After some extensive and ear fatiguing research, Twang Jr and I have agreed the best superhero film is, without doubt, “Captain America – Avengers Civil War”. Close behind is “Avengers Assemble”, with “Ant Man” third. Most disappointing is “Batman vs Superman”. We watched the first half hour of the original Superman/Christopher Reeve (“you’ll believe a man can fly…”) but it was horribly dated and of its time. I have a lot of time for the first few Spidy films, but the Batman ones leave me (almost literally) cold – too dark, wet, not enough action. The Marvel secret is combining action, humour, pace and colour in a complete rush of excitement. All the dark dripping alleys of Gotham City can’t beat it.
Any other contenders?
PS – we were unable to agree on best superhero. My candidate was Thor but TJ vetoed this in the basis that he’s not really a superhero, he’s “just” a God. His choice is Iron Man who is all together too pleased with himself for my liking. So we settled on Cap.
No no no, the Christopher Reeve Superman (1 and 2) are the benchmark which to judge the rest. Witty, charming, exciting and fun they are great films. You will believe a man can fly!
Three words:
Kneel Before Zod.
Best: Kickass (2010)
Worst: Batman & Robin (1997) – (bit of an obvious choice.)
Best superhero: Kickass
Kickass was funny, knowingly post-modern (without being as smartarse self referential as Deadpool), it had an innocence about it (despite a little girl saying “cunt”) and featured the best use of Elvis Presley’s American Trilogy on film.
Apple C, Apple V. I LOVED Kick Ass. My favourite scene is the live-TV torture bit, where Hit Girl tries to save her dad. It’s got the same Godpseed-esque music they used in 28 Days Later. John Murphy is the composer, I think. Brilliant!
For all the criticism it received, I really enjoyed Watchmen. It was very much a filmed version of the graphic novel but kept the tone of the original work throughout. Casting was good too. I liked what they did with the ending too.
Yes i enjoyed it too, as a fan but not obsessive of the book.
I thought I was the only one! I can see why some fans don’t like it, but to me it’s a better film for the alterations (especially the ending).
I liked aspects of it, but I really hated the use of ‘Hallelujah’.
I really like Unbreakable.
But for me it’s Avengers Assemble because it stands alone without the need to know the rest of the Marvel canon. It’s exciting, funny, beautifully written, the performances are ace.
Honourable mentions for Superman II, Deadpool and Civil War.
Worst: it’s got to either be Man of Steel or Suicide Squad. They’re worse than Batman & Robin, and that’s going some. At least B&R attempts a sense of humour.
I forgot about Suicide Squad. Perhaps the worst big budget film of the 21st century so far.
First off, you need to back away from the original Christopher Reeve Superman movie.
Watched it only recently, and it’s absolutely superb; the first 30 minutes is virtually a “how-to” guide to handling this character on celluloid. In particular, the early scenes, after Jonathan Kent’s death, where Clark tells his mother he needs to leave – blue skies, golden wheat fields as far as the eye can see, and that glorious line (penned by Mario Puzo): “Remember us. Always remember us”. Never fails to draw a tear.
The foundation of a Superman movie shouldn’t be collapsing buildings, or lazer vision, or (god help us), Nuclear Man. It should be the question of why this god-like being sees fit to spend his time and energy saving beings who are little more than insects to him. And the answer is in those relationships with his parents, who teach him what it means to be human. That first Superman movie nails this stuff perfectly, and Reeve remains the finest casting of any super hero ever. Superman II is also superb. Shout out also here to Batman Returns, the properly Burton Batman movie.
Next, you guys clearly haven’t seen enough Superhero movies. BvS and Suicide Squad are both cack handed and boring, but they’re nowhere near the bottom of the barrel. Steel? Howard the Duck (with its terrifying inter-species sex scene)? Catwoman? Last year’s diabolical Fantastic Four reboot? The Hasselhoff Nick Fury movie? Superman IV?
If I had to pick , it would be one of Superman Returns (utterly moribund, and gets EVERYTHING about Superman wrong), Spiderman 3 (complete with cocky, gothic Peter Parker) or the mid 90s Fantastic Four movie they made for tuppence, purely to keep hold of the licensing rights.
Finally, best super hero? It has to be the Silver Surfer. Partly because his name is Norrin Rad (Norrin. Rad. Beat that), partly because his origin story is fantastic, partly because he looks so freaking awesome and has a better job title than you do.
Shout outs also to Nightcrawler, Jean Grey, Doctor Manhattan, V, Marvel Man, the Spirit, the Maxx, all the Elementals, Nemesis the Warlock, the Grant Morrison Doom Patrol, half the New Gods and Sandman.
Fair, I was mostly going with high-profile superhero films. But I reckon a truly shoddy, incompetent film like Howard or Catwoman is way preferable to a stolid piece of shiny cynical bullshit like Man of Steel. At least there’s some laughs, whereas Man of Steel gets everything wrong and is charmless on every level while doing it. Superman kills Zod? What? Zod is a thick-necked grunting muscle doll with a Papa Roach goatee rather than Terence Stamp? WHAT!?
I didn’t mind Superman Returns too much. It didn’t have the charm of Reeve but infinitely more than the Znyder ones – the reason I like the Reeve films so much, is because I liked *him*. Clark was a good guy and a human being, and that made his transformation into Supes thrilling. Plus I was a kid when I saw them so that helps.
I also forgot Guardians of the Galaxy which deserves at the very least an honourable mention.
I also forgot about BvS which is legit one of the worst films I’ve ever seen for all the Man of Steel reasons above.
Honestly, watch Superman Returns again. It’s absolutely dreadful. The plot is nonsensical, the action dreary, Kal fricking Penn is there as a bad guy, Spacey is phoning it in as usual, and we get scenes where Superman literally floats outside Lois Lane’s window eavesdropping on her bad marriage. No no no no no no no.
You need to actually sit through Steel in its entirety to appreciate how bad it is. It’s not hilariously bad, it’s not charmingly inept. It’s just extremely boring, and a challenge to survive.
I’m going to defend Man of Steel here. I think the raw ingredients were there, but much of what was good has been overlooked because of that final 30 minutes of wanton building smashing. Hans Zimmer’s score is absolutely superb, Kevin Costner is perfect casting, the scenes in the arctic where he first tests his powers are great, and the early fight scenes with the other Kryptonians are excellent. Obviously, there’s loads wrong with it, and much of the potential is squandered because Snyder, but even so – I’ve been back to it 2 or 3 times, and I’ve got something out of it every time. It’s a far, far, far better movie than BvS or Suicide Squad – the latter of which, in particular, is deficient on literally every level imaginable (but still not that much worse than Dr Strange, aka Iron Man’s First Trip).
The best criticism I’ve read of Synderism runs thusly (and is 100% true): in the original Superman movies, people loved Superman, and Superman loved people. In the new Superman movies, people hate Superman, and Superman hates people. The central problem of BvS (and good lord, there are many) is that Snyder doesn’t want Superman to be Superman. He wants him to be Batman.
Guardians of the Galaxy is a fantastic movie. So is Avengers. I think a lot of the other Marvel films get too far too easy a ride though – Civil War was a total bland-out from where I was sat, Spidey aside.
I really liked Doctor Strange!
The second Thor film is well pony though.
Both Thor films are pony. Way to waste Natalie Portman.
I thought Dr Strange was utterly awful. Possibly due to Cumberbatch Exhaustion Syndrome, but mainly because the first 20 minutes is the world’s longest aftershave commercial, the middle bit is nowhere near weird enough (someone needs to sit down with the old Steve Ditko Dr Strange, because it goes a loooong way beyond these half baked Inceptionisms), and the end is a bog standard CGI dogs dinner on the level of Suicide Squad, which is to say a very low level indeed. What a missed opportunity. Where Guillermo Del Toro when you need him?
Re. MoS I think you’re going way too easy. Costner’s definitely very well cast but he’s the only person who is and he has nothing useful to say, he’s just a cookie cutter blule collar saint. Lois is punchable, Zod is a wild miss and doesn’t even have any fun sidekicks, they’re just nails fighters. The fights are absolutely boring, all of them. Russell Crowe, oh please. Supes is – you know what, I can’t remember anything about him, he has no characteristics or properties of any kind. The writing is basically absent, there are no good lines at all and certainly no jokes or texture or wit. I watched it twice just to check and it was like eating pebbles. Fills you up but with nothing. I feel like all the shit people write about cynical Hollywood is summed up in that movie. I hate it.
But each to his own!
It just goes to show that we can’t all be right. Just some of us ; )
Also:
That is EXACTLY why the Reeve Superman is the best Superhero movie, with the best casting. It absolutely nails what Superman is and should always be about. The emotional core of the character hasn’t been the superpowers, it’s been the human stuff; how, despite being as a god amongst men, he remains the most human of all the superheroes.
Best superhero? I always liked Hal Jordan; Wally West’s Flash was good. But my favorite runs were Preacher, and Starman.
The James Robinson run on Starman was just mindbogglingly good. Rich, textured character development and a supporting cast who were interesting in their own right. And Jack Knight was simply cool.
Word!
The F4 one is excellent! Bearing in mind TJ is 12 so films where c**t is used are not on at the moment. Similarly sh*gging (no Watchmen). I haven’t seen the F4/Silver Surfer film – is that the one you mean?
Incidentally the SS is probably the only superhero whose girlfriend has an 80s widdle guitar track named after her. You’ll hate it.
Um…. that Satriani track is amazing, so thank you for that! Think it may be my new gym tune.
The FF movie I meant wasn’t the Silver Surfer one (although that’s also god awful), it’s either of the 90s one embedded in my post above or this monstrosity, which came out last year and was quietly buried by Fox. Same director who made the not bad Chronicle. Apparently he fell out with the studio big time.
Oh good for you. Joe is generally showered with derision so glad you like it. He made albums of stuff like that. “One big rush” off the same album was one of my gym tunes!
I’m all for that sort of stuff. It’s never going to attract critical acclaim, but there’s 100% a place for it, in my world. In fact, it’s probably all the better for the critical derision.
It’s the fact that the guys doing it take it so seriously and really don’t care which i like.
Disregarding advice completely I’ve sprung £2.95 for a F4 v Silver Surfer – Twang Jr and I have a boys’ night on Saturday as Mrs.T is out, so it’s Waitrose Aberdeen Angus burgers, ice cream, Butterkist Toffee pop corn and a superhero movie on the agenda.
Ulp – good luck, hope you both enjoy it!
Realised I forgot two good’uns – Hellboy 2 and Batman: Mask of the Phantasm.
Reporting back, we both enjoyed it but it seemed lower budget than the Avenger series – and a much simpler plot, plus the SS kicked their asses didn’t he! Wouldn’t say it was bad though. A decent £2.95’s worth.
Captain Amereica: Civil War is certainly the superhero film that made me think “Now that’s the film I had in my head when I was reading those comics all those years ago” – an amazing juggling act of thrills, awe, excitement and fun – superb! The Russo brothers (who wrote & directed Civil War) are currently preparing the next 2 Avengers movies, including the Infinity War storyline, and by all accounts the whole Marvel (movie) roster will be appearing in them, so that’ll be quite the event…
The nicest superhero surprise I had in recent years was “Guardians Of The Galaxy” – being only vaguely aware of the comic I wasn’t expecting much, but was blown away by it, and it stands up remakably well to repeat viewing… it’s hardly an outside bet, but I suspect that Volume 2 later this year (with added Baby Groot – check out the trailer) will be absolutely massive.
The first Christopher Reeve Superman movie shouldn’t work at all – it has 2 (long) prologues, the villain is also the comic relief, it’s way too camp, the “Can you read my mind?” flying sequence seems to be from a totally different film, and the final resolution is just dumb… and yet, and yet… it just works. Reeve was born to play the role, and his sheer commitment to making this squarest of heroes a HERO anchors the whole thing (and the sequel of course…)
But the superhero movie that actually makes me cry? Spider-Man 2 – when he saves the trainload of people and they all see him unconscious without his mask… “he’s just a kid!” Gets me every time…
I agree, Guardians was in our top 5.
Spider Man 2 is one of my favourites, particulary because Alfred Molina was so good as Doc Ock. These types of films get an upgrade when a real actor plays the villain, see Alan Rickman in the Harry Potter films for example.
Saturday morning pictures. SHAZAM
Did you hear that? A massive Proustian rush on the South coast! I’m back in the Odeon Worthing about 1972, 5 new pence for 3 hours of Saturday morning entertainment.
Thanks for that.
You’re welcome. @ip33
I can honestly say that the only superhero film I have ever seen was the Batman film that span off from the TV series with Adam West. The modern stuff just doesn’t interest me, I can’t stand the CGI heavy material that passes for mainstream movies these days.
Adam West as Batman is definitely my choice as best Superhero.
Apart from the supremely silly Flash Gordon movie of course. Contains one of the most misremembered lines – Brian Blessed does not shout ‘Gordon’s alive’ in his usual bellow, but delivers it as a stage whisper.
The Incredibles.
I win.
Brilliant film! In similar mood, G Force is superb.
What Pencil said.
Only on the Afterword would Mike Heron and Robin Williamson be superheroes.
They have capes, I suupose.
Get cape, wear cape, folk.
Well, I thought Doctor Strange was very good indeed. I am a big fan of the original comics and I thought it was absolutely true to the spirit of those 1960s Silver Age classics. I was even checking off what I wanted as I watched: Cloak Of Levitation, Dormammu, Eye Of Agamotto, trippy stuff, dimensions etc. In fact the only item missing was the Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth. Also, it was great in 3D, and I can only say that about Life Of Pi and Hugo. All other 3D films suck. I thought Doc Strange was second best film of 2016 after Hunt For The Wilderpeople (which is a masterpiece, and available on Netflix now).
Agree re: Wilderpeople. One of the best movies of last year, and almost certainly the funniest.
Wilderpeople was great fun. But best film of the year? No way.
Pertinently, Taika Waititi (who directed Wilderpeople) is currently directing Thor: Ragnarok.
The director of the wonderfully low-key. small-scale movies Boy, What we do in the shadows and Eagle vs Shark taking on a Marvel blockbuster: how is that going to work out? That’s rather like hearing that John Shuttleworth will be starring in a remake of Singing in the Rain or Les Parapluies de Cherbourg. (Actually, I’d pay good money to see either of those).
Maybe it will work? Marvel are very clever at producing great entertainment. The kings of popcorn movies. Like many of the original comics, the dialogue is very witty.
I always say I don’t want to see another super hero film. But they always win me over. Ant Man, Deadpool, Dr Strange and best of all Guardians were all perfect escapist entertainment.
And Robert Downey Jr was born to play Tony Stark.
Allow me to be the first smart arse to point out that Deadpool wasn’t made by Marvel Studios and isn’t part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (yet).
Marvel have a knack for making interesting, clever (and good) choices for their directors, and Taika Waititi is the latest example. Maybe his humour will be what will bring “Thor & Hulk in a cosmic Road Movie” down-to-Earth and make it approachable to the more skittish Marvel movie fans… the endless-glass-of-beer gag at the very end of Dr Strange (apparently a clip from the next movie) might be a clue as to how things will go.
Conversely, DC’s reliance on the narratively tone-deaf Zack Snyder remains a mystery – he certainly has a “look” to his films, but that’s the hallmark of a Director of Photography, not a director, on top of which he’s said more than once that he finds Superman to be a fundamentally boring character?!
Coincidentally I saw Guardians of the Galaxy last week.
I’m not much of a superhero aficionado but I totally enjoyed it.
I wasn’t sure initially, and the main leads are entirely devoid of charisma as far as I can tell, but it was so ludicrous that once I’d embraced how silly it was, it was great entertainment.
Bit of a personal let-down that Bradley Cooper appeared only in raccoon form.
On a similarly shallow note, this is another vote for Thor as best superhero.
I went to see the first one in the cinema with my mate and her 15-year-old son.
Her utterly mortified 15-year-old son who sank down so low in his seat that I feared he might slide through the floor after I totally involuntarily emitted a particularly loud “Good LORD” when Thor got his top off for the first time.
Very amusing. It’s usually us chaps who get excited about charatcers taking their tops off!
Chris Hemsworth can do more than just beefcake. He’s very funny in Ghostbusters – playing a dumb blonde.
The other cool thing about the Marvel films is the little lead into the next film which comes right at the end after the (lengthy ) credits.
Ant man gets my vote from the more recent crop. BvS is probably the worst. GLW is big fan of X men but as I haven’t seen any of them I don’t feel qualified to comment. He’s a comic book hero and a TV series rather than a movie but is there any love here for Preacher?
I loved Series 1 of Preacher and it looks like there’s going to be more.
Fanboy comment:
They absolutely fucking ruined the books.
OOAA
As previously stated, the first two Reeve Superman films and The Incredibles set the bar for superhero films.
Superman Returns was pretty naff, but that segment where he rescues Lois and the airliner full of people was fantastic.
The first two X-Men movies were quite good too – I remember going along to the first with a sense of dread that it was going to be a stinker, but the minute Hugh Jackman makes his appearance, all fears were washed away (and I suspect Hugh’s been pretty happy about the way things have turned out).
Speaking of which – it’s not quite superheroes, but as movie-versions-of-comics go, 2012’s Dredd was fine fare as well, and it’s a shame it didn’t do well enough to warrant any sequels.
Great call on Dredd.
Having recently watched Blood Father, I’m quietly rooting to see Mel Gibson play an older Logan. I think it could work gloriously.
Dredd, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways….
Karl Urban was as good a piece of casting as Reeve was. The chin was…the chin, and the mannerisms were as I hope John Wagner imagined. I bought in from the get go, and I went into the movie in “go on then, convince me” mode.
Thirlby took time to warm to Anderson, but got there.
And the tech….oh, the tech. You could tell that Rebellion’s hands were all over the movie because the uniforms looked right, the Lawgiver looked right (and had the right loads) and the Lawmaster looked awesome.
The plot was straight out of the classic progs, and rang true.
I was, you might have gathered, rather impressed.
I think it’s ok to include Dredd. After all, strictly speaking, Batman isn’t a superhero either.
As soon as I saw the block called Sternhammer in the opening sequence I knew I was in good hands.
My only moan was that we saw of Mega City One wasn’t the crazy vibrant metropolis of the comics. You couldn’t have had a proper Block War in the city on screen. Quibbles aside, I’m gutted we won’t be seeing more Dredd films anytime soon. I’d love to see the Dark Judges in my local multiplex.
I must be one of the few people who enjoyed Batman vs Superman !! ( the extended version makes a bit more sense) . But my fave has to be Spidey 2..i know the effects look at bit hokey now but the train scene still looks brilliant.
Not usually a fan of the Wolverine movies, but this one looks potentially excellent…
Thinking about nothing the other day, I recalled a fellow filmgoer telling me deadpan that a lot of people don’t like Tom Cruise in those Jack Reacher films, on account of in the books, Reacher is all of 6′ 3″ and Tom’s a measly 5′ 7″ or thereabouts. Somehow, this spoils the movies completely.
i wonder if thos same pedants hold these Wolverine films in similar disdain, what with Hugh Jackman being about 6’2″ and Wolverine in the comics just scraping in at about 5′ 5″?