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Who did Batman better? Nolanverse or Rocksteady/WB?

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Nolan, and it's not even close. At least that Batman has an arc.

Rocksteady wants me to believe that every dude is a former football player, and that breaking a dude's spine in four places and then throwing him off a building means he's surely gonna live. Batman is dumb as a rock and just lives to fight. Oh and that all the criminals want to take over Arkham with no common citizens in it.
 
Rises ruined Nolan's Batman IMO.

If he just had Begins and Dark Knight I'd honestly say it was the best adaptation of Batman we've gotten....but then he made Rises.

Rises felt so amateur hour. It was really bad.
 
Rocksteady nailed Batman's intelligence, determination, his skill...

But Nolan told better stories, made Bruce Wayne feel like a person instead of a caricature, fleshed out the world with a compelling cast.

The Rocksteady games get points for actually killing the Joker etc., but they feel like game versions of Hush - a nonsensical series of cameos by villains that purely appear because Jim Lee wanted to draw them.
 
and that breaking a dude's spine in four places and then throwing him off a building means he's surely gonna live..

... I mean Batman literally does this to a guy in Dark Knight. The whole concept of Batman hitting people really hard, movie or game, is flawed when you consider a strong enough punch to the head can kill somebody.


And Rocksteady's Batman is stupid? Nolan's Batman doesn't even do any detective work... and no, bullet magic is not detective work.
 
I just had this exchange in Arkham Knight:



LOL wtf? What shit writing. Batman's the world's greatest detective, but he couldn't see that coming.

Yeah that was awful. Another one later one was...

(Mid-late game spoiler, although not really a bad one)

There's this device called "the cloudburst" and it takes Batman like 15 minutes of searching through data files to figure out that the thing called a cloudburst is an airborne dispersal device for the fear gas. It was so damned blindingly obvious, not least of all because there's audio tapes and shit lying all over the airship about it.
 
Honestly Rocksteady's Batman is as unlikeable as it comes, he's a super dick and I fear I hate him a little, also he's closer to BatGod which isn't as fun. That said Rocksteady's Joker is a thing of beauty, same as scarecrow.
I just got the kill scene where Joker stands over you and says, "THAT'S IT, BATS! PLAY DEAD! NOW GO GET-- oh dear." and I just loved it.

I vote Rocksteady. But only cuz the universe is better, not necessarily Batman himself.
 
Rocksteady

I like the Nolan films because of their cinematrography, mainly. I certainly like the gritty realism with which he portrayed them, but Rocksteady was able to use that and mix it with the original comic book roots, and I prefer this.
 
Rises ruined Nolan's Batman IMO.

If he just had Begins and Dark Knight I'd honestly say it was the best adaptation of Batman we've gotten....but then he made Rises.

Rises felt so amateur hour. It was really bad.

That doesn't make any sense. One movie doesn't invalidate another movie. TDK trilogy wasn't even designed as one from the beginning, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight stand on their own.

This is like people saying Matrix 2 and 3 make the first bad. No, the first is still an all time classic and can be seen as an individual piece.

Oh and the Rocksteady games literally would not exist without the Nolan films.
 
I'm not sure they're really comparable, but the Rocksteady universe has easily the best Gotham for me. Place looks absolutely incredible in Arkham Knight.
 
I'm going to vote for Rocksteady, but I like the first two Nolan films a lot. The Dark Knight Rises was okay.

I also liked the first two Batman movies by Tim Burton.
 

Don't get it either with the whole wouldn't exist without the Nolan films. Arkham Asylum felt more in line in the comic style and was inspired by the comic book, Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth (wonderful book btw).

Unless they straight up said that it wouldn't exist if it wasn't for the nolan films, I not buying it.
 
Kind of wish I saw more of the Brave and the Bold. From what I seen, it seem like a really well made love letter to that time.
It really was, as well as the Silver age in general. It wasn't always about Batman though - Batman was more the straight man to all the silliness and idiocy and fun of that era and comics in general.
 
The massive success of those films is what got Arkham Asylum greenlit.

Arkham Asylum was undoubtedly in development before The Dark Knight wrecked box office records. Batman Begins was a success, but 370 million WW wasn't much to write home about at the time. I say this as someone who prefers the Nolanverse, but I think Arkham Asylum wasn't primarily driven by Nolan's success. It did probably influence certain aspects of the direction they could take.
 
Arkham Asylum was undoubtedly in development before The Dark Knight wrecked box office records. Batman Begins was a success, but 370 million WW wasn't much to write home about at the time. I say this as someone who prefers the Nolanverse, but I think Arkham Asylum wasn't primarily driven by Nolan's success. It did probably influence certain aspects of the direction they could take.

Asylum was, but I just don't think anyone would have seen the demand for a Batman game without Batman Begins. It wasn't the box office success TDK was but it was still a huge success.
 
Asylum was, but I just don't think anyone would have seen the demand for a Batman game without Batman Begins. It wasn't the box office success TDK was but it was still a huge success.

From a financial perspective, it's hard for me to see Begins as a huge success. I mean, Fantastic Four grossed only 10% less on a smaller budget, though BB enjoyed much greater shelf life on DVD. From a qualitative perspective, it did everything WB hoped for and obviously more given the dividends it paid later on. In that sense, sure it could have led to Arkham Asylum existing in the way that it does.
 
Just beat Arkham Knight. What an unforgetable Batman experience particukarly the last 15 minutes. That in and of itself showcases Rocksteady's understanding if the chaacter better than Nolan could ever hope to. I dislike the nolan movies save for parts of Begins.

It is also obvious that RS have a full grasp of how disturbing this world is for both Batman and the criminals he fights. That is key for me. Arkham Knight is one of the creepiest games I have played in a while and fittingly so.
 
It's hard to choose for me because I feel like the things they do well are completely different from each other.

The Nolan universe is great cause what it really showcases is the psychological/emotional underpinnings of Bruce Wayne, and what would cause him to want to become Batman. The Dark Knight trilogy isn't realistic in the sense that the events that happen in them are all plausible in real life, cause they aren't, but it's "realistic" in the sense that the characters' motivations and development are grounded in the real world. It's why, for all the complaints it may get for being "out of character", it makes perfect sense for Bruce Wayne to retire from being Batman at the end. No person would ever be able to keep going on as Batman for long. And I think that drives home the "realism" that Nolan was going for.

It's not about making sure every single scenario that plays out is perfectly explained by real-world logic, it's about taking the Batman franchise and its characters and placing them in a grounded world and having them act out their story under a veil of realistic human characterization.

The Rocksteady games, on the other hand, are amazing for how fleshed out the world of Gotham is and how much Batman fan service they manage to cram together (even if it gets too feeling convoluted at times). Like others have said, it's basically a love letter to the Batman franchise.

As an aside, I have actually never read a comic book in my life, they just have never interested me, so I'm not too familiar with what's "in character" or "out of character". I'm aware of some of the more famous story arcs and such but never looked at them in much detail. The Nolanverse and Rocksteady games are pretty much my only two exposures to Batman. I appreciate the Nolanverse for making me fall in love with the character in the first place, and I appreciate the games for familiarizing me with the huge amount of background and lore of the franchise, and for translating the characters' depictions straight from the comic books, so I can see how they "really are". (And I admittedly have less opportunity to become bothered by things in both universes, due to my lack of comic book experience).

So maybe I'm not even fit to answer the question of "who did Batman better?". So I won't answer it. But I believe both are fantastic portrayals of the character. And they have allowed me to deeply enjoy a comic book franchise that I wouldn't be exposed to otherwise.
 
I have only played Arkham City, but it's such a mess I can't believe the others are much better. So Nolan wins by default, as Burton is not included.
 
Nolan's bat lacks all of batmans traits ironically.

No detective skills whatsoever.
Isnt a master of martial arts (frequently gets his ass whooped)
Is a clumsy bafoon. No agility/dexterity
Is generally at the mercy of his own emotions.

If we know bruce timm's batman is the undisputed best, then by extension so are the arkham games. Because kevin conroy lol.

Seriously though, Arkham batman is everything tas batman was, with updated gadgets. He wasnt owned by the night, HE OWNED THE NIGHT. He is everywhere at the same time. He is all the midnight criminals can think or talk about. You hear them constantly referencing the bat throughout all the ark games.

I think it is clear who the winner here is...
 
Nolan's bat lacks all of batmans traits ironically.

No detective skills whatsoever.
Isnt a master of martial arts (frequently gets his ass whooped)
Is a clumsy bafoon. No agility/dexterity
Is generally at the mercy of his own emotions.

If we know bruce timm's batman is the undisputed best, then by extension so are the arkham games. Because kevin conroy lol.

Seriously though, Arkham batman is everything tas batman was, with updated gadgets. He wasnt owned by the night, HE OWNED THE NIGHT. He is everywhere at the same time. He is all the midnight criminals can think or talk about. You hear them constantly referencing the bat throughout all the ark games.

I think it is clear who the winner here is...

What? He does plenty of detective things in BB and TDK. TDKR is nonstop action so he never really gets the chance there.

When did he ever get his ass whooped until TDKR? And I don't get the agility complaint, though Nolan's version is more of a brute force Batman than anything. That doesn't in any way mean he didn't get Batman's "traits" right though, it's just a different style of fighting.

Also, how is he at the mercy of his own emotions? The only time he ever really does anything truly emotional is go to save Rachel instead of Harvey, other than that he's all business.
 
Rocksteady's storytelling is atrocious. Like did some of you forget the end of Arkham Asylum?

Forreal, I find it laughable how anybody could call these better than nolan trilogy. Even the worst scenes in rises are better than rocksteady's writing

Where the game series excels over any of the films is batman's skills and...that's about it

Edit: also having such a fleshed out city with established villains but you rarely ever get that with any of these comic movies tbh
 
I'll give the edge to Nolanverse.

In fact, I'm sure that without the existence of Batman Begins; the budget of Batman AA would have been different; and we would have received the typical mediocre Batman game.

We should thank Nolan that made such an awesome movie, for all the Batman, and superhero movie, renaissance.

The Nolan movies grounded Batman to where he belongs, in the shadows, in a dark gritty world.

This cemented Batman to a new audience, who doesn't have to be stuck in between Tim Burton's Batman, and George Clooney flashing a Bat-Credit Card.
 
Nolan's bat lacks all of batmans traits ironically.

No detective skills whatsoever.
Isnt a master of martial arts (frequently gets his ass whooped)
Is a clumsy bafoon. No agility/dexterity
Is generally at the mercy of his own emotions.

If we know bruce timm's batman is the undisputed best, then by extension so are the arkham games. Because kevin conroy lol.

Seriously though, Arkham batman is everything tas batman was, with updated gadgets. He wasnt owned by the night, HE OWNED THE NIGHT. He is everywhere at the same time. He is all the midnight criminals can think or talk about. You hear them constantly referencing the bat throughout all the ark games.

I think it is clear who the winner here is...

Agree with all this. Especially after the dark knight returns portrayal. He beats bane not due to smarts or acclaimed prep time, but just because he decided to suck a little less while fighting.

Arkham takes after the cartoon which shows the best batman at the top of his game.
 
Remember that time Joker turned into a hulking creature with a mohawk and the boss fight mainly consisted of fighting his goons?

Oh my god, I completely forgot about venom infused Joker.

Whoever said these would be real life Schumacher films wasn't completely off the mark.
 
Rocksteady.

Nolanverse did something that wasn't quite Batman. He wasn't extremely smart, wasn't a detective in anyway, and the fight scenes looked sloppy.
 
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