Top 10 Superhero movies

Over the last 10 years, superhero movies have become the dominant force at the box office the way that musicals, westerns, noir, and dumbed down sci-fi action movies before them were. Also like those genres before them, they are really a blank slate onto which a filmmaker can put their stamp. Many things can be said about humanity, society, emotions, and more if only the filmmaker has the ambition. These are no different than ancient Greek, Roman, or Norse mythology. These are modern myths. Even in the seemingly restricted world of Marvel movies, the company that controls their content more than any other, one can say real things about the world we live in just like non-superhero movies can. The best examples of the genre do exactly that. They have something to say more than just telling a story where super people fancy punch each other. Let's see what the movies on my list have on their minds.

There are movies I love but didn't include on this list because although they're based on comics, they're not what I consider "superhero movies". These movies include: Watchmen, Hellboy, and The Crow. Though each has a superpowered character in them, and Watchmen in particular is even a sort of satire of superheroes, they don't feel like "superhero movies" to me. So, maybe your definition differs, and I'd love to hear from you, but this is my list.

There has to be an honorable mention for 2008's Iron Man. Although there were superhero movies before (Superman, Batman, X-Men), it was Iron Man that really started the trend of superheroes being the dominant force at the box office. It's a really good movie and nearly made this list on its own merits, but I had to cut it out. Still wanted to mention it though.

Onto the list proper.

10. Spider-Man: Homecoming

As a child, even more than Batman, Spider-Man was my favorite superhero. I had more Spider-Man comics than any other hero. Although I liked some Spider-Man movies in the past, and even loved Spider-Man 2 despite its flaws, Homecoming was the first Spider-Man movie to really feel like Spider-Man comics did. Tobey Maguire was too old, too wimpy without being smart nerdy enough, while Andrew Garfield understood Peter Parker's arrogance and love of his powers and enjoyed great chemistry with Emma Stone's Gwen Stacy, his movies never really came alive around him. He was let down by the movies themselves. We didn't get much of Tom Holland's Peter in his first Marvel Cinematic Universe appearance in Captain America: Civil War, but what we did get hit all of my Spidey senses and I greatly looked forward to Homecoming. Holland is much younger (21 when the movie came out, whereas Maguire was 27 and Garfield 29 when they played the teenaged character), and the filmmakers have really done a great job helping him fit into a modern high school world. Michael Keaton's Adrian Toomes is one of the great MCU villains, and he's the type of blue collar, not necessarily trying to take over the world, type of villain that Spider-Man fought in the comics so often. Keaton also has motivation, he's just a guy trying to provide for his family in a world increasingly changing once aliens and government cover-ups get involved. The scene between hero and villain in the car might be the best MCU scene, period. It reveals many layers, it deepens and expands and explains the plot, it has menace and danger and so many other things. It's the kind of scene that puts Spider-Man: Homecoming onto this list.

9. Superman

The hero and movie that started it all, really. We'd already had the great Fleischer studios Superman cartoons in the 40's (love those shorts, the look is still extraordinary), and the Batman serials and ultimately TV show in the 60's, but the grandfather of our modern superhero boom is Richard Donner's 1978 Superman. Christopher Reeve is just so perfect as Superman. He's charming, he's big athletic and good looking, but most of all we believe his goodness. Marlon Brando adds some nice weight to his role as Jor-El, Superman's father (I've always loved his line reading of "They can be a great people"), but the other actor that makes the movie go is Gene Hackman's Lex Luthor. Hackman was already the Oscar-winning (for the French Connection) genius actor we all know and love, but his villainous turn has something that not many other villains have: humor. Lex is having fun being the villain. He's as villainous as anyone else, but he likes it. He's not as self serious as most villains are. Jack Nicholson tried to bring some of this to his interpretation of The Joker in Tim Burton's Batman, but I didn't believe it. It didn't feel real. Hackman does and it makes him more enjoyable to watch, and more dangerous as well. Although I enjoy Margot Kidder as Lois Lane, and the chemistry she has with Reeve, it's really the 1-2 punch of Hackman and Reeve that makes this movie work. You could easily substitute in Superman II here, as Terence Stamp gives one of the great scenery chewing villainous roles ever given, but I went ahead and stayed with the original entry for my list.

8. Logan

Wolverine was always one of the best characters in Marvel comics, but he has also been over explored in the comics (at one point having like a dozen ongoing books running simultaneously with him as lead) and in the movies as well. Part of that is Hugh Jackman's star making turn as the character, and part of it is just that Wolverine is so cool. The claws, the athleticism, the metallic skeleton, the healing power. But as he got into his late 40's, Jackman knew he couldn't play the character forever. Unlike Wolverine, Jackman's cells don't regenerate and give him seemingly eternal life. Thankfully, Jackman and director James Mangold (who co-wrote the script with Michael Green and the great Scott Frank) decided to go out with a kind of elegiac western feel. They allow Wolverine to start breaking down, caring for his mentor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart, gorgeously saying goodbye to his character as well), playing the role of the reluctant gunslinger making sure the young child (Dafne Keen's Laura) is taken to idyllic safety. I love westerns. This is classic western stuff, and although it's not a western, it has the feel of one. It may be Jackman's best performance (it's up there with his best work, anyway), and it's a wonderful way to say goodbye to the character that gave him his career and kind of started this superhero boom back with 2000's X-Men. It has the same third act problems that even some of these best of the genre movies have, but we can forgive when the rest of the movie is so good.


7. Wonder Woman

It took far too long for us to get a real female driven modern superhero movie (don't inflict 1984's Supergirl on yourself if you don't have to), and I was worried with all of the behind the scenes conflicts that reportedly took place what kind of movie we would end up with. All of this amid DC Comics' and Warner Brothers' inability to hit on anything with Man of Steel, Suicide Squad, or Batman V Superman. Even though I kind of like Man of Steel, these movies are all thematic and narrative messes. Into all of this chaos stepped director Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot as Diana/Wonder Woman. Thank God they did, because Wonder Woman was what we needed. This is how to do a female led superhero movie. It's not complicated, all you gotta do is make it good. There's the now iconic No Man's Land sequence (which Jenkins said she had to fight the studio to keep in, further showing their incompetence), but the movie also wonderfully establishes where Diana comes from, who her people are, what she stands for and believes, as well as giving her a great foil in Chris Pine (climbing up the ladder of great Hollywood Chris's). Last year, when I put her as #2 on my top Heroes list, I wrote "Diana has no tolerance for intolerance, she has no stomach for fear. She loves and loses loved ones. She fights the bad guy and saves the day. And she will gladly go into 'No Man's Land' to take the fight to the villains, because she isn't a man. She's a hero." Although Wonder Woman falls victim to the same drawbacks that many of these kinds of movies fall to (the third act falls down and isn't nearly as interesting as everything that came before it), even then there are great emotional moments between Gadot and Pine and they are what stick in the memory.

6. Captain America: Civil War

The third entry in the Captain America saga ended up being more like a third Avengers film than a true Captain America movie. Taking one of the biggest crossover events in Marvel comics history as the base point for this movie, the amount of characters would seem ridiculous until Infinity War. But, as directed by the Russo Brothers, in their second time in the directors seat (after the great, but I think slightly overrated Captain America: Winter Soldier), Cap is still definitely the main character. We get great additions like Black Panther and a villain in Baron Zemo that doesn’t want to take over the world, he just wants revenge from having his family made into collateral damage by the events of the second Avengers movie. My favorite thing about this movie is the central theme of it. When dealing with super powered people, if they don’t answer to someone, then they’re just a bad day away from being a danger to society. Iron Man and others believe that the Avengers should answer to the United Nations. Captain America and those on his side believe that when a threat arises it’s up to them to answer, not to wait on bureaucracy to be deployed like a military for various (and always changing) political reasons. It ultimately comes down to the ancient Latin saying “who watches the watchmen?” (or “who will guard the guards themselves”, its exact wording has changed throughout history). It’s an idea that the DC movie universe has tried to wrap up movies like Man of Steel and Suicide Squad in, but have failed narratively. Thankfully, the Russo’s and Marvel soar higher than ever when focused on this heady theme.

5. Black Panther

I didn't grow up reading Black Panther comics. I knew who he was, loved how cool his suit looked, but I didn't know his character or any of his stories. His appearance in Civil War was something that I liked, but didn't get me super hyped for him having a stand alone movie. I was intrigued, however, when director Ryan Coogler came aboard. He'd previously directed the very surprising Creed, the best Rocky movie since Rocky, and Fruitvale Station, a wonderful, emotional, tragic true story. Both movies starred Michael B. Jordan, who came on here to play the villain Erik Killmonger. Although a pretty standard superhero flick in structure (including an underwhelming third act), Black Panther gives us another great villain with Andy Serkis's Ulysses Klaue, who teams with Killmonger. The story here is one of the big reasons this movie works so well. Killmonger has a backstory we can care about. He's actually not wrong, morally, and the way the movie presents the sins of the father having to be dealt with by the son is very powerful. For both hero and villain. Killmonger has pain in his eyes and his voice, and we know where it comes from. It's one of the great superhero villain turns by Jordan, with shades to his work that I go back to time and again. Black Panther also, like Civil War, has something on its mind. If someone has some great technology or product that would change the lives of so many people for the better, don't they have a moral necessity to share that with the world? Black Panther's Wakanda has always been hidden, and they credit that hiding with their successful development of their futuristic technologies. Don't they have to share their knowledge with the world? Shouldn't we all be wanting to make the world a better place? Isn't world advancement more important than nationalism? Again, not something you'll find being discussed in most big Hollywood blockbusters, but superhero movies give a lot of artistic room for philosophical exploration.

4. The Avengers: Infinity War

Now, some people will shout it down, but this was one of the most ambitious movies ever made. 50+ characters, all of whom were introduced in other movies, coming together to fight a big bad named Thanos that was also introduced in other movies, but not at his full strength until here. Now, was it a risky move? I don't think so, all of the movies in which these characters were introduced and had their own stories were all hugely successful. There was no risk that this was going to be a failure. But there was no assurance that this wasn't too many characters, there's danger that the actors couldn't carry the movie when they have so little screen time in which to do it. There could've easily been the narrative problems that sank Avengers Age of Ultron. And yet there weren't. The Russo's, following up from so wonderfully balancing Civil War, again knocked it out of the park. Everyone gets their moment up front, in the spotlight, but not feeling like "okay, now it's Thor's token moment" or whatever. Also what the writers did that was unexpected, is that they really made Thanos feel like the main character of the movie. A brilliant choice, and one that adds depth to their villain that likely wouldn't have been there otherwise. We see his motivation and dilemma: universal overpopulation combined with finite resources and most of all Thanos's messianic/narcissistic idea that he's the only one strong enough to make the difficult choice to correct the problems that plague us. They give him some emotional moments as well. He's got more depth than many villains ever get in these movies. That Marvel did all of this, did it so well, and still gave us a great big dumb action movie is pretty remarkable and I don't think has quite been appreciated enough by movie nerds like myself. Too many of us are such jaded assholes when it comes to reviewing mega-budget Hollywood movies that we can forget to enjoy when it is done so well.

3. The Dark Knight

I said, in my Christopher Nolan Spotlight a couple of months ago "Nolan, I gotta say that I'm a big fan even though sometimes his storytelling deficiencies get in the way. He tends to pitch everything at a climax, not letting the drama build to a crescendo, resulting in his movies running out of steam before they're over. The Dark Knight is the one where I feel this the most, because when it should be building to a climax with the coming together of the Batman, Joker, and Harvey Dent/Two-Face storylines, it's instead limping to the finish momentum wise. And all of the actors are so good, the storytelling letting them down disappoints even more." I have always believed that. Even sitting there on opening day watching this, there was something that stuck with me, kept me from fully embracing it like everyone else was. It wasn't until years later that I figured that part out about the narrative. That doesn't mean that I dislike the movie. I LOVE this movie, but I am not blind to its flaws. I didn't even mention the stupid Batman voice that Christian Bale does, mostly because everyone talks about that. But, I like Bale for the most part in the movie. Heath Ledger is phenomenal (his 20 minutes or so of screen time is reason enough to see the movie). I like Aaron Eckhart as well. Even Maggie Gyllenhaal, whom some people didn't like, I thought was terrific. I don't think Nolan's movies are as smart as he thinks they are. They are definitely not as smart as many of his fanboys think they are. But he's a good filmmaker and is telling a good story. I like how indebted to Michael Mann's Heat this movie is, it gives everything a great crime drama feel instead of a glossy superhero feel. I have watched this movie probably more times than all the others on this list except #1, and I love it every time. There's a reason it's #3 on this list.

2. Unbreakable

Following up the cultural phenom that was The Sixth Sense wasn't an easy task. M. Night Shyamalan decided to do it with a superhero movie a few years before superhero movies were really popular. What he brought to the table was a movie thematically and visually more indebted to the lore of comic books than almost any other superhero movie before or since. These are classic archetypes, he telegraphs the ending twist the whole way through, and he has some of the best performances Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson have ever given. The movie is gorgeous to look at. And I love how much it fits with superhero lore. There's the "discovering his powers", "first foray into actually acting the hero", and "confrontation with the villain" sequences just like in every other superhero movie. Shyamalan took the same deliberate pacing he'd had success with on Sixth Sense and applied it to this burgeoning genre. It makes it feel so different from any other superhero movie and I love that about it. People at the time didn't, and the movie was a financial flop. But Shyamalan has now gone back and decided to create his own cinematic universe, with 2016's Split, and next years Glass. But it's Unbreakable that earns its spot here on this list. I hope more people go back and revisit it. Its reputation has grown in the years since its box office failure, but not enough.

1. The Incredibles

This is the best and most thrilling superhero movie ever made, if you ask me (which by reading this blog, you're kinda doing). I also think that with the issues of marriage and family and trying to find yourself when you don't know who you are anymore, The Incredibles is Pixar's most adult movie, most thematically complex, even though it's disguised as a bright colorful action movie for kids. And there it is again, thematic complexity in a superhero movie that could easily go unnoticed or unappreciated if you want to just focus on the action of it all. But it's there if you want to see it as well. Each character is created with a distinct personality, each speaks differently about their feelings and actions (you'd be surprised how little this happens in movies once you start paying attention to it), and the voice acting brings that last little bit to make these truly remarkable characters. All of that said, it's also just a mind blowingly amazing action movie, with set pieces that put Bond and Bourne to shame. The attack on the plane is my personal favorite, as the mounting fear in Helen's voice, and the parental actions she takes to possibly sacrifice herself for her children are a rare action sequence that makes me tear up with its dramatic implications. Then there's the "discovering the joys of your abilities" quality of Dash vs. the flying machines. When Dash starts running (with unexpected success) on the water of the ocean, he lets out a little "oh man, that's so awesome I can do this" kinda giggle that lights my face up every time I watch it. This is the best superhero movie. I love the sequel, but this is the best one of them all.