What’s the best superhero movie ever made? For our money, it’s one of the following — presented in no particular order.
The Dark Knight (2008)
This is the most obvious choice — a jittery, chilling morality play in which everyone does everything right, anchored by Christian Bale as the best Batman and Heath Ledger in an Oscar-winning role as one of the best-ever screen villains, a mastermind posing as a clown.
One could argue this doesn’t belong on a list of superhero movies, since no one has super powers… but that’s part of what we love about The Dark Knight.
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
After an astonishing opening that promises anything could happen, Infinity War invests in character development as much as action before ending on a cliffhanger to end all cliffhangers.
Its sequel, Avengers: Endgame, not only resolves that cliffhanger but also pays off more than a decade of Marvel superhero movie storylines.
Watching Infinity War and Endgame back to back, it’s hard not to feel like you’re revisiting the high water mark of the MCU. Hopefully Kevin Feige and company can recapture the greatness of the late 2010s with Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, which will bring back some of our old favorites.
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) learns that with great power comes not just great responsibility, but great sacrifice, as he realizes that his role as Spider-Man endangers the love of his life, Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst).
Doc Ock (Alfred Molina) is one of the all-time best spider villains, and the highlight of the whole film comes in a truly marvelous sequence in which New York City saves Spidey, for a change. The most romantic of all superhero movies, except for the last one on our list.
Sony made an inspired choice when they hired Sam Raimi to land this one, and he nailed it — he brought the very Peter Parkeresque scrappiness of his Evil Dead franchise to an at-the-time unproven property, recognizing that Spider-Man is as much about heart as heroics. And sometimes heart and heroics are the same thing.
X2: X-Men United (2003)
2003’s X-Men 2 far improves on the original from the first scene: It starts with Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming) operatically invading the Oval Office, and never slows.
The fight between Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and Lady Deathstryke (Kelly Hu) feels far more grounded and high-stakes than terrible CGI fights that would ruin so many superhero movies in the years to come, and Brian Cox is menacingly flawless as Col. William Stryker, a very believable nemesis to our favorite band of mutants.
Fox seemed timid about the first X-Men, since superhero movies seemed a little niche at the time of its release. But X2 stays truer to the Chris Claremont X-Men comics, and soars as a result.
Logan (2017)
A break-all-the-rules story of sacrifice, loss, and one loner’s struggle to get through centuries on this planet doing more good than harm.
Director James Mangold proved once and for all that comic book movies aren’t just for kids with a metaphorical story of aging as gracefully as you can.
Mangold returned to the theme of an aging action hero, meanwhile, in the recent Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. But honestly, we prefer Logan.
Deadpool (2016)
The most flat-out funny comic-book movie ever made, which made it to the screen through Ryan Reynold’s stubborn insistence that one of Marvel’s weirdest, least likely screen stars could be one of its greatest.
And yes, we enjoyed last year’s megahit Deadpool vs. Wolverine — but not as much as we enjoyed their solo adventures.
Black Panther (2018)
The world-building is stellar and acting top-notch throughout. Michael B. Jordan plays perhaps the MCU’s best villain ever, and Chadwick Boseman delivered a beautiful turn as a king torn between his people and the people of the world in this Best Picture nominee from Ryan Coogler.
It’s kind of stunning that both Black Panther and Infinity War were released just months apart — 2018 was quite a year for Marvel, and superhero movies in general.
And that’s before we even get to the next super movie on our list.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse (2018)
Breaking with every kind of staid tradition, this boldly experimental, utterly gorgeous animated film is a loving, awe-inspiring homage to decades of Spider-mythology and an optimistic look ahead at what comic book movies — and their young fans — can aspire to be.
It’s incredible how many spider friends — and villains — the movie fits in, making it all look effortless. It’s a movie you can watch dozens of times, catching something new on each viewing.
We just wish its often-fantastic sequel, Across the Spider-Verse, hadn’t ended on such a tough cliffhanger.
X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
A fairly faithful screen adaptation of one of Christopher Claremont’s most iconic storylines from the comics, though it puts Logan (Hugh Jackman) center stage instead of Kitty Pryde and ambitiously melds the X-Men movies of the 2000s and their prequels of the 2010s.
Long before the many movie metaverses made time travel or alternate realities feel exhausting, this X-Men film had what was then a fresh and thrilling take.
Blade (1998)
Blade isn’t perfect, but it expanded everyone’s idea of what a superhero movie could be by pulling from one of Marvel’s lesser-known heroes: a vampire hunter who wears a leather jacket instead of a cape or tights.
Blade opened the door to the reality that Marvel could have as much or even more success with its second-tier or forgotten characters, like Ant-Man or the Guardians of the Galaxy, than it could with heroes we had seen onscreen before.
And of course Wesley Snipes is awesome in the lead role, and delivers the classic line, Some mother—-er’s are always trying to ice skate uphill.”
The Incredibles (2004)
Pixar’s The Incredibles is both a great family superhero movie and a dark deconstruction of superhero tropes — note that Mr. Incredible bails out on the business because of legal threats, not because of bad guys.
The animation is groundbreaking and stellar, combining dynamic character design with Art Deco touches that harken back to the days of Batman and Superman. It’s funny, it’s sweeping, it’s curiously dark. The grainy black-and-white rescue segment takes it to a daring new level. It’s a super movie in every way.
Superman (1978)
The film that started it all. Its earnestness and total reliance on practical effects — as well as stellar performances and moving love story between Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) and Supes make it feel more charming and inspiring with each passing year.
Christopher Reeve will always be our Superman, and, as we mentioned, it’s the most romantic superhero movie.
We have high hopes for the upcoming James Gunn take on Superman — and are especially excited to meet Krypto, Superman’s dog.
Liked This List of the Best Superhero Movies?
We compiled this gallery through a conversation with the hosts of the Low Key Podcast, which you can check out here.
Main image: Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique in X-Men: Days of Future Past.