Thanks for voting in my last article! 2017 CBM movies are about to kick off with The Lego Batman Movie and Logan, so lets have some fun and try to pick the best CBM ever.
The Battle
Pick one film from each battle (copy and paste into comments), or leave it blank if you can't choose. You can still vote if you haven't seen a particular film in any particular battle. I'll count the votes, and the winning film goes to the next round, the losing film is eliminated.
1 Captain America: The Winter Soldier v Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II
2 Ghost World v Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
3 The Crow v Men In Black
4 Deadpool v Persepolis
5 American Splendor v X-Men: The Last Stand
6 Captain America: Civil War v Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows
7 Spider-Man v The Mask
8 Batman: Mask of the Phantasm v V for Vendetta
9 300 v Suicide Squad
10 Kingsman: The Secret Service v Sin City
11 The Avengers v Ghost in the Shell (1996)
12 Flash Gordon v The Wolverine
13 X-Men: Days of Future Past v Batman (1989)
14 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) v Blade II
15 TMNT v Doctor Strange
16 Watchmen v Hellboy
17 Spider-Man 2 v Metropolis
18 Superman II v X-Men: Apocalypse
19 Hellboy II: The Golden Army v The Dark Knight Rises
20 Guardians of the Galaxy v The Green Hornet
21 Superman v Ant-Man
22 X-Men: First Class v Akira
23 Man of Steel v Oldboy
24 Wanted v The Amazing Spider-Man
25 Big Hero 6 v Blade
26 Batman Begins v Barbarella
27 X2 v Oblivion
28 Scott Pilgrim vs. The World v Iron Man
29 The Dark Knight v Dredd
30 The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn v Captain America: The First Avenger
31 Cowboys & Aliens v X-Men
32 Kick-Ass v Batman Returns
How did I come up with the rankings? This is the boring bit, feel free to TL:DR.
I had 8 groups of films from 8 categories. 4 of which were voted on by users of this site in an earlier article, and another 4 categories created as detailed below. I seeded the films (like a Tennis tournarment), and created the head to head battles.
The Top 8 in each category are:
Fox Marvel
1. X-Men: Days of Future Past
2. X-Men: First Class
3. X2
4. Deadpool
5. The Wolverine
6. X-Men
7. X-Men: Apocalypse
8. X-Men: The Last Stand
Marvel Cinematic Universe
1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
2. Captain America: Civil War
3. The Avengers
4. Guardians of the Galaxy
5. Iron Man
6. Doctor Strange
7. Captain America: The First Avenger
8. Ant-Man
Marvel Misc (incl. Marvel Imprints)
1. Spider-Man 2
2. Kingsman: The Secret Service
3. Spider-Man
4. Kick-Ass
5. The Amazing Spider-Man
6. Men In Black
7. Blade II
8. Blade
DC Films (incl. DC Imprints)
1. The Dark Knight
2. Batman Begins
3. Man of Steel
4. Watchmen
5. V for Vendetta
6. The Dark Knight Rises
7. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
8. Suicide Squad
AND, because some people suggested I should include the other CBM films (non-Marvel/DC, films prior to 2000, animated films), I've added four more categories and ranked them from a combination of box office/rotten tomatoes scores. Neither of these metrics are perfect, but honestly, if I've missed a film you like, I apologise, but I don't think it was going to win anyway.
Rotten Tomatoes
(Highest rated CBM films NOT Marvel or DC, live action).
1. American Splendor
2. Ghost World
3. Hellboy II: The Golden Army
4. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
5. Hellboy
6. Oldboy
7. Sin City
8. Dredd
Box Office
(Highest box office films, not Marvel/DC/Animated/Rotten Tomatoes)
1. 300
2. Teenange Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)
3. Cowboys & Aliens
4. Wanted
5. The Green Horney
6. Oblivion
7. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows
8. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II
Best Films from the 20th Century
(Using a combination of box office and rotten tomatoes, the 8 films from the 20th century are)
1. Superman
2. Superman II
3. The Crow
4. Flash Gordon
5. Batman Returns
6. The Mask
7. Barbarella
8. Batman (1989)
Animated Films
(Ok, this might be controversial - These are CINEMATICALLY released animated films, ranked on a combination of rotten tomatoes/box office receipts. The Incredibles is not a CBM film, I know it is a superhero film which has elements of Fantastic Four, but it isn't based on any comic. The Lego Movie is also NOT a CBM film, that movie is centred around non-comic book movie characters. The Lego Batman Movie is a CBM though, just not released yet).
1. Big Hero 6
2. The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn
3. TMNT
4. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
5. Persepolis
6. Ghost in the Shell (1996)
7. Akira
8. Metropolis