I watched all of the DC movies in alphabetical order
If you’ve been paying attention to my writing for the last couple years, you’ll notice that I enjoy a good Movie Mission. A Movie Mission is great because I get to enjoy some classic cinema while also not having to think about the next thing I’m going to watch in my downtime because, clearly, the only option is the next selection on the list and also my little serotonin nuggets get all fired up for the challenge. In my first Movie Mission, I tried to watch all of the Alien vs. Predator movies, but gave up pretty quickly and learned some life lessons along the way. I also previously challenged myself to watch the entire Transformers franchise and learned about the dangers of hope because most of those movies were awful, but I still wanted to get through the mission for the sake of completing the task.
This year, I challenged myself to watch all 38 DC universe movies in alphabetical order. Despite the hefty movie count that took me over three months to complete, I learned pretty much nothing from the experience. However, I sure did have fun.
I’ve always been a massive superhero fan and I actually grew up with DC movies. When we were kids, my little brother and I used to spend hours watching the 90’s Batman flicks on VHS and playing with the Batman action figures. This challenge was an opportunity for me to re-visit those old favorites while also catching up on the newer releases that I’ve missed as the superhero burnout set in and streaming wars tarnished easy access to movies.
I’ve always been a massive superhero fan and I actually grew up with DC movies. When we were kids, my little brother and I used to spend hours watching the 90’s Batman flicks on VHS and playing with the Batman action figures. This challenge was an opportunity for me to re-visit those old favorites while also catching up on the newer releases that I’ve missed as the superhero burnout set in and streaming wars tarnished easy access to movies.
The best part of this mission is that DC movies are variable in style due to a lack of quality control from the overall studio which makes each film feel like a unique experience. Where Marvel has maintained pretty consistent world-building and quality across their 37 films, DC has struggled to even keep the same actors for the same roles across multiple films in their 48 year run let alone maintain equal styles or plot structure. So now their films range from the best superhero film ever created across any franchise ever (The Dark Knight (2008)) to absolute garbage that is only the second worst film I’ve ever seen out of every movie ever created ever (The Flash (2023)).
(Btw the worst movie I’ve ever seen of all time would still be Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007), a film that still makes me nauseous to even think about. Shoutout to my first movie mission for that experience.)
DC also has the unique honor of practically inventing the superhero film franchise. Sure, Marvel may have mastered it, but they would be nothing if Christopher Reeves didn’t initially stun in Superman (1978) or Batman didn’t revolutionize the genre with his slew of absolute smash hits through the late 80’s and 90’s. Without DC, there is no Marvel and, quite frankly, there’s no superhero movie genre.
The rules were simple: I would watch every live action DC movie by their superhero in alphabetical order. This means I started with Aquaman and ended with Wonder Woman, watching all of their films in chronological order during their section. This was especially helpful for a hero like Batman, who has multiple movies that would be placed out of order due to their title name (ie Batman Forever (1995) and Batman Returns (1992)) so I could watch his movies in the order demanded for my favorite hero without breaking his canon (which actually does make sense even as the actors deviate). The exception to this rule was Batman v. Superman (2016) which could’ve technically been watched as a Batman film, but I saw it more as a sequel to Man of Steel (2013) so I saved it for Superman’s section. I also wanted to enjoy my Batman binge and not ruin it with Batman v. Superman (2016), which is not a great movie, so that was another reason to toss it to Superman’s section. I also added The Lego Batman Movie (2017) to Batman despite it not being live action just because it’s just an incredible movie and the perfect cherry on top for the Batman Binge experience. I highly recommend watching The Lego Batman Movie (2017) whenever possible.
DC is truly the house that Batman built
I also didn’t want to watch all of the movies in chronological order because the canon is nonsense anyways even if you watch the movies by release date. For example, Black Adam (2022) has since been completely retconned with the transition from Snyderverse to Gunnverse so it doesn’t fit anywhere in the timeline even though it was supposed to tie into Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023) and even features a Cavill Superman appearance. Birds of Prey (2020) also refuses to fit nicely into any timeline as it appears to be a sequel for the original Suicide Squad (2016), but shows us a Harley Quinn more appropriate for The Suicide Squad (2021). But the retconned Suicide Squad also never references her solo adventure in Gotham or even matches her same character style so Birds of Prey (2020) might as well be a standalone too. Weird one-offs from the 2000’s such as Catwoman (2004) and Constantine (2005) are so far gone from fitting anywhere in the overall timeline that the only benefit to watching them chronologically would be to set the right expectations for the level of CGI available for the films. But then The Flash (2023) has worse graphics than Catwoman (2004) despite 20 additional years of technical development so it’s not that much of a benefit.
As a result, watching all of the DC movies in alphabetical order created such a FASCINATING watching experience. The beginning of the watch was incredibly strong with Aquaman, Batman, and Birds of Prey all offering strong showings with their respective movies. Batman is literally my favorite hero of all time so it was so fun re-visiting all of his movies. Michael Keaton is the perfect Batman with the ambiance, music, gadgets, world-building and literally everything creating such a whole cinematic experience that feels fresh from a comic book. 90’s Jim Carrey was a fantastic casting choice for the Riddler in Batman Forever (1995) and let’s not forget that George Clooney surfs down a dinosaur and Mr. Freeze has a rocket ship in Batman & Robin (1997)! That’s just so fun and campy! Even the Nolan Batman flicks, while more serious, were great films that redefined the superhero genre and were enjoyable to watch. The Batman (2022) is also an excellent noir take on my favorite superhero and I’m so excited to see where RPattz takes the character next.
For the heroes surrounding ole Batsy, Aquaman and Birds of Prey were also very fun because those superheroes know not to take themselves too seriously and give the audience a memorable time rather than try to offer some sort of larger more meaningful message. Who needs a deeper understanding of the typical superhero themes of bravery and selflessness when Harley Quinn is busy avenging the most perfect hangover egg sandwich of all time? Or just the fact Jason Momoa is just super pretty to look at and is the perfect specimen of a human to make the superhero who talks to fish look cool?
Hi Jason Momoa
But once we get past Birds of Prey (2020) (movie #12 on the list thanks to the giant Batman catalog), we hit a bit of a rough patch from the mid-B’s to Shazam! (2019).
Blue Beetle (2023) was an excellent little hidden gem featuring a largely underrepresented culture in superhero films. But the rest in this batch ranged from “just okay” to “holy hell what fever dream did I just experience”. Black Adam (2022) is a failed experiment in teaching Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson how to act. The camera work in Catwoman (2004) made me physically motion sick to watch the movie, but as a feminist I do appreciate that even women can have terrible superhero movies. The Flash (2023) was such a mess of AI slop graphics, poor acting, and a convoluted storyline that I was second-guessing my decision to watch all of the DC movies within the first fifteen minutes from this single movie. Not even the gratuitous return of my beloved Michael Keaton Batman could save it, but I will admit that the final minute was a hilarious punchline for such horrendous slop. I was also not impressed with either of the Todd Phillips Joker movies. They felt like wannabe art movies for people who had never actually seen an art movie.
Green Lantern (2011) was actually not as bad as initially remembered or blasted by DC fans. I’m not sure if it’s because I was coming in fresh from The Flash (2023) and the other movies in this rough patch, or if the sands of time provide mercy to memory, but it just felt like a run of the mill three star superhero flick and I actually enjoyed it. Justice League (2017) was truly terrible, especially for my precious Amazons, but the best part was that watching it in this nonsense alphabetical order meant that this was the very first appearance of Superman after 21 movies which is such a WILD way to introduce such a DC icon. This movie is also so dependent on the storylines from the previous Snyder films and none of the Snyder films are in the first 21 movies so it was just kind of a nonsense movie that played in the background for me for like two hours while I did other things.
The oasis in the desert came with Shazam! (2019), which has issues but it is honestly just a fun film to watch. I’ll admit, it was probably more enjoyable just because all of the movies before it were so bad. Even the sequel is okay, but I see where it could’ve been better (with more Adam Brody, primarily). The first Suicide Squad (2016) is a neat little time capsule of 2016 pop culture while the second The Suicide Squad (2021) is a cinematic feat with brilliant character development and a great plot.
Supergirl (1984) was a dark horse for me because I had never even heard of this movie before I did my research for this challenge and actually watching it showed why we’re all happy to forget about it. The entire film feels like one big fever dream with both the visuals and the storyline and should absolutely be dusted under the rug when possible. We are all better off pretending this 2.5 hour mess of Supergirl and some witch fighting over a himbo who gets kidnapped by killdozer at one point never exists.
Supergirl also gets sexually harassed in her first 15 minutes on Earth, so that’s fun for everyone.
Superman claims a solid eight movies of the 38 movie watch and most of them blend together in relatively okay three star experiences. The first four Christopher Reeves movies especially all follow the same basic template, but the Brandon Routh standalone, despite being a nice nod to the original movies, is also entirely forgettable. After watching the previous Superman movies, Man of Steel (2013) actually made me viscerally angry because it’s such an offense to the Superman character and his story. I understand they were trying to give the movie a Nolan gritty twist to the character, but that’s absolutely the anti-thesis to the Superman character. This sweet Kansas raised boy is meant to be a wholesome dork only wanting to do what’s best for the world, but can feel the weight of his unchallenged power at times. Only Superman (2025) understands this aspect about the character and also gives us the goodest boy Krypto, which makes it the best Superman watching experience as a result.
After the Superman Streak, the challenge then promptly ends with Watchmen (2009), which was a movie that refused to end but was still pretty good, and the two Wonder Woman movies, which I have a strong emotional attachment to despite them being just so-so movies so I still had a great time.
Overall, the only thing I really learned from this experience is that a lot of DC fans don’t know how to have fun. A lot of movies I had a great time with have been critically panned by DC diehards committed to the comics, but I think there should be a healthy degree of separation between the two formats. If the movie can remain entertaining and keep my brain occupied for two hours, then I think it’s still a good time regardless of how much it honors the source material. Like Birds of Prey (2020) and Shazam! (2019) are just super fun times with not that deep of a plot, or really providing any depth to their characters, and I’m okay with that because they’re still enjoyable experiences for me.
However, I don’t enjoy it when a movie assumes the audience are idiots and will tolerate incredibly baseline graphics or a below par performance or even a nonsense story in exchange for two hours of their time. The Flash (2023) is an offense to superhero movies by assuming the audience would tolerate their garbage at all levels for two and a half hours just to see Michael Keaton return as Batman. Man of Steel (2013) and Batman v. Superman (2016) also suffers because they disrespect their audience with such poor treatment of beloved characters with established personalities. Supergirl (1984) is just so silly that it can’t offend its audience, but it’s still offensive to have such a poor execution for one of the few female superheroes known to the general public.
Regardless, it was still a very fun time to experience all 38 DC movies in alphabetical order. Even if there were no larger life lessons to be learned from it, the biggest benefit was the joy it brought me for three months as I made my way through this challenge and I highly recommend more people should just watch things just for the enjoyment of things more often.
And now, for the most worthless line graph of all time, here is my formal ranking of all DC movies in alphabetical order on a five star scale:
This tells us absolutely nothing.
If you enjoy my movie reviews, feel free to follow my Letterboxd for more of them as I actually watch the movies in real time: https://letterboxd.com/maddness22/