By Drew Dietsch
| Published
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a mainstay of pop culture now, to the point that it’s absorbing movies it didn’t originally have anything to do with.
While it’s fun enough to see Wesley Snipes and Tobey Maguire show up for extended cameos in entertaining movies, they only serve as stark reminders of how creatively diverse and stylistically enthralling the Marvel movie palette used to actually be.
In that spirit, I thought I’d do a little ranking that will assuredly get me some heat in the comments. We’re ranking eleven non-MCU Marvel movies worth your time, and in my even more extreme opinion, all of these are a better use of your time than most MCU movies.
Okay, as always with these things, clarifying the rules. “Non-MCU” means movies that, at the time, were produced outside of the established canon and oversight of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
So, Andrew Garfield showing up in Spider-Man: Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey doesn’t make The Amazing Spider-Man 2 an MCU movie by my previous definition. Same thought process: even though Mickey bought up Fox and the Marvel powers-that-be did the whole TVA thing in Deadpool & Wolverine, the first two Deadpool movies would count as non-MCU movies.
But, none of those are on this list. Instead, we’re starting with a movie I think the real Wade Wilson would approve of.
11. Howard the Duck
An infamous bomb on release and relegated to little more than a punchline for comic book and movie fans, Howard the Duck cracks this list for some reasons that might sound justifiable if you’re insane like me.
For one, Howard the Duck is an ambitious and delightfully bizarre attempt at adapting the satirical Steve Gerber character into an ‘80s pop sci-fi blockbuster. Make no mistake, it is a failure at its overall creative goal, but it is such a high-level failure that its mistakes are more interesting and often more entertaining than most decent movies.
And just at an effects level, Howard the Duck is impressive for the era with some underappreciated work from the folks at Industrial Light & Magic like the legendary Phil Tippett. George Lucas was the executive producer and it’s always dazzling to watch him burn money on the screen.
But if you are a Marvel historian, Howard the Duck is a crucial watch as the first theatrical feature-length Marvel film. There was a Captain America film serial back in the ’40s but those are episodes and not a proper movie.
Thanks to that technicality, Howard will always be Marvel’s first true movie star, for better and much worse.
10. The Fantastic Four (1994)
I’m probably losing cred with everyone thanks to these first two entries, but it’s my list and there is no way the unreleased and unfinished Roger Corman produced version of The Fantastic Four was going to miss out on a spot.
The story behind the movie and its infamous production are well-presented in the documentary Doomed: The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s The Fantastic Four, and that aspect alone makes this a delightful curiosity, but the actual movie is surprisingly endearing and earnest in an old-school classic comic book way.
The cast aren’t looking down at the material and there’s an “aw shucks!” quality to The Fantastic Four that puts it leagues above a lot of bigger budget studio superhero blockbusters.
I know everyone’s excited about the official MCU Fantastic Four movie and I’m sure it will please plenty of folks, but I’d be surprised if it tops this cheesy, clunky, and charming bit of Marvel movie discarded history.
Give The Fantastic Four a proper release, Marvel!
9. X2: X-Men United
I get a feeling this and the next entry will be the most potentially controversial ones for their places in this ranking. That’s because X2: X-Men United and the next movie are both sequels that are widely regarded as major upgrades from their predecessors.
And I do agree when that comes to X2. Heck, the first movie didn’t even squeeze onto this list. X2 is a much… you know, can I just call it X-Men 2? I’m gonna call it X-Men 2. X-Men 2 is a more tonally polished movie, the world builds out with new characters, the action sequences get serious upgrades, and the melodrama of it all just clicks a lot better the second time around with this cast.
We’ll be seeing the X-Men and Wolverine again on this list, so we won’t spend too long on this entry, but suffice to say that out of the many X-Men franchise films that got made, X-Men 2 stands out as one actually still worth watching.
8. Blade II
I know, the popular consensus says Blade II is better than the first movie and it’s not hard to see why a lot of folks feel that way. Director Guillermo del Toro brings so much of his genre giddiness to this sequel and it’s all so very welcome.
The Reaper vampires are awesome and feel like the prototypes for del Toro’s original vampire sci-fi story and TV series, The Strain.
And that’s my big feeling with Blade II is that it’s more of an awesome Guillermo del Toro movie than a really great Blade movie, but it’s still an awesome Guillermo del Toro movie and pretty darn fun Blade movie. I love when Marvel movies feel so distinctly shepherded by a single creative voice, and that’s certainly the case with Blade II.
But, we ain’t done with Blade on this list.
7. Hulk
Ang Lee’s Hulk is another example of a Marvel movie so clearly guided by a strong artistic vision. So strong that its visual language and style are so abrasive and strange that it’s no mystery why a lot of folks were very turned off by it.
Somehow, Lee was able to make a legit art project out of a studio comic book movie. It’s brazen to a degree we hardly ever see in mainstream tentpole releases, and that uniqueness makes it something worth highlighting.
Hulk is a dark and surprisingly contemplative expression of dealing with childhood traumas and bad parenting. I get if it’s a movie that’s just too out there visually for you to click with, but in my eyes, Hulk is one of the very few comic superhero movies that ventures on being an outright arthouse madhouse.
6. Logan
I might catch flak for this one not being higher in the ranking and below another X-Men entry and that’s okay because I think Logan can take it.
This prestige outing for Hugh Jackman that should’ve served as his proper exit from the franchise still manages to stand on its own as a mature and more thoughtful entry in the non-MCU canon.
The filmmaking and the performances meet each other at just the right level to deliver one of the absolute best Marvel movies. I’m not saying anything new here, but I do hope that Logan will withstand the test of time as a standalone spotlight for the non-MCU Marvel era.
Especially the black and white Logan Noir version.
5. Spider-Man
Sam Raimi brought Marvel’s unofficial mascot to the big screen with all the pomp and flair of the original comics.
Knockout casting across the board helped Spider-Man weave its way into the hearts of audiences around the world. The leads are all on the money, but who doesn’t love the expert supporting cast of Cliff Robertson as the perfect Uncle Ben, Rosemary Harris as an even more perfect Aunt May, and J.K. Simmons as the perfectest J. Jonah Jameson?
Spider-Man gets a lot right and still works in a satisfying if simple enough way these days. A true classic.
4. X-Men: First Class
Ranking this above Logan and X-Men 2 is probably another reason you’re in the comments calling for my head, but my appreciation of X-Men: First Class continues to grow with every passing year.
The vibrant use of the ‘60s period fashion and design – something the following movies utterly failed at capturing – has helped give First Class a lot of staying power visually.
Not to mention that the X-Men movies up to this point were very Wolverine focused, so a switch to really giving Professor Xavier and Magneto a proper backstory was welcome. And considering the enormous shoes James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender were stepping into, they end up delivering what I think is the best scene between those two characters in any of the movies.
I love Kevin Bacon’s villainous Sebastian Shaw and his ultimate fate, the entire relationship between Charles and Erik, and the whole groovy vibe of this flick. If I ever feel like just popping in an X-Men movie, it’s gonna be First Class.
3. Punisher: War Zone
We actually featured Punisher: War Zone in another video recently so if you want to can hear some of my thoughts on it, check that video out above!
2. Blade
The older I get, the more I admit to myself just how much I love Blade. Everything about the movie is in tune with itself, and that all comes from the foundational power of Wesley Snipes as the Daywalker.
The opening blood rave sequence has now etched itself into pop culture history as an iconic movie opening action sequence.
I just could sit and watch Blade all day, soaking in the delicious performance from Stephen Dorff as the villainous Deacon Frost, or watching Blade explode vampires with vampire explosion juice.
Blade is great. It’s the best R-rated Marvel movie, it might be the best Wesley Snipes movie. Why am I writing this and not watching Blade? I’m gonna go watch Blade and then I’ll be back for the last entry.
1. Spider-Man 2
I don’t know if superhero movies, let alone just Marvel movies, get better than Spider-Man 2. Everything that worked in the first film gets a nice bit of polishing and everything else gets upgraded to be much, much better.
The story, the performances, the pacing, the drama, the action, the cinematography, the music, all of it is working in such incredible unison to produce a Marvel movie that l easily argue tops every single film in the MCU.
Spider-Man 2 is a heartfelt and powerful extension of the first film that also offers some of Sam Raimi’s finest filmmaking flair. If you don’t love the hospital sequence, I question if you love movies.
If you want to spend your time watching a true masterpiece of Marvel Comics cinema, your best bet is Spider-Man 2.
What do you think of this ranking? Are you stunned that the Spider-Verse movies aren’t on here and do you care about why I feel they couldn’t be on this list? Let me hear your thoughts, praise, and anger in the comments. Want to hear more in-depth discussions on some of these movies? Check out the GenreVision movie club podcast for full-length episodes on the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies, Hulk, and The Fantastic Four. If you like us doing videos like this, well, like this video! Subscribe to the channel and you’ll be helping us make more videos right here on Giant Freakin Robot.
