Baby Groot! A egomaniacal planet played by Kurt Russell! A wild story of sibling rivalry that ends with a resonant sense of redemption! Yes, so much to like about the second Guardians of the Galaxy picture, but perhaps the one that finally pushed it into the top 10 for me was the curious father-son story arc, not between Peter Quill and Ego (Russell), but Quill and the blue-skinned Yondu.
- Black Panther (2018)
I know, I know. The first superhero movie to earn an Oscar nom for best picture makes it to just No. 9? I know, it surprised me, too. Truth is, I really, really liked Black Panther. It was a dandy example of superhero storytelling done right, and thought the electric clash between our hero T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) and the villain Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) felt both resonant and relevant. Black Panther’s position on the list speaks more of what’s to come.
- Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
I really struggled with where to put this film, and honestly I’m still not sure if it’s in the right place. Loved a lot of moments in here—particularly the showdown in London, when we get our first post-Civil War glimpse of Captain America—and it took some storytelling gumption to kill off some of the MCU’s best-loved characters. The snap shocked me, and given the time I’ve spent in this universe, that’s not an easy thing to do. And in the end, that shock might drag Infinity War down my list. I don’t feel like I should need to seek grief counseling after seeing a superhero movie.
- Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
By the time Homecoming came out, the book was pretty much written on superhero movies. Sure, the characters would be different and the stories would change, but the tone would be reliably, perhaps comfortingly, similar. Homecoming (along with a handful of other flicks released in 2017) reset our expectations for what a superhero movie could be. This film—a remarkable crossover between Disney and Sony—felt as much like a John Hughes teen romcom as a CGI actioner. But unlike Far from Home, the action didn’t suffer: Michael Keaton proved to be as capable a villain as he had been Batman nearly 30 years before.
- Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
Before superheroes got all conflicted and angsty, there was Captain America—a true blue, old-fashioned hero. He came from a more innocent time, and it shows. But in this movie, Cap sets the tone for what a hero really should be—even if he himself doesn’t always measure up.
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