10 Greatest Superhero Movies of The Last Decade – Ranked
Greatest Superhero Movies of The Decade:
As 2019 comes to pass and the world ushers into a whole new decade, we have to look back and appreciate the good things that happened within those ten years. For many, the next decade will bring drastic changes to their life. Some will get married. Some will get jobs. Some will start a whole new career. The future holds endless possibilities for us in the next ten years. Hollywood is also going to go through some radical changes. The superhero genre, which gripped the world by storm this decade, has given us a lot to look back to. Amongst the numerous releases, many of the superhero movies turned out to be masterpieces. For comic book and superhero fans, the last decade turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
10. Big Hero 6
Big Hero 6 is an animated production. For superhero fans, the animated genre was kind of taboo and forbidden. That was until Disney greenlit the Big Hero 6 movie. Made under the guidance of the best of minds and hands at Disney, Big Hero 6 was a massive success. The story is about a young kid living in a futuristic city using his genius-level intellect to build a robot pal and put together a team to solve the mystery of the death of his older brother. Big Hero 6 may not have the action-packed sequences that has become a signature trademark of the genre. But it has heart and humor. And sometimes, they are enough. Big Hero 6 tried to break out of that formulaic shell and is one of the few movies that succeeded in doing so.
9. Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 1
If you would have heard that Marvel was making a movie on a relatively unpopular and nameless superhero team from the comic book universe, you would have said that maybe Marvel Studios had lost its mind. That was literally the exact reaction of every fan when they heard that Marvel was making a movie on the Guardians of the Galaxy when they had enough popular superheroes on their cards that were not as anonymous. Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 1 – was a movie that helped define the MCU genre. It provided the MCU with a revelation that the best way to catch a fans’ attention is through good characters and well-placed humor. They have continued that tradition ever since.
8. Man of Steel
This movie was the object of abject polarization within the viewers. Some believe that Zack Snyder crossed a line with Man of Steel, which was convoluted and did not portray Superman the way he is supposed to be in the DCEU. Many of the other fans believed that Zack Snyder hit the ultimate chord by portraying Superman as realistic as possible. Making the origin story of Superman that grounded and humane takes a lot of skill and effort. You may hate Zack Snyder but you have to agree when we say this that his experiment bore fruits. Man of Steel was a movie that had everything starting from action and drama to comedy and mystery in all the right doses. Even the villain of Man of Steel, played by Michael Shannon, is considered one of the greatest movie supervillains of all time.
7. X-Men: First Class
X-Men: First Class was made to reboot the X-Men franchise, which was then resting on the old and cranky shoulders of an ancient cast. With a new ensemble cast and a fresh storyline, X-Men: First Class managed to engage the audience when everybody thought it will be just the last stand of a dying franchise. It is an entirely different thing that Fox Studios could not continue that tradition with each successive X-Men movie that came after that (Let us not even begin to describe the absolute travesty that was X-Men: Apocalypse). X-Men: First Class had its namesake. It was a First-Class act and it helped provide a shot in the arm for the Mutant Superhero franchise.
6. The Avengers
It would have been an insult to the movie-making industry if The Avengers was not on this list. 2012 marked the beginning of the Avengers franchise when Captain America, Thor, the Hulk, Iron Man, Hawkeye, and Black Widow came together to fight Loki – the Norse God of Mischief and his Chitauri army from outer space. A superhero team-up movie was something Hollywood believed to be impossible. It was only made possible because of Marvel Studio’s extreme dedication coupled with Disney’s deep pockets. The Avengers will always be considered a cinematic milestone of the highest order, one that started the chain reaction that led to the concept of a shared universe taking a foothold in Hollywood.
5. Chronicle
Chronicle was a genuine attempt by Max Landis and Josh Trank to show the world how a teenager suddenly blessed with superpowers acts and reacts in a real-world setting. Trank made the movie on a shoestring budget of 12 Million US Dollars as opposed to all movies of that genre being made with huge sums of money as production budget ranging up to 100 or 200 Million Dollars. The found-footage concept worked like a charm and with a good core cast, the movie flourished at the Box office, garnering almost ten times its production budget and becoming a huge hit. A sequel is unlikely to happen after the Disney-Fox merger as well as writer Max Landis being accused of sexual assault charges.
4. Avengers: Infinity War
If The Avengers was the movie that started it all, Avengers: Infinity War was the movie that ended it all. Infinity War was the culmination of the long journey that Marvel had set out to complete, beginning with Iron Man in 2008. Nobody thought they could actually pull it off. But with Infinity War, they proved everyone wrong. Infinity War was not just a milestone for Marvel in a chronological sense it was also an ideological victory. The idea of a shared superhero universe worked and the MCU – the world’s most profitable movie franchise in human history, was the living proof of it. Infinity War went on to gross more than 2 Billion US Dollars worldwide. There are countries in this world that have a GDP lesser than that.
3. Logan
The ode to Hugh Jackman’s run as the titular Wolverine Logan was the final goodbye of sorts for Jackman to the superhero genre. Logan was a very dark, uncanny and brutal storyline. Set in a world where the x-Men are dead and the mutant race is one the verge of extinction, Logan is now left to fend for himself as his own healing factor starts to falter as well as the dying Charles Xavier. Dafne Keen’s role as X-23 was also a very welcome movie. Logan was an emotional roller coaster ride for a lot of fans. It was hard to let Jackman go and the end scene where X-23 puts up the Cross as an X over the grave of Logan, symbolizing the end of Wolverine, was a heartbreaking moment.
2. Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman was the movie the world deserved and the movie the world needed at the moment. When the world was in the underbelly of chaos and there were talks of war and violence all around, Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman, starring Gal Gadot as the eponymous superhero, came to the theatres to spread the message of love and tolerance. Who can really forget the No Man’s Land sequence, probably one of the greatest superhero action scenes of this decade?!?! Gal Gadot cemented her rightful claim to the role of Wonder Woman. She was to Wonder Woman what Hugh Jackman once was to Wolverine.
1. Joker
And finally, we come to one movie to rule them all. Joker was a late entry but boy did it manage to make some noise. It was a very risky gamble that actually made a lot of bucks for the studio which was upwards of 1 Billion US Dollars. Joaquin Phoenix played Arthur Fleck, an emotionally disturbed man with an emotionally disturbing past. Joker was a movie that implored the fans to fight the system and not let the people above trample the little guy below. It was a movie about liberation. It was about how a man when pushed to a corner and left with nothing to lose can make the world descend into hell. It was about how anybody can become the Joker if they had a “One Bad Day”.