The Batman has an 86 percent "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but how does that score compare to the MCU and the DCEU? While the DCEU has struggled with Rotten Tomatoes scores, the MCU has unprecedented reliability with its review aggregator scores, so how does The Batman stack up?
Marvel Studios has seen huge success having all their movies exist in a shared continuity, Warner Bros. has had a few issues maintaining a consistent universe, and now with Joker and The Batman, some of the biggest recent DC Comics films exist outside DCEU canon. With Robert Pattinson making his debut as the Caped Crusader in The Batman as Micheal Keaton returns to the role after 30 years in The Flash, which also reportedly features Ben Affleck's final appearance as the Dark Knight.
Thanks to the two franchises having fundamentally different histories when it comes to Rotten Tomatoes, both franchises serve as great benchmarks for understanding what The Batman's Rotten Tomatoes score actually means in the context of the superhero movie landscape. Comparing its Rotten Tomatoes score to other DCEU movies helps reveal how it was reviewed in the context of other similar films from the same studio while comparing to the MCU helps contrast against the perceived industry leader as embraced by most audiences and critics.
Only 3 DCEU Movies Have Better Rotten Tomatoes Scores Than The Batman
All but three movies in the DCEU have Rotten Tomatoes scores bigger than The Batman, which comes in below Wonder Woman (93 percent), The Suicide Squad (91 percent), and Shazam! (90 percent). While The Batman's Tomatometer score (the percent of reviews marked as "Fresh") is outranked by three DCEU movies, the actual average rating of all reviews submitted is 7.6 out of 10, which is better than every DCEU movie except Wonder Woman at 7.7 out of 10.
The Batman also ranks close to the top when compared to all DCEU audience scores, beating out every movie but Zack Snyder's Justice League (94 percent) and Joker (90 percent). Given its relatively high critic score and audience score, it shouldn't be a big surprise that the disparity between critics and audiences is also way better than almost every other movie in the DCEU (which is known for some extreme splits between critics and audiences). The Batman's Rotten Tomatoes critics score is only three points higher than its audience score, which is only beaten by Birds of Prey with a difference of just 1 point (with a 79 percent overall score).
The strong performance of The Batman in relation to the DCEU's Rotten Tomatoes scores indicates it checks a lot of similar boxes and will likely be well received by many people who enjoy the rest of the DCEU. Its strong audience score is especially a standout, as the other DC movies with similarly high audience scores had much lower critic scores, making The Batman one of the least divisive DC movies in recent years.
The Batman's Rotten Tomatoes Score is Similar to the MCU Average
The MCU has Hollywood's most impressive stretch of Fresh Rotten Tomatoes scores of any franchise, so, while The Batman performed higher than most DCEU movies, the same isn't true when comparing it to the MCU, but it still outperforms the MCU average. The Batman's 86 percent score is two points higher than the MCU's 84 percent average, but 16 of the MCU's 27 movies have a higher score.
When it comes to the audience score, The Batman's 89 percent is also higher than the MCU's 83 percent average, with 11 MCU movies earning a higher audience score. The Batman may have had more consistency between audience and critic reviews than much of the DCEU, but the MCU has an even stronger Rotten Tomatoes relationship between critics and audience scores, seeing a difference equal to or less than The Batman's audience-critic split on 14 of the MCU's 27 movies.
While The Batman's Rotten Tomatoes performance ranked against DCEU movies placed it near the top in most metrics, it's far less of a standout when compared to the MCU, although still comes in well above average. While the movie's style and tone are certainly distinctly different than the MCU's typical aesthetic, its Rotten Tomatoes score didn't suffer for it. The fact that its audience score is almost comparable to the MCU's top 10, while the critical score is a lot closer to the MCU average helps The Batman's Rotten Tomatoes score stand out from the crowd a little bit more, although the MCU's high Rotten Tomatoes batting average also means there's plenty of competition.
Ultimately, a movie's enjoyability is in the eye of the beholder, so things like audience aesthetic preferences or connection to the filmmakers can all influence how a film is received, while a Rotten Tomatoes score is just an aggregate compiled from both positive and negative reviews to give an impression of consensus. So, while comparing these movies in Rotten Tomatoes may help reveal any behavioral trends or similarities between franchises is certainly interesting, it's no substitute for audiences engaging with a movie and deciding for themselves.
