Counting Down The Top 10 Superhero Origin Movies, And Why They're The Best

With Wonder Woman dominating the box office and securing some of the best critical reception of any superhero movie in history, many fans and critics are already considering where Patty Jenkins' spectacular superhero origin film ranks on the list of all-time superhero releases. So I've put together a list of the all-time best superhero origin movies for you, including some discussion of what makes them the best the genre has to offer.

Let me explain the rules so you understand why a few great films are excluded from my list. First of all, I'm only listing live-action movies, so films like Big Hero 6 and Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (which indeed has a detailed Batman origin tale within it) are not part of the equation here. And I'm specifically including films about superheroes from comic books, not superhero characters created specifically for a film, such as Unbreakable, Hancock, Darkman, Chronicle, or Super for example (but hey, there's your list of the best non-comic superhero origin films -- you're welcome). I'd have included the more specific phrase "comic book superhero origin movies" in my title, but I ran out of room. Sorry.

In addition, my list excludes team films where the origin of the individual characters are largely omitted. For example, I don't think the X-Men team movies offered any true "origin" stories for the characters per se, and are more an origin of the team-up. The same is true of The Avengers movies for example, and surely nobody would argue that The Avengers needs to be considered an origin film, right? I excluded Guardians of the Galaxy for the same reason, since it doesn't really establish the character origins so much as a team origin.

I'm also excluding Thor, after a long period of back and forth debate with other people and myself, since truly the film jumps right into showing him as the established character complete with his hammer Mjölnir, status as the God of Thunder, a background of warfare, and his full costume and powers and identity without showing his training or his earning Mjölnir and so on. Sadly, Hellboy is also more of an origin story for the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense than for Hellboy himself, since we mostly just get a brief introduction to Hellboy in childhood before jumping forward to the future when he's already an agent of the BPRD with a history in action. These two were tough calls, since I also think there's still a good argument to consider them in the realm of origin tales, but I prefer to stick to movies that really focus on the creation and before/after progression of the characters into their superhero namesakes.

So, I think that's enough rules to enrage plenty of people who will inevitably complain that my list isn't the same as their personal preferences. Let's get started, then, and count down the top 10 best [comic book] superhero origin films, and what makes them the best! We'll go in reverse order, saving the very best for last...

[Edited for length -- to read his rationale, click the link.]

10. Ant-Man
9. Deadpool
8. Spider-Man
7. The Mask of Zorro
6. Captain America: The First Avenger
5. Doctor Strange
4. Iron Man
3. Wonder Woman
2. Superman: The Movie
1. Batman Begins