With 2018 rapidly coming to a close it is time to look back at the past year. Welcome to the 3rd annual DailySuperHero.com wrap party!
A few of our staff took some time to rank 2018's super hero movie releases — but please note not everyone was able to see everything in 2018 — and here's their lists:
CARLY B., SUPERGIRL BEAT WRITER
- BLACK PANTHER
- AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR
- AQUAMAN
- ANT-MAN AND THE WASP
- VENOM
- DEADPOOL 2
Per usual, Marvel movies were a hit this year. The BLACK PANTHER hype has created serious Oscar buzz and between exploring the world of Wakanda and the Avengers fighting Thanos I have to put those two movies at the top. ANT-MAN AND THE WASP was a great sequel that gave fans some interesting theories on what’s to come for AVENGERS: ENDGAME. Marvel will only keep getting better in 2019.
I was surprisingly pleased with AQUAMAN. With the latest DC movies being less than interesting, AQUAMAN was a refreshing release from all the dismal storylines. Jason Momoa is a fantastic lead and gives Arthur more depth and the DC universe more hope. I also didn’t hate VENOM as much as I thought. It didn’t take itself too seriously and still an amusing two hours.
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JAMES PHILBRICK, LEGION BEAT WRITER
- SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE
- AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR
- DEADPOOL 2
- INCREDIBLES 2
- BLACK PANTHER
- VENOM
- AQUAMAN
- TEEN TITANS GO! TO THE MOVIES
- ANT-MAN AND THE WASP
Overall, it was a pretty fantastic year for superhero movies. I was absolutely blown away by SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE. The animation was top-notch, it had so much heart, and it was unlike anything we’ve seen before. The next two on my list were both great sequels that went above and beyond their predecessors, so it was hard not to enjoy it.
Although I liked INCREDIBLES 2, it just couldn’t live up to the first film. The nostalgia kept the film going, but I probably wouldn’t watch it again. I enjoyed BLACK PANTHER, but T’Challa was such a boring character. Luckily, the supporting cast helped move the movie along. I found myself wanting to see more of Shuri and Killmonger compared to the Black Panther. As for VENOM, I had low expectations going in, but I felt that the worst parts of the movie were shown in the trailer, so I was entertained throughout the film. It was a pretty average superhero movie but felt restricted.
I don’t consider AQUAMAN to be a bad movie, but it wasn’t for me. I’m not a fan of big-scale epics, and the movie was way too long for my liking. Jason Momoa shined as Aquaman and brought a certain charm to the character, so I’m excited to see more of him. James Wan did an excellent job of directing, but again this movie just wasn’t for me. Speaking of movies that are not for me, I found myself putting TEEN TITANS near the bottom of my list purely because it was aimed for fans of the television show. Although it had heart and some great jokes, I probably won’t be re-watching it.
Finally, there is ANT-MAN AND THE WASP at the very bottom of my list for superhero movies of 2018. The film didn’t bring anything new to the table, and it was hard to live up to the hype after watching INFINITY WAR. I also wasn’t happy that most of the movie I had already seen in the trailers, so I kept waiting for something exciting to happen. It felt like a Phase 1 Marvel movie in terms of only existing to set up an Avengers movie.
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KAITLIN ROBERTS, THE FLASH BEAT WRITER
- BLACK PANTHER
- SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE
- INCREDIBLES 2
- AQUAMAN
- DEADPOOL 2
- ANT-MAN AND THE WASP
- VENOM
- TEEN TITANS GO! THE THE MOVIES
- AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR
In the sequel realm, INCREDIBLES 2 stood out because of the sizable time gap between it and the original, yet this worked in its favor. Besides getting a nostalgia boost, there was also sense that this film had taken the time necessary to be a worthy continuation of the established story, and not a pithy cash grab pushed out quickly to capitalize of the popularity of its leads, a trap not all of its peers managed to avoid. No film is as big an offender in that respect as AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, which, despite all the hype in the world, eschewed the charms of its individual heroes in favor of a generic and uninspired story that was utterly without character, even with an incredibly long and star-studded cast.
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NICK WHITNEY, RUNAWAYS BEAT WRITER
- AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR
- SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE
- BLACK PANTHER
- DEADPOOL 2
- ANT-MAN AND THE WASP
- AQUAMAN
- INCREDIBLES 2
BLACK PANTHER is it was visually and thematically one of the most brilliant comic book films ever, really exposing how homogenised the whole format can become. Make more stories with different settings, cultures and characters? I'm all for it.
I'll be damned if AQUAMAN wasn't the best B-movie of 2018. None of it should have worked. It was all too crazy. But it did! The visuals were stunning. The story simple, yet suitably epic. The effects were great and the cast were amazing. They even managed to have well developed support villain in Black Manta, a character who you'd think would look ridiculous on the big screen but actually looked amazing. i had so much genuine, pure, unironic fun with this film, I wanted more the second i walked out. If this is the future of the DCEU, I'll be there opening night.
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WILLIAM STATON, TITAN BEAT WRITER
- SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE
- AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR
- BLACK PANTHER
- ANT-MAN AND THE WASP
- TEEN TITANS GO! TO THE MOVIES
- INCREDIBLES 2
- DEADPOOL 2
- AQUAMAN
- VENOM
BLACK PANTHER, INFINITY WAR and SPIDER-VERSE were all game-changers this year; they sparked what seems to be a renaissance in the superhero film genre. BLACK PANTHER is a marker of brilliant cinema outside of just the superhero genre, and it has put everyone out there who ever questioned the importance and simultaneous lack of diversity in film to shame. SPIDER-VERSE not only broke ground within the medium of animation, but it also challenged any and all expectations for superhero movies. INFINITY WAR, an achievement in film history, was an event, one that was a decade in the making. Each of these films deserves the spot at number one. Though I won't cop out and let them all tie for first, I will say ask me again in a week, and then again every week after that, and I'd probably switch them around every time.
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DANIEL WOLF, FOUNDER & PUBLISHER
- AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR
- SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE
- INCREDIBLES 2
- DEADPOOL 2
- BLACK PANTHER
- ANT-MAN AND THE WASP
- AQUAMAN
- TEEN TITANS GO! TO THE MOVIES
- VENOM
This past year was an incredible (no pun intended) year for super hero animated movies and while I honestly can't remember much from TEEN TITANS GO! TO THE MOVIES (I'm pretty sure I fell asleep during it, not because it is a bad movie but due to exhaustion) the fact it even got a theatrical release is impressive for the kids super hero franchise. But it was both SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE and INCREDIBLES 2 that were both outstanding. Each movie exceeded my expectations seeing as how I honestly didn't know what to expect with SPIDER-VERSE and THE INCREDIBLES are one of my favorite animated movies of all-time and its sequel was the perfect expansion of the franchise. Now that INCREDIBLES 2 is the highest grossing Pixar movie ever, I really do hope another movie is green lit because I want to continue to hang out with the Par family.
As for the non-animated super hero movie releases of 2018, nothing can top what AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR managed to do in bringing so many franchise narratives of the Marvel Cinematic Universe together for its massive conclusion in 2019's AVENGERS: ENDGAME.
DEADPOOL 2 was a solid sequel, although I really hate "Firefist" in it, BLACK PANTHER was a gamechanger for diversity in the genre, ANT-MAN AND THE WASP was a fun romp, AQUAMAN a much needed course correction for Warner Bros. and DC, and the first half of VENOM was one of the worst of any super hero in memory, but it's shocking box office haul will hopefully bring with it much better writing and story (and a much better villain in Carnage) for its sequel.
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Happy New Year!
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