Paste's 100 Best Superhero Movies of All Time

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Created by Panunzio.

Favorited 7 times, disliked 2 times, added to 14 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. 1 -

    The Incredibles

    2004, in 13 top lists Check
  2. 2 -

    Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

    2018, in 21 top lists Check
  3. 3 -

    Black Panther

    2018, in 9 top lists Check
  4. 4 -

    The Avengers

    2012, in 7 top lists Check
  5. 5 -

    The Dark Knight

    2008, in 27 top lists Check
  6. 6 new

    Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

    2023, in 9 top lists
    Check
  7. 7 -1

    Spider-Man 2

    2004, in 7 top lists Check
  8. 8 -1

    Captain America: The Winter Soldier

    2014, in 3 top lists Check
  9. 9 -1

    Thor: Ragnarok

    2017, in 3 top lists Check
  10. 10 -1

    Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

    2017, in 2 top lists Check
  11. 11 -1

    Captain America: Civil War

    2016, in 2 top lists Check
  12. 12 -1

    X2

    2003 — a.k.a. X2: X-Men United, in 5 top lists Check
  13. 13 -1

    Guardians of the Galaxy

    2014, in 3 top lists Check
  14. 14 -1

    Iron Man

    2008, in 8 top lists Check
  15. 15 -1

    X-Men: Days of Future Past

    2014, in 3 top lists Check
  16. 16 -1

    Incredibles 2

    2018, in 3 top lists Check
  17. 17 -1

    Avengers: Infinity War

    2018, in 8 top lists Check
  18. 18 -1

    Spider-Man

    2002, in 7 top lists Check
  19. 19 -1

    Batman Begins

    2005, in 11 top lists Check
  20. 20 -1

    Iron Man Three

    2013 — a.k.a. Iron Man 3, in 3 top lists Check
  21. 21 -1

    Big Hero 6

    2014, in 3 top lists Check
  22. 22 -1

    Unbreakable

    2000, in 6 top lists Check
  23. 23 -1

    Blade II

    2002, in 1 top list Check
  24. 24 -1

    The Lego Movie

    2014, in 5 top lists Check
  25. 25 -1

    Deadpool

    2016, in 2 top lists Check
  26. 26 -1

    Logan

    2017, in 9 top lists Check
  27. 27 -1

    Captain America: The First Avenger

    2011, in 2 top lists Check
  28. 28 -1

    Spider-Man: Homecoming

    2017, in 3 top lists Check
  29. 29 -1

    Dredd

    2012, in 0 top lists Check
  30. 30 -1

    Wonder Woman

    2017, in 4 top lists Check
  31. 31 -1

    Captain Marvel

    2019, in 2 top lists Check
  32. 32 -1

    Thor

    2011, in 2 top lists Check
  33. 33 -1

    Avengers: Age of Ultron

    2015, in 2 top lists Check
  34. 34 -1

    Hellboy

    2004, in 1 top list Check
  35. 35 -1

    X: First Class

    2011 — a.k.a. X-Men: First Class, in 3 top lists Check
  36. 36 -1

    Teen Titans Go! To the Movies

    2018, in 0 top lists
    Check
  37. 37 -1

    Ant-Man and the Wasp

    2018, in 2 top lists Check
  38. 38 -1

    Superman II

    1980, in 3 top lists Check
  39. 39 -1

    Aquaman

    2018, in 2 top lists Check
  40. 40 -1

    Ant-Man

    2015, in 2 top lists Check
  41. 41 -1

    Batman

    1989, in 9 top lists Check
  42. 42 -1

    Doctor Strange

    2016, in 2 top lists Check
  43. 43 -1

    Watchmen

    2009, in 2 top lists Check
  44. 44 -1

    Superman

    1978, in 11 top lists Check
  45. 45 -1

    X-Men

    2000, in 5 top lists Check
  46. 46 -1

    Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

    2010, in 6 top lists Check
  47. 47 -1

    Thor: The Dark World

    2013, in 2 top lists Check
  48. 48 -1

    Blade

    1998, in 2 top lists Check
  49. 49 -1

    The Matrix

    1999, in 30 top lists Check
  50. 50 -1

    The Matrix Reloaded

    2003, in 5 top lists Check
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Last updated on Jun 20, 2023 by Panunzio; source