10 Superhero Movies That Broke All The Rules

The superhero genre has come a long way since the jaw dropping days of seventies Superman and the barrel-scraping nadir of the early noughties. Rather than being treated to the odd costumed spectacular once or twice a year, we can now generally expect half a dozen or more high stakes epics from our favourite franchises every 12 months.

It’s a great time to be a fan, as the standard and scope has never been higher. Still, even the most ardent comic head would acknowledge that superhero movies can be somewhat formulaic. There’s a villain that seems insurmountable, a moment of doubt, a life lesson learned, an eventual triumph.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing - these are ultimately feel good films, after all - but when a superhero smash comes along that breaks or reinvents the rules, it’s a breath of fresh air for an increasingly crowded genre.

Aside from being great movies (or at least movies with moments of greatness), these films did or attempted to do something genuinely different. They may have changed the game; they may have stepped too far out of the norm and flopped as a result. But their ambition is to be commended.

Logan is one of the finest superhero movies ever made precisely because it disregards the rules of the genre.

We’ve seen our heroes age before, but usually they’re brought back for one last triumphant run out in the costume before embracing retirement. Logan offers a treatise on the pains of ageing, of dealing with a troubled past and an uncertain future, searching for peace rather than glory. It’s mature and meaningful in a way Christopher Nolan’s films could only hope to be.

It also throws superhero genre conventions out of the window, playing out like more of a western noir. Nearly 20 years into playing the character, Hugh Jackman finds new depths as an ageing Wolverine, the last gunslinger whose peaceful life is disrupted, leading to a Clint Eastwood-esque rampage.

Nothing here is for show - the violence is unsparing but meaningful, given far more purpose than the usual bashing and crashing of costumed blockbusters. Logan is the kind of film you could only make as a response to other, flashier movies, but as an antidote to the occasionally formulaic Marvel movie, this is extraordinary.