CBM Tier List

Was planning making a tier list for all CBM movies and linking it here but I found I'd been beaten to the punch.

Note: This list is missing a few movies I would have included. Notably "V for Vendetta" a movie that would have made the S tier on my list.

Here's the link to the tiermaker if you'd like to make your own: https://tiermaker.com/create/superhero-and-comic-book-movies-51484

Wow. I strongly disagree with this lol. But I still enjoyed looking through it.

Might make my own.

@theamazingspidey: I imagine you have the Amazing Spiderman movies, Incredibles II, Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel a lot higher then I do. :P

I mostly agree with the top ones, but kinda disagree with a lot of low ones. Will try to make my own too.

Welllll...... :)

@theamazingspidey: While I disagree with a lot of those placements, I can understand most of them. But why is Watchmen so low? V_V

IDK.... It is at a C+ which means I consider it at least decent. It has a couple of things I love: the opening fight sequence, the opening titles, Jackie Earl Haley and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, the cinematography, Martian Manhunter's origin scene etc. but as a whole I felt emotionally detached from the movie, and it loses a bit of steam in the second half IMO. It's one of those movies where although I don't love it, I understand why others would.

I suppose that's understandable. I appreciate that you aren't a Watchmen purist that hates on the movie because of the slight deviations from the source material, deviations that I feel were fully warranted I might add. The way Ozymandias plans to unite humanity in the movie in order to prevent annihilation makes far more sense than in the comic, fixing one of its few flaws imo.

Well, here's mine. Just my opinion, taking into account objective film quality, overall enjoyability, freshness (during its time), and influence, as well as a little personal bias.

I left out a lot of movies that I didn't watch, forgot about, or didn't know where to place them. Very rough list.

The tiermaker didn't have Dark Phoenix, which I would place in F tier.

@killbilly: what is the first movie in S tier

Well, whatever disagreements we may have, I'm glad it's been unanimous so far that Fant4stic is bottom tier. :)

Nah. The graphic novel definitely has no impact on my view on the movie. A common argument I hear is "the comic is condemning all the action whereas the movie uses slo-mo and is stylished to show how cool the action is" and I used to agree with those people, but upon further reflection, I realised that although the action is indeed stylised, it's not stylised in the same way a traditional "badass action sequence." It's moreso stylised to show how brutal and ugly the violence actually is.

@theamazingspidey: Yeah, the scene with Rorschach tracking down the missing girl and dealing with the dogs comes to mind. Not exactly an "idealization of violence" there...

@theamazingspidey: Why is Scott Pilgrim and Dredd 3d so low?

@tobymaguire: Scott Pilgrim is such an unlikeable, smug movie with unlikeable, smug characters. It feels like an SNL skit stretched into an entire movie. I frankly find the movie cringeworthy.

Dredd is so boring and badly acted. That’s all I can remember.

Logan in A tier while Increibles and Watchmen is in S tier? ok buddy

Yes. :)

What does S and SS mean? Why are they higher than A?

@chloros: ss rated ghouls. Just look at it like it like that

Disagree with this, especially with Crow on the highest tier.

I've had the chance to rewatch The Crow since making this list and let's just say my memories of that movies may have been colored a bit as an awed 6 year old seeing it for the first time. :P

It's still a solid movie imo with Ledger giving a brilliant performance, but it's nothing incredible. It certainly doesn't belong in S tier with movies like Watchmen or The Dark Knight.

@killbilly: Agree, I also watched Crow again some time ago and was slightly disappointed but the movie's still good. Probably before that I would put it on the highest tier too.

S for super. The vast majority of letter-based tier lists have S as the highest rank, and a few will also put S+ or SS above that.

Bro these hot takes are killing me. @tobymaguire I feel has the best list (save for Wonder Woman being Boring and forgettable which I personally disagree with)

Spider-Man 1 and 2 should be at the top. 3 in the mid-high range. No MCU flick should be at the top. DCEU films barring Shazam, Aguaman and WW should be in the dirt tier. Burton and Donner films should be at least mid to high range. X-Men 1, 2, First Class, DoFP should be high-top. Anything else goes.

I agree for the most part, I would put “The Winter Soldier” in A tier though

I had some free time so I thought I'd clarify some of my placements that tend to differ from the norm.

The Incredibles II: If this had been a solo movie rather then a sequel to what is arguably my favorite superhero movie of all time, I probably would have enjoyed it and given it something like a 6/10. Unfortunately, it's not, and that's made eminently clear as the opening few minutes of the movie are dedicated to completely throwing away any and all developments from the previous film with the sequel ending with the Parr's in the exact same position that they were in at the start of the movie, ready to pick back up again in a couple of years for another movie that goes absolutely nowhere. To say that that I was disappointed doesn't begin to encompass the emotion that I was feeling as I walked out of the theater. How you take one of the most profoundly human animated films of all time and turn it into a soulless action/comedy flick I'm still trying to wrap my mind around.

The icing on the cake is that, while I had been skeptical of a sequel at first since the first movie had ended pretty much perfectly imo, I was reassured by the creator ( Brad Bird ) saying he wouldn't be doing this movie if he didn't have a story he wanted to tell. What a crock of bullshit.

Fantastic Four/X-Men: I just paired these together as my reasoning for placing them as high as I do is the same. I recognize that these films aren't as good as the other ones in their tier. The reason I've placed them on these tiers is because they were among the first successful live action superhero movies and played a big role in convincing studios to take risks on these types of films to begin with. Being among the earliest successful films of the genre they also became a model for future superhero movies to follow. Carving a path where there was none is no easy thing to do so I give these movies some leeway in terms of their actual quality.

Hulk ( 2003 ): The original Hulk movie is underrated imo. It manages to be an excellent action/thriller with both great action sequences and quieter more introspective moments. While the comic book style transitions and its one dimensional villains cause it feel a bit dated I think the first half of the movie does a great job at building up tension through its flashbacks, snippets of Bruce's repressed memories that feel strangely ominous/foreboding, this makes Bruce's transformation into the Hulk midway through the film all the more satisfying. Hulk was and is one of the first and only superhero movies that seems to go past the surface and delve into both the mental and emotional state of its character and that's mostly why I think it's earned its spot.

X-Men Origins Wolverine: Quite frankly, I've never understood the hate that this movie gets. I think the actors are well cast ( Liev Schreiber as Sabretooth and Taylor Kitsch as Gambit being standouts ), that the movie is well shot and that the plot is decent. I even genuinely enjoy the romance between Wolverine and Silverfox. Admittedly, part of that is probably because I wasn't familiar with the X-Men or Deadpool at the time, but even now I don't see stuff like that as ruining the movie, only as blemishes on an otherwise decent action flick.

Why is Incredibles S tier?

@thespartanb345t: It's a fantastic movie that manages to tell a great story while also touching on themes of family, depression, nostalgia and ultimately coming to terms with one's past.

Still not TDK level, though.

@thespartanb345t: Nothing from TDK makes me relate and feel for the character's like the following scenes do.

Bob breaking down as he's forced to watch a man be mugged in front of him which results his termination. Bob's shame at his lack of control prevents him from asking his old government friend to move him and his family and leads to him feeling powerless as he's left with no means to support his family which causes him to to displace his frustration and act irresponsibly which makes him a worse father and spouse at home:

Bob finding out the death of his fellow supers and realizing that all his recent efforts as a superhero that he's so proud of have been used to increase the deadliness of a weapon that will be used against people:

Helen doing everything in her power to save the lives of her children while Bob is forced to watch and listen to their struggles and what he thinks is their deaths and breaking down afterwards.

Bob, after thinking his wife and children are dead, threatens to "snap Mirage like a toothpick." When Syndrome calls his bluff he's unable to bring himself to kill her, even when, as Syndrome notes, he has nothing left to lose:

@killbilly: Fair enough.

@ovy7: Why is League of Extraordinary Gentlemen so low?

To me, it's a fun popcorn movie, and the D category is mainly for that.

What makes stuff like Justice League or Amazing Spiderman better?

Here -

Started to rush it at the end.

@ovy7: I actually really like your tiers! A couple of the b’s could be moved to b+ And a couple of c’s should be moved to d’s in my opinion, but for the most part it’s pretty good!

Didn't feel like doing all of them. But S tiers and a couple of A tiers are pretty much the best of the superhero genre imo. Probably missed a couple, but whatever.

2003 Hulk needs to be lower, MoS higher and JL lower.

There was just nothing in MoS that really stood out to me, good or bad. The moments that were supposed to be emotional either didn't make any sense or had been done so many times before that I just didn't care. It's not a bad film and it has a stellar soundtrack but I can't justify raising it higher than I already have it.

Justice League just felt like a rushed waste of my time as opposed to actually offending me.

Already gave justifications for my placement of Hulk ( 2003 ) above.