Comic book movies have been around for a long time, but they really began taking off with Bryan Singer’s X-Men and Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man. Now, superhero movies are all the rage. Both Marvel and DC have laid out movie plans stretching all the way to 2020 and beyond. But before we hit light speed on comic-based movies, Violet and I decided to put together a Top 10 list of comic book movies. At the time of press, Avengers: Age of Ultron has not yet been released (in the United States, anyway), so this is more of a pre-Summer 2015 list, and these lists may soon change! Of course, movies are subjective, so this is by no means a objective list. But it is fun to try to rank movies, and see what other opinions come out of the woodwork!
Josh’s Top 10 Comic Book Movies:
Honorable Mention: One movie I want to mention before I get into the Top 10 proper, and that is Kingsman: The Secret Service. The Matthew Vaughn directed film is so much fun, and the action was so amazing that I almost want to put it in the list. I don’t feel it is quite fair to put it though, as I am not sure if it has the staying power as these others below do. I do feel it deserves some credit though, which is why I mentioned it before getting into the rest of the list.
10. Kick-Ass – Matthew Vaughn created a really special movie in Kick-Ass. This movie takes a much more realistic approach to being a “superhero.” Combined with the stylized approach that Matthew Vaughn takes with his movies, Kick-Ass is a must see movie. Following the trials and tribulations of Kick-Ass’s attempt to be a hero was done really well. Then combining the action scenes, especially those of Hit Girl and Big Daddy, there is no way to not have fun watching it.
9. Iron Man – The first big hit for Marvel, and for good reason. Robert Downey Jr. playing the playboy billionaire with a flying suit was just such a perfect casting call. RDJ combined with a great origin story for Iron Man made this film just a whole lot of fun. Who knew it would be Jon Favreau, director of Elf, who would start such an amazing movement for Marvel?
8. Batman Begins – Christopher Nolan’s introduction of Batman was dark and gritty, and a great step away from the terribleness of Batman films that proceeded it. This was a great prelude to set up The Dark Knight, and told Bruce Wayne’s story in such a fun, yet dark way. It was so good that many people were able to let Batman and Robin stay in the grave where it belongs.
7. Captain America: Winter Soldier – The first Captain America was pretty good, but I felt there was something missing. But Winter Soldier filled in those gaps nicely. This movie stands on its own footing, and doesn’t even feel like a comic book movie. If you take Steve Rogers out, and put any well trained CIA/FBI agent in here, this movie is still great. The action scenes in this movie are so visceral, that it looks like Cap’n and Winter Soldier are physically duking it out. This is by far the best standalone Avenger movie so far.
6. Spider-Man 2 – This was a great sequel to the original Sam Raimi Spider-Man. Doctor Octopus’s persona in this film was menacing, yet relatable. He was the bad guy, but a bad guy who got twisted into doing the wrong thing. Seeing Peter Parker continue his struggles with his dual life is done really well in this movie as well.
5. Spider-Man – Peter Parker is a great “everyman’s” hero. He isn’t rich, he is just trying to make it in the world like everyone else, and his struggles with balancing Peter Parker’s life with Spider-Man’s is really captured in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man. A lot of people consider Spider-Man 2 the better of the two originals, but I am sucker for a well told origin story.
4. X-Men: Days of Future Past – I call this movie the problem solving movie. As a standalone film, Days of Future Past is an excellent movie. Bryan Singer has combined two of my favorite genres into one awesome thrill ride: time travel and comic books. if that were it, I would already be ecstatic, but this movie erased all inconsistencies and problems that previous X-Men movies had (I am looking at you X-3 and X-Men Origins: Wolverine).
3. The Avengers – Despite the story being pretty flimsy in The Avengers, what Marvel and Joss Whedon were able to pull off is nothing short of a miracle. Prior to the announcement, who would believe that someone would be able to cram so many superheroes into one movie? This movie is a lot of fun, and seeing Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, and Captain America save the world feels like Christmas morning as a child.
2. Man of Steel – This is a highly polarizing film, and I am surprised how much it is. I understand some of the critiques–this is not a “traditional” Superman character–at least not yet. I was amazed at how well Zack Snyder was able to tell Clark Kent’s life story with simple flashbacks, rather than chronologically telling everything like we are used to. The fight scenes in the movie are great, and the only truly weak part I thought the movie had was a couple of attempts at humor that fell flat, and unfortunately, Lois Lane. But still, the moral issues Clark faces as he comes of age, and learns to deal with his abilities was enthralling for me.
And finally…
1. The Dark Knight – So far, no other comic book related movie has come close to my number one comic book film of all time. The Dark Knight is in my top 5 movies of all time. The gritty tone of the film is mesmerizing. The story is great, with the exception of a couple tidbits, and Heath Ledger’s Joker is one of the best movie villains of all time. Christopher Nolan hit all the right buttons with this movie, and it is too bad that didn’t carry over to The Dark Knight Rises.
Violet’s Top 10 Comic Book Movies:
Honorable Mention: There are two other movies that I wanted to put on the list, but I kept off because I think it may have more been nostalgia that made me want to put them on: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze and Batman (1989). Being a child of the 80s, I loved TMNT growing up. I think the second movie sticks as a favorite in my mind because of Tokka and Rahzar, and yes, because of Vanilla Ice’s “Ninja Rap.” As for Batman, that movie was my first exposure to Batman, and we owned the movie, which I watched a lot when I was younger. For the longest time, I considered Michael Keaton to be my Batman. That is, until Christian Bale solidified that for me in The Dark Knight.
10. 300 – This was a visually groundbreaking, highly stylized film that was so much fun to watch and had an epic battle scene! I went in not knowing what to expect, but came out in awe.
9. Guardians of the Galaxy – This film took a virtually unknown comic book and made its characters into household names. It runs the gamut of emotional responses that it invokes, and appeals to movie watchers of all ages.
8. Kick-Ass – I actually had no interest in seeing this film, but wow, was I surprised at how good it was! It had just the right amount of humor versus action, and proved that anyone can be a superhero.
7. X-Men – This 2000 film is the one that revived the comic book movie genre. This was back when I didn’t know that this was even based on a comic book. I just knew that it had sci-fi elements, and I was really into sci-fi. Little did I know that this was only the beginning of an amazing franchise, and would be followed by many more comic book movies.
6. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Although this film had a lot of great action, that wasn’t the only aspect to it. This movie was a little different than other comic book movies because it wasn’t afraid to cross over into the political spy/thriller genre, and make you think.
5. Iron Man – Hard to believe that it was just 7 short years ago that we were first introduced to Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark. At this point, I almost can’t remember a time before RDJ and Tony Stark were synonymous. RDJ is Tony Stark. This was also just the beginning of Phase 1 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
4. Spider-Man – Although X-Men revived comic book movies, I feel like it was Spider-Man that really solidified the presence of comic book movies. Once this movie came out, it almost confirmed that comic book movies were here to stay. Spider-Man told a great origin story, and now everyone everywhere knows who Spider-Man is.
3. X-Men: Days of Future Past – I love X-Men. I love time travel. I love the apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic subgenres. In short, this movie was a combination of everything that I love.
2. Avengers – After seeing all the standalone superhero movies, it was epic to see our favorite Marvel superheroes all come together for the first time, fighting side by side. And as an added bonus, Joss Whedon directed it, which made it that much more awesome! (I’m sure it goes without saying that I’m a huge Joss Whedon fan.)
1. The Dark Knight – I remember immediately after seeing this movie, I rated it a 9.5, only taking off the 0.5 because of the unnecessary deep gravelly voice Batman used. Heath Ledger was amazing as the Joker, and this is the film that made Christian Bale replace Michael Keaton as my Batman. Every time I go back and watch this movie, it still holds up to that initial rating I gave it.
So we want to hear what your favorite comic book movies are! I am certain that many people are going to think some of the movies on our list are just plain ludicrous, and I want to hear why! Let us know what your favorite comic book movies are below, or simply tell us why you don’t think some of the movies we listed belong on a Top 10 list. We really want to know what you think!
I grew up watching She-Ra and Conan but right now its more like Agents of Sheild, Constantine, Arrow, Gotham and Daredevil
Nothing can compare to the sheer joy that The Avengers gave me in bringing together some of my favorite childhood comic book heroes on the big screen. Even with its flaws, The Avengers I think is my top movie. Spider-Man 2 is close, and is still the best Spidey movie. The Dark Knight almost isn’t a comic book movie to me, but it’d definitely one of my top movies.
Batman (1989). It’s the one that really made it ok for Hollywood to make movies from comics.
I agree with 300 being on this list, and would submit Sin City also as films that cleaved very closely to the gritty Frank Miller source material.
Avengers, The Dark Knight are probably the top two in my book. Winter Soldier and Age of Ultron is now up there as well. Guardians of the Galaxy. Iron Man, Spider-Man 2, Iron Man 2, Teenage mutant ninja turtles 2, and Batman (1989). All these are great movies, there are just sooo many.
I hated X-Men 3 and Spider-Man 3 more than anything, Oh yeah that Wolverine Origins movie can go under the crap pile as well.
I think The Punisher should get an honorable mention as it was truly an underrated film. Kick Ass and Kingsman also deserve an honorable mention as well.
Not saying it should be on the list but I believe Blade paved the way for all Comic Book movies that followed. It proved that they could be profitable.
The Tim Burton’s Batman is my favorite, as it’s the Batman of my generation, and also the film that redefined how we look at comic book movies.
Avengers and Watchmen
@josh I think Guardians should be on your list. Other than that, great list! 😀
@violet Your list is more to my liking than Josh’s 🙂
Thanks!
Honorable mentions being: Early Christopher Reeves Superman films, old Spider Man and Batman movies left a great impression. If Equilibrium or Ultraviolet were from comics then I love those too. I suppose on that note I should mention Blade and Resident Evil. Enjoyable flicks for sure. I like aspects of all of the X-Men and related movies and not to forget, Tomb Raider haha. V for Vendetta was excellent, wow there have been a lot of these, which I’ll never get through. Okay, let’s get into the list.
10.The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
9. The Punisher
8. The Losers
7. X-Men
6. Avengers: Age of Ultron
5. The Dark Knight
4. Watchmen
3. Iron Man
2. Batman Begins
and finally…
1. Captain America : The Winter Soldier.
Whoa, how did I forget to mention Sin City and it’s sequel, 300 and it’s sequel and Guardians of the freaking Galaxy? I’m really slipping here.
This is eom awesome! I love the comprehensiveness of this post!
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, The Dark Knight, Batman (1989), Men in Black, The Rocketeer, Spider-Man (2002), The Amazing Spider-Man (2012). I love Marvel movies especially both Captain America movies, X-Men, X-men First Class, Guardians of the Galaxy, Iron Man, 2, 3,
I like your list! Scott Pilgrim is such a fantastic movie! Grew up with The Rocketeer as well
some good lists, but i’ll go with the 1st one.
Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain America: Winter Soldier!
I agree with the first list more so than the second, except for Man of Steel anyways. I wasn’t a fan of that particular movie.
I really enjoyed Sin City. My all time favorite comic book based movie was X-Men, because it reminded me of rushing home after school in elementary to catch episodes of the cartoon.
Im sorta a Marvel fanboy so all the Iron Man movies, and Thor and my tops right now. Guardians is growing on my too.
x-men are my favorite! nice review
Batman Begins brought the adult version of the comic books to life.
Guardians hands down.
Thor
Thor 2
Captain America
The Avengers
The Avengers 2
The Dark Knight
X-Men: Days of Future Past
X-Men: First Class
X-Men
I guess you just posted this too early, since you left out “Avengers 2: Age of Ultron”!
I love all the movies from your lists, but this is my favorite comic books movie so far.
Kick-Ass, purely because it surprised me with just how damn fun it was.
I am not a huge fan of Kickass.
However The Dark Knight and Captain America: The Winter Soldier are two of my favorite movies.
Love that kingsmen got a mention. I loved that movie and hope we see more in the future. I think the batman movies ars some of the better ones but i do love the marvel movies. They are just a good time.
I really need to watch the Winter Soldier still! I really love the directing of X-Men First class, but wish that it was characters other people cared about more so I wouldn’t be alone in my love for it
I agree with both lists. Well, maybe not 300. What, no love for Howard The Duck. Just kidding.
The Dark Knight is my favorite.
Xmen: Days of Future Past was thee absolute best Xmen movie of all time for me! Totally blew away all specs on all previous Xmen movies for me!
Watchmen deserves an honorary mention! While the plot was changed i think it was a very good adaptation.
The Avengers is my top one. Kick-Ass was alright. Not the greatest. But I did love Aaron Johnson reborn into another hero as Quicksilver in The Avengers: Age of Ultron.
My 10 favorites so far (in no particular order) are: The Avengers, The Avengers 2, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, The Dark Knight, Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-Man (2002), Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Green Lantern (2011) and X-Men (2000)
I also like HULK (2003) and Incredible Hulk (2008) – Because I’m a huge HULK fan! And though I really enjoyed these movies and found them entertaining, they didn’t make my top 10 list because of their adaptations varying too much from the origin source. Especially HULK (2003)