The 8 Most Fun Superhero Movies of the 21st Century, Ranked
Writing from the Chicagoland area in Illinois, Robert is an avid movie watcher and will take just about any excuse to find time to go to his local movie theaters. Robert graduated from Bradley University with degrees in Journalism and Game Design with a minor in Film Studies. Robert tries his best to keep up with all the latest movie releases, from those released in theaters to those released on streaming. While he doesn't always keep up with the latest TV shows, he makes it a goal to watch nearly every major new release possible. He has been honing his craft and following any and all movie news all his life, leading up to now, where he has a vast knowledge of film and film history. He also logs every movie that he watches on his Letterboxd page, and has hosted a weekly online movie night with his closest friends for over 6 years.
Superhero stories have always found success in the medium of film, yet the 21st century has certainly seen a massive explosion of popularity and prominence for these stories of titanic greater-than-average heroes. Between the massive extended universes and the abundance of reliance on intellectual property in general, Superhero movies have become one of the premiere genres of blockbuster film in the past 26 years.
One specific element that has made superhero movies one of the more successful genres of the modern age is their overwhelming fun factor. Between the cartoonish antics and absurdity of these heroes and the larger trends of comedy, many of the best, most crowd-pleasing superhero movies of the modern age find ways to be incredibly fun in their filmmaking and execution. These aren't the only incredibly fun superhero movies of the 21st century, and they certainly won't be the last, but they often come to mind when considering which superhero movies delighted audiences with their overwhelming fun factor.
8 'Shazam!' (2019)
The DCEU largely had a reputation of being the more serious, overly gritty extended superhero universe, especially with films like Batman v Superman having as dark of an execution as possible. However, one of the few detractors of this trend in a superhero movie that largely aimed for a style of cheesy, 80s adventure fun was Shazam. Following a young teenage protagonist, it combines classic superhero comedy with coming-of-age elements to create a surprisingly fun time and one of the most underrated DC films.
Zachary Levi gives a fun, committed performance at the center; the characters are charming and likable, and the film understands the inherent fun and power fantasy that comes with being a superhero. It certainly at times feels like DC largely copying and following in the footsteps of what made MCU action comedies work, but it has enough of its own identity thanks to director David F. Sandberg that it's one of the few DCEU films to actually stand the test of time.
7 'The Lego Batman Movie' (2017)
Considering the fact that the original The Lego Movie was one of the biggest unexpected surprises and most fun family movies of the 21st century, it would make sense that they continued this charm for the prominent side-character, Lego Batman. The aptly titled The Lego Batman Movie doesn't worry about connecting to other Lego movies, instead telling its own standalone Batman parody story that acts as a hilarious comedic love letter to Batman as a character and his history in film.
It's jam-packed with cartoon antics, all sorts of fun stop-motion action, and a lot of the same visual charm that made the original Lego Movie such a breakaway hit. Especially for fans of Batman as a character, The Lego Batman Movie has a lot to offer, not just in terms of overwhelming Easter eggs and references to previous Batman stories, but a lighthearted story of growth and teamwork where Batman learns to accept the help and camaraderie of those around him.
6 'Deadpool 2' (2018)
A trilogy of wildly chaotic superhero parodies befitting the comic icon that they're adapting, each film in the Deadpool trilogy has its own charms and strengths as some of the most fun, satisfyingly bloodsoaked superhero movies ever made. In terms of the raw fun-factor, however, it's hard to deny the stature of Deadpool 2 as the most fun film in the Deadpool trilogy. Without having to rely on setting up Deadpool's origin story or acclimating him into the MCU, Deadpool 2 focuses squarely on what makes Deadpool great: R-rated action with great choreography and raunchy jokes.
The film is constantly playing with the audiences' expectations for a sequel and toying with the conventions of superhero movies as a whole, whether it be through the introduction and immediate killing of the X-Force or the fanboying to reveals of characters like Juggernaut. It's a superhero sequel designed for the overwhelming cultural dominance that the grnre was experiencing in the late 2010s, with the great action directing of David Leitch pushing it over the edge as one of the most fun superhero movies of that era.
5 'Spider-Man' (2002)
Spider-Man as a character has been at the center of a wide-array of memorable and incredibly fun superhero blockbusters during the 21st century, yet there's something special and truly timeless about the vision of the character brought to life by Sam Raimi nearly 25 years ago. With overwhelming charm and passion oozing from every aspect of its filmmaking, 2002's Spider-Man is about as perfect and exceptionally fun as a superhero origin story can get.
Tobey Maguire's take on Peter Parker is incredibly endearing and fun to watch, on top of Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin being one of the most entertaining villains not just in terms of superhero movies, but in all blockbuster filmmaking in the 21st century. Still, it's the direction and signature charm of Raimi's directing that set Spider-Man apart from other adaptations of the character, as his angle for action and wild camera movements made the film a massive crowd-pleaser full of personality and fun.
Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes Which Superhero Team Should You Join? Avengers · X-Men · Teen Titans · The Boys
Every team is a personality test with a uniform. One saves the world and argues about it the whole way home. One has been fighting for the right to exist since the day it formed. One is still working out who it is while the fighting happens. And one has no powers at all, plus no intention of playing fair. Eight questions decide where you actually belong.
🛡️Avengers(Marvel Studios)
🧬X-Men(Marvel)
🐦Teen Titans(DC)
💊The Boys(Prime Video)
01
What kind of power would you actually want? The power matters less than what you would be willing to do with it.
02
Why join a team at all? Nobody puts on the suit for the reason they say out loud.
03
How do you feel about the people in charge? Every team has a chain of command. Very few of them survive contact.
04
What is your role inside a group? Every roster needs the same handful of people to function.
05
How do you win a fight you should lose? This is the scene the entire film gets built around.
06
What is this work costing you? Nobody does this for free. The bill just arrives differently for everyone.
07
How should the world see your team? Half of this job is public relations, and everybody knows it.
08
The offer arrives. What makes you say yes? Eight questions in, this is the one that decides your team.
Recruitment Is Complete Your Team Is…
Four teams, four completely different reasons to put yourself in danger for strangers. This is the roster you actually belong on, what they would want from you, and what it would cost you to stay.
The Avengers
You belong where the stakes are largest and the personalities are loudest. This is a team of people who are all used to being the most important person in the room, which is exactly why it works and exactly why it keeps nearly falling apart.
- The Avengers are not friends who became a team. They are a team that slowly and reluctantly became friends, and you would recognise every stage of that process.
- You can hold your own among big egos without needing to win every exchange, which is the real entry requirement here.
- The arguing is part of the method. This group does its best thinking mid-disagreement, usually at volume, usually in a very expensive building.
- When the sky opens, they are who shows up. You would want to be standing in that line.
The X-Men
You have never had the luxury of being thanked for this. The X-Men protect a world that has never once been comfortable with them existing, and something in you understands exactly why they keep doing it anyway.
- This is the only team on the list whose central conflict is not a villain. It is being wanted gone by the same people they keep saving.
- You know what it is to be the outsider in a room and to decide, anyway, that you will not make yourself smaller so everyone else is comfortable.
- The X-Men are the most genuine found family in comics. People arrive with nowhere else to go and are never once asked to explain themselves.
- You would not be joining for the glory. There has never been any.
The Teen Titans
You do not want colleagues, you want your people. The Titans are the team where the friendship came first and the world-saving turned up afterwards as an inconvenient side effect.
- Every Titan is somebody's sidekick who decided to stop being one. That decision, not the villain of the week, is what the team is actually about.
- You would be joining people who are all working themselves out at the same time as you, which is far less lonely than being the only one.
- The Titans lose regularly. Then they eat together and come back better, which is a more honest model of growing up than any other team here manages.
- The tower would be loud, chaotic, and the first place that ever felt like yours.
The Boys
You are not asking who to trust. You worked out the answer a while ago and it was nobody in a cape. This is where you go once you have decided the people in charge need watching, and that nobody else is going to do it.
- The Boys have no powers, no mandate and no funding. What they have is leverage, patience, and a very high tolerance for consequences.
- You are the person in the room who notices the thing everybody else has quietly agreed not to mention.
- This is not a heroic team and it has never pretended otherwise. It is a group of damaged people doing necessary work in ways nobody would call clean.
- You would not sleep well. You would keep going anyway.
4 'Avengers: Endgame' (2019)
In terms of a superhero film designed from the ground up to appeal to fans and garner a massive reaction as a true event, Avengers: Endgame is the type of climactic, entertaining event that cannot easily be compared to other superhero movies. It pays off over a decade of storytelling in the MCU, calling back to all different parts of its past while also setting up for the future in a glorious love-letter to fans. Especially for those that stood with the MCU since the beginning, it's one of the most fun and bombastic experiences that cinema has to offer.
Throughout its 3-hour runtime, the film goes all out in delivering a passionate, incredibly fun experience tailored to the fans that have stuck with the MCU during this time. It all comes together for one of the most epic battle scenes in a superhero movie, where the action is firing off on all fronts and memorable moments are constantly happening one after another. There's a reason that the film became so successful that it was once the highest-grossing movie of all time.
3 'The Incredibles' (2004)
Largely thanks to the absolute dominance of Marvel and DC superheroes in wider pop culture, so many audiences forget that fan-favorite Pixar film The Incredibles is technically in the conversation when it comes to amazing and fun superhero movie experiences. In that regard, The Incredibles is easily one of the most effective and endlessly entertaining original superhero movies ever made, having an overwhelming appeal for both younger audiences and seasoned superhero fans.
The Parr family are incredibly endearing as far as superheroes are concerned, as well as the 50s-style worldbuilding and adding a lot of charm to the film as a whole. It does this perfect balancing act of having lots of fun that can charm as a family movie while also having exceptional deeper messaging and character development that adults can latch onto. This timeless icon of 2000s animation is still incredibly fun to watch nowadays, with its reputation as one of Pixar's best being wholly deserved.
2 'Guardians of the Galaxy' (2014)
While so many entries in the MCU have employed this mixture of comedy and action that has made them incredibly fun blockbusters, yet this signature style is arguably at its best and most entertaining in James Gunn's original Guardians of the Galaxy. The film took what were previously a bunch of largely unknown characters and turned them into absolute icons of sci-fi blockbusters, with overwhelming charm and wit making it one of the biggest success stories of the MCU.
The film is still highly celebrated as one of the best MCU films largely thanks to the absolute fun that it is to experience, with the goofy dynamics and chemistry between these memorable characters massively elevating the film into sci-fi classic status. It brought about a sense of fun and lighthearted joy mixed with genuine emotional heart that became so popular that it completely changed the approach for subsequent MCU films and the superhero genre as a whole.
1 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse' (2018)
With groundbreaking stylized 3D animation and an overwhelming love for Spider-Man as a character, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is one of the biggest fan-favorite movies that the superhero genre has ever released. Its abundance of fun moments and personality-filled character make it an absolute blast from start to finish. From the wild antics of a washed-up Peter Parker teaching the next generation of Spider-Man to its goofy multiverse antics, it's a film that keeps on delivering in terms of charm and fun.
The stylish animation plays a major part in the film's lasting appeal and fun factor, as it makes every joke and action sequence pop and be that much more invigorating. It's simultanously a perfect love-letter for fans of Spider-Man while also being this exceptional standalone story that soars and stands all its own as a wildly fun time. The film is easily in the conversation for not just being the most fun superhero movie, but one of the most fun movies that has ever been released.
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