With reviews on X-Men: Apocalypse mixed (we liked it) and Hollywood showing no signs of slowing down on the comic book movie front with several more sequels on the way, it’s time to sift through them and try to figure out a Top 10.
Remember, this is just our ranking – you’re bound to disagree with some of our selections and that’s okay; just tell us what your list looks like in the comments section or hit us up on Twitter: @AmongMenMag.
10. Thor
This might be a controversial selection, but here’s the thing: without Thor, we don’t have Loki and no one should want to live in a world without Loki. Plus, Kat Dennings is her awesome, sarcastic self, the rest of the supporting cast is great and superheroes speaking in Old English are awesome.
9. X-Men: Days of Future Past
From Quicksilver’s slow-motion messing around with the security guards at the Pentagon to seeing a whole bunch of new characters (or ones that we haven’t seen a lot), this is the best of the three films in the second X-Men trilogy. And seeing early model Sentinels and futuristic, evolved Sentinels is good times.
8. Deadpool
After the colossal swing-and-miss that was Green Lantern, Ryan Reynolds found his mark playing Wade Wilson, the deformed assassin with a foul mouth, a blind roommate and a friend named Weasel. Here’s hoping that the sequel doesn’t do the “let’s top the last one” thing and go overboard with the jokes and jackassery.
7. Iron Man
This one really kicked things off for Marvel and with Robert Downey Jr. clearly having fun and delivering a strong performance, it feels like it cleared the way for the other quality actors that ended up joining The Avengers. And the end bit, where Tony Stark is all, “I’m Iron Man” is just perfect.
6. Guardians of the Galaxy
Part of why this one ranks so high is that it is a departure from the Marvel flicks that came before it. The soundtrack was outstanding, Chris Pratt kicked intergalactic ass and there is a trash-talking, sadistic little raccoon running around just looking for a reason to wreck shop. There’s a Howard the Duck cameo too, which is as random as can be.
5. The Avengers
So much excellence all in one movie, complete with plenty of Nick Fury and Tony Stark being sarcastic, the “This guy’s just playing Galaga” line, plus Mark Ruffalo as The Hulk and the return of Loki. Seriously – what’s not to love about this movie? It also gets some bonus marks as a result of the good, but not nearly as good as this sequel.
4. Spider-Man 2
Before Marvel started ruling the comic book movie world, this was the clubhouse leader. While the third part of this trilogy was a gigantic dumpster fire, complete with a Peter Parker song-and-dance routine, this was Sam Raimi’s best version of everyone’s favourite web-slinger, by far. And as far as on-screen Peter Parkers go, Tobey Maguire was better than Andrew Garfield.
3. Captain America: Winter Soldier
The return of Bucky Barnes, the introduction of Falcon and the “S.H.I.E.L.D. is Hyrdra” double-cross make this the bronze medalist of comic book movies. Nick Fury getting in an argument with the automated voice commands in his car is too much fun, Chris Evans is on-point, as always, as Captian America and the scene where he beats up an entire elevator full of turncoats is terrific.
2. Captain America: Civil War
The inter-team conflict works better than any bad guy, the final fight scene between Captain America and Iron Man is outstanding and they nailed Spiderman’s inclusion. It’s the best Marvel movie to date and after a couple more viewings, you might be able to convince me that it’s actually in the running for the top of the list.
1. The Dark Knight
Nothing will top this. Nothing. Heath Ledger’s Joker puts this one so far out in front that it’s going to take something insane to close the distance and make this a race. The opening sequence might be the best scene in any comic book movie ever and the upgrade from Katie Holmes to Maggie Gyllenhaal was a big step up too.
