The world welcomed a Wonder and said farewell to an X-Man. A God learned to the power of humor. Another dark hero franchise lightened up too. Here are our favorite moments in a milestone year for super hero movies.
WONDER WOMAN
Best Overall Film. Emotion. Action. Inspiration. The long-awaited solo film for the Amazon Princess was beyond my imagination.
Best Ensemble Performance. The powerful, emotional Gal Gadot is the center of an incredible cast with amazing chemistry among the Amazons and the rogues turned freedom fighters. Gadot and Chris Pine made Diana and Steve’s brief romance sweet, sentimental and passionately epic.
Best Director. Patty Jenkins. An Amazon of filmmaking creating a pitch perfect symphony of heroism.
Best I Cried, I Cheered Moment: No Man’s Land.
Best I Cried Moment #2: Steve Trevor’s final flight.
SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING
Best Character Swinging Out of a Comic Book: Tom Holland WAS Peter Parker. Holland’s perfection made us welcome a new Spidey. With great humor and humanity comes the everyday hero we can see swinging right outside our window.
Best Villain: Vulture (Michael Keaton) was a ruthless menace driven by commitment to family. It was a welcome change to have the big bad guy not being a cg madman trying to destroy the world but a crafty criminal pulling a big heist with massive ramifications.
Best Feels Like It Was Always In the MCU: In the prologue writers and producers expertly weaved the new Spidey and his enemies into the threads of the MCU giving the villain his motivation in the aftermath of The Avengers. It felt like we’re reading a limited series showing the back story of MCU’s biggest battle.
Best Sidekick: Ned (Jacob Batalon) is Peter Parker’s best friend and the hilarious scene-stealing every guy who would react like we would and ask the same crazy questions about his powers and costumes.
Best Moment: Spidey trying to hold the ferry together only to face Tony Stark taking his super suit away. It’s not the suit. We knew it and it was emotional to see Peter learn the lesson.
THOR: RAGNAROK
Best Biggest Gamble: Director Taika Waititi led the creative team taking the Odinson in all new directions leaving Midgard behind, infusing humor, mixing genres and not be afraid to wipe away the Thor staples – bye long hair, hammer, cape, power signatures and even Asgard. The most cosmic Thor flick was the most human and fun.
Best Flexing: Chris Hemsworth flexed his muscles and comedic chops. The God of Thunder proved he could be a deity of Mischief with Hemsworth delivering sharp one-liners, expressions and the power to make us laugh.
Best Mashup: Ragnarok, Planet Hulk and Contest of Champions- the team mined the best elements of comics canon to create an epic with talking buddy Hulk in a helmet, Surtur, Fenris, The Grandmaster and Cate Blanchett having a Hela-of a good time as Marvel’s first big screen villainess armed with the coolest hair to helmet weapon in the Nine Realms.
Most Scene-Stealer: Korg is a minor character but a major reason why the sequel was so hilarious. The rocky alien is one of Hulk’s allies in the Planet Hulk comic. Waititi voiced and did the motion capture for the big rocks with the unassuming voice.
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, VOL 2
Best Revelation: The mystery of Star-Lord’s father gave the action and humor packed sequel its heart. The surprising arc of Yondu (Michael Rooker) was a heartfelt surprise. Who knew The Ravagers were so sentimental?
Best Post-Credits Scene: She will call him Adam! The leader of The Sovereign vowed revenge on the Guardians by starting to build a new artificial warrior. Will this mean the fan-favorite Adam Warlock is joining the MCU in Phase Four?
THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE
Best Alternative Take: After several films with two actors as dark Dark Knights, it’s a welcome change to see a fun Batman with the over the top voice take by Will Arnett.
JUSTICE LEAGUE
Best Honest Moment: Aquaman’s sudden confessions to his teammates started to get out of character until it was revealed the gruff bro-warrior was accidentally sitting on the Lasso of Truth.
Best Hope: Superman’s S symbol stands for hope. The resurrection of Kal-El (after bringing in secret weapon Lois Lane) showed a smiling, hopeful Man of Steel rallying and having fun with his teammates. Let’s hope the next Superman film team will let Henry Cavill continue to show his lighter side and bring the fun to a super sequel.
Best Addition: Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen gave the ensemble humor, sense of awe and fun, a comedic yin to Batman’s serious yang and excitement that Flashpoint could be a move in the right direction for the DCU.
LOGAN
Best Acting: Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart were at the top of their game as their characters were at their lowest. James Mangold, the team and cast delivered that might be the “most deserving of Oscar consideration” film. The story felt more like a dramatic Western that just happened to have characters with powers.
Best OH —-! Moment: X-23 unleashed. We knew it was coming but when Laura went berserker on the Reavers – they had it coming – but wow – hard core Laura.
What were your favorite superhero movie moments of the year? Sound off in the comics or on twitter.
Have a happy holiday season. Thanks for reading.
By Editor