With this weekend’s release of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, 2023 is officially a wrap in the superhero movie category. Here, I present my ranking of all nine movies in the genre from the past year.
9. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. As bland a movie as it’s possible for a superhero movie to be. The answer to the question, “What if we made a superhero movie that took no risks at all?” Not just the worst movie on this list, but a genuinely boring movie that no one except DCEU completists needs to see.
8. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Right out of the gate, I’ll admit to a problem with rankings like this, because putting Ant-Man at second-to-last implies that it was a bad movie, and unlike Aquaman, it genuinely wasn’t. So, understand that there’s a big gap between number 9 and number 8 on this list and much less of a gap between any of the others. I found it to be a fun ride, and I enjoy the dad/daughter dynamic that the movie centers around. While in retrospect spending time setting up Jonathan Majors as the next Big Bad for the MCU is a choice that hasn’t aged well, the movie does work overall. But also, it is arguably not as good as the others on this list.
7. Blue Beetle. I can appreciate what Blue Beetle tries to do, and I’m fully in favor of bringing in other cultures and perspectives to the genre. But the movie does suffer from a relatively predictable storyline. Still, I do hope to see these characters return in future films. Again, don’t take its relatively low place on this list as meaning it’s a bad movie—it isn’t. It’s just that I like the other ones a bit more.
6. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Sending off a cast of beloved characters is always going to be difficult, and Vol. 3 does a serviceable job at it. Still, its biggest failing is that it wasn’t the most enjoyable Guardians story to be told in the past year, but maybe the movie can’t be completely blamed for not living up to the Holiday Special.
5. The Flash. I went into this movie with pretty low expectations, but it happily rose above them. The decision to focus on one of the worst of the DCEU movies is an odd one, but the twist that this film puts on it made seeing those scenes with Zod actually enjoyable. And who can complain about any movie that brings back Michael Keaton’s Batman?
4. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. Presenting not only a very original story but with an original style is quite the feat. I’ll admit to having never been a big fan of TMNT—I was a bit too old when it first hit the market, so it’s not something I really grew up with—but this is the first TMNT movie that I genuinely enjoyed.
3. Shazam! Fury of the Gods. It seems that the creatives behind Shazam ultimately have a better idea of what they’re working with than the Aquaman folks do. In keeping the focus on the relationships between the characters, rather than the effects, they have shown that, yes, it is still possible to create a good movie with the DC characters. Here’s hoping that the next iteration of the entire franchise is a lot more Shazam and a lot less Aquaman.
2. The Marvels. I understand why a lot of people might be feeling MCU fatigue. I was even a bit worried that I might have problems following this movie, having never watched Ms. Marvel. But, thankfully, they do everything right here, with just enough call-outs to the rest of the franchise while keeping the story self-contained enough to be able to follow it even if you don’t live and breathe everything Marvel. And it’s definitely helped by having a cast full of some of the best actors currently working in Hollywood.
1. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. I enjoy the live-action iterations of Spider-Man, but what they’re doing on the animation side is truly spectacular. You would be right in thinking that it would be impossible to follow up the last fantastic movie with a sequel that is every bit its equal, but I’m happy to report that they managed to pull it off. Not only is this the best of the superhero movies of 2023, but it’s one of the best movies, in any genre, of the year.
