Wait … Marvel has animated movies too? Yes, it’s true, and here are the best ones ranked—according to me!
10. Avengers Confidential: Black Widow and Punisher
Avengers Confidential is darker than those dark horrors that gnaw at the edge of the multiverse. The Russian assassin Black Widow and the grizzled combat veteran The Punisher are tasked by government higher-ups to do some confidential wetwork against a terrorist cell. It’s a high-octane thriller with a glorious anime-inspired sheen.
9. Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow
Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow may look cute and cuddly on the surface, but it hides a sinister plot twist. After the grown-up Avengers are mercilessly killed off by the mad robot Ultron the world turns to a bunch of superpowered children to make a last stand against the threat. They grow up so fast! Seriously, these kids should be in school risking their reputations picking boogers out of their noses, not their lives saving the world.
8. Thor: Tales of Asgard
Thor: Tales of Asgard tells the story of the thunder god and his trickster brother Loki back when they still acted like, you know, brothers. Before they found themselves on opposite sides of multiverse spanning conflicts, they were once an inseparable duo getting up to all kinds of trouble in Asgard. If you want a tender tale of brotherly love before it all went to crap, look no further.
7. Ultimate Avengers 2: Rise of the Panther
Ultimate Avengers 2: Rise of the Panther stars one of Marvel’s finest—the Black Panther himself! T’Challa defends his kingdom of Wakanda against an extraterrestrial menace. We watch the Ultimate Avengers gang kick alien ass … if these aliens even have asses. Maybe it’s not an ass at all, but a cloaca? You know, the thing that birds and frogs and weird undersea creatures have?
6. Doctor Strange: The Sorcerer Supreme
Doctor Strange: The Sorcerer Supreme may be a glowing testament to this mad wizard, but it’s all just image-laundering propaganda … but really good propaganda. This film details Dr. Strange’s equally strange quest to attain the title of “sorcerer supreme,” which is I guess just a wizard Ph.D.?
5. Ultimate Avengers: The Movie
Ultimate Avengers: The Movie is exactly what’s written on the tin, it’s the ultimate Avengers movie. Marvel took a play straight out of the DC playbook and created a film that is targeted toward a more adult audience. The film is essentially an animated retelling of the original Avengers movie. Aliens invade the earth, and The Avengers do what they do best—assemble.
4. Planet Hulk
A planet full of Hulks? I LOVE IT. Planet Hulk is sadly not about a planet full of Hulks, no, Planet Hulk tells the tale of the one and only Hulk after he is banished from Earth for the “he’s too dangerous” reason. He lands on a planet where a tyrannical ruler forces him to compete in gladiator battles, but Hulk gets sick of it and ends up leading a Spartacus-style gladiator revolution.
3. Hulk Vs.
Hulk Vs. Who? Well, the only Marvel hero who could possibly hope to take him on, is Wolverine. Hulk Vs. pits the unjolly Green Giant against The Adamantium Man himself. Who wouldn’t want to watch the world’s most powerful being face off against a man who can heal from virtually any injury? Oh, Thor fights The Hulk too, but it’s not quite as cool. I mean, how could it be?
2. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is not only one of the best Marvel animated movies in existence, but it’s also one of the best animated movies in existence. The story centers around Miles Morales, a teenager who soon finds himself bitten by a radioactive spider, who gets embroiled in an evil plan to mash parallel universes together, and forced to become his universe’s Spiderman after Peter Parker dies. How does he do it? He gets trained by a gracelessly aging Peter Parker from a parallel universe.
1. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
They did it, Marvel pulled a Shrek 2 out of their cloacas. They made a groundbreaking pop culture phenomenon like Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse and then made an even better sequel. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse tells the story of a seasoned Miles Morales who is once against cast into the Spider-Verse and has to work with other Spider-people in order to defeat a multiverse-ending threat. The problem is that not all the Spider-people agree on how best to solve the problem, forcing Miles to fight against them. This film will stand the test of time as one of the animated greats.
(featured image: Sony Pictures Animation)
