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Christopher Nolan’s best Batman villains, ranked by how iconic they are

By Sarah Perchikoff

Photo: Batman Begins.. Image Courtesy Warner Bros. / DC Universe
Photo: Batman Begins.. Image Courtesy Warner Bros. / DC Universe /
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PARIS, FRANCE – JANUARY 13: (EDITORS NOTE: Image has been digitally enhanced) Marion Cotillard attends the “Cesar – Revelations 2020” at Petit Palais Ceremony on January 13, 2020 in Paris, France. (Photo by Francois Durand/Getty Images for the Cesar)
PARIS, FRANCE – JANUARY 13: (EDITORS NOTE: Image has been digitally enhanced) Marion Cotillard attends the “Cesar – Revelations 2020” at Petit Palais Ceremony on January 13, 2020 in Paris, France. (Photo by Francois Durand/Getty Images for the Cesar) /

5. Miranda Tate/Talia al Ghul

While initially, she doesn’t appear to be a villain, Miranda Tate turns out to be none other than Ra’s al Ghul’s daughter, Talia al Ghul and Bane’s partner in crime in one of the biggest twists in the entire Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy.

When we first meet her in The Dark Knight Rises, she is on the board of Wayne Enterprises, a philanthropist interested in clean energy, and looking to meet Bruce Wayne. At first, she is put off by Alfred, but eventually, at a party at Wayne Manor, she does meet the elusive playboy and ends up staying the night.

She looks to be Bruce Wayne’s next potential love interest and when she’s kidnapped by Bane along with Lucius Fox and Douglas Fredericks, no one could have guessed she would ultimately be undercover as a villain. It’s an old trick in books and movies, but clearly, it still works.

She goes on to even volunteer to defeat Bane and is taken hostage by the masked villain, but it all turns out to be a con. Batman goes to save Miranda and winds up in a trap where all is revealed. Miranda, now revealed to be Talia al Ghul (daughter of Ra’s al Ghul), stabs Batman and drives off to detonate a huge bomb onto Gotham City.

Talia doesn’t expect Batman to defeat Bane, run after her, and then fly the bomb away from Gotham in what appeared to be a suicide mission.

Talia al Ghul is the only female villain in the Nolan trilogy and uses her wits and training in the League of Shadows to hide in plain sight while planning the ultimate destruction of Gotham. Her time in the Pit prison probably didn’t hurt either. Clearly, Bruce Wayne did not see her coming.

You could count Catwoman as another female villain in this trilogy, but as she turns out to be good in the end, she’s not on the list.

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