An interesting topic has come up a few times from a few different friends – the question was “If I am new to (DC or Marvel), which movies should I see?.” And, pausing for a minute, I realized there is a mountain of content and only a precious few gems. Here is my take on it:
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)
This list is the very best of the entire movie comic genre. The long list of filler movies I did not include are designed for old-school Marvel fans and don’t hold up as good movies on their own (such as Thor 1 & 2, Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2 & 3, Captain Marvel, etc.)
The DC Universe (DCU) (and The Dark Knight trilogy)
I rank the DC work several notches below the Marvel work – and that’s been true for the entire run of both comics and movies. But there is still good DC stuff to see. The above list gets you the best DC has to offer. There is one average movie in it (Batman v Superman), but it is just too important as a step to the finale so it has to be on the list.
I put in the incredible Dark Knight trilogy even though it is not well connected to the rest of the films (unlike the above Marvel list where every film is connected in a larger story). Still, The Dark Knight is not to be missed.
Man of Steel opens my “DCU” list as the best Superman story told on film. Brutal, powerful, accurate to the best Superman comics I’ve read. And, as a build-up to the Zach Snyder Justice League (note – THAT version, the original theatric version was actually terrible), it’s best to skip films absent from this list (Aquaman, Wonder Woman 2, Shazam…) … they actually deviate from what works in these movies – grit, power, and inevitability.
Other good Marvel/DC films
If you are new to this list in general, I’d really do the above and hold. If you were looking for more, these are good films too, just not part of the “essential list.”