20. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993)
Brad Gullickson: While it’s not quite as epic or culturally significant as The Animated Series that it sprung from, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm still manages to connect to the comic book origins in a way that the live-action adaptations never have. While Burton and Nolan delivered on The Dark Knight, The Detective has mostly been missing. Kevin Conroy’s Batman is equal parts Sherlock Holmes and The Shadow. Vengeance with a brain.
I Am Vengeance! I Am The Night! I Am Batman! Kevin Conroy doesn’t need to whisper or growl. With a slight shift in tone, Conroy’s Batman instantly transitions himself from the Bruce Wayne persona. He offers a level of believability to Wayne’s particular brand of crazy, and we have no desire to question the maniac. The cowl, the cape, the impenetrable hunger for retribution, Conroy’s crusader wears them well.
Vengeance vs Revenge. I’m not crazy, you’re crazy. With the introduction of the murderous Phantasm, Batman must challenge his own reasoning behind the mission. Here we see grief transformed into hate, and this dark reflection eats at Bruce’s very purpose. It’s a challenge Batman must battle every so often in an effort to adjust his moral compass. And of course, there is Mark Hamill’s Joker to ultimately put everything in perspective.
19. Iron Man (2008)
Max Covill: The one that started it all. No, not superhero movies, but the endless assault of superhero movies we get every year. Robert Downey Jr. also proved he still had it in him. No one else could be Tony Stark. Since Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. has appeared as Tony Stark in seven other Marvel films. He has become irreplaceable. It also helps that the connection between Pepper Potts and Tony Stark had a ton of energy.
What is Iron Man’s claim to fame? Iron Man kickstarted the Marvel Cinematic Universe and its success might’ve led to Disney acquiring Marvel. Iron Man was the initial experiment to prove that Marvel could put out their own film after having given up the rights to Spider-Man and X-Men to rival studios. Taking a gamble on RDJ turned out far better than Marvel could’ve anticipated. There would be no Avengers if Iron Man wasn’t successful.
Most obvious product placement in a superhero movie? Tony Stark says that the first thing he is going to do when he gets home is hold a press conference and get “a real American cheeseburger.” Cut to the next scene and Tony Stark is eating Burger King. This is a man with infinite amounts of money and he eats at Burger King? Come on.
18. Spider-Man (2002)
Tomris Laffly: A creation of an innocent era before mind-numbing, shared superhero universes called summer-long shots on big-screen entertainment, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man drilled Uncle Ben Parker’s enduring wisdom into our minds: “With great power, comes great responsibility.” An urban coming-of-age film at its core, Raimi’s Spider-Man tells a timeless tale of love and family through the adventures of the geeky high-school kid Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) with newfound spidey powers. Peter is in love with the girl-next-door Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst), at odds with his best friend Harry Osborn (James Franco) and overridden by guilt towards his loving Aunt May (Rosemary Harris).
What makes it distinctive? In a word, simplicity. But don’t ever confuse it with shallowness, as Raimi’s film—adapted for screen by David Koepp—is anything but small-minded. Spider-Man believably portrays Peter’s adolescence dilemmas, and contrasts his and Mary Jane’s dire financial struggles with their classmate Harry’s wealth. (This is a film about social class.) It also builds a credible villain out of an ambitious scientist heartlessly ousted by his firm to which he’s dedicated his entire life. (This is also a film about the evils of cold-blooded capitalism.) But ultimately, Spider-Man is a film about sacrifice and communal unity; about putting those in need and peril (loved ones and strangers alike) before oneself.
Did you know? The film’s original poster and first teaser trailer prominently featured the World Trade Center. The teaser was built around a bank robbery scene that was never intended to be in the finished film: bad guys attempt to flee in a helicopter but get caught in spidey’s web between the twin towers. But post-9/11, the towers were erased from the film’s marketing by distributor Columbia Pictures as a sensible act of respect, in support of New Yorkers. Part of me wishes they were left in as a tribute, but it’s also hard to argue against a decision clearly coming from a considerate place.
17. Hellboy (2004)
Meg Shields: Hellboy is the result of Guillermo del Toro being able to satisfy his itch for the fantastically bizarre and stylish while also making a decent action blockbuster. It’s a bunch of loveable, broken weirdos trying to save humanity from occult Nazis. What’s not to love?
Monster Mash: Hellboy is teaming with monsters, benevolent and otherwise. To name a few: there’s a clockwork mummy Nazi, an eloquent egg-loving fish person, and a big ole’ fashioned Lovecraftian Old God. As is par for the course with del Toro’s well-documented love of monsters, Hellboy’s menagerie consists of creatures that are beautifully-designed, fit the world, and are fiercely imaginative (looking at you tentacle hellhound).
What is the best moment? There is a scene in Hellboy where we learn that our snarky cigar-chomping badass is a moody cat lady who loves pancakes. Everything about Hellboy’s room is endearing to me: it’s littered with pizzas, beer bottles, dumbbells, TV sets, and so, so so many cats. He owns comics about himself. He can be bribed with candy. Hellboy’s room betrays that he’s a big sensitive dork and I love it.
16. Batman Begins (2005)
Max Covill: Christopher Nolan’s masterpiece. Reinvents Batman for a new era, while simultaneously showcasing why he is the best superhero. Christian Bale would prove that he is the best Batman ever put on screen and introduce two fantastic villains to audiences in Ra’s al Ghul and Scarecrow. Nolan took outrageous characters and made them fit into a real-world setting.
What is the most memorable scene in Batman Begins? There has been plenty of training montages in movies, but Batman Begins does an excellent job of showing how Batman became so talented in martial arts. All of the other films just let audiences assume he learned it on his own, but Batman Begins has Liam Neeson destroying Christian Bale. There’s also something great about Batman using a sword. Can we get more of that, please?
How was Batman Begins influential for the genre? Batman Begins was the first in a series of ‘dark’ Batman films. This darkness would come to every DC Comics property in some form or another. This, of course, includes the DCEU which has been criticized for making their films too dark. What worked for Batman didn’t really work for Superman and friends.
15. Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Ciara Wardlow: In spite of his scene-stealing cameo in Captain America: Civil War, Tom Holland’s Spider-Man had a lot to prove in his first solo outing. After all, while both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Men left the spidey-suit behind on a low note, they were generally well-liked, and even the most tolerant of fans were a little skeptical about three Spider-Men in less than a decade. But in spite of intimidating odds, both Holland and Spider-Man: Homecoming triumph thanks to lots of smart choices and attention to detail that turned what could have been one of the MCU’s most repetitive-feeling entries to date into one of the freshest-feeling, most entertaining films of last summer.
What did Homecoming get right? The most brilliant thing about Homecoming is that it realizes it is not a superhero movie, but a superhero teen movie. Across films and TV, the teen genre, with few exceptions, is one of the most trite, cliché-laden genres out there, in which actors obviously in their mid-to-late twenties play “average teens” with full faces of flawless make-up and impeccably styled designer clothes who angst over sex and drugs but never math homework but they’re standing next to a locker with the same five stock characters milling through the background so you know it’s high school. Homecoming doesn’t just avoid becoming Spider-Man origin movie take 3 by skipping the whole origin bit (thank goodness), but by giving us a teen movie that has the humor and heart of John Hughes but lets Hughes’ stock characters and various outdated tropes remain in the 80s where they belong. As a nerd high school grad myself (that is, STEM magnet school), Homecoming is the first teen movie I’ve seen that actually reminded me of my own experiences. To top it all off, Michael Keaton’s Vulture ranks among the best MCU villains not named Loki to date.
Best moment? The devil is in the details with Homecoming. From the frazzled Mr. Harrington (Martin Starr), the well-intentioned academic decathlon coach whose goals include not “losing” another student on a school trip “again” to Michelle Jones (Zendaya) bench pressing a book in PE class, the film is full of delightful blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moments. One of my personal favorites, though, would have to be the brief cutaway shot to the Midtown school news report where Betty Brant (Angourie Rice) rejects her co-anchor Jason’s Homecoming invite mid-broadcast, inspiring the cameraperson to hold the shot on Jason and zoom in on his look of embarrassment. Because you know that is exactly what a fifteen-year-old with a camera would do in that scenario. They have no mercy.
14. Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
William Dass: Two weeks is a short amount of time to rocket to an all-time greatest anything list. Want to know a secret? Not today. The Lord of Thunder has earned his glorious placement in the upper echelons, dining with warriors and heroes in the halls of movie Valhalla forever! Drink! Smash! Get the printing presses warm. We’re going full zine for this revolution. The revolution will be printed! (In enough quantities to ensure a proper turnout). And its name is Taika Waititi.
Wait, really? Hell yes. Waititi is a phenom at mixing perfect humor with wonderfully compelling characters. How else could you make a pitch about reality television mashed up with vampires work? Hunt for the Wilderpeople showcased his character work and his eye for framing gorgeous shots. This revolution didn’t happen overnight. His Thor is gorgeously beat-perfect because he’s been putting in the legwork for those masterclass creds.
“Hey man, I’m Korg. We’re gonna get out of here on that big spaceship. Wanna come?” Yep. I want to travel in a world of pure Taika Waititi imagination. The fact that he included a Willy Wonkian Space Mountain extended riff to introduce me to my main man, Mr. Jeff Goldblum, well… aces. I want to view paradise.
13. Watchmen (2009)
Brad Gullickson: Zach Snyder did it. He managed to film the unfilmable graphic novel from Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Watchmen was an angry statement against the Reagan era that also took sadistic glee in lampooning the never-ending wave of superhero archetypes cranked out every month by Marvel and DC Comics. Desperate to capture Dave Gibbons’ art shot for shot, Snyder was less interested in adapting the book than replicating it.
We don’t need no space squid. I hear ya, “But the space squid is so awesome!!” Yes, yes it is. However, in altering the climax by positioning Dr. Manhattan as the great global threat, writers David Hayter and Alex Tse solidify Watchmen’s theme of unchecked power. Dr. Manhattan’s acknowledgment of Ozymandias’ diabolical plan to bring peace to Earth through manufactured paranoia is all the more heartbreaking.
Rorschach’s Journal. Our favorite punisher with a taste for beans just can’t help himself. Rorschach may understand the twisted thought behind Ozymandias’ masterplan, but he cannot bend his own ideology even if it means the end to us all. Suicide by righteousness? Hurm…Rorschach gets the last word as his meticulously detailed journal falls into the mailbox of the local crackpot conspiracy paper. The Doomsday Clock ticks on, and our apathy remains intact. Kennedy is dead and we’ll never have the idealism of the Minutemen again.
12. Superman: The Movie (1978)
Max Covill: Still the best Superman movie. Something about the Richard Donner Superman makes being a superhero such a joy. Something that the superhero movies of today lack. Starring the only Superman actor who ever mattered, Christopher Reeve, it establishes Superman’s origin, while simultaneously making audiences believe a man can fly.
What is a tweet-length review of Superman: The Movie? Superman will turn back time to stop the nefarious Lex Luther from destroying our planet in the most wholesome superhero movie ever made.
What is the funniest song in a superhero movie? “Can you read my mind? Do you know what it is you do to me? Don’t know who you are. Just a friend from another star. Here I am, like a kid at the school. Holding hands with a god or a fool. Will you look at me, quivering, like a little girl, shivering, you can see right through me.”
11. Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Tomris Laffly: The age-old debate about sequels periodically questions whether they can be better than or improve upon the original film. While the answer is usually a no, here’s a sequel that is a glaring exception to the rule. Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 not only embraces everything its predecessor did right, but it also considerably advances the package. Here, Peter Parker is still a financially struggling, guilt-ridden photographer who increasingly finds his true desires (to be with Mary Jane, to live a quiet life, to be a good student, etc.) at odds with the “great responsibility” his “great power” has involuntarily given him. This is simply among the most generous superhero films of all-time, full of delicate emotional grace notes.
What makes it distinctive? First and foremost, its timing and what it does with that timing. Spider-Man 2 came out in 2004, while the permanent wounds of 9/11 were still fresh and bleeding through the streets of New York City. In that regard, the unity of the city—especially during the train sequence where Doc Ock (Alfred Molina) pursues Spider-Man amid a group of brave New Yorkers selflessly protecting him—is simply soul-crushing to watch and (as a New Yorker myself) impossible to not take pride in with a side of free-flowing tears. In the second installment, which will always be among my favorite films of 2004, Peter Parker fights his demons while watching everything important to him—his troubled relationship with Mary Jane, his Aunt’s trust, Harry’s friendship, and his spidey powers among other things—slowly slip away from his hands. But despite all, he can’t bear to watch his city be destroyed by a legendary scientist-turned-accidental villain hungry for the power of the sun. And let’s face it, we can’t bear it either, not for a second time. So we root for Spider-Man, a good New Yorker, and a peerless hero, even more enthusiastically in this second film all the way through his final faceoff with Doc Ock, until he buries the destructive danger in the river.
About that lovely scene: I’m referring to the one where Peter’s kindly neighbor, a young immigrant woman with obvious family issues, spots his distress and offers him a glass of milk and a slice of chocolate cake. The two convene at Peter’s nearly derelict apartment quietly, with mutual understanding in their eyes. This is New York, where neighbors look out for neighbors.
On the next page, the 10 best superhero movies ever.
Related Topics: Superhero
