Ranking 2015’s Comic Book Movies

With Fantastic Four hitting theaters, we now have to wait a grueling seven months until another comic book movie hits theaters. The future of super hero films is both promising and enormous, so it’s hard to believe only four comic book films were released in 2015.

But now that they’re all here, let’s look back at, and rank, this year’s comic book movies.

4. Fantastic Four

  

If we were ranking the most questionable comic book movies of 2015, Fantastic Four would be atop the list. Although, Ant-Man was a pretty gamble, too. (Just one that actually worked.)

Fantastic Four tried to radically differentiate Marvel’s first family from their other big screen appearance, but it didn’t quite pay off the way director Josh Trank had imagined. The extended origin story only featured a small bit of action in its 100 minute run time and was universally panned by critics. Don’t be surprised if Fantastic Four 2 quietly slips off of 2017’s movie release schedule. 

Our review of Fantastic Four can be found right here.

3. Kingsman: The Secret Service

  

 Kingsman: The Secret Service shocked audiences by making good use of its R-Rating.

Matthew Vaughn, who previously directed Mark Millar’s other comic series-turned-movies, Kick-Ass and X-Men: First Class, went guns blazing in Kingsman with unique action, well-written comedy, and an extremely talented cast. Not only did it feature a ridiculous yet somehow compelling story, but Kingsman packed a whole lot of unforgettable sequences which other movies would have shied away from.

Oh, and it introduced actor Taron Egerton to the world, and that kid is going to have bright future.

Check out our Kingsman: The Secret Service review right here!

2. Avengers: Age of Ultron

  

The Avengers’ assembly wasn’t quite as magical as the first tone in 2012, but that can’t be held against a project that was excellent in its own right.

The science bros of Stark and Banner almost triggered a robotic apocalypse in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Joss Whedon’s last Marvel film (at least for a while). We were introduced to new characters, witnessed some of Marvel’s best action sequences to date, and saw the groundwork for Marvel’s phase 3 set in a very entertaining fashion

Our Avengers: Age of Ultron review is right here!

1. Ant-Man

  

Marvel’s latest origin story saw Paul Rudd charming us all into rooting for insects.

Ant-Man, which may be considered a “gamble” for Marvel Studios given its silly title and premise, faced major adversities when its original director walked from the project just before production. But that didn’t matter. Despite Edgar Wright’s departure and Peyton Reed’s last minute step-on, the final product was a unique, fun, and thrilling heist movie. Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang stole our hearts, while Michael Peña stole the screen. Plus, it didn’t hurt to have a couple of Avengers cameos, a Spider-Man reference, and proper homage to Hank Pym as the first Ant-Man.

Our Ant-Man review is right here!

How would you rate 2015’s comic book movies? Let us know in the comments!

2016

  

The future is extremely bright. With 30 confirmed super hero films coming between now and 2020, it’s a great time to be a geek.

It will be a long seven months until Deadpool gives us a our comic book movie fix, but let’s run down what’s coming in 2016:

Deadpool. Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Captain America: Civil War. Suicide Squad. X-Men: Apocalypse. Gambit. Dr. Strange.

Wait. Let’s break that down a little bit more and rattle off a list of characters the previous list means we will see on screen in 2016:

Deadpool. Colossus. Negasonic Teenage Warhead. Weasel. Batman. Robin? Superman. Wonder Woman. Aquaman. Lex Luthor. Captain America. Iron Man. Scarlet Witch. Ant-Man. Spider-Man. Black Panther. Hawkeye. Black Widow. The Vision. The Falcon. Bucky Barnes. Crossbones. War Machine. Hulk? Harley Quinn. The Joker. Deadshot. Enchantress. Katana. Amanda Waller. Killer Croc. El Diablo. Captain Boomerang. Storm. Apocalypse. Magneto. Charles Xavier. Psylocke. Mystique. Quicksilver. Beast. Jean Grey. Cyclops. Nightcrawler. Havok. Gambit. Stephen Strange. 

I’m out of breath. Don’t even get me started on 2017.

For a full list of upcoming comic book films, check out ComicBook.com’s Comic Book Movie Release Schedule.