The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been largely responsible for some of the biggest motion pictures that define the current era of Hollywood cinema. The idea of a shared cinematic universe with crisscrossing storylines was virtually unheard of in Hollywood before the MCU came along. Nobody had envisioned that superheroes could be introduced to live action in such a naturalistic way.
Among the many defining features of the MCU is its penchant for making cross-genre superhero movies. This was a deliberate creative decision by MCU mastermind Kevin Feige, as outlined by Comicbook.com in 2018. Changing the creative rules from movie to movie through genre-hopping gave us such films like the wonderfully creative Thor: Ragnarok. Feige termed this creative signature as “genre plays” — an expression of his personal love for cinema of all kinds. It was something that allowed him to expand the boundaries of what superhero movies meant, and these genre plays have successfully bore amazing results across subsequent MCU movies.
However, while Feige perfected the superhero movie for the modern age, films about caped crusaders have rarely been an isolated genre. Pioneering works in live-action comic book superhero films have often crossed over into exciting genres to create a distinctive style for themselves. And as with many cross-genre MCU movies, the genre play allowed these early superhero movies to gain longevity in pop culture. Here are 10 of the best cross-genre superhero movies, ranked.
10 Captain America: The First Avenger — Period War
The fifth film in the MCU, Captain America: The First Avenger is the origin story of Captain America. The movie is set right in the middle of the Second World War, and organically explores various aspects of the wartime — most importantly in the origin of the Captain America persona as a war propaganda mascot. The chase scene right after Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers takes the super serum is a memorable action sequence probably in the entire MCU. The fast-paced scene with its boutique stores and classic cars is a perfect reminder that the movie is set in the 1940s.
9 The Crow — Gothic Horror
Cult classic The Crow has gained something of a mythical status over the years. Released in 1994, the movie starred Brandon Lee as rock musician Eric Draven, who is resurrected from death to avenge the murder of his fiancée and himself. Everything about the movie, from its ambient visuals to Draven’s character design, boldly adopted a gothic aesthetic, and it was Lee’s performance that sold the entire show. The Crow is a one-of-a-kind movie — the combination of Lee’s inimitable acting and Dariusz Wolski’s tone-heavy cinematography resulted in the creation of a special work of art that has failed to replicate in the movie’s sequels.
8 Watchmen — Film Noir
Director Zack Snyder envisioned Watchmen to be a very different class of superhero films from the get-go. Based on the comic book series of the same name, the movie is set in an alternate timeline where America wins the Vietnam War. It features a gritty, realistic take on superheroes, where masked crusaders are not super-powered beings but regular people. Characters operate on a bleak, cynical worldview, and the movie is all too eager to prove them right. Watchmen can also be considered the biggest fan film of all time. Snyder was insistent on adapting the comics as faithfully as possible, recreating many of the iconic panels from the comic book source. This noir take on the superhero genre is a must-watch for anyone who enjoys tasteful subversions of the genre.
7 Spider-Man: Homecoming — High School / Teen Comedy
Fans were over the moon when Spider-Man was finally introduced to the MCU in Civil War. Spider-Man: Homecoming was the MCU Spider-Man’s first standalone movie, placing Tom Holland in the character’s home territory as a high schooler. Holland’s Spider-Man naturally embodied the key traits of the superhero from the comics — he was quippy, charismatic, and teeming with the teenage anxieties that made the character so relatable in the first place. Homecoming came with all the different pieces that make for a good high school movie. It offered comedy in heaps, mostly in context of Peter Parker’s high school shenanigans. Coming of age was a central theme of the movie, as Holland’s Peter struggled to fit into the Avenger-sized hero shoes that he found himself in.
6 Captain America: The Winter Soldier — Espionage Thriller
Captain America: The Winter Soldier is one of the most exciting solo films in the MCU saga. The second movie in the Captain America trilogy, it featured drastically higher stakes than the previous movie, The First Avenger. The events of this movie feature all the elements of a classic espionage thriller — double-dealing, an intelligence agency infiltrated by foreign agents, and a central agent gone rogue. The movie ties many strings to Captain America’s origins, bringing back a by-gone threat and re-introducing Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes as The Winter Soldier. The makings of this movie are good enough to make it an entertaining watch even to someone who has never watched another MCU film.
5 Guardians of the Galaxy — Space Opera
Guardians of the Galaxy was an important movie in the MCU as it lay the groundwork for the deep-space realities of the MCU. Directed by James Gunn, the movie also had one of the most drastic tonal changes in the MCU until that point. Released after The Winter Soldier in 2014, Guardians of the Galaxy took itself far less seriously and was packed to the brim with humorous exchanges between the leading characters. The galaxy-faring antics of the film’s motley crew, accompanied by an infectious vintage-pop soundtrack was a gratifying new flavor of space opera that just happened to be placed within a superhero fictional universe.
4 Joker — Psychological Thriller
Joker is a unique entry in this list. Directed by Todd Phillips and starring famed dramatic actor Joaquin Phoenix, Joker can be called Taxi Driver set in Gotham City. A character drama featuring a superhero character was a dream project for both Phoenix and Phillips. It finally manifested when DC allowed Phillips to create a stand-alone origin story for the iconic Batman nemesis, separate from its DC Extended Universe. The role was written from the very beginning with Phoenix in mind, and he does full justice in this film about a struggling comedian whose sanity slowly succumbs to the pressures of a crime-infested city.
3 Ant-Man — Heist Comedy
While Ant-Man feels much closer to the MCU thoroughfare compared to Guardians of the Galaxy, it is still very much its own film, combining the heist comedy genre within the superhero universe. Actor Paul Rudd was the perfect choice to lead the film as Scott Lang, the titular Ant-Man, and the addition of actors like Michael Peña and David Dastmalchian in the form of Lang’s heist gang made the movie all the more fun. Peña’s performance gave birth to some of the funniest moments in the entire MCU in the form of Luis’ storytelling.
2 Logan — Neo-Western
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Logan has been called one of the best superhero movies ever. It marked the end of an era as Hugh Jackman hung up his claws as Wolverine with this film. The movie was a fitting farewell to his iconic run as the character, featuring an old, grizzled version of Wolverine, who is more or less facing the end. Directed by James Mangold, Logan was much more than just a superhero film. The movie poses well-known X-Men characters at the end of the line, treating this setting with much tenderness and equal brutality to speak about themes of loneliness, death, and redemption.
1 Brightburn — Horror
The recent MCU release Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was touted as the MCU’s first true horror film. There have been a number of other films in the past that have been branded as superhero horror. However, very few of them do justice to the horror tag. Released in 2019, Brightburn was a dreadfully effective play at a scenario where the invincible Superman is innately evil. Rather than being a superhero film with a few horror tropes thrown about, it is a horror movie with a superhero origin drawn within it. The movie pokes fun at the Superman archetype by showing many of his familiar motifs; an infertile couple living in a farm is blessed with an invincible alien child to raise as their own. But what if the child is born with malevolent tendencies that it is all too eager to give in to?