Objective Ranking of Super Hero Films

[Revolution 9]

The ratings from IMDB, Metacritic, and Rotten Tomatoes were each normalized to a scale of 100. For example, if the movie with the highest IMDB score was 9.0 and the movie with the lowest IMDB score was 5.7, those scores were be re-scaled to 100 and 0 points, respectively. Then the normalized scores for IMDB, Metacritic, and Rotten Tomatoes were simply averaged together. With this method, a score of 50 would be the literal "average". Therefore any movie that scores lower than 50 would be considered below average.

Rankings for all super hero films since 2000:

99 - The Dark Knight
86 - Iron Man
85 - X-Men: Days of Future Past
84 - Spider-Man II
82 - The Dark Knight Rises
80 - Marvel's The Avengers
80 - Captain America: The Winter Soldier
79 - Batman Begins
77 - Sin City
74 - Hellboy II
73 - Spider-Man
71 - X-Men: First Class
70 - X2: X-Men United
67 - Kick-Ass
64 - X-Men
63 - Hellboy
60 - Iron Man III
59 - The Amazing Spider-Man
57 - Captain America: The First Avenger
55 - Superman Returns
53 - Dredd
52 - Thor
51 - Watchmen
51 - Iron Man II
49 - The Incredible Hulk
48 - The Wolverine
46 - Thor: The Dark World
44 - Man of Steel
41 - X-Men: The Last Stand
39 - Spider-Man III
35 - The Amazing Spider-Man 2
29 - Hulk
18 - X-Men Origins: Wolverine
14 - Kick-Ass 2
11 - Daredevil
10 - Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
01 - Fantastic Four
00 - Green Lantern

Going by this list, the best year for Super Hero films was 2008. That brought us The Dark Knight, Iron-Man, and Hellboy II. The next best year is a toss-up between 2012 (The Dark Knight Rises, The Avengers) and 2014 (Days of Future Past, Winter Soldier). If Guardians of the Galaxy is any good, it could entrench 2014 as the 2nd best year ever.

The worst period for Super Hero films was 2006-7. That was a two-year drought where the "best" films coming out were Superman Returns, X-Men Last Stand, and Spider-Man III. It's interesting to note that this two-year slump was immediately followed by the best year ever for Super Hero films (2008).

[bluearth]

List instantly loses all credibility with Man of Steel and The Amazing Spiderman 2 so low

[Astro Zombie]

Originally Posted by bluearth

List instantly loses all credibility with Man of Steel and The Amazing Spiderman 2 so low

Sure.

[NYGiants Fan]

Originally Posted by bluearth

List instantly loses all credibility with Man of Steel and The Amazing Spiderman 2 so low

Well, that didn't take long. 1 post until the thread is ridiculed because it doesn't agree with someone's opinion.

[Astro Zombie]

Originally Posted by NYGiants Fan

Well, that didn't take long. 1 post until the thread is ridiculed because it doesn't agree with someone's opinion.

Don't bother man, it's bluearth.

[ly000001]

@Revolution: just curious what your criteria is for "superhero movie"? There are some movies ( namely "Dredd", " Chronicle", "Unbreakable") I would consider to be such but aren't on your list.

[cricepng]

It cannot be objective because the data is entirely subjective based on people's opinions. It would be like having an objective ranking of colors.

[Astro Zombie]

Originally Posted by cricepng

It cannot be objective because the data is entirely subjective based on people's opinions. It would be like having an objective ranking of colors.

Obviously blue is #1

[cricepng]

Originally Posted by Astro Zombie

Obviously blue is #1

My daughter says red because two out of for people in my family are wearing red this morning.

[Astro Zombie]

Originally Posted by cricepng

My daughter says red because two out of for people in my family are wearing red this morning.

Red it is

[Elbie]

I have to revisit Hellboy II because I didn't like it when I first watched it.

[walruswarrior]

Not sure why Wolverine is ranked lower than Iron Man 2

[cricepng]

Where is Green Hornet? I would have thought it would have been near the top but it isn't even on the list.

[toddly6666]

Originally Posted by walruswarrior

Not sure why Wolverine is ranked lower than Iron Man 2

It's amazing how Iron Man 3 got rated so high too.

[The Fallen Deity]

That list seems about right for the most part imo.

Although I'd personally rate Batman Begins higher than The Dark Knight Rises.

[Petra_Kalbrain]

SUBJECTIVE list... not OBJECTIVE list.

[JavaJulien]

I still prefer First Class to Days of Future Past.

[Revolution 9]

Originally Posted by ly000001

@Revolution: just curious what your criteria is for "superhero movie"? There are some movies ( namely "Dredd", " Chronicle", "Unbreakable") I would consider to be such but aren't on your list.

I was thinking in terms of super hero films that originated as comic book properties. That's why films like Green Hornet and Unbreakable aren't on the list. But yeah, I did forget a few like Dredd and Fantastic Four though.

[Doctor Jack]

Show me all the objective/unobjective/fan/critic/etc lists, I will always say that The Dark Knight sucks. Always has. Always will.

[Revolution 9]

Originally Posted by cricepng

It cannot be objective because the data is entirely subjective based on people's opinions. It would be like having an objective ranking of colors.

Nope, you are incorrect.

It is certainly possible to have an objective presentation of opinions. For instance: one person might believe in God and another person might not believe in a god. Those are obviously just opinions. But if I were to take a poll and later say that 60% of respondents said they believe in God and 40% of respondents didn't... well, that's not an opinion anymore, is it? It doesn't prove who's right or wrong. But it's certainly objective.