All 3 Batman Movies & Shows Releasing In 2026, Ranked By Hype

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Felipe Rangel is a Superheroes Lead Writer and Reviewer at ScreenRant. He has been writing about movies and TV since 2021, with a focus on superhero projects. Felipe joined ScreenRant in 2022, working across different teams, covering everything from breaking news to features to reviews and more. Since the launch of the Superheroes vertical in 2023, he has focused his efforts on coming up with insightful analyses of Marvel and DC's projects.

Felipe is a writer who is an avid film and TV fan, with superhero movies and series being his biggest passion. He graduated from college in 2019, having studied Journalism. Before college, he spent a month studying at the Oxford English Centre. His superhero knowledge expands to the comics, with his undergraduate thesis being "Politics Reflected In American Comics."

2026 is going to be a big year for Batman fans, with three Dark Knight releases, including live-action movies and shows, as well as animated series, and these three Batman projects are exciting in their own ways. At the moment, all the focus seems to be on Batman's live-action movies, given that DC has two of those on the way.

They will come from different franchises, as The Batman 2 finally arrives in 2027 after multiple delays — Marvel's Sebastian Stan will join Robert Pattinson's Batman — and Batman's The Brave and the Bold movie will later reboot the character for James Gunn's DC Universe. However, before the two anticipated films arrive, 2026 will be packed with Gotham City releases. These are the three Batman projects coming in 2026, ranked by hype:

3 Batman: Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall

Warner Bros. Animation

First up is the latest entry in the long list of animated Batman movies. 2025 saw the release of the unique Aztec Batman: Clash of Empires, which reimagined Batman and his roster of villains and allies in the context of the Aztec Empire. Now, 2026's Batman: Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall adapts one of the Dark Knight's biggest stories from DC Comics.

Tim Drake will be the Robin of the Batman: Knightfall movies.

At this time, a specific release date for the Knightfall adaptation has yet to be revealed. However, DC has announced that Batman's next movie will have Bane as its main villain, with the character freeing all of Batman's Rogues Gallery from Arkham Asylum. Batman: Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall is the first movie in a 4-part adaptation of the storyline, which makes it exciting.

2 Batman: Caped Crusader Season 2

The reason Batman: Caped Crusader ranks above Batman: Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall, despite the latter's interesting premise, is due to how we have yet to see a single frame from the animated movie, whereas Batman's animated series has already aired a successful first season. Batman: Caped Crusader also has a more exciting creative team.

The Prime Video show hails from executive producers Bruce Timm (Batman: The Animated Series), J. J. Abrams (Star Wars: The Force Awakens), Matt Reeves (The Batman), and Ed Brubaker (DC Comics' Batman). Setting the show in a stylized 1940s Gotham City makes it different from most Batman movies and series, and the action, cast, and story were all top-notch in season 1.

1 Clayface

Clayface looking forward in Creature Commandos Season 1 Ep 5

Finally, the most exciting Batman release of 2026 is the only entry on the list not to be directly about the Dark Knight himself. The Batman movie spinoff, Clayface, is going to focus on the Matt Hagen version of the character, played by Tom Rhys Harries. The movie is part of James Gunn's DC Universe, providing the first look at its live-action Gotham.

The Gotham City element is surely a major factor in the hype surrounding the film, but the fact that Clayface is written by horror icon Mike Flanagan and will focus on the title character as a tragic figure makes it a character study worth watching. Based on how multiple DC players have appeared in every DCU release, we could even get a surprise cameo from DC's new Batman in Clayface.

Clayface will be released in theaters on September 11, 2026.