The Batman (2022) is showing comic book fans that despite all the quippy dialogue of the MCU, there's still a place for some good old-fashioned brooding without sacrificing the narrative or characters. However, edgy superheroes have always been a thing as far back as the '90s.
Starting with the iconic trendsetter that was Batman (1989) by Tim Burton to contemporary classics such as Logan (2017), there are a ton of gritty superhero movies to go around.
Dredd (2012)
In the very same year that The Avengers (2012) would set the tone for superhero movies well into the next decade, a little movie called Dredd surprised audiences with a horrifically violent yet bloody fun experience. The movie follows the eponymous Judge Dredd (Karl Urban) as he trains a new recruit on a "test mission" that goes wrong.
Dredd is the gun lover's answer to The Raid. Both movies are about outnumbered cops who are trapped in a tower filled with drug dealing criminals intent on killing them. The world in Dredd is oppressively squalid and grim, and despite everything they go through, Judge Dredd makes it very clear that this is just another day on the job.
Unbreakable (2000)
David Dunn was just an average security guard until a horrifying train crash changes his entire life. To his utter shock, he finds himself the only survivor of the event, and that fact disturbs him. After a few years, he is called by the mysterious Elijah. Elijah claims that David has superpowers, and David has to re-evaluate what his purpose in life is after finding this out.
Unbreakable was deconstructing superhero movies before mainstream audiences knew what the term even meant. Though it's not outwardly bloody or action-packed, it does deal with heavy topics such as past trauma and survivor's guilt, things that are uncommon in most superhero movies.
The Crow (1994)
The Crow has an incredibly sad history.
During filming, Brandon Lee was killed by a special effect gone wrong. However, the movie shouldn't just be a eulogy, as it's a beautifully crafted movie that featured stylish action and a superb gothic atmosphere. All to tell the story of how true love triumphs, a story that Brandon Lee (and the entire cast and crew) worked hard to give to audiences.
Blade (1998)
Blade was working on several superhero movie "firsts" well before the MCU or X-Men. It was the first massively successful Marvel movie that wasn't seen as lame, finally giving Marvel fans something to be proud of besides Howard The Duck. Blade also happened to have a Black lead in Wesley Snipes, making him the first major Black superhero to be a hit on the big screen (not Black Panther, as many people claim). Lastly, it's also the first successful rated R superhero blockbuster, well before Deadpool.
Blade follows, as easily guessed, Blade, a vampire hunter known as Daywalker, because he himself is also a vampire, just one who can walk during the day. He seeks to stop the vampire menace through any means necessary. "Any means" in this case means gratuitous and hilariously bloody violence, courtesy of that R-rating.
Watchmen (2009)
Watchmen is an adaptation of award-winning writer Alan Moore's work, who was already famous for deconstructing superhero media well before it was "cool." Zack Snyder takes the story in a relatively faithful direction, although he streamlines the experience because Watchmen was notoriously difficult to adapt, with even the likes of Terry Gilliam giving up altogether.
Watchmen showcases superheroes not as paragons of virtue, but as incredibly flawed human beings or superpowered beings who have forgotten what it is like to be human. The Watchmen are grimy, ruthless, and at times ineffective vigilantes when to let loose on the world. Although they are on the side of "the good guys," they are shown committing horrific acts that shake the audience to the core.
Super (2010)
The Suicide Squad was far from Super is the one that bears that distinct honor. Rainn Wilson plays Frank Darbo, a disgruntled cook who snaps after his wife is seduced away by a charming drug dealer named Jacques (played by Kevin Bacon). He takes on the mantle of "Crimson Bolt" to fight crime, wearing an ill-fitting suit and wielding a rusty red wrench.
The movie could be considered the thinking man's Kick-Ass. Where Kick-Ass claimed to be a "realistic" portrayal of superhero work, it still features an improbably efficient little girl killing dozens of armed criminals by herself as well as machine gun jetpacks. Super is unflinchingly real about how emotionally and mentally unstable a self-proclaimed vigilante would be. While it might be darkly amusing, what Frank goes through are very real things that the average person faces.
Logan (2017)
Logan is a uniquely Neo-Western superhero movie that is so far removed from its predecessors that it's hard to believe they were set in the same universe. This incredibly dark and tragic story about loss, old age, death, and hopelessness takes place in the same universe where Magneto's grand plan was to turn everyone into mutants with a giant flashlight atop the Statue of Liberty. It's out there, and yet works so well.
Logan tells the story of the titular character decades after the original movies, a battered man whose healing factor has waned over the years. Gray hair and scars that were once impossible now scatter all over his visage. Forced to take care of an increasingly senile Professor Xavier, the audience slowly realizes this is a world where they're one of, if not the only, few mutants left. It's astonishingly grim, and yet despite all that, the ending is one of the best swan songs any long-running character could ask for.
The Nolan Trilogy (2005-2012)
Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy took the world by storm with its incredibly realistic take on superhero movies, one that really hadn't been seen before. While it's not grimdark to the extent that Watchmen and Logan are, the movies do have a consistently brooding tone and are as realistic as a superhero movie could be while still being true to Batman's character.
While over time the trilogy has had a more judging eye placed on it (particularly on the polarizing plot of The Dark Knight Rises), it can't be understated how important the trilogy was for superhero movies. The movies featured all-star casts, drew huge crowds, and proved that even superhero movies were capable of showcasing Oscar-worthy performances, as Heath Ledger proved.
Darkman (1990)
A lot of the younger comic book fans might not know this, but Spider-Man wasn't Sam Raimi's first foray into the world of superhero movies. In the 1990s, he actually created his very own hero, fittingly called Darkman, played by Liam Neeson. Here, he plays Peyton Westlake, a scientist specializing in synthetic skin who gets terribly burned by a gang of thugs.
The accident gave him incredible strength and toughness, but it also made him prone to violent mood swings. Darkman carved out the niche of what '90s anti-heroes would eventually be in comics. Ruthless and tormented, but only aiming their hatred towards evildoers who deserve it.
Batman (1989)
Batman is the grandfather of all gritty superhero movies. Every modern superhero movie with a darker tone owes a little something to the movie, whether or not they even realize it. The film firmly set the tone for how the modern superhero movie would be, moving forward. Batman was no longer a campy comic relief show starring Adam West, but a gothic and shockingly dark (for the time) movie that didn't shy away from murder.
In fact, some fans might even consider this Batman a bit too dark for the Dark Knight, despite retaining some more fantastical elements. For starters, this Batman was not averse to killing. He doesn't seek it, but the smile he gives after killing a henchman is incredibly out of character for most live-action portrayals of the character. Regardless, the movie is an important milestone for superhero movies, and The Batman does its best to evoke a similarly dark tone as its ancestor.
