Sign In Now ► or Create A New Account ►
33 comments
Rank This Matchup or Comment/Reply Below
on 7/16/2009
This is an extremely hard one...i almost want to quit my browser and forget this even happened to me...
on 7/20/2009
This is unfair. I dunno what to do.
on 7/21/2009
Return of the King has the momentum of the first two films and ends them perfectly. The Dark Knight is great but doesn't have the weight that the entire Lord of the Rings franchise carries with it. Yet.
on 7/29/2009
Ouch! This hurts...
on 7/30/2009
Wow. One of the hardest matchups for me. I have to agree with dallas on this one.
on 8/8/2009
Okay, collectively, I prefer The Lord of the Rings. But I think TDK is better than the final chapter. My top two films are The Fellowship of the Ring, and The Dark Knight, in that order. And really, the main reason I prefer both to The Return of the King is because of the ending(s). I agree with Jack Nicholson: "Too many endings, man...." Not too many for the 12-hour epic that the extended versions are, but it was too much in the theater. TDK edges out ROTK for me.
on 8/21/2009
Well now, let's see. Hold a nail in one hand, and a box of nails in the other. Which one serves you better? Feeble analogy I know, but it's next to impossible to objectively compare these two very different movies. While both movies nailed it, RoTK nailed it over and over and over. That's all I'm sayin'.
on 9/7/2009
Both of these are uber-solemn pulp fantasies. I like ROTK more.
on 10/21/2009
ROTK has swords and Howard Shore on its side. That barely edges it out for me.
on 11/10/2009
LOTR. All three are better than The Dark Knight.
on 12/4/2009
Freakishly difficult choice as I've always regarded both films as the best in my list of watched movies. Have to go with LOTR just because it's the ending of the trilogy, so the impact is greater. Compared on other aspects, they both equal.
on 2/3/2010
Two amazing films, both of which lose me at the end (for different reasons).
on 2/9/2010
Return of the king is an epic adventure and has a great story but come on, The Joker is arguably the greatest villain of all time and Ledger pulls off one of the greatest performances ever.
on 3/5/2010
The Dark Knight always wins . . . almost always wins. But it wins this one.
on 4/10/2010
both movies are beyond phenomenal and some of my favorites all-time. but Batman wins by a very small margin.
on 5/12/2010
Both are outstanding movies. Looked at individually, I might be inclined to vote for The Dark Knight, But if you view it as a whole, Lord of the Rings is, I think, better. So with that in mind, I'm voting for Return of the King.
on 7/25/2010
Heath Ledger is incredible, and Nolan directs a mean film, but Return of the King is, for me, a perfect film.
on 9/11/2010
ROTK of finishes up an amazing trilogy with the film of them all. The Dark Knight is an amazing piece of film making that will stand the test time, but ROTK is just a step above.
on 5/1/2011
The Return of the King is one of the most ovverated movies ever and its TOO boring, The Dark Knight beats The Return of the King anytime.
on 3/3/2012
The Dark Knight for now.
on 4/21/2012
The Dark Knight it is.
on 7/6/2012
LOTR IS LEGEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
on 7/26/2012
Return of the King
on 8/7/2012
Damn that's a tough choice. These are probably my first and second favourite movies of all time. Return of the King will have to win for me though, I'm a bigger fan of Lord of the Rings in general than I am of Batman.
Lord of the Rings rules all except Star Wars
on 1/29/2013
I must give it to The Dark Knight. Now if it were Batman Begins vs. ROTK, it would to the ROTK.
on 2/27/2013
Return of the King easy for me
on 6/16/2013
The Dark Knight has Batman and Hans Zimmer. Edge goes to Nolan
I just watched both trilogies in the last week. They are my two favorite trilogies of all time (Star Wars is a close third). They currently stand at 4 and 5 on my chart. The Dark Knight has the very slight edge.
on 6/17/2013
@Connerwood1998- Don't forget, LOTR has Howard Shore!!!
on 6/20/2013
Epic matchup! The best of the LOTR trilogy vs. the best of the DK trilogy. The best fantasy movie ever vs. the best comic book adaptation ever. TDK is certainly a worthy opponent, but in the end, ROTK is just about unbeatable in my book. There are only about 5 movies that I can think of that I enjoyed as much or more that ROTK, and TDK isn't one of them. ROTK wins.
on 7/1/2013
TDK by a longshot.
on 9/2/2013
The Dark Knight. Very close.
on 12/23/2013
... Return of the King is my favorite of these two
on 12/29/2013
think dark knight for now. Heath ledger owned much of the movie itself
on 4/20/2014
RotK
on 8/17/2014
Well you watch one David Lean film and Return of the King pales in comparison. It's depressing but I feel the Dark Knight is superior of the 2. But that's not to say that Return of the King is bad in any way.
on 11/15/2014
Have to go with LOTR
on 6/18/2016
I prefer the dark knight
on 6/20/2016
on 6/22/2016
Two master cinematic opuses that redefined film for the 21st century. Both are ABSOLUTE required viewing for anyone with even a modicum of good taste. Dark Knight for this battle.
What madness is this?
on 1/9/2017
Lord of the Rings, not even close
on 1/11/2017
The Dark Knight is just overrated movie
on 1/13/2017
Aragorn is even more powerful than Batman. He is a legendary hero in the novel.
on 6/6/2018
Dark Knight is much a convenient film, RotK is long boring film ever...
Return of The King has too many endings to win this. I loved them both.
on 8/23/2019
Return of the King by miles.
on 11/29/2020
the dark knight since i think rotk is the weakest in the trilogy
on 12/5/2020
TDK stomps. LOTR is garbage.
on 1/9/2021
I sat 10 minutes thinking about this beacuse these are literally my top 2 movies ever but if I had to chose i would pick return of the king by a hair
on 2/8/2021
The dark knight wins, return of the king is a masterpiece, though.
on 6/23/2021
TDK barely beats ROTK tbh, mainly due to Ledger's Joker, shorter runtime, and far greater rewatch value. Although, one could make the argument of Return of the King being a better film than The Dark Knight.
ROTK is the weakest of the LOTR trilogy although still top 50 fav films
on 3/27/2022
I would go with the dark knight because it has heath ledger
on 5/27/2022
Dark Knight goes toe to toe with the best Rings movie, and that movie is not King
on 8/28/2022
I love ROTK a lot, but... I not only would rather watch TDK every time, but also think it's the better film overall. Still, gotta love LOTR. Both are top 5 movies ever.
on 9/17/2022
The dark knight is easily the best convenient film
on 9/30/2022
Lord of the ring wins 1000 times
on 10/1/2022
LOTR wins billion times
Not billion infinite times
I also like TDK, but it is overrated
TDK has great perfect acting and written story rather than ROTK
Stay mad sajeevjeevan9, the only Rings that matches Nolan is Fellowship, Dark Knight destroys Return of the King
on 10/6/2022
Stop spamming thecrackers, lotr is better than tdk
You stop spamming, TDK is much better
TDK is often better than ROTK
on 4/6/2023
The Dark Knight Is better
on 11/28/2023
DARK KNIGHT FOR SURE. DK is an adult Goodfellas type of movie in the Marvel universe while ROTK is a silly teen movie. Dark Knight by blow out .