The 12 Best Superhero Movies

The industry has been eerily quiet in the days leading up to the Oscars. So, how about another list?

As contrarian as I might be about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, one cannot deny the sheer ambition of the whole thing. A big chunk of the hate mail I get is for my criticism of Superhero movies. What people don’t seem to get is that I actually like quite a handful of them … Even grouchy old Francis Ford Coppola recently admitted that he enjoyed “Deadpool.”

Coppola: "I liked Deadpool, I thought that was amazing,"

Fact of the matter is that of the 30-odd Marvel movies released since Jon Favreau’s “Iron Man” in 2008, there have been some diamonds in the ruff. Whether you like them or not, these movies are groundbreaking in the way they utilized state-of-the-art special effects.

The storytelling isn’t bad either. No matter how compromised the vision is (here’s looking at you Chloe Zhao) I have to admit that the breath and scope of the MCU was incredibly well thought-out. However, this list goes beyond just the MCU.

I’ve chosen twelve titles that I found to be absolutely worth watching. They never sacrificed storytelling for special effects and were their own wholly unique vision. I haven’t limited it to just Marvel movies.

The Dark Knight Trilogy
Spider-Man 2
Logan
Captain America: Winter Soldier
Avengers: Endgame
Iron Man
X2: X-Men United
Thor: Ragnarok
Captain America: Civil War
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 & 2
Iron Man 3
Kick-Ass
Unbreakable

It has to be Nolan’s trilogy at #1. What a game changer it was for the genre. Many have evoked the films as a post 9/11 depiction of a world gone to hell — trying to inflict evil to get rid of evil itself. This was Nolan’s dark, and twisted take on a misunderstood superhero and the crowning movie event of the superhero genre.

Also, should “Joker” count? There are no “superheroes” in it.

Notice how most of these are from talented filmmakers; Nolan, Raimi, Mangold, Gunn, Black … it goes to show that, despite massive studio intervention, you can still make an “auteur” movie out of this genre.

I’m also limiting it to just 21st century movies. When X-Men was released in 2000, it kickstarted the superhero trend. Pre-2000 we had a few strong ones like Tim Burton’s “Batman” and Richard Donner’s “Superman II.”

You’re also probably wondering “Iron Man 3??!” I loved Shane Black’s take on the MCU. It’s also one of the best Christmas movies of recent years. If “Iron Man 2” was a total and utter disappointment, the third instalment felt very fresh. Its screenplay was written in a way that went against the grain we were used to with MCU movies.

A film that never took itself too seriously, “Iron Man 3” was the litmus test for the sillier MCU movies to come such as “Thor: Ragnarok,” “Deadpool” and “Guardians of the Galaxy.”