I’ve always been a fan of blogathons and there’s one type of blogathon that has really captured my imagination as far as ways to make it a bit more interesting for me. Some may say that I like to overcomplicate things, but when it comes to these relays there is the idea that it becomes this ever-changing list, but there are some items that stick around for a long time, and others that come in a go out a bit more often. I wanted to take this concept of a blog relay and twist it in such a way that it has a definitive ending. That when all is said and done, there is a single top 10 list that is agreed upon by the most members. But before I get into the rules and what not, I will start out with my own list that’s not specifically just my favorites, but what I think are the best superhero movies of all time.

The Avengers

Still my favorite superhero movie, it’s just so much fun and a movie that really changed the way that studios look at superhero movies. Without the Avengers, we wouldn’t have the current slate of DC movies, X-Men movies, or Spider-Man movies, which some may say isn’t a good thing, but I’m enjoying it for now and I think most people are as well.

Batman Returns

Already one of a possibly controversial choice, but I still think that Batman Returns is the better of the two Tim Burton Batman movies. It’s darker, it has more of a Tim Burton feel to it, and I really liked the way he handled Catwoman and the Penguin.

The Dark Knight

I think it’s really no question that this is one of the best, if not the best superhero movie ever made. Nolan crafted a fantastic piece of cinema along with the greatest performance of the Joker ever committed to film. The action is great, the story is great, the characters are great. I wouldn’t be surprised if this movie is the first to get locked into this list.

Hellboy 2

I am a big fan of Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy movies and the second one is quite a bit better than the first one, as is often the case once you get the world building out of the way and just get the chance to have fun. The creatures in here look amazing and in a time when everything is CG, it’s nice to see that there’s still some room for practical effects right alongside the computer effects.

The Incredibles

Brad Bird might not have set out to create the best superhero movie ever made, but that’s pretty close to what he did. This is what a Fantastic Four movie should really be about, it gets the heart of the family dynamics down while not ever forgetting that these are four superpowered individuals (and a baby). Great storytelling from start to finish.

Iron Man

There aren’t too many origin movies on this list, and that’s because often the origin movies are the most stereotypical and boring parts of a superhero franchise, but Iron Man is one of the best origin stories out there and it’s helped by the extremely charismatic Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. This movie made Marvel Studios what it is today.

Spider-Man 2

In years to come, the Raimi Spider-Man trilogy may be overshadowed by the Sony Spider-Man franchise, but at least right now, it’s still hard to top the second movie from that series. It has one of the best villains with Doc Ock played by Alfred Molina, and I think it had the best part of the romance between Mary Jane and Peter Parker.

Superman

When it comes to superhero movies, it’s been over 30 years and it’s still hard to top the original Christopher Reeves’s Superman: The Movie. It was the first superhero film for many people and even today it still holds up. It has the right sense of wonder, humor, and action that isn’t always present, especially in the DC movies of late.

X-Men

This is another franchise where I might not have picked correctly in some people’s eyes, but when I think about the X-Men as a whole, what I really enjoy about what the movies do is the way they create these character dynamics, and give real personality to all the different mutants. And that is done the best here in the first movie.

Unbreakable

Superheroes are often about fantastic people doing fantastic things with intense action, big budget special effects, and crazy sci-fi explanations, but Unbreakable is a movie that pares the concept of a superhero down to the barest of essentials. This is a man that has abilities that are not out of the realm of possibility in the real world, and it puts the superhero in a very mundane setting and for that I applaud it.

Batman: Under the Red Hood

I am a big fan of DC Animation and I had to find one movie out there to represent it. While I considered going with the more recent Dark Knight Returns, this is the first one that really caught my interest and took DC down a darker and more adult path with their animation to tell a complete and mature story that’s just as good as any live action movie out there.

Blade 2

Guillermo del Toro takes another spot on my list with the vampire hunter that came out a couple years before the X-Men franchise really blew the lid off the superhero movie. The action and mythology of the Blade series really meshed together in the best way possible here in this second movie, and it does the enemy-of-my-enemy is my friend angle as well as it could possibly be done.

The Relay so Far

Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights
A Fistful of Films
Flixchatter
The Focused Filmographer
Life vs. Film
Simplistic Reviews
InSession Film
GeekCastRadio
Dell on Movies
Jeffrey K. Lyles’ Movie Files
Rambling Film
Two Dollar Cinema
Cinematic Corner
And So It Begins…
Surrender to the Void
Public Transportation Snob
Your Face!

The Current List

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And also a text version of the list:

The Avengers
The Dark Knight
Spider-Man 2
Iron Man
Unbreakable
The Rocketeer
The Incredibles
Blade 2
X-Men 2
Batman Begins (4, -2)
Hellboy 2 (2, -1)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) (1)
The Crow (-1)
Thor (-1)
Oldboy (-1)
Super (-1)
Batman (-1)
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (-1)
Batman Returns (-1)
X-Men (-1)
Mystery Men (-1)
Chronicle (-1)
Batman: Under the Red Hood (-1)
Watchmen (-1)
V For Vendetta (-1)
X-Men: First Class (-1)
Kick-Ass (-1)
Superman II (-2)
Guardians of the Galaxy (-2)

Out

Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Superman: The Movie

Now the first thing you might be asking is “why are there 12 movies in this top 10 list?” Well there are a couple changes that I’m making to the typical blog relay. Here are the rules for my relay.

1. The list of movies will be passed to another blogger who will post their list within a week.

2. The blogger will take their list, remove 3 movies – with explanations, and replace with 3 new movies – with explanations.

3. If a movie lasts five rounds without being removed, it becomes locked in; it is permanent and can no longer be removed from the list.

4. If a movie is removed three different times, it is locked out and can no longer be put back onto the list by someone else.

5. Once four movies are locked into place, bloggers will replace 2 movies.

6. Once eight movies are locked into place, bloggers will replace 1 movie.

7. The relay will be complete when a blogger decides to keep the 10th movie in its 5th round to create the final list of 10.

I will keep the current status of the relay here and you can also follow the steps of the relay as it goes along. I am passing the baton next to A Fistful of Films and am curious to see how this blogathon ends up.

If you are taking part in this relay, feel free to use your own graphics, but if you would like to use the film reel and iron bar graphics that I have made, just ask me and I will provide them to you as PNGs that should be easy to incorporate into any graphics program that uses layers.