What superhero films have the best cinematography?

[Killer]

The entire TDK trilogy is a great example of how you make a movie look astonishingly good using very simple cinematography techniques. There´s a good deal of natural lighting going on in these movies, even indoors, wich allows them to achieve the desired dark and gritty tone, preserving, at the same time, the textures of the real world, without looking overly artificial like some comic book movies. Great contrasts, the blacks are as black as you can get.

Watchmen is also worth mentioning, for being a visual extravaganza full of aesthetic peculiarities. It´s not everyone´s cup of tea, but is a pretty visionary work of art.It´s daring, for sure.

MOS is good, but has some problems. It has great cinematic moments and some very well shot scenes, but it also has many pointless shots that are there just for the sake of looking good. At times, MOS looks a little bit like a music video.

Batman 1989 is just perfect in terms of tone. It feels dirty and chaotic, wich is exactly what you want from a Batman film.

I don´t see anything else worth mentioning, to be honest. The Comic Book universe isn´t exactly full of great examples of cinematography.

 

[Killer]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
The Dark Knight Rises
Man of Steel
Iron Man 3
Batman Returns

It´s funny you mention TMNT, because that´s a freaking underrated movie when it comes to visual. The movie really looks amazing.

 

[Daltonio]

I don't mean to come across as a fanboy, but my answer for this one is also The Amazing Spider-Man. That sleek-looking costume swinging around in the night-time lighting of NYC was just breath-taking in my eyes. Even though I loved the different tone of TASM 2, I was glad we got a little bit more of that feel during the Times Square fight.

 

[Rowsdower!]

No particular order...

Man of Steel
Batman Begins
TDK
TDKR
Guardians of the Galaxy
Captain America: The First Avenger
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Superman
Batman

 

[Tony Stark]

This might be sacrilegious, but I didn't care for the cinematography in TDK. I'm not saying it's bad, it was great, but to me it felt like a hommage to all the 1970's film than it did something refreshing. The first Donner Superman film to me is far superior to any of Nolan's film cinematography wise.

Geoffrey Unsworth, who tragically died just before the film was released, did some incredible work on Superman The Movie. The lighting in that film makes it feel somewhat ethereal, just beyond reach. Everything looked big and grandiose, going from a Biblical feel on Krypton to showing these big sweeping fields of wheat in Smallville.

 

[TheComicbookKid]

The Rocketeer
Superman Returns
Watchmen
300
Sin City

 

[GL's Light]

Comic book/strip movies (superhero and non-superhero) with the best cinematography:

Superman: The Movie (1978) and (parts of) Superman II (1980) by Geoffrey Unsworth
Batman (1989) by Roger Pratt
Dick Tracy (1990) by Vittorio Storato (nominated for Academy Award)
Batman Returns (1992) by Stefan Czapsky
Road to Perdition (2002) by Conrad Hall (won Academy Award)
Hulk (2003) by Frederick Elmes
Spider-Man 2 (2004) by Bill Pope
Batman Begins (2005) by Wally Pfister (nominated for Academy Award)
300 (2006) by Larry Fong
Superman Returns (2006) by Newton Thomas Sigel
The Dark Knight (2008) by Wally Pfister (nominated for Academy Award)
Watchmen (2009) by Larry Fong
Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World (2010) by Bill Pope
The Dark Knight Rises (2012) by Wally Pfister
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) by Ben Davis

Incidentally, the other comic book film nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography in addition to those noted above was Batman Forever (1995) by Stephen Goldblatt. It is a strikingly shot film, but I don't rank it as high as those above.