In 2009, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences expanded on a tradition that it had in place since 1927. It increased the number of potential Best Picture nominations from the normal five to a potential maximum of 10. It was a move to inject more blockbusters into the Oscar mix and to give movies like Avatar, Inception, and Toy Story 3 the recognition of Best Picture that they deserved. But in essence, this was The Dark Knight rule. This 2008 film most incredible superhero movie ever made, was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won two (Best Supporting Actor – Heath Ledger, Best Achievement in Sound Editing). Still, it failed to earn a Best Picture nomination. While 2008 produced five excellent Best Picture nominations (Slumdog Millionaire, Milk, The Reader, Frost/Nixon, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), it still felt like The Dark Knight belonged, either in addition to one of these five or as a replacement. And the Academy changed its rules after that year. Instead of the top five vote earners being selected as the nominees, if a movie received a certain threshold of votes, it would be nominated for Best Picture (up to 10 nominations). I don’t believe we’ve had 10 movies selected yet in the last decade, but we have had nine on multiple occasions. This year there were eight. And while the last decade resulted in many movies earning a Best Picture nomination that they wouldn’t have received before the rule change, the first superhero to benefit from The Dark Knight rule was Ryan Cogler’s (Fruitvale Station, Creed), Black Panther, a film that made history by becoming the first-ever superhero to receive a Best Picture nomination.

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