By my math, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is the 45th officially licensed video game in history about Batman. That represents just over 40% of all games based on DC Comics characters ever released. When you cut out DC’s next biggest video game star, Superman, and any Justice League-focused games where Superman and Batman are otherwise playable…you’re left with a whole lot of characters sharing one portion of the pie. But Batman and Superman aren’t the only characters to get their own video games. Here are just a few of the most interesting game titles you’ll find outside the context of the World’s Finest.
 

The Flash (1991)

Developer: Equilibrium Inc.
System: Game Boy

A relatively simple side-scrolling black-and-white action game, the Game Boy edition of The Flash is most notable for being the first DC video game not to feature the World’s Finest. Instead, it was based directly on the live action 1990 Flash TV series, featuring the highly pixelated 8-bit likenesses of John Wesley Shipp as Barry Allen and Mark Hamill as the Trickster. (But not Hamill’s voice. Don’t be silly. The first time he’d voice a DC character in a video game would be as the Joker in 1994’s Adventures of Batman & Robin for the Sega CD. A fantastic game, but not one we’re talking about today.)
 

Swamp Thing (1992)

Developer: Imagineering
System: NES, Game Boy

What’s really amazing about the Swamp Thing game is that not only is it one of the first DC video games to not feature Batman or Superman, but that it’s a tie-in to a cartoon series that only ran for five episodes before it was canceled. With roughly four hours of gameplay, it would take you longer to play through this entire game than to binge watch the entire show it’s based on.

Players take a side-scrolling Swamp Thing through the Louisiana swampland to punch and throw sludge balls at Doctor Arcane, his Un-Men and various villains like Skinman and Weedkiller featured in only one episode of the show and the toy line it also spawned.
 

Sgt. Rock: On the Frontline (2000)

Developer: Altron
System: Game Boy Color

Perhaps the unlikeliest DC hero on this list, gaming aficionados may be familiar with Taito’s Front Line from 1982 as one of the first overhead shooter games and one of the top ten arcade games released in that year. Sgt. Rock: On the Frontline was born from publisher BAM! Entertainment acquiring a library of Taito’s classic titles and banking on a strategy of leaning on bigger intellectual properties to repackage them. So, for example, Taito’s Elevator Action was reborn as Dexter’s Lab: Robot Rampage, and Taito’s Pop ‘n Pop begat Yogi’s Great Balloon Blast. So, too, did BAM! make a licensing deal to create a new Front Line as a Sgt. Rock title.

Why Sgt. Rock? He certainly wasn’t in any major titles at the time. But in 2000, the character was still coasting on long persistent Hollywood rumors that Arnold Schwarzenegger would be starring in a major Sgt. Rock film that never came to pass. As far as I can figure, BAM! was banking on Arnold pumping Sarge up.
 

Aquaman: Battle for Atlantis (2003)

Developer: Lucky Chicken
System: Xbox, GameCube

What you’ve got to know about the first decade of 3D video games is that unrestricted three-dimensional movement, such as flying, or say, swimming, was a challenge for any developer. And yet, it was one that universally called to everyone. That may be why the two most notoriously difficult to control titles in the history of licensed DC games are generally agreed upon to be Superman for the Nintendo 64 and Aquaman: Battle for Atlantis. It probably didn’t help either that prior to Aquaman, developer Lucky Chicken was most experienced with vehicle-based games like Hot Wheels Stunt Track Driver and BattleTanx. As for publisher TDK Mediactive, they were mostly occupied at the time with—and I promise this is real—Darkened Skye, a fantasy action-adventure game where the magic system was specifically tied to Skittles fruit candies. Talk about a sweet distraction.
 

Catwoman (2004)

Developers: Argonaut Games, Electronic Arts, Magic Pockets
System: Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, Game Boy Advance

With a gameplay system that seemed like it was trying to replicate the feeling of the Tomb Raider series, 2004’s Catwoman featured Halle Berry’s likeness as the film’s own Patience Phillips, more or less following the plot of the movie. (I say more or less because I couldn’t really credit anyone who saw it with following the plot of the movie.) Berry herself, however, remained absent from the video game tie-in. Instead, legendary voice actor Jennifer Hale stepped in to provide her own Berry impression, uncredited.
 

Constantine (2005)

Developers: Bits, SCi
System: Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox

Somewhat better received than Catwoman in the ’00s age of live action movie tie-ins was the Constantine video game, specifically based on the American Constantine of the Keanu Reeves movie. More of a third-person shooter, this game features an array of spells that John can deploy against demons and a crucifix crossbow gun called “The Crucifier” that fires crucifixion nails. Honestly, it’s one of those concepts that’s so ludicrous that it loops back around to being straight-up awesome.
 

Teen Titans (2006)

Developer: Behaviour Interactive
System: PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, Game Boy Advance

There have been a few video games released over the years based on the Teen Titans cartoon and its successor Teen Titans Go!, but none more interesting than the first. The original Teen Titans game featured both a beat-‘em-up story mode, a robust versus mode with 32 playable characters and a surprisingly metafictional plot where the team, after struggling to overcome one unlikely scenario after another, ultimately discover that the person controlling their destiny is in fact you, the player. Ultimately, the choice is yours: if you really want to give the Titans their freedom, all you have to do to let them go back to their lives is stop playing the game.
 

Watchmen: The End is Nigh (2009)

Developer: Deadline Games
System: Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

This side-scrolling beat-’em-up game features an original story taking place before Watchmen (and also before Before Watchmen—which looks like a typo, but should make sense to about half of you). Set during the salad years of Rorschach and Nite Owl’s crimefighting tenure, this ’70s-set campaign takes two of Watchmen’s lead heroes through events only hinted at in the original text, like the Comedian’s role in covering up the Watergate scandal and Nite Owl’s encounter with the Twilight Lady. Most notably, this game features a rudimentary flowing combat system reminiscent of the one that would be made famous a few years later by the Batman: Arkham games, and a story co-written by Len Wein, editor of the original Watchmen series.
 

Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters (2011)

Developer: Double Helix Games, Griptonite Games
System: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, iOS

Play this one if you want to return to the time where it was thought that the Ryan Reynolds Green Lantern movie could be the start of a new cinematic universe. Unlike the video game movie tie-ins in DC’s past, this one actually featured the film’s star reprising his role for the game, which served as a direct sequel to the events of the movie. Different versions of the game for various systems featured different styles of gameplay, but introduced important elements like the Manhunters and the Zamarons, and a surprise twist villain in Abin Sur’s son, Amon Sur.
 

Gotham City Impostors (2012)

Developer: Monolith Productions
System: Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

This multiplayer exclusive game technically features a team of characters cosplaying as Batman fighting a team of characters cosplaying as the Joker. So, while you’re not technically playing Batman, you are playing someone who is, themselves, playing Batman. On those grounds, we’re moving on…but it still counts.
 

The Wolf Among Us (2013)

Developer: Telltale Games
System: Windows, Mac, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360, Xbox One, iOS

The first and, to date, only video game to feature an original DC Vertigo protagonist, the noir-like The Wolf Among Us takes the player on a detective case through the world of Fables as sheriff Bigby Wolf—known to his enemies as the Big Bad Wolf. Along with Telltale’s earlier The Walking Dead series, The Wolf Among Us is most notable as one of the games which defined the developer’s signature narrative style, with a dynamic story informed moment to moment by the player’s choices. Just be careful that you know what you’re doing when the game prompts you to “glass him.”
 

Young Justice: Legacy (2013)

Developer: Little Orbit
System: Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS

This overhead action-adventure game with a cast of twelve playable characters configurable into an active team of three is a must-have for fans of the Young Justice animated series. Why? Because the game functionally serves as a lost season. Set between the first season of Young Justice and Young Justice: Invasion, and written by showrunners Greg Weisman and Brandon Vietti, Legacy features vital story beats the show never lets you see—especially in respect to the development of the series’ own Aqualad, Kaldur’ahm. If you’ve ever wanted to know what happened to Tula, or how Kaldur actually found out that Black Manta was his father, you’ll only find the story in this game.
 

DC Super Hero Girls: Teen Power (2021)

Developer: Toybox
System: Nintendo Switch

Certain ephemeral mobile games aside, the most significant thing about this beat-’em-up game featuring the principal cast of Lauren Faust’s DC Super Hero Girls series is that it’s the most notable game to date featuring Wonder Woman as a playable character…without also including Batman or Superman. It’s also pretty fun and cute, with a graphic style that effortlessly invokes Faust’s signature style. If you’re a fan of the DC LEGO games, you’ll probably enjoy this one too!
 

DC League of Super-Pets: The Adventures of Krypto and Ace (2022)

Developer: PHL Collective
System: Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, Nintendo Switch

Not a particularly robust title, but it is one where instead of playing as Batman or Superman, you play as their dogs. Based on the animated movie with the Rock and Kevin Hart.
 

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League (2024)

Developer: Rocksteady Studios
System: Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X

Yes, this one counts, since you not only don’t play as Batman or Superman, but you actually have to kill Batman and Superman. Or, like, clones of them? The stories in the DLC campaigns get pretty twisty. If you haven’t played it, this is a “looter shooter” game where the core gameplay mechanic revolves around finding and then loading out a wide variety of upgrades for your weaponry to make yourself more powerful, until you’re ultimately strong enough to…well, Kill the Justice League.
 

LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight—which, yes, features a whole lot of Batman, but also many other DC characters—is now available for Playstation 5, Xbox X|S and PC.

Alex Jaffe is the author of our monthly "Ask the Question" column and writes about TV, movies, comics and superhero history for DC.com. Follow him on Bluesky at @AlexJaffe and find him in the DC Official Discord server as HubCityQuestion.

NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in this feature are solely those of Alex Jaffe and do not necessarily reflect those of DC or Warner Bros. Discovery, nor should they be read as confirmation or denial of future DC plans.