Top 15 Favorite Superhero/Comic Book Movies
The superhero/comic book movie genre is my personal favorite genre of film. It might be the most successful movie genre of all time. And one of the most beloved and popular. So today is the 2 year anniversary of the highest grossing comic book movie of all time, Avengers Endgame. So it seems like a great day to share my 15 favorite superhero/comic book movies of all time.
15. X-Men: Days of Future Past: This is my favorite of the X-Men movies of all time, and in my opinion it has a hard time being beat. What I love about this movie, is the scope and epic feel about this movie. It’s easily the biggest of the X-Men, and you feel the weight of that as you watch this movie. It’s a time travel adventure that swaps between the present and the past. There is so much going on, but it never feels over stuffed with too much going on. I think James McAvoy gives his best performance as Professor X, and Michael Fassbender is also pretty great. (I also love his costume in this movie). The Quicksilver sequence at the pentagon is fantastic and one of the best sequences in any of the X-Men movies. It has some nice touches of humor, and some nice emotional weight in the back half of this movie. So put the pieces together, this is one of the best comic book movies of all time.
14. Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of one Harley Quinn: It’s funny that this movie is next to Days of Future Past, because these two movies are complete opposites when it comes to the scope of the movies. This is a much smaller crime film set in the DCEU, and I like that we got a smaller scale movie in a universe that has these big bombastic movies. The action scenes are great, I like the fact that it’s practical and not a bunch of CGI. Behind the scene videos show Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn) actually doing these fight scenes. Speaking of Margot Robbie, I think she is so great as the Harley Quinn character. This movie allows the audience to see the more human side of this odd and weird character. The scene stealer is the brilliant Ewan McGregor as Black Mask, who is despicable but has this odd likeable charm about him. So, I know a lot of people don’t love this movie as much as I do, but I truly think it’s one of the best of it’s genre and franchise.
13. Thor Ragnarok: This might just be the most fun MCU movie. Where there are like 5-10 jokes every minute. There’s always something happening on screen to keep you entertained, not for one second am I bored while watching this movie. This is the funniest MCU movie, the rate per minute the jokes are dropping are insane. It’s so vibrant with it’s score and colors, that it is also the most colorful MCU movie. The style that Takia Waititi brings to this movie is so infectious, and I’m very excited he is coming back for Thor Love and Thunder. Chris Hemsworth and the rest of the cast are up for the challenge of making this fun and vibrant movie. While it is a very energetic movie, it also had some nice emotional moments in the beginning, middle, and end of the movie. It sets up Infinity War really nicely with it’s post credit scenes. So easily, this movie had to make the list.
12. Batman Begins: This is the ultimate and the best Batman origin story of all time. It spends almost half of the movie telling Bruce Wayne’s origin story of the death of his parents, training, and returning to Gotham. Christopher Nolan crafted a near perfect origin story for this character. Some other Batman movies rush past the origin story but this movie takes it’s time to tell it’s story. Hans Zimmer's score is fantastic (it’s fantastic in the entire trilogy), and fills in the gaps of the movie. This was the movie that made Christian Bale this a-list movie start of the last 16 years, and he is my favorite Batman of all time. He plays both Bruce Wayne and Batman really well. Liam Nesson is great as the mentor in the first half, and the villain in the second half. The performances by legendary actors Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman, add some nice touches of humor to the mix. Put the pieces together, and you get a fantastic movie.
11. The Dark Knight Rises: The third movie in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, is a fantastic ending to a fantastic trilogy. This is one of the most epic feeling comic book movies of all time, the story spans months and you feel the passage of time all through-out this movie. The Gotham’s Reckoning music in this movie is one of my favorite pieces of music in a movie. Tom Hardy is great as Bane, and Hardy is only like 5’9 but they make him feel like the biggest guy in the room. The final battle is in my opinion the greatest third act in any DC movie, and one of my favorites in any movie ever. The music mixed with the wide shots of Batman flying around the city is so great. And the final 5 minutes of this movie are so emotional and a great book end to this trilogy. I know a lot of people think this is a good but not movie. But I have always loved the way Christopher Nolan closed out this trilogy.
10. Guardians of the Galaxy: I think this movie wins the award for the most surprising movie inside of the MCU. A movie starring the chubby side character from Parks and Rec, alongside a talking tree and raccoon played by the Hangover and Fast and Furious guy, and a wrestler doesn’t sound like a good movie. But James Gunn, Kevin Feige, and the others at Marvel proved us wrong. The characters are so fun and likeable and you instantly want to see more of them, and become these fan favorites. So much so, they have their own ride at Disneyland. This movie has a great soundtrack filled with catchy, memorable, and great songs. But it is also one of the funniest and most heartfelt movies in the MCU. Each of our Guardians get this arc and they are different people at the end of the movie then they were at the beginning of the movie. Mix everything together and this is one of the best MCU movies.
9. Zack Snyder’s Justice League: I wasn’t expecting this movie to be in my top 10 favorite comic book/superhero movies of all time. Because I really like Man of Steel, and I think BVS (Batman v Superman) is fine, so going into this movie, I didn’t really know where I was going to fall. But obviously, I loved this movie. We finally got a truly epic Justice League story that makes you feel the weight of everything that is happening. It feels like a natural continuation of where BVS ended, and where the 2017 movie didn’t feel that as much. They make Cyborg and The Flash much better characters and give them deeper and richer character arcs. This movie also sets up two ways I would like Zack Snyder to take a sequel to this movie. One final thing, this movie made me like BVS a lot more, this movie deserves credits for that reason as well. So I absolutely loved this movie, and thought that it worked on almost every level it was going for.
8. The Avengers: The MCU’s version of a group of superheroes teaming up to defeat an alien invasion. And in my opinion, Joss Whedon and Marvel did it just a little bit better than Zack Snyder and DC. It’s just a lot of fun to see these characters that they established in phase 1 come together to defeat Loki and the Chitari. So much of this movie works because of the banter amongst the Avengers, and the fact that Joss Whedon writes really funny dialogue for his movies and tv shows. The third, Battle of New York is one of the most fun and epic final battles in comic book movie history. Every hero gets a moment in the spotlight to shine. And this movie is such an important piece of the MCU, because if this movie didn’t work as well as it did. We might not have gotten Infinity War or Endgame. So I love this movie and have loved this movie ever since I took my mom to see this on mother’s day...she wasn’t interested in this movie. But I was!
7. Captain America: The Winter Soldier: This is a movie that I have learned to appreciate and love over the years. It used to be 2-3 spots lower on my MCU movies ranking. But I think this is easily top 5 favorite MCU movie, and my 7th favorite comic book movie of all time. They crafted this political spy thriller that has a bunch of twists and turns all through-out the movie. The Winter Soldier himself is a great and mysterious villain that has emotional connections to our hero. This movie changed the future of the MCU, with the big twist involving SHIELD. The Russo Brothers are pretty great with the action, and all of the action in this movie is fantastic. Whether it’s Cap fighting agents in an elevator or the shoot-out on the highway, it’s all exciting to watch. It’s also just a movie that has some emotional weight in the third act of this movie, with Cap and Winter Soldier going head to head in an epic showdown. Put the tone, twists, action, and characters, and emotions together you get a beloved MCU movie.
6. The Incredibles: I love this movie, I have some much nostalgia for this movie. I’ve watched this movie more than I have fingers. I love superhero movies and Pixar, so this is a movie that is targeted for me. Once again, the action in this movie is pretty fantastic. It’s some of the best action in an animated movie. It’s so vibrant and you can see everything that is going on in these sequences. This movie is led by a fantastic set of characters that have a different personality and a different set of powers that make them unique. But these characters have INCREDIBLE powers, but they just want to live a normal life. It’s also such a quotable movie, I’ve quoted this movie so much and I always enjoy doing it. The score by Michael Giacchino is one of the bet movie scores of all time, it has a Mission Impossible vibe about it. This isn’t just one of the best superhero movies of all time, it’s not one of the best animated movies of all time, it’s just one of the best MOVIES of all time.
5. Captain America: Civil War: The third movie in the Captain America trilogy, or Avengers 2.5 could have come to have a feeling like fan fiction. They could have come with the easiest way for our heroes to fight and lazy character arcs. But they didn’t, they built the tension between Steve and Tony through-out phase 2, and their different world views are what cause them to fight. The government wants to take over The Avengers, Tony has made mistakes so he feels like he needs to be controlled. But Steve saw what happened to SHIELD and doesn’t trust the government. All along the way you get fantastic comic book action. The airport sequence is easily one of the best action sequences in any comic book movie ever, it’s so much seeing our Avengers fight each other. The ending of the movie might not be the biggest, but it is definitely the one that has the most heart in it. The new characters with Spider-Man and Black Panther are nice additions to the movie. I still remember sitting in the theater opening night watching this movie, and just having the biggest smile on my face. And every time I watch it, I still have a big smile on my face.
4. Joker: When the first announced that they were making a Joker stand alone movie, without Batman. I thought they were joking (see what I did there?), but the first trailer dropped and I saw what they were going for. They wanted to make a deep and rich character study of Arthur Flick. We keep on seeing society treat him badly and this causes him to go darker and darker with every action, and we as the audience know this ends up. So throughout this movie, is a sense of forward momentum and a ticking clock, and waiting for him to snap. At the 2020 Oscars, this movie won two Oscars and I’m so happy that it won for best actor and best original score. Joaquin Phoenix gives one of my top 5 favorite movie performances of all time, you buy him as the broken man at the beginning, and as the man with every second he is getting crazier and crazier. The score for this movie gives you the chills and freaks you out. This is a movie that is so different from other movies in it’s genre, but it 100% works.
3. Avengers: Infinity War: Another movie that could have come off like fan service. But Kevin Feige had a plan, and with every movie he built another layer to his plan. And the plan pays off with this epic 2 ½ hour long movie. The movie balances the tone of everything so well it can be heartbreaking at points but also be pretty funny as well. The interactions between Thor and the Guardians and Iron Man and Doctor Strange are so much fun and funny. But what I think this movie did really well, is focus the story on Thanos. Since all of our heroes were already established, Thanos was the new character being introduced. And they give him the most screen time of the movie. You understand why he is doing what he is doing, might not do it the best though. But you feel for him, and you can feel sorry for him at points in time. This is also a movie that has one of if not the best cliffhanger ending to a movie. Put all of the ingredients together, and you get a truly epic movie.
2. The Dark Knight: I re-watched this movie back in October 2020, and ever since then, I’ve been going back and forth in my mind with my number 1. (You already know what it is). But this is truly one of the great superhero movies and movies of all time. It’s so excellently crafted from beginning to end, you feel the danger of this force of chaos around Gotham. Similar to how Joker took inspiration from Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy. Christopher Nolan took inspirations from crime thrillers, and crafted a perfect crime thriller. You also have to talk about the performance all around. Everybody in these movies gives these amazing performances that captivate you. You can not talk about this movie without talking about the legendary Heath Ledger’s legendary performance. Mr. Ledger just disappears and all you see is the Joker. Aaron Eckhart gives another great performance as Harvery Dent, and I think he gets under looked because Ledger dominates. Christian Bale continues to be great as Batman. So like I said, I strongly debated putting this movie at number 1.
1. Avengers Endgame: I think the reason why I ended up going with this movie. Is the fact that this movie means so much to me. I was sitting there Thursday April 25th, 2019 (feels like a decade ago), and I even had a big smile on my face before the movie started. And then the movie happened, and it was epic and awesome. Without question, this is my favorite experience that I have had in a movie theater, when the portals started to open, everybody in the theater started freaking out. Captain America picking up a weapon, once again got everybody freaked out with excitement. While it has a lot of entertainment and fan service moments, this is also a super emotional movie. The deaths of two of our Avengers are so heartbreaking but also a satisfying end to their character arcs. Even as I’m writing about it, I have a big smile on my face and getting goosebumps just thinking or talking about the theater experience. While The Dark Knight is probably the better made movie, Avengers Endgame is my favorite movie of all time.
There you have it, my 15 favorite superhero/comic book movies of all time. What are some of your favorites? Also, in about a week I’m going to be sharing my 10 least favorite superhero/comic book movies of all time. Thanks for reading!
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