Top 10 Best Comic Book Superhero Movies
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At the turn of the century, you could probably count the best comic-book superhero movies in one hand. It's no secret that the quality of these movies has improved dramatically in the 21st century - so much so that picking the top 10 for this genre is actually a pretty daunting task.
We do our best with this list to pick out the elite amongst the superhero comic-book movie genre. As always with our Top 10 Verdicts, this is a dynamic page and will be updated periodically with new releases (if they're worthy of a top 10 slot).
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So, without further ado, here is our list of the Top 10 Best Comic Book Superhero Movies.
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Superman had largely been in a state of limbo since the Christopher Reeve version of the character left a void in the lives of the fans of this iconic character.
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Zack Snyder entered the fray in an attempt to bring fresh new life into the character for the modern day audience. What we got was a more edgy and hard hitting version of Superman, the likes which had never been seen before on the cinema screen. Henry Cavill did this version of Superman a lot of justice with his performance, and is definitely a legit candidate in the debate about who portrayed the best version of Superman.
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Unfortunately there were some decisions that Supes takes in the movie that some may argue weren't faithful to the original character. It could be said that some things in the movie worked really well (including the extraoridnary score from Hanz Zimmer), while other things didn't come across as well as Snyder would've hoped.
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Ultimately, we did get a brand new 'cool' version of Superman that audiences could get behind. The movie itself was a blast to watch as well on the most part, with a decent story line and action sequences that demonstrate the true power of this pop culture icon.
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It's no secret that Batman is Warner Bros. and DC's crown jewel at this stage. You can always rely on the Caped Crusader to bring in the dollars at the box office - fans just can't seem to get enough of the Dark Knight.
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It's important to remember, however, that this wasn't the case prior to the powers that be taking a chance with Christopher Nolan's vision for Batman Begins.
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After the disappointing iterations of the character by the end of the 90's, fans were completely turned off by the idea of another Batman movie.
Nolan arrived almost a decade later and delivered a more grounded take on Batman, demonstrating how a character like that could exist in the real world. Christian Bale deserves plaudits as well for bringing a sense of legitimacy to Bruce Wayne and his alter ego with his acting chops. Working in tandem, these two peaked the interest of the fans of this beloved character once again. The rest as they say is history.
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Bear in mind that we can only list the top 10 comic book movies here. Although all of the different Avengers movies have their merits, we've gone for the one that we think represents the most. Enter Avengers: Endgame.
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This movie is the culmination of 10 years of stringent planning and hard work. What the Russo brothers achieved with this movie is nothing short of phenomenal. All the characters we'd gotten to know and love over the last decade in the different MCU projects had a part to play and remained relevant in some way shape or form in the ultimate battle between good and evil.
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The movie comes full circle in the end and gives emotional send offs to fan favourites Iron Man and Captain America, setting the stage for a new generation of heroes to take the franchise forward.
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Many people attribute the renaissance of superhero movies (after Reeve's Superman era and possibly Burton's Batman) to the X-Men movies. Let's not forget what a breath of fresh air Blade was on it's release.
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Blade was released a couple of years before the X-Men franchise started. Up to that point, you'd be hard pressed to find an R-Rated, gory, in your face comic-book blockbuster in the way that this movie went about it all. What you got in the end was a satisfying blood bath of an action movie that hit all the right notes, and remained faithful to the source material.
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Wesley Snipes was absolutely perfect for the role, and to this day he is best known for bringing the half man/half vampire to life on our screens.
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Wonder Woman is one of the few comic book movies with a female lead and director. A combination which yielded phenomenal results.
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This movie performed very well at the box office and was also well received by critics. Patty Jenkins directed the film and adds a touch of elegance and finesse to the film that is no easy feat. Combine this with Gal Gadot's bold, humorous and dedicated performance as Wonder Woman and you truly have a gem of a superhero movie in your hands.
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We've included this movie in our list as it broke through barriers and proved that with the right casting and direction, any superhero movie can be successful irrespective of the gender of the stars and directors involved.
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Iron Man stars Robert Downie Jr. in the titular role. Downie was perfectly cast for the job and was able to expertly bring the right amount of wit, confidence and sarcasm you'd expect from a playboy billionaire like Tony Stark.
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We've placed Iron Man at the higher end of our rankings because it's the movie that started it all for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It brought eyes on Marvel's 10 year vision in exactly the way it was supposed to.
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What followed was a decade long project which culminated with what can only be described as a movie event of a lifetime with Avengers: Endgame.
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None of that would be possible without the original Iron Man movie paving the way.
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Spider-Man 2 became an immediate smash hit with audiences when it was released.
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The movie presents to viewers a quintessential character study of what it would be like to be a superhero and carry the weight of the world on one's shoulders. Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker struggles with the idea of being everyone's saviour at the expense of watching the love of his life marry somebody else.
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At the same time, Parker's mentor is driven mad by his work - eventually turning into 'Dr Octopus' and becoming a problem that Spider-Man has to deal with.
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To compound our hero's problems further, his best friend resents Spider-Man and blames the web head for the death of his father in the first movie.
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Each of these conflicts are interwoven into the story seamlessly and the end result is a coherent, fun and extremely entertaining superhero movie.
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Logan hit our screens after almost two decades of Hugh Jackman playing the very popular Wolverine character.
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This movie, however, separates itself completely from the X-Men franchise we've all become so familiar with. The movie doesn't even refer to Jackman's character as Wolverine, nor does it mention the X-Men.
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The point of this movie is very simple - to give a purposeful and meaningful farewall to Jackman's version of Wolverine in a way that makes sense for the character on an emotional level. And that's the key - Logan is a very emotive movie that can suck you in completely in ways that other superhero movies rarely even endeavour to do. Interestingly, Logan is the first ever comic book movie to be nominated for a screenplay Oscar.
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Superman: The Movie is the 'grandaddy' of them all. Just like the original Superman comics paved the way for every other superhero comic that succeeded it, the Superman movie did exactly the same thing for all superhero movies that came after.
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In 1978, Christopher Reeve donned the iconic red cape. They told us he'd make us believe a man could fly, and boy did he ever. Reeve is arguably still the best Superman to date and his influence on the genre cannot be understated.
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The narrative and formula of the movie may be a little dated for some of the younger fans of the genre, but the impact of the 'OG' of superhero movies is not to be scoffed at.
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The Dark Knight is our number one pick, which I'm sure won't be a shocker to a lot of folks.
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A phenomenal movie in many respects, not least because of Heath Ledger's disturbing and powerful performance as the infamous Joker. Ledger was awarded a posthumous Oscar for his efforts, and rightly so.
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Not only does this movie work as an excellent comic book superhero movie, but it is is also a fantastic suspense movie/crime thriller.
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The Dark Knight set the standards for many comic-book movies that succeeded it. A lot of movies attempted to adopt the same dark formula in search of similar success, but to little avail.
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Never before had a comic book movie captivated a global audience in the way The Dark Knight did, and it will take some doing to topple this masterpiece from the top of our list. No doubt the greatest superhero comic-book movie of all time.
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Do you agree with our list of the Top 10 Best Comic Book Superhero Movies? Let us know in the comments below.
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