Top 10 Scariest Moments in DC Animated Movies

“Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox” (2013)

When Flash travels back in time to save his mother from dying, he inadvertently created a twisted reality where crucial events happened very differently. One of the biggest changes is that Bruce Wayne died instead of his parents. Although we learn quickly that his dad Thomas became Batman, that left us curious about Martha. It’s later revealed that she didn’t take her son’s death well. When Bruce died, Martha had a chilling reaction. It was truly terrifying to hear her unhinged laughter as she absorbed the tragedy. While we never outright get to see what becomes of this timeline’s Martha after Bruce’s death, it’s heavily implied that she becomes the Joker. The thought of her clown going against Thomas Wayne’s trigger happy Batman was scary.

“The Batman vs. Dracula” (2005)

Don’t ever mess with someone’s beauty sleep. Especially if the person you’re rudely waking up happens to be the lord of the vampires. When Dracula was revived in “The Batman vs. Dracula”, he tried making Gotham his new home. And after Joker stumbled upon the vampire’s coffin, the clown ignored all warnings and decided to crack it open. The famous supervillain couldn’t do anything as he was selected to become Dracula’s next meal. Joker’s expressions of fear set our hairs on end. If the sadistic clown was scared by Dracula, then we definitely needed to be wary of this vampire.

“Batman: Gotham by Gaslight” (2018)

“Gotham by Gaslight” took the Batman mythos and recontextualized it for the Victorian era. As part of the reset, Batman and Catwoman were pitted against Jack the Ripper. When Jack begins to target Selina Kyle, the chase leads them to a slaughterhouse. The unsettling setting transformed this superhero movie scene into a horror film sequence. Jack the Ripper is disturbingly silent as he gets closer and closer to ending Kyle’s life. Thankfully with the help of Batman, she’s able to hold Jack the Ripper back and live to fight another day. Since anyone could’ve died in this tale, we were truly frightened that we’d see a beloved character get sliced.

“Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker” (2000)

Sometimes you need to know when to stay in line. When the clown prince of crime returned in “Return of the Joker”, he had a local gang retrieve special items for him. But not every member of the group had respect for the original clown. After growing tired of running errands for Joker, gang member Bonk stood up and quit. The twisted clown didn’t take Bonk’s resignation or disrespect lightly. In the censored sequence, the henchman is given an overdose of Joker venom. The uncensored version of the scene sees Bonk get shot point blank in the chest with his prop gun. In either version, we had a terrifying reminder of what the Joker was capable of.

“Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons” (2022)

During “Battle of the Super Sons”, the evil Starro decides to possess some of the world’s greatest heroes. Unfortunately for Damian Wayne, his dad Batman couldn’t escape the alien menace. The young Robin finds that out the hard way. Shortly after Batman arrives in the cave, Damian slices a starfish in half. But he isn’t in the clear. Suddenly, Batman starts to shake. Damian and the audience watch in horror as a Starro parasite crawls out of the dark knight’s mouth. Despite being aimed at young audiences, this felt like something straight out of a Lovecraftian horror film! And that was before a possessed Batman tried to end Robin’s life. We think the father and son definitely needed counseling after this repulsive encounter.

“Batman: Mask of the Phantasm” (1993)

After her father was killed by gangsters, Andrea Beaumont became the vigilante known as the Phantasm. Motivated by revenge, she began tracking down and killing everyone she believed to be responsible for his death. But when she tried to kill Salvatore Valestra, she found she was just a little too late. It turned out that Salvatore had already been murdered by the Joker. How do we know? Well, the movie gives us a hell of a jump scare by showing that Salvatore’s face had been permanently twisted into a smile by Joker venom. Somehow Andrea is able to recover quickly enough to escape an explosion preset by the clown. Sorry Phantasm, but the sick joke was on you this time.

“Justice League Dark” (2017)

This DC film was full of heart racing imagery. When everyday citizens start hallucinating that demons are everywhere, we witness some truly disturbing scenes. (xref). We eventually learn that John Constantine’s old buddy Ritchie Simpson was to blame. The antagonist stirred up a bunch of chaos as part of a ploy to steal the mystical Dreamstone and stave off his death. Fortunately, a motley crew of warriors were able to stop Ritchie’s plot. The villain got his comeuppance in the worst way. Shortly after being defeated, terrifying creatures arrived to drag Ritchie down into Hell. The fiery imagery and cold creatures struck fear into our hearts. Somehow, we doubt Ritchie is going to come back from that.

“Batman vs. Robin” (2015)

While we went into this movie expecting an argument between a crimefighting father-son duo, we got that and a horrifying opening. We learn that Damian’s Robin is trying to find children that have been taken. He soon arrives at an abandoned and dimly lit warehouse. Suddenly, an unsettling villain named Dollmaker appears and takes full responsibility for all the abductions. His unsettling monologue is followed by the reveal that he made the young people he took into warped warriors. What really made us sick to our stomach here is that the youthful Damian also had to fight the kids who Dollmaker brainwashed and permanently scarred. Fortunately, Batman is able to save a few kids. But we and Damian will never forget what Dollmaker did.

“Constantine: City of Demons” (2018)

A headstrong John Constantine thought he and his friend Chaz could save the young Astra Logue from a cruel occult fate. Sadly, his attempt at a rescue went horribly wrong. John decided to summon a demon called Nergal to solve the problem. Unfortunately, the beast immediately went rogue. Nergal slaughtered the members of the cult n gruesome ways that made us shudder. But the demon wasn’t satisfied. In a truly chilling sequence, Nergal slaughtered a crowd of innocent people who were attending a concert. The terrible incident ended with Constantine being frozen in place as the young Astra was dragged to hell. This scene’s violent and truly twisted imagery still gives us nightmares today. After seeing this, we understood why Constantine was so traumatized.

“Justice League Dark: Apokolips War” (2020)

As a bulk of the superhero community prepared to launch a big attack against Darkseid, he secretly watched from a distance and prepared countermeasures. The heroes were completely caught off guard for what the big bad had waiting for them when they arrived. Our favorite dc icons were either picked apart by Paradooms, brainwashed or subjected to horrific methods of torment. This montage of misery made us turn our heads away more than once. Seeing our heroes die or encounter fates worse than death wasn’t just scary, it was downright depressing! We completely lost all hope that they could defeat this tyrant. This massacre also left a message that would be burnt into our brains: don’t mess with Darkseid.


What’s a moment that had you positively spooked? Scare us all in the comments!