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The 25 Best Superhero Movies Of All Time

As the arrival of “X-Men: Apocalypse”(read our review) this week reminds us, superheroes are still the dominant story in the blockbuster world. Sure, “Jurassic World” and “Furious 7” and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” might have outgrossed any superhero film last year, but if anyone thought that meant that the genre was on the way out, they’ve been proven wrong in 2016: ‘Apocalypse’ is the fourth superhero pic in as many months, and the three previous ones have taken over $2.5 billion between them.

Steven Spielberg, among others, believes that before too long, the superhero film will go the way of the Biblical epic, the roadshow musical or the western, massively popular in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s respectively, but burning out relatively quickly. Others believe that the vast history of comic books leaves plenty of material to be untapped, and these films can just keep going and going.

Of course, not every entry in the genre has been great. Big misses (either creatively, financially, or both) have included “Spider-Man 3,” “Catwoman,” “Green Lantern” and “Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice,” but the very best of the genre can be subversive twists on the century-old archetypes, or can be big blockbusting fun of the kind few other tentpoles can compete with.

To mark the release of the latest X-Men movie (at sixteen years, the longest-running of the superhero franchises at this point), we’ve decided to sift through all the people-in-spandex movies, and pick out our favorites of all time. Take a look at the list below, and let us know what you’d put as your own faves in the comments.

chronicle25. “Chronicle” (2012)
There isn’t a cape or a pair of tights in sight, but “Chronicle” is undoubtedly a superhero movie, and one that proved to be a breath of fresh air in the genre just as it was starting to reach saturation. The people responsible — Josh Trank and Max Landis — have had mixed fortunes since, Trank landing in director’s jail after “Fantastic Four,” Landis making big-money sales but attracting a ;pt pf critical heat, often deservedly — but their respective feature debut suggested real talents in the making, even with a premise that seemed as cynical as dropping the found-footage conceit onto the superhero pic. Tracing three high schoolers (Alex Russell, Michael B. Jordan and Dane DeHaan) who discover a strange object that gives them amazing powers, it is going over some familiar territory to some extent — the corrupting nature of power, the thrill of getting godlike powers. And it’s hard to shake — from Russell’s utterly bland lead squaring off against DeHaan’s loner outsider — that it’s not a film that sides resolutely with the happy popular white dudes (female characters are given short shrift too). But the performances by DeHaan and Jordan are so good, its visceral thrill of superheroics so palpable, and Trank makes the finished product so deeply watchable, that it still feels like something different for the genre.

mask-of-the-phantasm-batman24. “Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm” (1993)
Some Batman fans will sweat that Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski’s “Batman: The Animated Series,” which aired 85 episodes on Fox between 1992 and 1995, is the definitive adaptation of the character, a gorgeously-designed, inventive, grown-up but not gritty take on the character. Even those raised on Nolan’s ‘realistic’ movies could potentially be swayed after checking out “Mask Of The Phantasm,” the feature-length spin-off of the show that got a brief theatrical release from Warner Bros in 1993 (hence its inclusion here). The film sees Batman (Kevin Conroy) blamed for a series of murders of criminals actually committed by a masked vigilante known as the Phantasm, who appears to be targeting the Joker (Mark Hamill), while Bruce Wayne’s ex-fiancé Andrea (Dana Delany) returns to town. That the two things are related isn’t exactly the biggest surprise in film history, but this is otherwise deeply satisfying even at 76 minutes and with production values not massively upgraded for the big-screen: the animation remains stylish, the voice acting excellent and the story clearly given more thought in the Tim Burton films (and certainly the later Joel Schumacher ones). The movie bombed at the box office, but spawned literally dozens of DC DTV spin-offs which are mostly improvements on their live-action cousins.

rocketeer23. “The Rocketeer” (1991)
You can see why pulp-style comic book heroes proved so attractive to studio heads in the early part of the 1990s: in the aftermath of the success of Tim Burton’s “Batman,” a character like a “Dick Tracy,” “The Shadow” or “The Phantom” seemed more achievable to pull off than a Thor or a Green Lantern, given that they played in film noir or “Raiders Of The Lost Ark”-type territory that had been successful on screen many times. Most of those films were dire, but there was one great superhero/pulp crossover movie, in the shape of Joe Johnston’s “The Rocketeer.” Based on Dave Stevens’ comics character (created in the 1980s but set, and with its roots in, the 1930s), the film sees stunt pilot Cliff (Billy Campbell) discover a jet pack stolen by mobsters from Howard Hughes (Terry O’Quinn), and don a art deco mask to become a flying hero, eventually battling an Errol Flynn-ish movie star (Timothy Dalton) who’s secretly a Nazi spy, and who has his sights set on Cliff’s girlfriend (Jennifer Connelly). The film’s script has some whopping great holes in it, and Campbell is a bit forgettable as a lead, but Johnston strikes exactly the right tone (one that would stand him in good stead in years with another superhero pic years later…), the film being a bright, beautifully designed adventure steeped in Hollywood lore and retro fun that feels like such an antidote to the CGI overload of so many of today’s superhero pics.

crow-brandon-lee22. “The Crow” (1994)
Destined to be forever overshadowed by the awful, sad death of star Brandon Lee in an on-set accident, and spawn of multiple sequels, exactly none of which are any good, “The Crow” is a film whose reputation precedes it. And yet despite all of that, and despite it being an over-violent, inarguably dated relic of the early 1990s, it continues to endure as an unexpectedly engaging, deeply watchable film. Based on James O’Barr’s comic (itself informed by the death of the writer’s fiancée), it sees Eric Draven (Lee) resurrected a year after both he and his fiancée Shelly (Sofia Shinas) were murdered by a gang. Emboldened by some superpowers, and guided by the mystical bird of the title, Eric sets out to take vengeance on the criminals responsible. The film sometimes feels like hanging out with a caricatured goth (up to and including Eric playing guitar on the roof of the city), and its bleakness and despair could easily become oppressive. But although the violence can be too sadistic, director Alex Proyas finds the right tonal tightrope to walk, never quite over-silly nor over-serious (the cast of A+ character actor villains, including Michael Wincott, Tony Todd, David Patrick Kelly and Bai Ling, help). And though it’s at least partly accidental, the film has a haunting tone that few films in the genre can match, Lee’s promising breakthrough role heartbreakingly left as his last as well.

superman-2-christopher-reeve-terence-stamp21. “Superman II” (1980)
The first of many troubled superhero sequels, “Superman II” was initially meant to be shot back to back with its predecessor, but fights between producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind, and director Richard Donner, saw the filmmaker fired after completing three-quarters of the shoot, with Richard Lester brought on for extensive reshoots. It was a mess, and yet the finished product is more often than not hugely enjoyable, even if some might find it heretical to say so (Donner was able to release a 2006 cut of an approximation of his version, and it’s rather lesser than the released cut). Picking up soon after the original, the film sees a trio of Kryptonian criminals, led by General Zod (Terence Stamp) arrive on Earth and attempt to conquer it, while Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) and Superman/Clark Kent (Christopher Reeve) fall further in love after he reveals his identity to her, with the latter losing his powers in an attempt to prove his devotion. It’s overstuffed, manically plotted and more than a little scrappy, but rather lighter on its feet than its predecessor, with Gene Hackman seemingly having more fun as Lex Luthor, and Terence Stamp’s Zod becoming one of the great super-villains. It’s campy in places, but in a rather charming, winning way, and unfortunately remains, thirty-six years on, the last really good “Superman” movie” (though ‘Returns’ has its charms too).

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42 COMMENTS

  1. Mask of the Phantasm is the best 90s era Batman film. I’d easily put it above Batman Returns.

    Beyond that, I can’t really find many issues to take with this list. Well, maybe arbitrarily dumping Chronicle on the 25th spot and putting Super in the honorable mentions.

    • As much as I love the off-the-wall choices, there’s no way Hulk or The Rocketeer or Cap 1 is better than Super. Hands-down the best gritty, darkly comic, subversive, “realistic” take on superheroes (I mean, I guess the other choices are, like, Defendor and Kick-Ass, so not that much competition, but still). And Rainn Wilson kills it.

      • Put into words better than what I attempted, but that’s basically how I feel about Super getting placed into the honorable mentions. It deserves better because it simply IS better.

  2. Always happy to see the fairly stupid, wildly ambitious TDKR get some love. I feel like Nolan more than any pop director understands that he’s writing modern myth, that the superhero film is the ultimate pop parable of our time, and he always tries to take advantage of that power to tell stories that sear themselves onto the face of cultural consciousness. TDKR has a million things to say and it writes them in stone and fire.

    This is a wonderfully thoughtful list overall but I am always baffled by the love showered on the ultra-hollow, generically competent MCU. Even The Avengers leaves the mind more quickly than almost any movie on this list—X2, Spider-Man 2. Much more modest films than what you’ll find in the TDK trilogy but at least they’re real movies. I think the superhero genre is theoretically capable of great things. It’s in a good position to step up to the plate and make something meaningful, worthwhile, relevant. But it’s clear by now that Marvel has little to no interest in that. If people didn’t treat these movies like they’re meant only to be frothy, formulaic entertainments maybe we’d get another TDK (although the most ambitious superhero film since TDKR is probably BvS and we all know how that turned out). But as long as Marvel can keep releasing the same story- and surprise-free CGI beat-’em-ups to 90%+ RT scores and mass audience acclaim, our standards will keep getting lower. The best Marvel films are passable entertainment but not in any way enriching or valuable.

    • The post on The Playlist’s Twitter account was most definitely that (it being one thing among many where the account could show some restraint and not look as if a 12 year old manages it) but this list is pretty much on par with those previously done on this blog.

      • TDKR is better than 90% of the trash that has been released. You’re forgetting the superhero movie genre is TOP HEAVY. Do you know what that means?

        For everyone 1 great superhero movie, we get several more mediocre or trash ones. TDKR while being the worst of the “good” superhero movies, is still the “best” of the worst. So yes it does belong on any list. All of Christopher Nolan’s Batman films shit on anything the DCU has done so far, and most of what Marvel has done.

  3. I am in an alternate reality where Captain America – the first avenger – the snoozefest is better than Batman Begins and the Avengers/Incredibles trump The Dark Knight.
    True, Nolan’s movies sometimes get more praise than warranted, but within the superhero genre there’s simply no competition. For me, they’re the definitive superhero movies.

  4. 10. Guardians of the Galaxy
    9. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
    8. X2: X-Men United
    7. Spider-Man 2
    6. The Avengers
    5. X-Men: Days of Future Past
    4. Captain America: Winter Soldier
    3. Captain America: Civil War
    2. The Incredibles
    1. The Dark Knight

  5. 10. Guardians of the Galaxy
    9. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
    8. X2: X-Men United
    7. Spider-Man 2
    6. The Avengers
    5. X-Men: Days of Future Past
    4. Captain America: Winter Soldier
    3. Captain America: Civil War
    2. The Incredibles
    1. The Dark Knight

  6. 10. Guardians of the Galaxy
    9. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
    8. X2: X-Men United
    7. Spider-Man 2
    6. The Avengers
    5. X-Men: Days of Future Past
    4. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
    3. Captain America: Civil War
    2. The Incredibles
    1. The Dark Knight

  7. TDKR doesnt deserve to be on this list period. it was a sloppy, illogical movie with an even worse antagonist. if ambition is the only thing that makes a movie worthy of a top ten list then we’re judging by the wrong criteria.

    • TDKR is better than 90% of the trash that has been released. You’re
      forgetting the superhero movie genre is TOP HEAVY. Do you know what that
      means? For everyone 1 great superhero movie, we get several more
      mediocre or trash ones. TDKR while being the worst of the “good”
      superhero movies, is still the “best” of the worst. So yes it does
      belong on any list. All of Christopher Nolan’s Batman films shit on
      anything the DCU has done so far, and most of what Marvel has done.

      Not to mention the numbers aren’t on your side. It’s hilarious how the TDKR haters think they’re in the majority just because they scream the loudest.

      87% on RT, 78 on Meta Critic, 8.5 on IMBD.

      Sorry your opinion is small.

  8. Captain America: Civil War is better than The Dark Knight. I would know, because I saw both of those movies myself, and Captain America: Civil War took The Dark Knights place in the global box office.

    • Civil War was in 3D while TDK was not. Not to mention TDK made superhero movies what they are today. It was the first superhero film to be taken seriously by the entire world and set the tone for the future ones. GTFO with your teenage bull shit.

      • Most superhero movies before The Dark Knight were already being taken seriously. The Dark Knight has changed absolutely nothing. So how about you GTFO with your kiddie bullshit.

  9. IMO, Batman Begins should be at the top of the list. It basically set the stage for the superhero rebirth. Great characters, great acting (outside of Katie Holmes) and a fantastic storyline that brought insight to the Batman character and tied up perfectly at the end. I can’t believe how many people believe Dark Knight is better as the ending was weak, the writing not as crisp (how many scenes with a building full of explosives did they use in that movie and how impotent was Batman). I would list the following (animated movies are not included in the list)
    1. Batman Begins
    2. Superman
    3. Iron Man
    4. Captain America: The First Avenger
    5. Avengers
    6. Spiderman 2
    7. Dark Knight
    8. Guardians of the Galaxy
    9. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
    10. X-men 2

  10. Generally bad list. I agree with 20/25 of these films, but I disagree with the majority of the rankings.

    The Avengers is not better than The Dark Knight.

    Iron Man 3 has no place on this list.

    The Hulk? Really? It’s a decent film but not top 25 of all time..

    Same for Darkman..

    Captain America 1 is the worst of the three and one of the least enjoyable Marvel films.

  11. The Dark Knight shouldn’t be 4 in fact it shouldn’t even be on the list unless you count the title as the list. The list should be called Top 25 Superhero Movies Not Named the Dark Knight.

  12. No way the Hulk, Dark Knight Rises, or Spiderman 2 should be that high.
    1. GOTG
    2. Avengers
    3. Dark Knight
    4. Spiderman 3
    5. Civil War
    6. The Watchmen
    7. The Incredibles
    8. Ironman
    9. X-Men United
    10. Avengers 2

  13. missing kick-ass, super, and carrie (original) the craziest villain of
    them all with the best origin story. captain america movies are piss
    weak so are the the avengers. dnk is only good because of ledgers
    performance rest of the movie is crap

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