Matt Reeves’ The Batman is nearly here. Fans have less than two weeks to wait to see Robert Pattinson as the Caped Crusader, and the hype for the film has arguably never been higher. Since the project was officially announced, fans have made comparisons to Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, and wondering how Reeves’ film will stack up against previous iconic iterations of the character.
Spider-Man is another hero whose recent films have been pitted against previous live action versions of the character, with Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland beginning their time as the infamous web-slinger with comparisons to Tobey Maguire. Rather than these discussions, though, it’s interesting to compare two Batman and Spider-Man films. With both heroes having such iconic, well-known origin tales, here’s a look at Batman Begins vs Spider-Man (2002), and which tells the better story of the character’s beginnings.
Starting with Batman Begins, this is a film that is arguably overlooked compared to its sequels, as The Dark Knight in particular captivated audiences in a way no superhero film had before. The Dark Knight Rises, while the subject of some criticism for the rather basic city destruction plot and predictable twists, seems to still be more memorable to many fans than Batman Begins, as the climax of the trilogy overcomes some of its scripting issues by nailing its big moments, like Batman revealing his identity to Jim Gordon, who he’d worked with so closely across the three films but had never shared any details about his life outside the mask.
Batman Begins tells the origin story of Bruce Wayne, from the death of his parents to his training with Ra’s al Ghul, played by Liam Neeson, as well as his lifelong bond with Rachel Dawes and his journey to become the masked vigilante. It’s a notably grounded, realistic approach that the whole trilogy has become known for, with practical sets and stunts being favored over CGI and special effects. This stylistic approach helps to ground the film in the eyes of Bruce Wayne, making him a far more relatable and sympathetic character than he ever had been before.
Early sequences solidify this feeling, as the death of Thomas and Martha Wayne are far more emotional than in Batman (1989) or Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and not simply because this pivotal moment in Batman’s life is more of a plot point in this 2005 film. For example, the scene in which Joe Chill, played excellently by Richard Brake, receives parol after testifying against Gotham mob boss Carmine Falcone, is extremely intense and emotional.
At the courthouse, Bruce Wayne is in attendance and waiting to kill Chill himself, highlighting the mental state of the film’s hero and just how much his parents’ death still haunts him. Unexpectedly, an associate of Falcone kills Chill first in what proved to be a life-changing event for Christian Bale’s version of the character, as murdering the man who killed his parents arguably would have led him down a very different path than his Batman journey.
It’s this emotional connection to Bruce that is established so early in the film that is the crux of its success. However, there’s also plenty of other incredibly smart decisions that make Batman Begins a great origin story. For example, the decision to make Scarecrow and Ra’s Al Ghul the villains of the film is an intelligent one, as it would have been easy to just make the Joker the villain. However, with the film going so deep into the origin story of Batman, far more than Michael Keaton’s first outing had, including a bigger villain like Joker would have simply made the movie overstuffed and including too many pivotal elements of Batman and this fictional world in one film.
Scarecrow is played excellently by Cillian Murphy, an actor who was one of the finalists for the role of Batman in this film. Scarecrow is haunting, and the scenes in which characters inhale his hallucinogenic gas are frightening and very well done. Like the title character, Scarecrow, aka Dr. Jonathan Crane, is grounded and realistic in a way that again improves the film. Similarly, Ra’s al Ghul is another great villain for Bale, played well by Liam Neeson and providing the necessary plot points for Batman’s training and how he became so good at crime-fighting and hand-to-hand combat. Neeson’s character also adds stakes to the film for the large final battle, all while still preserving the grounded feel. Overall, Batman Begins is an excellent origin movie, and arguably the best story of the beginnings of the Dark Knight in live-action.
A few years before Batman Begins, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man released, re-popularizing the famous comic book character for a new generation. This is a more linear, lighthearted and fantastical origin tale than Batman Begins, arguably to be expected given the tone associated with Spider-Man and the powers that he possesses. Despite this difference in approach, Spider-Man is still an incredible origin tale.
The film is structured more linearly than Batman Begins, and follows a straightforward path as it tells the story of how Peter Parker became Spider-Man. In these early moments, despite audiences not been familiar with this version of the hero, it’s still gripping, entertaining and relatable. Peter’s struggles at school, his social awkwardness and his relationship with Uncle Ben are all key aspects of the early part of this film that make it and the character so relatable, and are executed incredibly well.
More broadly, the casting of Tobey Maguire was a stroke of genius that helps make this film such a success. Maguire embodies the character of Spider-Man in a way that arguably no other actor since has done, proving himself to be the most classic version of the hero ever seen in live-action. It’s a testament to the casting of Maguire that he returned after all the years in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and the fact that audiences became ecstatic when he arrived on screen.
Clearly, despite the fact that Batman Begins and Spider-Man are two origins stories, they are very different films. Tonally, stylistically, and the overall broader approach of both films differ immensely. Yet, they can still be compared, but before that, it’s safe to say these are two of the best origin story films for a superhero to date.
As stated previously, the Joker was wisely left out of Batman Begins as to properly focus on Bruce Wayne and his beginnings. However, Spider-Man opted to include the hero’s biggest villain, the Green Goblin, as the primary antagonist of the film. It’s an understandable choice, but one that looks extremely bold when looking back as choosing Goblin for the villain while also telling Spider-Man’s beginnings could have easily chipped away at both characters. However, it does the opposite, and the film balances these two so well to the point that it’s seamless and totally natural for the story.
Despite that, Batman Begins is clearly a more stylized film, and arguably more of an original take on its hero, two aspects that go in favor of the DC project. Batman Begins is arguably the first superhero movie to prove that films in this genre could be more than just an action film, as Nolan’s project is much more of a dark and gritty crime genre than it is a superhero movie. The tone contributes to this, as it takes itself far more seriously than any film in this genre had before, but not necessarily in an arrogant or superior way. Rather, Nolan and the rest of the creative team clearly seemed to realize that Batman’s origin story is one of tragedy and profound sadness that pushes Wayne to become the hero that he is.
For all the grounded and realistic aspects of Batman Begins that make it a more character-driven film, Spider-Man is still the more relatable and emotional story, and it’s this that makes it the superior origin tale and, more broadly, the better movie. Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker is just so likable, right from the moment that he appears on screen (before that, actually, as his voice is heard narrating before anything else), and drives the film with the audiences’ emotional connection to the character.
As well as that, Spider-Man is arguably more of an example of the character’s classic origin story being told in an excellent way. They’re not exactly reinventing the wheel when it comes to the title character in this film, but the execution of the origin tale is very well done. As great as Batman Begins is, it still differs from Batman’s origins story from the comics in some ways, which is in no way a bad thing, but makes it feel like a great alternate take on the character’s beginnings rather than the definitive origin story.
Ultimately, though, Batman Begins and Spider-Man are two of the best superhero films ever made, and are great examples of how a movie in this genre can tell a character’s origins without it feeling slow, boring, or unengaging.