My Top 10 Superhero Movies - Part One

My Top 10 Superhero Movies

By Kenneth Parker

Part 1 – 10 - 6

With Superhero movies accounting for a huge part of thje movie box office over the past few years, one cannot ignore their influence and perhaps can identify a time where they might over saturate the market. With a record number of hero movies currently being worked on including Man of Steel, Thor 2, Iron Man 3, Captain America 2, The Avengers 2, Ant-Man, The Guardians of the Galaxy, Daredevil, The Amazing Spiderman 2, Justice League, Shazam, the Flash, Green Arrow, Lobo, The Suicide Squad and so on, one has to look at a best of list as a very temporary list for sure. This list will no doubt change drastically over the next couple of years.

Because of my very successful Top 25 Sci-Fi article series (i.e. I actually finished it) I figured it was time to tackle superhero movies. I did not include any superhero movies in the sci-fi category as there are enough for them to have their own list. Unlike my Sci-fi list, I have decided to post this list in two parts.

My rules for inclusion on this list are as follows -

I need to have seen the film – obviously. The film has to be a story about a superhero (superheroes) with special abilities and/or a character(s) that is attempting to do good by fighting crime as a superhero. Anyway, the selection of movies was pretty easy and I just took the list from Wikipedia.

I had to leave off some really good films and like any of my lists, are always subject to change.

So here we go.....

Deleted Bane Scenes Hint at 'Dark Knight' Villain's Past

Bane shows off the latest in face mask fashions.

One thing lacking from "The Dark Knight Rises" is back story on Bane. Oh, it's hinted at somewhat in the prison scene flashbacks - if you haven't seen the movie yet, stop reading right here because there are SPOILERS ahead - but we are left mostly to guess at the villain's motivation and past.

Fortunately, we have GQ to fill in some of the blanks. Yes, the men's fashion magazine. It recently posted an interview with "Dark Knight" costume designer Lindy Hemming, who startled the interviewer with a simple personal revelation.

Lindy Hemming: There were two things about his (Bane's) clothes. The first thing is that they should be pretty undefined in date and where they came from, other than perhaps north of Asia. The other thing is that during the sequence when...do you know I haven't seen the film finished?

GQ: What!? You haven't seen the movie yet?

Lindy Hemming: It's not out in England yet, but the other thing that you should have seen during that sequence is him being injured in his youth. So one of the fundamental things about his costume is that he has this scar from the back injury. Even if he hasn't got the bulletproof vest on, he still has to wear the waist belt and the braces. In that scene in the prison, where he's learning to fight the same way Batman learned to fight, he's wearing an early version of his waist belt. It's showing support, but it's not the finished one he eventually wears. He's also wearing an early version of his gas mask, all glued together.

David Letterman Ruins Ending to The Dark Knight Rises?

Apparently David Letterman let slip the ending to The Dark Knight Rises... or did he.  See this video if you want to potentially have the ending ruined - spoilers obviously

Listen To Hans Zimmer's Batman: The Dark Knight Rises Soundtrack Now!! (Free and Legal)

Here is Hans Zimmer's soundtrack to Batman: The Dark Knight Rises.  It is being released next week but you can hear the full thing right now.  The Embed code is brought to you by Empire Magazine which was able to release the entire soundtrack.

Check Out This New Batman:The Dark Knight Rises Poster Featuring Catwoman's Stiletto Heel

 Check this out. This poster was released towards the end of the week and it was a secret poster.  Kinda ominous if I do say so myself.

The New Batman: The Dark Knight Rises Trailer

'The Dark Knight Rises' prologue - SPOILERS!

What did you say?

We're not taking credit for any of this. Not a single word. All of the we're-not-worthy kudos go to Janice Kay of ScienceFiction.com, who cleverly pieced together the following description of the upcoming trailer for "The Dark Knight Rises." The title of World's Greatest Detective is taken, but Kay deserves special recognition for her work on this.

One more time - SPOILERS ahead. Do not clock on "read more" unless you want to, you know, read more.

Introducing Bane - before 'The Dark Knight Rises'

Bane "unmasked" in preview.

An early peek at "The Dark Knight Rises" - about eight minutes of footage - was screened by director Christopher Nolan on Thursday. Just in case you weren't on the guest list for the viewing - yes, we misplaced our tickets, too - the preview will be seen by audiences in select IMAX theaters later this month before "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol."

According to The Hollywood Reporter:

The majority of the preview introduced audiences to Bane, the Batman movie's major villain, played by a masked Tom Hardy. Without giving too much away, the footage revolved around a heist involving a plane.

The sequence was grand in scope, expanding the Batman world outside of Gotham City, and it was filled with a lot of tension and dread. The effect was not only from the images on screen but from the score, which was reminiscent of Nolan's The Dark Knight and Inception.

In Massachusetts, the IMAX theaters that will be showing the footage include the Jordan's IMAX  in Natick and the IMAX 3D Theatre in Reading. For a complete list, click here.

Sorry, we don't have a link the video - yet.

R.I.P., Bruce Wayne? Long Live The Batman

Have we seen the last of The Batman?

We already know that "The Dark Knight Rises" is the final picture in the trilogy of Christopher Nolan/Christian Bale movies about Batman.

But is it also the end for Batman?

Or at least Bruce Wayne?

Holy Conspiracy Theory!

Playing the role of Barbara Gordon ... do you really want to know?

We have an autographed version of this Batgirl photograph.

Yes, we're talking a possible Major Spoiler for "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises." But do not worry - we promise not to give anything away until after the jump.

Everyone knows the main characters - Christian Bale returning as the Caped Crusader and Gary Oldman as Gotham City Police Commissioner James Gordon. If you've been paying any attention at all, you know Anne Hathaway appears as Catwoman and the villain is Bane, portrayed by Tom Hardy.

But the folks at The Dark Knight Rises Rumors - WARNING: Clicking that link will reveal the surprise, too - have been busy digging a little deeper. Evidence suggests that the film will introduce another character from the comics - Barbara Gordon, daughter of the commissioner. She's also Batgirl, of course (if you consider that a spoiler, turn in your cowl right now). And, later, she became Oracle.

What leads the people at Rumors to this conclusion? The photograph of a trailer door on the New York City set.

Director Christopher Nolan discusses the finale in his Batman trilogy

Third time's the harm?

Christopher Nolan opening up about "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises"?

Hard to believe, isn't it? And while the secretive director is not giving away too many details, he is finally talking about his much-anticipated third - and final - installment in the series. As he told Empire Magazine:

"It's really all about finishing Batman and Bruce Wayne's story. We left him in a very precarious place. Perhaps surprisingly for some people, our story picks up quite a bit later, eight years after The Dark Knight. So he's an older Bruce Wayne; he's not in a great state.

"With Bane, we're looking to give Batman a challenge he hasn't had before. With our choice of villain and with our choice of story we're testing Batman both physically as well as mentally."

Batman, Bane occupy Wall Street

Bane and Batman.

Yes, we're being treated to even more photographs and video from the set of "The Dark Knight Rises." What makes the photos exceptional is that they are close-up shots from fight scenes filmed on Wall Street in New York City involving Bane (Tom Hardy) and Batman (Christian Bale). You can see more pictures and video by clicking here.

What makes the video fun to watch is the fake fighting. Literally, some of the punches don't come within three feet of their target.



For the real thing, we have to wait until June 12, 2012.

More pictures from the set of 'The Dark Knight Rises' - and why they bother me

Too many Bat-toys?

You know what I disliked most about Christopher Nolan's first Batman movie? You don't care, but I am going to tell you anyway.

The Batmobile. Or Bat-Tank. Or whatever you want to call it.

The legend of Batman is about the character - the hero cloaked in darkness both literal and figurative. Patrolling as a shadowy figure on the rooftops and in the alleys of Gotham City at night makes him as real as the evil that he has sworn over his parents' graves to fight. Put him behind the wheel of even the most bad-ass of crime-fighting vehicles and part of me expects him to pull into the local Dunkin' Donuts for some late night brew, a Danish and to flirt with the waitress.

The 'official' synopsis for 'The Dark Knight Rises'

Christian Bale and his cowled alter ego return in 2012.

Cosmic Book News is reporting that it has a copy of the official plot synopsis for "The Dark Knight Rises." Maybe it is legitimate. Maybe not. But there is no doubt that it fits in with everything else we've head.

So here goes (minor spoilers, if you haven't been paying attention to the kazillion other spoiler posts on the movie)

"Every hero has a journey. Every journey has an end. Christopher Nolan returns to complete the epic Gotham trilogy that launched with Batman Begins and reached the stratosphere with the billion-dollar blockbuster The Dark Knight.

More Clues to 'The Dark Knight Rises' Plot (Hint: Think 'Knightfall'

If you've been paying any attention at all to the little bat-bits of news coming from the secretive sets of Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight Rises," you probably already know too much about the film and its possible plot.

Why?

Bane.

The criminal mastermind, portrayed by Tom Hardy, is billed as the top villain in the movie. That immediately reminds comic book fans of the "Knightfall" storyline from 1993. We'll let the fine folks at Screen Rant provide the synopsis.

But first, a warning: If you only know Bane from his lame appearance in Joel Schumacher's even lamer "Batman and Robin," this likely contains MAJOR SPOILERS:

Pictures of Anne Hathaway wearing the full Catwoman costume

Anne Hathaway donned the cat ears over the weekend for the filming of scenes for "The Dark Knight Rises" in Los Angeles. Joining her were Christian Bale in full Batman getup and Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon. The pictures are courtesy of Just Jared.

More after the jump.

Watch Catwoman take the Batpod for a spin

This is footage from the streets of Pittsburgh, where Christopher Nolan is shooting his latest Batman epic, "The Dark Knight Rises." OK, so it's not Anne Hathaway, but her stunt double. In that costume, who can tell and who cares?

Footage of Batman fighting Bane ... after they just stand around for a while

Lights ... cameras ... action!

It takes a few seconds for the scene to get rolling, but you can watch Christian Bale's Batman and Tom Hardy's Bane mix it up in this video from the streets of Pittsburgh, er, Gotham City.

"Batman: The Dark Knight Rises" will be coming to a theater near you next summer.

More On Set Photos of Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle aka Catwoman

Thanks to spoiler tv.com

First Official Picture Of Anne Hathaway as Catwoman

Not to sure about this one.  Will reserve judgment until I see a better picture.