Rate Superhero Movies

How would you rate the current crop of superhero movies on a 1-5 scale? 5 is awesome, 4 is good, 3 is average/okay, 2 is bad, and 1 is downright horrible. Or alternatively, 5 is "I'd buy it", 4 is "I'd rent it / watch it again", 3 is "I'd watch it if it was on TV", 2 is "I have no real desire to see it again", and 1 is "I would actively avoid being exposed to it again".

For me:

- 5: The Avengers, Captain America The Winter Soldier, X Men First Class, X2, The Dark Knight, V For Vendetta, Chronicle, The Incredibles. These are all - except for Chronicle, ones that I either own or have watched multiple times in the theatre. Chronicle is original, not a comic book adaptation, but it's excellent and deserves more notice. The Incredibles is obviously also original and is great.

- 4: Iron Man, Spider Man 2, The Amazing Spider Man, X-Men, X Men Days Of Future Past, Batman Begins, Watchmen.

- 3: Thor, Thor The Dark World, Captain America The First Avenger, Iron Man 3, The Incredible Hulk, Guardians Of The Galaxy, Spider Man, The Wolverine, The Dark Knight Rises, Kick Ass

- 2: Iron Man 2, Spider Man 3, The Amazing Spider Man 2, Man Of Steel

- 1: X Men The Last Stand, X Men Origins Wolverine, Green Lantern, both Fantastic Four movies. The first is infuriatingly bad, the next two are hilariously bad, the FF movies are just boringly bad.

Not everything with the same number is of identical quality; for example, The Dark Knight Rises is at the high end of 3 (had more good points than others with this rank, but the ending made me head desk, you can't get a nuke out of range of the city that fast, at minimum most of the people in Gotham would have radiation poisoning), while The Wolverine is at the low end. 3's a broad category, encompassing anything that was reasonably enjoyable but didn't make a strong impression.

X-Men, X2, and First Class would probably be ranked a spot lower if I cast a more critical eye on them, but they're my favourites anyway, the themes are strong, and the acting is of a higher calibre than most other superhero movies. The Avengers should probably be a 4 for pretty shallow plot and characterization, excessively easy-to-beat aliens, and the lazy move (even Joss agrees it was lazy) of having all the aliens die when the mothership went down - but it's just so much fun every time I watch it that it gets a 5.

The only trends I can pick up from my assessments are (1) Marvel's really good at making okay movies; and (2) my political leanings appear to be reflected in which movies I ranked as 5.

edited 12th Aug '14 9:44:57 AM by WarriorEowyn

5: Iron Man, The Avengers, Captain America The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, X Men First Class.

4: Thor, Captain America The First Avenger, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight.

3: Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, The Dark Knight Rises, The Amazing Spider Man.

Haven't seen any 2s or 1s yet.

edited 12th Aug '14 9:50:53 AM by Mort08

Good idea for a topic, keep all the ratings in one place for reference when we need to update. I want to stay in the realm of comicbook movies released in the 21st century because I feel that's when the standards for them started to truly come together.

• 5: The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Dark Knight, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Dredd, Sin City.

• 4: Iron Man, Captain America: The First Avenger, Batman Begins, Man of Steel, Guardians of the Galaxy, Watchmen, Spider-Man 2, X-Men: First Class , V for Vendetta, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Blade II, Kick-Ass, Wanted.

• 3: Spider Man, Thor, Thor: The Dark World, Iron Man 3, The Incredible Hulk, The Wolverine, X2: X-Men United, X-Men, The Dark Knight Rises, The Green Hornet, Daredevil, Iron Man 2.

• 2: Spider-Man 3, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Elektra, Constantine, Blade: Trinity.

• 1: X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Green Lantern, Catwoman.

edited 3rd Nov '14 5:55:10 PM by VeryMelon

Does Guardians of the Galaxy really count as a superhero movie?

Don't see why not. If your definition of "super hero" is narrow enough to exclude Got G, it'd probably also exclude a lot of other stuff.

5 - Guardians of the Galaxy, and that is pretty much it. The rest of the Marvel and DC universes, when it comes to the films, pretty much either don't matter or don't exist as anything I want to watch.

I went to see Guardians because it wasn't like any of the other MCU films, and looked like it was more fun than any of the DC ones, and I was right about that.

edited 14th Aug '14 4:26:49 PM by TamH70

Of the five main characters, only one had superpowers, and it wasn't the lead character; it was the comic relief sidekick who wasn't even around for the climax.

What makes Guardians of the Galaxy a superhero movie, but not, say, Star Trek?

I guess Batman's not a superhero, then.

Alright,I'll bite and I'm absolutely appalled by the lack of pre-Dark Knight Saga Batman films.

5: Batman, Batman Returns, Spiderman, X2:X Men United, Iron Man, Kick Ass, Superman, Darkman, The Incredibles, Megamind, M Night Shyamalan's Unbreakable,Watchmen

4. The Dark Knight Saga, Batman: The Movie, Spiderman 2, Superman II, The Avengers, Thor, X-Men, X-Men:First Class, The Amazing Spiderman, Captain America: The First Avenger

3. Hulk, Spiderman 3, Batman Forever,Man of Steel, Superman Returns,Thor 2

2. Batman And Robin, X Men 3: The Last Stand, Superman III, Daredevil

1. The Fantastic Four films, Steel, Superman IV: Quest for Peace, Catwoman, Elektra, Captain America (1990)

edited 14th Aug '14 9:52:39 PM by terlwyth

Depending on the version, Batman's got Charles Atlas Superpower and high-tech gadgets that straddle the superpower line. Sure, the Guardians had some high-tech stuff, too, but they live in a Space Opera setting where that stuff is common. It's like how Iron Man is set on contemporary Earth, so having Power Armor makes Tony Stark a superhero, while Starship Troopers is set in the far future, so having Power Armor just makes the Main Characters ordinary soldiers.

But putting that aside, even if Batman is only considered a superhero because he has the common characteristics of a superhero, the Guardians still wouldn't count, since 1) none of them wear costumes, 2) none of them have secret identities, and 3) only one of them has a code name, which is rarely ever used and is referred to as an "outlaw name" like "Billy the Kid" or "Heisenberg".

Seriously, what criteria makes Guardians of the Galaxy a superhero movie that wouldn't apply to just about every Space Opera movie ever made?

edited 14th Aug '14 9:56:29 PM by RavenWilder

Well, you can call Guardians what you like, Raven, but as far as I am concerned, it's a super-hero movie. BTW, Drax has a codename - "The Destroyer", Rocket HAS to be a codename that that racoon picked for himself, and who the heck knows what Groot is, given the complexity if his spoken language?

And if Batman doesn't count as a super hero, NO-One does.

If the superhero moniker bothers you that much, think of it more as a Comicbook adaptation movie topic.

In that case, best adaptation of a comic book? That's fairly easy.

This one:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rurouni_Kenshin_(film)

Satō Takeru absolutely nails it as Himura Kenshin. Rated 5 outta 5.

I'm gonna put Infra Man up there. If it can get a three out of four from Roger Ebert, it's gotta be good.

x a bunch:

Guardians of the Galaxy is a superhero movie, because it is a movie taking place in a superhero setting. Simple as that. A conventional space opera doesn't assume the presence of masked vigilanteism and ordinary humans possessing extraordinary and various powers. The fact that said components are happening on Earth, and the plot here is elsewhere? Doesn't really matter.

Also, I disagree that "only one had powers." By human standards, Drax, Gamora, and Groot all had super powers, and both Peter and Rocket would qualify as "badass normals" in terms of skills.

Also, they do wear color-matching costumes for the final battle.

I liked Green Lantern. Admittedly for the sake of saying Hey It's That Character! than because of the actual movie but...

I did this on another forum but here goes:

Top-Tier: Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Dark Knight, Guardians of the Galaxy, Iron Man, Sin City, Spider-Man 2

High-Tier: The Avengers, Batman, Batman Begins, Batman Mask Of The Phantasm, Dredd, Kick-Ass, Superman: The Movie, Watchmen, X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: First Class, X2: X-Men United

Mid-Tier: 300, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Batman Returns, Captain America: The First Avenger, Daredevil, The Dark Knight Rises, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, Spider Man, Superman II, Thor, Thor: The Dark World, V for Vendetta, X-Men, The Wolverine

Low-Tier: Elektra, Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Green Lantern, Hulk, Iron Man 3, Man of Steel, Spider-Man 3, Superman III, X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men Origins: Wolverine

lolwtf-Tier: Batman Forever, Batman & Robin, Catwoman, Howard the Duck, Steel, Supergirl, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace

edited 31st Aug '14 7:07:31 PM by Lionheart0

300 was a superhero movie?

About as realistic as one. : V

If we're using that standard for what counts as a "superhero" story, then do Constantine and Howard the Duck count?

I was pulling it from another post I made on a different forum.

Of the ones I've seen...

5: Iron Man, Iron Man 3, The Avengers, Captain America The First Avenger, Captain America Winter Soldier, Guardians Of The Galaxy

4: Thor The Dark World, The Amazing Spider Man, Batman (the one with Adam West)

3: Iron Man 2, Batman And Robin

2: Every Nolanverse Batman, if Scott Pilgrim Versus The World counts I guess it'd go here, too.

1: Green Lantern, Man Of Steel, every Raimi Spider-Man movie.

edited 15th Aug '14 5:41:06 PM by Mukora

And I thought I was being controversial by putting The Dark Knight at 4.

How could you not like Tobey Maguire as Spidey. D=