20 Best Superhero Movies Since The Dark Knight

4. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

None of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's films have ever matched The Dark Knight, but Captain America: The Winter Soldier, a consummate sequel that blows its predecessor out of the water, is easily the franchise's Dark Knight moment. It's arguably the best MCU film of them all.

Why?

Well, it offers everything we love about the MCU - brilliant action scenes, superb acting, satisfying character journeys, razor-sharp world-building - and turns these things up to eleven.

Rarely has the franchise ever been so full of character and so fleshed-out and the action sequences are among the very, very best in Marvel history but as if all of that wasn't enough, the film takes what is at first glance a typical superhero film plot and adds many unexpected layers.

The film ultimately becomes a ferociously suspenseful and intensely unsettling political thriller complete with fantastic character development, shocking plot twists and mesmerizing villains.

By far and away, this is the most gripping and entertaining thing to ever come out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and in spite of the best efforts of films such as Guardians of the Galaxy, Civil War, Infinity War, Endgame and Spider-Man: No Way Home, this remains the pinnacle of the series. And judging by how badly things are going for the MCU right now, it's very unlikely to be dethroned any time soon.