5. Academy Award Nominations
It's not unheard of for superhero movies to receive Oscar nominations. The original superhero movie, 1978's Superman, was nominated for three Academy Awards including Best Film Editing, Best Music (Original Score) and Best Sound Mixing, after all, and received a Special Achievement Academy Award for its visual effects. The 1994 Jim Carrey movie, The Mask, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, but lost to Forrest Gump. However, such instances are rare, though both the Dark Knight trilogy and movies within the MCU have been recognised by the Academy. As previously mentioned, Heath Ledger won a posthumous Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Batman Begins was nominated for Best Production Design, Best Sound and Best Visual Effects, the Dark Knight (as well as the win for Ledger) also won Best Sound Editing and was nominated for Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Makeup, Best Sound Mixing and Best Visual Effects. Iron Man was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and Best Sound Editing and Iron Man 2 was nominated for Best Visual Effects, as was The Avengers. This is a surefire sign that such movies are starting to garner actual critical respect and these two franchises are a big reason for that happening.