Paste's 100 Best Superhero Movies of All Time
Created by Panunzio.
Favorited 7 times, disliked 2 times, added to 13 watchlists.
Published in January 2017 (updated June 2023)
Two things quickly become evident when putting together a list of the 100 Best Superhero Movies of All Time. First, this is the Golden Age for such films, a decade where technology, long-unrequited fandom and surging popular awareness have all combined to thrill moviegoers and make Hollywood billions of dollars. Second, it’s still fair to say that most superhero films are not that good. There’s no real contradiction at play here. The niche just lacks the pedigree of its fellow movie genres. Though superhero comic books may have started to make a dint in popular culture 75 years ago (give or take), technology only crossed over from hindrance to enabling force in the last 20 years or so. As a result, while curating a 100 Best Westerns of All Time or 100 Best Documentaries of All Time list requires the exclusion of arguably good films to select the best 100—for superhero movies? The pickings get slim after 40. In fact, the real challenge for this list was choosing amongst the dreck (some of it beloved dreck!) that would fill out the bottom half. It turns out it’s much easier to argue for or against a top 10 film’s exact placement (and frankly, compelling arguments could be made for almost any of our top 5 as deserving the #1 position), than weighing the relative “merits” of Masters of the Universe, Swamp Thing and Elektra.
This also means the bottom half of this list will change swiftly compared to, say, The Best B-Movies of All Time. In fact, it’s a safe assumption if there are 15 superhero movies in the next three years, at least 14 of them will knock numbers 86-99 off this list. (Our #100 is a bit of a wild card.)
Finally, some criteria. To be considered for this list, a film must possess at least two of the following three qualities: 1) It must involve costumed shenanigans, 2) It must involve a superpowered protagonist and/or 3) the protagonist must exist in a world where the supernatural/extraordinary is demonstrably present. These criteria are why meta-commentary films like Kick-Ass and Super are not on this list. And it’s also why some films with pulpy characters like Zorro, Tarzan and Conan are not, while others like The Phantom are. (Zane’s costume combined with the Skulls of Touganda do the trick.) Admittedly, the lines gets blurry. Also absent from this list is any consideration of foreign superhero films. That’s not because some are not worthy—especially given the movie quality issue mentioned at the top—it’s just an area we’d rather get better versed in before pouring into this list. Next year, perhaps.
The three Matrix films were counted as a single entry in the source list.
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1 -
The Incredibles
2004, in 13 top lists Check -
4 -
The Avengers
2012, in 7 top lists Check -
8 -1
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
2014, in 3 top lists Check -
11 -1
Captain America: Civil War
2016, in 2 top lists Check -
12 -1
X2
2003 — a.k.a. X2: X-Men United, in 5 top lists Check -
13 -1
Guardians of the Galaxy
2014, in 3 top lists Check -
14 -1
Iron Man
2008, in 7 top lists Check -
15 -1
X-Men: Days of Future Past
2014, in 3 top lists Check -
18 -1
Spider-Man
2002, in 7 top lists Check -
19 -1
Batman Begins
2005, in 11 top lists Check -
20 -1
Iron Man Three
2013 — a.k.a. Iron Man 3, in 3 top lists Check -
21 -1
Big Hero 6
2014, in 3 top lists Check -
24 -1
The Lego Movie
2014, in 5 top lists Check -
25 -1
Deadpool
2016, in 3 top lists Check -
27 -1
Captain America: The First Avenger
2011, in 2 top lists Check -
28 -1
Spider-Man: Homecoming
2017, in 3 top lists Check -
30 -1
Wonder Woman
2017, in 4 top lists Check -
32 -1
Thor
2011, in 2 top lists Check -
33 -1
Avengers: Age of Ultron
2015, in 2 top lists Check -
35 -1
X: First Class
2011 — a.k.a. X-Men: First Class, in 3 top lists Check -
37 -1
Ant-Man and the Wasp
2018, in 2 top lists Check -
39 -1
Aquaman
2018, in 2 top lists Check -
41 -1
Batman
1989, in 9 top lists Check -
42 -1
Doctor Strange
2016, in 2 top lists Check -
45 -1
X-Men
2000, in 5 top lists Check -
47 -1
Thor: The Dark World
2013, in 2 top lists Check -
51 -1
The Matrix Revolutions
2003, in 4 top lists Check -
53 -1
The Rocketeer
1991, in 0 top lists Check -
55 -1
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
2008, in 1 top list Check -
56 -1
Deadpool 2
2018, in 2 top lists Check -
57 -1
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
1993, in 1 top list Check -
58 -1
Iron Man 2
2010, in 3 top lists Check -
60 -1
Superman Returns
2006, in 4 top lists Check -
63 -1
Sky High
2005, in 0 top lists Check -
65 -1
Man of Steel
2013, in 2 top lists Check -
66 -1
Spider-Man 3
2007, in 3 top lists Check -
68 -1
The Wolverine
2013, in 2 top lists Check -
69 -1
Justice League
2017, in 2 top lists Check -
71 -1
The Amazing Spider-Man
2012, in 2 top lists Check -
72 -1
The Incredible Hulk
2008, in 2 top lists Check -
74 -1
The Phantom
1996, in 0 top lists Check -
75 -1
The Powerpuff Girls Movie
2002, in 1 top list Check -
76 -1
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
2016, in 2 top lists Check -
79 -1
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
1990, in 3 top lists Check -
80 -1
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
2014, in 2 top lists Check -
85 -1
X-Men: Apocalypse
2016, in 2 top lists Check -
89 -1
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
2014, in 2 top lists Check -
91 -1
Fantastic Four
2005, in 3 top lists Check -
92 -1
X-Men: The Last Stand
2006, in 3 top lists Check -
96 -1
Batman Forever
1995, in 3 top lists Check
Last updated on Jun 20, 2023 by Panunzio; source