It's been seven years since I shared my original list of favorite superhero movies. A lot of water, most of it flowing from the MCU, has washed under the bridge since then, and it is high time I updated this list.
As always, this is a list of my favorites, not necessarily what I consider to be the best movies in this genre. These are the ones I pull off my shelves to watch again and again. You'll notice that none of the heavy films are on here, because while I appreciate really serious superhero stories too, they tend not to become my favorites.
1. The Avengers (2012)
Six super-talented people assemble to save the world from Loki's (Tom Hiddleston) desire to show Thor (Chris Hemsworth) he can be cool too. This is everything I want a superhero movie to be.2. X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) travels to the past to save the future. It's got all my beloved X-men in it, sometimes two versions of them, which is unbelievably awesome. Words truly can't describe how deeply I love it.
3. X2: X-Men United (2003)
Professor X (Patrick Stewart), Magneto (Ian McKellen), and their followers join forces to keep William Stryker (Brian Cox) from destroying all mutants. Until I saw The Avengers, I thought this was what a perfect superhero movie looked like. It's still magnificent.
4. Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Loki (Tom Hiddleston), the Hulk/Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), and new pal Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) work together to get off a wacky planet ruled by Jeff Goldblum (Jeff Goldblum) so they can stop Hela (Cate Blanchett) from taking over the Nine Realms and unleashing murder and mayhem, etc.
5. X-Men (2000)
The X-Men help wandering mutant Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) rescue Rogue (Anna Paquin) from Impending Doom. The kick-off for modern superhero movies -- we owe so much to this one!
6. Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Everything sad comes untrue, and then other sad things do happen, but the Avengers find peace for the universe and themselves, and I am so, so, so happy with how this movie wraps everything up that I am considering not moving forward in the MCU timeline. I'm happy where I am, right here.
7. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) squares off against his half-brother Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber) and a younger Stryker (Danny Huston this time), and gains his adamantium skeleton in the process. This is the origin story for Wolverine I always wanted and finally got.
8. Captain Marvel (2019)
A woman (Brie Larson) learns the truth about her identity and sets about undoing all manner of injustices she was an unwitting part of. It's remarkably fun and upbeat for having such deep themes.
9. Thor (2011)
Spoiled young god Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is banished to earth, where he meets and falls in love with a lovely scientist (Natalie Portman) and battles to protect earth from his brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston).
10. Iron Man (2008)
Genius-billionaire-playboy-philanthropist Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) escapes from kidnaptivity and hunts down the people who kidnapped him. And builds a really cool flying suit that shoots stuff.
I love SO MANY other superhero movies too, and it feels wrong to leave some of them off here, but my series is Ten Favorites, not Fourteen favorites or Twenty Favorites, so... I'll just have to stop here.
Great list!
ReplyDeleteMy favorites so far: Winter Soldier, Ragnorak, and Captain Marvel. Black Widow will probably edge her way into my favorites, too, once I see the movie. ;)
Thanks, Katie! I really liked Black Widow a lot, and I hope you do too :-)
DeleteYour timing cracks me up, because I spent the morning ranking MCU movies in my head.
ReplyDeleteThis list is so very you! Good stuff!
DKoren, that IS funny timing! Sometimes these things just need to be ranked.
DeleteI haven't seen the x men movies, and the Iron Man movies I watched so long ago I remember pretty much nothing. At some point I'd like to watch all the MCU movies in order (in the universe order), then I'd be able to rank better, but then my rankings also depend on my mood, how much (or too much rather) I've rewatched, etc. But recently Thor Ragnarok, Spiderman: Homecoming, and Endgame are favorites of the MCU and I still love the Andrew Garfield Spiderman movies as well.
ReplyDeleteLivia, I would like to watch the MCU in occurrence-order too, as I never have. I got into them in 2012 with The Avengers and then had to go back and watch the previous 4 movies. I've watched most of the rest as they came out, except I missed Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 1 and Ant-Man in theaters.
DeleteI have not seen the Andrew Garfield Spiderman movies, oddly enough. I think they came out when I had babies and couldn't leave them long enough to see a movie, and I haven't gotten around to renting them. Maybe one day.
Yessss I love this post!
ReplyDeleteI feel you about not wanting to move past Endgame because it was so perfect. HOWEVER. Spider-Man: Far From Home is such a lovely capstone to Endgame, imo--it was very cathartic for me, because Peter is mourning Tony/coming to terms with his death throughout the film and I was feeling pretty cut up about Tony's death myself, after Endgame. But it's not *essential* to watch. ;) Gotta say that besides the third Spider-Man and Guardians movies, I have basically zero interest in Phase 4. :P
Days of Future Past...you know my thoughts. ;) *heart eyes*
Eva, I actually saw Spiderman: Far From Home in the theater, and it's part of what made me think maybe I'm just good where I am. The stuff about people getting unsnapped was really funny, but the movie overall made me... less pleased. Would Tony really give glasses with basically unlimited firepower to a teenager? Why does everyone think that's fine? We went from "Maybe one adult should not have the power of the Iron Man suit" to "Here, kid, have fun with these -- if someone annoys you, you can blow them up." Hmm.
DeleteAlso, I really don't like Jake Gyllenhaal :-b
DOFP, though, is basically perfection <3
Yeeeeeah, that part of the plot doesn't make a whole lot of sense, come to think of it. =) And while I'm sort of neutral to JG as an actor (haven't seen him in enough stuff to form an opinion), I HATED Mysterio. Ugh.
DeleteI think I forgot to press publish on my 1st comment so feel free to delete if you get 2!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great list! As an X-fan since childhood I mostly love the series and would rank them pretty much like you do. DOFP is perfection and hits all my emotional/sentimental buttons too. (Repeated fumbles of Dark Phoenix though, different buttons…we shall not speak of it lol)
Kristina, haven't seen an earlier comment, so guess it didn't go through. I've been a fan of the X-men since I was in my teens in the '90s, when my brother and I used to read the Spider-man Magazine that did crossovers with them. I became a Wolverine fan that way, and somewhat infamously refused to see the first X-Men movie when it came out because I thought Hugh Jackman was the worst casting possible for Wolverine, being tall and handsome. A friend finally forced me to watch it on VHS and I repented of my ridiculousness, lol.
DeleteYeah, they never got Dark Phoenix right. I thought the do-over might work better than X-Men United, but then they cast someone really boring as her and I just... was vexed. Sigh. But DOFP is perfect and wonderful and amazing, and I never get tired of it, so all is well ;-)
I can totally understand that, I was skeptical of the casting at first too.
Deleteand just think, we get to go through the same casting angst ALL over again when Marvel starts making these movies!
Have you seen new buzz about Taron Egerton getting buff because he might be trying for Wolverine? I could support that, I think. I hope they get it right. also agree, Sophie Turner didn’t work for me either, too aloof where Jean is about passion. Famke was great and I wish Last Stand had had given her more
anyway I could (and often do!) go on… :)
Kristina, sigh. I am trying super hard to be very open-minded about new casting. I did hear about Taron Egerton being a possibility, and he does have the slight edge of having made a movie with Hugh Jackman ;-) I've heard Tom Hardy tossed around a lot, and Charlie Hunnam. If I had to pick one of those three, I'd pick Hunnam, but a lot of that is because I'm more familiar with him, having watched his King Arthur like 8 times.
Delete"Aloof" is exactly the problem I had with Sophie Turner as Jean. She should be warm and passionate and very engaged, not standing off to one side with an air of quiet disdain. Sigh.
Um, and yeah, I can go on for a while about these movies and characters myself...
You helped get me into Marvel with your We Love Superheroes Week, and now you're making me want to get into X-Men! I LOVE Endgame, Captain Marvel, and Thor: Ragnarok! Fabulous list.
ReplyDeleteChloe, awww, I'm so pleased I've been able to introduce you to superhero franchises this way :-) The X-Men movies are their own brand of cool, and I hope you can try them out :-) I've reviewed almost all of them over the years -- I think I'm only missing X-Men and X-Men: Apocalypse for reviews. I should maybe get on remedying that, huh?
DeleteThe only one I would NOT recommend to you is Logan, which very much earns its R rating. But the others are the same level of content as the MCU movies, on a whole.