With Spider-Man: Brand New Day swinging into theaters and breaking box office records, it’s worth going back and looking at the best Marvel films we’ve gotten. Even before Iron Man kicked off the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel films have loomed large over the culture and shaped so much of the 21st century in blockbuster cinema.
While everyone has their favorites, what are the best 25 Marvel films of all time?
With apologies to the unfortunately dreary Spider-Man adventure in theaters right now, we’ve compiled the best Marvel films over the last few decades and ranked them for their strengths.
While there will certainly be some omissions on this film that gets your blood boiling like a fresh injection from the Green Goblin serum, we hope you’ll
still enjoy flipping through the “pages” of these Marvel rankings.
25. Deadpool
The "Merc with a Mouth" rolled around in 2016 and opened the floodgates for mass-appeal R-rated superhero films... as long as they had Ryan Reynolds' wisecracking fourth wall-breaker, of course. The self-referential tomfoolery never felt fresher than with Deadpool's first spin, which is what sets this one apart from other good-enough origin stories that didn't make this list, like the first Captain America and Thor. This isn't the best Deadpool movie, sure, but it's the most Deadpool movie. Deadpool was always an acquired taste, but it's aged decently well.
24. Captain America: Civil War
While we know the Captain America: The Winter Soldier acolytes will be disappointed to see it left off the list, Civil War was always the superior of the Russos' Captain America movies. It's darker and thornier than Winter Solider, and it introduced the world to Tom Holland's Spider-Man and Chadwick Boseman's Black Panther. That airport fight scene is probably the best mutli-hero beatdown in MCU history, and the ending is refreshingly paired-down from the typical VFX-laden third-act mess that usually plagues these movies. Civil War actually has some bite; it's a shame that Marvel didn't let Iron Man and Captain America's feud linger longer than it did on the sacred timeline.
23. Deadpool & Wolverine
Deadpool & Wolverine is the flippant funeral for the Fox X-Men era and a delightful parody of Marvel's inability to let anything go, even to the point of franchise desecration. Deadpool exhuming Logan's corpse and slinging it around to *NSYNC to fight a bunch of timeline-hopping stooges is a funnier indictment of Spider-Man: No Way Home than you could even expect to get outside of the MCU. After a series of missteps, Marvel allowing Deadpool to come in and razz them a bit made sense. However, Deadpool & Wolverine went past that by dunking on the studio's inability to let anything go. Sometimes, it's fun to go out with a bang instead of just resurrecting the same old song-and-dance. If you told us this ended the MCU project overall, we'd be fine with that. At least it would go out with a smile.
22. Blade
Blade kicked off the major Marvel theatrical in full, and it remains a blood-soaked delight. Wesley Snipes was born to play the sword-wielding Daywalker. Blade's world felt fresh and engaging, supplanted by Snipes' generational aura and some nifty twists on vampire lore. That club scene has more aesthetic terror than most anything else in superhero history; it's a good reminder that this entire film movement rests on Blade's shoulders since he was first.
21. X-Men
Blade daywalked so X-Men could run. All at once astounding and astoundingly goofy, the first X-Men movie laid the foundation for the big-ticket, big-ensemble Marvel summer blockbuster. Blade taught Marvel how to focus in on one hero and give him an adventure worth taking; X-Men taught Marvel how to balance a marquee roster of heroes while still telling a compelling story within the parameters of a movie. This one doesn't quite get to those majestic levels that its sequel does, but it's still one of the stronger Marvel films. Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen are just so good.
20. Big Hero 6
Technically a Marvel movie, Big Hero 6 is one of the better 2010s Disney animated films. It's a much more coherent superhero story with better action and more characters to care about than in most MCU films. Plus, the MCU does not have Baymax. You could hold this one up to most of the best superhero films of the last 15 years. It's great.
19. X-Men: First Class
X-Men: First Class just does so much right. It nails the casting of multiple characters we've already seen on the big screen. It finds a suitable way to build the backstories of Professor X, Magneto, Mystique, Beast and the rest of the X-Men who were around at this time. It's got a strong villain played by Kevin Bacon. Matthew Vaughn did right by his X-Men movie, giving the super-past a jolt of present energy that the X-Men needed after a couple of X-flops.
18. Avengers: Endgame
Endgame works so well in part because it's one of the most earned victory laps in movie history. Even if you still have fierce frustrations with what the MCU did (and is still doing) to Hollywood, anybody who watched all of this play out from Iron Man on can appreciate how well they stuck the landing with the Infinity Saga. Sure, we're probably not going to get back to the outrageous highs of Thanos and his Infinity Stones, it's really cool that we got this like we did. It's an act of cinematic closure that feels complete... until Doomsday knocks down all the blocks.
17. The Wolverine
The Wolverine is one of the most underrated superhero movies of the last 20 years. Sure, it's no Logan, but what could be? James Mangold's first film with Hugh Jackman's Wolverine is a sleek, affecting Logan story with sick samurai action and piercing emotional depths that Jackman's run with the character always prioritized. That last bit is a little CGI-heavy, but everything before it is sensationally entertaining. That train sequence alone... whew.
16. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Sam Raimi is the best director to ever work within the Marvel logo. Even one of his weaker films is still one of the best Marvel projects to date. The second Doctor Strange film features the most inspired narrative twist in MCU history, turning Elizabeth Olsen's Wanda into a full-fledged tragic villain in the mold of Raimi's best Spider-Man bad guys. Taking a major Avenger and making her break bad is just not something the MCU does with any comfort or regularity; it takes an actual auteur like Raimi to come in and mix things up like this. Plus, all of Raimi's trademarks are out in full force, from a quite literally killer sequence involving the Illuminati to gleefully gross-our horror gags.
15. Spider-Man 3
Even the most divisive Raimi Spider-Man movie is still pretty great for what it is. An overcomplicated plot, cringey tonal swings and too many villains can't detract from this film's soaring strengths. Raimi had such a command over the material at this point that even a flawed vessel like this gave you those familiar goosebumps. We go to the movies precisely for experiences like this, when even a film covered in spots can truly move you and thrill you. Venom is terrifying; the church scene is straight out of a Raimi horror classic. Guilty pleasures never feel so good.
14. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
The second Spider-Verse film might be a bit busier (and less successful) than its predecessor, but those are small potatoes compared to the gut punch of seeing this striking vision expanded with such joy and Pollack-splash grandeur. It's a movie meant to stretch your imagination as far as it will go; these films honor the boundless possibilities of the comic book better than anything else on this list. The Spider-Gwen material is just so special.
13. The Avengers
We don't live in a world where younger audiences can understand what a jolt this film was. We'd never seen anything like it, so many big superheroes all teaming up together after multiple films of story-building in a big blockbuster event. The Avengers is the best Avengers movie (and will always be the best Avengers movie) because nothing can really top the euphoric novelty of the first Avengers assembly. It never got better than this for team-ups.
12. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
James Gunn's fantastic Guardians finale is just as weird and heartening as the first two films while taking an incredibly macabre turn into Rocket Raccoon's past as a benevolent Frankenstein's raccoon to a mad scientist acting as cosmic species god. Gunn kept the tactile Troma alien-iness and smarmy humor intact while finding a perfect place to let his Guardians lie before jumping over to DC. That finale is the perfect coda to a great trilogy.
11. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Gunn was never going to be able to top the first Guardians, perhaps the most original superhero movie of all time. However, he absolutely nailed the follow-up three years later, giving Chris Pratt's Peter Quill a compelling character arc that intertwines with Kurt Russell's Ego. Gunn was always the most uncompromising screenwriter in the MCU canon, never afraid to pull for the big emotions and drag his film through the dirt a little to mine more out of his galaxy's darker corners. The Ravagers' funeral is one of Gunn's best scenes. It's why he's running a studio now.
10. Hulk
Ang Lee's Hulk was always too ahead of its time. Lee took Bruce Banner in the opposite direction of Peter Parker and the X-Men, plunging the gamma-infected scientist into a monster movie haunted by the sins of the father. It's got its lumps, sure, but the Hulk has never been (and may never be) better. When this film is humming, it's just hard to find much better in the entirety of Marvel's history. Lee directs it like you're flipping through a comic book; he refuses to pander to audience expectations, too. Here, the Hulk is just as scary as he should be. Lee is just too interesting to make the Hulk's journey play like his peers. He finds the tragedy and terror in the transformation.
9. X-Men: Days of Future Past
The greatest "multiverse" experience in Marvel history involved the time-travelong X-Men in Days of Future Past. This one should have stood as the grand send-off to Fox's 2000s X-Men run, even if an even better movie waited in the wings with two of its biggest stars. The Quicksilver scene is worth the price of admission alone; the way it mixes past, present and future to tell the "Days of Future Past" comic story is really something. It's the gold standard for how to give the people what they want with multiple eras of casts while still maintaining cinematic integrity.
8. Iron Man
Iron Man will always be one of the best MCU movies, if only because it's still Robert Downey Jr.'s best performance as Tony Stark and the film that gave us the vision. It's a wonderfully contained redemption story, full of attitude and urgency. Plus, the Nick Fury tease felt revelatory for its time. The MCU should remember its history and strip this endeavor back down to basics. If you want it to feel big again, you really need to to go small and find your heart.
7. Spider-Man
Raimi's first Spider-Man film changed the way superhero movies play to the public in summer. Batman '89 set the stage for Spider-Man to swing in more than a decade later. Those films are remarkably similar in their successes and impacts. They cemented genre vets as the best to take on pulpy comic material and infuse it with movie magic. Tobey Maguire is always the best Peter Parker/Spider-Man; this origin story is one of the best like it we've got. Plus, you get the upside-down kiss in the rain and Willem Dafoe going full throttle as Norman Osborn/Green Goblin.
6. Logan
Do you realize how hard it is for a film like this to earn a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination? Mangold's second Wolverine film is the neo-noir Western masterwork that best represented Jackman's run with the character. Logan is just an unusual, bleak triumph during a time when its peers were so homogenized, the first to get Wolverine tap into his most violent impulses while giving him a gut-punch of catharsis only a lifetime of pain can create. Jackman’s finest hour as a actor can be found within. Logan will always be one of the great superhero movies.
5. Black Panther
Ryan Coogler proved that his status as an industry titan with Black Panther, a game-changer in what superhero movies could mean through representation and sheer force behind the camera. It’s the only Marvel film to ever earn a Best Picture nomination for good reason. The late Boseman will always own the role, and Michael B. Jordan will always be one of the best Marvel villains. From the rich aesthetic achievement of Wakanda to the gripping generational story, Coogler’s first Black Panther film proved that even an MCU film could qualify as prestige.
4. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
It’s hard to quantify how important the first Spider-Verse film was for movies. It basically pushed animation out of the CGI era and into a more pop-art aesthetic that is now the house style for multiple studios. It also expanded what was previously possible for superhero stories, opening up animation as a viable space to explore these characters with the same popularity and artistic achievement as its live-action peers. In fact, the first Spider-Verse clears most of what came before it. It’s a masterpiece. Multiple genres were never the same after this one swung in and rose the bar for what was possible with well-mined characters like Spider-Man.
3. X2
The best X-Men movie featured William Striker’s mutant-hate monstrosities, Alan Cumming’s Nightcrawler, the iconic nighttime assault on Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters and the best cohesion of multiple big comic characters at once in movie history. X2 is a relentless super-epic, one that packs in plenty of action with hard-hitting emotional beats that linger. The way it set up Jean Grey’s Dark Phoenix arc was so thrilling; it’s a shame they fumbled it like they did. Even so, X2 is a standard-bearer in the genre. This showed Marvel how to do sequels.
2. Guardians of the Galaxy
Gunn pushed the envelope for what was possible with the MCU with Guardians of the Galaxy. It’s a miracle this one was able to move the plot forward with the Thanos arc while still building such a fantastic origin story for the most rag-tag team of reluctant heroes in the galaxy. Gunn’s best script and most assured work behind the camera came with the Guardians. To be honest, only Black Panther has gotten close to what Gunn accomplished here. He gave the MCU the perfect blueprint for how to make these films within the grand scheme of an ongoing story. You could just throw on Guardians without ever seeing another MCU film and still get sucked in with its excellent performances, earned emotional payoffs and irreverent sense of sci-fi humor. If the MCU somehow ever gets this good again, the movies will be all the better for it. Until then, at least we have the Guardians.
1. Spider-Man 2
If it wasn’t for Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, Spider-Man 2 would be the greatest superhero movie of all time. Raimi’s magnificent masterpiece deepens Parker’s inner struggle, his fractured romance with Mary Jane and his relationship to the city he protects. It also offered Parker the perfect foil in Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock, still the best non-Heath Ledger Joker comic book villain we’ve ever gotten. Raimi has never been better with Spider-Man than here; he just gives this film such a joyous streak with thunderous gravitas and heart-wrenching human drama. The clocktower/subway sequence is the stuff of legend, as is Molina’s performance. Marvel will be chasing this movie until the end of time; it’ll be wise for it to learn from its greatness. This is one of the few superhero movies to stand in the canon as an all-time great. Also, if you ask us, Rosemary Harris deserved an Oscar nomination for this one.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Ranking the best 25 Marvel movies of all time, including a 'Spider-Man' at the top
