Once the Marvel Cinematic Universe officially kicked off on May 2nd, 2008, with the release of Iron Man, the landscape of superhero cinema changed forever. The way that superhero movies were viewed changed forever. Not only that but superhero movies that had been made before the MCU were suddenly being viewed in a whole new light.

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With this renewed love for superhero cinema fresh in fans’ minds, they began revisiting their old favorite superhero movies. Now, years after the creation of the MCU, fans have gotten a chance to settle into this new cinematic world; in the process, they have been looking back to the amazing superhero movies that predated the MCU, and exactly what made them so special.

10 Superman: The Movie (1978)

Christopher Reeve as Superman in 1978.

Perhaps the first great superhero movie, Superman: The Movie, sometimes simply known as Superman, was directed by Richard Donner and released in 1978. Starring Christopher Reeve as Superman, Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor, Marlon Brando as Jor-El, and Margot Kidder as Lois Lane. the cast truly became synonymous with the characters they played for quite some time.

This movie was a Superman origin story, showing the baby Kal-El, the child Clark Kent, and the adult Superman becoming a superhero in his own right, and is still beloved over forty years later.

9 Superman II (1981)

Superman II Movie

Only three years after Superman was released, its sequel, Superman II, hit theaters in 1981. While it was initially decided that Superman and Superman II would film simultaneously, Superman director Richard Donner started falling out with the films’ producers, and production was subsequently halted on Superman II — with only 25% of the film left to go.

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Richard Lester replaced Richard Donner as director of Superman II after Superman aired, and gave fans a beloved film in which Superman fights against Lex Luthor — again — and General Zod, played by Terence Stamp.

8 Darkman (1990)

Raimi darkman liam neeson

After Sam Raimi was unable to get the rights to the character of Batman, he tried instead to make a movie about the older detective hero character, The Shadow. Unable to get the rights to either character, he ended up inventing his own superhero and released the movie Darkman in 1990.

Sam Raimi based the movie on a short story that he wrote and cast Liam Neeson in the titular role of Darkman, also known as Dr. Peyton Westlake. This movie is darkly excellent in its own right; Sam Raimi proved himself more than capable of inventing a hero entirely his own and delivering this character well to the audience.

7 Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm (1993)

batman in mask of the phantasm

While many of the movies on this list are live-action, any list of amazing superhero movies that don’t mention any animated Batman films is inaccurate and remiss. Some of the best superhero films — and some of the best movies, period — ever made have been animated Batman movies, and perhaps the best of them all was Batman: Mask of the Phantasm.

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Released in 1993 and starring the voices that almost everybody thinks of when they remember Batman and the Joker, Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm immediately established itself as an excellent Batman adaptation in film. In addition, this movie, based on Batman: The Animated Series, was the very first movie in the DC Animated Universe canon, as well as the very first original theatrical film that Warner Brothers Animation produced. With such an excellent first film, it’s hard not to just go downhill from there.

6 X-Men (2000)

x-men 2000 cast

With a new millennium came a new breed of superhero films, and X-Men was the first of them all. Released in 2000 and director by Bryan Singer, X-Men brought Marvel into the 21st century and cast famous characters in live-action for the first time. With actors like Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, and Hugh Jackman playing characters like Professor X, Magneto, and Wolverine, respectively, it was hard to miss this movie.

The plot adapts a classic X-Men story: Professor X and the X-Men face off against Magneto and his Brotherhood of Mutants in an American landmark, the Statue of Liberty. Not only did this kick off the 21st century of superhero movies, but it spawned an entire X-Men franchise that only recently drew to a close.

5 Spider-Man (2002)

Spider-Man movie poster

When Sam Raimi finally did get the rights to make a name-brand superhero movie, he proved that he should have been given the opportunity to do so years before. With Spider-Man, released in 2002, Sam Raimi created a superhero movie truly unlike any other.

He cast Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker, the titular Spider-Man, and had him fight Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin while he fell in love with Kirsten Dunst’s Mary Jane Watson. This origin story saw Peter Parker getting bit by a technologically altered spider that turns him into an arachnid-themed hero: your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

4 Hellboy (2004)

hellboy-ron-perlman

The early aughts saw a broad variety of superhero movies hitting the silver screen. Amongst the comic book fun films like X-Men and the emotional heavyweight movies like Spider-Man, there lived a darkly humorous superhero movie: Hellboy. Released in 2004 and directed by Guillermo del Toro, Hellboy adapted the character from Dark Horse Comics to the screen, with Ron Perlman as the eponymous character.

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Hellboy and the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense saw a sequel in 2008, as well, two months after Iron Man was released: Hellboy II: The Golden Army, which was similarly well-received.

3 Spider-Man 2 (2004)

Tobey Maguire Peter Parker Spider-Man 2 Mask Off Train Scene

After the success of Spider-Man, Sam Raimi got the go-ahead on his entire Spider-Man trilogy. While Spider-Man 3 is not considered to be an amazing superhero movie in any way except the most frivolous, Spider-Man 2 is arguably the best movie in the trilogy. This film continued the story of Peter Parker with the same cast as he struggled to balance his life as Peter with his actions as Spider-Man.

Spider-Man 2 also introduced Alfred Molina as Doctor Octopus, in addition to giving viewers one of the best scenes in any superhero movie ever. The sequence where a train full of people save Peter and promise to keep his secret remains unrivaled in the annals of cinema history.

2 The Incredibles (2004)

The Incredibles family in action in The Incredibles Cropped

Much like Batman: Mask of the Phantasm before it, The Incredibles stands out as an outstanding animated superhero movie. However, while Batman: Mask of the Phantasm was traditionally animated, The Incredibles was computer-animated by Disney and Pixar.

This enjoyable family movie — literally about a family — explored the lives of heroes with innate powers as they try to live normal lives. Much like other hero origins on this list, this movie sees the titular characters struggling to strike a healthy balance between their personal lives and their superhero lives.

1 Batman Begins (2005)

Batman Begins

Right before the MCU began, the Batman trilogy began. Only three years before Iron Man’s release, Christopher Nolan directed and released Batman Begins in 2005. This time, the eponymous Batman was played by Christian Bale, with Bruce fighting against Liam Neeson’s Ra's al Ghul and Cillian Murphy’s Scarecrow. This movie, like many other excellent movies before it, was an origin story for its titular character, establishing Batman for the movies that followed.

In fact, one of the best superhero movies of all time, The Dark Knight, was a sequel to Batman Begins, released only three years afterward. Unfortunately, however, whereas Iron Man was released on May 2nd, 2008, The Dark Knight was released on July 18th, 2008 — and so the MCU predates The Dark Knight by only two months.

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