All 8 Live-Action Superhero Movies Turning 10 in 2026, Ranked

It's finally 2026, and audiences are looking forward to quite a year for superhero movies with the likes of Supergirl, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Clayface, and Avengers: Doomsday all debuting throughout the year. As these new films make their way to the big screen, audiences may find it incredibly fun to look back on films of superhero movies past—more specifically, the ones turning a whopping ten years old this year.

The fact that it's been a decade since these cape flicks came out is going to make a lot of people feel very old. As blockbuster cinema prepares for a big year, it's good to remember that ten years ago, 2016, was another huge year for the superhero genre. Marvel and DC both had major developments, and audiences even got a non-Marvel/DC superhero movie. How do they rank up against each other, though? Surprisingly, there's more of a stark contrast between the projects than one would initially think.

7 'Suicide Squad' (August 5th)

While 2016 hosted a few really good examples, it also had one of the worst superhero movies ever—one some even consider among the worst ever made, period, and truly felt like the beginning of the end for the new era of the DC Extended Universe. We're talking, of course, of David Ayer's Suicide Squad. As much as people were excited about it from the trailers, nothing stopped this movie from being horrendous.

What went wrong with Suicide Squad? It's so hard to say. Director David Ayer himself claims that Warner Bros. chopped up and changed his movie in the editing room, thanks to the success of the very comedic Deadpool the same year. Alas, that doesn't change the fact that this project turned out as truly terrible as a superhero movie could have. Unfortunately, one can't review a movie for what it could have been, but must take it for what it is, which, in Suicide Squad's case, is extremely rough.

6 'Max Steel' (October 14th)

Sixteen years before this movie was brought to audiences, this franchise began as a television series, Max Steel. The franchise would continue forward to become another—better-produced—3D animated series of the same name, and, in 2016, the movie, Max Steel, would introduce a lot of new people to the universe. The film is based far more on the 2016 show, taking the suit design and story pretty much to a tee.

The TV shows were both received with mixed reviews, but leaning positive. Kids enjoyed them, even if adults outright dismissed them. The movie, however, was not seeing the same kind of reviews, gaining some really harsh criticisms. Max Steel has a terrible 1.7/5.0 rating on Letterboxd; such infamy speaks for itself. Even dedicated fans of the show, who may have had a bit more leniency towards it because of their nostalgia, did not like Max Steel. For any superhero project, alienating its core audience is a cardinal sin. If you lose the hardcore fans, it's pretty much all over.

5 'X-Men: Apocalypse' (May 27th)

On paper, X-Men: Apocalypse should have been a great film. While it wasn't terrible, it certainly didn't live up to everything it could have been. Despite casting Oscar Isaac in the titular role as the iconic mutant villain and having a wonderfully talented cast beside him, many of the characters were done a major disservice in both writing and performance.

However, despite its failings in writing, there are still plenty of great scenes in X-Men: Apocalypse that keep it somewhat memorable. This is especially true when it comes to Quicksilver's (Evan Peters) big slow-motion running scene, saving the kids of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters as it literally explodes, all to the tune of the seminal '80s classic "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This"). While it may not be the best of the X-Men franchise, X-Men: Apocalypse is still a super entertaining movie that is genuinely pretty fun to watch, even if it's also quite frustrating.

4 'Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice' (March 25th)

The opinions across the board on Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice are mixed, to say the least. Some people absolutely hated it for its questionable and, it must be said, poorly executed creative decisions, and some loved the darker and grittier tone, despite Superman being a character that doesn't necessarily fit that approach most of the time. Regardless of opinions, though, there are both bad and good things about Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice that are more objective.

The cinematography, for one, is exceptional. Director of Photography Larry Fong did a phenomenal job bringing this grittier world to life and capturing the sequences on screen perfectly. The climactic fight between Batman (Ben Affleck) and Superman (Henry Cavill) is a huge standout and one of the greatest sequences in the now-defunct DCEU. While the overall narrative suffers a bit, and the film's take on characters like Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) is less than ideal, the technical aspects of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice make it most enjoyable.

3 'Doctor Strange' (October 13th)

When it comes to underrated superhero films, Doctor Strange is pretty high up there. A lot of people forgot about this movie pretty quickly, but it definitely deserved more love. While the story was relatively basic, the visuals and worldbuilding make the by-the-numbers story basically a non-issue. The introduction of the Mystic Arts to the Marvel Cinematic Universe was incredibly well done, expanding the mystical corner of the ever-growing franchise.

Benedict Cumberbatch, Doctor Stephen Strange himself, gives a great performance that so clearly defines why he deserves his spot in the MCU. He does such a good job that, despite the plot itself being forgettable, the character is not and serves as a highlight of the film. The supporting cast is also pretty stellar, most notably Benedict Wong, who would become one of the MCU's most unexpected scene-stealers. The Mystic Arts look phenomenally vibrant and really bring this new magical corner of the MCU to life in the best way possible.

2 'Deadpool' (February 12th)

Not only is Deadpool a wonderful movie that people adore, but it's extremely influential, not just in the superhero film space, but in the rated-R corner, too. Before this game-changer, studios didn't seem to really believe that an R-rated superhero movie could be successful (due to past failures), but Deadpool proved them so wrong. Not to forget, it's one of the lower-budgeted superhero movies, proving that these flicks don't necessarily need to have hundreds of millions of dollars in budget to be successful.

It wasn't just successful, but it quickly became the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time (which has since been passed up by the third film in the franchise, Deadpool & Wolverine). This success gave studios a lot more confidence and opened the door for more R-rated superhero movies to be made, like Logan, the rest of the Deadpool franchise, and Joker. The comedy in the first Deadpool is easily the most remarkable part of it, delivering fourth-wall breaks and irreverent humor unlike anything audiences had seen in the superhero space. Ryan Reynolds thrives in this anti-hero role, and he and director Tim Miller managed to do a very good job at keeping the project accurate to the source material.

1 'Captain America: Civil War' (May 6th)

The Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) Captain America saga is one of the most popular and most well-received superhero movie trilogies of all time. Each movie is a total banger, concluding with the one and only Captain America: Civil War—or "Avengers 2.5" to some. This trilogy-capper brings the Avengers together once more and actually pins them against each other as their ideologies clash regarding superhero registration under the Sokovia Accords.

Not only that, but Captain America: Civil War is the first MCU movie in which their iteration of Spider-Man (Tom Holland) makes his appearance. This alone made the third Captain America movie one of the most important and popular MCU movies, because of the fact that back in 2015, Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures Entertainment managed to come to a deal regarding the character. The drama at play in Captain America: Civil War is extremely well-done and enhances the great action paired with it. The film would reshape the MCU entirely, and its consequences lasted for years afterwards.