What would you say are the five best comic book movies of all time? We all have our personal favorites. But when you mention the top five, they should be titles that are respected, appreciated and adored by fans of the genre worldwide.
Earlier, we handpicked what we thought were the top six–10 best superhero movies of all time. Now, we are down to the top five, and we have cooked up a classic assortment of comic masterpieces. What would your order be? Does it include any of the titles we have listed below?
5. The Incredibles
It’s easy to look to Marvel and DC when picking the best of the comic book genre, but that means you’re overlooking an outstanding story from the masters at Pixar Animation Studios. THE INCREDIBLES tells of a family of supers who are forced into hiding due to government regulation and eventually come out of retirement when coaxed by the mysterious Syndrome. The sequel is fun, but the original is a flat-out masterpiece from the animation giant.
4. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Joe and Anthony Russo joined the MCU as co-directors with one of the more complicated (yet rewarding) sequels in the Marvel canon. Captain America (Chris Evans) confronts his long-lost best friend, Bucky (Sebastian Stan), who has been reprogrammed into a killing machine by the menacing Hydra. Intelligent, adult and action-packed, THE WINTER SOLDIER was the Marvel formula firing on all cylinders, and the confrontation on the bridge between Cap, Bucky, Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Falcon (Anthony Mackie) may be the hardest-hitting fight in MCU history.
3. Logan
The last time ended up being the charm for Hugh Jackman and his repeated turns as the wild mutant Wolverine. Yes, Jackman was fantastic in numerous X-MEN movies prior to LOGAN, notably the original X-MEN and the time-traveling X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST. But James Mangold’s LOGAN is the somber, reflective, meditative and vicious conclusion to the mutant’s story, which follows the beloved “Old Man Logan” comic book saga, but adds sweet tweaks. It’s the best X-MEN movie to date.
2. The Dark Knight
The comic book movie that taught an industry how to treat comic book movies with respect. Christopher Nolan followed up his spectacular BATMAN BEGINS with an intricate, multi-layered look at crime and punishment in the mythical Gotham City, with two figures on opposite sides of a coin — Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) and the Joker (Heath Ledger) — battling for the city’s soul. Their war engulfs Batman (Christian Bale), and Nolan plunges into the dark material to create the equivalent of THE GODFATHER, but with capes and face paint.
1. Avengers: Endgame
The biggest, and best, comic book movie of our lifetime. The Russo brothers deliver an epic culmination to the 22-film Infinity Saga, pitting Thanos (Josh Brolin) against every hero in the Marvel Universe. And man, do they deliver. The spectacle is massive. The stakes are incredibly high. And the box office has been boffo, with AVENGERS: ENDGAME coming close to dethroning AVATAR as the highest-grossing movie of all time. We may never see anything quite as significant as ENDGAME in our lifetime again, so appreciate it now while it’s still in theatres.
Those are our picks for the five best superhero movies of all time. How would your list differ? Would you favor Marvel or DC? Are you an X-Men fan or maybe a Deadpool supporter? There are no wrong answers, and it fuels debates for years to come. And we’ll see if our list would change any when the next comic book movie, SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME, drops into theatres on July 2.
