It is time once again, in this post-Infinity Saga world, to narrow down the best superhero films of all time.
With the MCU heading into a new phase, the 20th Century Fox Marvel properties like X-Men and Fantastic Four on the verge of merging with the broader Marvel Studios world, DC's properties hitting new creative heights, and a swath of "indie" comics titles also getting adapted, the superhero genre clearly isn't going anywhere any time soon.
A few notes on this update to the list: Whereas in the past we've focused only on movies based on actual comic books, this time around we've decided that original characters created for the big screen are also eligible (you're welcome, The Incredibles fans!). Also, this list features superhero-based movies only. Sorry, no Road to Perdition or Ghost World or a handful of other excellent movies that happen to have been notable comics first. We love those flicks, but you kind of have to have superpowers (or a pretty dope costume) to hang in this 25.
The IGN Entertainment team voted on this list, resulting in a few changes since our last update to it in 2018. As for the movies that have been added or removed to this list since our last update, Marvel did well with several new titles, including Avengers: Endgame and Avengers: Infinity War, Thor: Ragnarok, the Sony-Marvel animated hit Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and the classic Wesley Snipes-starring Blade. The rule change allowing original characters created for a movie brings Unbreakable and The Incredibles into the top 25. And then V himself also sneaks onto the list with V for Vendetta. As for what has been cut from the 2018 list, the original Hellboy, Watchmen, Kick-Ass, The Crow, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, KIngsman: The Secret Service, and Captain America: Civil War are all out. So, quite a bit of churn there.
All that said, let's dig into brainwashed super-soldiers, foul-mouthed invulnerable vigilantes, ragtag crews of galactic scavengers, a couple of Spider-Men, several Batmen, and more!
Also, be sure to watch the video above for our 10 best superhero movies!
25. Dredd
2012's damn fine Dredd adventure, written by Alex Garland (Ex Machina, Annihilation) and directed by Pete Travis, gruesomely brought John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra's 2000 AD comic strip to life with a tight, violent story set in the dastardly dystopian future metropolis of Mega-City One.Featuring a mostly-masked Karl Urban as the titular "judge" -- a cop with the jurisdiction to summarily arrest, convict, sentence, and execute criminals -- Dredd captured the intense and gritty nature of the source material while providing a principled and pulp-y story that allowed Judge Dredd to simply be... Judge Dredd. By the time Urban growls "I am the law" -- Dredd's simple catchphrase -- you get chills, and totally forget the silly '90s Sylvester Stallone Judge Dredd movie even existed.
24. V for Vendetta
This dystopian comic book movie takes place in an Orwellian landscape where oppression and corruption and misinformation are rampant. V, played by Hugo Weaving, isn't fighting conventional criminals, he's taking his fight directly to the government, blurring the line between superheroism and terrorism and coming to uncomfortable conclusions about whether or not there's any meaningful difference.
Oddly enough, this cynical film -- directed by James McTeigue and written by the Wachowski sisters -- is a little more hopeful than the comic by Alan Moore and David Lloyd, but its distinctly non-superhero slant on a superhero figure is intriguing, and its visuals and philosophical ponderings help to make it one of the best of the genre.
23. Blade
2000's X-Men and 2002's Spider-Man get most of the credit for sparking the current superhero boom in Hollywood. But where would either of those movies be without 1998's Blade? This dark horror/action film debuted in a time when Spawn and Steel were the most Hollywood had to offer as far as superheroes went. And as it dusted off a mostly forgotten Marvel hero, Blade proved that any franchise can succeed with the right spin and enough visual flourish.Wesley Snipes stars as the titular hero, a half-human, half-vampire "Daywalker" who dedicates his life to wiping vampires off the face of the planet, and he really shines in the role. The combination of brutal martial arts combat, gunplay, and sword fighting makes Blade a force to be reckoned with onscreen. Snipes' Blade has charisma and menace to spare, but his ongoing struggle to suppress his vampiric desires gives Blade the humanity he needs. Blade was a great start to a new Hollywood franchise. Unfortunately, neither the sequels nor the eventual TV spinoff were able to recapture that magic, but we have high hopes for the MCU version that will star Mahershala Ali.
22. Wonder Woman
The DCEU movie franchise finally struck elusive oil with Patty Jenkins' soaring Wonder Woman movie, where Gal Gadot reprised her Batman v Superman role in a fun, earnest adventure about true heroism and sacrifice. As the first modern superhero film with a female lead, and director, Wonder Woman stands as a landmark success that smashed barriers. All of a sudden, Princess Diana and her adventures were the true star of the DC-verse, and not the usual Bruce and/or Clark fare.Filled with dazzling, heart-swelling set pieces that wowed audiences worldwide, Wonder Woman was a risk that rightly relied on fans' need and desire for an uplifting adventure about the struggle for peace and unity.
21. X-Men: First Class
Despite persisting rumors of a rushed production and various problems, X-Men: First Class turned out to be a first-rate prequel that re-imagined the franchise while opening us a glorious gateway to an entirely different second run (and second timeline) of films.First Class benefits from an ace cast - featuring the likes of James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence -- working under the care of writer-director Matthew Vaughn, a guy who'd had an X-Men movie churning around inside him for years ever since he left X-Men: The Last Stand weeks before shooting began. No, continuity within the X-Men franchise will never truly make sense, but First Class' sequel, Days of Future Past, did its best to connect the original trilogy to the leg that Vaughn jump-started here. First Class was fueled with a vibrant new energy that allowed non-Wolverine X-Men projects to flourish at Fox.
20. Unbreakable
M. Night Shyamalan's follow-up to The Sixth Sense is a brooding superhero movie, about a man who's lived his whole life never realizing his full potential. Bruce Willis gradually realizes he might have superpowers, but the revelation brings with it new and serious problems, and the one person who believes in him -- a comic book merchant played by Samuel L. Jackson -- isn't telling him everything. This is the dark side of superhero stories, by way of a dreary midlife crisis, and a relatively brilliant motion picture.It's unfortunate, then, that the long hoped for sequel was such a disappointment when it finally arrived 19 years after Unbreakable's release, particularly as it came in such an interesting manner, as a surprise shared-universe reveal in Shyamalan's film Split.
19. Deadpool
Featuring the role Ryan Reynolds was born to play -- so much so that he'd already played a (literal) muted-down version of it in X-Men Origins: Wolverine -- the massively violent, vulgar (and hilarious) Deadpool hit theaters at just the moment when the surplus of super-flicks had seemingly reached a tipping point and fans were ripe and ready for a gory, go-for-broke meta-take on the topic.Wise-cracking Wade Wilson's transformation into the fourth-wall-breaking Deadpool may have been yet another origin story, but it was overflowing with legit laughs, some much-needed jabs at the genre, and righteous usage of Wham!'s "Careless Whisper." Reynolds, who'd been an underutilized "next big thing" for years, finally found his grail and audiences fell in love with a crass crusader on a rudimentary revenge mission (set loosely within the X-Men universe).
18. Batman
Without Tim Burton's ghoulish and gothic take on Batman, which ushered the Caped Crusader to the screen in 1989 for his first stab at stardom sans Adam West, who knows what the comic book movie landscape would even look like today, if it in fact existed at all?Influenced by gritty, mature spins on the Batman character -- from the likes of Frank Miller, Alan Moore, and countless other writers and artists who helped bring Batman back from the comedic and campy brink of the '60s and early '70s -- Batman was a box-office bonanza. Admittedly, at times Batman was the least interesting character in his own movie, as Jack Nicholson's Joker was a bonafide show-stealer, but this movie brought superhero cinema roaring into pop culture and proved that it could be shadowy, dark and adult-oriented.
17. X2: X-Men United
If Bryan Singer's first X-Men film was like a warm-up session in the Danger Room for Marvel's merry band of mutants, then the 2003 sequel was the real freakin' deal. Escaping the occasional cheapness of the original, X2 -- given the subtitle X-Men United for some reason by Fox -- finally manifested its mutant power to be pretty, pretty great.Hugh Jackman's Wolverine doesn't just get to kick more butt while uncovering his Secret Origin, but the character's affinity for the gentler side of life -- kids, redheads named Jean -- is further explored here, building on the Wolvie/Rogue relationship of the first film. Meanwhile, new characters like the angel-in-devil's-clothing Nightcrawler and the villainous Stryker are interesting and compelling. And returning characters such as Storm, Jean Grey and Cyclops are all much more polished than in the previous film.
16. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Before Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight films, this animated theatrical release was Batman's best big-screen outing. And some fans can still make the argument that it is the best ever made. While we might not make that argument ourselves, we can understand why a brave few would.Bruce Wayne's past takes center stage as Batman must stop a new rogue on the block, the Phantasm, from killing Gotham's local mob population. The crimes and the perpetrator are connected to Bruce's first -- and last -- shot at true love, a relationship he was willing to give up the cowl for if it meant he could be happy.
Tragedy and Batman are meant to go together, and when you throw Mark Hamill's Joker into the mix, you have one of the most heartfelt and dramatically satisfying stories DC has ever told. The Phantasm is a great nemesis, and the reveal of who is behind the mask is both surprising and justified. The climax, set at an abandoned Gotham World Fair ground, is truly epic and, moreover, violent as hell thanks to Joker challenging Batman to the fight of his life.
15. Black Panther
With a $700 million domestic take and critical adoration, Black Panther was a triumph on all fronts. As a massively budgeted film featuring a majority African American cast, and director, it both broke boundaries and answered a call that had long needed heeding.Director/co-writer Ryan Coogler opened up an entire new world within the MCU as the fictional African nation of Wakanda became the battleground for worldwide salvation, and a thriving, engaging villain in the form of Michael B. Jordan's Killmonger was introduced to challenge Chadwick Boseman's King T'Challa and the old-guard non-intervening ways of a society that selfishly kept to themselves the answers to so many people's problems.
Black Panther instantly became a pop-culture phenomenon and Wakanda found itself as one of the main selling points in the marketing for Infinity War, which would open a few months later. A talented ensemble, a Shakespearean center, and endless imagination helped this film tower above the competition and strike a chord with fans all over the globe.
14. The Incredibles
The Incredibles is a marvel of comic book movie ingenuity. While the story does bear some resemblance to the very low-budget comedy The Specials -- not to mention Marvel's Fantastic Four, of which many elements (even the family dynamic) are borrowed -- The Incredibles makes up for it with intense visuals, blinding action and rounded, complicated characters, as well as some terrific voice work and amusing comedic set pieces.This is a great film, with plenty of thrills, laughs, and action -- enough to please both families and comic book geeks, and remains one of Pixar's finest achievements.
13. Iron Man
Marvel heroes like Spider-Man, Hulk and the X-Men had at least some degree of mainstream popularity to rely on when making their Hollywood debuts. By comparison, Iron Man was a relatively lesser-known property with a casual audience prior to 2008. That changed overnight when his movie hit theaters. Now Iron Man is a household name, leading the charge as all of the major Avengers suit up for duty.Iron Man has all the necessary prerequisites for comic-book movie success. It has stunning special effects that hinge on a very convincing Iron Man armor design. It has a hero embarking on a journey of self-discovery and a villain to stand in his way. And Jon Favreau's directing, and comedic leanings, set the successful stylistic MCU template that still exists today.
But it was Robert Downey, Jr. above all who took this familiar formula and made it seem fresh and new. Downey owned the role of his character like few superhero actors ever have. Audiences were sucked into Stark's world within minutes because of Downey's charm, energy, and quirky humor. Despite the fairly limited screen time for the Iron Man armor, audiences just didn't care. Downey ensured that Tony Stark, flawed and self-absorbed as he is, has become equally as beloved as his superhero alter ego.
12. Guardians of the Galaxy
In the MCU's riskiest maneuver to date, the vastly unknown comic-book characters called the Guardians of the Galaxy were brought in to open up -- well -- an entire universe to moviegoers. The MCU had dabbled in space with two Thor movies and an alien invasion in The Avengers, but to place this much importance on heroes hardly anyone had ever heard of was -- well -- very much in line with what the Guardians stand for overall: the idea of maligned misfits finding redemption through unity, camaraderie, and good deeds. Underdogs through and through.Director/writer James Gunn brought his unique brand of humor, family, and '70s radio hits to the film to create an instantly relatable "far-off reaches of space," where a group of squabbling adult-children found themselves caught in the middle of Thanos' quest for the Power Stone. Parks and Recreation's hidden gem, Chris Pratt, became a bankable movie star overnight while Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista and the voices of Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel helped create the most instantly popular MCU property since Iron Man. Guardians of the Galaxy is an effortlessly lovable Grade-A "B-Picture," with style and sass to spare.
11. Spider-Man 2
One of the downsides for many comic book movies is that they get too wrapped up in origin stories. By the time a hero encounters personal tragedy, acquires their powers and suits up to fight evil, it's time for the final battle to unfold and the credits to roll. The sequel is where many of these projects rise above or fall flat. With the origin out of the way, a hero has his true chance to shine.And shine is just what Peter Parker did in Spider-Man 2. In this sequel, Spidey has established himself as New York's premier defender against all threats criminal and surreal. Despite his success in costume, Peter continues to struggle with paying the bills, keeping his grades up, and finding time for his loved ones. As usual, it's the balance between his superhero and mundane problems that makes Peter's struggle so endearing.
This sequel also outclassed the original with a far better villain. Alfred Molina's Doctor Octopus was both menacing and surprisingly sympathetic. The good doctor began as a role model for the fatherless Peter before degenerating into a madman with the power to destroy the city. Spider-Man 2 put its hero through hell, and he came out stronger for it in the end. Too bad no one warned him about Spidey 3.
10. Thor: Ragnarok
Thor: Ragnarok is as glib and cheeky as the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, and embraces a deliberately 1980s space opera aesthetic and synth score, making for a fun and often hilarious film that looks as vibrant and out there as an old Jack Kirby comic. Along the way, it revived the flagging Thor series while also half-adapting a couple of classic comics runs, including the beloved Planet Hulk.Yes, adding Mark Ruffalo to the motley crew -- known as the Revengers! -- allows director Taika Waititi to play with the Thor/Hulk dynamic beyond just punching each other. Plus, we also get Cate Blanchett’s exquisite Hela, Tessa Thompson’s terrific Valkyrie, and of course the Grandmaster, a.k.a. Goldblum-in-space. What more could you ask for?
9. Batman Begins
The Dark Knight may be the 500-ton gorilla in the room, with all the box office, praise, Heath Ledger, and whatnot -- but it wouldn't be there if Batman Begins didn't help pave the way.The first Batman movie to keep the focus largely on Bruce Wayne's brooding change into something elemental, something that can keep the Gotham Narrows at bay, benefited from Christopher Nolan's unique take on the material.
Grounding this Batman in a very real, very gritty world raised the stakes that previously hinged on quip-happy villains and too-busy plots. Nolan's fearlessness when it came to fracturing time and cross-cutting between various endgames reinforced his movie's theme of fear, and gave us a comic-book movie that warranted being called a "film."
8. The Avengers
As the culmination of "Phase One" and the ensemble film the studio spent years building up to, The Avengers was proof positive that Marvel's grand experiment had worked. Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Hulk, Black Widow, and Hawkeye found themselves teaming up to thwart Loki's attempt to conquer and subjugate Earth (for Thanos), and it was nothing short of crowd-pleasing splendor.All of a sudden, other studios began the race to create their own shared universes. What Marvel had meticulously plotted since the day Tony Stark escaped his terrorist captors had grown into a mega-popular pocket of modern cinema, and a brand that fans instantly trusted. Joss Whedon's Avengers film focused on each character's humanity, personality, and ability to contribute to the larger, established Marvel world. It created a place where Hulk and Thor could fight side by side with the likes of Hawkeye and Black Widow, despite a sizable difference in power, and highlighted the fact (which would pay off later) that these characters just plain didn't get along most of the time. It also fundamentally altered the entire MCU, bringing aliens to Earth is such a public way that Marvel's next step was TV -- e.g. Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, the Netflix shows, etc.
The Avengers holds up as both an end result and a new jumping-off point for the franchise. It's filled with laughs, surprises, and a third act "Battle of New York" that can rouse even the coldest of cynics.
7. Avengers: Infinity War
By the time the MCU got to Infinity War, much had changed. For one thing, the films were bigger in scope and cast, and Infinity War assembled just about every hero for this epic, often in interesting and new configurations, as they battled Thanos in an attempt to stop him from wiping out half of all life in the universe.Indeed, Josh Brolin’s Mad Titan is one of the best parts of the film, no longer just a bogeyman from space but an actual character who, despite his horrific intentions, is a sympathetic figure. But yeah, about those horrific intentions... Infinity War’s stunning and gripping ending, where so many of our beloved characters are snapped into oblivion, has to stand with the likes of The Empire Strikes Back as one of the greatest cliffhangers ever filmed.
6. Superman
The original superhero film, Richard Donner's 1978 Superman brandished its subtitle -- The Movie -- with pride. This was nothing like the matinee serials that depicted caped heroes of the past, or the cheesy TV shows that picked up those low-end reigns in the decades that followed. No, this was certainly a movie -- an epic tale of the strange visitor from the planet Krypton known as Kal-El.In many ways, the film set the standard for the genre which persists to this day. A cast of heavyweight actors gives the movie an instant respectability factor, while an unknown fulfills the main character's printed-page specifications (and the fanboys' needs). Christopher Reeve simply was Superman, and Clark Kent for that matter, while Gene Hackman's Lex Luthor brought a new level of humor to the baddie... and yet (in this film anyway) never lost his truly evil streak.
And speaking of streaks, the sight of Superman soaring through the sky to the strains of John Williams while he chases down an errant nuclear missile? Yeah, we believed a man could fly. Still do, actually.
5. Avengers: Endgame
The culmination of a decade’s worth of MCU stories, Avengers: Endgame finally brought the Infinity Saga to a close while also setting up the future of the universe that has overtaken Hollywood since Iron Man first hit screens in 2008. That the film was able to resolve so many character threads and plot lines as well as it did is a credit to directors Joe and Anthony Russo, screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, and of course Marvel Studios’ maestro Kevin Feige. Quite simply, nothing like this had ever been pulled off before on the big screen.Sure, the fabric of the film has some loose threads that you don’t want to pull on too hard -- we still don’t understand the time travel stuff -- but the resolution of the storylines for beloved characters like Tony Stark and Cap work so well, and the sheer joy of seeing so many Marvel characters taking on Thanos one last time added up to everything we’ve ever wanted from a comic-book movie, and more.
4. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Captain America: The Winter Soldier isn't just the best MCU film, it's, hands down, one of the best comic-book movies of all time. Based on/inspired by Ed Brubaker's Winter Soldier comic arc, directors Anthony and Joe Russo created a masterwork of intrigue and action, using '70s spy thrillers such as Three Days of the Condor, The Parallax View, and Marathon Man (and more) as the inspiration for a haunting story about Captain America cruelly learning that his defeat of the Red Skull was just one victory, and that a shadow war had been waged by HYDRA in his decades-long absence. So much so that HYDRA was now secretly operating from within SHIELD itself.Throw in Sebastian Stan's return as Bucky Barnes (now a near-unstoppable super-serumed amnesiac assassin), a nice twist on an actual Red Skull alias from the comics, played by Three Days of the Condor's Robert Redford, a deftly clever use of Arnim Zola (which also acts as a nod to what he looked like in the comics), and an amazing supporting cast featuring Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow and Anthony Mackie's debut as Falcon, and you have an endlessly exciting MCU installment that had huge stakes, and spelled out dire consequences for SHIELD-related things in the MCU following it.
The Winter Soldier is a beautiful balance of old-school action, serial-style cliffhangers, and captivating characterization.
3. Logan
Hugh Jackman definitely saved the best for last as his ninth, and final, go-round as Wolverine borrowed from the classic alternate universe "Old Man Logan" tale by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven.James Mangold's take on a ragtag road picture, featuring an aged Logan and Charles Xavier, along with a young hunted mutant (Dafne Keen's X-23), was a genre-defying/elevating experience that spilled buckets of blood while audiences spilled buckets of tears. As a surprisingly poignant sendoff for the long-standing star of the X-Men cinematic universe, Logan stands as one of the greatest and most unconventional superhero stories of all time.
Logan might not entirely gel with the established X-Men timelines, but the fact that there are so many discrepancies within the franchise actually allows it to exist on its own island, in one of the many dystopian futures that surely awaits mutants everywhere. And Jackman's nuanced, savage performance makes you believe that this Logan might have seen them all at some point.
2. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
There’s no replacing a comic book legend like Peter Parker, but Sony Animation’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse proved that more “Spider-People” is a very, very good thing. Miles Morales’ journey from zero to hero was brought to life with jaw-dropping animation, whimsical callbacks to previous Spider-Man media, and memorable side characters from the multiverse that ranged from fan-favorite Spider-Gwen to the outright bizarre Spider-Ham.But at the center of the film is the dual stories of the brand new Spider-Man Miles and his washed-up mentor from an alternate dimension. Both discover the best parts of themselves in their journey together, and we fall in love with them as a result.
1. The Dark Knight
The world of Christopher Nolan's epic, brooding blockbuster The Dark Knight continued the director's tradition of giving audiences more than what the usual genre film provides. The escalation of the criminal element’s responses to Batman promised at the end of Batman Begins takes on the form of, of course, the Joker.Heath Ledger's performance as this complex agent of chaos was instantly iconic, which in turn provided Christian Bale with opportunities to make Batman more dynamic, and more sympathetic, than ever. Taking Batman to his limits inspires the genre to expand upon its own, giving us a comic-book movie that rightfully earned its ranking on this list. The Dark Knight set a new standard for the genre, and one that has rarely been met since.
