2014 is seen as one of the best years for comic book movies, so looking back at the past year, which one takes top spot? This was a hard one to pick for me, and I’m sure a lot of people have different number ones.
(Spoilers follow)
4. The Amazing Spider-Man 2-
Well this isn’t really a shocker. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was a disappointment to most people. Electro seemed like a villain straight out of Batman and Robin, and the story didn’t know what it wanted to be, with the many story arcs all squished into the one film. But Andrew Garfield still did a great job for the shit he was given.
And honestly I don’t think the Amazing Spider-Man 2 is as bad as some people make it out to be, there were some really great moments in it. The opening sequence was great, and the death of Gwen was great as well. Let’s just forget the whole “It’s my birthday. Now it’s time for me to light my candles” scene.
3. X-Men: Days of Future Past-
Well this is one way to make people forget about X3. X-Men Days of Future Past found its strength through the relationships the characters have built over the past 14 years. From Magneto and Xavier to even Wolverine and Beast, the past of all these characters were brought to the forefront to remind us how great these character relationships are. My only problem is that I’m not really a Mystique fan. And if you got Jennifer Lawrence in your movie, I understand why they would want to make her one of the main focuses (which we know they will also be doing in Apocalypse as well) so I could do with less of her character in the movie, but other than that Days of Future Past was one of the best in the franchise.
The reason why it came in at number 3 was because as much as I enjoyed the story, the whole mutants on the outside, being discriminated, being feared by the people thing has been done again and again. Guardians and Winter Soldier felt fresher to me in comparison.
2. Guardians of the Galaxy-
Picking between number one and two was hard, but in the end Guardians came in at number 2. The interactions and chemistry between the Guardians were more than great. They even managed to find a way to make Dave Bautisa’s lack of acting skill work. But the reason Guardians ended up in the number 2 spot was because of the villain of the story. I love villains, and personally as good as the hero of the story is, I want the villain to be just as good. And unfortunately I felt nothing about Ronan. He wasn’t interesting to me at all, and I just didn’t care about his side of the story. Blah blah blah I hate Thanos blah blah blah I want to destroy the world…for some reason. So because of that Guardians came in at number 2.
1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier-
So of course Captain America comes in at number 1. I found the first Captain America movie to be pretty bland, so this was a major step up. It also helps that I absolutely loveee anything spy-related. The Winter Soldier was a pivotal film for the Marvel Cinematic Universe as it exposed all the Hydra stuff that has been going on behind the scenes for decades. Also I love the whole betrayal of the best friend thing it had going for it, even though we hardly heard Bucky Barnes speak other than the occasional ‘No!’ and ‘Shut up!’, but we do know he will be a major player in Cap 3. Captain America found the right balance between its characters and tone, which is why it was so loved by the majority of the audience.
I don’t think 2015 will be able to beat 2014 when it comes to the quality of comic book movies. Avengers: Age of Ultron will most likely be great, but the only other comic book films coming out in 2015 are Ant-Man and Fantastic Four. Because Ant-Man is an MCU film I’m sure it will be solid, but with all the stuff that has been going on behind the scenes, I fear we might get another movie like Thor: The Dark World, studio friendly but forgettable. And then we also have Fantastic Four. We really don’t know anything about this movie. And the stuff we do know, doesn’t sound that great, but I still have hope it can be good. As long as they stick to the roots of Fantastic Four and don’t try to make them something they’re not, it has the potential to be a great film. But from what we have heard, it sounds pretty average and formulaic, I feel like it won’t be very exciting, and ultimately quite forgettable (though I hope I’m wrong).
Anyways what do you think? What was your favourite comic book film of 2014 and why? Let me know!
Categories: comic book movies
Girl-On-Comic-Book-World 
I agree with most of what you said. Like you I think that TAS2 was better than most people claim and in any other year it would not have made the bottom spot, but this was a particularly good year for Comic book movies. I also would give GotG and Winter Soldier the top spots because they both work very well as stand alone movies, while Day of Future Past relies more on hitting the nerve of the fans of the franchise. And while I think that I personally will watch GotG more often in the future and it might have a bigger impact on the long run if it turns out the start of a new successful space opera, I also agree that Winter Soldier deserves the top spot. Not because of the villain, I think both movies have the fitting villain for the story they try to tell. But because Winter Soldier has more gravitas and has more social relevance.
I am actually looking very much forward to Ant-man. Supposedly the movie will be a caper, and there is nothing which I love more than a good heist movie. Plus, I have a real weakness for heroic thieves. But the fantastic four…yeah, I have a really bad feeling about this one.
I wonder why DC doesn’t want to release Batman vs. Superman in 2015. If they did, they would beat Marvel to the punch concerning vs. movies plus they would have way less competition. Oh well.
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Yeah I think GOTG is a little more rewatchable for me compared to Winter Soldier, but Winter Soldier was just so well made
If they really play up the heist aspect of Ant-Man then I’ll be down for it, just have to wait until the first trailer comes out to get a feel for the movie
DC could probably release BvS if they wanted to next year, but now I feel like with all the previous date changes it’s just too much to change the date again, anyways at least in March they won’t have much competition
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Guardians of the Galaxy. I loved the comics of not only the original Guardians but also the crew that the movie was based on. Really hit the ball out of the park where as the other comic book movies didn’t quite cut it this year.
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Oh really you didn’t like the other comic book movies that came out this year?
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I like Winter’s Soldier and Big Hero 6 a lot but definitely not as much as GotG (with Big Hero 6 in close second)
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Fully agree with the order of your list. Between Guardians of the Galaxy and Winter Soldier, the better movie is a matter of personal taste, but what makes Winter Soldier better for me is the genius move of making Hydra infiltrate SHIELD so deep, making the neo-nazi group far more memorable than Ronan. Ronan’s not bad, but it feels like more could have been done to expand his character.
Disney Studios is in such a good position for next year. They have both Avengers 2 and Star Wars 7 releasing, and it’s possible they’ll both pass $1 billion in earnings. Avengers 2 is pretty much guaranteed to make that much considering both of Iron Man’s last movie appearances made that much. That company is a monster these days.
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Totally agree with this list. TAS2 was lackluster at best, but still enjoyable in most parts. DOFP was fun, but I almost feel as though I need to watch it again to really appreciate it. GOTG was great; colorful, energetic, and hilarious, with at least three characters who stole the show for me. Ronan was okay (“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” cracks me up every time), and at least he literally bathes in the blood of his enemies, but I was hoping to like Karen Gillan’s Nebula more than I did. Winter Soldier though? My favorite movie of the year, and one of my all-time favorites. I could go watch it right now. Near-perfect writing, great characters and actors, awesome fight scenes, nice humor, powerful musical score, CG that I almost never noticed, and the ability to balance five or six different villains. What more could I ask for? That movie is the reason Captain America is my new favorite superhero (although Batman and Superman will always have special places in my heart).
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I wasn’t even really a Captain America fan before I saw Winter Soldier, and now he’s my favourite Avenger! (can’t say he’s my fave hero though because Supes and Bats will probably always take that spot) but that film really did such a good job of not only developing the Captain America character but also the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe as well, which is why it’s such a great movie!
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I feel the same way about Iron Man. Don’t give two shakes of a donkey’s tail about the comic character but the Downey Iron Man is awesome, can’t get enough of him.
Cap I already liked before the movies, and now like even more after the movies, which successfully pilfered from Ed Brubaker’s (Criminal, Incognito, Gotham Central) brilliant run on Cap, he wrote the winter soldier story, and a lot of what went into Cap 2.
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Easy, Cap 2 was the best by far, X-Men a close second for me, Guardians in Third, the other film well…. hmmmm.
As a pretty much lifelong fan of Spider-Man (who collected the monthly comics for a good decade or so) I was really excited about Amazing 2, it looked so much better than the redundant, but relatively well made Amazing Spider-Man.
The abundance of plot holes in Amazing Spider-Man were not promising, the studio hacking out bits of the story at the last minute (redacting the deleted scenes which will not be released even on DVD/BD, but are in trailers for the movie) was not a promising start to a rebooted franchise.
But I liked the cast, and was hopeful that the sequel was have a better story, and hopefully less studio interference.
I watched Amazing 2 at home (not the cinema thanks) and to this day, I have only watched the first half of the movie, then turned it off out of sheer boredom.
I don’t know what the hell the writers were thinking, but there is decades worth of material to upll from, yet somehow they made an incomprehensible mess that many reviewers seemed to lie through their teeth about, saying how wonderful the film was on release.
I don’t know film other people were watching, but Amazing 2 was a load of old cobblers, I am still aiming to at least watch the second half sometime between now and the grave.
Guardians of course was brilliant, and James Gunn knocked one out of the part as far I’m concerned. I was not going to see Guardians at the cinema, but so many people said how much they enjoyed that I did go, and am glad I did, pretty excited for a sequel. Amazing Spider-Man 2 can go can eat a bag of *^%$%.
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Haha it’s probably a good thing you haven’t watched the 2nd half, because even more convoluted story arcs get introduced in the 2nd half, which is exactly what the film didn’t need. Although honestly, the film isn’t like the worst superhero movie ever made, it just had a lot of failed potential, and wasted Garfield as talent
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I have no specific criticism of the film, but to me the worst crime any film can commit is failure to engage the audience, any film that I find boring just takes me right out of the narrative, and it is rare that I am truly bored during a film, I watch a lot of crap and Z grade stuff as well as great films.
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