these two movies is your favorite Batman movie? Let us know in the comments below!