From movies that deserve a second chance to films that were so underrated that you might
not have even heard of them, we've rounded up a selection of superhero films from the
past 15 years that don't receive much acclaim, but may be worth a (re)watch.
Hitting theaters less than two months after Christopher Nolan's critically acclaimed Batman
Begins in 2005, Sky High offers a very different take on superheroes than Nolan's gritty, grounded
saga.
The movie follows Will Stronghold the son of beloved superheroes the Commander and Jetstream
as he starts his classes at Sky High, a high school in the clouds that's aimed at training
the children of supers to become the heroes of the future.
The only problem?
Will has no superpowers, which makes things tricky when a villain takes all the super-parents
out of commission, and suddenly, it's on the kids of Sky High to save the day.
Although Sky High performed decently at the box office and received generally positive
reviews, it was never truly able to establish itself as a mainstay in the superhero canon.
Perhaps after Batman Begins, viewers weren't in the right mindset for a lighthearted, campy
romp, or perhaps adult audiences didn't fully connect with the teen cast.
Whatever the reason, Sky High didn't make a huge splash when it came out, and it's mostly
faded from memory.
However, don't let its modest performance or poor staying power fool you.
Sky High is an energetic, cheesy blast, filled with heartwarming friendships, high-stakes
adventure, and charmingly weird superpowers from characters like the girl with the ability
to transform herself into a talking guinea pig.
"Magenta.
I shape-shift."
“Shape shift?”
“Into a Guinea pig.”
"Great."
Years before Nick Fury teased a project called the "Avengers Initiative" and over a decade
before Deku started classes in My Hero Academia, Sky High delivered a team of funny, endearing
superheroes the whole family could enjoy.
If you've never heard of the 2006 superhero-themed dramedy Special, you don't need to turn in
your superhero cred card just yet.
Barely anyone saw the low-budget film during its limited theatrical release.
As for the plot, Special follows a man named Les, played by Michael Rapaport, who believes
he's developed superpowers after experiencing an adverse reaction during a clinical drug
trial.
Despite attempts from his doctor and friends to persuade him to stop taking the drug, Les
becomes convinced that he was given these powers for a reason, so he sets out to make
things better for the citizens of his town by thwarting a series of small crimes.
However, as Les gains notoriety, the company conducting the trial becomes increasingly
desperate to silence him, terrified that Les' antics will cost them their funding.
While Special is a departure from standard superhero tropes in that Les only thinks he
has powers in reality, he's running into walls when he believes he's phasing through them
and flailing on the floor when he thinks he's flying its themes couldn't be more true to
the genre, as Les wrestles with whether his powers make him special, or if he can be special
without them.
Even when the film feels a little uneven, Rapaport's earnest performance, along with
the film's unique premise, makes Special truly worthy of its title.
Hancock follows an angry, irritable amnesiac who proves that having superpowers doesn't
necessarily make you a hero.
Finding himself hated by the public for his surly disposition, John Hancock hires a public
relations specialist to rehabilitate his image.
As a result, he winds up not only making a few more enemies, but also discovering a piece
of information about his past that will change his entire future.
Despite its solid premise and a valiant lead effort by Will Smith, the 2008 film faltered
in the execution, alienating critics with its uneven narrative and abrupt tonal shifts.
What could have been a delightfully subversive superhero story wound up being more convoluted
than surprising, with unearned twists that strained the limits of the film's thin internal
logic.
Still, strong performances from Smith, Charlize Theron, and Jason Bateman go a long way toward
rescuing Hancock from its own worst impulses, and if you can go along with the bizarrely
contorted storytelling, there's a lot to appreciate in the off-beat, quirky script.
Smith checks his characteristic charm at the door, fully embracing his off-putting character
and committing to every weird turn of the plot.
But instead of pushing the audience away, he only draws us in more.
Hancock is far from a perfect film, but it still deserves some points for how hard it
tries.
Between his short-lived tenure as the Human Torch in The Fantastic Four and his definitive
performance as Captain America, MCU star Chris Evans headlined yet another superhero action
thriller, although we don't blame anyone for forgetting about this one.
In 2009's Push, Evans plays Nick, a "mover" who can use his telekinetic abilities to affect
the objects around him.
Nick is far from the only superpowered person in his world, though.
He is joined by Cassie, played by Dakota Fanning, a "watcher" who gets visions of the future
and tells Nick they must find a way to save his ex-girlfriend Kira from a variety of superpowered
enemies who will stop at nothing to get her under their control.
Of course, the convoluted plot of Push is far, far more complicated than that, jammed
so full of side characters, subplots, and twists that it's easy to get lost in its winding,
adrenaline-filled corridors Still, especially for MCU fans, it's a lot of fun to see Evans
embody a different character with the same inherent likability and determination that
we're so used to seeing from Steve Rogers.
Plus, his sibling-esque chemistry with Fanning is delightful to watch.
"It's not gonna happen okay?
“Tell me that I’m a crappy artist and I’m wrong.”
“You are a crappy artist and you are wrong."
Sure, the story itself is more than a little bizarre, and it works hard to set up a sequel
that in all likelihood will never happen, but today's superhero fans are so used to
following intricate, sprawling storylines that it shouldn't be a problem to sit back
and enjoy the ride.
In the world of animated superhero films, the past fifteen years have been, shall we
say ... incredible?
From The Incredibles to Big Hero 6 to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, animated films have
been the source of some of the most innovative and creative superhero storytelling across
the genre.
However, in the midst of this golden age of animated superheroes, one super-film came
and went without much fanfare, despite its largely positive reviews.
Megamind follows an alien supervillain voiced by Will Ferrell who, after finally defeating
the Superman-like hero Metro Man, realizes his life lacks meaning and decides to create
a new hero to battle.
Unfortunately, Megamind's creation turns out to be more villainous than he'd intended,
and in order to stop him, Megamind is ultimately forced to step into the role of hero himself.
It was bad luck for Megamind that another animated supervillain-turned-reluctant-hero
film had come out just a few months before it hit theaters: Illumination Entertainment's
far more successful Despicable Me, which instantly took the edge off Megamind's premise.
Still, with a first-rate cast that also boasts the vocal talents of Tina Fey and Jonah Hill,
Megamind is a visually impressive animated adventure that, while never completely breaking
new ground, is still a fun spin on the reluctant hero trope, and is probably better than you
remember.
Thor: The Dark World didn't get the worst reviews when it first hit theaters, and it
was certainly profitable at the box office.
However, when asked to rank the entries in the Marvel CInematic Universe, The Dark World
tends to appear near the bottom of most Marvel fans' lists.
When you stack it up against high points like Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians
of the Galaxy, The Dark World pales in comparison, with a clunky script that turns one of Thor's
greatest comic book foes into one of the MCU's most forgettable villains.
But The Dark World may have more going for it than you recall.
While the first Thor painted its hero as formal, stiff, and pompous, The Dark World allowed
him to loosen up a little, hinting at the sharp comedic turn the series would eventually
take in Thor: Ragnarok.
"I accept your surrender."
The Dark World also set up the post-Avengers reconciliation between Thor and Loki, helping
build the relationship between the two brothers into one of the strongest emotional arcs in
the entire MCU.
Just try watching Thor and Loki team up to steal a spaceship without cracking a smile,
we dare you.
2009's Defendor received only a limited theatrical release in the U.S.
It's a shame because Woody Harrelson gives a stellar, heart-wrenching performance as
Arthur Poppington, a man convinced that the real world works just like the stories in
the comic books his grandfather taught him to read.
Every night, Arthur dresses up as the superhero Defendor and goes out in search of his arch-nemesis,
whom he blames for the death of his mother.
While it does play into a few of the superhero genre's more tired tropes, Defendor is mostly
an entertaining, engaging film that's better than its lack of commercial success would
suggest.
Harrelson's sincere portrayal of Arthur pairs beautifully with Kat Dennings' trademark directness,
and Sandra Oh plays her scenes as Arthur's court-ordered therapist with a deep warmth
and compassion that help balance the film's darker moments.
Similar to The Dark World, Avengers: Age of Ultron is the other black sheep in the Marvel
family.
This time, the reviews weren't all bad, but the critics definitely took points for its
inconsistent characterization, disjointed storytelling, and slapdash internal logic.
But although Age of Ultron doesn't manage to recreate the precise alchemy of The Avengers,
it still has a few big factors working in its favor.
The party scene in which all of the Avengers try to lift Thor's hammer feels straight out
of the comics, with every character getting to relax and showcase their personalities
in a way the previous movies hadn't been able to fully portray.
Fan-favorite characters the Vision and Scarlet Witch, along with her brother, Quicksilver,
are introduced, and each get multiple moments to shine.
Ultron himself is actually one of Marvel's better villains, brought to life with a deliciously
sinister vocal performance from James Spader.
It even has some of the MCU's best action, hands down, when the Hulk takes on Iron Man
in the second act.
"I'm sorry."
Viewed alongside the rest of the MCU, it's understandable that Age of Ultron often finds
itself at the bottom of the heap, but even though its flaws are both more numerous and
more glaring than most of the films in its company, that doesn't make it bad.
And if we could all be a little forgiving, then fans would see that Age of Ultron is
actually a worthy entry in the MCU.
Based on the immensely hokey but highly beloved '90s television series, the reimagined Power
Rangers brought together a group of just-before-they-hit teen actors to play the diverse group of high
school students who are granted superpowers in order to protect the Earth from supervillain
Rita Repulsa.
Instead of jumping straight into the acrobatic action that characterized the original series,
the film takes its time in allowing its characters to master their powers, and in the process,
the Rangers develop a closer bond with one another.
While critics were largely unimpressed, saying the film failed to live up to both the television
series and other contemporary superhero films, Saban's Power Rangers still delivered many
of the things that endeared fans to the original series, such as the strong connections between
the characters, and of course, the Megazord.
This version of Power Rangers may not focus as much on fight scenes and one-liners as
its predecessor, but it's still a lot of fun, and its emphasis on character over spectacle
may even feel preferable to some viewers who've grown accustomed to the slow-burn development
of the MCU.
Based on the young adult novel by Alexandra Bracken, The Darkest Minds takes place in
a world in which a mysterious virus has wiped out the majority of the children and left
the few survivors with strange new powers.
In the United States, once the government realizes what their children can do, they
begin rounding all the kid up in camps, categorizing them by ability and holding them indefinitely
until the people in power can figure out what to do with them.
The Darkest Minds follows a group of these children, led by teen protagonist Ruby, as
they attempt to make sense of their abilities and find a way to live in this dangerous new
world, while also remaining hidden from the adults who are tracking them.
Sadly, The Darkest Minds received mostly negative reviews from critics and bombed at the box
office, but it's worth noting that most of its target audience seemed to like it.
For fans of dystopian teen adventures like The Hunger Games, there's plenty to like about
The Darkest Minds, from its stirring themes of empowerment and friendship to its endearing
ensemble cast.
And for superhero fans, the X-Men-like powers exhibited by the kids everything from ripping
trees out of the ground, to shooting electricity from their fingers, to altering a person's
thoughts with a single touch should be more than enough reason to check this one out.
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