2. Batman: The Animated Series

The Gotham night sky burns black and red. The bat signal shines bright and puts a few shady crooks on notice. And then the jet engine of the Bat's sleek tank ignites, the theme music kicks in and an animated icon is born. The opening titles of television's best take on a superhero to date signaled an era-defining change whose impact echoes to this day. From Justice League to Chris Nolan's recent adaptation of the Caped Crusader, TAS' Batman raised the bar and redefined what quality storytelling is. It tested how far one could go in the kid-friendly arena of cartoons and deliver something all ages could respect and appreciate. The stark and deliberate animation style, Kevin Conroy's gravel-lined voice and Mark Hamill's chilling Joker made the majority of TAS' episodes an event. The show even managed to give Batman things to do outside the trouble caused by his rogue's gallery: See the HARDAC episode "Heart of Steel" and "The Forgotten"'s depiction of Bruce Wayne as a homeless amnesiac for proof. "Near-perfect" is a phrase we don't use lightly around here, but one must give credit where credit is due when a show tells a mini-movie in its opening credits that's better than what most feature films can do. Why are you still reading this? See the episodes now for the first time or crack-out the boxset and settle in for a retrospective. Thank us later.