Gonna commit some blasphemy here- Batman Returns is better than Batman (and understand- I love Batman); It’s more visually interesting. Structurally it’s like the scaffolding for a Batman movie, then reworked as a hybrid German expressionist psychological thriller and Universal monster movie. And as awesome as Jack Nicholson was as The Joker, he’s just Jack Nicholson as The Joker. Michelle Pfiffer and (especially!) Danny DeVito absolutely vanish into their roles.