Consider it a pyrrhic victory, but there have been three Fantastic Four theatrical releases and none of them are ranked on our list higher than 24. Marvel Comic’s First Family has proven a stubborn big-screen nut to crack with 2015's Fantastic Four being a bonafide, all hands on deck disaster that destroyed the career of Josh Trank, its director. Trank seemed the perfect fit for this, having directed 2012's Chronicle, about three teenagers who acquire superpowers. On the talent end, Miles Teller was coming off Whiplash and Michael B. Jordan was on the cusp of superstardom (Creed would be released less than four months after FF). And yet, here we are. Trank seemed overwhelmed by the assignment, creating a muddled and joyless spin on the team’s origin story that strands a talented cast in a literal and figurative parallel dimension where stilted dialogue and drab effects pass for filmed entertainment. Plus, Kate Mara is given almost nothing to do, which is a crime in itself. Stories of Trank’s behavior during and after filming are legion and only added to the stench that continues to waft off of every theatrical print and Blu-ray of the film.

No Marvel film is quite as disappointing as Blade: Trinity, especially coming off the quality of the series’ previous two films. David Goyer, who wrote the previous two Blade films seemed like a natural to direct the third. But not every writer can jump into directing. Trinity is a style-less film, trading in neo-Gothicism for the look of a generic network procedural. And while Trinity pulls more from Blade’s comic book history than the other two movies—introducing the Nightstalkers, Hannibal King (Ryan Reynolds), and Abigail Whistler (Jessica Biel), and establishing Dracula (Dominic Purcell) as the main antagonist—Blade (Wesley Snipes) is overshadowed. That created much-discussed tension between Snipes and Goyer, a scenario that led to an infamous moment where Snipes refused to open his eyes for a scene at a morgue, so his eyes were CGI’d in.

It’s actually kind of amazing given the poor reception of Daredevil that Elektra got her own spin-off. Jennifer Garner reprises her role from the Ben Affleck dud in this film from Rob Bowman (who directed the highly entertaining Reign Of Fire). The story concerns Elektra being brought back from the dead as an assassin-for-hire, but breaks good when she chooses to protect a father (Goran Visnijic) and his young daughter (Kristen Zien) from The Hand and their lead assassin, Kirigi (Will Yun Lee). To be fair, Garner gives a solid performance and does the best with what she has to work with, but the film opts for more domestic drama than action, becoming a clash of sentimentality and poorly constructed superhero action.

“There’s good and bad in all of us,” says Ghost Rider in his second big screen adventure. Yet there only seems to be bad in the films that bear his name. Spirit Of Vengeance was directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, the duo responsible for Jason Statham’s adrenalized, Crank and its sequel, two films that had the good sense to realize how ridiculous they were. Ghost Rider: The Spirit Of Vengeance has no such self-awareness. The action picks up with Johnny Blaze (Cage) hiding out in Eastern Europe when an alcoholic French monk (Idris Elba, the highlight of a pretty strong supporting cast) offers to lift the Ghost Rider’s curse if he tracks down a boy who could be the son of the devil. The film mistakes devout characters and scenes in churches for actual religious subtext, and the subpar 3D effects, including objects that fly directly at the camera, meant nothing then and even less now. Cage performs as if overcompensating for never getting to play the comic book hero of his dreams: Superman. But he’s certainly the best thing about a sporadically dull film that could have benefited from an extra helping of bonkers.

The problem with The Punisher as a movie character was hardly addressed in 2004’s The Punisher, starring Thomas Jane, and it’s hardly solved in 2008’s Punisher: War Zone. In this ridiculous follow-up, Frank Castle is still a grim and humorless vigilante with no other purpose than to mete out semi-automatic justice and, no matter how much they try to give him some dimension with a murdered family and guilt over killing an FBI agent, he’s still just a grim and humorless vigilante with no other purpose than to mete out semi-automatic justice. So this second bite at The Punisher’s poisoned apple fares no better than the first. Ray Stevenson is certainly game for the role with a face that covers a wide range of Punisher emotions: from angry and determined to more angry and determined. The nihilism flows like blood as the main bad guy is disfigured in a glass crushing machine and one character has his kidney torn from his body. This is low IQ, high-body-count cinema appropriate for a movie directed by a former kickboxing champ.

You’d think making a great Fantastic Four movie wouldn’t be so difficult. Well, Hollywood has proved otherwise. Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer, Tim Story’s follow-up to Fantastic Four, doubles down on the silliness, and gives Reed (Ioan Gruffudd), Sue (Jessica Alba), Johnny (Chris Evans), and Ben (Michael Chiklis) very little to work with despite the capable talents of the actors. The Silver Surfer (Doug Jones in body, Laurence Fishburne in voice) is a highlight but he’s ultimately underutilized in the service of a power-swapping plot, the return of Doctor Doom (Julian McMahon), and the impending arrival of Galactus, who’s a giant cloud instead of the giant, purple-clad humanoid everyone wanted to see. The end result is a messy film that quickly overstays its welcome.

There’s no denying that Ang Lee is a master of the craft. And props to him for trying something new with Hulk, utilizing the style of comic book panels within scene transitions, and tapping into the psychological elements of Bruce Banner’s (Eric Bana) childhood abuse, and his relationship with his father (Nick Nolte). Plus, Sam Elliott and Jennifer Connelly really stand out as General Ross and Betty, respectively. In other words, all the elements for a great Hulk film are present. Yet it’s boring as hell. Bana comes across as wooden and he’s given uninteresting dialogue. There’s no real sense of propulsion moving the story forward, and while the dramatic aspects are interesting, the action scenes are not. Plus, the Hulk is rubbery looking and the climax is muddled and difficult to make out. Nevertheless, Hulk has become a cult classic in recent years, and while it certainly has qualities to respect, there’s much less to enjoy.

Mark Steven Johnson’s Ghost Rider is an odd beast of a film that makes use of plenty of comic book elements but also feels like it never really gets up to speed, with almost every scene feeling half as thrilling as it should be. There’s fun but it’s nearly impossible to find and hold onto anything of substance within the film. Nicholas Cage is obviously having a blast as stunt rider turned spirit of vengeance Johnny Blaze, and his anguished transformation into Ghost Rider is one of the great 21st century Cage moments. But there’s no chemistry between he and love interest Roxanne (Eva Mendes), or the villains Mephisto (Peter Fonda) and his son, Blackheart (Wes Bentley). Most of the characters never feel like they’re playing off each other, and the couple that do, Mack (Donal Logue) and Carter Slade (Sam Elliot) are removed from the equation too quickly. Still, if Cage showed up as Blaze in Secret Wars, fans wouldn’t be upset.

Before Ghost Rider, Mark Steven Johnson made his first foray into superhero films with Ben Affleck as the titular blind lawyer turned Man Without Fear. Daredevil certainly isn’t lacking in style, and its Nu Metal aesthetics and soundtrack (Evanescence’s “My Immortal” for the win) have invited quite a bit of nostalgia in recent years. The screenplay leaves a lot to be desired as it attempts to take on too much in too little time, something the Director’s Cut improves upon a little bit. The cast of characters, Elektra (Jennifer Garner), Foggy Nelson (Jon Favreau), Ben Urich (Joe Pantoliano), Bullseye (Colin Farrell), and especially Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan), nearly make up for the silliness of the playground fight between Daredevil and Elektra, as does the final fight between Daredevil and Kingpin.

Hopes were high for X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a prequel that was supposed to delve into Wolverine’s time at Weapon X, and utilize his recently revealed comic book origin story. Unfortunately, the meat of that story is constrained to the opening credits and a truncated transformation scene later that doesn’t match the body horror vibes that were teased in X-Men and X2. And yet, despite the disappointing elements and rough CGI, Hugh Jackman is still undeniably committed to the role, and gives more than the screenplay or the filmmaking does. Praise also goes to Liev Schreiber’s portrayal of Victor Creed and the script’s decision to make them brothers. The film also loses points for its absolutely baffling depiction of Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) which, thankfully, was later rectified. It’s a chaotic film, but an entertaining one nonetheless.

For the most part, Tim Story’s Fantastic Four gets the characterization of the superhero team right. Chris Evans obviously steals the show as The Human Torch, but Gruffudd, Chiklis, and Alba all do a solid job as Mr. Fantastic, The Thing, and the Invisible Woman, respectively. Where the film falters is in its depiction of Doctor Doom (Julian McMahon). Despite the smart decision to make him part of Richards’ ill-fated space voyage, Doom is a generic CEO type who simply isn’t that interesting, or a big enough threat to make for a convincing adversary. But the film manages to balance comedy—though some of it is admittedly outdated—and emotional turmoil pretty well, especially where The Thing is concerned. No, it’s not a great film, but it’s pretty good for what it’s trying to be.

The biggest hurdle facing Jonathan Hensleigh’s The Punisher is that it’s hard to separate it from a hundred other generic revenge movies. Thomas Jane is good as Frank Castle while John Travolta has fun hamming it up as crime boss Howard Saint, and the switch of locales from NYC to Florida is welcome. But there’s still nothing particularly memorable about the movie, which is also an issue with bottom-tier Punisher comics, in that they’re fine shoot ’em up stories but they don’t offer much. Garth Ennis’ works are a big exception, and despite the film drawing from those comics, they stray too far to make their mark. The Punisher is fine, but the character is better served by the psychologically-charged Netflix series starring John Bernthal.

2020's The New Mutants was something of a mutant itself: the film was the subject of months of reshoot gossip; its original studio, 20th Century Fox, was sold to Disney who didn’t like the film all that much; new editors were brought in to recut it; then it turns out reshoots never happened because the cast was too old; and when it was finally gifted a very belated release, it was during a global pandemic. All this doesn’t necessarily augur a bad film but, in this case, well, yes it does. Positioned as a YA horror film cum superhero origin story cum Stephen King adaptation, The New Mutants features a quintet of teens—including Indigenous, Latino, and lesbian characters—who find themselves trapped in a psychiatric institute led by a mysterious doctor with designs on their burgeoning mutant gifts. Despite hewing to comic book legend Chris Claremont’s ’80s era comic that was a spin-off of the X-Men, the movie is a misfire from the concept stage. It feels too far removed from the X-Men films to live in their universe and it’s too larded with horror tropes to justify being a multi-film series. Considering how Bryan Singer’s X-Men series was a brilliant allegory about LGBTQ intolerance, The New Mutants concludes the X-Men franchise—until Disney relaunches it—on a disappointing note.

Morbius is actually good. Daniel Espinosa’s film got sucked into meme culture, making any earnest conversations about it dry up all too quickly. As a concept, Morbius doesn’t stray far from the comic book source material, and despite Jared Leto’s behind-the-scenes method acting antics, his portrayal of Dr. Michael Morbius, a man facing his own mortality, is compelling. Self-serious for such a silly concept? Sure. But so are the comics. There’s enough humor and energy brought to the film by Matt Smith’s Milo to make up for some of the film’s narrative shortcomings. And Espinosa brings a unique visual style to the living vampires’ display of powers. There should be more to it, but it’s an entertaining B-movie that really isn’t that far off in quality from the Venom movies or the early 2000s Marvel flicks that folks have discovered a nostalgia for.

A step down from the previous two X-Men movies, The Last Stand is another case of a single movie cramming too much into its runtime and a director who doesn’t have the skillset to tackle a story of such ambition. Despite trying to fit the Dark Phoenix and mutant cure storylines into one film—and director Brett Ratner’s lack of style—the capable cast makes this fun to watch, regardless of how it haphazardly kills off characters (RIP Cyclops) and pays homage to YouTube videos (“I’m the Juggernaut, bitch!”). The additions of Kelsey Grammer, Elliot Page, and Ben Foster as Beast, Kitty Pryde, and Angel, respectively, add some entertainment value. And Hugh Jackman and Famke Janssen both give strong performances as Wolverine and Jean Grey, especially during the climax.

Simon Kinberg’s X-Men: Dark Phoenix had the misfortune of releasing at a time when everyone already knew the X-Men were set to receive an MCU reboot down the line. While the movie doesn’t come close to the epicness of the comic books’ Dark Phoenix Saga, and it possesses many of the same issues as The Last Stand, there’s something commendable about Kinberg aiming for a smaller, more character-driven X-Men film focused on Jean Grey’s (Sophie Turner) growing, uncontrollable powers. The Dark Phoenix Saga probably wasn’t the right story for this sequel, but the First Class cast always played off each other beautifully and that remains true here. Turner’s performance, the climatic train battle, and Hans Zimmer’s score are all highlights marking the end of an era for a franchise.

Andy Serkis’ Venom sequel heightens the camp quality of the first film, and features both Tom Hardy and Woody Harrelson chewing up scenery left and right as Eddie Brock and Cletus Kasady. Adding Shriek (Naomie Harris) into the mix gives the film a chaotic energy that taps into the feeling of ’90s comics. The film could use another 20 minutes to flesh out some of its ideas and the decision to kill Carnage is lamentable but Let There Be Carnage is lightweight fun, and a nice reprieve from the grand scale of the MCU. It’s a big goopy monster movie, which seems to be the approach to Sony’s Spider-Man Universe thus far.

Oddly enough, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 doesn’t work for the same reason that some of the films in the MCU don’t work: a surfeit of plot. We have the villainous Electro (Jamie Foxx), a new Green Goblin (Dane DeHaan), Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) leaving for Oxford University, more about Peter Parker’s parents, corporate shenanigans at Oscorp, and a throwaway appearance by the Rhino (Paul Giamatti) meant to suggest an expanded rogues gallery of Spider-villians that never materialized. It’s all a bit overstuffed although the chemistry between Garfield and Stacy remains supercharged, right up until her comics-inspired death scene, which will bring a tear to even the most Spider-averse eyes. The flying shots are spectacular and returning director Marc Webb sneaks in some beautiful moments, like the shot of Peter at Gwen’s gravesite with the seasons changing behind him. ASM2 was released a month before the fantastic Captain America: The Winter Solider, the ninth MCU film. Before long, the MCU would also get bogged down in world building but, for what it’s worth, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 did it first.

For a time, it seemed like Bryan Singer’s X-Men was as close to the comics as a film would ever get. We know better now, of course, although the quality of the X-Men films has somewhat lessened in hindsight over the decades since. Undoubtedly, Professor X (Patrick Stewart), Magneto (Ian McKellan), and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) make for compelling characters, but most of the other X-Men, except Rogue (Anna Paquin), are kinda pushed to the side when it comes to development, something that would plague the X-Men franchise for the next decade. Plus, this first film’s Matrix-inspired costuming and action sequences both feel dated, and it’s slightly embarrassed by source material that Singer wasn’t interested in. But what works is the compelling drama, and the queer-coded lens through which mutants are explored.

The spirit of ’90s comics is alive and well in Venom. Despite the modern conception of the symbiote as dark, frightening, and something deserving of an R-rating, the truth is that ’90s Venom was very goofy. Ruben Fleischer leans into the odd couple pairing of Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and Venom, resulting in a weird buddy-romance movie that’s delightful in how shameless and unselfconscious it is. Absurdist moments like Brock climbing into a lobster tank, Anne (Michelle Williams) bonding with the symbiote and making out with Eddie, and Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed) monologuing about being God, all point to a film that knows exactly what it is. Plus, that Eminem theme song is a banger.

Five years after Tobey Maguire hung up his Spidey suit, Sony handed it to Andrew Garfield who had the unenviable task of presiding over the same origin story for what seemed like the umpteenth time. But the studio wisely handed directing chores to Marc Webb—whose only previous feature was the wonderful 2009 indie romance (500) Days Of Summer—and hired James Vanderbilt (Zodiac), Steve Kloves (seven Harry Potter films) and two-time Oscar winner Alvin Sargent to write the script. Together they brought the requisite amount of thrills while also adding a love story—with Emma Stone as Peter Parker’s GF, Gwen Stacy—and an emotionally involving story of teen angst. There are darker overtones here that were a bit surprising for a superhero film of that time and that wear well today. Sure, the Lizard is just a reptilian riff on Green Goblin and the introduction of Peter’s parents—wait, he had parents?!—wound up adding little emotional depth. But the flying sequences and fight scenes are top notch and Garfield and Stone have great chemistry. So if we absolutely had to have yet another Spider-Man movie, be glad it was this one.

The first Deadpool was such a tornado of superhero cinema-skewering mockery, such a wickedly fun and refreshingly vicious work of crackpot genius that you can’t blame Ryan Reynolds and Co. for bringing (much) more of the same in Deadpool 2. The film expands the Deadpool universe by adding the always badass Josh Brolin as the cyber-soldier Cable and the superhero team, X-Force. Otherwise Reynolds plays the Merc with a Mouth as a bottomless well of snark. Were it not for Reynold’s preternatural ability to be simultaneously charming and nasty, the film would have felt like a retread of the first installment from Frame One. David Leitch, producer of the John Wick series and director of Bullet Train, has a blast marshalling the mayhem as director. Come for the laughs, stay for the post-credit dig at Green Lantern that had theater audiences rolling in the aisle.

X-Men: Apocalypse, the follow-up to Days Of Future Past, is big, bombastic, goofy, and the closest any of the team-centric X-Men films have come to the comics and the beloved X-Men: The Animated Series. It also has the benefit of not being Wolverine centric and allowing some of the other characters to shine, though once again there’s too many of them for everyone to get the screentime they deserve. Sophie Turner, Tye Sheridan, and Kodi Smit-McPhee are particularly welcome additions as the new Jean Grey, Cyclops and Nightcrawler, respectively. And while the design choice for Apocalypse, and the decision to cake Oscar Isaac in blue makeup to the point of unrecognizability may have been a mistake, he does add a new wrinkle to the familiar dynamics of Xavier versus Magneto and their warring ideals. It doesn’t have the craft of the more beloved X-Men films, but it is one of the more entertaining entries.

In The Wolverine, James Mangold rescues the reputation of the Wolverine franchise after the subpar Origins by taking cues from Chris Claremont and Frank Miller’s much-beloved Japan saga. Mangold brought a clear sense of style and character development to Wolverine, away from the X-Men, and Hugh Jackman gives one of his best performances in the series as Logan searches for a new purpose. Rila Fukushima is a welcome addition as Wolverine’s partner Yukio, and the film features great turns from Tao Okamoto, Will Yun Lee, Brian Tee, and Hiroyuki Sanada. Mangold also brings a deep sense of style with neo-noir and martial arts film influences. While the third act perhaps takes too hard a turn into CGI heavy superhero action, it’s a damn good Wolverine film, one made even better by the unrated cut.

Deadpool, Ryan Reynolds’ passion project, not only provided him with the opportunity to redeem the character’s association with Origins, it also launched the only franchise, so far, successful enough to be grandfathered into the MCU. The R-rated superhero comedy from Tim Miller stays faithful to the spirit of the comics with respect to Wade Wilson’s (Reynolds) origin story and fourth wall-breaking antics. The film’s personal stakes and focus on Wade’s romance with Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) are a welcome reprieve from the world-ending stakes so often at the center of these films. The ultraviolent action doesn’t pull any punches, and works in tandem with the gross-out humor to make Deadpool a crowd-pleaser.

While Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 caught a lot of flack upon release—and ended that iteration of the Spider-Man franchise—it has since become more respected, particularly in terms of Raimi’s visual craft. From Peter Parker’s (Tobey Maguire) first clash with Harry Osborn (James Franco) to the crane sequence and the final showdown, Raimi has little competition when it comes to inventive set pieces and playful camerawork. The studio mandate to insert Eddie Brock/Venom (Topher Grace) into the film was a mistake, particularly given Raimi’s disinterest in the character. What does work is the addition of the Sandman (Thomas Hayden Church) as a tragic movie monster, and Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard). Plus, Harry Osborn adds tension to Peter and Mary Jane’s (Kirsten Dunst) relationship. There’s silly stuff here, but there’s also a maturity in the handling of its characters as they grapple with their changing place in the world as adults.

In Blade II, Guillermo del Toro brought a fresh sense of style to Marvel’s vampire hunter, pushing the film further into comic book territory and creating some of the most memorable vampires to ever grace the screen: the Reapers. The film doesn’t quite have the same sense of pathos as the first, but it makes up for that with action, bloodshed, and Blade’s (Wesley Snipes) dynamic with the Bloodpack, which works far better than it does with the Nightstalkers in the previous film. One of the great beauties of del Toro’s filmmaking is that he crafts emotionally complex fairy tales set against the background of socio-political concerns, and he can also conjure up fun nightmares of pure vampire carnage and one-liners.

X2: X-Men United, Bryan Singer’s second X-Men film, improves upon the first in every way, pulling from Chris Claremont and Brent Anderson’s comic God Loves Man Kills. It’s still a Wolverine film first and foremost, digging deeper into the character’s Weapon X origins and pitting him against his creator, William Stryker (Brian Cox), who seeks to rid the world of mutants. But forcing the X-Men and the Brotherhood to work together better highlights the tension between Xavier and Magneto’s respective visions, with Iceman (Shawn Ashmore) and Pyro (Aaron Stanford) at the center of that conflict. New additions like Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming)—who stuns in the film’s opening sequence—and Deathstrike (Kelly Hu) give the action scenes additional versatility. Ultimately, it’s the character drama and performances from Jackman, McKellan, Stewart, and Cox that make X2 a standout in the franchise.

Matthew Vaughn’s prequel/reboot saved the X-Men franchise after the poor reception of The Last Stand and Origins. Vaughn brought the characters back to the 1960s and the world their comic book counterparts were created in, making for a fresh feeling superhero period piece. And outside of a brief cameo, Wolverine ceded the spotlight to Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) and Beast (Nicholas Hoult) so they could play crucial roles in Xavier (James McAvoy) and Magneto’s (Michael Fassbender) dreams for the future of mankind. Speaking of which, Xavier and Magneto’s doomed bromance is the highlight of the film and the chemistry between the two heightens the film’s emotional stakes. Kevin Bacon also shines as mutant and former Nazi scientist Sebastian Shaw, who fractures the first team of mutants.

While X-Men tends to get most of the credit for starting the modern age of Marvel, it was Blade that proved comic book characters could be a hot theatrical commodity. Yet when Blade came out in 1998 very few audiences were aware that he was based on a comic book character. Comic book readers familiar with the series Tomb Of Dracula and The Nightstalkers were familiar but for everyone else it was just Wesley Snipes being cool as a hybrid vampire hunter and that was enough. Director Stephen Norrington grounded the comic book aspects long before “grounded” ever became a Hollywood buzzword, while also imbuing the film with a sense of charming menace. The opening nightclub bloodbath is an all-timer in the genre, and despite some dodgy CGI in the third act, Blade still holds up as one of the most revisited comic book movies in recent years, especially as Blade’s popularity has increased.

Bryan Singer returned to the X-Men series with Days Of Future Past, an adaptation of one of the most popular and beloved X-Men stories. The result bridged the First Class narrative with post-Last Stand landscape, bringing back the original X-Men and their new counterparts. Continuity issues be damned, in a post-Avengers landscape, an X-Men movie finally felt like an event film. The introduction of Quicksilver (Evans Peters) and the mutant-hunting robots called the Sentinels resulted in several standout action sequences in the long-running franchise. There’s also something powerful in the future of the mutant race coming down to Mystique who over the course of 15 years evolved from sexy sidekick to the heart of the franchise. The alternate Rogue Cut gives Anna Paquin’s character a more central role, bringing the franchise full-circle from the 2000 film, and giving the series an emotional resolution ... at least for a little bit.

One of the best superhero origin stories ever put to screen, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man fully captured the wonder of superheroes and their ability to inspire—especially in a post-9/11 landscape—while never forgetting the human element that makes these characters work. There’s an earnestness to Tobey Maguire’s portrayal of Peter Parker that lends itself to the joy and tragedy of the character. Raimi’s New York City feels alive and lived in, not a CGI world populated with expendable citizens, but a city in which every player has a personality that adds to the flavor of the world. And speaking of personality, Willem Dafoe’s Norman Osborn is magnetic, finding just the right tonal balance to make Osborn seem like a menace and a believable human being. And that’s really what’s so key to Raimi’s vision; there’s a believability to all of it.

James Mangold followed up The Wolverine with Logan, a stylish treatise on the character that grapples with his place in a violent world, his nature, and his legacy. Part neo-Western, and part road movie, Logan’s (Jackman) journey of finding himself again through his genetic clone, Laura (Dafne Keen), with the help of his mentor Charles Xavier (Stewart), results in a violent and often moving examination of life and death. After 17 years in their roles, Jackman and Stewart both deliver their most powerful performances as these characters, showcasing the fragility of some of pop-culture’s seemingly indestructible figures. And as superhero movies continued to increase in size, stakes, and their hold in the zeitgeist, Mangold reminded audiences that, at their core, these characters’ personal stories are what’s most memorable and heroic.

Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 is not only one of the best superhero movies ever, it’s one of the best sequels, period. Everything that was true of 2002’s Spider-Man remains true here, and its not just the physical stakes that are heightened with the arrival Doc Ock (Alfred Molina) but the emotional ones as well, as Peter is forced to grapple with what he wants and what’s best. Even damsel-in-distress Mary Jane (Dunst) is given an equally powerful arc as she finds her own place in the world of adulthood, helping make Spider-Man 2 a character driven, psychological examination of responsibility and maturity. The concept has rarely been explored better in these films, and on top of that, it features some of the best action sequences to grace the genre. Superhero films are often fun, but very few are masterpieces on the level of Spider-Man 2.