My Top 5 Super Hero Movie List

The past many years have been packed with Super Hero movies, and I don't think I've ever been anticipating them more greatly than now. So, during this Super Hero mania, I figured I'd toss together my top 5 favorite super hero movies of all time, as well as my top 5 least favorite and top five most disappointing super hero films. Take note that the lists are strictly my opinion, and will only feature films I have seen. A few of these you may strongly disagree with, so if you hate hearing other people's opinions, or just straight up don't understand the concept of an opinion, as is the case with much of Youtube's top commenters, then look away. If not, read on!

TOP 5 FAVORITE SUPER HERO FILMS

5) The Spiderman Trilogy. Yeah, I know what most of you are thinking, but seriously, I don't get why these films were so strongly hated. I really didn't think they were bad at all. In fact, if you read the original Spiderman comics, the tone is almost spot on. I think most modern movie goers were turned off by the fact that the films weren't dark or overly emotional, as many recent super hero films tend to be. Many new DC movies exaggerate the darkness and overall epic mood so much they seem more like satire than an action film. The Spiderman films were bright and colorful, as the classic comics were, and were also rather light and almost corny at times. This corniness was the constant mood of the original comics, as it was for most early comic books, and rather than finding it dopey, I found it true to the originals and, well, it actually felt like I was watching a comic book. We have to remember that, while comic books can be taken seriously, it's OK for them all not to be too serious. I mean, at the end of the day, they are about humans who obtain super powers through some impossible method, dress up in animal-themed tights and save the city from bad guys who do the same thing. How seriously can you take that? I think the Spiderman films had the perfect blend of goofiness, humor, seriousness, suspense, action, and drama. Sure, they changed some things, like making Mary Jane the main girl all through the series, but being that they are taking decades of books and turning them into 90 minute films, they have to reduce minor elements and create a world simple enough, but also magnificent enough for all viewers to get to know quickly and enjoy. They still kept most of the scenes and plot lines intact in the first film, only they replaced Gwen Stacy's character with Mary Jane and made her live during the bridge scene rather than die. Why? Because they were making a series out of it with actors signed on for major roles and needed a memorable cast. They couldn't just bring in and kill off new girls in every movie. Minor tweaks like this, while not necessarily improving the original story from the Amazing Spiderman comics, certainly improved the story for the movies and made them more enjoyable for audiences.

The second one, I feel, was probably the best in the trilogy. They still threw in lots of nods to the original comics, and they had enough action for the action buffs, as well as an interesting and complicated love triangle building for other viewers. The third one, however, is where they screwed up a bit. I wouldn't say it's a bad movie, in fact, I think it's a rather good one, but it was a bit sloppy and rushed. Introducing Gwen Stacy as a totally different role was a bit too far from the comics to be accepted, and she only really served as a revenge against MJ for Peter. When I first saw her, I was hoping she'd be Black Cat, but no. Ah well, I still think it's best that they used MJ as the main girl in the trilogy, as she was the longest running girl in the series and, hell, she married Peter Parker. Another problem with the third movie was Venom. He was horribly done, being reduced down to a minor villain crammed in late in the film, and he was played by a scrawny dweeb from That 70s Show. His suit was lame looking and pathetic, and he was introduced and destroyed way too quickly. What they should have done was dedicate the film to Sand Man and Harry as the Goblin and save Venom for the fourth film, but sadly, since the movie got such bad reviews, they pulled the plug on the remix and then gave us a new, darker reboot. In some regards, the third one was pretty cool as a huge collection of villains, making it seem huge, but it was just executed poorly, and there were many more weaker villains they could have used instead of Venom.

All in all, it was a great trilogy if you ask me. Ever since these movies came out around 2003 and on I was annoyed when people would complain about the movies not being identical and completely 100% accurate to the original comics. Why would you want it to be an exact remake? If it was exactly the same, what the hell would even be the point in seeing it? You already know every scene. People need to understand movie making is an art form, and while a director should certainly try to know the source material and represent it well, it is also their interpretation or vision of this story, allowing them to take artistic liberties and improvise where they see it fit. I think almost all the changes made for the movies were well done and helped create the perfect film trilogy for casual watchers and die hard fans. Also, most of those people who complain and bitch about these inaccuracies in the movies probably haven't even ever read the original Amazing Spiderman books, and are just saying what they think they're supposed to say. I certainly haven't read them all, only pieces here and there, but I am knowledgeable of the story and can comprehend the concept of changing something for your own personal adaptation. The casting was also perfect for most characters if you ask me.

4) Captain America: The First Avenger. I enjoyed most of the Avengers-related films, but this one stood out as one of the best. Not only did they do an amazing job with the believable shift in his body build, but an all star acting job with an awesome performance by Tommy Lee Jones, a great representation of the original Marvel characters, an AWESOME musical score that truly sums up justice, super heroes, and classic American army promotion, cool tie-ins to the other films that would merge to become the Avengers, and a perfectly executed 1940s American world reproduction. The music, people, dialogue, and scenery all help create the feeling of classic America, making it feel like a true Captain America film. I hope the second one is just as good.

3) Thor. I don't know exactly what it is about this movie, but I just loved it. Is it the amazingly powerful musical score? Maybe. Is it the awesome world of Asgard and it's Norse mythology-inspired characters? Possibly. Is it the great balance of humor, action, and drama? Probably. Is it the awesome visuals and triumphant story of an arrogant man having to start over and become the true glory he once thought himself to be? Most likely. Or it's the true answer - all of those things. Ever since I first saw this in the theatres I loved this movie, and from what I see, I'm not alone. I thought the Earth characters were a bit lame, honestly, and felt their average pop-culture-based humor was pretty weak, but there was enough of the good shit to drown that out. Sadly, the sequel, Dark World, was very disappointing for me. It had a few cool moments, and I thought Loki was hilarious in it, but everything else was just a bit lame. I was pretty disappointed to see so much of the same, random mortal characters from Earth, with seemingly more lame jokes and screen time than the first film. I already feel Natalie Portman is overrated, and making, who is literally just the first random mortal Thor happens to run into, become such a pivotal part of the plot for all worlds just seemed over the top and lame. The fight scenes were shaky and hard to follow, as well as pretty stupid in theory, and the story just did little for me. The original, however, remains a true classic in my mind.

2) Batman & Batman Returns (the Tim Burton films). People rave about the Dark Knight trilogy, and I've got to be honest - I don't like those movies. Batman Begins seemed so over ambitious and far too dark and emotional, while also just being, simply put, boring as hell. The plot twist and casting job were also too stupid for me to but into, and pass the line I mentioned earlier of taking too many artistic liberties. The fact that people can bitch about the changes made in the Spiderman films for over a decade yet they are cool with the plot twist surrounding Ra's al Ghul, as well as being cast as Liam Neeson, just proves the ridiculous bias among movie reviewers. The Dark Knight was merely a decent super hero film in my opinion. Not amazing, but average. It was still overly ambitious and dark, trying far too hard to shove it's social commentary down your throat and be more than what it is. I also felt the Joker character received far more credit than deserved. I found Two Face to be the best played character in the film by far, and thought the Joker seemed too over the top, just as any new exaggerated anarchist/terrorist villain we see in all new media. It's OK now and then, but that character is in everything these days. I'll take Jack Nicholson's Joker any day. As for the Dark Knight Rises? It fucking sucks. Sorry if that's too juvenile, but I just can't get into it more for now. It was "mind blowingly" terrible to me.

However, the two Batman films that kicked off the 80s/90s series are masterpieces in my eye. Sure, it’s due greatly to nostalgia, but even memories aside, these films just portrayed the world of Batman perfectly. The setting was always very dark and surreal, creating an unrealistic and, well, comic book-like world. As was the case with the Spiderman trilogy, the people’s personalities, dialogue and outfits are all exaggerated and cartoon-like, creating a hyper reality that feels much more like the original comic books. The movie didn’t exaggerate these features too much like in Batman and Robin, nor was Bruce Wayne’s two personas as ridiculously exaggerated as they are in the Dark Knight trilogy (plus he doesn’t have that ridiculous Christian Bale Batman voice). The characters in the first film are very spot-on with their original comic book personas, and the story just makes for a good super hero flick all around. It’s dark and serious, but also light and goofy. It was well executed with a perfect balance.

Much to my surprise, over time Batman Returns, the sequel, seems to have established a horrible reputation. This amazes me for two reasons. One, it was one of the biggest movies when I was little – everyone loved it. I owned a Batman Returns coloring book, and Batman vs. Penguin lunch box, and a model set of the Bat-mobile, and I was one of the kids with, by far, the least amount of Batman Returns merchandise in my entire school. Kids loved this, and even adults were praising it at the time. Two, I think this movie is awesome. It’s hard for me to decide which of the two films is better. In this film, Burton took more artistic liberties with the villain characters, and the outcome was an incredibly amazing plot for Penguin, aided by a phenomenal performance by Danny DeVito, and a unique Cat Woman who was still flirty, but less materialistic and more dangerous (along with one of the sexiest outfit designs for the character). The movie had mostly great acting, a surreal environment where things happen in a cartoon-like fashion, a heavy plot, and a good, troubling love swelling between Bruce and Selina. As a kid, I loved the Penguin, and growing up and seeing it again only improved my love for the role. The movies get bashed for much of the strange, cartoon-like aspects, as well as the cheesy one-liners, but anybody who bashes a super hero movie for such things has obviously never read a comic book. I welcome such things, as it heightens the classic comic book feeling, but I’ll admit they should be used in moderation, and I feel these movies utilized the perfect balance. It’s also nice to see Batman actually do detective work in these movies, as he doesn’t really seem to do much detective work in the Dark Knight.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze. While this pick is heavily based on personal nostalgia, I couldn’t help but rate them this high. The first film is clearly way better than the sequel, but both hold such a special place in my heart, as well as in the hearts of many other people who grew up during the Turtle craze of the late 80s and early 90s. The first film was a masterpiece. Sure, it can be viewed as just a kid’s movie, but aside from that, it’s really just a good film all around. While it was obviously inspired by the cartoon series, as that, along with the Playmates figure line, were the Turtles’ main claim to fame, it also borrows lots of elements from the original Eastman and Laird comics, right down to some exact scenes duplicated, with the occasional swapped Turtle. The movie was much more serious in tone than the cartoon, with suspenseful music and dark lighting around enemies. Hell, the Shredder was intimidating as hell in that movie, where in the cartoon he was just a pushover. This dark and mature look at their world seemed like TMNT just got much more badass to most boys watching it, myself included, but the joke-cracking, pizza-eating, and physical comedy we knew and loved was still intact as well, and even the soundtrack amplified the hip 80s sound that embodied everything that was still considered cool in 1990. The movie, possibly better than any super hero film I’ve seen, perfectly balanced the humor and drama. The movie really came down to just being the perfect retelling of the classic tale for the big screen. Pretty much everything was executed perfectly, and it’s hard to think of a single lame moment in the film.

The sequel, The Secret of the Ooze, was certainly not a good movie. It was a kid’s movie, and for a kid’s movie, it was about as cool as you could get. The Turtles were now against fellow mutants, upping the ante. Add to this that you’ve got loads more jokes, pizza, and battles, and you’ve got an awesome TMNT movie. But wait, now you add Butterfingers, Bart Simpson products within the film, video game references and Vanilla Ice busting out a brand new rap about the Turtles themselves? You just made the ultimate little boy fantasy of the early 90s. This movie was extremely popular among kids at the time. It hasn’t aged well, but it still embodies all that we loved back then, making it a massive nostalgia trip. While it may not have been a good movie, it certainly was a fan pleaser. It gave the boy dominated fan base everything they wanted in a Ninja Turtles movie, and even an awesome line of movie themed toys were released to celebrate it. So, hats off to you TMNT films, you rocked.

But wait! There was another one… and it SUCKED. Yeah, Turtles III was one of the most disappointing films back then, and it remains as such today. It would have been nice if they had given us what we wanted again, but the first two movies were definitely good enough to make up for that. There’s a new TMNT film coming out this summer, and it’s stirring up a world of hate and speculation. All I can say is, I can’t wait to see it. Do I like the designs for the turtles in the new film? No. Am I normally a fan of Michael Bay? No, but don’t worry, he’s not the director, his company is merely producing it. Do I like their choice for Megan Fox as April? NO. Do I like the exclusion of Rocksteady and Bebop? Not at all, they should have been in the original trilogy. Do I like the casting of Will Arnett as Vernon? Actually… yeah, that’s awesome. Am I still excited about the film? You bet your ass I am. People need to settle down with their overreactions to upcoming media. Over the past decade or so people have started judging media during its production so hard before they could ever possibly know about it enough to formulate such a strong opinion. Going into something with a bias opinion is never good. Many moviegoers will hate movies that really aren’t bad just because they hated the early news leaked. Many times though, with movies and games, people will bash what they hear and tear it apart, but then when they play it, they suddenly shut the fuck up and realize it’s amazing. So, let’s just wait until we see the new TMNT movie before we judge the hell out of it, ok?

TOP 5 WORST SUPER HERO FILMS

Now, there are tons of bad super hero movies dating back decades, hands down more than the good. There are some that are so bad they’re funny, like Spawn or The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,but then there’s those that aren’t even funny. The ones that are so stupid that they just make you mad. They’re offensively bad. And many of those, I feel, came out between 2000 and 2010. I will not go into detail about these. If you happen to be curious as to why I hate one, just ask, I’ll probably be able to list some of the reasons. It was really hard to not put Green Lantern, Hulk (2003) and Watchmen on this list, but the ones listed below are just the worst of the worst.

5) The Punisher

4) Dare Devil

3) The Fantastic Four

2) Transformers (all movies)

1) Elektra

TOP 5 MOST DISAPPOINTING SUPER HERO FILMS

Many super hero franchises held such great potential for films, but many just disappoint. The worst offender, if you ask me, is the X-Men series, which also refuses to die. Seriously, give someone besides Hugh Jackman a chance to play Wolverine, he’s really not even that great at it. X-Men holds one of the most powerful and beloved stories and universes in comic book history, with awesome characters and messages. The movies are just cookie-cutter action movies that feel nothing at all like the original product. The characters bare almost no resemblance to the originals, being dressed like Edward Scissorhands rather than super heroes. The plot is also a mess. It’s all over the place, and every film contradicts another. Honestly, it was damn hard for me to keep these films from the top 5 worst list. I hate this series. The third one was horribly done, just being the end result of a staff cramming what was originally meant to be the remaining form films of a six part series into one final film, with tons of characters introduced with no story or explanation, and no likeness to their comic counterparts. So many characters that held potential for major characters in future installments were wasted in that film as filler characters. Then, they released X-Men Origins: Wolverine. It featured the same Wolverine, so one could only assume it was meant to be a back story. However, a totally different Sabretooth is seen here, a character he met for the first time in the first film, and worst of all, there is a completely meaningless part where Scott (Cyclops) is seen in school, only to be shot and killed instantly afterward, just to fuck up the timeline royally. Seriously, did I miss something? What was the point of introducing Scott just to blow his brains out the next scene? He has no relevance to the story. The directors of these movies just love killing Cyclops. At this point, I assumed they were abandoning the original series. Then X-Men First Class came out, sucked balls (one of the worst scripts to a movie I’ve ever heard) but once again used returning actors. The movie didn’t seem to connect with the previous films, even as a backstory, but sure enough, when the next one came out, the creatively titled “Wolverine”, it was supposed to take place directly after X-Men 3. What? Seriously, all these films were supposed to be connected? What a mess. Wolverine was also one of the worst super hero films I’ve ever seen, and on second thought, probably deserves a spot on my top 5 worst films list above. I saw it on a plane with turbulence, but the shittiness of the movie was the only thing making me want to throw up. And then in November, a few months after Wolverine’s release, they already have a full trailer for another X-Men movie, now trying to cash in on the overly emotional, dark and epic formula of recent successes. With all of the super hero movie series that get constant reboots, why have we not gotten a rightful X-Men reboot? Hiow about we make one that actual looks, feels, and unfolds like the X-Men. How about we do the series justice rather than beat a dead horse that’s been pumping bad films out for 14 years?

Anyway, here’s my list of the top 5 most disappointing super hero flicks.

5) Masters of the Universe

4) The Fantastic Four

3) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3

2) Transformers (all movies)

1) X-Men (all movies)

There are plenty of films that can be considered super hero flicks that didn’t make this list, like Kill Bill and Robocop. While both of those films are awesome in my opinion, and Kill Bill is based on a comic book, I’m mostly doing super power-based movies, or DC and Marvel films. I’ve only seen the ending of Kick Ass, so I can’t fairly judge it, and I’m keeping from adding cartoons such as animated feature films for comics and cartoons series as well as animated original feature films, as the list would be too big if those were included.