Believe it or not, we’re officially in the home stretch of 2024. December is here, Christmas is on the horizon, and it’ll soon be time to start ringing in the new year with a bunch of resolutions we don’t actually plan to keep up with. Before we get to that, though, it’s important to take a few moments to look back on the year we just had, which brings us to the 2024 edition of the ComicBook Golden Issue Awards!
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The Golden Issues are voted on by ComicBook staff, where we reflect on the best that the year had to offer in the way of film, TV, comics, anime, gaming, and wrestling. You’ve made your way to the Movies section of the 2024 Golden Issues, where we’ll honor the best in genre film this year throughout several different categories. Below, you’ll find the nominees for Golden Issue Awards like Best Movie, Best Villain, Best Post-Credits Scene, and more.
Best Movie
With the Best Movie award, we recognize the five genre/blockbuster films we loved the most in 2024. Keep in mind, this doesn’t take into account comic book movies or horror films, as both of those have their own category.
- Dune: Part Two
- Godzilla: Minus One
- Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
- The Wild Robot
- Wicked
Best Comic Book Movie
Compared to previous years, 2024 was actually pretty light in the comic book movie department. There were a lot of great comic-inspired TV shows, but between the changing of the guard at DC and a production pile up at Marvel, only a handful of comic book films were released over the last year.
And while we hate to put the cart before the horse, this race feels like it was over before it even began…
- Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
- Deadpool & Wolverine
- Madame Web
- Venom: The Last Dance
- Watchmen: Chapter One
Best Horror Movie
There may not have been many great comic book movies in 2024, but things were exactly the opposite for the world of horror. This year was an immaculate year for scary movies (pun intended). Getting this down to just five nominees was a real undertaking, and it feels impossible to choose just one.
- The First Omen
- I Saw the TV Glow
- Longlegs
- A Quiet Place: Day One
- The Substance
Best Director
We’ve honored a lot of movies with these nominees so far, and it only feels right to highlight a few of the directors that worked to bring those visions to life. From enormous blockbusters to buzz-worthy body horror, a lot of different types of films are represented in the Best Director category.
- Coralie Fargeat, The Substance
- Jon M. Chu, Wicked
- Shawn Levy, Deadpool & Wolverine
- Denis Villeneuve, Dune: Part Two
- Takashi Yamazaki, Godzilla Minus One
Best Male Character
A trademark of a great movie is a host of great characters filling the screen. Whether they’re artificially intelligent companions or leaders with a messiah complex, there were some great male characters in 2024.
- Andy (David Jonsson, Alien: Romulus)
- Paul Atredies (Timothee Chalamet, Dune: Part Two)
- Eddie Brock / Venom (Tom Hardy, Venom: The Last Dance)
- Kid (Dev Patel, Monkey Man)
- Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki, Godzilla Minus One)
Best Female Character
Like we just said, great characters were everywhere in 2024, and it was hard to narrow down just five on-screen women to honor with this award. Animated emotions and post-apocalyptic warriors are both represented in this year’s nominees, showing just how wide a range is represented.
- Anxiety (Maya Hawke, Inside Out 2)
- Chani (Zendaya, Dune: Part Two)
- Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo, Wicked)
- Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy, Furiosa)
- Samira (Lupita Nyong’o, A Quiet Place: Day One)
Best Movie Villain
Heroes are great and all, but a villain is what really makes or breaks a movie. And 2024 gave us some wonderful villains to watch on the big screen.
- Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin, Deadpool & Wolverine)
- Dementus (Chris Hemsworth, Furiosa)
- Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen (Austin Butler, Dune: Part Two)
- Johnny (Ry Barrett, In a Violent Nature)
- Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durant, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes)
Best Scene-Stealer
You don’t have to be the hero or the villain to be the most memorable character in a movie. Heck, you don’t even have to be the main character! You could simply be a cat trying to make his way through an alien apocalypse. Or maybe a mutant from Louisiana who’s been attempting to make his big screen debut for decades. Either way, this one is for the scene-stealers.
- Frodo the Cat (A Quiet Place: Day One)
- Gambit (Channing Tatum, Deadpool & Wolverine)
- Laura/X-23 (Dafne Keen, Deadpool & Wolverine)
- Raka (Peter Macon, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes)
- Stilgar (Javier Bardem, Dune: Part Two)
Bet Post-Credits Scene
Thanks to Pirates of the Caribbean and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the post-credits scene has become a staple of the modern blockbuster. 2024 had several memorable credits sequences, putting a bow on the movie the followed or setting up something big to come in the future.
- The Fall Guy
- Deadpool & Wolverine
- Transformers One
- Trap
- Venom: The Last Dance
