Ranking 2018's DC and Marvel superhero films

[Username taken]

After seeing Into the Spider-Verse and Aquaman, I have to change adjust my rankings a bit.

1. Avengers Infinity War/Black Panther/Into the Spider-Verse: like damn, folks talk about superhero movies not having stakes. Those folks need to watch Spider-verse, I don't think I've ever seen a superhero movie balance humor, action, dark violence and tragedy like this one. It was just perfect.
Aquaman
Deadpool 2
Ant-man and the Wasp


Venom

[UltimateTy]

BP

Spider-verse

Avengers

Deadpool 2

Venom

Ant-Man and the Wasp

I haven't seen Aquaman so I can't rate it

[Ilan Preskovsky]

Hardly anyone is placing Black Panther at the top? Didn't critics tell us it was the greatest thing ever.

To be sure, the cultural aspect of it is a huge part of why people have made such a big deal about it. I'm still slightly confused why as we already had a number of black characters in the MCU and the Marvel movie that started off this whole decades-long wave of superheroes, Blade, starred a black guy. And, lets not kid, Black Panther was hardly the first person of colour to lead a big-time action movie either (Denzel, the Rock, even Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop). All that said, though, Black Panther clearly still did strike a major chord with black audiences (and was widely enjoyed by audiences of every other colour too, of course) and he was the first major black superhero in comics, so I don't want to take away anything from Black Panther or his fans. It's just a bit... weird, is all.

Personally, I liked it fine but I thought it was mid-range Marvel Studios that was actually hurt, in my eyes, by the absurd hype. I enjoyed it much, much more the second time around when I saw it knowing what to expect of it.

[AJBopp]

To be sure, the cultural aspect of it is a huge part of why people have made such a big deal about it. I'm still slightly confused why as we already had a number of black characters in the MCU and the Marvel movie that started off this whole decades-long wave of superheroes, Blade, starred a black guy. And, lets not kid, Black Panther was hardly the first person of colour to lead a big-time action movie either (Denzel, the Rock, even Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop).

None of the other characters you mention celebrated black culture or heritage. Any of them could have been replaced by a person of any race, and it would have been largely the same character. Culture is not about skin color.

[C_Miller]

Hardly anyone is placing Black Panther at the top? Didn't critics tell us it was the greatest thing ever.

Greatest thing ever? Not so much. It was my favorite superhero movie of the year, but it's looking like it's going to be towards the end of my top ten, if it makes it at all.

[Ilan Preskovsky]

None of the other characters you mention celebrated black culture or heritage. Any of them could have been replaced by a person of any race, and it would have been largely the same character. Culture is not about skin color.

That.. is actually a perfectly fair point. I do, admittedly, quibble with the whole idea of this monolithic "black culture" as, for example, I can't see much in the way of similarities between traditional Africans and Urban black Americans but I don't really mean this as a criticism, just as an observation about what we loosely define as "culture". Black culture is particularly interesting as non-African black people tend to be the product of slavery, whereas African black people have been shaped by the more subtle and insidious effects of colonialism. There's clearly no such thing as "white culture" and even something like "Jewish culture" is much harder to pin down than, say, "Ashekanzi Jewish culture" or "Ethiopian Jewish culture", but the idea of a monolithic "black culture", even "black heritage" strikes me as slightly odd.

That's a digression, though, about a subject I just naturally have an interest in and I totally take your point.

Interestingly, I saw it in a screening with a predominantly black South African audience and it was clearly working a magic on them that it wasn't on the white members of the audience. I would imagine that it hit them more even than it did black American or black British audiences as so much of it was steeped in African languages (Xhosa, if I recall correctly), African traditions (albeit no douby slightly stereotyped versions of the same) and a very particular kind of wish fulfilment in Wakanda being an African country untouched by Colonialism and yet also ludicrously technologically advanced.

And... I think I sort of answered my own question - even if I do think that the cultural impact on most critics is more purely academic than actual, in the way it would be for a black kid in Soweto.

[Theleviathan]

Spiderverse
Infinity War
Black Panther
Deadpool 2

I also think Black Panther was overrated. It was such a good movie the first half and I loved the build up of Killmonger....but somewhere in the middle it lost it's way. Good movie, but not great. It's impact is more about what it represents than the actual quality of the film IMO.

[Ilan Preskovsky]

Spiderverse
Infinity War
Black Panther
Deadpool 2

I also think Black Panther was overrated. It was such a good movie the first half and I loved the build up of Killmonger....but somewhere in the middle it lost it's way. Good movie, but not great. It's impact is more about what it represents than the actual quality of the film IMO.

Well, for one thing, it had by far its best and most visually impressive action set piece in the middle of the movie. It's one of my biggest problems with it, actually.

[Zero Hunter]

Of the ones I have seen so far going just by pure enjoyment

1 - Infinity War
2 - Ant Man and the Wasp
3 - Black Panther
4 - Deadpool 2 (not nearly as good as the first movie)
5 - Venom (hot garbage)

I am eager to see Aquaman and Into the Spiderverse now though.

[titanfan]

1. Infinity War
2. Teen Titans Go
3. Spider Man
4. Aquaman
5. Black Panther
6. Deadpool 2
7. Venom
8. Ant Man and Wasp

Ant Man was the only one I didn't like. Venom was ridiculous, but strangely entertaining.

If they ended up keeping the Oscar for "Best Popular Movie", I think Black Panther would lose to Bumblebee or Mission Impossible.

[Ilan Preskovsky]

1. Infinity War
2. Teen Titans Go
3. Spider Man
4. Aquaman
5. Black Panther
6. Deadpool 2
7. Venom
8. Ant Man and Wasp

Ant Man was the only one I didn't like. Venom was ridiculous, but strangely entertaining.

If they ended up keeping the Oscar for "Best Popular Movie", I think Black Panther would lose to Bumblebee or Mission Impossible.

Well, no, I think it would easily win over both of these... though I actually liked both of them more and would be my picks over Black Panther. Though the winner for me would be either Into the Spider-Verse or Infinity War.

[Marvelgirl]

Black Panther was better than Infinity War.Marvel movies

1. Black Panther
2. AntMan and The Wasp
3. Infinity War.

[Godzilla2099]

Aquaman: This earned first place for me. Easy to follow, amazing visuals, pacing was great, and it was an overall great performance. It had an Indiana Jones and Star Wars Vibe of the originals.

Venom: I know I'm in the minority for ranking this so high. It wasn't perfect and definitely had room for improvement. I ranked this second place because we all had such a great time watching it (Three guys in mid-late 30s, a 12 and 10 year old). It was a fun movie. Tom Hardy made this one. The interactions between Brock and Venom were gold.

Infinity Warr: If I wasn't a comic fan, I'd probably have a hard time keeping up with it. However, with all that was happening, Marvel really did a good job making it work. It was intense and all the deaths impressed me considering I always viewed them as the (lighter heroes). The GOTG lines were a little cringeworthy. Spidey and Tony made this movie for me. I also liked how they gave Thanos the spotlight and not just another notch for a bad guy

Into the Spider-Verse: Another fun movie. Other than a little tough with the pacing and I hated half the soundtrack. Highly recommended. All the characters were great. Probably the best animated marvel movie I've seen

Black Panther: Personally, I thought it was overrated. However the protagonist and antagonist killed it in the acting department. I found this and Aquaman the most original in this list

Deadpool 2: It was alright. Not bad, but I couldn't get into it as much

Ant Man and Wasp: Not really a bad movie. I loved seeing Pym and Janet in costume. But this movie was almost too light hearted and casual. I was bored most of the time