In case you haven't already noticed, 2008 has been an exceptional year for superhero movies. It started with "Iron Man," inarguably one of the best movies ever made based on a comic book character. That was followed by the very entertaining reboot of "The Incredible Hulk," Will Smith's peculiar, if uneven "Hancock" and the wildly inventive "Hellboy II: The Golden Army."

That trend reaches a peak with "The Dark Knight," director Christopher Nolan's visually stunning, super serious and, yes, very dark follow-up to 2005's "Batman Begins."