DC Movies - To Infinity and Beyond

[Skipper]

To the extent that any list like this matters, it serves to generate conversation. No one here is ‘blindly accepting it’. I suspect however that it is probably reflective of a more mainstream view of these movies. Mileage will vary.

Well, like any other fiction product, I think it's literally impossible to say that one film is better than the other. Of course, there are so codified technical aspects that it can be said in a fairly objective way that a certain film has done wrong in them (certain narrative connections, an editing that does not respect the 180° rule, etc.), but otherwise it always part of personal tastes (perhaps some better informed than others).

Of course there is a critical consensus in defining some films as masterpieces. I think most people agree that The Godfather is better than Gigli. But if there is someone who thinks the opposite, that Gigli is the epitome of cinematographic art, can we really say that they are "wrong" or that they simply express their inalienable right to have personal tastes, however open to criticism they may be?

 

[kirk55555]

USA Today has published its list of 50 Best Superhero Movies Ever:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/ente...fKobMFKYc&mibextid=Zxz2cZ#llkez2bm27808uwzykv

Well, this inspired me to do my own Top 50. It really made me think about how I'd list movies when it comes to thinks like importance vs personal enjoyment (I mosatly wqent with personal enjoyment), what actually counts as a superhero movie (Robocop is awesome, but he's not a superhero), etc. Also, I love an excuse to list things, even just for my own enjoyment

My Top 50 Superhero Films (in a spoiler for post length)

Spoiler: Spoiler'd for length

1. Iron Man
2. Batman (1989)
3. The Avengers
4. Superman The Movie
5. Avengers: Infinity War/Endgame
6. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
7. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
8. The Suicide Squad
9. Wonder Woman
10. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
11. Captain America: Civil War
12. The Incredibles
13. Deadpool
14. Hellboy
15. Black Panther
16. Dredd
17. Shang-Chi
18. Captain America: The First Avenger
19. Deadpool 2
20. Spider-Man (2002)
21. X-Men: Days of Future Past
22. Blade
23. Dr. Strange: Multiverse of Madness
24. Captain Marvel
25. Aquaman
26. Black Adam
27. The Incredible Hulk
28. The Lego Batman Movie
29. Megamind
30. Shazam
31. Iron Man 3
32. Blade II
33. Batman (1966)
34. Superman II (Richard Donner Cut)
35. Spider-Man: No Way Home
36. Spider-Man II
37. The Punisher (2004)
38. X-Men
39. Guardians of the Galaxy
40. Doctor Strange
41. Hellboy II
42. Ghost Rider
43. Justice League (Theatrical Cut)
44. Daredevil (2003, Director's Cut)
45. Watchmen
46. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
47. X-Men: First Class
48. Iron Man 2
49. Ant-Man
50. Avengers: Age of Ultron

 

[Noname Given]

USA Today has published its list of 50 Best Superhero Movies Ever:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/ente...fKobMFKYc&mibextid=Zxz2cZ#llkez2bm27808uwzykv

While I might quibble with some of the rankings, I heartily endorse their top three:

1. Superman (1978)
2. The Dark Knight
3. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Interestingly, Blue Beetle makes the list at #48 and none of the Zack Snyder directed DC Extended Universe movies make the list at all, while his Watchmen comes in at #45. Of the current cycle of DC movies, Shazam comes in at #41, Wonder Woman at #27, and The Suicide Squad (2021) at #25, and The Joker and The Batman at #42 and #16 respectively. The only other Superman movie to make the list, Superman II, is ranked at #23. Of the other Batman movies, Batman (1989) is ranked #6, Batman Begins is ranked #18, Batman Returns comes in at # 21, and The Lego Batman Movie at #29.

The guy put 'Dick Tracy' at #40 = I can't take the list seriously. The first Iron Man isn't on it either; and I'd put that over a lot of his other picks. YMMV.

 

[Supervisor 194]

The guy put 'Dick Tracy' at #40 = I can't take the list seriously. The first Iron Man isn't on it either; and I'd put that over a lot of his other picks. YMMV.

Iron Man was ranked #35.

As to Dick Tracy and Flash Gordon, I suspect they were included due to their comic strip origins. Depending upon how you define ‘superhero’, one could make an argument for each of them. Conversely, one could also argue that, say, Batman or the Guardians of the Galaxy are not superheroes according to some definitions.

 

[Set Harth]

Days of Future Past should be on there somewhere.

 

[UssGlenn]

Glad to see The Rocketeer up at #15, and happily surprised that Sky Captain made the list.

 

[Rich Watson]

According to Warner's the bad weather in LA was responsible for Blue Beetle's poor box office.

Not sure how that explains the rest of America and the other 65 countries it opened in. Or the unaffected performance of all the other movies.

https://twitter.com/ERCboxoffice/status/1693284635957150117

 

[wayoung]

I was doomscrolling Reddit and one of the random threads was in a Latin American sub and it was just tons of awards and upvotes as the people in it complained about how they went to the movie thinking it would have some accurate representation and it all ended up being generic American stereotypes.

Me, I don't know the movie, and I don't know anything about central or south american cultures, I just think of that when I see weird excuses for the movie not performing well in places like L.A.

According to Warner's the bad weather in LA was responsible for Blue Beetle's poor box office.

Not sure how that explains the rest of America and the other 65 countries it opened in.Or the unaffected performance of all the other movies.

https://twitter.com/ERCboxoffice/status/1693284635957150117

 

[JD]

If you believe that, then you should take your own advice and stop being so triggered by the opinion of individuals who disagree with some random list with the Donner film at the top.

It's no the opinions that bother me, it's when people state them as absolute fact that everybody has to agree with, and then get pissy when people don't.

 

[Sci]

You know, I honestly think the greatest superhero film may be a three-way tie between Superman (1978), Spider-Man 2 (2004), and The Dark Knight (2008).

 

[cooleddie74]

Definitely agree with your first choice. The first Christopher Reeve Superman film is a work of popcorn cinematic art.

 

[Grendelsbayne]

If other people are going to make their own lists, then it's always tempting to follow suit. (I probably enjoy making lists too much.)

Spoiler

1 Everything, Everywhere, All at Once
2 Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
3 Spider-Man Homecoming
4 Avengers: Endgame
5 The Dark Knight
6 Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
7 Kick-Ass
8 Avengers: Infinity War
9 Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
10 Captain America: Civil War
11 Captain America: The Winter Soldier
12 Captain Marvel
13 Wonder Woman 1984
14 Man of Steel
15 Captain America: The First Avenger
16 X-Men: Days of Future Past
17 Wonder Woman
18 Birds of Prey
19 Logan
20 Avengers
21 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
22 Black Panther
23 Spider-Man: No Way Home
24 X-Men 2: X-Men United
25 Avengers: Age of Ultron
26 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
27 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.1
28 Glass
29 The Batman
30 Deadpool
31 Unbreakable
32 X-Men: First Class
33 Batman Begins
34 Doctor Strange
35 Batman (1989)
36 Iron Man
37 The New Mutants
38 Ant-Man: Quantumania
39 Batman Returns
40 Ant-Man
41 Daredevil
42 Hancock
43 The Dark Knight Rises
44 The Punisher
45 Black Widow
46 Thor: Love and Thunder
47 The Rocketeer
48 The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
49 The Wolverine
50 Thor: Ragnarok

ETA: I realized I forgot to include animated films, so I'll say The Lego Batman Movie is nr. 25, The Incredibles 2 at 35, and The Incredibles at 36. Which will push the bottom three off the list, of course.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

I was doomscrolling Reddit and one of the random threads was in a Latin American sub and it was just tons of awards and upvotes as the people in it complained about how they went to the movie thinking it would have some accurate representation and it all ended up being generic American stereotypes.

A good number of my Mexican-American friends and associates who watched the film had reactions ranging from "Meh" to anger that their culture had--once again--been reduced to simpleminded stereotypes by an entertainment company, all in the name of a production trying to prove how conscious they were of said culture.

That kind of studio BS needs to stop, but it will not, even if it played a part in the failure of Blue Beetle to some from a growing movie-going demographic.

It's no the opinions that bother me, it's when people state them as absolute fact that everybody has to agree with, and then get pissy when people don't.

JD. your "...but not your opinions are not an absolute fact that everybody agrees with."

Neither is some random, unsubstantiated list you happen to agree with, yet the comments about said list triggered you to reply as seen in the quote above. If you were able to accept the existence of opinions about film (and that list) which differ from your own, you would not need to be so obviously bothered, as if a different view rattles your perception of that which you support. It does not.

 

[the G-man]

Warner Bros. Blames Hurricane Hilary for Blue Beetle’s Low Box Office: Warner Bros. states that Hurricane Hilary significantly impacted Blue Beetle's potential box office earnings in Southern California markets.

It would be interesting to see a breakdown of how it performed in other geographic areas of the country with a large Hispanic population.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Republicans have been blaming Hilary for years.

 

[Smiley]

It takes more to get people out to see movies in general at this time for lots of different reasons.

1. COVID-19 got people out of the habit of seeing movies in theaters regularly.
2. Streaming services (Max, Disney, Paramount, Peacock, Hulu, YouTube, Twitch, etc.) have given people massive amounts of choice in what they can watch at home, so only the movies that are more original or heavily anticipated are scoring big at the box office.
3. Televisions at home are pretty big and with good resolution, and the home viewing offers convenient pausing, rewinding, subtitles, restrooms, snacking, etc.
4. Cord cutters are not getting the release dates pushed on them, so a movie may be in and out of theaters before they even know it is out.
5. Movies are available for easy purchase, rental or streaming in a ridiculously short period of time.

 

[Anwar]

USA Today has published its list of 50 Best Superhero Movies Ever:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/ente...fKobMFKYc&mibextid=Zxz2cZ#llkez2bm27808uwzykv

While I might quibble with some of the rankings, I heartily endorse their top three:

1. Superman (1978)
2. The Dark Knight
3. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Interestingly, Blue Beetle makes the list at #48 and none of the Zack Snyder directed DC Extended Universe movies make the list at all, while his Watchmen comes in at #45. Of the current cycle of DC movies, Shazam comes in at #41, Wonder Woman at #27, and The Suicide Squad (2021) at #25, and The Joker and The Batman at #42 and #16 respectively. The only other Superman movie to make the list, Superman II, is ranked at #23. Of the other Batman movies, Batman (1989) is ranked #6, Batman Begins is ranked #18, Batman Returns comes in at # 21, and The Lego Batman Movie at #29.

All 3 Captain America movies made the list? Wow.

 

[JD]

JD. your "...but not your opinions are not an absolute fact that everybody agrees with."

Neither is some random, unsubstantiated list you happen to agree with, yet the comments about said list triggered you to reply as seen in the quote above. If you were able to accept the existence of opinions about film (and that list) which differ from your own, you would not need to be so obviously bothered, as if a different view rattles your perception of that which you support. It does not.

I'm sorry, it was late when I wrote that post so it might not have come across the way I intended. I don't mind people having different opinions, but what bugs me is when people present their own opinion as if it's the only possible right one that anyone can have. Instead of just coming and saying something along the lines of, I don't agree, and here's way, they write some long rambling multiparagraph post about why the other person's opinion is wrong, and their opinion is the only right one anyone could possibly, and then implies anyone who tries to disagree with them is an idiot who doesn't know what they're talking about.

Warner Bros. Blames Hurricane Hilary for Blue Beetle’s Low Box Office: Warner Bros. states that Hurricane Hilary significantly impacted Blue Beetle's potential box office earnings in Southern California markets.

It would be interesting to see a breakdown of how it performed in other geographic areas of the country with a large Hispanic population.

I hate to break it to DC, but I can't really see a hurricane that only hit the West Coast of the US really having that much of an impact on the movie's global box office.

 

[The Realist]

I'm sorry

Don't be.

 

[Skipper]

I hate to break it to DC, but I can't really see a hurricane that only hit the West Coast of the US really having that much of an impact on the movie's global box office.

Butterfly effect!