The Top 15 Comic Book Movie Trailers Part Two: Counting Down from 7 to 1!

Hey there! Glad you came back. Earlier, I gave you the first half of my top 15 comic book movie trailers. Now, on with the ….*ahem*….final countdown!

7) Watchmen

This trailer is simply amazing. Set to the Smashing Pumpkins’ “The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning,” the trailer to Watchmen — Zack Snyder’s 2009 film adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s legendary comic — tells you this film is something wholly unique. When we see Dr. Manhattan’s gruesome origin at the very beginning, we know this isn’t kid-friendly fare.

I remember seeing this for the first time when it was attached to The Dark Knight, and my jaw just dropped. After this trailer hit, sales for the Watchmen trade paperback of skyrocketed! I’ve never seen a trailer directly affect the sales of a book like that before or since.

6) Guardians of the Galaxy

I’ll admit that when I first heard Marvel Studios was making Guardians of the Galaxy, I instantly thought it would be their first dud. I was a little jaded until I heard they acquired Chris Pratt as Peter Quill, aka Starlord. When the above trailer debuted on Jimmy Kimmel Live, all my remaining skepticism washed away! Oh, and the use of Blue Swede’s “Hooked on a Feeling” perfectly bookended the trailer, and confirmed this particular sci-fi film was anything but standard fare.

5) Batman Begins

Almost an underappreciated film these days, Batman Begins kick-started the “grounded in reality” approach to comic book movies. Almost immediately, this trailer shows you a completely different iteration of the caped crusader. It eliminates any and all memories of Batman’s last cinematic outing, Batman & Robin.

It also gives ample focus to Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne, letting the audience know Wayne’s screen time isn’t just filler between the Batman scenes. However, I’m not sure he “fights for family and lives for love” as this bizarre ABC Family ad claims.

4) X2: X-Men United

The tension buildup in this is amazing. It’s a little dark at times, but it lets you know Marvel’s merry mutants are in for a rough time with Stryker and company invading the Xavier mansion. One thing that struck me about this trailer was how often I saw it. I didn’t even see a trailer for 2000’s X-Men in theaters, but it seemed like this trailer was shown with every movie I saw in 2003, beginning with Daredevil,

3) Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice

Say what you want about the movie, but this trailer is outstanding. While it doesn’t give away too much, the trailer shows the reasoning behind Batman’s hatred towards Superman as Bruce Wayne navigates Metropolis during the finale of Man of Steel.

I really like how this focused on the aftermath of Zack Snyder’s 2013 Superman movie. It showed the world was frightened and concerned over Superman, struggling to deal with a new, all powerful being massacring miles of infrastructure in a matter of several minutes. The music choice is great, too.

2) Logan

The movie hasn’t even hit theaters yet, but this is one of the best trailers I have ever seen in my life. It is almost perfect.

James Mangold’s second Wolverine movie with Hugh Jackman looks more like a western than comic book movie, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The pacing, the imagery, the choice of dialogue. All perfect. The music choice, Johnny Cash’s cover of “Hurt,” blends perfectly with Wolverine. It perfectly describes the pain and anguish Logan suffers through on a daily basis. You’d think they made the movie just so they could make this trailer. And you know what? They’d be right to do that.

1) Spider-Man 

This is the best trailer for any comic book movie I have ever seen for a variety of reasons. It tells you the basic origin of ol’ webhead, showing Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) receiving a bite by that radioactive spider.

This trailer showcases the other supporting characters in the movie and tells you who they are and what role they play in Peter’s life.

It tells you everything you actually need to know about Spider-Man without spoiling anything.

Finally, what this does more than any other trailer is get you pumped up. When this trailer first came out, I was blown away by the special effects used to make Spidey swing through New York City. One thing I noticed is the font used for the movie title is also the same font used for Playstation 3 (both made by Sony).

 

These are my choices for the best comic book movie trailers. Did I leave one out? Rank one too high or low? Let me know in the comment section below!

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