The Greatest Superhero Movies of All-Time Ranked

[KnightTemplar]

Was just rewatching the Sam Raimi Spider-Man films last night (minus the 3rd because of obvious reasons) and it got me thinking what my Top 10 Greatest Superhero Movies of All-Time were, and here they are:

View attachment 733105

Honorable Mentions:
• The Incredibles, Guardians of the Galaxy 1 & 2, Thor: Ragnarok, Deadpool, Shazam

What are your top 10?



Edit: I don't think the MCU movies are bad or poorly made per-say, I just find most of them to be relatively uninteresting and bland.

 

[neverwas]

i cant get my head around how many people rate logan so high. i found it boring and predictable as hell.

 

[Madmick]

Oh, for the record, here's how they are rated by the people (i.e. voters on IMDb). Collectively, they do the best job overall although Logan is disgustingly underappreciated. Some of the newest will slide down this list with time. That's just the nature of recency bias:
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls022086622/?sort=user_rating,desc&st_dt=&mode=detail&page=1

The above IMDb list is pretty exhaustive even it's a bit controversial with the inclusion of films like V for Vendetta which was a comic, but whose hero isn't technically a superhero, at least not anymore than Batman is, but who doesn't exist in a superhero universe. Another is Kick-Ass which, again, technically isn't about superheroes. This list was made in June 2018, so there's a few missing (principally Joker). If you're going to include The Incredibles I don't know why you wouldn't include all the other superhero animated feature length films unless you're focusing exclusively on the box office. Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse is the best of them all, and it also isn't on this list because it's too recent. Borrowing from him, and sticking to live action, box office, and superheroes, which means omitting even films like Chronicle about super-powered individuals who aren't really superheroes, or aren't part of superhero comic universes, here are the Top 50 as rated by the people:

Top Live-Action Feature Length Box Office Superhero/Supervillain Movies according to IMDb Voters

1. (9.0) The Dark Knight
2. (8.6) Joker
3. (8.5) Avengers: Infinity War
4. (8.5) Avengers: Endgame
5. (8.4) The Dark Knight Rises
6. (8.2) Batman Begins
7. (8.1) Logan
8. (8.0) The Avengers
9. (8.0) Guardians of the Galaxy
10. (8.0) Deadpool
11. (8.0) X-Men: Days of Future Past
12. (7.9) Thor: Ragnarok
13. (7.9) Iron Man
14. (7.8) Captain America: Civil War
15. (7.7) Deadpool 2
16. (7.7) Captain America: The Winter Soldier
17. (7.7) X-Men: First Class
18. (7.6) Watchmen
19. (7.6) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
20. (7.6) The Crow
21. (7.5) Spider-Man: Far from Home
22. (7.5) Batman
23. (7.5) Doctor Strange
24. (7.4) Wonder Woman
25. (7.4) Spider-Man: Homecoming
26. (7.4) X-Men
27. (7.4) X-2: X-Men United
28. (7.3) Black Panther
29. (7.3) Avengers: Age of Ultron
30. (7.3) Spider-Man
31. (7.3) Ant-Man
32. (7.3) Superman
33. (7.3) Spider-Man 2
34. (7.3) Unbreakable
35. (7.2) Iron Man 3
36. (7.1) Shazam
    
37. (7.1) Man of Steel
38. (7.1) Ant-Man and the Wasp
39. (7.0) Blade
40. (7.0) Thor
    
41. (7.0) Aquaman
42. (7.0) Iron Man 2
    
43. (7.0) Batman Returns
44. (7.0) Constantine
45. (7.0) Hellboy II: The Golden Army
46. (6.9) Captain Marvel
47. (6.9) Captain America: The First Avenger
48. (6.9) The Mask
49. (6.9) Thor: The Dark World
50. (6.9) The Amazing Spider-Man

*IMDb Top 250 title


I left it off the list, but I must say I'm intrigued by the classic Bollywood title Mr. India, and I think that's probably one almost none of the viewers of this thread/post will have seen. With a 7.8 it would have been one of the highest-rated films on this list:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093578/reference

A poor but big-hearted man takes orphans into his home. After discovering his scientist father's invisibility device, he rises to the occasion and fights to save his children and all of India from the clutches of a megalomaniac.

 

[JustBleed69]

Oh, for the record, here's how they are rated by the people (i.e. voters on IMDb). Collectively, they do the best job overall although Logan is disgustingly underappreciated. Some of the newest will slide down this list with time. That's just the nature of recency bias:
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls022086622/?sort=user_rating,desc&st_dt=&mode=detail&page=1

The above IMDb list is pretty exhaustive even it's a bit controversial with the inclusion of films like V for Vendetta which was a comic, but whose hero isn't technically a superhero, at least not anymore than Batman is, but who doesn't exist in a superhero universe. Another is Kick-Ass which, again, technically isn't about superheroes. This list was made in June 2018, so there's a few missing (principally Joker). If you're going to include The Incredibles I don't know why you wouldn't include all the other superhero animated feature length films unless you're focusing exclusively on the box office. Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse is the best of them all, and it also isn't on this list because it's too recent. Borrowing from him, and sticking to live action, box office, and superheroes, which means omitting even films like Chronicle about super-powered individuals who aren't really superheroes, or aren't part of superhero comic universes, here are the Top 50 as rated by the people:

Top Live-Action Feature Length Box Office Superhero/Supervillain Movies according to IMDb Voters

1. (9.0) The Dark Knight
2. (8.6) Joker
3. (8.5) Avengers: Infinity War
4. (8.5) Avengers: Endgame
5. (8.4) The Dark Knight Rises
6. (8.2) Batman Begins
7. (8.1) Logan
8. (8.0) The Avengers
9. (8.0) Guardians of the Galaxy
10. (8.0) Deadpool
11. (8.0) X-Men: Days of Future Past
12. (7.9) Thor: Ragnarok
13. (7.9) Iron Man
14. (7.8) Captain America: Civil War
15. (7.7) Deadpool 2
16. (7.7) Captain America: The Winter Soldier
17. (7.7) X-Men: First Class
18. (7.6) Watchmen
19. (7.6) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
20. (7.6) The Crow
21. (7.5) Spider-Man: Far from Home
22. (7.5) Batman
23. (7.5) Doctor Strange
24. (7.4) Wonder Woman
25. (7.4) Spider-Man: Homecoming
26. (7.4) X-Men
27. (7.4) X-2: X-Men United
28. (7.3) Black Panther
29. (7.3) Avengers: Age of Ultron
30. (7.3) Spider-Man
31. (7.3) Ant-Man
32. (7.3) Superman
33. (7.3) Spider-Man 2
34. (7.3) Unbreakable
35. (7.2) Iron Man 3
36. (7.1) Shazam
    
37. (7.1) Man of Steel
38. (7.1) Ant-Man and the Wasp
39. (7.0) Blade
40. (7.0) Thor
    
41. (7.0) Aquaman
42. (7.0) Iron Man 2
    
43. (7.0) Batman Returns
44. (7.0) Constantine
45. (7.0) Hellboy II: The Golden Army
46. (7.0) Chronicle
47. (6.9) Captain Marvel
48. (6.9) Captain America: The First Avenger
49. (6.9) The Mask
50. (6.9) Thor: The Dark World

*IMDb Top 250 title


I left it off the list, but I must say I'm intrigued by the classic Bollywood title Mr. India, and I think that's probably one almost none of the viewers of this thread/post will have seen. With a 7.8 it would have been one of the highest-rated films on this list:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093578/reference

Not a horrific list, but I find Metacritic to have the most accurate reviews overall. Lots of bots on IMDb and people reviewing movies before they even come out.

 

[JustBleed69]

I think you need to rewatch man of steel and Wonder Woman.
Man of steel because it is awesome. And Wonder Woman because it is terrible (Gal Gadot is gorgeous but that’s it)

I've seen Man of Steel twice unfortunately. Absolute travesty of a film in every regard. Wonder Woman has its flaws, but I found it super entertaining and some scenes to be very powerful.

 

[Madmick]

#4 Winter Soldier
Captain America is def my top 5 fav superhero. He had the serum sure, but he wasn't OP, and had to use smart tactics to win. He always had a strong moral compass too, like Superman, which I always liked in my heroes, gave them extra boundaries. Evans was perfectly cast in the role, and he was at his peak in WS. The action scenes were incredible, especially for Cap and Black Widow (love that scarjo). Having Bucky return was so awesome too. I really liked how Cap wouldn't kill him, got me in the feels.
The elevator scene is the best action sequence in the entire MCU IMO

Not a horrific list, but I find Metacritic to have the most accurate reviews overall. Lots of bots on IMDb and people reviewing movies before they even come out.

Metacritic is littered with the same problem. It's better than RottenTomatoes for critics, but both are pieces of shit for that, and it's definitely most useful for the User Votes, but I'll still take IMDb every time. Metacritic has no global presence, and they never seemed to understand how to properly weight voting.

 

[JustBleed69]

Not a single mention of Joker?

I thought it was average as well

Comic movie but not really a superhero movie. I did enjoy it a lot though

 

[Madmick]

Comic movie but not really a superhero movie. I did enjoy it a lot though

I agree it stands apart from the rest of the DC, mostly, but it's still technically a supervillain movie in one of the two most prominent superhero comic universes. Really tough to excise that one.

Because if you want to call Joker an "archivillain", not a supervillain, because he doesn't possess any superpowers, per se, then we'd have to knock most of the Batman movies off the list. Batman himself isn't superpowered, and none of the villains in his discrete universe are superpowered; Joker is just mutilated, Penguin is just congenitally deformed, Riddler is just a smart guy with a chip on his shoulder, etc.

 

[JustBleed69]

Metacritic is littered with the same problem. It's better than RottenTomatoes for critics, but both are pieces of shit for that, and it's definitely most useful for the User Votes, but I'll still take IMDb every time. Metacritic has no global presence, and they never seemed to understand how to properly weight voting.

They're all pretty bad as far as corruption goes tbh, I just remember there being huge controversy on IMDB when any DCEU movie comes out. Literally thousands of fake accounts reviewing movies before they even came out.
I also think Metacritic has the best method of figuring out a movies appropriate score. They don't do a % of people that like it like RT or an average of user score like % IMDb does it, but a blend of the 2.

 

[horc00]

LOL at the entire Batman trilogy being in the top 5.

 

[FyrFytr998]

I love the genre too much to pick a favorite. So I won't. Although I will say the one I stop doing whatever it is I'm doing and watch it if it's broadcasting is Winter Soldier.

 

[Starck]

No one mentioning best picture nominee Black Panther?! Never felt so relieved.

 

[Madmick]

They're all pretty bad as far as corruption goes tbh, I just remember there being huge controversy on IMDB when any DCEU movie comes out. Literally thousands of fake accounts reviewing movies before they even came out.
I also think Metacritic has the best method of figuring out a movies appropriate score. They don't do a % of people that like it like RT or an average of user score like % IMDb does it, but a blend of the 2.

IMDb allows you to break down vote scores by user demographic. That alone makes it more useful than Metacritic will ever be.

The latter is dominated by sub-30yr-old North Americans. The entire point of services like IMDb for me is to see the opinion of the human race, not a cultural cross-section of it existing in an echo chamber.

 

[FyrFytr998]

Now the real question for comic fans....
Winter Soldier elevator scene vs. Daredevil hallway scene vs. Daredevil (Punisher)Jail scene?

 

[TheLinguist]

Dofp

The dark knight

Joker

Gotg 1

Man of steel

CA 1

Watchmen

X-men first class

Deadpool 1

Logan

The rest are pure shit

 

[Cool Hand Luke]

@Clippy

lol at these puny lists

 

[Clippy]

Ha ha h

@Clippy

lol at these puny lists

A

 

[Heelhook71]

Logan
The dark knight
Dead pool
Thor Ragnarok
Wonder Woman
The winter soldier
Blade
Batman begins
Avengers infinity war
Guardian of the galaxy

 

[mrsenor]

deluded

 

[GtehMVP]

After this thread, I decided to rewatch the first two superman films, and they still hold up really well. I hadn't seen them in years, brought back some amazing memories. John Williams adds so much to them, incredible score!

Reeves is masterful as Supe. The honour and optimism he brings to the role is second to none. What a perfect role model for kids, and a believable portrayal for adults. The cast is so excellent too. Brando and Hackman bring so much credibility to it. I really appreciate how seriously the creators took the film, while still injecting timely humour, and how they took their time before we ever get to see Supe in costume. That backstory on Krypton and in Smallville sets it all up.

RDJ/Ironman is surely the catalyst for the MCU, but Superman 1 and 2 were the catalysts for Superhero films period.

I also discovered the Donner Cut (OG Director) for Superman 2 (version I just watched), adds so much important footage they cut, and tells the story a little differently. I didn't know that they had filmed both films together, but it makes sense considering they teased Zod at the beginning of the first film.
They added this screen test into Superman 2, changing how Lois discovers his secret.



I just watched two excellent documentaries, the making of both Superman movies (Reeves, Hackman, and other stars gives interviews), plus the backstory, and making of the Donner cut for Superman 2. SO much went into both aspects, they are definitely worth a watch

I chose Superman 2 as my #1 choice. Rewatching the first two films, and the below docu's makes me even more confident in my decision.





If you read this long winded post, here's your reward, Miss Tessmacher!