Take a look at your Favorite Superhero Movies Ranks
Note: This list doesn’t include animated films, TV movies, direct-to-DVD films, or film serials. Just full-length, live-action movies, that received some theatrical release. Purely in the interest of keeping this list from being over 200 titles.
Also, we’re not including every single story about a hero who fights bad guys, or we’d be here all day—these are stories based on, or heavily drawing from, superhero comics. And yes, there’s a certain amount of judgment call involved in what to include. (As we’ve discussed before, superheroes include a huge variety of genres.)
2) The Dark Knight - It has about three acts too many, but Batman’s torment and the Joker’s escalating morality puzzles make this movie a classic.
3) Spider-Man 2 - Spider-Man is the quintessential self-sacrificing hero, and this movie nails that aspect more dramatically than any other.
4) Superman: The Movie - large parts of this movie have not aged well, but what shows through is its heart and sparkling humor.
5) Guardians of the Galaxy - this weird space opera could have been a campy mess, but instead it’s a stirring, heartfelt miracle.
6) Hellboy - one of the strangest superheroes gets a note-perfect origin story
7) Captain America: The Winter Soldier - on the surface, it’s a homage to Cold War thrillers, but it’s mostly a great meditation on why heroism means doing the hard thing.
8) Iron Man - Marvel Studios’ first movie, and still one of their best — Tony Stark’s journey from selfishness to heroism is captivating, but what saves him is his need to test the limits of everything.
9) Darkman - Sam Raimi’s story of a face-changing man seeking revenge helped broaden our ideas of what superhero movies could be.
10) X-Men - the first X-Men movie encapsulated all the crucial themes of alienation, with a huge dose of humor and fun action.
11) Batman Begins - the most important part of superhero origins is the hero’s motivation, and this film nails Bruce Wayne’s lunatic passion for justice.
12) Batman - Tim Burton helped prove superheroes could be vehicles for real storytelling, and this film remains stylishly weird.
13) Iron Man 3 - Tony Stark loses everything and shows who he really is, in the perfect follow-up to the first Iron Man.
14) The Crow - this movie about an undead avenger holds up surprisingly well, with a snarky/strange performance from Brandon Lee.
15) Blade II - Guillermo del Toro elevated this Marvel vampire series, with a weird-science storyline about mutant vamps.
16) Unbreakable - M. Night Shyamalan’s best movie is really all about what happens when you’re consumed by a superhero narrative.
17) Sky High - Disney had a great superhero film on their hands long before they bought Marvel, with this superpowered high school story.
18) X2: X-Men United - the second X-Men movie feels a bit like a retread, but also improves on the themes of the first.
19) Blade - the “daywalker” became an iconic figure thanks to this movie, not to mention its unforgettable blood rave.
20) Spider-Man - Spidey’s origin is pretty much perfect here, including some great sequences as he learns to use his powers. Raimi captures the heart of the character.
21) Batman Returns - Burton’s second Bat-film falls prey to the “too many villains” problem, and is kind of a muddle. But it’s still stylish and fun.
22) Super - Before Guardians, James Gunn proved he could make superheroes funny as well as heartbreaking with this indie comedy.
23) Captain America: The First Avenger - Another note-perfect origin story that focuses on the why rather than the how.
24) Superman II - The change in directors halfway through filming hurt this movie, but the Phantom Zone criminals are still great, and so is the story of Superman giving up his powers for love.
25) Thor - Asgard’s heir loses his powers due to arrogance, and has to earn them back, and the result is amazingly effective.
26) Kick-Ass - Few movies do as good a job of spoofing the superhero genre while also showing why it’s so great.
27) X-Men: First Class - This prequel is overstuffed, and relies on montages a lot — but it also establishes Professor X, Magneto and Mystique as a fascinating trinity.
28) Deadpool - All of the fourth-wall-breaking insanity of Marvel’s nuttiest hero gets captured on screen in a movie that pokes fun at the pomposity of the genre.
29) Hellboy II: The Golden Army - The second Hellboy movie lurches into a story about the problems of settling down, but still makes way for some great action and world-building.
30) Chronicle - This “found footage” movie shows just how wrong things can go with great powers and no responsibility.
Take a look at your Favorite Superhero Movies Ranks
![Take a look at your Favorite Superhero Movies Ranks]()
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