‘The Marvels’ director Nia DaCosta reveals her favorite Batman movie of all time

Rising filmmaker Nia DaCosta may already be signed up to play within the sandbox of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with her upcoming film The Marvels releasing next year, but some may wonder what the atmospheric director prefers, stylistically, when it comes to the movies of DC.

Certainly, the director of the acclaimed 2018 thriller Little Woods and the chilling Candyman remake/sequel from last year would have an interesting perspective on the cinematic outings for the somewhat gothic DC superhero Batman, for instance. There’s been a lot of different takes of the character, from the noir-infused version helmed by Matt Reeves in The Batman earlier this year to Christopher Nolan’s version of the hero grounded in fairly realistic military tech gadgets in movies like Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.

But for DaCosta, it was Tim Burton’s expressionistic filmmaking style that captured her imagination as a child of the 1990s. Burton brought the very first “dark and gritty” attempt at the character to the silver screen with 1989’s Batman, starring Michael Keaton, and its sequel, 1992’s Batman Returns, the latter of which DaCosta proclaimed the absolute GOAT of Caped Crusader movies, according to a recent article in IndieWire.

“The best live-action Batman movie. Period. I’ll be taking no questions at this time,” DaCosta wrote amongst her list of favorite movies from the ’90s.

Batman Returns was somewhat controversial upon its release for making such a dark interpretation of Gotham City — especially for a film with a McDonald’s promotional tie-in — which included Danny DeVito’s Penguin biting someone’s nose off and Michelle Pfieffer’s Selina Kyle being thrown out of a window and then being resurrected by stray cats nibbling at her once-still body. However, similar to DaCosta, many fans today consider the movie to be among the very best of the Dark Knight’s cinematic outings.

Other films that proved to be a major influence on DaCosta from that decade included the drama Eve’s Bayou, Jurassic Park, American Beauty, and of course, the original Candyman.

We’re excited to see what DaCosta’s unique cinematic vision brings to the MCU when The Marvels comes to theaters on July 28, 2023.