Ranking Every Freakin' Superhero Movie Ever Made with Andrew Reed

Superhero movies

Reed's Comments

Had to really think back for some of these. Consider the ranking shaky at best. Yes, Supergirl beat out a lot of even lousier movies. ... Mine are very much aligned with yours. The only exceptions being the disdain I had for “Superman Returns” and the Spider-Man Reboot. Also, I am the only person I know (the only person alive) who liked “X-Men: the Last Stand.” Must've been in a good mood that day.

Reed's List

1. Superman (1978)
2. The Dark Knight (2008)
3. Iron Man (2008)
4. Spider-Man 2 (2004)
5. Watchmen (2009)
6. Kick-Ass (2010)
7. X2: X-Men United (2003)
8. The Green Hornet (2011)
9. Spider-Man (2002)
10. Unbreakable (2000)
11. Superman II (1981)
12. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
13. X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
14. The Incredibles (2004)
15. Batman (1989)
16. Iron Man 2 (2010)
17. Marvel’s The Avengers (2012)
18. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
19. Hulk (2003)
20. Megamind (2010)
21. The Incredible Hulk (2008)
22. Batman Begins (2005)
23. Batman Returns (1992)
24. X-Men (2000)
25. Darkman (1990)
26. Batman Forever (1995)
27. Supergirl (1984)
28. Blankman (1994)
29. The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
30. Superman Returns (2006)
31. Flash Gordon (1980)
32. Captain America (1990)
33. Green Lantern (2011)
34. Batman and Robin (1997)

My Comments

“The Green Hornet” makes the Top 10! I feel I should rewatch “Watchmen.” I saw it, and reviewed it (negatively), when I was just beginning all this. Back when I thought I knew something about this subject. Before I knew how much I didn't know.

Love that you saw the 1990 “Captain America.” But the headscratcher is the middling ranking of “The Avengers,” which I put way up there for one scene in particular.

Your Turn

Rank the Superhero movies

Superman smiles at the camera

No. 1 with a (faster than a speeding) bullet.

COMMENTS

Reed wrote:

My friend Brad and I often review movies together, and Avengers was the one that got away. We actually did the correspondence, but I never found the time to put the post together. If I ever get it done, it will address why I ranked it where I did.

I'm sure I seem like a contrarian here in a few critical cases, but it's more likely that because I am not a comic book guy, my approach to movies largely based on comic book characters will value certain things differently. Put another way, films are more literal and what you see is what you get. In a comic book, you let your imagination fill in more detail. I have a ton of nits to pick with The Dark Knight as well, but it had plenty of unique good to outweigh the nonsensical bad.

Comment posted on Wed. Jul 24, 2013 at 08:19 AM

Reed wrote:

For the defense of Watchmen...

http://fightingtheyouth.blogspot.com/2009/04/atob-back-and-forth-review-watchmen.html

Comment posted on Wed. Jul 24, 2013 at 08:39 AM

Reed wrote:

I guess I would put “The Wolverine” at #18, after The Avengers and before The Dark Knight Rises - in case you'd like to update the data.

I'm not quite sure how I liked “Origins: Wolverine” better, but I think it must've been the connection of the Danny Huston/Brian Cox as Stryker and the ending. Clever way to wipe Logan's memory and make the comeuppance in X2 even more impactful than it seemed at the moment, and that made some of the boom/explosions stuff more worth it.