Mid-Week Poll: Favorite Superhero Movie of 2011

Theater screens saw a glut of comic book superhero movies in 2011. With this past weekend’s release of ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’, it’s time to tally up our votes and determine which costumed crime-fighter flick came out on top.

Honestly, I haven’t seen very many of these options, so I’m probably not the best person to ask. ‘X-Men: First Class’ seems to be a fanboy favorite, and I assume will probably take the lead in this poll, but I personally found it really underwhelming and dull.

My vote goes to an obscure pick that only opened in limited release this spring, the indie dark comedy ‘Super’, which I first saw at the Toronto Film Festival last year. Rainn Wilson plays an ordinary schlub who goes a little nuts when his wife runs off with a scumbag drug dealer (Kevin Bacon). Determined to clean up crime in his town, he stitches together a superhero costume, picks up a plumber’s wrench, and dubs himself “Crimson Bolt.” He then goes around braining anyone that he deems to have violated his personal moral code – which would include purse snatchers, child molesters, and people who cut in line at movie theaters. Ellen Page is a lot of fun as his psychotic sidekick “Boltie,” who gets sexually aroused at watching him hurt people. This is a really dark movie, quite disturbing at times, but a lot more interesting (to me) than watching mutants throw laser hula hoops at one another or suffering through January Jones pretending to act. Your mileage may vary. I don’t expect a lot of agreement on that, because I don’t expect that many people saw the movie.

Anyway, tell us which was your favorite superhero movie of the year.

What Was Your Favorite Superhero Movie of 2011?

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16 comments

  1. Adam

    I haven’t seen Super, but based on your description, it would be my pick. Dwight Schrute in a homemade superhero costume whacking people with a wrench? Sign me up. Otherwise, I might be in the minority here, but I’m REALLY sick of comic book/superhero movies. It seems like everything is comic books, zombies, or vampires anymore, and I’m tired of all of it.

    • Luke Hickman

      ‘Super’ is decent, but far from having the balls to go through with what it starts. Definitely could have used a few more drafts a few more dollars of financing.

  2. Jane Morgan

    Crimson Bolt’s costume isn’t even the worst costume in that banner photo. That alone tells you how weak this genre is currently performing.

  3. hmmmm. tough choice since ive only seen 2 of them but i have to go with thor. although it was ok. the dark knight left a bad taste in my mouth and since then i havent really enjoyed comic book movies.

  4. lordbowler

    I’d have to say X-Men: First Class.

    I’ve not seen Captain America yet, so that may become my new favorite!

    I’ve seen all of those listed except:
    Super
    Captain America: The First Avenger.

  5. I haven’t seen Captain America yet, but of the remainder, it’s X-Men by far. I wasn’t even that big of a fan of the other films, but I thought this one was really good. Oh, and the worst superhero movies this year both have “Green” in their title. 🙂

    • Luke Hickman

      Yay!!!

      It’s interesting to see ‘Cap’ in the number two spot only 5 days after its release. Once even more people see it, I’m sure it will climb!

  6. ‘X-Men’ by a mile, then ‘Thor’. Haven’t seen ‘Super’ yet, but heard good things.

    ‘Captain America’, ‘Green Lantern’, and ‘Green Hornet’ all bring up the rear in no particular order.

  7. Luke Hickman

    I’m surprised there’s not more love out there for ‘Green Hornet.’ Sure, the character is hardly a perfect idea for a superhero, but the movie sure was a lot of fun. Michel Gondry should direct more genre films because he brings a refreshing element of creativity to the norm.

    • i was surprised how good it was. i had heard bad things about it , but i saw it and liked it. it wasnt perfect. they could of left Cameron Diaz part out of the movie. you have a great damsel in diaz and you dont use her well . bad move.

  8. motorheadache

    Being an X-Men fanatic since I was 11, I’m a bit biased, but I still have to go with X-Men: First Class. I thought that was a great movie (not flawless, but what movie is?)

    I also enjoyed Thor and Captain America, for the most part. To be honest though, I think next summer’s comic book films are going to be overall better– The Dark Knight Rises, The Amazing Spider-Man, Superman: The Man of Steel, and the Avengers hopefully will all be great (I’m guessing they are all next summer, but I could be wrong).

    • Wyatt

      The Man of Steel has been moved to summer of 2013, Warner Bros. hoped to release it in December of 2012 but they didn’t want it compete with their other big film, The Hobbit.

  9. EM

    I read and have read a lot of superhero comics, but generally I don’t get enthused for superhero movies. Have you ever seen a film adaptation of a book and thought the book was better? That’s pretty much why. Therefore, it should not come as a surprise that I haven’t seen any of the films listed in the poll, nor have I wanted to.

    For the record: I don’t dislike all superhero movies. I’ve been enjoying Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies and intend to see the next one, for instance. Perhaps it’s telling that the only superhero movie in my DVD and Blu-ray collection (unless Death Race 2000 counts…) is the 1966 Batman, which many comics aficionados would consider sacrilege. But then, I don’t watch it for the cinematic version of a “comic-book experience”, whatever that would be.

    It’s funny: for the past decade or so, the comic-book industry (particularly Marvel) has been trying to become more movie-like; meanwhile, the movie industry has increasingly been turning to comics for inspiration. Yet I don’t believe the convergence has been doing either medium much good, artistically speaking.

  10. Wyatt

    I have seen all of the superhero flicks this summer, except Green Lantern. My favorite is Thor, I enjoyed X-Men: First Class and Captain America but to me Thor was more more entertaining.

  11. Bryan

    Easily Captain America. Tied with Iron Man for the best Marvel flick and definitely one of the absolute best of the recent glut of superhero movies.