Michael Fassbender has been one of the most exciting and interesting actors of the past couple of decades, rising to prominence in the mid to late 2000s. Ever since, he's built up quite the body of work, appearing in acclaimed indie films and large-scale blockbusters alike. Admittedly, he's been in his fair share of less-than-great movies, but these sometimes stand out merely because the bulk of his movies are good or, at the very least, interesting.
There's some hype building up for his upcoming collaboration with acclaimed filmmaker David Fincher, with the trailer for this movie, The Killer, dropping recently and looking promising. Hopefully, this will be yet another great Fassbender (and Fincher) film and will deliver the sorts of action and thrills its hitman-centered premise is promising. Until its release, the following movies are worth catching up on for any of Michael Fassbender's fans who have yet to see them, with his best movies being ranked below, from good to greatest.
12 'Jane Eyre' (2011)
Far from the only movie version of Jane Eyre (Orson Welles was even in one back in the 1940s), this 2011 version was nevertheless highly acclaimed. It follows the title character (Mia Wasikowska) as she meets and develops a complex relationship with a man named Mr. Rochester (Michael Fassbender).
It's a bit darker than your average romance and arguably more of a drama, but it still functions decently enough as both. Fassbender is also very good in the role he's given here, with it being among his earlier ones, and therefore, a key indicator near the start of his career of what he was capable of.
11 'A Dangerous Method' (2011)
Say the name "David Cronenberg," and most people will immediately think of the term body horror. Sure, that's the horror sub-genre that the director's most well known for exploring throughout his films, but he's also branched out and made movies that are tense or dark in more subtle ways and sometimes aren't even works of horror.
One such movie of his that falls into this category would be 2011's A Dangerous Method, which sees Fassbender playing Dr. Carl Jung and Viggo Mortensen playing Sigmund Freud, with the plot seeing these two figures within the world of psychoanalysis both get caught up with a woman named Sabina (Keira Knightley). It's a film where the greatest strength is its acting, though Cronenberg's direction also succeeds in making things appropriately tense and brooding throughout.
10 'X-Men: First Class' (2011)
After two good X-Men movies in 2000 and 2003 and then two not-so-good ones in 2006 and 2009, the series about super-powered mutants was in need of a comeback. Enter X-Men: First Class, which successfully revitalized interest in the series, and by doing it through a prequel, no less. It might've sounded like a risky move on paper, but it was all in the execution, and the execution here — with a focus on familiar and new characters back in the 1960s — really worked.
Michael Fassbender plays the younger version of Ian McKellan's character, Magneto, though given this is an origin story of sorts for the complex character, he mostly goes by Erik Lehnsherr. The film gets some serious mileage from exploring the relationship between Magneto and Charles Xavier some years before they were shown to be enemies in the original X-Men movies.
9 'Fish Tank' (2009)
As a smaller film (budget-wise and in terms of its release) within Michael Fassbender's filmography, Fish Tank feels like it might be a little overlooked. Perhaps it's understandable that a grounded character study about a teenage girl getting in between her mother and her mother's new boyfriend isn't going to appeal to everyone, and Fish Tank is indeed intentionally uncomfortable and provocative.
But those who don't mind small-scale films that also happen to be challenging might want to give it a chance because the performances are incredibly believable, and it's well-directed by Andrea Arnold, who also made the underrated 2016 film American Honey. Fassbender also excels here in a difficult role, which is something he proved himself able to do again and again in the years following Fish Tank's release.
8 'Prometheus' (2012)
Prometheus has a contentious spot among Ridley Scott's lengthy and impressive filmography, but it's certainly one of his most interesting of the 21st century so far. It's something of an Alien prequel, though it doesn't tie itself to that 1979 Ridley Scott movie to the extent that Prometheus stops feeling like its own distinct thing, which might frustrate some while pleasantly surprising others.
But even those who aren't impressed by this film narratively should be able to appreciate Michael Fassbender's performance, as he largely steals the show here. He plays an android named David and feels distinct from other android characters seen in previous Alien movies. He arguably gets even more to do in Alien: Covenant, but since that one's somehow more divisive than Prometheus, perhaps the less said about it, the better.
7 'Hunger' (2008)
Hunger was the first of three collaborations between filmmaker Steve McQueen and Michael Fassbender and the first lead role of Fassbender's that truly established him as a force to be reckoned with. Narratively, it's simple and quite bleak, telling the true story of Bobby Sands, an IRA member who led a hunger strike inside a prison in Northern Ireland during the early 1980s.
This filmmaker/actor duo went on to even bigger and better things in the years that followed, but Hunger succeeded in establishing McQueen as an exciting new director and Fassbender as an actor to keep an eye on. Its premise and unflinching nature make it a difficult watch, but it's an undoubtedly impactful and unforgettable film.
6 'Frank' (2014)
Of all the movies Michael Fassbender has starred in, Frank could arguably be his most offbeat. It's a dramedy where Fassbender plays the title character: a man who leads a strange pop/rock band while also never taking off a large paper-mâché mask that he wears over his head, which covers his entire face.
As a viewer, you have to have faith that it's actually Fassbender under there much of the time and that it's not another Mandalorian Season 3 situation. Still, it's something that gives the movie an undeniably interesting hook, and the rest of the film is rock solid, too, boosted by its unusual sense of humor and strong performances from a cast that also includes Domhnall Gleeson and Maggie Gyllenhaal.
5 'X-Men: Days of Future Past' (2014)
For as good as X-Men: First Class was, its sequel, 2014's Days of Future Past, blew it out of the water. It's debatably good enough to be considered up there among the best superhero movies of all time, with it ambitiously using a time travel narrative to have the characters from First Class interact (and sometimes clash) with the cast of the first three X-Men movies.
It sounds like it should be the kind of thing that would collapse under the weight of its own ambition, but it all works shockingly well, with countless characters being juggled throughout. Fassbender's Magneto gets pushed into murkier waters here morally, and the dynamic established between him and a young Professor X continues to be compelling.
4 'Steve Jobs' (2015)
You might expect a movie called Steve Jobs to be a somewhat by-the-numbers, maybe even boring biopic about the titular man and the various things he did while co-founding (and eventually being CEO of) Apple. But if you thought this, you'd be proven wrong because Steve Jobs is much more interesting than most biographical films, thanks to its structure and the way it condenses history.
It takes place during three key events in Jobs's life in three different years: 1984, 1988, and 1998. Viewers still get an understanding of the man's life, who he was, and a snapshot of both his good and bad qualities. Fassbender's Oscar-nominated performance as Jobs also makes the film great, with it easily being one of his greatest lead performances to date.
3 'Shame' (2011)
The second film Steve McQueen and Michael Fassbender collaborated on might not have been based on a true story like Hunger was, but it proved to be similarly bleak and haunting. This second film of theirs was Shame, which follows a man as he battles a severe sex addiction, with the movie's loose narrative exploring the way this impacts his life.
Though it deals with sex, it's certainly not a sexy movie, instead being a deeply psychological character study of a man who's unable to control himself and the internal havoc this causes for him. It's not going to be for everyone, but it has a memorably cold visuals, and Fassbender is undeniably outstanding in the challenging lead role.
2 'Inglourious Basterds' (2009)
Standing as one of the best movies of the 2000s and arguably one of the greatest war movies in history, Inglourious Basterds is an epic set in Nazi-occupied France. It's a World War II movie that only someone like Quentin Tarantino could make, with it being full of his trademark dark humor, bloody violence, unbearable tension, and memorable dialogue.
It's got a huge cast, with Michael Fassbender playing a key supporting role as a British commando who assists the titular Basterds on a particularly messy mission. The main sequence he's in is a highlight of the movie and perhaps one of the most intense single scenes from any movie released in the 21st century so far.
1 '12 Years a Slave' (2013)
One of the most critically acclaimed movies of the 2010s and a historically significant Best Picture winner at the Oscars, 12 Years a Slave is a great and difficult-to-watch film. It was the third collaboration between Steve McQueen and Michael Fassbender, and their best so far, with the premise following Solomon Northup's 12 years spent as a slave after being kidnapped in 1841.
Fassbender portrays the film's main antagonist: the sadistic plantation owner Edwin Epps, whose actions lead to some of the film's most harrowing sequences. He received his first Oscar nomination for the performance. To this day, it's still his most intense and arguably his best, with the film as a whole also making for an immensely powerful viewing experience.