Note: I've also counted in graphic novel adaptations for this list as well, just incase you lose your shit over a graphic novel movie being on a comic book movie list. What I'm saying is don't be a little bitch.
Anyways, here goes...
10. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Spoiler here, this is the only MCU movie on this list. Does that mean I hate the MCU? Far from it! I do think there are better superhero movies out there, but I do find a lot of their movies enjoyable, and The Winter Soldier is the most enjoyable of them all. This movie puts Captain America up against both SHIELD and the mysterious Winter Soldier. There are twists and turns throughout, things happen that you don't see coming and it always keeps you guessing. The action is done superbly and the overall tone is very serious and borderline gritty. This almost feels like a Bourne movie with Marvel Characters. The Captain America movies happen to be my favourite in the MCU, and this brilliant sequel lands at number 10.
9. V for Vendetta
This is one is a bit of a head scratcher for some, but I love this movie. This might be the first time a comic-book/graphic novel adaptation caused a split between critics and fans (before it started happening with every DC movie coming out lately). It has a 73% score on RT, which is solid, but a whopping 90% fan rating on that site, with many praising it as an instant classic. I'm one of those fans, as Alan Moore's classic graphic novel is brought to life by the Wachowskis, in their last truly great film. V for Vendetta is a complex, brilliantly written, character-driven dystopian epic, brought together by great performances by Natalie Portman as Evey, and Hugo Weaving as Anonymo... I mean V. It's commentary on the political landscape has only gotten more relevant with time, especially with this joke of an election coming up in the States. Anyways, if you haven't seen this movie yet, for the love of Fawkes watch it now! Don't wait till November 5th!
8. X-Men: Days of Future Past
Next to Terminator 2, this is my favourite movie about an indestructible badass with a metal skeleton travelling back trough time to stop a shape-shifting assassin from killing someone important and thus damning the human race to be obliterated by machines. I just blew your mind, didn't I? Alright, even though this movie has obvious parallels to my favourite movie of all time, I still love it to death! We get to see the new cast of characters from Matthew Vaughn's First Class team up with our favourite characters from the original trilogy. Hugh Jackman as always killed it as Wolverine, Jennifer Lawrence was at her best as Mystique, James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender were awesome as Xavier and Magneto, and seeing Patrick Stewart and Ian Mckellen as their older counterparts was a real treat. It was almost as if this was a passing of the torch from the older X-Men to the newer X-Men, and never is it more prominent than when McAvoy and Stewart share an amazing scene together. Oh, and that Quicksilver sequence doesn't hurt either...
7. Kingsman: The Secret Service
Betcha didn't think this one was a comic book adaptation, did you? Yep, this obscure Marvel property was brought to life by the great Matthew Vaughn just last year. Are you a fan the pre-Daniel Craig James Bond movies? Did you like Austin Powers but wish it was R-Rated? Do you want to see Colin Firth go on a killing spree in the Westboro Baptist Church while listening to fucking Free Bird? Do you want to save the world and be rewarded with butt stuff from a Norwegian Princess? If you answered "yes" then this is the movie for you! In an era where all spy movies have gotten grittier and more serious (ie The Craig Bond, Bourne, etc), Kingsman brought a nice change of pace to the genre while bringing back the elements that made spy movies so beloved in the first place. This movie is kickass, fun, charming, exquisite, and as said before, it gives us all the butt stuff! Manners maketh man!
6. X-Men: First Class
Ok, I promise I don't have a boner for Matthew Vaughn... Although can you blame me if I did? His movies are fantastic and this is another one of the his many masterpieces! With X-Men First Class, Vaughn manages not only to resurrect a dead franchise Nolan-style, he manages to move the franchise forward and set up a whole new series of X-Men movies. With the Cold War as it's backdrop, First Class introduces us the group of characters before they grew to be the people we loved in the original trilogy. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are perfectly cast as Xavier and Magneto, and a then unknown Jennifer Lawrence killed it as Raven, and seeing these young mutants brought together like this is fantastic. Add in one of the greatest cameos of all time, and Kevin Bacon as the villain, and you got yourself one hell of a movie!
5. Kick-Ass
Alright, alright, I promise, this is the last Matthew Vaughn movie you'll be seeing on here. What can I say, this guy knows how to make good films. I remember seeing this in theatres 6 years ago, and I was instantly blown away by it. It brilliantly satirizes the superhero genre and gives us some clever social commentary on movie violence. A lot of people were put off by an 11 year-old girl senselessly killing tons of people in this movie, but I think that is the point Vaughn was trying to make: Why is it so bad to see a young girl commit senseless murders, but watching a full grown male committing the same act is not met with the same type of outrage? Murder is murder no matter who's doing it, right? Well maybe I'm just reading too much into it, but given the director, I'm sure there was a method to all this madness. Oh, and Nicolas Cage was awesome!
4. Deadpool
If Kick-Ass gave birth to Superhero satires, then Deadpool perfected it. This movie is only six months old and I already believe this will go down as one of the greatest superhero movies and one of the greatest comedies of all time! One thing that warms my heart about this movie is how it was made. This script was on Fox's desk for years, and still wasn't getting green-lit even after the X-Men franchise was brought back to life. Finally, after test footage was conveniently leaked and fans went nuts, Fox finally realized they were sitting on a gold mine and allowed this movie to happen. It's the kind of story you don't see nowadays, especially for comic-book movies because studios throw their money at these properties like I throw my money at strippers (speaking of strippers, this movie has the best Stan Lee cameo ever). Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool has to be singlehandedly the best casting job in the history of superhero movies, it resurrected his career the same way Iron Man resurrected Robert Downey Jr., and I'm pretty sure it's Deadpool playing Ryan Reynolds in real life and not the other way around. This movie knocked the superhero genre on its ass, and then tea-bagged it. It's one of the funniest, most well-acted, most action-packed comic-book films ever made. I feel like it will only get better with time.
3. The Crow
This one's a shocker! I wonder if anyone even remembers this movie. Because it seems to have been all but forgotten about in this era of having comic-book movies come out every month. This stylistic revenge movie was a childhood favourite of mine, and it still holds up to me as an adult. Everything about this movie is bleak and gothic, from the lighting to the costumes, the tone and the writing, the set design, the music, etc. It was a gritty comic book flick before gritty comic book flicks were a thing. As you know I'm a sucker for originals, and this was the first hard R-Rated comic-book movie, before Blade or Deadpool or Kick-Ass. This is what started it all. Seeing Brandon Lee put on the performance of a lifetime still makes me choke up, knowing that he died tragically on the set of this film. His portrayal of Eric Draven will go down as one of the greatest anti-hero performances in the history of cinema. Alright, enough about this one, if you haven't seen it yet, check it out. You won't be sorry!
2. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Aww, did you really think I'd be leaving Batman off this list? Hell fucking no! I'm saving the best for 2nd last! Batman: The Animated Series was a huge hit in the early 90s, and Warner Bros decided to capitalize on its success by releasing a feature film based on the series. The result? The greatest animated movie ever made in my opinion. Yes, I mean it. Everything from the animation, to the story, the voice acting (brought to you by Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, Efrem Zimbalist, Dana Delany) is perfect. Like some of the best episodes of TAS, this movie brought us something new to the Batman lore all while remaining faithful to the character. Ok do I need to say anything more? Check this one out if you haven't yet.
And now, my number 1 favourite comic book movie of all time is...
1. The Dark Knight Trilogy
Of course it's this one! I know this is a slight cheat by putting 3 movies in one spot, but I love all 3 films so much that I had to put them all on here somehow. Something you have to know about me is that I view movies as a film buff first, and a fanboy second. This means that when I watch a superhero film (or anything else based on intellectual property), I put my fanboyism aside to judge the movie on its own. Thankfully, this magnificent trilogy helmed by the great Christopher Nolan manages to satisfy both the film buff side of me AND the Batman fanboy side of me. I can watch these films to study all of the subtexts and cinematography and editing and such, all while the inner-manchild who loves watching Batman fight off Scarecrow, The Joker and Bane can enjoy this movie at the same time.
Batman Begins uses Year One as a backdrop to give us a fresh new take on the character, and give us the on-screen origin story we had always wanted. Liam Neeson as Ra's Al Ghul and Cillian Murphy as Scarecrow give us amazing villain portrayals for Batman to go up against. Christian Bale is amazing as Batman in this film, and it sets up the character perfectly for future crimefighting adventures.
The Dark Knight... Well, what else can I say about this one? It's the best of the bunch and Ledger's Joker will go down as the greatest movie villain of all time.
The Dark Knight Rises, while the weakest of the trilogy, is still a grand masterpiece of a film. Tom Hardy's Bane is an amazing villain, and challenges Batman in ways that no other villain has. It ends the trilogy on a beautiful note and gives us a fucking kick-ass film in the process.
Seriously, these movies are not only the greatest superhero movies ever made, their some of the greatest films of all time in general. I wouldn't be surprised if The Dark Knight made appearances on future AFI top 100 lists. What else can I really say? This is one of the greatest trilogies ever made, and they are my absolute favourite comic-book films of all time. Thank you Nolan, thank you Bale, thank you Neeson, thank you Ledger, thank you Hardy, and thank you Zimmer!
Did you enjoy this list? Or am I full of shit? Tell me in the comments below...
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