With the Marvel Cinematic Universe reigning supreme as the ultimate superhero series, and the DC Extended Universe not too far behind it, there are a lot of great superhero movies that live in their shadows.
Though the X-Men franchise had an inconsistent output for the best 20 years, the movies that are good are great. And there are even superheroes with movies that are mentioned in the same breath as The Godfather and The Shawshank Redemption. And on top of that, there are animated movies that saw a theatrical release that are rated higher than their live-action counterparts, but they don’t often get the credit they deserve.
X-Men: First Class (2011) - 7.7
After a string of movies that were overwhelmingly negatively received by both critics and fans, 20th Century Fox took a hard look at the X-Men series, and they shockingly revived it in a big way. best prequels of all time, and the new approach to the series was so fresh.
It was all thanks to director Matthew Vaughn, who turned Magneto into a James Bond-like suave spy. And it also shined a light on why he and Professor Xavier were so close in the first place, and what it was that tore them apart.
Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm (1993) - 7.8
There have been so many fantastically different Batman movies. From Tim Burton’s quirky take on the world’s greatest detective to Christopher Nolan’s grounded in reality depiction in the Dark Knight trilogy, it will probably come as a surprise to many that an animated movie is one of the best of them all.
Mask of the Phantasm isn’t just any direct-to-DVD animated movie, but it was actually best animated Batman movie, but one of the best superhero movies, period.
X-Men: Days Of Future Past (2014) - 7.9
Though First Class was somewhat of a rebirth for the X-Men franchise, the follow-up took it one step further, as the prequel characters and the sequel characters collided in the best way possible.
It was a recipe for disaster, as it could have easily come off so convoluted and unnecessary, but Days of Future Past instead retconned everything wrong with the series, essentially voiding all of the bad movies like X-Men: The Last Stand. And the best moment of the whole movie is completely new, as it introduces Quicksilver, and the scene in which he breaks Magneto out of the Pentagon is the best in any X-Men movie.
Logan (2017) - 8.0
Logan is the first time 20th Century Fox truly gave the fans what they wanted, as it saw Wolverine more fierce than ever. The movie was filled with bloodshed, it had the emotional depth that other superhero movies lack, and it became one of the highest-grossing X-Men movies in the franchise outside of Deadpool.
It’s fascinating that though many of the X-Men movies are the highest rated by s of IMDb, none of them are particularly high grossing compared to superhero movies that are rated much lower on the website. It might be that X-Men is a much more niche franchise than the MCU or any other movie universe, but many of the film are actually rated much better.
Deadpool (2016) - 8.0
It Deadpool before, as he portrayed the character in the panned X-Men Origins: Wolverine. But this time around, it was so much more faithful to the source material.
The outfit was spot on, and the studio took full advantage of the R-rating. The character was essentially a mouthpiece for fans and critics alike, as he’s quick to point out all of the flaws in superhero movies before they do, and audiences loved every second of it.
The Incredibles (2004) - 8.0
2004's The Incredibles is an outlier in the genre of superhero movies, as though it is actually influenced by heroes like The Fantastic Four, it’s more of a Pixar movie with classic morals related to family than anything. The superhero skin is just a vessel for Pixar’s incredible storytelling and heartfelt narratives.
However, it’s still a superhero movie, and though all of the family’s powers aren’t necessarily unique in any way, they are used in a much better fashion than their Marvel and DC counterparts. Elastigirl’s action scenes a better than any live-action scenes of Mr. Fantastic, and Dash is so much more charismatic and exciting than the DCEU’s Flash.
Batman Begins (2005) - 8.2
After the disappointment of Batman & Robin, there was a much-needed Batman hiatus, and the time between movies was actually probably longer than most people . Fans waited eight years to see the character on the big screen again after the hero was part of a much-maligned entry.
But when the caped crusader did return, there had never been a series so flipped on its head, as it was dark, brooding, grounded in reality, and exactly what the fans wanted. It also opened up the Christopher Nolan floodgates, as he has one of the most consistent filmographies ever.
The Dark Knight Rises (2012) - 8.3
When it comes to wrapping up one of the greatest trilogies of all time, audiences couldn’t resist the epic scope of his face is covered up, Tom Hardy’s performance as Bane is incredible.
Nolan did what he has always done brilliantly, which is to make the villains so much smarter than they had been depicted in previous movies. And that’s no more obvious than with Bane, who had been portrayed as nothing but a muppet with muscles in Batman & Robin. However, the film is fairly divisive among fans of Batman, which isn’t represented in the huge score it has on IMDb.
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse (2018) - 8.4
It’s often overlooked when it comes to Spider-Man movies, as it’s not as well known and is overshadowed with the behemoth money makers that are the live-action films. However, according to s of IMDb, Into The Spider-Verse is far superior to all of them, and by a country mile too, as second place goes to Spider-Man: Homecoming, which sits at just 7.5.
And though the threequel No Way Home is likely to connect to the Spider-Verse, it was the 2018 movie that did it first, and in such a satisfying way too. On top of that, the cell-shaded animation fit with the web-slinging through New York perfectly.
The Dark Knight (2008) - 9.0
It’s a testament to how perfect of a movie The Dark Knight is that there’s such a big gap between it’s score and the runner up. The movie transcended the superhero genre, as it isn’t just the Citizen Kane of superhero movies, but it might the Citizen Kane of movies, period.
After the release of the film, there was a paradigm shift in the industry, as it changed the way studios looked at producing superhero projects forever, and it was the first superhero movie to ever win an Academy Award for acting. If there’s one thing that The Dark Knight will be ed for in decades’ time, it’ll be the unforgettable performance Heath Ledger gave as the Joker. The movie doesn’t just have a 9.0 on IMDb, but it’s rated as the fourth greatest movie of all time.
