Following 1995’s successful if more kid-friendly Batman Forever, that film’s director, Joel Schumacher, ramped up the camp factor for Batman and Robin. A fifth entry was scrapped and the Dark Knight was banished to a long stay in development hell. Batman Begins grossed $375 million worldwide against a budget of $150 million, a decent enough return on investment for Warner Bros. to stick with Bale, Nolan, and the latter’s conception of the Bat. Batman Begins was the first to show a true, serious origin story for the Caped Crusader. But we wouldn’t have the groundbreaking Wonder Woman, James Gunn’s subversive The Suicide Squad, Todd Phillips’ incendiary Joker, or even the colossal if deeply flawed Zack Snyder’s Justice League, without Batman Begins providing the spark.