I’m doing a column on what was the best superhero movie ever made (not counting the serials from the 40s and 50s.)
Any thoughts?
PAD
I’m doing a column on what was the best superhero movie ever made (not counting the serials from the 40s and 50s.)
Any thoughts?
PAD
• 
I would say either Batman or Spider-Man myself.
The Matrix.
How could you leave out Robert Townsend’s “Meteor Man”? LOL
At the risk of being booed off the board here, I can’t believe how many people said the first Superman movie was the best. I was nine years old when it came out and I thought it was horrible. Still do. Flying around the earth to reverse time? I believed more in Santa Clause than that idea. I felt like Superman was a wuss. I thought to myself, “This doesn’t seem like the Superman I know from the comics…”
I’d have to vote for Spider-man or Daredevil. My face hurt tremendously after seeing both of these films, and later I realized that it was because I had been smiling for 2 hours straight.
Unbreakable gets my nod as favorite superhero movie. But others may prefer Meteor Man. 🙂
So I’m reading all of the posts here and finally, about three quarters of the way down somebody mentions Mystery Men. Thank you, Jason for listing what was so good about it and saving me the hassle of having to re-type it all.
It seems like such a logical extension that in a world where superheroes are common, ordinary people would want to be superheroes as well, albeit with less than super results. The only thing missing was the mandatory Danny Elfman theme.
I have a huge bias because I’m a long time diehard Spider-Man fanboy (yes, not just a fan).
It helps that Spider-Man was a great movie, even if I had some problems with it (Kirsten Dunst mailing it in, crappy oversapped love dialogue) so I would tout it as highest.
I’m not a big fan of Burton, but Batman is great because Keaton and Nicholson overcame their director.
Daredevil was a throwback to the old days of comic book movies (in other words it was crappy). Blind men dance fighting in a park on seesaws while kids pound at the fence with no one else noticing is hardly a way to keep me interested.
I will say the worst had to be the Captain America movies. If you’ve seen them, I’m sure you know what I’m on about.
hmmmI’ve never seen any of the Lone Wolf and Cub movies..wonder how they would stack up though…
..but..my first impulse was to say Superman..probably because many of my generation had been waiting all our lives to see that one done right! Having Christopher Reeve come along to play Superman was the same feeling I had for Curt Swan drawing him…there will never be a better fit!
I have a lot to say about this topic, but I’ll try to keep this brief.
For me, the successful translation of comics involves a good plot, good characters, and loyalty to the source material. With that in mind:
1. Superman, the Movie. The first, and greatest, adaption to the modern movie of a comic book superhero.
2. Spider-Man. Also very loyal to the source material.
3. Batman. Good, except I hated the Michael Keaton casting. I wish they had started with George Clooney.
Others: Daredevil was good, but not great. Ditto for X-Men. Too many others to rate.
I’m not counting sequels. Although I thought Superman II had great fights scenes and I didn’t mind so much that Lois found out his identity, they started having powers that weren’t in the comics (going back to loyalty to the source material).
Overall, I prefer it when the people who make the movies actually read the comics.
Well, so far only one person has mentioned ‘The Crow”, and I’d like to second that vote.
I’d also like to bring up the first “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” movie. Very loyal to the early Eastman and Laird material, and a lot more entertaining than I was expecting (I was expecting something closer to the cartoon).
I noticed that nobody has mentioned the Supergirl movie :).
The vote seems pretty overwhelming, and I simply must add to the landslide. Superman: The Movie is the quintessential superhero film, and after twenty-five years it’s still in my personal top five.
If you count comic book movie as based on a comic book, then I put in a vote for Superman: The Movie.
If you count movies that have the spirit of comic books, most definitely Star Wars (A New Hope).
But since the question is specifically superhero movies, not comics, I still go with Superman.
I have to agree about Mystery Men. The term “best” is pretty open-ended here, so I’ll dub it “best at capturing the feel of a superhero comic.” Jason touched on part of the reason, but I’ll expand somewhat: MM is the only superhero movie I can think of that gives the feel of taking place in a larger superhero universe. This is partially because the nature of the movie requires that the characters have to be judged against other superheroes (unlike most other superhero movies, where the main character has to be noteworthy by dint of standing alone). MM conveys the feel that the early Stan Lee comics had: the characters are part of something larger.
(It’s also a near-perfect movie for role-players, BTW, which helps explain its added appeal to me and my group in general.)
That said, I don’t know what I’d call the best overall superhero movie; but I’d probably pick Spider-Man as the best balanced in what one looks for in a superhero movie. (I reserve judgement on Superman II; I haven’t seen it since it came out, and I remember being bored by the romantic subplot, but I haven’t had a chance to evaluate it as an adult.)
Mystery Men and Spider-man are the two best superhero movies I can think of, and luckily I agree with the reasons others gave (less typing).
Well, I would agree that Superman is probably the best superhero movie — yes, Otis and the time travel thing is bad, but the first two-thirds is magic.
However, I would like to suggest a dark-horse candidate: The Matrix. C’mon, great villains — Agent Smith, Cipher, larger than life heroes (Morpheus, Trinity, and Neo — heck, they even have “code names”). Most importantly, the feel of the movie seems to resonate all that I love about comics and superheroes.
The ending is amazing.
Too bad they decided to make sequels.
Buckaroo Banzai, I thought, was a really fun ride with a lot of appeal.
No nod to Mask of the Phantasm? Or to Akira?
Project A-Ko if you’ve never seen it has a–ahem–Davidian sensibilities to it.
Setting focus for such a colums might be the biggest problem, as fantasy and comics being our collective window to fantasy have shaped so much of cinema.
Gotta be Unbreakable.
My take:
1st half of the Superman movie.
1st Batman movie.
The Rocketeer.
Spider-Man.
And: Army of Darkness.
JSM
Donnie Darko and Unbreakable are the only superhero movies that can be defined as great that aren’t tacky or silly
OK – looks like no one has mentioned my favorite “Superhero” movie – DARK CITY! Wow, stunning visuals, and one of the best “super power” showdowns ever at the end. Come on – no one’s with me on this?
Other than that I’ll second (third?) both The Crow and MysteryMen. Great uses of the superhero genre from different angles.
I’ll also agree with the detractors of the original Superman movie — the villians were just TOO campy and inane to make a viable threat, and the “big cheat” at the end was a letdown. Christopher Reeve was perfect, though, in every way. The second movie could have been even better, but was in fact worse due to even more camp, and plot-holes you could fit all of Metropolis through.
Batman I (Tim Burton’s version) also looked great, had great casting, but campiness and lazy plotting killed it in the long run.
In the interests of full disclosure, I have not seen X-Men or Blade. Still planning to, someday…
Doug wrote: “MM conveys the feel that the early Stan Lee comics had: the characters are part of something larger.”
Well said. And that indeed was what I was trying to get at in pointing out the fact that concept of the superhero has been established in the world of the film before it even begins.
elf wrote: “…Mystery Men. Thank you, Jason for listing what was so good about it and saving me the hassle of having to re-type it all.”
My pleasure. Thanks for the recognition!
“It seems like such a logical extension that in a world where superheroes are common, ordinary people would want to be superheroes as well, albeit with less than super results.”
Yeah, I thought the premise was brilliant. It’s pretty much the only aspect of the “Mysterymen” that survived the transition from its comic book incarnation over to film (that and a few character-names are pretty much all that the movie has in common with Bob Burden’s singularly strange comics).
“The only thing missing was the mandatory Danny Elfman theme.”
Is your handle anything to do with being a Danny fan, by any chance? 🙂 Yeah, he’s my favorite composer, and whoever did do the music for that movie was clearly Elfman-influenced.
On a related note, have you ever heard the rumor that Tim Burton directed Mystery Men under a psuedonym? Seems unlikely to me, but it’s certainly an interesting notion…
Oh, jeez! How did I forget Dark City??? Patrick, at least one guy is with you on that one. Like you said, awesome visual effects, and the hero and villains in that movie totally rule.
Hey, has anyone else here read Kurt Busiek’s interview in the Onion, where he said that there are five chief elements to a story that make it a “superhero story”? I believe they were:
1. A superhuman ability (or several)
2. A nickname or code-name.
3. A costume.
4. A quest.
5. A milieu. (Presumably this is the catch-all for parts of the superhero environment such as a secret headquarters, an arch-villain, and other such staples.)
Busiek’s rule is that if a story has three out of five of those elements, it can be fairly called a superhero story.
I don’t necessarily agree or disagree, but I just thought people here would find it interesting. I was thinking, by Busiek’s criteria, one of my favorite action movies (not yet mentioned) could fairly be called a superhero film:
“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.”
Of course, I’m sure it wasn’t intended that way. I mean, come on, a director as classy as Ang Lee would never do something as lowbrow as a superhero movie…
For me, Superman The Movie, for the intro with the 1930’s Action Comics book, the Superman Insignia, and the John Williams score.
Although many may diss the finale where he flies around the world to travel back in time, I loved when he soared among the clouds and heard the voices of his father(s):
Jor-El: “My son, it is forbidden to interfere in human history”
Pa Kent: “One thing I know, son, is that you are here for a reason.”
Clark: “All those powers, and I couldn’t even save him.”
The Kryptonian scientific mind vs the human heart. That says it all for me.
Supes: “Don’t worry, I’ve got you!”
Lois: “You’ve got me? Who’s got you?!”
I loved the scene where Clark is outside of the Daily Planet, looks up in the sky and sees Lois dangling from the helicopter, then looks for a phone booth, but they no longer exist.
Finding a hotel turn-style entrance Clark changes to Superman, and the rest is history.
Thanks to Richard Donner and Christopher Reeve for making us believe a man can fly.
Honorable mention to the 1966 Batman movie with Adam West and Burt Ward.
It had The Penguin, The Joker, The Riddler, and Catwoman.
It had the Batmobile, The Batplane, and The Batboat.
It was among my earliest experiences with the dynamic duo, and it was fun!
Steve Chung
I agree with so many who find it to be a definitional problem. If you’re thinking about the best adaptations of the form, the The Crow, The Rocketeer, and Mystery Men were probably the most faithful takes.
However, if you’re simply talking best adaptation, I’m pretty partial to X-Men. It just really works for me.
Branching, though, if I had to pick the best “comic book” film, I don’t think anyone has executed that as well as Robert Rodriguez did with “Desperado.” From the plotline that pitted brother against brother, to the stylized action sequences, to the pacing, and everything else involved, I challenge anyone to watch it and not see that Rodriguez wasn’t putting his love for comics out there in the form he knew how best to make.
Marc Mason
Not going to weigh in with why, but for my two cents it’s gotta be the Matrix. Mystery Men gets an honorable mention and the Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension has to get some kind of merit award. 🙂
Ned Beatty as Otis was funny.
“It’s amazing that brain can generate enough power to keep those legs moving.”
Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor
Steve Chung
I’d have to go with “The Crow”. Even the unnecessary addition of a little kid to the story (which is normally the kiss of death) didn’t detract from the drama or action.
🙂 Speaking of the addition of annoying unnecessary kids, the image of Wendy and Marvin from the Superfriends teaming up the Crow just popped into my head. The product of a sick mind or potentially the seed of some very disturbing fan fiction? You decide.
Unbreakable and Crouching Tiger,Hidden Dragon.
My vote goes to DAREDEVIL.
But only till X-men 2, which I think will take its place..and then The Matrix Reloaded..and maybe (hopefully) Hulk.
Honestly: I don’t think the ultimate best super-hero movie has been made yet.
What is happening now, imo, is that everytime you think you’ve seen the best Super-hero movie, a better one comes along.
Ask me before Daredevil I would have said Spiderman was the best before that X-men before that Matrix before that…
Well you get the idea. Its an ever-changing thing.
I’m not saying that maybe..one of these they might release a super-hero movie that beats them all out for ever & ever..but I am saying, imo, they haven’t made that movie yet.
DF2506
” Looking forward to X-men 2, Matrix Reloaded, The Hulk, Matrix Revolutions. And of course on dvd, can’t wait to get the Daredevil dvd!!”
Well, it’s not technically a superhero adaptation, but I think the Hughes Bros. did a really remarkable job w/Alan Moore’s “From Hëll.” Plus, Johnny Depp (as usual) was brilliant. And speaking of Jack the Ripper, let’s not forget “Time After Time.” While not based on a comic, the idea of protagonist and antagonist chasing one another through time sure has a superhero FEEL to it. Oh, and a special honorable mention to “Unbreakable,” M. Night’s best (and most unfairly trashed) movie so far…
I know everyone is going to hate me… but I am going to pick two “comic book movies.”
Here it goes… my favorite comic book movie is… Ghost World. Everyone here seems hung up on Superheroes but there are other comic books besides super heroes. Super hero movies collapse in on themselves for the simple fact that they have to spend 3/4 of the movie explaining why a super hero is on the planet earth and why they fight evil. And then some hollywood executive somewhere says that america is too dumb and the end not using the original source matrial. Ghost World didn’t have those problems.. no heroes, no explaining. Just a great, great character piece, something that is always missing from super hero movies. Notice how almost everyone seems to agree that second movie of a superhero franchise is better than the first? Maybe because they don’t have to explain everything!
My second comic book movie is Ducktales. Again not a super hero movie, but based on a comic book. Oh sure, Huey, Duey and Louie started out in shorts, but Scrooge McDuck was a comic character long before he ever granced the screen. And you know what… they didn’t have to explain a lot in that either.
Anyway that’s my choices, flame on!
Let’s not forget “The Phantom” with Billy Zane and Zeta Jones. It was a great adaptation.
Have you guys seen the new Hulk trailer yet? Its awesome.
http://www.apple.com/trailers/universal/the_hulk/international/large.html
Spiderman came across as a fun rump that you didn’t need to be a fan to get, and without all the nods that kindof took space from the movie.
Still, Mask of Zorro is great.
Superman 1 & 2 – With the usual reservations over the camp moments, ignore them and the films are timelessly perfect.
Batman – It changed everything. Keaton was good, someone mentioned Clooney earlier in the thread, he was the best but with the worst script. Nicholson, stole the show perfectly, he was so good I forgave Burton for not casting Tim Curry to do a Killing Joke version of the Joker.
Punisher – Dire film, dire script but F*** ME Dolf could act the part. Everything else aside he enhabited the part of Frank Castle more than Nicholson did the Joker. His eyes were those of a stone killer, burnt out, empty, as if his very soul had been torn out (poetic but true). His Punisher was a stinking unwashed singleminded psyco, perfection in a crap movie.
X-Men – Suddenly comicbook films were cool again, dodgy ending, great film.
Spider-Man – Dodgy effects, very faithful, awesome ending, the lack of any music to accompany the fight made it more real, more brutal. The sick slap of meat on meat etc this was a superhuman fight done right, it wasn’t nice, it wasn’t pretty.
Daredevil – Ðámņ it I knew there was a reason I was trying to get a babysitter…
Batman 1966 – If you liked the series then this is perfect.
Unbreakable – Need to see it again, seemed slow and meandering to me the first time, reached the end kinda bored and tired. Determined I’ll watch it a few times to ‘get’ the hype, mind you I hated the Dark Knight Returns the first time I read it so Unbreakable could still become one of my all time fave films.
Matrix – Not just effects, this was a perfect comicbook film, complete with the campness done right (the weapons scene for example).
Rocketeer – mmmm
Fantastic Four – Did someone really mention this????
Nick Fury – Too close a translation at one point, then it threw it away. D-I-R-E.
Empire Strikes Back – Luke is a fledgling Superhero, far more than Star Wars. We get heroics and big battles. Jedi – full blown superhero fights, good comicbook stuff.
Turtles – PAD is a fan, I will pass no comment.
Erm…that’s it, no help really I suppose as I’ve rehashed (with the exception of my Punisher comments which were really the point of this posting). what everyone else has said.
Cheers.
Alan Donald.
PS feel free to check out my new column at SBC http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com/final/, PAD (God bless him and all who sail in him) contributes regularly.
Jason wrote:
Is your handle anything to do with being a Danny fan, by any chance? 🙂
Nope, though I am one of Elfman’s biggest fans, both scoring and from his Boingo work, in this case “elf” is merely my initials.
Add my vote to Superman: The Movie. Followed closely by Batman(1989). Others like Spider-Man and X-men were great, but will never be considered classics.
Other good choices are The Crow, Unbreakable, and The Matrix (one of my favorite all-time movies).
However, none of those made you feel like a kid again the way Superman did. Perfect casting, perfect storytelling, and maybe most important, perfect score. That music can still send chills down my back.
SPIDER-MAN. Even with what I thought were unneccesary changes (turning Mary Jane into Peter’s childhood crush, changing Flash Thompson’s look from preppy to thug) and not using certain characters enough (Jolly Jonah needs to be the main villian in a future sequel!), it was still the best superhero movie I’ve ever seen.
Excluding BLANKMAN, of course.
I vote for X-MEN. It was able to be a perfectly entertaining super hero movie yet still feel like something more substantial.
My runner-up would be Batman because it actually gave super hero movies style again. Could Superman’s Metropolis be any more bland? Tim Burton built a world where Batman could exist and warped everything to it. Beautiful stuff.
Ok, I’ll take my turn here. Superman was great, even now. Especially when viewed as a two-parter so I would throw both I and II as one vote. But when it comes to “super-hero” movie, it’s hard to think of the adaptions because of the problems with comparing it to the source material and I saw many people talking about flaws, and changes and other such things. With that in mind I come up with a short list for both types: adapted – Supes I & II, Crow and TMNT I. Original – Unbreakable, Darkman and Robocop. Looking at my lists there I throw my vote for best “superhero movie” for Robocp. It was exciting, had a strong heroic character arc and left me with some wonderful “nice” feelings about humanity. “Good work officer. What’s your name?” “Murphy.” Classic. Now if they’d just release a fully restored version on DVD.
I can’t say there’s one best superhero movie ever. There’s so many different ways to look at it. Like many people, I feel that the best serious superhero movie ever is Superman I & II (which is essentially the same movie). Best movies to capture the essence of a comic book would have to be the entire Star Wars Trilogy (yes, all of them). However, I always find much more enjoyment from movies (and for that matter, people) that don’t take themselves too seriously. So on a purely entertainment level, I’d have to give a nod to Mystery Men. Also in the realm of the lighthearted superhero movie, I’d have to say The Mask is one of the better ones.
I don’t particularly care for the Tim Burton Batman movies. It may just be me, but I’ve never really gotten any of his films. But again, I enjoy lots of whimsy.
Hmmm…I was just talking about this the other day and I couldnt quite think of any!!! Needless to say, superhero movies have been w-e-a-k!
Here are my votes:
Dark City – There is just something about this movie…
Forrest Gump – Thats right! I would say he is a superhero in his own right! He saved Lieutenant Dan people…Lieutenant Dan!!
Quantum Leap – There is no truer superhero than the one and only, Sam Beckett! To put right what once went wrong, and his sidekick Al! Possibly the most balanced out of all superhero’s. I mean, he could have just had ‘relations’ with many people and created many offspring had he wanted to…
Batman – good movie
Total Recall
Matrix – Could have used an actual love side-story but whatever!
12 Monkeys – It was cool
and ofcourse, Dude, Where’s My Car? I mean the hijinx this dynamic duo gets into!! They had to answer one of Data’s questions!!
Those are my pics!
My favorites, out of what has been mentioned so far:
Superman 1, Batman 1, Spiderman 1, The Rocketeer, and the Phantom.
My favorites out of what has NOT been mentioned yet:
a.) Raiders of the Lost Ark: a great action movie ala the old serials; and
b.) Howard the Duck: yes I know the movie “laid an egg”, but that is a neat trick for a male duck. Although they should have animated Howard after his arrival on earth.
So far i’m digging all the picks for best supehero film. I won’t go into the details of the picks because everyone else had so far said all the things i was going to say. My picks are slightly unconventional but still pretty cool to me.
First off is I-man. I’m not sure if anybody but me remembers this movie. It was disney tv movie starring Scott Bacula as normal guy who becomes industructable thanks breathing Alien gasses and then is recruited by the goverment to save the world. Its a cool movie a great hero story
Then there Monkey Bone which is based on the graphic novel dark town its not totally a superhero movie but i thought it should at least get a mention.
lastly there is Atlantis the lost Empire. A very cool movie which the closet thing you’ll get to animated comic book. Course Mike Mignola did the work on the movie so that helps. Its great action movie and the closet things to American anima american audiences.
No one’s mentioned it, but I thought “The Mask” was pretty good as a superhero film even if the comic book source was somewhat less than heroic.
Also enjoyable: “X-Men”, “The Crow”, “Batman” (the Keaton film).
Well, I have to second all the Superman, Batman, Phantom, Spider-Man, and Daredevil votes.
I’ll also pop my two cents in for Mystery Men, Men In Black, The Rocketeer, The Shadow, X-Men, and the many others.
I’d like to mention The One. I was a Jet Li movie a year or two ago. It had superpowers, a tuely epic battle, and some great directorial artistry.
For best though? Superman.
Really loved the Lone Wolf and Cub movies. I’ve seen about four of them, all subtitled. I think there are 6 in total that ever made it to NTSC, but don’t quote me on that. I don’t know if LW&C really qualifies as a ‘Superhero’ comic, but the movies definitley had the pulp spirit in them. Gotta love those stage blood pumps! Btw, if anyone has seen the new DVD box set ANYWHERE! please let me know because I’ve been trying to find it for months!
As for American Superhero movies, I am really glad that I wasn’t the only one remembering the Rocketeer here. The movie tie-in book, coincidentally, was also one of the first books by Peter that I ever read. The Rocketeer was just two hours of good clean pulp fun.
My other favourites include the first Batman movie, strictly for Jack Nicholson’s performance,and, if we are counting movies with the Superhero/pulp spirit, then Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, and Raiders of the Lost Ark too. Mystery Men was probably the only comic book company project in the last decade that I really enjoyed thoroughly. I mean, X-men, Spider-Man and Daredevil were ok, but they just had too many “action figure” moments for my liking.
I don’t like picking “the” favorite, since so often it depends on mood at the moment, but one of my favorite “superhero” movies is Hero at Large starring John Ritter and Anne Archer.
No, really.
Everyone should go rent that one at least once.
-B
Two of the best comic-to-film adaptations of recent years aren’t even superhero films: Road to Perdition and the vastly underrated From Hëll.
My picks for the top superhero films:
The Rocketeer.
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm.
Superman II.
Spider-Man.
Mystery Men.