Here are our picks for the best superhero movie performances of the decade. The superhero genre is now bigger than ever before, with comic book adaptations regularly breaking $1 billion in the global box office. Standing at the forefront is the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has grossed over $22 billion worldwide.
There are many reasons for the superhero movie genre's current success, but one of them is the talent of the actors that these movies attract. What's more, the shared universe model means that actors are signed up for multiple films; as a result, as the years they become increasingly familiar with the part they play, understanding every nuance of their character arc. That makes their portrayals truly remarkable, and as a result certain actors have developed the reputation of simply being born for their role.
2019 marks a sea change in the superhero genre. It's not just the end of the decade; it's the end of an era, because Marvel's Avengers: Endgame saw some particularly iconic actors bow out of their long-standing roles. Given the genre is essentially entering a new stage of transition right now, this is the perfect time to honor the best superhero performances of the last 10 years.
15. Michael Shannon (General Zod)
Man of Steel director Zack Snyder always knew he wanted Michael Shannon to play the film's villain, the ruthless Kryptonian General Zod. He had Shannon flown out to his house, and presented the entire script. The actor was struck by Snyder's vision, and signed up straight away. Shannon's Zod is a brilliant, single-minded tactician who was literally genetically engineered to never doubt his own actions. "We Earthlings, we like to think of ourselves as the most important thing in the universe," Shannon reflected in an interview with CinemaBlend. "But you know, we’re not, and you know, if a lion runs up to you in the jungle and eats your a**, it’s not like, 'Oh, that evil lion,' because it’s what a lion does."
14. Christian Bale (Batman)
Christian Bale would be a lot higher on this list - but unfortunately, only one film in the Dark Knight Trilogy was actually released in the last decade. The Dark Knight, with Batman a wanted man and Bruce Wayne now a recluse. Wayne was presented as the eye of the storm, the movie's moral center, and in the end he was forced to decide how much he was willing to sacrifice for Gotham.
13. Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn)
will change her wardrobe, too.
12. Michael B. Jordan (Killmonger)
Michael B. Jordan had something to prove when he was cast as Fantastic Four, a commercial and critical failure, but Marvel Studios believed he had the potential to be one of their strongest bad guys to date. They were right; Killmonger was complex and sophisticated, driven both by personal hostility and a fascinating philosophical perspective. Jordan's portrayal was cool and commanding, and he dominated almost every scene he appeared in. Killmonger's final defeat - and his death at Black Panther's hands - was poetically done, making him one of the most satisfying supervillains in the MCU to date.
11. Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool)
Ryan Reynolds was born to be Deadpool is expected to continue with as few changes as possible. As Disney CEO Bob Iger reportedly told Marvel president Kevin Feige, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
10. Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury)
Samuel L. Jackson is living the dream. He grew up reading comic books - in fact, his favorites included Invincible Iron Man and Nick Fury and his Howling Commandos - and now he gets to play the MCU's Nick Fury. The character has appeared in nine Marvel blockbusters, including all four Avengers films, and he stands at the center of the Avengers Initiative. Jackson deserves particular recognition for Nick Fury was really a shapeshifting alien impostor.
9. Dafne Keen (X-23)
Director James Mangold was determined to avoid all the tired superhero tropes when it came to a video showing Dafne Keen showing off her skills. Keen was definitely the right pick; for all her youth, she managed to present X-23 as a complex character, with a brooding intensity, a savage and feral nature, and yet a haunting sense of innocence.
8. Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman)
Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman broke the glass ceiling for female superhero movies. Hollywood insiders have long argued that superhero films with female leads just don't perform well at the box office, pointing to flops like No Man's Land. The first few years of the DCEU had a number of missteps, but the casting of Gal Gadot was certainly not one of them.
7. Josh Brolin (Thanos)
Josh Brolin's Thanos is different to all the other names on this list, largely because the part demanded a subtly different skill-set. Thanos is the monstrous villain of a CGI avatar placed onto mo-cap recordings of the actor at work. That makes Thanos' success a mark of the quality of teamwork between Josh Brolin and the special effects teams who worked with Marvel to create Thanos. Brolin trusted companies like Digital Domain and WETA to get it right, playing Thanos straight rather than overplaying the role. They successfully reproduced every nuance of Brolin's performance, turning Thanos into a strangely compelling villain.
6. Tom Hiddleston (Loki)
The shared universe model means that actors have the opportunity to grow into their role, ultimately inhabiting the part in a way that would otherwise be impossible. For Tom Hiddleston, the Trickster God his death in Avengers: Infinity War. Of course, these are comic book adaptations, which means death is a revolving door; Loki is soon to return as the star of his own Disney+ limited series. The complexity of Loki's character gives Hiddleston a lot of room to emote, and he manages to convey a remarkable mixture of arrogance and emotional vulnerability to the villain.
