Superheroes come in all shapes and sizes (and species). DC and Marvel are mainstays when it comes to comic book fodder. Their rogues and mavericks in capes and tights are pure entertainment but also true modern myths and morality plays. The fantasy worlds they come from, their improbable backstories made possible, and their extended universes converging all culminate in adventures that involve wit, daring, and bravado.
Update September 1, 2023: This article has been updated with even more great superhero films for those who might not like superhero movies.
Yet while the superhero movie is still extremely popular, there is bound to be audiences who are tired of it or want something new. There have been many movies in the superhero genre, or adjacent to it, that have experimented with the form that makes for great watches for those who might not like superhero films. These movies call out the troupes, ditch the costumes, or put a new spin on the material.
15 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
They’re teenagers, mutants, turtles, and, above all, ninjas. A freak accident from a pet owner and a vial of ooze inadvertently created the famous pizza-eating, crime-fighting foursome of brothers. Jim Henson’s Creature Shop designed these live-action martial artists as well. Named after Renaissance artists Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael, with their adoptive sewer rat father, Master Splinter, are New York City’s underground heroes.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is fittingly the underground superhero movie, an independent film produced in 1990 that featured the most untraditional superheroes that audiences knew at the time. There was nothing else like it in theaters, and the franchise has gone on to multiple films, with a recent animated reboot released in 2023.
14 Unbreakable (2000)
The only man to survive a derailed, crashing train was not just serendipity. In this M. Night Shyamalan production, Unbreakable turned on its head with suspenseful intrigue. Why David Dunn (Bruce Willis) has a superhuman power is unknown until a handicapped comic book store owner (Samuel L. Jackson) takes advantage to study him closer. It is a clever, nontraditional take on the superhero genre that deals with brains and brawn.
13 Kill Bill (2003)
Uma Thurman is Black Mamba who leaves the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad to lead a normal life. The assassins try to prevent her aim with an attempt on her, and her unborn child’s, life. When they fail, she adds them to her hit list, along with their leader, Bill AKA Snake Charmer, her former lover and the father of her daughter (played by David Carradine of Kung-Fu fame). Quentin Tarantino’s film blends many action and adventure genres, from the Japanese samurais to spaghetti Westerns; there is a movie and hero in Kill Bill for everyone.
12 Solomon Kane (2009)
Solomon Kane is an underdog film based on a longstanding character that has been published for more than 80 years now. The movie is written and directed by M. J. Bassett and stars James Purefoy as the titular character. An English Privateer who has devoted his life to violence finds out his soul has been damaged for hell. He renounces violence and forsakes his fortunes to live in a monastery until a prophetic dream makes him abandon his vow of peace. He must find his way to free the damned souls of his family and save the Puritan wanderers who offered him solace and refuge in his hour of need.
11 The Forbidden Kingdom (2008)
A martial hero movie starring two master martial artists, Jackie Chan and Jet Li. Boston teen Jason Tripitikas, who loves kung-fu movies, shops for them but is forced to rob the store, gets a golden staff and a mission to return it to the Monkey King. The choreography of the fighting sequences never misses a beat, and the hero’s journey for Jason is well done. While The Forbidden Kingdom might not seem like a superhero movie and is more a martial arts story, the two genres have a great deal of overlap.
10 Watchmen (2009)
Anti-heroes and big government intermingle in this social commentary from the dystopian comic book series from Alan Moore. Heroism is outlawed, and authoritarian sentiments reign, making you question whether unconventional interventions and superheroes are good or bad for the whole of society. Watchmen is a good think piece compared to the nonstop action of other comic book movies.
9 Kick-Ass (2010)
Self-made, real-life superheroes take to the streets to exact their own brand of justice. A comic book character inspired by comic books (meta that rivals Deadpool’s broken fourth wall) gives crime-fighting a shot with comedic and crushing results. Nods to the comics are satirized as well, with Nicolas Cage as Big Daddy, who looks like Batman on steroids with guns. Kick-Ass is an adaptation that will leave a grim grin across your face.
8 Dredd (2012)
This adaptation of the British comic character, Dredd, is a gritty, bare-bones action film. It is essentially Die Hard but in a post-apocalyptic future where Judge Dredd (Karl Urban) has to fight his way to the top of a building to defeat a drug crime lord. It might look like a superhero story with the costumes, but it is a darker and bloodier take on the material that certainly will fall in line with people who want a more traditional action film.
7 The Green Hornet (2011)
2011’s The Green Hornet was a parody of the superhero genre years before 2016’s Deadpool would strike gold. The movie reimagined the self-made millionaire hero of Bruce Wayne or Tony Stark and put Seth Rogen as the role of Britt Reid, a well-meaning but also doofus hero, the Green Hornet, who relies mainly on the skills of his partner, Kato. Green Hornet had fun riffing on many of the conventions of the genre and now has aged very well, as many of the superhero staples are more well-known to general audiences.
6 Darkman (1990)
From the mind of Sam Raimi, we have one of the best anti-heroes created in the 1990s that has yet to get a revival. Starring Liam Neeson and Frances McDormand, we follow the story of Dr. Peyton Wilder, a geneticist working on a new form of skin grafts, until he’s assaulted in his lab by a mob enforcer. After enduring a procedure that cuts all his nerves, Payton no longer feels pain. From that moment, he uses his research to become a master of disguise and get revenge on his assailants as Darkman.
Darkman was created as Sam Raimi could not get the film rights to The Shadow or Batman and decided to make his own original superhero, and the concept is incredible. Mixing classic superhero troupes with those of Universal Monsters makes this a breath of fresh air in a genre that seems to have already done everything.
5 The Crow (1994)
The Crow, directed by Alex Poryas, was the last starring role of Brandon Lee, Burce Lee’s elder son. The night before his wedding, musician Eric Draven and his fiance are brutally killed by a gang. One year later, Eric returns to life with the powers imbued in a mysterious Crow that is always close to him. His single mission is to find and kill all the gang members who took away his life and the life of his beloved, which he does with brutal efficiency throughout the story.
4 Brightburn (2019)
While the “What if Superman was evil” is a troupe that has been played out a lot in recent years, Brightburn is certainly one of the freshest takes on the material. In this James Gunn-produced reimaging of the Superman myth, a horror spin is put on the franchise of what if the alien boy who came to Earth was, in fact, an evil alien invader.
Brightburn is violent, gory, and terrifying in a way that shows the true horror of what Superman would be without his moral compass in a way no other version has. The film also heavily mirrors the visual language of Man of Steel, which makes this an even more appealing take on the material.
3 Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)
The famous video game heroine debuted on the big screen in 2001, directed by Simon West and starring Angelina Jolie. The film follows the story of Lara as she seeks to solve the mystery behind his father’s death. While investigating, she comes across a brotherhood called The Illuminati, who are hunting for an artifact named the Triangle that one joins can be used to control time. Lara manages to get all halves wishing to bring back her father, but he promptly tells her to destroy the artifact before anyone else can get their hands on it.
2 Chronicle (2012)
2012 was a big year for superhero movies as it saw the release of The Avengers, The Amazing Spider-Man, and The Dark Knight Rises. Kicking off the year was Chronicle, which was a grounded look at the superhero genre and mixed it with the then-popular but quickly fading fad of found footage movies. The film follows three friends who discover a secret alien craft and are given powers, which soon puts the three on very different paths.
Chronicle uses its superhero powers to explore concepts like being an outsider and what happens when a teenager who has been picked on their whole life is given the powers of a god. It features some grand action and uses the superpowers as a clever way for the camera to get more cinematic shots that other films could not.
1 RoboCop (1987)
From the minds of Paul Verhoeven and Edward Neumeier, we get the best Superhero film of 1987 that wasn’t based on any established IP. Part Man, part machine, all cop. RoboCop tells the unfortunate story of office Alex Murphy, played by Peter Weller. The man is transferred to new Detroit by OCP, a corporation slowly privatizing the city to gentrify it. After being killed in action, he is transformed into RoboCop, the future of law enforcement. The cyborg programmed to bring justice finds some shreds of humanity after he begins to remember his former life while solving his own murder.
