I Still Think Logan Is the Best Comic Book Movie

As a child, I remember watching the Superman films with Christopher Reeves and loving them. When Batman came out in 1989, I was there and loved it. I watched Batman Returns and the Schumacher Batman films. X-Men, Spider-Man? Yep. I’ve watched nearly every Marvel or DC movie since the 1980s, and like all fans, I have my opinions on which one is the best. Over the years, this best has changed multiple times – for a while it Superman II, then Batman, X2 was my favorite for a bit, then The Dark Knight. The Dark Knight was the champion for years, and then Logan happened.

I don’t think I’m the only one who believed at the time that Logan was the greatest comic book movie of all time. James Mangold’s film was art in every sense of the word, using a familiar superhero to tell the story of a killer at the end of his life who wants more time with the family he’s constructed. It’s a powerful movie. However, since 2017, we’ve gotten some major, best-of-all-time comic book movies, and many people’s opinions have changed on which one is the best. Do you know whose opinion hasn’t changed? Mine.

Logan is still the best. Here’s why.

The New Contenders Are Great, but They Can’t Stand With Logan

Like most people, I sat in awe of Avengers: Infinity War. It represented ten years of story paying off and it had the event movie feel that makes superhero cinema so much fun. The next year, Avengers: Endgame paid off the story that Infinity War started and closed off the first three Phases of the MCU. Next, Spider-Man: No Way Home came, a movie that combined the Spider-Men of three different generations. After that, superhero movies largely circled the drain until Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3, a poignant movie about a family that just so happened to be a superhero blockbuster. Finally, Deadpool & Wolverine brought back Hugh Jackman, the star of Logan, and did the thing that Deadpool movies do so well: absurdist superhero humor with heart.

These are the best superhero movies that came out since Logan (even though some people would argue that Endgame doesn’t belong here). All of these movies are great in their own way, but several of them – Infinity War, Endgame, and No Way Home – suffer from a lack of, well, artistry. They’re great action movies, sure, but the direction is pretty pedestrian, and there’s no feeling of a personal style. On top of that, they’re more about nostalgia and the drama of big fights rather than their stories.

Related: Hugh Jackman’s Best Movie on Rotten Tomatoes Is 1 Point Higher Than Logan

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 has James Gunn’s fingerprints all over it – meaning it’s beautifully shot, has visual flair, and a strong emotional core. Of all the comic book movies since Logan, it came the closest to changing my mind. Much like Logan, it was partly about endings, although it was more about ending a chapter of one’s life and moving on and not so much death itself. It’s a very emotional movie, much like Logan, and it closes out the storylines of fan-favorite characters. Deadpool & Wolverine feels like a standard Marvel movie in a lot of ways, but there’s a lot of feeling behind it. Deadpool’s quest for love and happiness is just as important as anything else, and Hugh Jackman is amazing. It has the big action set pieces that make superhero movies so fun, and a wicked sense of humor that sets it apart from other Marvel movies.

And yet, as great as both of these movies are, I still love Logan more.

I’ve been a Wolverine superfan for years, and Logan is the movie that best captures who Wolverine is. Wolverine’s story, at the core, is a sad one. This is a person who was born with an amazing power that would allow him to experience life in ways that no other human could, and instead of marveling at the world, he was transformed into a killing machine over the decades. The X-Men movies gave him some happiness, but even that was taken away. Logan finds him at the end, trying desperately to hold on to the last member of the only family he had (Patrick Stewart’s Charles Xavier). X-23 is injected into his life and suddenly he gets a taste of what he’s never had before, all while knowing that the end of his life is coming.

It’s such a powerful story and while the ending is certainly sad, there’s happiness to it. Logan dies knowing that his family is going to live on. That his life of pain meant something because he saved lives. X-23 and her friends were going to have a life ahead of them (well, until the Multiverse started collapsing but we didn’t know that at the time!). There’s hope there. Logan is brilliant in every way. The acting is amazing. Mangold gives the movie a unique visual identity, setting a tone that can be dark, while also capturing the happy moments. I watched it again before watching Deadpool & Wolverine and it stands up so well, even all of these years later. it still stirred the same feelings it did all those years again when I watched it unfold on the big screen.

Logan Has an “It” Factor That Other Comic Book Movies Don’t

I love a lot of newer superhero movies. There’s something so great about going to watch something like Infinity War, Endgame, and No Way Home – big spectacles that have just enough of a personal touch to stay with you after you walk out of the theater. Guardian of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Deadpool & Wolverine both have the spectacle of the other movies, but they have a much more solid emotional core, one that speaks more to the human condition than the others. If Logan never came out, I’d probably love both of them the most because they subvert that normal Marvel formula of spectacle first with funny jokes next, and if you’re lucky, some cool character arcs. However, Logan does exist, and it’s still the best.

Logan succeeds because it doesn’t need to hinge itself on spectacle. Sure, the graphic violence can be looked at as spectacle, and there’s the big superhero fight with X-24, but one thing I love the most about Logan is that it doesn’t feel like other comic book movies. Part of this is because its inspiration – the Western Shane – shines through multiple times. Logan is never trying to be a superhero movie like any of the others. It’s a story first and foremost, a story about people – people with powers in a fantastic world, but people nonetheless – facing their lives. That’s why it will always be the best.

You can stream Logan on Disney+.