7 Superhero Movies That Have Totally Unfair IMDb Ratings

Superhero fans are a highly opinionated bunch, with wars often waged in internet comments sections over whether the latest comic book movie was a rousing success or just plain sucked. However, most do generally reach a consensus over a movie’s worth. Let’s take a look at IMDb, for example. A lot of us can agree that The Dark Knight deserves its 9.0 score on the site, while Batman & Robin should be stamped with its laughable mark of 3.7. In some cases, though, IMDb’s ratings can be pretty bizarre or just downright unfair. A number of superhero films have way lower scores on IMDb than they really deserve. Obviously, as the following ratings prove, this is all subjective, so feel free to disagree with us. Maybe you actually do think Batman & Robin deserves to be ranked higher than The Dark Knight (though, if you do, I wouldn’t mention that in public). For our money, though, the following eight comic book movies have been the victims of unfair ratings from IMDb users. 7) Superman II – 6.8 Superman II is a stone cold classic of the then burgeoning comic book film genre, with star Christopher Reeve himself – who was critical of the later films in the franchise – naming it “the best of the series.” Well, sorry, Christopher, IMDb users don’t seem to agree with you, as they only gave Superman II a disappointing 6.8. The first Superman, meanwhile, achieved a 7.3. It's fair enough that Superman, the movie that made every subsequent superhero film possible, should get extra points, but is Superman II really that far below it in terms of quality? Many would disagree, as a lot of Superman fans even prefer it to the original. After all, it brought us Terence Stamp as the deliciously camp General ‘Kneel Before’ Zod. What really proves this rating is unjust, though, is that Superman Returns has got 6.1 on the site, just 0.7 notches below II. It's bizarre that these two movies, which usually occupy polar opposite positions in ‘best of’ lists, should be within the same ballpark, don't you think? 6) X2 – 7.5 2002’s X2 is the film that started the commonly held rule of thumb that superhero sequels are better than the first ones. Adding in fan favourite Nightcrawler and further exploring Wolverine’s origins, Bryan Singer took what already worked in the first X-Men and made it great. Or, as IMDb would have it, pretty good – as the film has managed the decent, but not outstanding, score of 7.5 on the site. This is only 0.1 more than 2000’s X-Men, which is generally not talked about in the same revered tones as its follow-up. The real head-scratching thing here, however, is that X2 is rated lower than both First Class and Days of Future Past, which users have awarded 7.8 and 8.0, respectively. While these are both great films with a lot of fans, we’re not sure they have the rewatch-ability of X2 or indeed its impact on superhero movies. Surely X2 deserves to be bumped up to at least an 8.0 as well, right? 5) Spider-Man 2 – 7.3 Just like X2, Spider-Man 2 significantly improved on its already entertaining precursor. Thanks to some great action, character dynamics and a fantastic performance from Alfred Molina as the series' best villain, Doctor Octopus, the film has been generally considered a pinnacle of the genre ever since. Except on IMDb, of course. Oddly, IMDb rates it on the same level as the first Spider-Man, as both films sport a 7.3 score. Apart from the fact that the sequel is certainly the better film, this is also too low for either of them. In comparison, the reboot The Amazing Spider-Man is only 0.3 lower at 7.0 – even though it pretty much received one colossal shrug from critics. Even scarier, its near universally derided sequel The Amazing Spider-Man 2 stands at 6.8. That’s just 0.5 less than the universally acclaimed Spider-Man 2. How on Earth did that happen? Come on, folks - with the great power to rate films on the internet, comes the great responsibility to do it right. 4) Batman Begins – 8.3 Batman Begins’ 8.3 score on IMDb is nothing to scoff at, of course, as it puts it as one of the highest rated superhero movies on the site. However, that high score still manages to look unfair when you compare it to the other Dark Knight movies. IMDb users are clearly very generous to Christopher Nolan’s Batman films. As mentioned previously, Begins’ follow-up The Dark Knight has an impressive 9.0, while The Dark Knight Rises gets an 8.5. In this context. Batman Begins’ 8.3 actually looks grossly unjust. Begins marked a huge turning point for superhero films and cinema in general, as it heralded the age of the gritty reboot (for better or worse). The Dark Knight Rises, on the other hand, was met with mixed reviews when it came out, and continues to split fans right down the middle concerning its plot holes and controversial ending. Given that, it's surprising that Begins should be rated lower than this contentious threequel. 3) Captain America: The First Avenger – 6.9 While not quite as illustrious as the Dark Knight films, many of the entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have some impressive scores on IMDB. One that doesn’t, however, is Captain America: The First Avenger, which sports a paltry 6.9. That’s just 0.1 more than The Amazing Spider-Man 2, remember. This is a surprise as The First Avenger was actually received very positively by fans, as it translated the potentially old-fashioned character of Steve Rogers to the screen with aplomb. On IMDb, though, it's rated lower than Iron Man 2, which warrants a 7.0 – despite being often thought of as the weakest MCU film. Likewise, Thor also has 7.0, when it's probably not much more than a mediocre superhero film (with Tom Hiddleston being its saving grace). For one of the MCU’s brightest, most successful entries (in terms of bringing a character perfectly to the screen), The First Avenger’s rating needs to be put on ice and swapped for a higher one. 2) Captain America: The Winter Soldier – 7.8 While The First Avenger was good, there’s no denying that The Winter Soldier was better. Perhaps the smartest MCU movie yet, the Russo brothers brought the house down with their first Marvel film that told a tight, 70s-style conspiracy thriller. Its score on IMDb is not too shabby – a very respectable 7.8 – but it isn’t anything particularly special. For a film that remains the favourite Marvel movie of many fans, it really deserves to be boosted up to a nice round 8.0, at least. It’s currently not even a whole one point above Iron Man 2 and is even 0.1 lower than Iron Man at 7.9. Obviously, that one introduced us all to Robert Downey Jr’s franchise-defining turn as Tony Stark, but it probably isn’t an all-round better movie than Winter Soldier, if we were honest with ourselves. Only two MCU movies have actually managed to check off the coveted 8.o rating. One of those is Guardians of the Galaxy with 8.1. The other one, though, we think deserves a little bit more... 1) The Avengers – 8.1 If you cast your mind back to 2012, you may recall that The Avengers was the most beloved film in the world that year, and was hyped up to an incredible degree. A lot of the time, films like that come crashing down in people’s estimations once things have calmed down. Thankfully, The Avengers is still held in high regard, with a strong 8.1 rating on IMDb. However, though that is obviously an impressive score, compared to certain other generously-rated films it could do with being somewhat higher. For instance, The Avengers is surely at least as significant in the history of superhero movies as Batman Begins, which is 0.2 higher on the site. Likewise, it is certainly a generally better remembered movie than The Dark Knight Rises – rated a whole 0.4 more. Deadpool is also currently ranked higher at 8.2, though that might change given a bit of time. Let’s hope that in future this comparatively low rating will be damn well avenged.