50 Movies Like Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 (2012) You Need to Watch Next
Batman has not been seen for ten years. A new breed of criminal ravages Gotham City, forcing 55-year-old Bruce Wayne back into the cape and cowl. But, does he still have what it takes to fight crime i
Updated June 2026
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This 2012 animated film adapts Frank Miller's seminal comic: a 55-year-old Bruce Wayne dons the cape again to face a Gotham overrun by a new breed of criminal. Grim, weighty and faithful to its dark source, it's superhero storytelling for grown-ups. If its mature tone and moral heft gripped you, seek out adult animated comic-book films that treat heroes as scarred, complicated people.
If you loved Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 (2012) by Jay Oliva, here are 50 movies that share its content DNA. iRankMovies measures real similarity using cosine similarity across eight weighted dimensions — genre (50%), tone (12%), pace (10%), structure (8%), era (7%), theme (6%), audience (4%) and narrative perspective (3%) — not just the rating. The closest matches according to our analysis are Allegiant, The Maze Runner, What Happened to Monday. Every title is ranked by how closely it matches and backed by the iRank Score, a composite of IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDb across 12,000+ analysed titles.
50 Movies Similar to Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1
Allegiant
2016 · Robert Schwentke
Beatrice Prior and Tobias Eaton venture into the world outside of the fence and are taken into protective custody by a mysterious agency known as the Bureau of Genetic Welfare.
In common: Action · Mystery
The Maze Runner
2014 · Wes Ball
A teenager with no memory of his past finds himself among a group of boys living in a walled enclosure surrounded by a massive, ever-changing maze. As he struggles to adapt to their rules and society,
In common: Action · Mystery · Science Fiction
What Happened to Monday
2017 · Tommy Wirkola
In a world where families are limited to one child due to overpopulation, a set of identical septuplets must avoid being put to a long sleep by the government and dangerous infighting while investigat
In common: Action · Mystery · Science Fiction
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
2023 · Francis Lawrence
64 years before he becomes the tyrannical president of Panem, Coriolanus Snow sees a chance for a change in fortunes when he mentors Lucy Gray Baird, the female tribute from District 12.
In common: Action · Science Fiction
Watchmen
2009 · Zack Snyder
In a gritty and alternate 1985, the glory days of costumed vigilantes have been brought to a close by a government crackdown. But after one of the masked veterans is brutally murdered, an investigatio
In common: Action · Mystery · Science Fiction
Oblivion
2013 · Joseph Kosinski
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 m
In common: Action · Mystery
Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone
2007 · Kazuya Tsurumaki
After the Second Impact, Tokyo-3 is being attacked by giant monsters called Angels that seek to eradicate humankind. The child Shinji’s objective is to fight the Angels by piloting one of the mysterio
In common: Action · Animation
9
2009 · Shane Acker
When 9 first comes to life, he finds himself in a post-apocalyptic world. All humans are gone, and it is only by chance that he discovers a small community of others like him taking refuge from fearso
In common: Action · Animation
Pandorum
2009 · Christian Alvart
Two crew members wake up on an abandoned spacecraft with no idea who they are, how long they've been asleep, or what their mission is. The two soon discover they're actually not alone – and the realit
In common: Action · Mystery
Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time
2021 · Kazuya Tsurumaki
In the aftermath of the Fourth Impact, stranded without their Evangelions, Shinji, Asuka and Rei find refuge in one of the rare pockets of humanity that still exist on the ruined planet Earth. There,
In common: Action · Animation
Akira
1988 · Katsuhiro Otomo
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.
In common: Action · Animation · Science Fiction
Ghost in the Shell
1995 · Mamoru Oshii
In the year 2029, the barriers of our world have been broken down by the net and by cybernetics, but this brings new vulnerability to humans in the form of brain-hacking. When a highly-wanted hacker k
In common: Action · Animation · Science Fiction
WALL·E
2008 · Andrew Stanton
After hundreds of years doing what he was built for, WALL•E— a robot designed to clean up the earth—discovers a new purpose in life when he meets a sleek search robot named EVE. EVE comes to realize t
In common: Animation · Science Fiction
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
2001 · Hironobu Sakaguchi
Led by a strange dream, scientist Aki Ross struggles to collect the eight spirits in the hope of creating a force powerful enough to protect the planet. With the aid of the Deep Eyes Squadron and her
In common: Action · Animation
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
2024 · Wes Ball
Several generations following Caesar's reign, apes – now the dominant species – live harmoniously while humans have been reduced to living in the shadows. As a new tyrannical ape leader builds his emp
In common: Action · Science Fiction
Ready Player One
2018 · Steven Spielberg
When the creator of a popular video game system dies, a virtual contest is created to compete for his fortune.
In common: Action · Science Fiction
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
2013 · Francis Lawrence
After surviving the Hunger Games, Katniss and Peeta struggle with the consequences of their victory as unrest spreads across Panem. Forced back into the spotlight, they become symbols of hope and resi
In common: Action · Science Fiction
Divergent
2014 · Neil Burger
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 mysteri
In common: Action · Science Fiction
I, Robot
2004 · Alex Proyas
In 2035, where robots are commonplace and abide by the three laws of robotics, a technophobic cop investigates an apparent suicide. Suspecting that a robot may be responsible for the death, his invest
In common: Action · Science Fiction
Snowpiercer
2013 · Bong Joon Ho
In a future where a failed global-warming experiment kills off most life on the planet, a class system evolves aboard the Snowpiercer; a train that travels around the globe via a perpetual-motion engi
In common: Action · Science Fiction
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2
2015 · Francis Lawrence
As the war between the Capitol and the districts reaches its peak, Katniss Everdeen embarks on a perilous mission to liberate Panem and confront President Snow. Joined by a team of trusted allies, she
In common: Action · Science Fiction
TRON: Legacy
2010 · Joseph Kosinski
Sam Flynn, the tech-savvy and daring son of Kevin Flynn, investigates his father's disappearance and is pulled into The Grid. With the help of a mysterious program named Quorra, Sam quests to stop evi
In common: Action · Science Fiction
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
1985 · George Miller
Mad Max becomes a pawn in a decadent oasis of a technological society, and when exiled, becomes the deliverer of a colony of children.
In common: Action · Science Fiction
Tron
1982 · Steven Lisberger
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
In common: Action · Science Fiction
Mercy
2026 · Timur Bekmambetov
In the near future, a detective stands on trial accused of murdering his wife. He has ninety minutes to prove his innocence to the advanced AI Judge he once championed, before it determines his fate.
In common: Action · Science Fiction
In Time
2011 · Andrew Niccol
In the not-too-distant future, the aging gene has been switched off. To avoid overpopulation, time has become the currency and the way people pay for luxuries and necessities. The rich can live foreve
In common: Action · Science Fiction
Insurgent
2015 · Robert Schwentke
Beatrice Prior must confront her inner demons and continue her fight against a powerful alliance which threatens to tear her society apart.
In common: Action · Science Fiction
Terminator Salvation
2009 · McG
All grown up in post-apocalyptic 2018, John Connor must lead the resistance of humans against the increasingly dominating militaristic robots. But when Marcus Wright appears, his existence confuses th
In common: Action · Science Fiction
The Island
2005 · Michael Bay
In 2019, Lincoln Six-Echo is a resident of a seemingly "Utopian" but contained facility. Like all of the inhabitants of this carefully-controlled environment, Lincoln hopes to be chosen to go to The I
In common: Action · Science Fiction
Mad Max
1979 · George Miller
In the ravaged near-future, a savage motorcycle gang rules the road. Terrorizing innocent civilians while tearing up the streets, the ruthless gang laughs in the face of a police force hell-bent on st
In common: Action · Science Fiction
Total Recall
2012 · Len Wiseman
Factory worker Doug Quaid takes a virtual mind-trip vacation with the Rekall company, opting for implanted memories of being a spy. When the procedure goes wrong, Quaid becomes a wanted man by the pol
In common: Action · Science Fiction
Mad Max 2
1981 · George Miller
Max Rockatansky returns as the heroic loner who drives the dusty roads of a postapocalyptic Australian Outback in an unending search for gasoline. Arrayed against him and the other scraggly defendants
In common: Action · Science Fiction
The Running Man
1987 · Paul Michael Glaser
By 2017, the global economy has collapsed and U.S. society has become a totalitarian police state, censoring all cultural activity. The government pacifies the populace by broadcasting a number of gam
In common: Action · Science Fiction
The Colony
2013 · Jeff Renfroe
Forced underground by the next ice age, a struggling outpost of survivors must fight to preserve humanity against a threat even more savage than nature.
In common: Action · Science Fiction
The 6th Day
2000 · Roger Spottiswoode
A world of the very near future in which cattle, fish, and even the family pet can be cloned. But cloning humans is illegal - that is until family man Adam Gibson comes home from work one day to find
In common: Action · Mystery
Doomsday
2008 · Neil Marshall
The lethal Reaper virus spreads throughout Britain—infecting millions and killing hundreds of thousands. Authorities brutally and successfully quarantine the country but, three decades later, the viru
In common: Action · Science Fiction
Gamer
2009 · Brian Taylor
Mind-control technology has taken society by a storm, a multiplayer on-line game called "Slayers" allows players to control human prisoners in mass-scale. Simon controls Kable, the online champion of
In common: Action · Science Fiction
Death Race 2
2010 · Roel Reiné
In the world's most dangerous prison, a new game is born: Death Race. The rules of this adrenaline-fueled blood sport are simple, drive or die. When repentant convict Carl Lucas discovers there's a pr
In common: Action · Science Fiction
Escape from the Planet of the Apes
1971 · Don Taylor
The world is shocked by the appearance of three talking chimpanzees, who arrived mysteriously in a spacecraft. Intrigued by their intelligence, humans use them for research - until the apes attempt to
In common: Action · Science Fiction
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City
2021 · Johannes Roberts
Once the booming home of pharmaceutical giant Umbrella Corporation, Raccoon City is now a dying Midwestern town. The company’s exodus left the city a wasteland…with great evil brewing below the surfac
In common: Action · Science Fiction
Resident Evil
2002 · Paul W. S. Anderson
When a virus leaks from a top-secret facility, turning all resident researchers into ravenous zombies and their lab animals into mutated hounds from hell, the government sends in an elite military tas
In common: Action · Science Fiction
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
2008 · Dave Filoni
As the Clone Wars sweep through the galaxy, Anakin Skywalker and his new Padawan learner Ahsoka Tano plunge into a dangerous mission to rescue the kidnapped son of crime lord Jabba the Hutt.
In common: Action · Animation
Troy
2004 · Wolfgang Petersen
In year 1250 B.C. during the late Bronze age, two emerging nations begin to clash. Paris, the Trojan prince, convinces Helen, Queen of Sparta, to leave her husband Menelaus, and sail with him back to
In common: Action · Animation
Predator: Killer of Killers
2025 · Dan Trachtenberg
While three of the fiercest warriors in human history—a Viking raider, a ninja in feudal Japan, and a WWII pilot—are killers in their own right, they are merely prey for their new opponent: the ultima
In common: Action · Animation · Science Fiction
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie
2001 · Shinichiro Watanabe
The year is 2071. Following a terrorist bombing, a deadly virus is released on the populace of Mars and the government has issued the largest bounty in history, for the capture of whoever is behind it
In common: Action · Animation · Science Fiction
Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox
2013 · Jay Oliva
The Flash finds himself in a war-torn alternate timeline and teams up with alternate versions of his fellow heroes to restore the timeline.
In common: Action · Animation · Science Fiction
Pacific Rim
2013 · Guillermo del Toro
Using massive piloted robots to combat the alien threat, earth's survivors take the fight to the invading alien force lurking in the depths of the Pacific Ocean. Nearly defenseless in the face of the
In common: Action · Science Fiction
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
2019 · Michael Dougherty
Follows the heroic efforts of the crypto-zoological agency Monarch as its members face off against a battery of god-sized monsters, including the mighty Godzilla, who collides with Mothra, Rodan, and
In common: Action · Science Fiction
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials
2015 · Wes Ball
Thomas and his fellow Gladers face their greatest challenge yet: searching for clues about the mysterious and powerful organization known as WCKD. Their journey takes them to the Scorch, a desolate la
In common: Action · Science Fiction
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
2011 · Rupert Wyatt
A highly intelligent chimpanzee named Caesar has been living a peaceful suburban life ever since he was born. But when he gets taken to a cruel primate facility, Caesar decides to revolt against those
In common: Action · Science Fiction