The 10 Greatest Superhero Films

What the heck, I’ll even rank them for you

To my great shame, I was unaware that yesterday was National Superhero Day, a fact I only came aware of after Paul Combs tagged me on a piece in honor of such an auspicious occasion. As penance, I have prepared this piece and also flogged myself.

I wasn’t going to rank the films because ordering such things is actually fairly hard. For one thing, all rankings are subjective and are only really a reflection of personal taste. The bigger problem: once you get to the upper echelon of films like these, sorting them into a linear list becomes a special sort of torture.

But when it came down to it, I couldn’t resist putting them into an order pleasing to me. Hopefully you don’t disagree too violently.

10. Superman: The Movie

Leading off with the film that defined the genre and made us all believe that a man could fly.

Superman: The Movie is a bit cheesy by modern standards, and the pacing is glacial at points, but it remains iconic for a reason. The first true superhero film does not talk down to the audience or lean into camp, despite its comic book origins — a feat the 1990s Batman films and even later Superman films couldn’t manage. The story is treated with respect, helped in no small part by classically-trained Christopher Reeve. Reeve’s portrayal provided a gravitas the film otherwise would not have had. Special note should also be given to Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor and John Williams’ heroic score.

9. X-Men: Days of Future Past

Based on the memorable comic of the same name, Days of Future Past is a thrilling time-travel story which brings together the casts from two distinct X-Men film eras. Everyone loves the Quicksilver scene, and it is definitely a highlight, but the true master stroke is how the film neatly and deftly undoes the atrocities of X-Men: The Last Stand.

I’ve been a fan of the X-Men since the cartoon in the 90s, and this film scratches all my itches. We even get Sentinels!

8. The Incredibles

Until the MCU gives us a great Fantastic 4 film, The Incredibles remains the ultimate expression of the superhero family. There’s something here for everyone: the middle-aged father struggling through the doldrums of life, dreaming of his golden years; the mother and housewife, unappreciated as she stretches to keep everything together; the overlooked teenager; the kid hopped up on too much sugar.

The Incredibles is perhaps Pixar’s finest film; off the top of my head, only Inside Out and Up are close.

7. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

A lot of people consider Into the Spider-Verse the single-best Spider-Man film ever. I can definitely see its merits, but my heart belongs to the Raimi-era films. As you’ll see shortly.

Into the Spider-Verse is easily the film that comes closest to replicating a comic book writ large. Vibrant and ridiculously fun, where the film shines most is in its humanity. Depressed Peter Parker is the realest version of a superhero ever put to film.

6. Logan

An R-Rated, dystopian western that is really only part of the superhero genre because it stars Wolverine, Logan is an emotional, thoughtful, and often downright depressing film. Gone is the wise-cracking guy we know from the other films. This Logan is weary. He’s without hope, adrift.

The X-Men are gone — the revelation of how that happened haunts me to this day — and the few remaining mutants are hunted. But amid the running and fighting, it are the film’s quiet moments that linger with me the most.

5. The Avengers

If I was ranking MCU films, I don’t think I’d put The Avengers in my top 3. Many of the films that came later are simply better: bigger spectacles, bigger stakes, bigger casts. But there is something that is just so very right about the first iteration. It is above all fun, in a way that the sequels, with their progressively-worsening stakes, simply can’t be.

It seems almost preordained now after years of evermore successful iterations, but The Avengers was a bit of a gamble at the time. Could you make a satisyfing film with that many different characters? It seems quant to look back and wonder such things. But it’s hard to articulate just how magical it was seeing Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America together on the big screen for the first time.

4. Avengers: Endgame

Depending on the day of the week, I flip-flop on which of the Infinity War/Endgame duo I prefer. Infinity War includes almost every character we’ve ever met; that it is still somehow a coherent and surprising story is a credit to the writers. Infinity War has the better fight scenes, in particular the opening fight in New York, and the Avengers & Guardians vs Thanos fight on Titan. And, Infinity War has the unorthodox ending; when you are used to seeing the Good Guys win all the time, it is refreshing seeing the Bad Guy put points on the board (shoutout to Zemo).

And yet.

Endgame is slower, more brooding. With the roster drastically reduced post-Infinity War, the surviving characters are given time and space to breath. We’re allowed to sit with the ramifications of The Snap. For nearly half the runtime, Endgame looks nothing much like a superhero movie.

The ending is pitch-perfect, concluding the Infinity War in rousing fashion and putting a bow on the 20-something MCU film arc. It’s a beautiful swan song to characters we’ve come to know and love across 10 years. All that said, I will never get over how they did my girl Natasha wrong. #justicefornatasha

3. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

This film has been atop my personal MCU rankings for a very long time. The Winter Soldier is a throwback to 70s-era espionage with modern action-thriller sensibilities. The fight scenes are some of the very best that the MCU has to offer, gritty and grounded and oh-so-very visceral. And there are so many good ones to choose from: the elevator scene, the Nick Fury chase scene, the expressway set piece, the opening scene on the ship, etc etc.

This film has the best versions of Captain America, Natasha Ramanoff, and Nick Fury, introduces future stalwart Sam Wilson, and features great villains in Alexander Pierce and, of course, the Winter Soldier. Did I mention how great the fight scenes are?

2. Spider-Man 2

Spider-Man vs Doc Ock is a classic hero-villain pairing right from the comics, up there with Superman and Lex Luthor or Batman and the Joker. Unlike those other supervillains, who are mostly just villainous, Alfred Molina’s Doctor Otto Octavious is a man of principle. He is a good man who only goes bad from a freak accident, but even in his fallen state, a glimmer of his former self still shines through.

Spider-Man 2 is a tragedy as much as it is a comic book movie.

Unburdened by the troublesome if necessary duties of the origin story, Spider-Man 2 soars. Peter lives out his uncle’s mantra to tear-inducing effect.

1. The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight is not a perfect film. For one, the Joker is a bit too force-of-nature at times. Some of the plot is a bit convenient, and some of the storytelling is a bit muddled (the mafia and their money specifically). But of this entire list, The Dark Knight is the only one that is a capital ‘F’ Film. It is staggering piece of filmmaking that belongs alongside the best the medium can produce, and it is therefore atop my list of superhero films.

How’d I do? Deciding which MCU films made the cut was particularly difficult. Such has been our embarrassment of riches that several films merited close consideration. Among those just missing the cut: Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Panther, Infinity War, Civil War, and Iron Man.

Eric writes about pop culture. Like a lot — the list below has over 100 stories on movies, TV, and video games. Not a member? Join Medium today and toss some cheddar my way, at no extra expense to you.