The Top 10 Superhero Films

7. Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)
2008 was a great year for superhero films, and, aside from Hancock, the ones based on prior comics were great! The first film based on the Hellboy comics was a fun, if somewhat slow take on the once obscure paranormal investigator. It wasn’t stunning, but the film was an imaginative and entertaining new take on the superhero genre. A few years later, however, the surprise hit was given a sequel. And, like a certain bat, the sequel managed to outperform the already splendid first outing.

More imagination went into this movie's backgrounds, I believe, than anything that happened in the far more anticipated Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which was released the same year. The fight scenes are beautifully choreographed, and the often silly humor and the romantic subplot are actually highlights that set this film apart from so many other superhero films. Quite surprising for a film with the word “hell” in it.

Ron Perlman as Hellboy continues to be an endearing presence, both tough and quick to boast, with a fist that gives him all the right in the world to do so, but he's also quite a softy, doting on his hot-tempered girlfriend and helping out his friend, the intellectual fish-man Abe, with his love life. And he has kitties all over his place! What's not to love?

The storyline, about an elf prince seeking to reawaken the ancient Golden Army to restart a war with the humans, is kind of a throwaway, but it’s a great excuse to see Mike Mignola’s characters interacting with imaginative creatures in some of the most wonderful sets – the troll market scene is the modern equivalent of the first Star Wars film’s cantina scene. The film also contains hints about the apocalyptic direction a potential third movie would take, but if they keep the same sense of fun and wonder and the amazing fight choreography as its predecessors, another sequel would hardly mean the end of the world.