Top 10 Superhero Movies of All Time
Illustration by Matt Cooley. Photographs in Illustration; 20th Century Studios/Everett; Warner Bros/Everett; Pixar/Disney; Clay Enos/Warner Bros; Sony Pictures/Everett Collection; Marvel Studios; Everett Collection; 20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios; Warner Bros/Everett Collection
It is a tall task to try to whittle down the oversaturated superhero movie market to find the best of the best. Even attempting a top 10 MCU movie list would be near impossible. A top 10 superhero movie ever made list? Some would may say its daring; Others would say that it is brave: But most?
Most would say that it is stupid. And most people would be correct. There is no possible way to successfully incorporate everyone’s favorites. Nobody reading this will leave this article feeling happy about where their favorites ranked and that all of the choices made here today were the correct ones. But here’s the thing, I’m not writing this article to make friends. I’m not writing this article to gain followers and views. I’m not even writing this to make myself happy. I’m writing this article to be right.
This is THE top 10 best superhero films ever. This isn’t a debate, It isn’t a discussion, it’s merely fact. I dissected every superhero film and regurgitated them into the inarguable correct order. I meticulously crafted outlined, rewatched, and revised this article incredulously to make sure that I had crafted THE LIST. This is the Holy Grail of superhero film rankings and your eyes are lucky to be blessed by it. Who knows maybe one day we will rank the top 100 super hero movies of all time. But for now, enjoy the tasty morsel that is the Top 10 Super Hero Movies of All Time.
#10 SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME
DISNEY
Look, I’ve got to confess something here to you all. I’m actually not sure that No Way Home deserves this spot. This spot had Deadpool’s name written all over it to me. But I chose the coward’s way out. In order to avoid getting tomatoes thrown at me, my house doxxed, and death threats made towards me, I chose to give Spider-Man: No Way Home this spot.
Okay, while that is a joke, for a long time I did not have this movie in the Top 10. Throughout my time creating this list, it started low and, through each rewatch, it got higher
and higher. I ended up with a dead heat between this movie and Deadpool for the tenth spot. I contemplated a few options to solve this problem. I considered giving them a tie, which felt like too much of a cop-out. I considered doing a Top 11 list, but none of you would take me seriously if we released a Top 11 List, and I also considered flipping a coin. And Peter Parker should count his lucky blessings that a head popped up (Ha, gotcha.)
What actually tipped the scales to Spidey was that this movie is an event. When this movie was released, I couldn’t go an hour without someone asking if I’d seen Spider-Man yet and when they had or were going to see it. People were dying to talk to each other about it because it was a groundbreaking movie. It took three Spider-Men and put them all in the same world for us to enjoy. And damn it, it was fun.
The thing that holds back this movie for me is the ending. While I know Spidey will return and a lot of my issues may be solved, it was a sucky ending to a great film. Why work all the way up to him getting the girl just for her to forget you? How can you leave Spider-Man without his friend Ned? How can all attachments to his Avengers friends have no clue who he really is? It’s a jarring ending that rendered all of Peter Parker’s growth throughout his trilogy meaningless.
#9 CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR
DISNEY
This movie came during the peak of MCU mania. It’s a movie that gave us some of the most amazing superhero movie moments of all time. It introduced Spider-Man. It turned Ant Man Giant. It gave us Iron Man vs Captain America and forced us to pick a side (Iron Man was right). But more importantly, it was just a whole lot of fun. It was a popcorn and soda film through and through, and honestly, at its core, that’s what a superhero film is meant to be. That doesn’t mean all of the films that follow will be just dumb fun, but this film was, and it was absolutely glorious.
There has never been and will never be a better introduction to the MCU or any other comic book film than Tom Holland’s Spider-Man in this film. Every single line he delivered laid out the character we know today. Charming, witty, and joyous, Tom Holland showed us in this movie what a true Spider-Man looks like. But he wasn’t the only one who got a chance to shine; in fact, this movie had satisfying moments at every turn. But of course, none can compete with the magic of the Airport Scene.
So why does it only fit in at 9th if I’ve hyped it up this much? Simple. The big bad guy is forgettable if not downright boring. Baron Zemo, and yes, of course, I looked it up—you would too, don’t lie—is irrelevant to this ranking. In fact, the ranking is in spite of him as the big bad. He is a hindrance to the movie and does not really fit with the whole of the story. Why not scrap him totally and make the entire movie Iron Man vs Captain America? Could you imagine a higher stakes bigger fight in the vein of the Airport Scene? A movie like that is an inarguable number 1 movie on this list. Instead, we will just have to settle for this 9th place movie.
#8 GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY: VOL 3
DISNEY
Call it recency bias or whatever else you want to try to deny its place in the rankings, but Volume 3 is the 8th best comic book movie ever made. It’s a movie that I went into for the first time not expecting much. Guardians of the Galaxy 2 was meh, and while Guardians of the Galaxy was a great movie, it was almost 9 years old. So my expectations were low, but even high expectations wouldn’t have been able to predict the waves of emotions I felt at the theater for this movie. Rocket’s background was a tragic look-in at perhaps the most heartbreaking backstory in the entire MCU.
Director James Gunn put his emotions to the pen in this story, and it shows. In a lot of ways, the emotion in this film mirrors the end of the Guardians of the Galaxy as we know it and, more specifically, the end of James Gunn’s time working for the House of Mouse. While we look back to the best with a warm and joyful reflection of Gunn’s work, we can also look
forward with anticipation to his next endeavor, a new (and hopefully way more successful) DC Universe.
This story did a great deal to wrap up each Guardian’s story in a successful way. It even did the seemingly unthinkable and redeemed Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord after the whole Thanos debacle. It gave Rocket a family he’s been searching for and gave Nebula and Gamora their own new families as well. While family has and always will be the theme of the Guardians, it does leave a stinging feeling in your heart at the end of the movie when you realize the family we love on the screen won’t be there anymore. But there’s a saying that fits nowhere greater than here: “It is better to love and lose than to never have loved at all.” We are Groot.
#7 JOKER
WARNER BROS
Finally, we escape the perpetual hell that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Kidding, kidding. Their movies are great; it’s just a little repetitive.) But in all seriousness, it’s nice to have a representative of the DCEU. Oh wait, it isn’t part of the DCEU? Because there’s a different Joker played by Jared Leto running around somewhere? And Batman is played by both Robert Pattinson and Ben Affleck? And neither of them exist in this Joker world? Well jeez, I can’t imagine why the DCEU failed… Anyway, back to the movie in front of us.
As a character, the Joker has always been to me an outlandish caricature of a villain. He has never been scary, as I’ve never been able to relate to him or understand why he is who he is. Even Heath Ledger’s Joker never felt particularly real or alarming to me because I didn’t understand him. (Pipe down, his performance is still awesome, and his movie is coming up, relax.) But this movie would be better explained if the title read Arthur Fleck. Because this isn’t a Joker story; it’s a story of Arthur Fleck and his battle with himself, society, and the transformation that takes place inside of him.
I debated even putting this film on the list because, while on the surface, it has the name of a comic book character, on the inside it’s truly a look at society and the monsters that can live inside of us. It’s not a movie you look to rewatch a bunch of times—once is enough. But it’s a movie that you will go to sleep thinking about for months afterward. Joaquin Phoenix will have you questioning whether he’s the bad guy, or if society is the bad guy. This movie not only finds you understanding the bad guy but empathizing with him. Depending on your view of society and how much you can relate to his experiences, you may even find yourself rooting for him. It’s a shudder-inducing movie that brings concerns about our society and the human condition to the forefront of your mind. Joker will transform how you see the world and make you reconsider your treatment of others.
#6 IRONMAN
DISNEY
Here it is, the granddaddy of them all. The one that brought to life the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But this movie isn’t just on here because it was a launching pad for other movies, instead it’s on here because its a damn good film and deserves to be. When Iron Man released in 2008 nobody had any idea what to expect. Superhero films were on the top end entertaining but flawed and on the bottom end wholly unwatchable. But one thing it never had been was lasting. Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man films had just wrapped up the year before. They had a 3 movie arc and closed up shop, which is just how movies used to operate. Star Wars? 3 film arc. Back to the Future? 3 film arc. Indiana Jones? 3 film arc (plus the extras I guess but it still counts.) Iron Man brought something new with it, whether it new it at the time or not. It brought a world, a lasting world with intertwining heroes and villains, movies and television, and managed to make it all work. But again this isn’t 10 Most Important Superhero Movies of All Time it’s the 10 Best Superhero Movies of All Time so we need to look at why Iron Man itself was great.
Iron Man is a comic book character that didn’t have the household name of a Batman, Superman or Spider-Man. Sure if you read comics or watched a lot of animated superhero shows you knew who Iron Man was. But it still seemed like a strange choice for a full-length movie at the time (Nowadays I wouldn’t be surprised by a Cosmo the Space Dog movie, oh how quickly things change.) Robert Downey Jr. was not the A-List star he is today, in fact he was a recovering addict who was struggling to get jobs at the time. The only thing this movie really had going for it prior to release was that Disney was in charge for the first time ever. Say what you will about the Mouse but they know how to deliver films that audiences travel in droves to see.
Robert Downey Jr. simply just is Iron Man. This wasn’t Downey Jr. acting as Tony Stark in this film, Downey Jr. just is Tony Stark. From the first scenes, to the desert, all the way to the end of the movie you learned to go from hating this arrogant, egotistical hero to loving him and his flaws. And that’s what sets this movie apart from those that came before it and a lot of those that came after it. Tony Stark wasn’t a squeaky clean hero. He made mistakes, he wasn’t perfect. This imperfectness matched right up with Robert Downey Jr. at the time. Neither were perfect people but they had good inside of them. They are people you and I can relate to and root for and that’s what a lot of superhero movies fail to understand. It’s a lot harder to root for someone who doesn’t make mistakes then it is to someone who makes those mistakes and works to correct them. We like our heroes to be broken, like us.
#5 Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
SONY ENTERTAINMENT
There are two groups of people reading this right now. The first camp is thinking “How in the hell is an animated movie the 5th best superhero movie of all time?” The second group of people are thinking, “Are you sure the 5th spot is high enough for Into the Spider-Verse?” The only difference between these two groups is that the first group has never seen the movie. And to answer the second group’s question, it’s tough at the top and the next four movies changed superhero genre cinema in ways that Into the Spider-Verse hasn’t… yet.
This movie was the most difficult to make for me on this list. Arguments could be made for it to be number one on the list but you could also make arguments that it doesn’t really belong on this list at all. But of these opinions are completely wrong. Into the Spider-Verse has the potential to be a genre altering movie. From its animation style, to its plot lines, to its soundtrack; Spider-Verse proved that an animated movie does not have to be just for kids. In fact, I’d argue that the plot of the movie is actually above most children’s heads. Sure they’ll be able to understand the basic levels of the story but they will miss a lot of the nuance and background visuals that this animation style gives.
The reason I can’t yet give this movie a nod as a genre altering movie is due to the fact that we haven’t seen any competitors yet. To change a genre, there needs to be a genre to change. No big animated superhero movies have released since Spider-Verse (besides the sequel of course,) which is quite a large surprise given the success box office success that it has been. If anything, the fact that Miles and crew haven’t had any imitators speaks more to the difficulty in recreating such an eye popping adult oriented animated movie then it does to the success of Spider-Verse itself. I’m going to leave this review at that because this is a movie that deserves a spoiler-free review to give all you chumps that didn’t see it a chance to check it out.
#4 AVENGERS: ENDGAME
DISNEY
Here it is. You’ve all known it’s been coming and have been wondering how high will they rank. Infinity War and Endgame are inarguably the two biggest movies of all time. Even more amazing both movies managed to deliver in every way. The biggest movies ever almost never reach success. These movies never exceed every possible expectation and reach a conclusion that everyone finds emotional, heartwarming, and beautiful, and yet somehow this one did. It was a movie that on the surface was the biggest blockbuster of all time and on the inside somehow still managed to be one of the best.
The storyline was great of course but the unexpected moments were what really made this movie special. Bruce Banner and the Hulk finally learned to coexist, Tony Stark was finally able to become the truly selfless hero he aspired to be, Natasha was able to escape her dark past a hero, and Cap got to live out the life he missed out on. We got to see our heroes at their glorious peaks for a final time and it was magical. Endgame is a movie that will likely never be topped in scale, magnitude, or importance ever. Definitely not by another comic book film and almost assuredly not by any other film ether. It was truly bigger than a movie. Endgame was an experience. An event. A moment in time that we were blessed with but sadly will never get back and will never replicate.
#3 AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR
DISNEY
Look as a superhero or comic fan, this is it. This is the pinnacle. It’s the big bad versus the heroes in a battle for the universe. The Russo brothers reached for the stars and actually made it to them with this film. From action and destruction to sorrow and pain, this was a movie that truly had every emotion. There was humor and there was gravity and there was shock and there was somber moments. It delivered every feeling imaginable.
And then the Russo brothers did it. (Spoilers ahead but if you haven’t seen this movie, why are you reading a superhero movie ranking anyway.) Thanos won. They actually let Thanos win. He snapped his fingers and half of the planet disappeared. Not just a bunch of people we didn’t know but our heroes, our favorites snapped into oblivion. Spider-Man gone, Dr. Strange gone, Black Panther gone. Just like that everything the MCU had worked up to was ripped away from us. It didn’t matter there was another movie coming out, it didn’t matter the good guys could still will. Because in that moment, we lost. We cried for our heroes gone and we cried for those still there, those who were left with shattered families, lost friends, and no sense of belonging. It was tough to walk out of the theater that night. And it was supposed to be.
#2 The Dark Knight
WARNER BROS
Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight is the movie that instantly comes to everyones mind when you think of the best superhero movie ever and it’s hard to argue (I will try on the next page though.) The Dark Knight gives the best performances ever seen in a comic book movie. In fact, according to the Oscar’s it was the best supporting performance of the year. At the time, and still to this day, there is an overwhelming bias against superhero movies in the zeitgeist of the Oscars. In the past, superhero movies had been anything from cheesy to downright bad. So the notion that they could win Oscar Awards was laughable. But that is exactly what Heath Ledger was able to do as the Joker in the Dark Knight.
Heath Ledger’s performance gave us as superhero fans a well-earned sense of pride that superhero films can be more than just cheesy, action flicks. It showed that superhero films can be for more than just us nerds. The Dark Knight did More than just benefit us though, this Oscar winning movie gave critics and movie watchers who had previously turned their nose up to out world a reason watch a hero flick. Not only that, it gave them a reason to stick around. A lot of those critics had their hearts turned that day, and that is a beautiful thing.
Even bigger than us or the critics or any other individuals who were affected by this movie, was the change in the movie industry itself. Superhero films could be serious award contending films now, they didn’t have to just be dumb fun action movies. Because of this we able to see A-List actors such as Scarlett Johansson, Henry Cavill, Chris Evans and a myriad of others don the spandex and capes. The Dark Knight and the performances within it rose the superhero genre from an afterthought to contenders at the Oscars and that importance is the reason Christopher Nolan’s movie finds itself at number 2 on the list.
#1 LOGAN
2OTH CENTURY FOX
I have a confession to make before I tell you all why Logan is number 1 on the list. I don’t really like X-Men movies. In fact when I watched The Wolverine in theaters, it was so bad that I didn’t watch any more superhero movies for years afterwards. I’m not joking… I remember being at the theater and actively begging friends to watch Adam Sandler’s Pixels movie instead of Ant-Man (The Wolverine truly broke me to my core.) I honestly thought that all superhero movies were as cheesy and downright stupid as The Wolverine was. Now thankfully, I eventually gave superhero movies another chance and now I hardly ever miss an opening night, but that disdain for X-Men and specifically the Wolverine was still deep inside of me somewhere.
Heading towards the the theater for the debut of Logan I anticipated another heaping pile of fresh hot dookie for my eyes to digest but instead what I got was one of the greatest cinematic experiences I’ve ever been able to witness. I’m struggling because I want to explain detail for detail shot for shot every intricate detail of why this movie is the best superhero movie of all time. But, I’m not going to do that.
I realize that there are likely a lot of you out there like me. You only watch MCU movies or you only watch DCEU movies or you only watch Spider-Man movies or whatever else you may watch. But you, like me, may have shied away from watching the X-Men movies (Not without merit, most of them suck.) So I don’t want to ruin the literal best superhero movie of all time for you.
But here’s what I will say about this movie; While the Dark Knight elevated the comic book genre, Logan shattered the proverbial chains of the genre. It’s not just a superhero movie, its also a western. And a drama. And a metaphorical look at life itself. And not only does it seamlessly blend genres, but the performances are breathtaking. It’s undoubtedly Hugh Jackman’s best performance as Wolverine ever, Patrick Stewart is Charles Xavier like we’ve never seen him before, Stephen Merchant rivals Heath Ledger for the best supporting role in a superhero movie ever, and Dafne Keen absolutely steals the show from all of them. I have so much more to say but I’ll save it so you all get the chance to witness this work of art spoiler free. Seriously go now, it is a masterpiece.