2023 proved to be quite a mixed bag for comic book movies. It was a busy year, though, which saw a whopping 7 live-action Marvel and DC titles hit theaters, with three from the MCU and four from the DCEU.
Unfortunately, there were more misses than hits. Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania was meant to start Phase 5 off but ended the trilogy - and set the stage for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty - with more of a whimper. Next, Shazam! Fury of the Gods failed to live up to its predecessor which saw Zachary Levi vent his frustrations in a social media meltdown.
On the plus side, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was a beautiful end to James Gunn's trilogy and stands out as one of Marvel Studios' best movies.
It was all downhill from there, though, as The Flash was nothing if not divisive and far from the "greatest superhero movie ever made." Abysmal VFX, a messy story, and those ghoulis cameos - not to mention that bizarre reshot ending with George Clooney and a CG tooth - all doomed an already troubled project.
Blue Beetle was a hit with critics and fans but failed to make an impact at the box office as moviegoers grew wary of the DC brand. However, despite performing better than expected at the box office, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom was a critical flop and has already been largely forgotten.
2023's biggest shocker remains The Marvels. A sequel to the $1 billion 2018 blockbuster Captain Marvel, it will go down in history as Marvel Studios' biggest box office flop; it wasn't a critical disaster like the Ant-Man threequel but it did struggle to strike a chord with fans.
Arguably the year's best superhero movie was Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and that's a sentiment you agreed with if these poll results are anything to go by. Thousands of you chimed in to cast your votes and decoded that was by far the best comic book movie to swing into theaters last year.
2024 promises to be another unique year for this genre, with three Sony/Marvel titles and just a single DC Elseworlds title along with Marvel Studios' lone MCU movie, Deadpool 3. Needless to say, we'll be asking for your take on those a little later this year!
You can check out the full results from our 2023 poll below:
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse - 47.24%
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 - 36.1%
The Flash - 5.93%
The Marvels - 3.15%
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom - 2.38%
Blue Beetle - 2.34%
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania - 1.98%
Shazam! Fury of the Gods - 0.89%