Rank ALL the comic book superhero movies you've seen

[anarky]

That's right. All of them.

I'm not posting a list quite yet, as this is going to take some thought.

Movies based on comics not involving superheroes (such as Road to Perdition, 300, or Ghost World) do not count. I'm on the fence about Sin City, leaning toward no, but it's so over-the-top that it probably should count, after all.

Superhero movies that may as well be based on comics, but aren't (Robocop, Darkman, The Incredibles, Comic Book: The Movie, etc) don't count, either.

Animated movies do count. I'm including movies like The Batman/Superman Movie that aired as separate episodes of a television show, so long as they received a separate DVD release as a movie and not as a bunch of episodes. However, a typical three-episode arc of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would not be eligible due to its never having been released as a movie.

Edit: A few "on the fence" choices that I think I'll allow on technicalities: Catwoman, Judge Dredd, Howard the Duck, Men in Black 1&2, The Shadow, The Phantom, Flash Gordon, Swamp Thing, Popeye, Dick Tracy, Sin City, and V for Vendetta.

[Diabolical]

The ones I could find, in alphabetical order:

Barb Wire
Batman: The Movie, Batman, Batman Returns, Batman Forever, Batman and Robin, Batman Begins
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (animated), Batman & Mr. Freeze: Sub Zero (animated), Batman Beyond: The Return of Joker (animated), Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman (animated), The Batman/Superman Movie (animated), The Batman Vs Dracula (animated)
Blade, Blade II, Blade: Trinity
Captain America (91)
Catwoman
The Crow, The Crow: City of Angels, The Crow: Salvation, The Crow: Wicked Prayer
Daredevil
Dick Tracy
Dr. Strange (animated)
Elektra
Fantastic Four (94), Fantastic Four (05), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Flash Gordon
Ghost Rider
Hellboy , Hellboy: Sword of Storms (animated), Hellboy: Blood and Iron (animated)
Howard the Duck
Hulk
Invincible Iron Man (animated)
Judge Dredd
The Mask, Son of the Mask
Men In Black, Men in Black 2
Mystery Men
The Phantom
Popeye
The Punisher (89), The Punisher (04)
The Rocketeer
The Shadow
Sheena
Sin City
Spawn
Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3
Steel
Superman, Superman 2, Superman 3, Superman 4, Superman Returns
Superman: Doomsday (animated), Supergirl
Tank Girl
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, TMNT
Ultimate Avengers (animated), Ultimate Avengers 2 (animated)
V for Vendetta
X-Men, X2: X-Men United, X-Men: The Last Stand

[anarky]

I also came up with:

Batman: The Movie (1960s movie with West and Ward)
Dick Tracy (sorta a technicality: not a superhero, but he definitely fights supervillains)
Howard the Duck (comic book anti-hero, even if not accurately depicted as such in the movie)
Popeye (really pushing the technicality)
Sin City (I figure everyone will want to count it, so might as well include it)
V for Vendetta (same deal, and more "superhero," even if not in a traditional sense)
TMNT (surprised you missed this one, given how recent it is :p)
The Mask & Son of the Mask

There have also been a few animated Hellboy movies, but I'm not sure how many or what they're called. I'm sure vyn can help on that one.

The Rocketeer started as a graphic novel, and I'd call him a superhero even if his creators probably wouldn't. (Hell, he has the power to make a movie starring Jennifer Connelley in her hottest role ever while kicking Timothy Dalton's ass, which is enough for me!) And I just checked, and Sheena started as a comic, too; not being too familiar with her, I'll say she counts.

[Diabolical]

Updated the list (with the Hellboy animated flicks also).

[Ran]

What about that straight to DVD animated Avengers movie that came out in the past year or so? I never saw it, but they advertised the hell out of it. For all I know, there may have been two films.

[vynsane]

There have also been a few animated Hellboy movies, but I'm not sure how many or what they're called. I'm sure vyn can help on that one.

actually, i'm surprised myself, but i haven't seen one of them yet. i'll probably try to get them for christmas.

What about that straight to DVD animated Avengers movie that came out in the past year or so? I never saw it, but they advertised the hell out of it. For all I know, there may have been two films.

they were called "ultimate avengers" because they were a kind of hybrid based on the avengers and the ultimates. diabolical has both on his list.

[anarky]

I’ve seen 49. Not an even 50. Odd.

49. Superman IV: The Quest for Peace

Loathe as I am to say it, Batman and Robin can’t out-shit this shitty piece of shit that some dumb fuck shit out. It’s so fucking bad that even Luthor’s annoying son with the train fetish isn’t the worst part of it. No, that goes to Radioactive Man. (I know that’s not his real name, but I don’t remember it, and I’m not wasting time to look it up. It should be Shithead Man.) The standout scene is Superman rescuing some chick (I don’t even think it was Lois), who’s been left on the moon and is just sitting there, waiting for rescue. No spacesuit. No oxygen tank. And yet no asphyxiation or decompression.

48. Batman and Robin

It couldn’t be better than second worst. I remember seeing the trailer during the previews for ROTJ:SE and almost shitting myself. “Fuck! That’s Bane!” Yeah, that excitement faded about five seconds after the opening credits. What’s worst: the mis-casting, the Batman American Express, or turning one of Batman’s absolute nastiest villains of all time into a monosyllabic waste? Eh, hard to tell, but I think the script out-shits everything else that’s bad about this, and that’s saying an awful lot. This is the only movie I’ve seen in the theater where several people walked out before it was halfway over. The only thing that could’ve possibly redeemed this movie enough to make it third worst would’ve been if Joel Schumacher walked onto the screen at the end of the credits, apologized at length, and shot himself in the head... then Alicia Silverstone came out and danced naked to the entirety of Aerosmith’s Get a Grip album.

47. Steel

Thankfully Steel wasn’t a first-stringer, though I always thought the character had a lot of potential that never was realized. Shaq is not an actor, and should never be allowed in front of a camera. Even Richard Roundtree couldn’t save this turd. Oddly enough, the only part I can really remember was this forced exchange between Shaq and Roundtree that mixed in some godawful jokes about pro basketball and the shaft of a hammer. Get it, shaft? Ha ha ha ha. Yeah, that’s more laughing than I did when I saw it.

46. Catwoman

Does this even count? It shares a name with a villain who sorta is a hero but not really because DC Comics can’t make up their minds. That’s where it ends. Halle Berry is easy on the eyes, but that’s it. Hell, I suppose this wouldn’t be that bad if it didn’t try to pretend it was a famous comic character. (It’d still suck, but not quite as badly.) It could’ve actually have saved itself to an extent had they thrown in even the tiniest reference to Batman, Selina Kyle, or Gotham City. I think Robocop is probably a better comic book superhero film. At least they made a comic about him after his movie, and they got a real live comic book writer to write the sequel.

45. Superman III

I don’t remember this one especially well. Like Superman IV, I have it on DVD because it was cheaper to buy the set of all four movies than to get just the first two. And, like Superman IV, I’ve never opened the DVD. Richard Pryor was a funny, funny man, but nothing about this movie worked. You have to wonder why they bothered with a fourth. Hell, you have to wonder why DC didn’t just cancel all the Superman comics when this piece of crap came out.

44. Supergirl

I don’t remember this one too well, either. I saw it as a kid on HBO. It ranks above Superman III only because I seem to vaguely remember that we got to see Christian Slater’s hot sister’s bare boobs.

43. X-Men: The Last Stand

Ugh. They should’ve waited for Singer instead of rushing this out. The funny thing about it is that it’s not so incredibly bad in and of itself. It’s pretty decent for a totally brainless action film. The problem is, it continues from the cliffhanger in X2, which was anything but a brainless action film. This movie requires the brain to be totally shut off, which is tough to do after watching the two masterpieces before it. It’s sort of like what would happen if we had Star Wars, then The Empire Strikes Back, and topped it off with Highlander 3.

42. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III

None of the original TMNT movies hold up at all. And this one was the worst of the bunch. Sure, Elias Koteas comes back as Casey, and we see all sorts of cool samurai warriors, but that’s not enough to save this. When April gets rescued and actually says, “This is the worst rescue I’ve ever seen,” you know the shark was jumped a few miles back.

41. Daredevil

This one’s more bland than anything else. It actually would’ve been a decent 80s action movie, only it came out two decades too late. Coming on the heels of comic book movies that actually were good movies, this one fell short. Although Michael Clarke Duncan as the Kingpin is some of the best casting I’ve ever seen, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner were so wrong in this movie that it defies all logic. And who the fuck casts Kevin Smith other than Kevin Smith? The dude isn’t a fucking actor. At least we don’t have to see him painfully failing to act in TMNT.

40. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze

Oy. The first one was considered too violent for kids, so they sort of went overboard with the kiddie shit in this one. The turtles don’t fight with weapons; they fight with salami! Casey is dropped for a kung fu pizza delivery guy named Keno. Shredder wasn’t really dead, despite falling from a building and being crushed, then carted off to the dump (which is never adequately explained). Two goofy-ass mutants show up, and they’re not even Bebop and Rocksteady! But the kicker: Vanilla Ice. When you put the Iceman in your movie, you’re asking for it to suck balls. (Of course, the saddest thing about the whole affair is the dumb fucker still performs a nu-metal version of “Ninja Rap” in concert. Pathetic.)

[anarky]

39. The Punisher (Lundgren)

This one’s kinda like Catwoman, in that there’s no real relation to the comic character, aside from him carrying guns and shooting people. One real standout that wouldn’t apply to the real Frank is him gunning down an underground casino, gamblers and strippers included. It’s been a while, but I recall this being better than most people give it credit for—if you pretend it’s not the Punisher and just a knockoff Dolph Lundgren 80s movie. As a cheesy Lundgren movie, though, it’s not even great; Showdown in Little Tokyo at least gave us a shitload of boobies (including Tia Carrere’s). The only real saving grace is the quote from the beginning that Biohazard sampled for “Punishment”: “For years I'm asking why. Why are the innocent dead and the guilty alive? Where is justice? Where is punishment? Or have you already answered? Have you already said to the world, ‘Here is justice, here is punishment, here, in me’?”

38. Swamp Thing

Don’t remember this one too well, either. But I remember not being too impressed even as a kid. Not Superman III unimpressed, but unimpressed nonetheless.

37. The Shadow

I seem to recall this one being okay. But I don’t recall anything about it, other than one of the Baldwin brothers looks normal until he puts on the mask and then he gets all angular. Given that it didn’t leave enough of an impression for me to remember it, despite seeing it far more recently than a lot of older movies, I must conclude it was pretty “meh.”

36. Flash Gordon

This one is ridiculously stupid. But at least it’s supposed to be ridiculously stupid. That’s the point. Still, it doesn’t mean it’s not ridiculously stupid. “Camp” can only go so far before it’s annoying. And the soundtrack is the worst Queen album, even if you count that fucking piece of disco shit Hot Space. Funny, though, some of my friends think it’s the only good Queen album. I guess to each his own.

35. Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman

It actually pains me to put one of the animated Batman movies this far down. But this is another one that didn’t leave much of an impression on me. I saw it only about three years ago, and remember it less than episodes of the fucking Silverhawks I saw one time back in the 80s. I remember not being too impressed by the idea of Batwoman, and underwhelmed by the “shocking” cliffhanger ending. (Oh my God! Is Bane dead? He couldn’t have survived. I guess he’s dead. Oh, that’s right—he’s in Batman Beyond! He’s not really dead!)

34. Superman II

So much wasted potential here. So much. Zod is an awesome character, and Terrence Stamp does him perfectly. Only thing is, there’s too much shit and fluff in this movie for Zod to redeem it. You can run around yelling “Kneel! Kneel before Zod!” to your heart’s content, but I challenge you to sit through the entire Niagara Falls sequence that comprises most of the first half of the movie. I double dog dare you to watch that stupid cellophane “S” shield without saying aloud, “Dude, what the fuck?” It can’t be done. Period. What could’ve, and should’ve, been an awesome companion to the first Superman movie is turned into some really rancid horseshit.

33. Superman: Doomsday

This is one of the most inconsistent messes I’ve seen. While I really like the second half, which deviates from the original story by introducing an insane clone of Superman created by Luthor, the first is rushed and almost pointless. The animation is merely okay, and I can’t figure out, if the target audience was the older viewers who loved the DCAU, why didn’t they stick with the tried and true look? Or the voice actors? And the whole bit about Lois fucking Superman without knowing his secret identity is so incredibly creepy that it fucks the entire affair up the ass with a splintered broomstick.

32. Batman: Sub-Zero

God, two animated Batman movies in the 30s! That really hurts. This one isn’t nearly as unforgettable as Mystery of the Batwoman, but the premise is flawed from the get-go. See, Victor Fries realizes he can only save his wife by freezing Batgirl. Huh? Okay, the real reason is Warner wanted a second videotape (this was old school here, y’all) on the shelves with Batman, Batgirl, and Mr Freeze for people to buy when they bought Batman and Robin (which, as we all know, people bought in massive quantities). The mix of the traditional animation with some really clunky CG really throws off the entire feel of the thing, too. It’s not horrible, certainly not unwatchable, even pretty good. But not as good as the next 31.

31. Judge Dredd

Maybe I can separate this from the original character because I never read the original. Everyone who did seems to hate this. And Rob Schneider’s dumb role is a convincing argument to hate it. It seems almost a spoof of Judge Dredd (at least what I know of him) rather than an adaptation. And yet, it works, to a point. It’s a pretty decent “Stallone in the future” movie. Of course, if you want that subgenre, you’d be far better off going with Demolition Man, which actually is a fucking awesome movie instead of just pretty decent.

30. Batman Forever

I enjoyed it the first time I saw it. The second time, not so much. And it went down in my estimation every time I saw it, finally stopping when I couldn’t get through it a fourth time. My first impression was pretty entirely the “cool factor” of seeing my favorite Batman foe onscreen. Trouble is, the character was less Two-Face than Halle Berry was Catwoman. And to be upstaged by the fucking Riddler, the biggest pussy in the DC universe? C’mon, some dumb fuck in the 40s made him up because the Joker and Puzzler were in jail at the time. It wasn’t until Hush that anyone did anything to not make the character suck monkey cock. To make it worse, Tommy Lee Jones is a fine actor, and would have been an amazing Two-Face. Just picture it in your head: Tommy Lee portraying a crime boss with two distinct personalities, one an idealistic fellow and the other the most sadistic son of a bitch in the world. It would totally have worked. But this, not so much. The garish colors and cinematography, though not as bad as on Batman and Robin, are hella distracting, too.

[mabudon]

The only thing that makes Superman 2 easier for me to enjoy is that the doon-y Niagara Falls scene is A) local, been there dozens if not hundreds of times and B) two of my good friends are in that part, and have several signed, unique pics of them with Kidder and Reeve which kinda brings it home

[Ran]

1. V for Vendetta
2. Sin City
3. Batman: The Movie
4. Flash Gordon
5. Mystery Men
6. Batman
7. The Crow
8. Blade
9. The Mask (Didn't know it was a comic book)
10. Popeye
11. Spider-Man
12. Batman Returns
13. X-Men
14. Men In Black
15. X2: X-Men United
16. Spider-Man 2
17. Dick Tracy
18. Men in Black 2
19. X-Men: The Last Stand
20. Daredevil
21. Batman Forever
22. Batman and Robin
~
infinity + 1. Catwoman (even though I only saw about 20 minutes of it)

Its been too long since I've seen TMNT, Punnisher (89), Captain America, Superman (or its sequels), and Rocketeer so I'm not ranking them. Either way, I'd put most of them before Catwoman.

The Transformers, GI Joe, and He-Man don't count because they aren't superheros and are based on toys rather than comic books, right?

[Double_G]

The ones I've seen...

1. X2: X-Men United (best superhero movie ever made, however, my favorite is...)
2. Spider-Man 3 (yeah, go ahead, call me nuts...I loved the movie and I thought it was the best out of the three Spider-Man movies, but I'm biased since Spidey is my favorite superhero and Venom is my favorite villain)
3. Spider-Man (this and Spider-Man 2 tend to change places sometimes. Up until a few months ago, I liked 2 better, but I've changed my mind.)
4. Spider-Man 2
5. Batman Begins
6. Batman (1989)
7. Sin City
8. X-Men
9. Superman: The Movie
10. V For Vendetta
11. Superman Returns
12. X-Men: The Last Stand
13. Superman II
14. Batman Returns
15. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
16. TMNT
17. The Punisher (2004)
18. Fantastic Four
19. The Mask
20. Hellboy
21. Batman Forever
22. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
23. Hulk
24. Daredevil
25. Superman: Doomsday
26. Ghost Rider
27. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
28. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze
29. Batman and Robin
30. Superman III
31. Superman IV: The Quest for Peace

The last three are the real bottom of the barrel. I also didn't include the Men in Black movies. I just don't see them as comic book/superhero movies. Also, I really wanted to put The Incredibles on the list, but decided against it as there's no real source material to it.

[anarky]

29. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

This one was in my top five at one point. But it has aged really poorly. At least the old cartoon is still fun to watch. The first movie actually insults the intelligence. I can’t get over how a bunch of skinny whitebread thugs with bandanas go to this warehouse and play video games, then suddenly become ninjas with flat-out racist accents. Or how one reporter can save the day. Where the fuck did that stupid “one chick reporter can do everything the police can’t, as long as she meets the hero[es]” shit originate, anyway? At least this was the first movie to actually base the story on existing comic book storylines, for what that’s worth.

28. Popeye

This one was a lot of fun, though it seems more dated and kiddie every day. If it weren’t a musical, it would be so much better. Robin Williams did a pretty amazing job as Popeye.

27. Howard the Duck

A lot better than people give it credit for, but still not a great movie. It bears practically no relation to the original character, but the story is still pretty amusing, in that stupid 80s sort of way. The animatronic duck is really well done.

26. The Punisher (Jane)

“Finally: a Punisher movie that sticks to his comic book origins!” WTF? Did I miss the entire “family of a Vietnam War veteran gunned down in Central Park simply because they were in the wrong place” thing getting retconned to “special agent’s family killed in retribution... oh, and the skull? it’s just a t-shirt with a made-up Indian design”? It’s not a bad movie, certainly better than Daredevil, but it’s still not the Punisher, even if it is based on Ennis stories. Thomas Jane does an awesome job, though, even if Travolta is at his all-time schlockiest, fucking up the whole affair.

25. Hellboy

At this point, I’d say they’re officially getting pretty good. Hellboy could still be a lot better. It could’ve used another re-write, some slight editing, something that I just can’t put my finger on. Quite the enjoyable movie, though, even if I never followed Hellboy—just nothing to write home about.

24. Blade

Blade deserves all the credit that The Matrix gets. The Matrix is just a knockoff of Blade, visually speaking. (The rest it stole from Dark City.) Wesley Snipes is pretty good as Blade, as his general lack of acting ability actually works, surprisingly enough (it’s his only enjoyable role outside of Simon Phoenix in Demolition Man, which now has two mentions here, and may as well be a comic book movie, anyway). I’m of the mind that most modern vampires are whiny pussies and that Anne Rice should be shot. This movie changed that. (Of course, now we’re getting tons of shitty movies where the vampires are exactly like the ones in Blade, but at least they’re not Brad Pitt bitching about his menstrual cycle. Did I mention I fucking hate Anne Rice?)

23. Batman: The Movie

This movie is what it is: a film based on the TV show. Totally inaccurate as far as Batman goes, but once you get over that, the show (and the movie) are a lot of fun. The unappreciated genius of this movie can be summed up in six words: “Quickly, Robin! The Bat-Shark Repellent!”

22. Spawn

This seemed so amazing when it came out, but it doesn’t hold up especially well. Blade and The Matrix handled the visuals so much better, and Hulk got the “comic book page on the screen” cinematography a lot better. And all the sequences in Hell look like, well, shit. The entire plot about Jason Wynn striking a deal with the devil to create a world-destroying doomsday device and attaching it to his heart for safekeeping can make your head explode if you think about it. It’s still a pretty good brainless action hero movie, and better than a lot of the stories Todd McFarlane told in the early days. All the actors do a good job, except for McFarlane in a stupid cameo. The inclusion of minor background characters from the comic as brief glimpses, rather than in forced roles, was a stroke of genius.

21. Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker

I like this movie, but it’s so incredibly dark, even by Batman standards. I don’t mean thematically dark, just “almost hard to follow what's going on” dark. As good as it is, though, something about Tim Drake becoming the Joker, even if only in the animated universe, seems wrong to me. Aside from those minor quibbles, it’s a fine movie. Harley’s cameo at the end of the movie is awesome; I wish they’d done more with her in the show.

[anarky]

20. Batman

Michael Keaton was totally miscast. I’ll give you that. The movie should’ve been called Joker, too. But the story is still pretty good, Keaton does as well as can be expected for a short comedian cast as Batman, and Nicholson as the Joker is so fucking amazing he could totally carry the movie by himself. I’ll leave you with, “My balloons! He took my balloons. Why didn’t someone tell me he had one of those... things? Bob, gun. <BLAM!>”

19. The Batman/Superman Movie

Really good first meeting of Batman and Superman in the animated world, but it feels more like a three-parter than a movie. IIRC, it was simultaneously released to video and to TV. That might explain that. But throw Bruce Timm, Lex Luthor, Joker, Superman, Batman, Alfred, and Lois together, and there’s no way to go wrong. The way the two heroes learn one another’s identities is well-handled (better than in any “first meeting” comic story I can think of). I honestly wish the comics could go back to this sort of mutual respect that’s not quite friendship. The two are from such different worlds that keeping them together as an unofficial team to fight aliens seems so forced that it hurts.

18. Superman

Even though it’s hella dated now, this is still one fucking awesome movie. It’s so awesome that there’s not much good to say about it that hasn’t been said a billion times before. The only four minor problems I have with it: 1) Lex knows an awful lot about Superman’s powers (especially hearing) for them to have never met before; 2) Lex’s “gang” is fucking idiotic; 3) the entire “turn back the world” bit is retarded; and 4) Margot Kidder has got to be the fugliest Lois Lane in the history of the world.

17. The Mask

One of those rare “better than the comics” deals. This may be the only movie in which Jim Carey was perfectly cast, and in which he doesn’t annoy everyone within five minutes. And, by casting him, the creators made a wise choice to play up the slapstick and play down the dark comedy of the original. (Imagine Jim Carey and dark comedy. Yeah, doesn’t work well, does it?) Oh, and remember when Cameron Diaz used to be smoking hot?

16. Batman Returns

This one is more a cool Tim Burton film than a cool Batman film, because he deviates so far from the source material that it boggles the mind. But the end result is such a damned fine movie, you’re left not caring that Penguin was never a mutant creature whose dad was Pee Wee Herman. As awesome as this movie is, the mistletoe exchange between Batman and Catwoman (later reversed as Bruce and Selina) is the best part.

15. Men in Black

Tommy Lee Jones got to star in one good comic book movie, after all. Men in Black is an incredibly fun, funny movie, and I pretty much hate Will Smith in anything in which he’s not credited as “the Fresh Prince.” Oh, and Linda Fiorentino? Fucking hot. I refuse to see the second one because they somehow retconned her out of the story. Yeah, I want to see more of the fucking talking dog instead. And they wonder why the second one didn’t do as well. Idiots.

14. Sin City

I’m going to get beat up over this one. I think it’s a great movie, but I don’t think it’s the second coming of Jesus the way most people seem to. I’ll save my comments for when I get hit with all sorts of “you’re an idiot!” responses.

13. Dick Tracy

Dick Tracy does an amazing job of actually putting you into an old-style newspaper strip, with the limited color pallet, exaggerated action, and totally over-the-top characters. I love the way that it’s a single story arc, but we’re thrown in essentially in the middle of a larger story. (Disney released prequel comics, but I’ve never thought they were necessary.) It seems tame by today’s standards—hell, it was tame by the standards of when it was released—but an updated Dick Tracy probably just wouldn’t work.

12. The Rocketeer

I always wished this one did better. Not that I thought sequels were necessary, but it deserved a wider audience than it got. Even if nothing else, Jennifer Connelley is so amazingly hot in this movie that everyone in the world should see it. Not that I'm biased or anything.

11. Spider-Man

This is a fucking awesome movie. Fucking awesome. I don’t care that Dafoe overacted (he is playing the fucking Green Goblin, after all, so it’s perfect) or that the Green Goblin’s suit is different. The only thing that keeps Spider-Man from being much higher is that it actually sticks too closely to the original comics. If you’ve read five Spider-Man books from the forty years prior to this movie, you know every scene before it happens. Still fucking awesome, though.

[anarky]

10. X-Men

In case you can’t tell, we’re at the point where it’s just figuring out what fucking awesome movie is more fucking awesome than another fucking awesome movie. X-Men was easily my favorite until X2 came along, but (having re-watched several of the movies) I’ve decided that a couple of earlier movies are still a little better. Still, X-Men is the first movie on the list I’d unequivocally give five stars. The movie is almost perfect, with the only possible weakness being the lack of characterization of the minor villains. It definitely has the best casting of any comic book movie.

9. V for Vendetta

Another that’s better than the comic, which is saying a hell of a lot given that this was written by Alan Moore. The movie version is much tighter than the original, which rambles on with no clear destination for several pages at a time. Apparently Moore didn’t want anything to do with this movie. I’m not sure if he didn’t like the more optimistic ending, or if he just doesn’t like being upstaged.

8. Mystery Men

With Mystery Men, the comic book sucked. I’m sorry, it SUCKED. It’s one of those things Dark Horse did in the early years that you know there’s no way they’d publish now. The movie, though, is awesome. I’ve actually decided it’s better than X-Men simply because it’s the sort of movie that would normally seem tired after three viewings or five years. But it’s almost ten years, I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen it, and I still almost piss my pants watching it even though I know just about every line. Everyone is perfect in Mystery Men, right down to Pras from the Fugees. (Who knew?) It actually bothers me that several of the actors who were in this movie hate it. I’d give my left nut to see a sequel, or even an animated show based on the movie. (But not the comic. The comic blows.) I know one person here hates this movie, but he refuses to see The Blues Brothers, so I'm not entirely sure of his sanity.

7. Hulk

Fine. The finale was weird and a bit dumb. That doesn’t change the fact that the rest of the movie is pure gold. We’ve been over this before.

6. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm

This is very, very close to the perfect Batman film. It actually nails the character and his origins better than Batman Begins, and the addition of Andrea Beaumont to his origin works so amazingly well that I’m surprised the comics never “borrowed” her from the movie. (Given what they’ve done with Harley, though, that may be a good thing.) It’s a shame that there wasn’t an Oscar for animated features when this movie came out, or it would’ve been a clear winner. Fuck, Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill both deserved an Oscar for “Best Voice-Over Performance” to be made up just for their roles as Batman and Joker, which outdo even their work on Batman: The Animated Series. Batman vs Joker in the finale, with blood splattering and teeth flying, is still one of the best action sequences in film history. The only quibble I can find, and which keeps this movie from ranking at #1 or #2, is the sleazy councilman guy (I forget his name) who is so overdramatic and cartoony in a fashion that’s so inappropriate to the rest of the movie that every sequence with him stands out like a sore thumb. Then again, I’m just thinking about the shot of Bruce standing in front of the picture of his parents and wondering if I should re-think that.

[vynsane]

seriously, you're killing me. not with your choices, i think they've been very well thought-out. it's just that it's here as opposed to over a wallcrawlersweb.