Hans Zimmer.
The very name brings goosebumps to music lovers all over the world. The acclaimed film composer has come to be one of the most prominent and popular figures in the film and music world alike, having a great hand in transforming film music into an accessible, enjoyable and admired genre.
Having won an Academy Award for his work on The Lion King in 1994, Zimmer has gone on to work in many genres such as drama, action, thriller, science fiction, horror and adventure.
Throughout his career, the composer has also had the opportunity to work with prolific and renowned directors of their respective generations, the likes of which include Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Black Hawk Down), Ron Howard (The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons), Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean, Rango), Christopher Nolan (Inception, Interstellar, Dunkirk) and Denis Villeneuve (Blade Runner 2049, Dune).
As I mentioned before, Zimmer has worked in many genres of film, but the one genre the composer has consistently contributed to has been the superhero film genre, having been associated with it since 2005 and provided music for eight superhero films to date.
Zimmer has composed films centered around characters and franchises from both the DC and Marvel pantheon of superheroes, thereby having a diverse body of work in the genre under his belt.
Here then is a ranking of Hans Zimmer’s superhero scores.
8. The Dark Knight Rises
The final installment of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy also saw Zimmer returning for his fourth collaboration with the director, without James Newton Howard, who had helped compose the previous two films.
Zimmer’s score for the film works best when it is not reusing themes from it’s predecessors, the instances of which aren’t many, and results in falling short of the highly superior musical work for those films.
Nonetheless, viewers and listeners are treated to a menacing theme to complement the central villain Bane, made all the more powerful when combined with an ancient Arabic chant that literally translates to ‘rise up’.
Added to the mix is Anne Hathaway’s Catwoman theme, a sly piano tune that perfectly encapsulates her character.
While Zimmer does give in to reusing established themes throughout the majority of the album, in a way that overshadows the new material created for the film, his rendition of Batman’s theme coupled with the Arabic chant is inspiring, powerful and marvelous to listen to.
Recommended tracks – Gotham’s Reckoning, Mind If I Cut In?, Why Do We Fall? and Rise.
7. Wonder Woman 1984
With 2020’s Wonder Woman sequel, Zimmer leaps back into composing music for another DC character and property, having established Wonder Woman’s theme for 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
As misleading as the album art for the soundtrack may be, Wonder Woman 1984 does not feature any electronic or synthesized music one might expect from a movie set in the 1980s to feature, which some might call a missed opportunity.
Instead, Zimmer gives us a good old-fashioned classic superhero score laden with brass, orchestral and choral arrangements.
While hints of the iconic and original Wonder Woman theme is present in all it’s glory, Zimmer builds and improves upon the theme, giving it a hopeful, rousing and heartfelt quality, and dare I say, it definitely holds up. It is a wonderful addition to musical world of the DC Extended Universe.
As much as Zimmer’s score for the movie succeeds in going along with the film, it still is unable to compare to the composer’s other work on the genre, owing to the fact that it does not fully flesh out the themes of other characters.
Recommended tracks – Themyscira, Games, Open Road, The Beauty In What Is and Truth.
6. Batman Begins
The first soundtrack that introduced and made me aware of the incomparable talent of Hans Zimmer, the album represents his first superhero score and the first of many collaborations with Christopher Nolan.
Zimmer worked on the film’s music with James Newton Howard, with both of the composers focusing on the split alter-egos of the titular character, the former focusing on Batman’s journey through the film and Howard on Bruce Wayne’s.
The resulting work is powerfully fresh and astounding, as the album perfectly illustrates the duality of the character.
Zimmer’s Batman theme redefined and influenced superhero soundtracks for many years to come, employing a multitude of instruments that I don’t recall having heard in superhero films before and leaving a powerful impact and ingrained into listeners’ minds.
Zimmer’s contribution to the film now goes overlooked in the larger context of his work on the superhero genre, but it ultimately sets the stage and canvas for his work that followed afterwards.
Recommended tracks – Barbastella, Antrozous, Nycteris, Molossus and Corynorhinus
5. The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Replacing James Horner, who composed the previous film, Zimmer’s first composing for a Marvel Comics character sure leaves a mark, and is an underrated album in Zimmer’s discography.
Zimmer formed a group specifically for the film, named The Magnificent Six, comprising of artists such as Johnny Marr, Junkie XL and Pharrell Williams. The outcome of this formation is far from being overproduced, and is perhaps one of Zimmer’s most diverse, versatile and fleshed out superhero album to date.
Utilising pianos, guitars, drums and trumpets for Spider-Man’s theme, Zimmer breaks musical continuity established by Horner for the better, providing a theme for the character as memorable as the original Spider-Man films, one that symbolizes the heroic and free-spirited nature of the character. This is balanced out by the softer and subtler themes that characterize the relationship between Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy.
The main highlight of the score, however, is the attention given to the main villains – Electro and the Green Goblin.
Zimmer becomes inventive with the film’s use of electronic music and dubstep that continually evolves through the film and makes it stand out from many superhero films and thereby lends gives it a unique quality, while Goblin’s theme is straight out of a sinister horror film.
Recommended tracks – My Enemy, You Need Me, I’m Goblin, I Chose You, We’re Best Friends, Still Crazy, Cold War and No Place Like Home.
4. The Dark Knight
Zimmer’s second outing for The Dark Knight Trilogy saw him returning with James Newton Howard, and the soundtrack sees both the composers expanding and building upon their previous material.
While Howard takes on the character themes of Harvey Dent, Zimmer composed the themes of the Joker – the primary antagonist in the film.
The composer makes an odd but highly effective choice of incorporating razor blades onto the strings of electric cellos and violins to achieve a jarring and haunting theme revolving around the Joker, whilst including an electric guitar to round out the theme, which punctuates and make it’s appearance throughout the score.
Zimmer additionally reworks the Batman theme into a seemingly more grand and hard hitting theme, whilst maintaining the core elements (as he did with Wonder Woman 1984). This provides a theme which encompasses and balances the inherent epic and emotional angles.
Recommended tracks – Why So Serious?, I’m Not A Hero, Always A Catch, A Watchful Guardian and A Dark Knight.
3. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Zimmer’s fifth work for a DC film sees him composing yet another diverse and expansive score.
Working in tandem with Junkie XL (who provided additional music for Man of Steel and The Amazing Spider-Man 2), Zimmer crafts a score that is equal parts powerful and epic. Zimmer proudly embraces his work for the film’s predecessor and broadens the scale for this film.
While his theme for Ben Affleck’s Batman may not be as impactful as his previous composition for the character, it still is effective in illustrating the demonic and beast-like creature Batman is perceived to be within the film, with a softer rendition setting the tone for his tragic backstory.
The composer reworks and adds minor tweaks to his established Superman theme, and succeeds in giving Lex Luthor a quirky and unhinged theme.
However, the biggest accomplishment from the album is the Wonder Woman theme, a surreal combination of electric cello and drums which becomes an instant classic and favorite from the very first listen.
The album does the impossible task of driving the attention towards the many characters present within the film and providing an equal attention and devotion towards their respective themes.
Recommended tracks – Beautiful Lie, Their War Here, Day of the Dead, New Rules, Do You Bleed?, Is She With You? and This Is My World.
2. Dark Phoenix
Following the release of the aforementioned album, Zimmer (to the dismay of many fans) stated that he was going to retire from composing the superhero genre, citing a lack of creativity and exhaustion from being involved with the genre for so long.
All that changed when the composer changed gears and announced that he would be involved with the latest X-Men installment.
Zimmer’s involvement with the film proved to be a great choice, as he not only elevates the quality of the film, but creates the most memorable soundscape for an X-Men film.
Zimmer eschews previous musical material from the series and composes entirely fresh music, including a main X-Men theme that effortlessly stays in your memory, and one that continuously builds up as the score progresses.
While the score mostly relies on fast-paced instrumentation, it is the Dark Phoenix theme that is another highlight of the score – a slow, rumbling piece with piano and choral elements that can only be described as hauntingly beautiful.
Recommended tracks – Gap, Dark, Frameshift, Intimate, Negative, Reckless and X-SS.
1. Man of Steel
2013 saw Zimmer moving from one DC character to the next in Zack Snyder’s Superman reboot, for a score that is not only his best superhero film work, but one of his most beloved albums of his career.
Weaving in and out of ethereal, choral and ambient tracks to energetic and positively overwhelming music, Zimmer more than encapsulates what it means to be Superman.
The composer makes the most out of drums, highlighting the instruments predominantly during action scenes, and lend the score an intense and epic quality, combined with the punctuation of a low brooding synthesizer.
The remainder of the score comprises of slow, soothing, piano tunes, combined with vocals and violins to highlight Superman’s heroic journey throughout the film.
Speaking of heroic, Zimmer’s new theme for Superman is swells of wonder, bursting with awe and hope, becoming instantly memorable in it’s own right, and rightfully earning a place beside the classic theme by John Williams.
Recommended tracks – Look to the Stars, DNA, Krypton’s Last, Terraforming, You Die Or I Do, Launch, Flight and What Are You Going To Do When You Are Not Saving The World?
Texts of A Pop Culture Buff 