Best Superhero Movies: List

It's no secret that comics have always been of great interest to the creators of films, it was thanks to them that the best films about superheroes appeared. Two branches of art were formed almost simultaneously and developed initially in parallel, using similar laws, corresponding to the directions of genre politics. Superficially, they seem very close - visual art, narration is mainly based on dialogs. Comics can be called a storyboard, which is actively used by filmmakers.

First film adaptations

Since the film industry specialists learned how to make the first simple special effects, films about superheroes and other comic book characters began to be released regularly. In the twentieth century, hundreds of films and TV series about the adventures of superhuman were released, and all the characters familiar to the viewer - from Spider-Man, Batman to the Hulk and Wonder Woman - began their march on the screens long before the boom of the 2000s. Just for a while they did not have global popularity.

The very first movie screenings of comics appeared in the 40s, some of them are still the best films about superheroes. One of those is considered to be the film comic strip “The Adventures of Captain Marvel”. It was divided into several episodes, each of which invariably ended with a cliffhanger. Each part was broadcast in cinemas for a whole week. Unfortunately, for a long time a movie made on comics was cheap, many projects could not claim the honorary title of “Best Superhero Films”.

"Superman"

Everything changed in 1978, when the victorious procession on the screens was started by Richard Donner's Superman. He was the first and only really expensive superhero full-length movie. The project turned out to be truly revolutionary - colorful, distinct, exciting, with unprecedented special effects. The fact that Donner was not afraid to deliver such an expensive film about Superman is quite logical, this is the most familiar, famous and mega-popular American superhero. Later, in the unanimous opinion of viewers and critics, he led the top of the best films about superheroes. After that, Hollywood dealers needed as much as 20 years for comic and superhero films to become popular and ubiquitous.

Batman

More than 10 years later, the unique director Tim Burton presented the world with his “Batman”, which became a model, an equally important milestone in the history of comic book films. The director, giving priority to the visual part of the project, approached the film adaptation quite responsibly, literally tried to transfer the aesthetics of the comic to the screen. “Batman” is one of the three championships in the category “Best Superhero Films”.

Breakthrough

A new era of superhero cinema began in 2000, during which the 20th Century Fox film studio signed a contract with director Brian Singer, specializing in thrillers and dramas, to shoot pictures from the X-Men series. At the beginning of the work on the project, no one could have imagined that the picture of the adventures of mutant superheroes would become insanely popular, and the income would exceed the film budget three times. Thus began a new era in the production of comic film screens. The main blockbusters of the last ten years have become: Iron Man, Spider-Man, Avengers and others. The best films about superheroes, the list of which is presented below, are predominantly shot on comics:

• "Superman" (1978).
• “Batman” (1989).
• X-Men (2000).
• Spider-Man (2002).
• The Hulk (2003).
• The Fantastic Four (2005).
• The Dark Knight (2008).
• “Iron Man” (2008).
• The Avengers (2012).
• "Man of Steel (2013)."

The following films were not included in the list of the top 10 best films about superheroes, although they are popular, are: Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Green Lantern (2011), Tor (2011), “ Ghost Rider ”(2007),“ Hancock ”(2008),“ Daredevil ”(2003),“ Hellboy ”(2004),“ Catwoman ”(2004). They are quite a bit behind the box office leaders.

The embodiment of the standard

Superhero comic book films have become popular due to the fact that the hero's archetype is an extremely popular idea in art for the masses, especially the past century. Superheroes were extremely necessary in the difficult 20th century, and now, in the 21st, they are needed even more. There is no mythology in our chaotic modernity, the influence of religion is weakening, the townsfolk have nothing to follow and no one to follow. It remains to extol humanity, heroism, and superheroes are just the most naive, simple and understandable embodiment of the standard of the hero.

Rhythm

Watching an explosion of subgenre activity, you involuntarily start wondering why it took filmmakers almost 100 years to get the hang of filming great movies from comics, why all the best superhero films have been shot in the last 15 years. Indeed, if you compare the first part of the epic "X-Men" (2000) and "Avengers" (2012), the difference seems colossal. It's all about a key feature - rhythm. A comic is an interactive subgenre of visual art, each user decides independently what speed to read, on which frames to focus his attention, to pause. This individual flexible rhythm is an integral advantage of the comic book, while the cinema confidently “takes” the viewer by the hand and carries along the narration at the pace set by the creators, leaving no particular choice for perception. This is really a significant difference. When film directors became aware of it, the viewer saw The Dark Knight, filmed according to the genre laws of cinema, not a comic. That is, when comic book superhero films ceased to be "comic", they immediately turned into a great movie.

Superhero series

Comic superhero series that arose back in the 40s and since then have been trying too hard to match the original source: Smallville, Heroes. At present, the creators of soap operas are concentrating on movie receptions, starting from the original story: “Arrow”, “Agents Shch.I.T.” etc. It is difficult to argue with the fact that the comic book library is an endless supply of already tested and brilliant stories, characters and plot moves for superhero series. So the ideas for the adaptation of comics will inspire filmmakers and television people for many years to come.