Although DC got the ball rolling on comic book adaptations with the massive critical and commercial success of 1978's Superman and 1989's Batman, it wasn't until the turn of the millennium when the superhero genre blew up in a big way thanks to the success of first Blade, and then X-Men. Today, Marvel are unquestionably top dogs when it comes to producing comic book blockbusters thanks largely to the unprecedented success of Marvel Studios and their connected cinematic universe. However, the rights to many of the most popular Marvel characters have been splintered all across Hollywood, which has seen numerous studios jump on the superhero bandwagon in an attempt to cash in on what quickly became one of the most bankable genres in the entire industry. In the last two decades alone we have seen dozens of movies based on Marvel heroes, including plenty of sequels, several spin-offs and even a few reboots. The cinematic exploits of Marvel's vast array of characters shows no sign of slowing down with Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, X-Men: Days of Future Past and Guardians of the Galaxy all hitting theatres within the next five months and next year delivering a rebooted Fantastic Four, along with Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man. With the release of The Winter Soldier only weeks away, and generating plenty of positive buzz, this article will take a trip down memory lane and rank every movie based on a Marvel property to receive a major theatrical release. Do you agree with the article? How would you have ranked these Marvel adaptations? Do you think the number of superhero movies is bordering on overkill? As always, sign off in the comments below.
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