10 Best Pre-MCU Superhero Films
3. X-Men 2
Leaps and bounds ahead of its first entry, the second of the original X-Men pictures remains a high-water mark for the entire genre. It also features the most visceral and engaging Wolverine action we were to get until Logan many years later. Add to that a complex story and some excellent performances and you have a superhero picture with real heft.
From the opening sequence of Nightcrawler attempting to assassinate the President, to Brian Cox's General Striker launching an assault on Xavier's school, X-Men 2 starts strong and builds towards a tease of the Phoenix (still exciting even if we know this promise was not fulfilled). Add to that some Hannibal Lecter inspired Magneto imprisonment and a whole host of subplots and themes deftly woven together and it seems that X-Men 2 has good claim for being one of the most ambitious and successful comic book films, at least from a conceptual point of view.
Contemporary opinion was positive, but in retrospect, X-Men 2 seems to be even more of an achievement than it did back in 2003.