On may the 3rd, 2002, Spider-Man changed the face of the Comic Book movie forever. It became the first Superhero 'Event' Movie of the new century and eventually one of the greatest Summer Blockbusters ever. Today, may the 2nd, 2014, almost 12 years to the day of the original's release, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 marks the official start of this year's Summer Movie season. And what a season it promises to be, with other Superhero Movies being released, including: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - a reboot of the beloved franchise, Guardians of the Galaxy - the launch of a new franchise, and X-Men: Days of Future Past - the combination of two successful franchises into one ambitious movie, รก la 2012's The Avengers.
Speaking of The Avengers, that movie rightfully appears on the list, along with some of the individual avengers' own movies. One of those is this past april's Captain America: The Winter Soldier(still in theaters, by the way), the cut-off point for these rankings. It's possible that one or more of this summer's upcoming Superhero Movies cracks this list in the future. And let's not forget about what's coming after that in the Superhero Movie genre, with already announced projects such as: the Spider-Man spinoff Sinister Six movie, the highly anticipated sequels to The Incredibles and The Avengers, and DC's Batman vs. Superman movie, which will lead in to their own Avengers-type Justice League movie.
In about 5 years, I might be doing a Top 50 Superhero Movies list. That road begins this sunday, when I'll be going to see The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in theaters(I'll post my review of the film soon after that). For now, I present the Top 25 Superhero Movies I've ever seen. Enjoy!
25) Blankman (1994) (dir. Mike Binder)
*Known for: Co-written & produced by Damon Wayans. Ordinary citizens as Superheroes
The Hero: Darryl Walker, aka Blankman, a grandma's boy who dresses up as a Superhero and fights crime after his grandmother is murdered. By the end, he's joined by his disapproving brother Kevin, whose crime fighting alias is "Other Guy".
24) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) (dir. Steve Barron)
*Known for: 1st live-action feature film for these characters. Excellent Jim Henson animatronics
The Heroes: Four mutated, crime fighting, pizza loving turtles named after great artists of the renaissance: Michelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo, and Raphael. They are taught by their master Splinter, a mutated rat himself, to fight against Shredder and his evil Foot clan.
23) Blade II (2002) (dir. Guillermo del Toro)
*Known for: Del Toro's take on the character. Action-packed sequel.
The Hero: Blade(Wesley Snipes), the day-walking vampire who forms an alliance with the Bloodpack, an elite team of vampire warriors who face a dangerous threat to their race in the Reapers.
22) Hellboy (2004) (dir. Guillermo del Toro)
*Known for: Del Toro's monsters. Nazis and mystical forces, before Marvel's Captain America.
The Hero: Hellboy, a demon that is brought to our world through a Nazi ritual during World War II. Hellboy is rescued from the Nazis and is brought up by the U.S. government to serve as a defender against the forces of darkness.
21) Batman Forever (1995) (dir. Joel Schumacher)
*Known for: Abandoning Tim Burton's Gotham. Val Kilmer replaces Michael Keaton as Batman. Its 2 scene-stealing villains.
The Hero: Bruce Wayne, aka Batman, who welcomes a sidekick in this movie, Robin. They are both overshadowed by the real stars of this movie: Jim Carrey as The Riddler, and Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face.
20) Sky High (2005) (dir. Mike Mitchell)
*Known for: Superheroes in High School. Lynda Carter(Wonder Woman) plays the school principal.
The Hero: Will Stronghold, the son of famous Superhero couple The Commander(Kurt Russell) & Jetstream(Kelly Preston). He is entering his first year at Sky High, a high school for Superheroes and their sidekicks.
19) Iron Man (2008) (dir. Jon Favreau)
*Known for: Kicked off Marvel's Avengers master plan. Made Robert Downey Jr. an A-List star.
The Hero: Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, the billionaire weapons manufacturer who creates a suit of armor to escape a life-threatening situation. He then decides to use his technology for the greater good, which draws interest from S.H.I.E.L.D.
18) X-Men (2000) (dir. Bryan Singer)
*Known for: The 1st big Superhero Movie of the 21st century. Great cast, including Hugh Jackman's great portrayal of Wolverine.
The Hero: The X-Men, a group of peace-keeping mutants led by Professor Charles Xavier(Patrick Stewart). They welcome 2 new members in this movie: Wolverine and Rogue(Anna Paquin), but not before Magneto(Ian McKellen), Xavier's lifelong friend and fellow mutant, attempts to use Rogue's powers to start a war between mutants and humans.
17) Unbreakable (2000) (dir. M. Night Shyamalan)
*Known for: Shyamalan's follow-up to The Sixth Sense, and his last decent movie. More of a psychological thriller than a traditional Superhero Movie.
The Hero: David Dunn(Bruce Willis), a hero who doesn't realize he has superpowers, even though he's never been sick or hurt a day in his life. Oh, he also walks away from a catastrophic train crash without a scratch. Elijah Price, aka Mr. Glass(Samuel L. Jackson), is the mastermind of that train accident, and other devastating events around the world, in a search for his total opposite.
16) Batman (1989) (dir. Tim Burton)
*Known for: Launched the Modern Era of Superhero Movies. Tim Burton's vision of Gotham City. Jack Nicholson as The Joker
The Hero: Batman(Michael Keaton), a mysterious crime fighter dressed up as a bat. We get no origin story, but we learn that Batman is actually billionaire Bruce Wayne, who uses his detective skills and all the toys money can buy to fight crime. Throughout the movie he's trying to stop Jack Napier, who turns into The Joker when he's left with a permanent grin on his face after falling into a vat of chemicals.
15) Kick-Ass (2010) (dir. Matthew Vaughn)
*Known for: Vaughn's work here helped him get the call to direct X-Men: First Class. Ordinary citizens as Superheroes. Chloe Grace Moretz as Hit-Girl. Very funny.
The Hero: Dave Lizewski, a regular teenager who decides to dress up and fight crime as Kick Ass. He quickly discovers that fighting crime is not as easy as it seems in the Comic Books. He joins forces with a father & daughter team of vigilantes known as Big Daddy(Nicolas Cage) and Hit-Girl.
14) Iron Man 3 (2013) (dir. Shane Black)
*Known for: Being more of a sequel to The Avengers than Iron Man 2. Exploding bad guys. The great Mandarin reveal. S.H.I.E.L.D. is MIA, even when the President's life is in danger.
The Hero: Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, who is psychologically tormented by the events that took place in New York in The Avengers. He faces a new threat in The Mandarin(Ben Kingsley), a global terrorist who is responsible for multiple devastating events ... or is he?
13) Blade (1998) (dir. Stephen Norrington)
*Known for: Marvel's 1st big-screen hit. Vampires.
The Hero: Blade(Wesley Snipes), who is born part man/part vampire after his pregnant mother gets bitten by a vampire just as she's about to give birth. Because of this, he gets all of the vampires' strengths, but none of their weaknesses, so he's known as 'the Daywalker'. He's raised and taught to fight vampires by his sidekick Whistler(Kris Kristofferson).
12) Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) (dir. Joe Johnston)
*Known for: Captain America's origin story. Nazis and mystical forces, with the 1st appearance of the Tesseract. 1940s setting with a modern-day ending. Great ensemble cast.
The Hero: Steve Rogers, a scrawny patriotic American who is rejected by the U.S. Army on multiple occasions, but that never stops him from trying to enlist. He gets noticed by Dr. Abraham Erskine(Stanley Tucci) and is selected for the new 'Super Soldier' program. He is given super-human strength and, after entertaining the troops for a while, he eventually leads them into battle against The Red Skull(Hugo Weaving) and Hydra.
11) The Dark Knight Rises (2012) (dir. Christopher Nolan)
*Known for: Final chapter of Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. Another great ensemble cast. Bane almost kills Batman. Bane's voice. Not-so great twist at the end.
The Hero: Bruce Wayne, aka Batman(Christian Bale), who comes out of retirement after the events of The Dark Knight to face Bane(Tom Hardy), a physically imposing man who plans to complete R'as Al Ghul's mission to destroy Gotham. The full cast of characters returns, plus 2 new sidekicks for Batman: police officer John Blake(Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and 'cat' burglar Selina Kyle(Anne Hathaway).
10) Superman: The Movie (1978) (dir. Richard Donner)
*Known for: 1st Superhero 'Event' Movie. Stunt casting: Brando & Hackman. Christopher Reeve's iconic portrayal of Superman/Clark Kent. Believing a man could fly. "You've got me? Who's got you?!"
The Hero: Superman/Clark Kent, or, if you prefer his Kryptonian name, Kal-El. He's sent to Earth by his father Jor-El(Brando) when his home planet of Krypton is about to be destroyed. He gains unlimited power from the Earth's sun, and is raised by the Kents to use those powers for good. Once he's grown up, he heads to Metropolis and becomes a reporter for the Daily Planet, under his alias Clark Kent. At the same time, he starts undertaking numerous feats of heroism as Superman. He goes on to fall in love with Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane and he foils Lex Luthor's(Hackman) evil plan by flying around the Earth to turn back time(which is kind of like cheating) to save Lois.
9) The Avengers (2012) (dir. Joss Whedon)
*Known for: Joining four different Superhero franchises in one movie. Becoming one of the biggest Box-Office hits of All-Time. The final battle in New York
The Heroes: The Avengers: Tony Stark/Iron Man, Steve Rogers/Captain America, Bruce Banner/The Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye. 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes' are brought together by S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury to face Loki, who plans to use the Tesseract to open a portal that will bring an alien army called 'the Chitauri' that will help him rule the Earth.
8) X-Men: First Class (2011) (dir. Matthew Vaughn)
*Known for: An X-Men origin story. 1960s setting, combining the real world cuban missile crisis with the X-Men story. Great ensemble cast, particularly the two leads.
The Heroes: The X-Men, formed by Professor Charles Xavier(James McAvoy) and fellow mutant Erik Lensherr(Michael Fassbender). Along with Xavier's childhood friend Raven(Jennifer Lawrence), they recruit and train a group of mutants to stop former Nazi scientist Sebastian Shaw(Kevin Bacon), who plans to start World War III by masterminding the cuban missile crisis. The problem is that Charles and Erik don't always see eye-to-eye as to the best way to deal with their enemies, and by the end of the film they form two separate groups of mutants.
7) Captain America: The Winter Soldier(2014) (dir. Joe and Anthony Russo)
*Known for: A great sequel to both The Avengers and the first Captain America. A 70s political thriller dressed up as a Superhero Movie, with an awesome James Bond-type mission to start the movie. Great villain. The Abed cameo, of course!
The Hero: Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, who is still adjusting to the modern world after being asleep for nearly 70 years. He doesn't have much time to catch up though, as he has to jump into action(he literally jumps from an airplane, without a parachute mind you) to stop an evil plan by some rogue S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, who unleash The Winter Soldier. The Captain is joined by two sidekicks: Black Widow(Scarlett Johansson) from The Avengers, and newcomer The Falcon(Anthony Mackie).
6) Batman Begins (2005) (dir. Christopher Nolan)
*Known for: Christopher Nolan's dark and gritty take on Batman's origin story, taking the Superhero genre in a serious direction. Christian Bale's great performance as Bruce Wayne/Batman. Great ensemble cast.
The Hero: Bruce Wayne, aka Batman, who turns to a life of crime after his parents are murdered when he was a little boy. He is recruited and trained to fight crime by the League of Shadows and their leader, R'as Al Ghul. But Bruce disagrees with their plan to destroy Gotham, as he believes the city is worth saving. He returns to Gotham as a crime fighting vigilante, and uses his fear of bats as a symbol to scare his enemies. He also uses his unlimited resources as majority owner of Wayne Enterprises to his advantage. Batman's group of allies include his butler Alfred(Michael Caine), Wayne Enterprises Applied Sciences head Lucius Fox(Morgan Freeman), Assistant DA and long-time friend Rachel Dawes(Katie Holmes) and police officer Jim Gordon(Gary Oldman).
5) The Incredibles (2004) (dir. Brad Bird)
*Known for: Brad Bird's first film for Pixar, which he wrote & directed. The greatest family of Superheroes ever put on the big screen. "You got me monologuing!". Edna Mode(voiced by Brad Bird). "No capes!".
The Heroes: The Incredibles: the father, Mr. Incredible(voiced by Craig T. Nelson), who has super strength, the mother, Elastigirl(voiced by Holly Hunter), who stretches into many shapes, the son, Dash, who has super speed, the daughter Violet, who can turn invisible and create force fields, and the baby Jack-Jack, who has some very mysterious powers. They are joined by old friend Frozone(voiced by Samuel L. Jackson, the MVP of this list) to save Metroville from Syndrome's(voiced by Jason Lee) evil plan and restore the Supers' good name after years in exile.
4) X2: X-Men United (2003) (Bryan Singer)
*Known for: Being a great, action-packed sequel to the first X-Men. Adding even more mutants. Great villain. Bobby/Iceman 'coming out' to his parents. Exploring Wolverine's origin story. Jean Grey's sacrifice at the end.
The Heroes: The X-Men, again, who this time have to join forces with Magneto's(Ian McKellen) brotherhood, after Professor Xavier's(Patrick Stewart) school for mutants is attacked by Colonel William Stryker(Brian Cox), who is looking to terminate the mutant threat once and for all by using the professor's Cerebro machine to kill them all.
3) Spider-Man (2002) (dir. Sam Raimi)
*Known for: Launched the modern Superhero Movie craze, being the 1st Superhero 'Event' Movie of the 21st century and eventually one of the greatest Summer Blockbusters of All-Time. Great origin story of the character. J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson. New Yorkers united after 9/11. Great performance by Tobey Maguire. "With great power comes great responsibility." The iconic upside down kiss.
The Hero: Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, an awkward teenager who gets bitten by a radioactive spider and gains its powers, such as: super strength, improved eyesight, the ability to climb buildings, and spider sense, of course. He decides to use these powers for good after his Uncle Ben(Cliff Robertson) is murdered. He later has to face off against the Green Goblin(Willem Dafoe), who first threatens his Aunt May(Rosemary Harris), and then the love of his life, Mary Jane Watson(Kirsten Dunst), from whom he has to hide these feelings in order to keep her from danger.
2) Spider-Man 2 (2004) (dir. Sam Raimi)
*Known for: Superior sequel to the already great original. Peter Parker gives up his powers as Spider-Man. Great new villain. The train battle, with Peter being seen without his mask. J. Jonah Jameson, again stealing every scene. Great ending("Go get 'em, tiger."), with Mary Jane doubting her decision to be with Peter.
The Hero: Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, who faces a new nemesis in Dr. Otto Octavious(Alfred Molina), or Doc Ock, as he's known after a science experiment gone bad leaves him with four mechanical arms that control his mind. Doc Ock is dead set on repeating his experiment, but first he must bring Spider-Man alive to Peter's best friend Harry Osborn(James Franco), who wants revenge on Spider-Man as he believes that Spider-Man was responsible for killing his father at the end of the first movie. Peter must come to the realization of his greater purpose as Spider-Man in order to save Mary Jane(Kirsten Dunst) from the clutches of his main adversary, only this time the entire city of New York is in grave danger as well.
1) The Dark Knight (2008) (dir. Christopher Nolan)
*Known for: Superior sequel to the already great original. Became one of the biggest Box-Office hits ever. Heath Ledger's transcendent performance as The Joker, for which he won a posthumous Oscar. The 1st feature film to use IMAX cameras. Another great ensemble cast. The 1st Batman film to not use the word 'Batman' in its title. "Why so serious?"
The Hero: Bruce Wayne, aka Batman, who has to face the greatest villain in any Superhero Movie, The Joker. The Joker is an agent of chaos, as he says, and throughout the movie Batman is always a step behind his evil plans. Batman again receives help from his group of allies, including newly named Commissioner Gordon(Gary Oldman), and new District Attorney Harvey Dent(Aaron Eckhart), who becomes 'Two-Face' after The Joker almost kills him. After that, Batman and Commissioner Gordon eventually catch The Joker, but they are left to cover up Harvey/Two-Face's evil acts, which was The Joker's ultimate evil plan. At the end of the film, Batman takes the blame for Harvey and goes into hiding. But as we learn in Part 3 of the trilogy, The Joker's master plan ultimately prevails.
