Comicon’s Best Comic Book Films Of 2025

As an adjunct to our Best of the Year Awards, Comicon would like to also recognize the best (admittedly, a relative term) in films based on comic books in the past year. Of course, fewer films were released in 2025 as economic forces make genre-based entertainment harder to sustain, but maintaining the list reveals just how varied genre continues to be in the wake of connected universes, studio upheavals, and Marvel’s continued reliance on its strange “method.”

The following are Comicon’s Best Comic Book Films of 2025.

5. Deathstalker, written and directed by Steven Kostanski; starring Daniel Bernhardt, Christina Orjalo, and Patton Oswalt; released by Shout! Studios

Taking its cues as much from the original 1980s Deathstalker films as it does the recent Vault Comics series (a character from that tale makes an appearance here), the 2025 update is one of the most fun fantasy films released in ages. Bernhardt takes a moment to warm up as the title character — no easy feat as he was played by three different actors in the ’80s with varying personalities. The plot is also very thin as Deathstalker and his new gang of pals wander the realm, but the action scenes, practical creature effects, and joie de vivre easily make it the best made of the five Deathstalker pictures. It also makes me hopeful this level of fantasy film can return. See also: the 2025 Red Sonja, which would’ve made this list for the same reasons had Deathstalker come out in a different year or had it not featured an absolute banger in the closing title track provided by Brendan McCreary, Chuck Cirrino (who wrote the original Deathstalker II score), Bear McCreary, and Slash … the only man on the planet who cares more about this silly series than I do.

4. Thunderbolts*, directed by Jake Schreier, screenplay Eric Pearson and Joanna Calo; story by Eric Pearson; starring Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Lewis Pullman, Wyatt Russell, Hannah John-Kamen, Sebastian Stan and Julia Louis-Dreyfus; released by Walt Disney Studios

The only superhero film in recent memory to make depression itself the ultimate adversary, Thunderbolts* would likely be a better film had it not occupied such an important place in the Marvel Multiverse Saga. On it’s own, though, it is a wonderful little film about a group of broken people becoming stronger thanks to grouping up. One part team film, two parts a showcase for Pugh’s fan-favorite Black Widow Yelena Belova, it features a number of strong performances by Harbour — and that’s considering his recent troubles — Russell, and particularly Pullman. Sure, not every character is well-served (we see you, Olga Kurylenko!) and I’m still convinced Bucky (Stan) lost his seat in Congress during a scene removed from the final cut, but it underscores the film’s scrappy not-Avengers vibe. And yeah, I know the asterisk leads straight to the Avengers, but I think the film would be that much better without it.

3. The Fantastic Four: First Steps, directed by Matt Shakman, screenplay by Jeff Kaplan & Ian Springer and Eric Pearson and Josh Friedman; story by Eric Pearson and Jeff Kaplan & Ian Springer and Kat Wood; starring Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach; released by Walt Disney Studios

The other of the Marvel films on this year’s list — sorry, Captain America: Brave New World — First Steps wins its place for both being the first decent film to feature the Richards clan and its amazing world-building. Earth-868 is a delightful retro-futurist dream fueled by Reed Richard’s (Pascal) discoveries and a 1960s optimism so compelling, even marginalized groups get to share in the prosperity. The film may falter a little once Galactus (Ralph Ineson) makes his way to Earth, but the journey is definitely worth the time and the hallmark of the best thing Marvel Studios put out this year.

2. Predator: Badlands, directed by Dan Trachtenberg, screenplay by Patrick Aison; story by Patrick Aison & Dan Trachtenberg; starring Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi and Elle Fanning; released by 20th Century Studios

Inevitably. a Predator or Alien film is something of a cheat by appearing on the list. At the same time, Badlands, like last year’s Alien: Romulus, makes its way here because of how much it feels like the Dark Horse Predator comics I grew up reading. A Yautja as the main character paired up with a woman is straight out of the original Alien Vs. Predator. But Trachtenberg once again proved to be the Predator-whisper by understanding the creatures and their universe better than even the original creators. This time, though, he allowed the extraterrestrial to star! Schuster-Koloamatangi’s lead Predator is backed, of course, by the superlative Fanning — who not only comes off as the most realized artificial person Weyland-Yutani ever put into space, but does double-duty as a second synth hellbent on killing the fabled creature both the Yautja and the Company aim to collect for their own differing ends. Additionally, the film was one of the best experiences I had in theaters this year. In fact, only one film could top it.

1. Superman, written and directed by James Gunn; starring David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, and Nicholas Hoult; released by Warner Bros. Pictures

As I said in my original review, Superman feels like the post-Crisis Superman comics of the Triangle Number era — the Superman comics of my youth. But curiouser are the comments I saw from even older fans who felt Gunn took inspiration from the Silver Age. The net result, I think, is a film that gets to the heart of the character across the ages while also letting him stand aside for characters like Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi) and Krypto to get their moments under the yellow sun. That, of course, is so thoroughly Superman that it strikes me as sublime. I also appreciate the more human Clark making his way to the big screen. Sure, comics, TV, and animation have given audiences this depiction of the Metropolis Marvel before, but I can’t help but appreciate the moment in which he tells Luthor (Hoult) that he’s just as screwed up as everybody else. Sure, we like the DC heroes to be more godlike, but this moment of true relatability is just what Superman needed to set himself up as the DC screen hero for the next decade.