Which superhero movie won 2011?

This is a tough one, but I'm gonna go with Cap since it provoked the greatest emotional response from me.

Thanks for commenting EsseXFactor. As I was making this and thinking about the journey of Steve Rogers and the love story with Peggy, I really was thinking that maybe Cap deserved the top spot. The thing that probably held it back the most for me was that they dropped the ball in terms of delivering quality action scenes. The montage was pretty meh, and the Red Skull fight was a major disappointment.

Didn't like Sebastian Shaw at all. I thought Loki was the best antagonist.

Thanks for commenting Knightrider. Since it was the story of Fassbender's Erik becoming a villain and he wasn't actually an antagonist, I didn't find it appropriate to consider him for best villain. As for casting, I think he was great too. Thing is, he was really able to invent the character and do what he wants because that point of Magneto's life hasn't really been shown. We don't have a feel to judge if he was able to capture the character's personality or not because X-men First Class is not about the Magneto we know. Evans, Hemsworth, and Reynolds were in the position of having to portray characters that we're definitely able to judge from the standpoint of capturing that familiar essence. They're supposed to be live action versions of the characters we know.

Batman won,somehow :P

Thanks for reading Spidey and Ghostt. As I said to Knightrider, Fassbender is good, but he really wasn't playing the comic book Magneto. Chris Evans brought Steve Rogers as I know him from the comics to life. Hemsworth was good too, but his role was less challenging. IMO, portraying both the underdog sickly Steve Rogers and the heroic super soldier as well as Evans did was impressive.

Nobody seems to be watching the video, so I'll give the sparknotes version for why I chose Shaw over Loki. Shaw as a character is pretty decent. Evil, powerful, manipulative etc. The thing that pushed him over the edge and made him best villain for me is how he was used. Shaw's most important function is as a tool to forshadow the character Erik becomes. He's set up at the beginning as the person Erik focuses his hatred towards. When we reach the end and Erik has taken Shaw's helmet and assumed control of his group, we see that Erik's hatred has turned him into the person he hates the most. That's my main reason for choosing Shaw. He wasn't just a villain, but an important factor in one of the main character's internal struggle.

As for Loki, while he is the primary antagonist of Thor, he is somewhat in a position similar to Erik in First Class because he is not full on evil. This is the story of him fully becoming the Loki fans know. Hiddleston was able to portray him as a very sympathetic character. He feels out of place, unappreciated, and unloved. We're able to understand why he's jealous of Thor and would lash out at him. However, most of what Loki does isn't really the work of a cold, evil character. At the end, we see that he's seeking the approval of Odin through his actions. I might be wrong, but his initial plan was to just get Thor on Earth and out of the way. He wanted to wipe out the Frost Giants, but Thor seemed to want the same thing at the beginning of the film. I don't think any one would label Thor evil at that point though. Just brash and stupid.

Bottom line, Loki is a more interesting character than Sebastian Shaw, but the role Shaw played as a villain in relation to Erik (one of the film's main protagonists) is more well thought out. The role Loki played in relation to Thor's journey as a character is somewhat insignificant. He put major events in motion, but the lessons Thor learns on Earth that define who he is at the end don't have much to do with Loki.

Beat comedy shouldve gone to green lantern, I loled at some of the acting and the entire film was a joke:p

Nice addition DROMEO. Does the Sinestro thing really count as an Easter egg? It wasn't really hidden.

"...set up as a very sinister character..."

I saw what you did there...

I agree. Matthew Vaughn led a great cast and when I went to the midnight showing, I told myself that I was going to enjoy it for what it is, not for its faithfulness to the source material. Ironically, the best CBM of 2011 was one that had little semblance to the comics. I can live with that. In fact, I think it's best to not even consider it an X-Men film, but just an awesome sci-fi movie.

I think I have to disagree with the best action scene being the Frost Giant battle towards the beginning of Thor. It was thematic, sure, but I think the overuse of CGI was a detriment just as the Howling Commandos using energy guns when they're escaping. There was no getting past it, and it's still a pretty nice scene, but I'm still a bit partial to X-Men First Class. The duel between the Hellfire mutants and the X-Men, Banshee and Havok working together, Erik abusing Charles' trust and killing Shaw - then pushing the rockets back at the warships... the way that scene ended was beautiful. Could it be called a single action scene? Maybe, maybe not.

Good video - I really liked your analysis of the romance in the films and I agree completely about Peggy and Steve.

Im surprised ledger's joker didnt win. I know he wasnt in 2011but still, he wins everything. I once saw a poll asking what your favorite condiment was: ketchup, mustard, or mayo. Ledger's Joker won. It was crazy.

Thanks for watching the video, Tainted87! I'm a sucker for exciting choreography, so while Thor's CGI gave it a very artificial look, once I just decided to go with it, I really enjoyed the fight. First Class from a fighting standpoint was just decent. The climax itself as a scene was probably the best, but I wasn't that impressed by what the characters were doing.

l0rdleg0las, I agree with your assessment of Thor and the idea that Magneto's turn to evil should have been drawn out over multiple movies. However, if we pretend that they had to do it in one, they did a good job of telling that story in one movie.

You seem to go pretty easy on Cap though. The movie definitely has its flaws. For starters, the action was lacking and Red Skull as a villain was pretty uninteresting.

it was out of thor & captain america for me,x-men first class was good but it pissed me off not having the original members & as for green lantern well that was the most dissapointing cbm of the year.

I didn't like the third acts of any of them, but to me X-Men First Class was miles ahead early on.

Thor
X-men First Class
Cap'n 'merica

Best villain? Sebastian shaw? Really? He came off as a cheesy generic villain.

The honor goes to either Sinestro or Loki.

Good article!

My only real problem with Sebastian Shaw was the lack of explanation why he didn't age or how he appeared to be a Nazi scientist before all the Hellfire stuff.

"Cap" was a great movie. You just couldn't beat "Thor" proving how fun and open to a general audience comic book movies should be. Also, great that it showed he's Marvel's Superman.

Big,

Cap is the inspirational and moral equivalent to Superman. Thor is the majestic and powerful equivalent. The segment wherein he destroys the Destroyer was everything DC/Warner should have done with Superman in the last movie. Thor unleashed all of his powers at once. It's more impressive than the Frost Giant battle since he was on Earth--a more human scale.