Movies like Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 (2012)
The best movies like Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 (2012) are Superman: Man of Tomorrow (2020), Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths Part One (2024) and Justice League: The New Frontier (2008). If Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 hooked you with its science fiction and action, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedTerminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)8.2/10 from 15,188 votes
- NewestJustice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths Part Three (2024)Released 2024
Superman: Man of Tomorrow (2020)
It’s the dawn of a new age of heroes, and Metropolis has just met its first. But as Daily Planet intern Clark Kent – working alongside reporter Lois Lane – secretly wields his alien powers of flight, super-strength and x-ray vision in the battle for good, there’s even greater trouble on the horizon.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJustice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths Part One (2024)
Death is coming. Worse than death: oblivion. Not just for our Earth, but for everyone, everywhere, in every universe! Against this ultimate destruction, the mysterious Monitor has gathered the greatest team of Super Heroes ever assembled. But what can the combined might of Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, The Flash, Green Lantern and hundreds of Super Heroes from multiple Earths even do to save all of reality from an unstoppable antimatter armageddon?!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJustice League: The New Frontier (2008)
The human race is threatened by a powerful creature, and only the combined power of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter and The Flash can stop it. But can they overcome their differences to thwart this enemy using the combined strength of their newly formed Justice League?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBatman: Bad Blood (2016)
When Batman goes missing, it takes the entire Bat "family" - including Batwoman and Batwing - to keep the peace in Gotham and unravel the mystery behind the Dark Knight's disappearance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJustice League: Throne of Atlantis (2015)
After the events of Justice League: War, Ocean Master and Black Manta have declared a war against the surface in retaliation of the aftermath of Apokoliptian-tyrant Darkseid's planetary invasion. Queen Atlanna seeks out her other son, Ocean Master’s half-brother Arthur Curry, a half-human with aquatic powers with no knowledge of his Atlantean heritage, to restore balance. Living with powers he doesn’t understand and seeing the danger around him, Curry takes steps to embrace his destiny, joining the Justice League, and with his new teammates he battles to save Earth from total destruction.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJustice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths Part Three (2024)
Now fully revealed as the ultimate threat to existence, the Anti-Monitor wages an unrelenting attack on the surviving Earths that struggle for survival in a pocket universe. One by one, these worlds and all their inhabitants are vaporized! On the planets that remain, even time itself is shattered, and heroes from the past join the Justice League and their rag-tag allies against the epitome of evil. But as they make their last stand, will the sacrifice of the superheroes be enough to save us all?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOblivion (2013)
Jack Harper is one of the last few drone repairmen stationed on Earth. Part of a massive operation to extract vital resources after decades of war with a terrifying threat known as the Scavs, Jack’s mission is nearly complete. His existence is brought crashing down when he rescues a beautiful stranger from a downed spacecraft. Her arrival triggers a chain of events that forces him to question everything he knows and puts the fate of humanity in his hands.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLegion of Super-Heroes (2023)
Kara, devastated by the loss of Krypton, struggles to adjust to her new life on Earth. Her cousin, Superman, mentors her and suggests she leave their space-time to attend the Legion Academy in the 31st century, where she makes new friends and a new enemy: Brainiac 5. Meanwhile, she must contend with a mysterious group called the Dark Circle as it searches for a powerful weapon held in the Academy’s vault.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Batman vs. Dracula (2005)
Gotham City is terrorized not only by recent escapees Joker and Penguin, but by the original creature of the night, Dracula! Can Batman stop the ruthless vampire before he turns everyone in the city, including The Caped Crusader, Joker and Penguin, into his mindless minions?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBatman Beyond: The Movie (1999)
Fuelled by remorse and vengeance, a high schooler named Terry McGinnis becomes the new Batman as he fights crime in the futuristic Neo-Gotham City.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJustice League: The Flashpoint Paradox (2013)
The Flash finds himself in a war-torn alternate timeline and teams up with alternate versions of his fellow heroes to restore the timeline.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & action
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBatman vs. Two-Face (2017)
Former Gotham City District Attorney Harvey Dent, one side of his face scarred by acid, goes on a crime spree based on the number '2'. All of his actions are decided by the flip of a defaced, two-headed silver dollar.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJustice League vs. Teen Titans (2016)
Robin is sent by Batman to work with the Teen Titans after his volatile behavior botches up a Justice League mission. The Titans must then step up to face Trigon after he possesses the League and threatens to conquer the world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJustice League: Gods and Monsters (2015)
In an alternate universe, very different versions of DC's Trinity fight against the government after they are framed for an embassy bombing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGreen Lantern: Beware My Power (2022)
Recently discharged Marine sniper John Stewart is at a crossroads in his life, one which is only complicated by receiving an extraterrestrial ring which grants him the powers of the Green Lantern of Earth. Unfortunately, the ring doesn't come with instructions - but it does come with baggage, like a horde of interplanetary killers bent on eliminating every Green Lantern in the universe. Now, with the aid of the light-hearted Green Arrow, Adam Strange and Hawkgirl, this reluctant soldier must journey into the heart of a galactic Rann/Thanagar war and somehow succeed where all other Green Lanterns have failed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Darkest Minds (2018)
After a disease kills 98% of America's children, the surviving 2% develop superpowers and are placed in internment camps. A 16-year-old girl escapes her camp and joins a group of other teens on the run from the government.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDivergent (2014)
In a world divided into factions based on personality types, Tris learns that she's been classified as Divergent and won't fit in. When she discovers a plot to destroy Divergents, Tris and the mysterious Four must find out what makes Divergents dangerous before it's too late.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJustice League (2017)
Fuelled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman's selfless act, Bruce Wayne and Diana Prince assemble a team of metahumans consisting of Barry Allen, Arthur Curry and Victor Stone to face the catastrophic threat of Steppenwolf and the Parademons who are on the hunt for three Mother Boxes on Earth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlack Panther (2018)
King T'Challa returns home to the reclusive, technologically advanced African nation of Wakanda to serve as his country's new leader. However, T'Challa soon finds that he is challenged for the throne by factions within his own country as well as without. Using powers reserved to Wakandan kings, T'Challa assumes the Black Panther mantle to join with ex-girlfriend Nakia, the queen-mother, his princess-kid sister, members of the Dora Milaje (the Wakandan 'special forces') and an American secret agent, to prevent Wakanda from being dragged into a world war.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTeen Titans Go! & DC Super Hero Girls: Mayhem in the Multiverse (2022)
With the help of an ancient Kryptonian power, Lex Luthor unites the world’s Super-Villains to capture all of Earth's Super Heroes, until…only the DC Super Hero Girls are left to stop the Legion of Doom. Our heroes must cross dimensions to rescue their fellow Super Heroes from the Phantom Zone, but a fortuitous wrong turn leads them to Titans Tower – where they find much-needed allies in the Teen Titans!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & action
SnoozefestMovies like thisAkira (1988)
A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath that only two teenagers and a group of psychics can stop.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation & science fiction
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMinority Report (2002)
John Anderton is a top 'Precrime' cop in the late-21st century, when technology can predict crimes before they're committed. But Anderton becomes the quarry when another investigator targets him for a murder charge.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTwelve Monkeys (1995)
In the year 2035, convict James Cole reluctantly volunteers to be sent back in time to discover the origin of a deadly virus that wiped out nearly all of the earth's population and forced the survivors into underground communities. But when Cole is mistakenly sent to 1990 instead of 1996, he's arrested and locked up in a mental hospital. There he meets psychiatrist Dr. Kathryn Railly and the son of a famous virus expert who may hold the key to the Army of the 12 Monkeys; thought to be responsible for unleashing the killer disease.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Terminator (1984)
In the post-apocalyptic future, reigning tyrannical supercomputers teleport a cyborg assassin known as the "Terminator" back to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor, whose unborn son is destined to lead insurgents against 21st century mechanical hegemony. Meanwhile, the human-resistance movement dispatches a lone warrior to safeguard Sarah. Can he stop the virtually indestructible killing machine?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTron (1982)
When brilliant video game maker Flynn hacks the mainframe of his ex-employer, he is beamed inside an astonishing digital world and becomes part of the very game he is designing. In his mission through cyberspace, Flynn matches wits with a maniacal Master Control Program and teams up with Tron, a security measure created to bring balance to the digital environment.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKamen Rider V3 vs. Destron Mutants (1973)
A physicist named Tetsuo Okita discovers a new mineral called "Satanium," which is more powerful than uranium and emits destructive effects to anyone exposed to it. However, Destron abducts Okita in hopes of finding the source of Satanium and collecting more of it to expedite their run for global domination. Kamen Rider V3 must act fast in rescuing Professor Okita and preventing Destron from collecting more of the deadly mineral.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & science fiction
Kamen Rider Wizard in Magic Land (2013)
A rainbow-colored tornado takes Haruto and Koyomi to an alternate reality called "Magic Land". There, its residents never developed science. Instead they put extensive research on magic. As a result, anyone has an ability to use magic, and some of them can even transform into a Kamen Rider Mage. When Haruto arrives, he meets a young orphan called Shiina. As Haruto explores Magic Land, he finds the Emerald Palace and meets Emperor Maya. He also meets Prime Minister Orma, who is known as Kamen Rider Sorcerer, who does not appear what he may seem to be...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & science fiction
I Want Pluto to Be a Planet Again (2016)
A transhumanist romance in the near future. A young boy of modest origins, Marcus, an H- , falls madly in love with an H+.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & animation
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
It's been 10 years since John Connor saved Earth from Judgment Day, and he's now living under the radar, steering clear of using anything Skynet can trace. That is, until he encounters T-X, a robotic assassin ordered to finish what T-1000 started. Good thing Connor's former nemesis, the Terminator, is back to aid the now-adult Connor … just like he promised.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTerminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Ten years after the events of the original, a reprogrammed T-800 is sent back in time to protect young John Connor from the shape-shifting T-1000. Together with his mother Sarah, he fights to stop Skynet from triggering a nuclear apocalypse.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & science fiction
Absolute CinemaMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1?
The closest matches to Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 are Superman: Man of Tomorrow (2020), Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths Part One (2024) and Justice League: The New Frontier (2008). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1?
Start with Superman: Man of Tomorrow (2020), the closest match to Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1.
What is the highest-rated movie like Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1?
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), rated 8.2/10 by 15,188 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1?
Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths Part Three (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1?
Yes: Superman: Man of Tomorrow (2020), Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths Part One (2024) and Justice League: The New Frontier (2008).
How are movies similar to Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.