Superhero movies ranked
 

This list is limited to wide-release movies. I'm also leaving out parodies (like "Superhero Movie" (2008).

I may have left out a few, but these are the movies that I've either seen or that I can recall. I may have forgotten some.

Initially, the list will seem negative... in the middle of the list it'll do a turn-around.

I don't think I have to mention that this is all subjective, but I will anyways.


84 Superman 4: The Quest for Peace. The worst superhero movie ever, in my opinion. I suppose the story itself isn't the problem: it's that Superman I and 2 were so good, this sequel just is embarassing by comparison.
83 Fantastic Four (2015). I didn't like the casting, the Thing looked horrible, and Dr. Doom was even worse than the previous attempt at the character.
82 Catwoman. I don’t think I even made it halfway through this movie.
81 Hulk (2003) A huge, hulking disappointment, especially considering this is one of my favourite comic book heroes.
80 Howard the Duck (1986). I liked him better in the 5 seconds we see him in a post-credits scene of Guardians of the Galaxy.
79 Superman Returns (2006). I did not like Brandon Routh as the man of steel, nor did I like the ending.
78 Birds of Prey (2020). Even though I just saw this movie last year, I barely remember anything about it, other than that it was not good.
77 Green Hornet (2011). I like Seth Rogan as a comedian, but as a superhero - not so much.
76 Superman 3. Even Richard Prior wasn't entertaining in this.
75 Justice League (2017). I haven't seen the Snyder cut, but the original I saw in theatres just lacked any kind of soul - it just looked like a slapped-together, CGI mess. Also, because Superman's powers allow him to do everything all the other League members do, it makes the rest of the league seem redundant, which is underscored by the fight between the league members when Superman hands them their butts.
74 Green Lantern. I have no interest in seeing this a second time.
73 Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. The super villain in this one (I think his name was Rot, or something?) was poorly chosen, as his major power was to cause the living to rot, but because Ghost Rider isn't technically alive, this power had no bloody effect on him! Nicolas Cage's overacting, especially when he's transforming into the Rider, went too far.
72 Batman & Robin. Too cartoonish for my tastes.
71 Amazing Spider-Man 2. All the villains in this movie were awful, and the movie ended on a real bummer note.
70 Daredevil (2003). I barely remember anything about this one. The Netflix series was WAY better.
69 Incredible Hulk. Not much story here… And the Abomination had the colour of snot.
68 Wonder Woman 1984. The Cheetah character was just embarassing.
67 Amazing Spider-Man. I didn't care for Andrew Garfield's confident, jack-jawing web-crawler. I did like the cameo by Stan Lee - one of his best. The Lizard was alright.
66 Thor 2: Dark World. The main problem with this movie were the villains - the dark elves were just plain boring.
65 Fantastic Four (2005). The worst part of this movie is they screwed up Dr. Doom, one of Marvel's best villains. I also didn't care for Jessica Alba as Invisible Woman and Chris Evans as the Human Torch.
64 Suicide Squad (2016). Some of the characters were memorable (like Harley Quinn), but most were forgettable.
63 Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. The Surfer was the best part of this movie, but unfortunately they turned Galactus - one of comic's greatest bad-asses - and turned him into a dark cloud.
62 Antman and the Wasp. I didn’t care much for the antagonist in this installment.
61 Iron Man 3. I actually liked this movie right up until the third act. I didn't even really mind Ben Kingsley's character, who added a comic freshness and made a good point about the stereotypical ridiculousness of the comic book character Mandarin… I just thought during the climax there were way too many CGI suits flying around and the battle went on far too long.
60 Black Widow (2021). I liked the Black Widow character, but I just didn't care what was happening in this movie.
59 Venom. I think if I saw this as a kid, I would have loved it, but as an adult, I felt like I was watching a video game during the CGI-heavy climax.
58 Blade 3. Trinity. I barely remember anything from this movie. I do like the Blade character, though.
57 Rocketeer. In all fairness, I haven’t seen this movie since the mid-90s… but maybe that’s saying something.
56 Blade 2. I liked the super freaky vampires in this one.
55 Man of Steel (2013). I really disliked the Krypton segment of this movie, which was overly- complicated, overly-long and ultimately unnecessary. I also got tired of watching invulnerable people punching, kicking and throwing each other around. At least in Superman 2 (1980), Superman realized pretty quickly that he was 1) not going to defeat Zod and the other Kryptonians, and 2) that their battle was putting civilians in danger, so he retreated and got out of there, unlike the Superman in this movie who just keeps aimlessly battling.
54 New Mutants (2020). The movie went too somber for a superhero movie, and I can’t say that any of the characters really stood out.
53 Wonder Woman (2017). For the most part I liked the first two acts, but I thought the movie failed in the third act.
52 Batman vs. Superman: The Dawn of Justice. An overly-complicated plot. By the time Batman slapped on that armor, we weren't looking at Batman anymore, but realistically, he'd become Iron Man. Even so, a single punch from Superman should have finished Batman.
51 X-Men 2. I did not care for this story much. I liked Nightcrawler, but the antagonists left a lot to be desired.
50 Eternals. I know a lot of people don’t like this movie, but overall I thought it was okay.
49 X-Men 3. They really messed-up the Juggernaut character, and had a whole bunch of other mutants I just didn’t care about. By this point I really didn’t care about the franchise anymore.
48 Watchmen (2009). A unique superhero movie, with dark scenes and themes that you won't find anywhere else in this genre.
47 X-Men: Apocalypse. A fairly standard, predictable story and nothing particularly memorable here.
46 Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse. Great for an animated feature film, but just okay for a feature film. For a multiverse Spider-Man movie, I liked Spider-Man No Way Home more.
45 Hellboy (2004). Meh, it was okay.
44 Ghost Rider (2007). I like this movie more than Rotten Tomatoes, but I love this character and I think when Nicholas Cage disappeared and we just had the Ghost Rider, they did the character right. I think the young Johnny Blaze (played by Matt Long) actually made a better Johnny Blaze, in my opinion.
43 X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I like this movie less after I saw Deadpool (2016) and saw the way they'd wasted the Wade Wilson character in this one. Other than that, I thought it was entertaining.
42 X-Men: First Class. The inconsistencies in Magneto from one movie to another are hilarious: he’s German, but has an English accent in the original X-Men movie, and he’s got a Scottish accent in this one. Nevertheless I like Michael Fassbender as an actor and I like him in this role. Some of the characters I could have done without.
41 The Mask (1994). I almost forgot about this one, because it feels more like a comedy than a superhero movie - but indeed it is, adapted from a comic book. The special effects look a little dated now, but overall the movie has stood up well.
40 X-Men: Days of Future Past. I really enjoyed seeing the Sentinels, and how they brought the old X-Men team and the new X-Men team together. Quicksilver stole the show.
39 Superman (1978) and Superman II (1980). For all of the ‘80s, this was my favourite superhero movie, only to be uncrowned by Batman (1989). I don’t care much for the time-travel bit, but otherwise it was thoroughly entertaining, and I still prefer it over Man of Steel (2013). I couldn’t decide whether I liked 1 or 2 better, so I put them together.
38 Batman (1989) For most of the ‘90s, this was my favourite superhero movie - mostly because it was the only game in town. Jack Nicholson was amazing as the Joker.
37 Iron Man 2. What I liked: Whiplash’s weapon, Black Widow’s introduction, Tony Stark’s flaws, the fight between Iron Man and Rhodes, and Sam Rockwell as a hilarious Justin Hammer. What I didn’t like: yet another villain in a suit fighting Iron Man.
36 Captain Marvel. I liked how they handled the Skrulls. However I thought how Captain Marvel got her powers was b.s. The whole plot didn't make a whole lot of sense - the skrulls and Kree travel across the galaxy to capture a... light-speed engine?
35 Logan. It’s definitely the best Wolverine movie, but not the best X-Men movie, in my opinion. I did love the scenes with an elderly, mentally-ill Charles Xavier.
34 Batman Begins. The beginning of the best Batman series, as well as the best DC series, in my opinion. The ironic thing is that the villains in the sequels (The Joker and Bane) were more terrifying than the Scarecrow, the villain in this movie, whose power is to scare people.
33 Ant-Man. I like the humour most of all in this movie; I don’t care much for the lack of explanations (e,g. if they can enlarge tiny stuff, why don't they enlarge stuff. like gold, or oil, and make themselves the richest people on the planet?)
32 Megamind. A nice spin on the hero-villain story.
31 Hellboy 2: The Golden Army. I actually enjoyed this sequel way better than the original. It is very imaginative and emotional, with just enough laughs, and even manages to have a sympathetic antagonist.
30 Incredibles 2. I didn’t like it as much as the original, but it was still fun and I was happy to see this sequel come to life after more than a decade. I would love to see a third installment.
29 Black Panther. Excellent cast. I loved what they did with the Panther suit. I did not care for the ridiculous, mcguffin extent they took vibranium to.
28 Joker (2019). It’s not a superhero movie, because there aren’t any superheroes in it (just a young Bruce Wayne); nevertheless it belongs on this list. A fascinating origin story for the Joker.
27 Suicide Squad (2021). This movie was the whole package and was WAY better than the original.
26 X-Men (2000). At the time of its release, this was my favourite superhero movie. It set the bar, until Spider-Man came along two years later. The movie has not aged well, though. Some of the cast I did not care for, including Halle Berry as Storm, Anna Paquin as Rogue and Tyler Mane as Sabretooth. I think at this point they were still trying to get the formula right.
25 Spider-man: Far From Home. I found the middle of this film dragged a bit, but otherwise it was very entertaining.
24 Deadpool 2 (2018). So much fun! And unlike X-Men 3, they got Juggernaut right.
23 Spider-man: No Way Home. This was a dream movie, for sure. I just didn’t like was the mcguffin injector that instantly solves everyone’s problems. And I would have liked to have seen more screen time for J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson.
22 Deadpool (2016). Proof that a superhero movie could be R rated. Ryan Reynolds is perfect as the title character. Honestly I could do without the frequent 4th wall breaks.
21 Shazam (2019). When I heard about this movie I had low expectations, but when I saw the trailer I was pumped. This is definitely one of DC’s best and I hope they keep making movies like this.
20 Aquaman (2018). A fresh, fun movie that finally proved DC could make a good movie again.
19 Spider-man: Homecoming. A fresh, updated take on the franchise, with a younger Peter Parker and a more diverse cast.
18 Dr. Strange. Benedict Cumberbatch is so good as Dr. Strange I’d have difficulty picturing anybody else playing him now.
17 Captain America: Winter Soldier. Other than being completely predictable, I enjoyed the story.
16 Avengers: The Age of Ultron. Vision was my favourite Avenger when I was a kid, so I was happy to see him come to life. I didn’t care much for Wanda and Quicksilver in this one.
15 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. This is what Flash Gordon was meant to be. Just fantastic entertainment.
14 Thor (2011). Chris Hemsworth proved to be excellent as Thor, as did Tom Hiddleston as Loki and Anthony Hopkins as Odin. I liked that they gave the title character flaws, and that he has to earn his power and title.
13 Guardians of the Galaxy. When I first heard this movie was coming out I thought it was strange they were bringing such a fringe comicbook to the big screen. But it was a lot of fun and the characters have really grown on me. I didn’t care much for the ending, but other than that, I thought it was pretty awesome. My favourite Guardian? Rocket Raccoon.
12 Spider-Man 2. Although I liked Alfred Molina as Doctor Octopus, I didn’t understand how Spider-Man could punch him square in the face and not knock him out… Did the arms give Dr. Octopus super strength too? I also didn’t understand why Doc Ock would throw a car at Peter Parker if he wanted him alive (the Doc didn’t know he was Spider-Man yet).
11 Captain America: Civil War. There are so many characters in this one, it could have been its own Avengers movie. I loved the introduction of both the Black Panther and Spider-man.
10 Captain America: The First Avenger. The blue laser guns that HYDRA used throughout were a little annoying, but other than that I enjoyed it. I actually find the purity of the character refreshing.
9 The Dark Knight. Heath Ledger stole the show as the Joker.
8 Incredibles. This is one of my favourite animated movies, and it is what the Fantastic Four should have been.
7 The Dark Knight Rises. A lot of people like The Dark Knight better, but I thought Bane was more of a threat to Batman. Batman's awesome vehicles, particularly the Bat tank, got better use here.
6 Spider-Man (2002). This was my favourite superhero movie, until Iron Man dethroned it in 2008. They really did the comic book justice. The casting was excellent.
5 Thor: Ragnarok. I enjoyed this movie so much I saw it in the cinema twice in one weekend.
4 Avengers End Game. I get goosebumps every time I hear Cap say “Avengers… assemble” just before the big charge.
3 Avengers Infinity War. Thanks to Thanos, and a uniquely shocking ending, this is one of the best superhero movies out there.
2 Iron Man. Tony stark is Iron Man. And Robert Downey Jr. was born for this role.
1 Avengers (2012). This movie was pure magic - my favourite comic book as a kid come to life and the culmination of 5 years of Marvel Studios movies.

Re: Superhero movies ranked
 

Wow, that's an impressive effort. By lights, this is like rating trips to McDonald's. You order a Big Mac, you're going to consistently get a Big Mac.

I didn't care for Superman Returns (2006), but there were some scenes where Brandon Routh looked eerily like a young Christopher Reeve.


I think I'm one of the few people who liked Andrew Garfield as Spiderman.


It's been a long time since I watched Daredevil (2003), but I remember liking it, and wondering why everyone else seemed to hate it. (Maybe because I never read the comic books, and wasn't familiar with the character, so I had nothing to compare it to.)


Fantastic Four (2005) is another movie that I liked, that everyone else hated. I thought it was a lot of fun.



I liked all three of the X-Men trilogy movies. X-Men 3 is probably my least favorite of the three, but I enjoy watching all of them, especially when I have the time to marathon watch them back-to-back-to-back.


I didn't like Wade Wilson in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but other than that, I liked the movie. I don't know why everyone else dislikes it.


Superman (1978) is probably my favorite superhero movie, and Superman II (1980) is also high on my list. Christopher Reeve was great in these movies. It's a shame he made the terrible sequels.


I like Tom Holland as Spiderman, and I think these are great movies.

I haven't seen Spider-man: No Way Home yet, but I'm looking forward to seeing it as soon as it's available on cable TV or DVD.


I liked the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movies, but I thought he was a bit too whiny.


Heath Ledger was terrific as the Joker, but I didn't care much for the movie. And sadly, I don't think it would be so highly rated as it is if he hadn't died.


I agree about Robert Downey Jr., and I think he is largely responsible for the rise of the superhero movies.


Avengers (2012) is one of those movies that I rewatch every time it's on TV. It's so much fun to watch.

Re: Superhero movies ranked
 

No Batman Returns?

I'm considering pulling this now just to see how many people I can annoy by ranking multiple MCU entries lower than Spawn.

Re: Superhero movies ranked
 

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say I don't think Robert Downey Jr. is a great Tony Stark.
He's great in the role he created, but is it Tony Stark?

I grew up reading Iron Man (among many others) and Stark, sadly, really didn't have much of a personality. He was kind of the classic superhero alter ego (ala those of DC comics - widely panned until the modern era for all having somewhat interchangeable personalities).

Stark in the comics was somewhat dry and intellectual. In other words, he was kind of serious (and only became more so when they introduced alcoholism into his story). He was the semi-aloof, introspective, technological genius, industrialist & weapons maker (and sometime Bruce Wayne-like playboy). He wasn't a wise-cracker like Spider-Man, or Hawkeye or Ben Grimm.

Downey made Stark a sarcastic, sardonic, slightly manic, fast-talking wise-cracker similar to so many others in the Marvel universe, but not everybody has to have the rapier wit when it comes to playful superhero banter and insulting super-villains.

This isn't a knock necessarily, just comparing the comic book Iron Man to the movie version (yet I do think the first Iron Man movie was one of the best as it successfully updated the story while maintaining the character's root origin).

Re: Superhero movies ranked
 

Can't trust a superhero rating list where Mystery Men isn't #1.

Also, while an animated film, maybe Into The Spiderverse should have been featured ? Or does it open a too big can of worms (with other animated movies, from The Incredibles to the Batman things) ? Spiderverse stands out so much, my brain doesn't classify it as animated, that's weird.

It would have been interesting to see Unbreakable (and the two others?) in that list as well. Given that there is Joker, with a similar "low fantasy" angle (or even "lower")...

Re: Superhero movies ranked
 

Any genre parody is still technically part of that genre so I'd include them in a hypothetical countdown of the same.

I'd say it depends on whether it parodies the genre or a movie. Many movies do the former, its a self-aware deconstruction of the codes, becoming its own thing, a comedic superhero movie. On various degrees.

But the latter, post-ZAZ shot-by-shot parodies that just go "hey let's reference this scene and add a fart" for two hours, may not necessarily be worth treating as superhero movies on their own.

Re: Superhero movies ranked
 

The Rocketeer at #57 = List invalid

EDIT: X-Men 2 at #52??... and below The Last Stand?? Definitely this list is invalid

:D

Considering how much No Way Home leaned on references, maybe we shouldn't split hairs on this.

But seriously, if we're talking about those kinds of parodies then I'd still count them and simply stick them at the bottom of the list (and who knows, I'm not even sure that Superhero Movie is the worst superhero movie).

That's a pretty good analogy. By the way, I like McDonald's.
Some of these superhero movies do tackle deep themes, but they do it in a way that is palatable and fun.

Ah, I forgot Batman Returns. I would place it at #47, between X-Men Apocalypse and Spider-verse...I haven't seen the movie in a while, but I remember I felt like I needed to take a shower after.

I did include Spiderverse, at #46. I also included other animated movies, like the Incredibles, and Megamind.

Oh man, I just realized I forgot to include Shang-Chi (2021), even though I just reviewed it a couple of weeks ago on this site! I'd put Shang-Chi at #43. The fight scenes were the best part of the movie, especially the bus scene. Simu Liu is very likeable as Shang-Chi, I enjoyed Awkwafina as the comic relief, and overall it was an imaginative, colourful, fun story.

Oh yeah. I had only spotted Megamind on a second read, and somehow still hadn't noticed the two Incredibles and the Spiderverse (to be fair, my brain wouldn't have recognized the presence of the Spiderverse anywhere below the top 10, just the what's-up-danger coming of age summary sequence alone should have propelled this film near the top).

Can't partake in this thread, since having seen only four off that list.

That you, Scorsese?


Sweet list. I don't even know if I've seen 100 superhero movies, and I love them to the point where I'd invade Cambodia to see a Danny Phantom movie. The superhero genre is pretty much my first cinematic love when it came to a specific genre, but I don't think I've ever put that much effort into a superhero list.


But X2 is your least favorite X-Men movie? I think you need to watch it a couple more times. It's one of those kinds of movies. One of the key traits of a good movie (though not exclusive) is how often you want to see it again, unless it's so good at its dark tone that you can barely bring yourself to watch it again (lookin' at you, Schindler's).


As for your Spider-Man rankings, I had more fun looking through that. I didn't expect the first Tobey movie to make it, but I'll admit my favorite Spidey is Far from Home. It really focused on Spidey's powers and growth, and after years of cheesy spider sense sequences from the cartoon and the Tobey movies, Far from Home gave me a spider sense scenario in the ending that I didn't even think was possible. I was fully satisfied with that experience.

Re: Superhero movies ranked
 

1) Batman Begins
2) Superman II
3) Logan
4) Joker
5) The Dark Knight
6) Superman (original)
7) tie: Batman and Batman Returns (Tim Burton)
8) ummmmmm....Iron Man?
9) pffffftt, aaaaaaaaaaagh Spiderman 2?
10) *death rattle, followed by my final words of "I guess Watchmen wasn't completely terrible"*


Everything else I've seen can be thrown on the 'irrelevant' pile of the discussion.

Re: Superhero movies ranked
 

Oh, forgot about Spiderverse....that might be my number 4

Huh?