20 Best Superhero Movies Since The Dark Knight

20. X-Men: Days Of Future Past

Kicking off the list is X-Men: Days of Future Past, which merged both the old and new X-Men casts together and reached highs that the mainline X-Men series never actually reached again.

Detractors of superhero films love to dismiss them as mindless spectacle, and while that argument is certainly true in some cases, the genre is actually one that frequently delivers strong storytelling and compelling heroes' journeys.

A fantastic example of this is Days of Future Past, which is honestly better as a drama than as an action film. It's an emotionally rich, smartly scripted and exquisitely acted (by Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart and Michael Fassbender in particular) extravaganza that does deliver some really strong action, but always puts character first and makes for a moving, utterly fascinating viewing experience.

It can occasionally be slow, but the overwhelming amount of heart and sheer power of the narrative more than make up for its flaws. Besides, this movie also gave us one of the greatest scenes in superhero movie history: Professor X's (Patrick Stewart) telepathic conversation with his younger self (James McAvoy).

Oh, and if all of that wasn't enough, this is also a time travel film that mostly avoids plot holes and retcons the travesty that was X-Men: The Last Stand - "satisfying" doesn't even cover it.