The Marvel Cinematic Universe may be the largest collection of Marvel-related films, but before the cinematic universe truly took off in the 2010s, Marvel had plenty of movies under its belt, across a few studios. Both live-action and even animated, there are a plethora of projects set in the Marvel universe that audiences absolutely adored.
Whether it be the beginning of the MCU or a few of the films that helped make superhero movies everything they are, Marvel released some absolute bangers. There are a lot that aren’t great, but there are ten that are genuinely some of the best superhero movies of all time, and especially the greatest Marvel movies of the 2000s. A web-slinger, the X-Men, and The Fantastic Four helped put Marvel on the map for audiences everywhere.
10
‘Ghost Rider’ (2007)
Directed by Mark Steven Johnson
While it’s most certainly not a perfect movie by any means, Ghost Rider is a boatload of fun that was a great flick for Nicolas Cage. The motorcyclist is one of the coolest-looking Marvel heroes. With a flaming skull, leather jacket, and, of course, a motorcycle, Nicolas Cage absolutely owns the screen for the entire runtime.
Ghost Rider came out and gained a lot of attention for the sole fact that Cage was a gigantic actor at the time. Marvel was also in pretty good graces with viewers, thanks to Sam Raimi‘s incredibly successful Spider-Man series and the iconic X-Men series. Again, not a perfect movie, but one that people will not be mad about taking the time to watch.
9
‘Fantastic Four’ (2005)
Directed by Tim Story
While Marvel’s First Family may currently have a rough-around-the-edges reputation in cinema (soon to be changed by The Fantastic Four: First Steps), they had a pretty decent start in Hollywood with Fantastic Four. Not only is it lighthearted and very entertaining, but it’s genuinely some of the best casting in Marvel’s 2000s-era cinema. Every cast member fits the character they play very well. Especially Chris Evans as Johnny Storm.
The way The Fantastic Four are presented in Fantastic Four is super accurate to how they act and operate in the comic book source material. It’s not just a great movie to watch before The Fantastic Four: First Steps, either. It’s also a great movie to watch before Avengers: Doomsday, as it has a wonderful interpretation of Doctor Doom (Julian McMahon).
- Release Date
-
June 29, 2005
- Runtime
-
106 minutes
- Director
-
Tim Story
- Writers
-
Mark Frost, Michael France
8
‘The Incredible Hulk’ (2008)
Directed by Louis Leterrier
The Incredible Hulk is commonly considered one of the most underrated MCU films out there. It doesn’t get nearly enough attention and is filled with some of the Hulk’s (Edward Norton) best moments in cinema. Hulk has had some great moments in the MCU, but not many are quite like the scenes in The Incredible Hulk.
The fight sequences are absolutely thrilling, the hero’s design is the best it’s ever been, and Edward Norton remains some people’s favorite actor for Bruce Banner. All of this is proof in the pudding that The Incredible Hulk is extremely underrated and easily one of the best 2000s Marvel movies. Not to mention, who could forget the phenomenal fight scene at the end of the movie?
7
‘Hulk Vs.’ (2009)
Directed by Sam Liu and Frank Paur
Marvel wasn’t just doing well on the live-action side of things either. They were also releasing some great animated features, too. One of the best animated features was Hulk Vs., released in 2009. Hulk Vs. was a film that depicted two smaller short films in one runtime about Hulk (Fred Tatasciore) fighting the God of Thunder himself, Thor (Matthew Wolf), and one where he took on Wolverine (Steve Blum).
It’s stacked with a great voice cast, beautiful animation, and obviously some great fight scenes. Early era Marvel animation was either amazing or “mid,” and Hulk Vs. is one of those that could be considered amazing. Everyone loves a good hero-on-hero fight scene, and that’s the entire premise of this iconic flick.
6
‘Blade II’ (2002)
Directed by Guillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Toro is one of the best directors in cinema, and that makes it pretty clear that his take on the Blade franchise, Blade II, was pretty great. It’s hard to beat the first Blade movie, but Blade II does a great job of getting close. The action sequences are just as gory and thrilling, Wesley Snipes obviously brings his A-game, and it does a great job expanding on the universe to craft a new story for this iconic vampire hunter.
Blade II may not surpass the first Blade movie, but it’s just as fun and exciting to watch. Full of swordplay, new enemies, new concepts, and new stories, Blade II finds a way to keep audiences interested and just as entertained. Fans of the first movie will be more than pleased with this sequel.
- Release Date
-
March 22, 2002
- Runtime
-
117 minutes
- Writers
-
Gene Colan, Marv Wolfman, David S. Goyer
5
‘X2: X-Men United’ (2003)
Directed by Bryan Singer
After the mass success of X-Men, returning director Bryan Singer had the big task of delivering a film that at least got close to living up to the first movie. Sitting in theaters, audiences were treated to one of the coolest opening sequences in superhero cinema, with Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming) infiltrating the White House with his incredible mutant powers.
Said powers opened the door to some fun choreography for the fight, with the blue mutant zipping and zapping around the White House, picking off agents one by one. X2: X-Men United set a great precedent for what the movie was going to be with this scene, and it certainly delivered. With another great conflict to live up to the first movie, X2: X-Men United wasn’t just thrilling, but compelling, too.
4
‘Spider-Man’ (2002)
Directed by Sam Raimi
Right up there next to the X-Men movies, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man films helped define what superhero movies were going to be moving forward into the modern age. It all started for the Wall Crawler with Spider-Man in 2002. Tobey Maguire and Raimi delivered a film that was simple, yet effective on almost every single front.
Where Spider-Man gets a one-up on the first X-Men film that came two years prior was the fact that it was far more comic-accurate than the mutant-centric movie. This allowed it to not only please audiences with its generally great quality, but comic fans found themselves deeply appreciating it for how much it clearly cared about adapting Spider-Man the right way.
3
‘X-Men’ (2000)
Directed by Bryan Singer
Coming a good handful of years after the likes of Batman and Superman, which both set the standard for superhero movies in those days, the modern age’s superhero film that helped do so was released in the very first year of the new century. Bryan Singer’s X-Men wasn’t just a great movie, but it set the bar for how those films were going to be executed for quite some time.
Not only did X-Men bring what people loved about the superhero movies of cinema past, but it brought a plot forward that was quite easily the most emotionally compelling. It dealt with very important social issues through the lens of the X-Men’s mutant discrimination. That’s what made X-Men so revolutionary when it hit screens in 2000.
2
‘Iron Man’ (2008)
Directed by Jon Favreau
Eight years after X-Men, Marvel Studios started and, with the help of Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. introduced audiences to a new era of superhero movies with the genre-defining, history-making, Iron Man. What made the story of Tony Stark in Iron Man so special was the fact that he was one of the first genuinely flawed superheroes. He was a truly not great person when he was introduced at the top of Iron Man‘s first act.
The inherent and deep flaws within Stark’s persona opened the door for even more emotional complexity, building off of the likes of X-Men. Seeing a man so rough-around-the-edges become the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s greatest hero was so inspiring. Not to mention, Iron Man kicked off what would become one of the largest film franchises of all time.
1
‘Spider-Man 2’ (2004)
Directed by Sam Raimi
Spider-Man 2 is commonly hailed as one of the greatest superhero films of all time, and for very good reason. Peter Parker’s (Maguire) struggle and eventual triumph in the sequel to Spider-Man is phenomenal and is the major part of what drew audiences in so much. Not to forget, it features one of the greatest and most thrilling superhero fight scenes ever made.
With a 93% score on Rotten Tomatoes over 20 years later, it’s very clear that Spider-Man 2 has managed to stand the test of time, which it wouldn’t be able to do without how amazing it really is. It also brought a massively badass and compelling Spider-Man villain in Alfred Molina‘s Doctor Otto Octavius, aka Doctor Octopus.