The Academy Awards remain a tough place for superhero movies, despite their outsize box office. Although Marvel firmly leads the way when it comes to such commercial success, DC has a long history of leading the pack when it comes to award-show success. DC films have a surprisingly long Oscar history, with Joker being only the most recent contender.
2019 - Joker (Best Actor/Best Original Score)
After an awards season where Joker actor Joaquin Phoenix won trophy after trophy, from BAFTA to SAG, it was almost a foregone conclusion that he'd win the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role. His performance as Arthur Fleck, who gradually evolved into the Joker throughout the film, captured a nuance and subtlety seldom seen in comic book movies. His manic laughter and pained tears have the potential to cement superheroes as Academy contenders forevermore.
Joker's impressive production promoted the credibility of the genre as well, with its composer Hildur Guðnadóttir collecting the award for Best Original Score. While acting or technical awards for superhero films weren't without precedent, Guðnadóttir's win legitimized the broader aspects of the film. Perhaps even more importantly, Guðnadóttir was the first woman take home a trophy in the category in the past 20 years.
2016 - Suicide Squad (Best Makeup and Hairstyling)
"Academy Award-winning film Suicide Squad" may not be something that's often said, but it is technically true. The award for Best Makeup & Hairstyling went to the creative team of Alessandro Bertolazzi, Giorgio Gregorini and Christopher Nelson for their work on Suicide Squad. Superhero movies are frequently tremendous technical achievements even when they aren't considered in other categories.
2008 - The Dark Knight (Best Supporting Actor/Best Sound Editing)
Released the same year as the MCU's debut film, Iron Man, Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight demonstrates the divergent approaches to success on the silver screen utilized by the Big Two. With auteur talent such as Nolan behind the camera and sound-design professionals like Richard King, it was clear a superhero film could be truly spectacular when the team working with it was willing to elevate it -- just like any other movie. King took home an Oscar for Best Sound Editing, though he wouldn't be the film's most memorable Oscar winner.
Heath Ledger's posthumous award for his iconic performance as Joker settled once and for all any doubts about whether or not comic-book characters could be taken seriously. His Best Supporting Actor victory not only set the stage for Joaquin Phoenix's victory nine years later, it also attracted countless actors to superhero properties as a showcase for top-notch performances.
1989 - Batman (Best Production Design)
In the cinematic landscape of the 1980s, superhero movies were not only rare, they were seldom taken seriously. The Toxic Avenger from 1984 was a typical example of the B-movie treatment these adaptations often received. Also, before director Tim Burton came along, the Batman property was popularly associated with the campy TV series more than anything else.
But come along Burton did, and he brought his unique sense of style right along with him. 1989's Batman brought Gotham to life like it had never been before, and with its Oscar for Best Production Design, it established a tradition of superhero films competing in technical categories. Although the film was the very first of any DC property to win an Oscar, it was not the first to receive an Oscar. Don't quite get the difference? Scroll on!
1978 - Superman (Special Achievement in Visual Effects)
While Superman was a juggernaut of success across every metric, it didn't win any of the awards the Academy nominated it for. Its memorable score, unique sound design and obsessive editing all received nods, but director Richard Donner was reportedly furious that the film's production design -- which brought Krypton to life -- and cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth both went unrecognized.
However, the Academy did award Superman with Special Achievement in Visual Effects. The category was noncompetitive, and no other films were mentioned for their visual effects the same year. The message was clear; Superman was such an outstanding success that nothing else that year could really compete. The marketing for the film promised audiences would "believe a man could fly," the VFX team of Les Bowie, Colin Chilvers, Denys Coop, Roy Field, Derek Meddings and Zoran Perisic pulled it off. Little did they know they were making history, and just how far their field would come in the 40 years since.