Before the 2000s there weren’t really any superhero movies. And, outside Howard the Duck and Blade, no Marvel movies at all. It was mostly forgettable adaptations of ancient strips such as The Shadow and The Phantom. Well, those and the Batman quadrilogy, consisting of two masterpieces from Tim Burton and two entertaining at best entries from Joel Schumacher, as well as the four Christopher Reeve Superman movies (results varied to an extreme degree there, too). And, throughout the past 25 years, we have seen a gargantuan number of entries find themselves added to the subgenre. However, just like in the Batman and Superman quadrilogies, the results have varied.
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What follows is an unpacking of the past two and a half decades of superhero movie cinema. And, of course, we’ll pick the best of each and every one of the 25.
26) 2000 — X-Men
A few of these first years are going to be “winner by default” kind of situations. However, even if it did have some competition, it’s hard to imagine Bryan Singer’s charmingly quaint (by today’s bombastic standards) X-Men not taking the cake.
It does a great job of establishing the characters in a way that makes them ring true (enough) to fans and fully understandable to newcomers. Almost as much as Spider-Man, more on that in a second, this one was integral to Marvel properties becoming hot tickets at the box office. From the terrific casting to the smooth pacing it’s a winner, even if it would be topped by its own sequel.
Stream X-Men on Disney+.
25) 2001 — No Winner Because No Superhero Movies
This one we’ll keep brief, because there were no superhero movies released in 2001. This was The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone‘s time to shine. So…Pootie Tang?
24) 2002 — Spider-Man
Even more than X-Men, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man set the tone for the early, pre-MCU Marvel movies. It’s hard to overstate just how massive this movie was. People of all demographics were lining up.
In other words, this film’s gargantuan success was alone enough to say that, yes, comic book adaptations, particularly those of Marvel Comics, could be crossover hits. You would get the aficionados and general audiences alike. Even today, over 20 years later, it holds a ton of charm (and, of course, Willem Dafoe couldn’t be any better as the Green Goblin). Also released this year was Blade II, which was undoubtedly impressive but not at all on Spider-Man‘s level.
Stream Spider-Man on Disney+.
23) 2003 — X2: X-Men United
X-Men did a find job introducing the character to the cinematic world, but X2 is just of a whole other level. It’s deeper, more ambitious, the stakes feel a little more personal to the characters we’ve gotten to know…it’s all a superhero sequel should be.
There are any number of classic scenes in this movie. Nightcrawler’s opening attack on the White House, Stryker’s men infiltrating the X-Mansion, Jean Grey’s sacrifice, all of the best scenes of the original trilogy are in this one film. It’s just such a shame its follow-up let it down in every possible regard, because it was setting up some very interesting places for its sequel to go. As for X2‘s competition, we clearly entered the post-Spider-Man boom, because it was joined by fellow Marvel movies Daredevil and Hulk. That said, it’s hard to pick which of those two is worse. There’s a good reason we never got a sequel to either one of them.
Stream X2: X-Men United on Disney+.
22) 2004 — Spider-Man 2
2004 was dominated by Marvel, but DC brought a movie to the table as well. Unfortunately for them, that movie was Catwoman. As for the Marvel movies, they were the unfortunate trilogy capper Blade: Trinity, the serviceable but cheesy The Punisher, and one of the best superhero movie sequels ever made: Spider-Man 2.
Raimi’s sequel had some competition in Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy, but it was an easy win for Spidey. Spider-Man 2 was like X2 in that it set a template on how best to make a Marvel movie sequel. Specifically, it made the threat more personal to the hero, and it worked amazingly. To this day, the middle chapter of the original Spider-Man trilogy is one of the best movies the subgenre has ever produced.
Stream Spider-Man 2 on Disney+.
21) 2005 — Batman Begins
2005 was a win for DC, with Constantine becoming a cult hit and Batman Begins grounding the title character in serious cinema after going completely off the rails in Batman & Robin. Marvel had Elektra, which didn’t work at all, and Fantastic Four, which is a movie that concludes just as it gets going. You forget it as soon as you walk out the door.
But thanks to its epic scope and simultaneous devotion to building the character and his world, Batman Begins stays in your memory. It may have been outdone by its successor, but it remains a highly impressive reboot.
Stream Batman Begins on HBO Max.
20) 2006 — Superman Returns
There wasn’t much in 2006. Marvel had a single movie, and DC had a single movie. Neither one was all that special.
In the end, we gave it to DC’s Superman Returns over Marvel’s X-Men: The Last Stand. Even still, we wish Superman Returns didn’t exist and that Bryan Singer had just helmed The Last Stand as intended instead.
Stream Superman Returns on HBO Max.
19) 2007 — Spider-Man 3
You may be scratching your head thinking, “Wasn’t Spider-Man 3 a huge disappointment?” Yes, it was, but it has its moments. Even still, it having its moments isn’t why it’s here in this entry.
No, this lame end to a great trilogy takes the spot because its competition was worse, simple as that. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is as bland as its predecessor, Ghost Rider is outright hard to watch, and DC didn’t have a movie in 2007. Spider-Man 3 wins.
Stream Spider-Man 3 on Disney+.
18) 2008 — The Dark Knight
The 2008 summer movie season was a massive one for superhero cinema. There were two classics in a three-month time span. Then there was also the underrated The Incredible Hulk and Hellboy II: The Golden Army, a sequel many consider superior to its predecessor. Then, towards the tail end of the year, we got the also-underrated Punisher: War Zone.
In other words, there wasn’t a dud in the bunch. But it still came down to Iron Man and the critical and commercial smash that was The Dark Knight. And, while Iron Man kicked off a cinematic universe, even going so far as to kick off the very concept of cinematic universes, it was The Dark Knight for the win. It will almost certainly always be the greatest superhero movie ever made.
Stream The Dark Knight on HBO Max.
17) 2009 — Watchmen
After 2008 saturated the marketplace (which would end up becoming the standard for the subgenre), 2009 took what amounts to a year off. We got a B-tier DC movie, in terms of character recognizability on the macro scale, and the worst X-Men movie. No MCU movies, the only time that would happen after Iron Man started it all.
It was an easy win for Zack Snyder’s magnum opus, Watchmen, over the horrendous X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Not just because Origins is so bad, but mostly because Watchmen is such a visually and thematically rich work that thankfully bailed on the big dumb octopus. To this day it’s one of superhero cinema’s more underappreciated entries.
Stream Watchmen on HBO Max.
16) 2010 — Kick-Ass
Here it is, the one non-Marvel or DC movie on the list. Kick-Ass isn’t just the best Image Comics adaptation (beating the likes of its sequel, The Crow remake, and the two The Old Guard movies), it’s one of the best superhero movies of the 2010s.
Kick-Ass is so smart, so fun, and so well acted, serving as a well-deserved breakthrough for Chloë Grace Moretz, who is nothing short of brilliant as Hit-Girl. It’s an adaptation that wisely excises some of the source material’s more unbearably grim material while still retaining its mix of sly humor and jarring real-world stakes and consequences. It helps that its competition was only Jonah Hex (Josh Brolin would go on to be a major part of various superhero movies, but this one wasn’t it) and the disappointing, but underrated, Iron Man 2.
Stream Kick-Ass on MovieSphere+.
15) 2011 — Captain America: The First Avenger
Like 2008, 2011 had a crowded summer movie season when it came to superhero movies. And the results were less consistent.
On DC’s side was the biggest dud, Green Lantern. As for Marvel, though, there were three big ones. Thor is an entertaining introduction to the character, but Captain America: The First Avenger and X-Men: First Class are outright classics. The edge goes to Captain America for being such a heartfelt and ambitious yet character-focused retro-fest. To this day there’s an argument that it’s the best MCU movie, especially given how subsequent years have shown the franchise comfortable steeping itself in formula, which The First Avenger doesn’t really do. It stands on its own.
Stream Captain America: The First Avenger on Disney+.
14) 2012 — The Avengers
2012 was the year of what amounted to the year of two major events and a reboot that came too soon. As for the latter that was, of course, The Amazing Spider-Man.
As for the events, those would be the hotly-anticipated The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises. Suffice to say, the former accomplished its mission in making the MCU a genuine four-quadrant hit machine while the latter was, well, far more divisive. You may be wondering where the fantastic Dredd is. That was not a superhero movie, but you can expect to see us discuss it when we do our best action movie by year one of these.
Stream The Avengers on Disney+.
13) 2013 — Man of Steel
Remember how we said The Avengers made the MCU a four-quadrant hit machine? Look at 2013 for proof. Both Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World received massive bumps over the worldwide totals of their respective predecessors.
But it was still DC’s controversial Man of Steel that secured the win for 2013. It has an epic scope, a great final fight (which, yes, concludes with a neck snap), and perfect casting for both Superman and General Zod. The silver medal goes to The Wolverine.
Stream Man of Steel on Warner Bros.
12) 2014 — Captain America: The Winter Soldier
2014 was a Marvel-only year, but it was a four Marvel movie year. And, impressively enough, only one of them was a dud (The Amazing Spider-Man 2).
As for the other three, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and Guardians of the Galaxy are all integral entries in the subgenre. And, while Guardians is special, The Winter Soldier is an enthralling political thriller masterpiece that remains one of the most important entries in MCU canon.
Stream Captain America: The Winter Soldier on Disney+.
11) 2015 — Ant-Man
Just as 2014 was, 2015 was a Marvel-only year, with three of their movies hitting the big screen. However, given the quality of Fantastic Four, we wish it was just two.
That leaves Ant-Man and Avengers: Age of Ultron. Neither is a classic, but Ant-Man is more consistently charming and enjoyable, even if it does fall a bit too much in the whole “the villain is the opposite of the hero” MCU trope.
Stream Ant-Man on Disney+.
10) 2016 — Deadpool
2016 was the most crowded superhero movie year yet. There were four from Marvel and two from DC. The success to failure ratio was about 50/50 so it very much could have gone better. On the failure (to varying degrees) side of things there was the controversial and overstuffed Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the outright broken Suicide Squad, and the laughable X-Men: Apocalypse.
As for the winners, we have Doctor Strange, Captain America: Civil War, and Deadpool. It came down to the latter two, with the edge going to Deadpool for being such a sublime adaptation of its title character. Few superheroes have ever been as well-cast as Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool, and it’s readily apparent from moment one it was a passion project for him. Civil War deserves credit for its expansion of MCU lore while mostly serving as an intimate character study. It tries to pull off arguably too much for one movie, resulting in it feeling like something of a mixture between placeholder and hit, but it works.
Stream Deadpool on Disney+.
9) 2017 — Thor: Ragnarok
Here we are at the first truly tough year to decide. There were six total movies, two from DC and four from Marvel. Let’s eliminate the dud first. Out goes Justice League.
But the MCU had three straight winners in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Thor: Ragnarok. Toss in Logan and Wonder Woman and it was a thoroughly amazing year for comic book flicks. We’re giving it to the apex of the Thor franchise, but Vol. 2 is arguably the best installment of its trilogy, Wonder Woman showed the DCEU could craft an actually important film, and Logan was a heartbreaker with its foot as firmly grounded in reality as a movie about a guy with claws could be.
Stream Thor: Ragnarok on Disney+.
8) 2018 — Black Panther
Just as Wonder Woman was an important movie for the DCEU and superhero cinema as a whole, so too was Black Panther. Finally, a portion of the population could visualize themselves as a big-screen superhero. Not just Black youths, either, but adults as well (that was a little bit harder to do with a vampire slayer like Blade).
On the whole, 2018 was both a lucrative and well-reviewed year for supes movies. We got Aquaman, the event film Avengers: Infinity War, the violent and dour but well-received Deadpool 2, the seriously underrated Ant-Man and the Wasp, and the box office hit Venom. But, even with Infinity War in the mix, this one was Black Panther‘s to lose.
Stream Black Panther on Disney+.
7) 2019 — Avengers: Endgame
2019 mostly consisted of average comic book movies or flops. Between Captain Marvel, Dark Phoenix, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Shazam!, and the unpleasant Hellboy reboot, there wasn’t much real competition for our winner, Avengers: Endgame. That said, Joker certainly had its fans (maybe has, provided its despised sequel didn’t make them reconsider just how deep Todd Phillips’ movie ever really was).
Avengers: Endgame was the definitive event superhero film. And, while the time travel stuff can be a bit confusing, it’s astonishing how much this movie pulled off. No character really feels shorted, and its emotional beats hit as hard as intended. Not to mention, it’s hard to imagine a more exciting moment ever coming to this subgenre than Captain America’s utterance of “Assemble.”
Stream Avengers: Endgame on Disney+.
6) 2020 — Birds of Prey
Naturally, 2020 had a lower output, and not just for superhero movies. But we still got three of them.
Marvel’s contribution, at long last, was The New Mutants, and if it was erased from existence few if any would miss it. DC, for its part, delivered the ultimate mixed bag in the amazingly fun and energetic Birds of Prey and the quality plummet that was the entirely disjointed Wonder Woman 1984. Margot Robbie should continue playing Harley Quinn, provided she wants to.
Stream Birds of Prey on HBO Max.
5) 2021 — The Suicide Squad
If ever there were a disappointing superhero movie bomb, it’s The Suicide Squad. Thankfully, it didn’t stop Warner Bros. from handing Gunn the keys to the DC kingdom.
With a captivating non-linear structure (at least in spots), a smart script, and note-perfect casting, 2021’s was The Suicide Squad‘s. Though Marvel gave it some competition in the form of five movies. To rank them in order of quality: Spider-Man: No Way Home, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Black Widow, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and Eternals. But they’re all vying for second, because The Suicide Squad is one of the subgenre’s best in history. In our hearts this was the true beginning of the DCEU, because it’s painful to think of it as one of the final gasps of a dying cinematic universe.
Stream The Suicide Squad on HBO Max.
4) 2022 — The Batman
The Batman isn’t quite as strong a reboot-starter as Batman Begins, but it still has elements that are wildly impressive. The score, the orange and black color scheme, the casting, a lot of it works even if the investigative scenes make the audience feel like they’re ahead of the world’s so-called greatest detective.
2022 also didn’t provide much in the way of competition. The Batman is defintely better than Black Adam, Morbius, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Thor: Love and Thunder. That said, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever isn’t too far behind Matt Reeves’ movie.
Stream The Batman on HBO Max.
3) 2023 — Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
2023 was an easy one to decide. It was Gunn’s heartfelt and successful trilogy concluder, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem was by far the best cinematic adaptations of the “Heroes in a Half Shell,” but we’re still giving it to Gunn’s trilogy capper.
As for the rest of the year’s high-flying, laser-eyes movies, we could take or leave The Flash, Blue Beetle, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, and The Marvels. Remove the “take” out of take or leave when it comes to Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
Stream Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 on Disney+.
2) 2024 — Deadpool & Wolverine
DC’s contribution to 2024 superhero cinema history was Joker: Folie à Deux, so they were out. As for Marvel, they had the final three SSU movies—Madame Web, Venom: The Last Dance, and Kraven the Hunter—and Deadpool & Wolverine. Considering Deadpool & Wolverine was the only genuine success in the quality department (and certainly in the financial sense), it nabbed a very easy win here.
Stream Deadpool & Wolverine on Disney+.
1) 2025 — Superman
Superman, the true start of the DCU, did its job and did it well. We’re now in a more hopeful DC universe, one guided by a singular vision and a tone that isn’t quite so pervasively dour.
While Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps are solid and enjoyable, it was still Superman that we say reigns supreme when it comes to the most recent year of superhero film history. Even still, not an awful year for the MCU, even if Captain America: Brave New World is swiftly forgotten.
Stream Superman on HBO Max.
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