When Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight hit cinemas in 2008, it arrived like a demon in the night. Pushing its 12A rating to the limit, this brooding, nihilistic monster was a far cry from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy. As Heath Ledger’s Joker gleefully rammed a pencil into a mobster’s eye and flames tore the flesh from Harvey Dent’s cheek, my-then-girlfriend’s little brother left the cinema looking mildly traumatised. Adam West prancing around in his tights, this was not.
Nominated for eight Academy Awards and winning two, Nolan’s batbuster was a genre-elevating triumph. The Bat was back and soon he gave video games a Gotham-filled glow-up. The critically acclaimed Arkham Asylum silently emerged from the shadows in 2009, dragging licensed games out of the bargain bin and thrusting them firmly into the spotlight. Now, nine years after 2015’s Arkham Knight, Gotham’s golden boys are back with a fourth DC adaptation – Suicide Squad.
