It's not often a movie comes along that can carry on impressing viewers a whole decade after its release. That said, it's not often a movie like Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight comes along, either.
Celebrating its ten-year anniversary this month, fans of the movie have taken to social media to express their undying love for the film, hailing it as the best superhero film ever made.
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"I can't believe The Dark Knight came out ten years ago," one Twitter user said. "Even with my Marvel ass it's still my favourite (and the best) superhero movie of all time."
Another said: "The greatest superhero movie of all time, The Dark Knight, came out on this day [18 July] ten years ago!"
Released as the sequel to Batman Begins, Nolan's reinvention of the Batman series, the arrival of The Dark Knight was like nothing we had ever seen before in superhero movies, which is what gave it its cultural significance in the genre.
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Nolan proved to be an innovator in superhero movies, replacing gimmicks and cartoonish qualities with a more realistic style, which would go on to become the normality within the genre, affecting every movie that followed in The Dark Knight's shadow.
He also brought back The Joker, which - after Jack Nicholson's stellar turn in Tim Burton's 1989 version of Batman - was never going to be easy.
It was a truly remarkable performance, and Heath Ledger's portrayal of The Clown Prince of Crime brought with it a whole new dimension to method acting, making him the only actor to win an Oscar for a superhero movie.
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And, whether it seems appropriate or not, perhaps an element of the The Dark Knight's cult following was garnered through the admittedly ghoulish aspect of a major star dying too young - the movie captured Ledger's final performance, and news of his death brought with it a tidal wave of attention.
Still, it's the perfectly executed relationship between Batman and The Joker that keeps us all in awe of the sheer talent Nolan possesses.
The bottom line is that The Dark Knight, with its intricately woven script and stellar cast, is more than just a superhero movie. It goes way deeper than that.
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Gritty comic book fiction it may be, but much of the film's appeal is the realism of the characters. We are made to believe that Batman could happen. The Joker could happen.
No wonder so many people agree it's one of the finest superhero movies ever made.
Words by Megan Walsh
Topics: TV and Film, Batman