Ranking Comic Book Movies

[Super55]

After seeing the Dark Knight Rises, I decided to do a quick ranking of all the comic book movies I've ever seen.

1. The Avengers
2. The Dark Knight/Iron Man (Tie)
3. Spider-Man 2
4. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
5. X-Men 2
6. The Dark Knight Rises
7. Captain America: The First Avenger
8. Batman (1989)
9. Superman II
10. Thor
11. Spider-Man
12. Batman Begins
13. Superman
14. V For Vendetta
15. The Amazing Spider-Man
16. Iron Man 2
17. Men in Black
18. X-Men First Class
19. Batman Returns
20. X-Men
21. The Incredible Hulk
22. 300
23. Watchmen
24. Superman Returns
25. Spider-Man 3
26. Ghost Rider
27. The Fantastic Four
28. Ang Lee’s Hulk
29. Ghost Rider 2
30. The Fantastic Four 2 Rise of the Silver Surfer
31. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II
32. Men in Black II
33. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
34. Batman Forever
35. Batman and Robin
I'd probably put the cutoff for "I actually liked this movie" at about 23 or 24.
Agree? Disagree? Have a list of your own?

 

[Eddie Roth]

I have lists for everything (or am able to come up with them rather quickly). I for one have not yet seen TDKR, but I did want to mention that I didn't really get the hype surrounding your #1. I found The Avengers to not even be the best Marvel-based film (Thor and all the Spider-Mans are ahead of it for me). I thus still wonder what, in people's opinions, sets it apart so much from all the other ones? Didn't really see it.

That said, TDKR pending, my list would go something like this (in no specific order, because it's apples and oranges):

Great films:

Batman (89)
Batman Begins
The Dark Knight
Spider-Man 2

Good ones:

X-Men First Class
Superman II
Thor
Spider-Man
Spider-Man 3
Superman
X-Men
X-Men 2
V for Vendetta
Batman Returns

Okay ones:

The Avengers
Iron Man
The Amazing Spider-Man
Superman Returns
Superman III

Did little for me:

Captain America: The First Avenger
Iron Man 2
The Incredible Hulk
Hulk
Fantastic Four I & II
Batman Forever

Bad ones:
Superman IV
Batman and Robin (although that one is so beyond good and evil one can hardly call it "bad" by human standards...)

 

[DarKush]

This is really tough! I've put my top 10, but I already know I'm going to revise it. So it's my top 10 of the moment.

Superman 2
The Dark Knight Rises
Blade
Spider-Man
Kick-Ass
The Avengers
X2
Batman
Iron Man
Watchmen

 

[Peter Q Taggart]

The Avengers
The Crow
Watchmen
V for Vendetta
Iron Man
Batman Begins
Incredible Hulk
X2
X-Men First Class
Spider-Man 2

In no particular order except The Avengers at #1

 

[Ian Keldon]

Top 10 (general order, subject to change)

Avengers
Iron Man
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (was theatrically released)
Superman
Superman II
Fantastic Four
Spider-Man
Captain America
Thor
The Incredibles

 

[Admiral James Kirk]

I'll do my top ten or I'll be here all night.

1. Superman: The Movie
2. Kick-Ass
3. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
4. Batman Begins
5. Daredevil
6. X2
7. Thor
8. The Avengers
9. Iron Man
10. 300

 

[Ian Keldon]

^Does 300 count? That's more mythological/historical than Comic Book

 

[Harvey]

How can it not count? It's based on a comic book.

 

[Kirkman1987]

The Donner Superman films are my clear favorites. After that it gets murky.

Some top choices though would be

Watchmen
Popeye
Rocketeer
The West, Burton and Nolan Batman films

 

[Harvey]

If we're talking comic book movies, I think American Splendor is rather good. Of course, it's not a superhero movie, so it tends to get overlooked when it comes to this sort of thing.

Along those lines, I also like Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, A History of Violence, and (to a lesser extent) Road to Perdition.

 

[Shazam!]

^Does 300 count? That's more mythological/historical than Comic Book

: |

 

[Tom Hendricks]

I wanted to limited myself to a top 10 but that is really hard when you consider the movies. So I have a few ties,

1. Batman Begins - Still my favorite of the Nolan Batman trilogy.
2. Watchmen - I know has some issues but love it.
3. Iron Man - Without the success and vision of this movie, you have no Avengers.
4. Captain America - Took something that should be campy and made a great movie.
5. The Avengers - While I loved it, there was still something off about it.
6. The Dark Knight & Dark Knight Rises - I think as they went along, both just got crushed under their own weight.
7. Batman & Batman Returns - A product of their times, still hold up today.
8. Spiderman & Spiderman 2 - The most fun of all the comic book movies.
9. X-Men 2 & X-men: First Class - Good solid comic book movies, making you want more.
10. Superman & Superman 2 - The two movies that set the mark for what superhero movies could be.

PS. Haven't seen the new Spiderman movie yet, so this could change things.

 

[Admiral James Kirk]

^Does 300 count? That's more mythological/historical than Comic Book

I kept debating that myself. However the title of the thread is "Comic Book Movies" not "Superhero Movies" so I had to put 300 on there.

 

[Crystalline Entity]

Note: I admit I'm probably Nolan-biased, but I tried my best to be objective otherwise.

1. Batman Begins

From origin to beginning, the highest-quality movie overall

2. Superman the Movie

The best origin story, an iconic portrayal of Superman

3. The Dark Knight

Legendary villain performance by Ledger, a relentless story with a gut-wrenching end

4. Spider Man 2

Best of the Spider-Man movies, terrific villain, you really feel for Peter and MJ's relationship from the lows to the highs

5. The Dark Knight Rises

An epic end to the Nolan trilogy, extremely dense (perhaps too much so), but notable for concluding the journey of Bruce Wayne.

6. X-Men 2

The best of the X-Men movies, Wolverine is unleashed!

7. Batman (89)

Stylish and impactful, does things different than many comic book movies today by not starting with the origin. Perhaps does not age as well, but still did some things better than the Nolan trilogy

8. The Avengers

A terrific action-fest, with smart and hilarious performances by all. Dependent on having seen all the other Marvel films, and lacks the deeper substance of the films above it.

9. Iron Man

Arresting performance by RDJ, snappy and fun, main weakness is a subpar villain

10. Superman 2

Zod, Ursa and Non together are perhaps the most formidable supervillains of all. And though it was not part of Donner's vision, how Superman beats them is one of my favorite comeuppances of all time. Some of the humor doesn't age as well.

Honorable Mentions:

- The Incredibles: in many ways superior to the movies listed above, but being animated it can't be directly compared

- Blade: dark and stylish, but doesn't stick the ending. Brad Douriff is great, but his final battle with Snipes is not.

- X-Men: First Class - terrific performances by McAvoy, Fassbender and Bacon, with a stylish setting. Ending ties too closely to the first X-Men.