Monday 22 April 2013

My Top 100: Superhero Films

For just over 20 years or so, the superhero genre has become second nature when it comes to peoples most anticipated films of each year. A lot of them have just been a decent watch that just brings in the box office, but every so often there are some absolute gems that go into my top films of all-time.

Films based on graphics novels from Marvel or DC are the most common we see at the moment. There are a few that get released outside of these giant brands that can easily compete with them.

The superhero genre has become so vast, my initial post of a top 10, moved to a top 50 and now a top 100. I will rank my top 100-11 and then give a short review of each of my top 10:

100) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
99) Kick-Ass 2
98) Jumper
97) RoboCop (2014)
96) Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
95) Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania
94) Shazam! Fury Of The Gods
93) The Marvels
92) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
91) Blue Beetle
90) Aquaman
89) Darkman
88) Hancock
87) The Rocketeer
86) Power Rangers
85) Blade II
84) The Punisher
83) Black Widow
82) Black Adam
81) Blade
80) Iron Man 2
79) The League Of Extraordinary Gentleman
78) Hulk
77) Ant-Man
76) Thor: The Dark World
75) Superman III
74) Captain Marvel
73) Super Pets
72) Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings
71) Thor: Love And Thunder
70) The Mask
69) Wonder Woman 1984
68) Iron Man 3
67) The Amazing Spider-Man
66) Thor
65) X-Men Origins: Wolverine
64) The Incredible Hulk
63) X-Men: Apocalypse
62) Avengers: Age Of Ultron
61) Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2
60) Chronicle
59) The Suicide Squad
58) Eternals
57) Spider-Man: Far From Home
56) Deadpool 2
55) The Flash
54) Superman Returns
53) Doctor Strange
52) Man of Steel
51) Spider-Man
50) X-Men
49) Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3
48) Unbreakable
47) RoboCop (1987)
46) Teen Titans Go! To The Movies
45) Ant-Man And The Wasp
44) Constantine
43) Black Panther
42) Wonder Woman
41) Megamind
40) Hellboy
39) Thor: Ragnorok
38) Spider-Man: Homecoming
37) X-Men: Days Of Future Past
36) Captain America: The First Avenger
35) Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness
34) Batman
33) Spider-Man: No Way Home
32) Spider-Man 2
31) Kick-Ass
30) Hellboy II: The Golden Army
29) Captain America: The Winter Soldier
28) Incredibles 2
27) Logan
26) Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse
25) Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
24) Captain America: Civil War
23) Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie
22) Iron Man
21) X-Men 2
20) Big Hero 6
19) Glass
18) Zack Snyder's Justice League
17) Shazam!
16) The Lego Batman Movie
15) Deadpool
14) Batman Returns
13) The Batman
12) Guardians Of The Galaxy
11) Avengers Assemble

10) X-Men: First Class - The best of the Marvel films in my opinion, and one of the most surprising films I have ever seen. It was the best reboot possible. It overflows with top performances from a huge batch of actors playing our favorite mutants. Michael Fassbender was the highlight for me as Magneto, but there is more than enough other performances to make you give this film multiple viewings.

9) Superman - To some people, this is the film that laid the foundations to today's superhero franchises.

Christopher Reeve is the perfect portrayal of both the son of Jor-El and Clark Kent.

Also the casting of Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor was a stroke of genius and the two actors just produced a rivalry that people still love today.

8) Avengers: Endgame - The culmination of 12 years of work came to the most epic climax within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

After the events of Infinity War, it is up to the remaining Avengers to exact revenge on Thanos and correct the mistakes they made.

For many people, this is the blockbuster of a generation.

7) Avengers: Infinity War - Mine and many others favourite installment within the MCU.

It sees the Avengers back with many more allies trying to stop the villianous Thanos from killing half the universe.

The execution of the action, comedy and shock factor was nothing short of phenomenal. It's a tough order with so many characters involved. But the Russo brothers did a fantastic job.

6) Superman II - Terrific for its time and still enjoyable now.

It may seem just a classic good vs evil flick, but the content that is produced is constantly flowing at a pace that just amazes you.

Some terrific performances, especially by Terrence Stamp as the evil General Zod coming to get Superman, with a few friends at his side.



5) Batman Begins - The first of Nolan's trilogy blew people away with this reboot of the Gotham City vigilante.

It was a new experience for fans of superheroes and it was for the best as this was the birth of one of the best trilogies in movie-history.

4) The Dark Knight Rises - The third and final installment of Nolan's trilogy and ended with a bang.

New villains, new gadgets and yet still the same terrific movie-making.

It will take a brave director to reboot the Batman franchise, because I cannot see this current one being beaten.

3) The Dark Knight - After the success of Batman Begins, Christopher Nolan's vision continues to ground-break this genre.

Featuring my favourite supporting actor performance by the late Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight brought a whole new audience to this highly successful trilogy.

2) Watchmen - A totally different approach to the superhero genre.
Director Zack Snyder kept very close to the award winning graphic novel and actually made an ending that was better than the comic I felt. This also contains what I think is the best opening credits of all-time.

1) The Incredibles - We may have Marvel and DC, but Pixar reigns supreme with this incredible family animated adventure.

Despite no comic book history, this 2004 blockbuster became one of the most popular films of the decade.
It's wonderful story-telling, interesting characters and highly enjoyable tone, this is certainly one of Pixar's many classics that will stand the test of time.

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