Annlyel James 
Annlyel casts her eye over the best superhero action flicks of 2018
Superhero movies. In the last decade, they have become as constant as we can expect summer blockbusters. This year, however, has been a special one for the superhero movie genre. Black Panther started the year off with a bang, breaking box-office records and still defying expectations to this day by becoming the first ever superhero film to be nominated for the Golden Globes. We finally got a much-needed sequel to The Incredibles. And the DCEU surprisingly managed to steal the show with its latest installment; Aquaman.
As a fan of superhero flicks 2018 has been a great year for me and so, in anticipation for the new year (and that means, of course, another year of awesome superhero films), I’m ranking the superhero movies of this year from worst to best.
6. Venom
When I saw the first trailer for Venom I was super excited to see this film. It looked kind of amazing and I figured it would end up becoming a phenomenal movie. Unfortunately, that did not happen. Venom is, in every sense of the word, a disappointment. It takes forever to set up the imminent arrival of the film’s titular character, Venom. When he finally did arrive the movie did manage to get a bit more interesting and I found myself starting to enjoy the film. But it didn’t take long before the movie continued its downward spiral and by the end of the movie, I found myself royally uninvested in the film.
I’m just hoping the sequel will be more fun.
5. Incredibles 2
I have been waiting for Incredibles 2 since 2004. As a child, I would watch The Incredibles nearly every day because I loved it that much. The Incredibles was more than just a children’s movie. It was a riveting superhero movie with a brilliant concept that focused on a superhero family. How unique is that? When Incredibles 2 came out I was determined to watch it. Unfortunately, it didn’t wow me as much as I would’ve liked it too. While it was essentially a perfect movie from beginning to end the overall storyline was kind of boring, if I’m being honest.
The idea of Mr Incredible playing stay-at-home dad while Elastigirl went out into the world to be a superhero was a cute idea but it never built into anything truly outstanding. And yes, it was nice seeing more superheroes and the villain, Screenslaver, was pretty compelling but The Incredibles will always remain my favorite between the two. I definitely will watch it again one day though…when it’s available to watch on Netflix or Disney+.
4. Ant-Man and the Wasp
I wasn’t a fan of Ant-Man but Ant-Man and the Wasp was such a fun movie that I’ve warmed up to the lighter tone of these Ant-Man movies big time. Ant-Man is already comic relief but the addition of the ever-amazing Wasp was the icing on the cake.
This film isn’t one of the best superhero movies ever made but it is plenty of fun from beginning to end and provides a smile to my face every time I watch it.
3. Black Panther
This movie clearly deserves all the praise it can get but personally, it wasn’t the highlight of the year for me. Yes, I was one of the many people who marched into the movie theater earlier this year ready to finally watch a superhero film with a predominantly black cast. And yes I came away from the movie theater completely thrilled and crossing my arms in the iconic “Wakanda Forever!” salute but compared to the next two movies in this list it’s nowhere near the level of sheer awesomeness that these next two films were able to provide in abundance.
2. Aquaman
Aquaman is a stunning movie, pure and simple. Its simple storyline is nothing special and easily predictable but it’s the attention to detail and the massively epic scale of Arthur Curry’s Atlantean world that was utterly breathtaking.
The level of humor was perfect and not overly done, the action is still blowing my mind whenever I think about it, and every character shines in their own unique way. The DCEU, up to this point, hasn’t delivered anything overly incredible but they broke that narrative with Aquaman and I am so happy. With characters as cool as the likes of Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Aquaman, etc. this franchise should be so much better and yet for some reason, the writers for the DCEU could not figure out to how to bring these characters to the big screen in memorable ways.
Aquaman is a fantastic movie for the whole family and is clearly the new hero of the DC Extended Universe and I dare anybody to take his crown because if there’s a DCEU hero that can top this film it will be AMAZING!
1. Avengers: Infinity War
While Aquaman was way better than I could’ve ever expected and could easily be considered the best superhero film of the year I just couldn’t place it above Infinity War. I’ve been waiting for Infinity War for six years straight and for someone who doesn’t really know anything about the Marvel comics I didn’t know what to expect with Thanos’s arrival. When he finally did show up it was better than anything I could’ve imagined. I got to see all of my favorite heroes in one movie, Thanos was a villain worth waiting for, and at the end, The Avengers lost; a jaw-dropping twist that I couldn’t have predicted if I tried. It was easily one of the greatest cliffhangers I’ve ever seen and I’m just waiting to see what’s going to happen next.
So, yeah, this year for superhero movies has been one of the best in recent memory, if not the best. And with Aquaman ending off the year with such a bang I can head into 2019 with a massive smile on my face and a legitimate excitement for what’s next.
Next stop; Captain Marvel, Shazam!, Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home.
The Future of the Force. the future of pop culture writing.
Annlyel James is a Senior Correspondent of The Future of the Force. She is passionate about Star Wars and Marvel but loves a wide variety of movie genres. Aside from her role with Future of the Force she also writes for her blog: annlyelonline. Follow her on Twitter where she channels the Force frequently!
