Wrap Party: DailySuperHero.com Staff Ranks Their Top 2017 Super Hero Movies



With 2017 rapidly coming to a close it is time to look back at the past year. Welcome to the 2nd annual DailySuperHero.com wrap party!

A few of our staff took some time to rank 2017's super hero movie releases and here's their lists:


JAMES PHILBRICK, LEGION BEAT WRITER
  1. LOGAN 
  2. SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING 
  3. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 
  4. THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE 
  5. WONDER WOMAN 
  6. THOR: RAGNAROK 
  7. JUSTICE LEAGUE
LOGAN was the perfect sendoff for Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine and had astonishing performances with an emotional story. SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING and Guardians 2 had some flaws, but they were both some of Marvel Studios' finest movies. THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE was fun for what it was and had smart writing. I was disappointed with WONDER WOMAN. Other than Chris Pine and Gal Gadot, the acting wasn’t that great. The writing was weak and the special effects were nothing special. It could have been worse and I still had a fun time watching it, I just expected more for all the praise the movie got. 

I was also disappointed with THOR: RAGNAROK. A lot of the jokes didn’t land and the comedic-heavy tone often put the story and characters on hold. As for JUSTICE LEAGUE, I went in with low expectations and was still disappointed. The visuals were fantastic and I loved Ezra Miller’s portrayal of the Flash but the writing was weak and felt rushed. I was most disappointed with the movie’s score. It was a significantly weaker than MAN OF STEEL and BATMAN V. SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE.
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PETER FREEMAN, AGENTS OF SHIELD / THE GIFTED BEAT WRITER
  1. WONDER WOMAN 
  2. LOGAN 
  3. JUSTICE LEAGUE 
  4. SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING 
  5. THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE 
  6. THOR: RAGNAROK 
  7. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 
This year was an insanely good year for superhero movies. It’s a crime that I have rank them against each other and say that one is better than the other. Of all the films, nearly all were complete successes. Sure, there are films like JUSTICE LEAGUE that aren’t perfect, but it’s better than it has any right to be. Or THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE, which lampoons the famous hero so well that I was shocked it was a kid’s movie. The only film that is, maybe, lacking on this list, is the second Guardians film. It was fun, don’t get me wrong, but it just a tad too silly for my taste. 

Ultimately where I land is that WONDER WOMAN is this year’s best film. Given the context within its release, after BATMAN V. SUPERMAN, the film basically carried the fate of the DCEU on its back. It was also the first major superhero film to be directed a woman. It was also a really good movie. It singlehandedly made the DC movies relevant again and it deserves that praise.
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NICK WHITNEY, RUNAWAYS BEAT WRITER / MCU CORRESPONDENT

  1. LOGAN
  2. SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING
  3. THOR: RAGNAROK
  4. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2
  5. WONDER WOMAN
  6. THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE
  7. JUSTICE LEAGUE
LOGAN was the UNFORGIVEN of comic book movies, the perfect denouement to a 17-year stint as Wolverine from Hugh Jackman. Finally getting to see this hitherto PG-13 character through an R-rated lens, from the violence of the opening to the heart wrenching final shot, LOGAN is not just a great superhero movie, it's a great movie, full stop. Marvel Studios' offerings were all great this year, with the Jack Kirby inspired space epic THOR: RAGNAROK being my favourite of the bunch. SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING was a solid film, but I have to admit my love of the character meant I rated it a little higher than it probably deserved. WONDER WOMAN was a brilliant, hopeful film only let down by it's final battle devolving into a CG mess. THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE was a brilliant meta-comedy much like THE LEGO MOVIE before it, possibly one of the funniest films I saw this year. And JUSTICE LEAGUE; It never really stood a chance did it? From the opening minute, where Superman's CG mouth is obviously too hacked up edit, the film was a glorious, throwaway mess. But it had it's moments, the Superman side-eye for one, that meant I didn't hate it. I didn't hate any of these movies, which is more than can be said for some of last year's offerings. 
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CARLY B., SUPERGIRL BEAT WRITER
  1. WONDER WOMAN 
  2. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 
  3. THOR: RAGNAROK 
  4. SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING 
  5. LOGAN 
  6. THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE 
  7. JUSTICE LEAGUE 
This ranking was much tougher than last year. Marvel exceeded expectations, per usual, and DC delivered on an amazing movie this year, too. JUSTICE LEAGUE wasn't as bad as I expected, but THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE still trumped it.

The new Thor was a pleasant surprise to the Marvel Cinematic Universe given it previous movie never blew it out of the park, but the Guardians of the Galaxy has always been one of my personal favorite teams and I almost like the second movie better than the first. WONDER WOMAN did however reign supreme over them all.
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SHANNON BREWER, LEGENDS OF TOMORROW BEAT WRITER

  1. WONDER WOMAN
  2. LOGAN 
  3. SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING
  4. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2
  5. THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE
  6. JUSTICE LEAGUE
  7. THOR: RAGNAROK
This year was a little bit harder for me than last. The line between each movie was a little tougher to draw since each movie had its set of wins and losses, but in the end this year went to heart in story-telling. WONDER WOMAN definitely brought the biggest wins in my opinion, and quite honestly I would put it in the No. 1 spot for that No Man's Land scene (and those bad ass Amazonians) alone. It was such a strong entry for Diana into the modern cinema and I hope we see it continue to get better. If WONDER WOMAN was the perfect hello, LOGAN was the perfect goodbye. It's going to be tough saying bye to Hugh Jackman, but giving him the chance to fully embody Wolverine one last time in that iconic way was absolutely wonderful. 

The center three movies are all interchangeable to me. While I couldn't be more happy to have Spidey back in the MCU, Homecoming, Guardians 2, and Lego Batman were all so funny and full of heartfelt moments and outstanding super-heroism that I love them all pretty much equally (and could definitely geek out about things in each of them for hours). JUSTICE LEAGUE finally gave me the Superman I've been waiting for Henry Cavill to be, but had so many struggles that were the result of two very different directorial styles of Joss Whedon and Zack Snyder that just made it inconsistent to rank higher. And while I know I'm probably going to be the only one to rank Ragnarok this low on the list, I just can't get past the plot-holes, all the inherent changes to major characters we've spent a decade establishing, or the overwhelming need to tell a joke every ten seconds. It works for the Guardians franchise, it didn't quite work for Thor or his world. This was, once again, a big year for movies, but next year we finally get to see all that prep work the MCU has done come to fruition and I, for one, cannot wait. Hit or miss, it's definitely a great time to be a nerd! 
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KAITLIN ROBERTS, THE FLASH BEAT WRITER
  1. LOGAN 
  2. WONDER WOMAN
  3. THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE
  4. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2
  5. THOR: RAGNAROK
  6. SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING
  7. JUSTICE LEAGUE
With the seemingly endless supply of superhero movies these days, it has become more and more essential for comic book films to find their own distinct voice and identity, lest they be all but forgotten in a few weeks time when another movie in the genre rolls around. LOGAN and WONDER WOMAN were films that had to live up to decades of anticipation and expectations — they were trying to provide a satisfying ending and entrance respectively for two beloved heroes — and they rose to the challenge beautifully by choosing to emphasize the strength of their leads and display different sides to their characters than audiences were used to seeing. LEGO Batman even profited off of this same strategy, by taking a character who has become synonymous over the past few years with grim-dark brooding and making him goofy and intentionally over the top. 

Other films like Guardians 2 and Homecoming played it safe by sticking to what had been shown to work for their franchises in the past, and while this meant their films were hardly groundbreaking, they did still make sure to keep their core appeals the same. Ragnarok was a bit of an odd duck, in that while it certainly took the series is a different direction, the tone was so radically different from the other films in the trilogy it felt hard to imagine you were watching the same characters as before, even during entertaining or enjoyable moments. But no film had as much of an identity crisis as the much maligned JUSTICE LEAGUE, which tried and failed to marry Zack Snyder’s introspective and often philosophical tone with Joss Whedon’s love of zingers and constant dialogue. The end result was a bland, heartless mishmash that will be sure to be held up a warning sign in the upcoming year of how boring and tedious a superhero film can become without a clear sense of its own individual flavor.
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DANIEL WOLF, FOUNDER & PUBLISHER
  1. THOR: RAGNAROK
  2. SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING
  3. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2
  4. LOGAN
  5. WONDER WOMAN
  6. JUSTICE LEAGUE
  7. THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE
 I am a sucker for the Hulk, so when it was confirmed the Hulk would be co-starring in THOR: RAGNAROK, I was oh-so sold. I understand how some people do not like the 180-degree turn in tone, as well as adding a lot of humor, to the movie but something had to be done after THOR and THOR: THE DARK WORLD both fell a bit flat in their attempts to develop Thor's solo movie tone; for me, those two Thor movies were close but just a bit off. Now that James Gunn has established the weirdness of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's cosmos with both his Guardians films, it made sense to transition THOR: RAGNAROK into that similar tone since he too would be visiting new worlds in the MCU's cosmos.

I had very low expectations for Homecoming after I was letdown with both the AMAZING SPIDER-MAN movies. But I'm a huge Spider-Man fan — in fact I got my second Spidey-themed tattoo this week — and this version had me smiling from its opening moments since it felt like when I read the 'Ultimate Spider-Man' comics. Side note: 'Ultimate Spider-Man' is what got me back into reading comics in the early 2000s. Guardians 2 was weird and fun as expected but not as endearing to me as the first film, and LOGAN was a great superhero Criterion Collection submission giving Hugh Jackman his swan song in the role.

WONDER WOMAN was fun and Gal Gadot is so beatiful, strong and perfectly cast for the role but Warner Bros. is suffering from the big bad CG villain monster troupe over and over again and its final battle hurt all the good built-up through the film. I did not hate JUSTICE LEAGUE as much as fellow critics and some fans, but it was still a very flawed film being a Frankenstein creation by two director's with polar opposite tones. Finally, I had really high hopes for THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE and it fell flat on its face for me. I'm pretty sure I can come up with a better and funnier story if I go out and buy my own LEGO Batman sets and play with them in my living room.
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Well, that's it from the staff of DailySuperHero.com and their 2017 superhero movie rankings! Here's to a great 2018 which has a massive amount of super hero releases including: BLACK PANTHER (2/16/18), NEW MUTANTS (4/13/18), AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (5/4/18), DEADPOOL 2 (6/1/18), ANT-MAN AND THE WASP (7/6/18), VENOM (10/5/18), X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX (11/2/18), SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE (12/14/18), and AQUAMAN (12/21/18).


More 2017 Wrap Party Posts:
Wrap Party: Worst Moments in 2017 Superhero Movies

Wrap Party: Best Moments in 2017 Superhero Movies

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