With the banner year that 2016 has been, in terms of the volume and scale of its comic book movie releases, I couldn’t help but re-visit my list of the best superhero movies of all-time. My original list included 10 movies. This list includes five films, many which were included in the original 10.
With Suicide Squad and Doctor Strange dropping in the coming months, I may be forced to revisit my list(s). But for any updates to happen, those two films are going to have to significantly exceed expectations.
After some careful deliberation and some back and forth with my Tweeps, my (updated) top five superhero movies are:
5) Captain America: Civil War – immediately after watching it last month, it skyrocketed to the number three spot in my mind. However, after I settled down and had some time for the recency bias to wear off, I dropped it down a few notches. Civil War is a deeper Marvel’s the Avengers, and that’s why I have it here. It is a great ensemble film, featuring breakout performances by Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther) and Tom Holland (Spider-Man), and a cohesive, free-flowing plot.
4) Iron Man – after first viewing this movie, all I could say was “wow!” As a guy who had limited interest in Iron Man prior to this film, I was cautiously optimistic. I asked myself, “why did Marvel choose this fringe character to jump-start its cinematic universe?” Or “why is Jon Favreau directing this movie? Isn’t he a comedy guy?” Boy, was I ever wrong! Iron Man blended geo-political themes, timely humor, non-stop action, and a careful respect for the source comic book material. The movie also signaled the resurrection of Robert Downey, Jr.’s career as well as the ascension of his Tony Stark depiction as arguably the most popular on-screen superhero of our generation.
3) Captain America: The Winter Soldier – personally, this is my favorite superhero movie. It’s not the greatest, but it’s damn sure close. Very similar to the aforementioned Iron Man, it integrates geo-political themes, and plays more like a Jason Bourne film than a comic book adaptation. It cemented Chris Evans as the quintessential Steve Rogers, solidified Scarlett Johansson’s strong footing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), and introduced us to Falcon, played exquisitely by Anthony Mackie. And it also included the best Marvel villain, the Winter Soldier, since the scene-stealing Loki in Thor.
2) Marvel’s the Avengers – if this film were to be judged by strict critical or film student criteria, I am not sure it would rate higher than movies 5-3 on my list. And that’s no diss. Joss Whedon’s “Ocean’s 11-style” comic book movie blockbuster is a very well-made movie but where it really stands out is that it was groundbreaking. It was the climax of four stand-alone films (Iron Man I-II, Thor and Captain America), and established the MCU as the standard in the genre.
1) The Dark Knight – Christopher Nolan as the Director. David Goyer as the screenwriter. Christian Bale as Batman. Heath Ledger as the Joker. Maggie Gyllenhaal, Morgan Freeman, Aaron Eckhart and one of the best superhero musical scores since Superman (1978), this film is still the utmost superhero movie until otherwise noted.
