Last week, Spider-Man: No Way Home was released digitally and, when watching it with my friend, we talked about how Spider-Man 2 is still considered one of the, if not THE best comic book movies of all-time. This then spiralled into a discussion that has essentially shaped this article, as there are a hell of a lot of movie properties and franchises that knock it out of the park for the second instalment then, for whatever reason, seem to completely fall flat. Anyway, let’s get into it.

#5. Fox’s X-Men (TWICE on a technicality)

Yeah, you read that right. For most people, X2 is viewed as the best X-Men movie with the original cast and rightfully so; The Last Stand was no where near as great as X2. Since the property majorly dipped following The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Fox opted to reboot the franchise with a new cast, starting with First Class. The sequel to First Class – Days of Future Past – was absolutely fantastic and the follow up movies – Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix – were no where near as good.

#4. Alien (Second movie; Aliens)

Make no mistake, I’m not saying that the first films in these entries aren’t great, just that the movies that followed the second installment see a massive drop in quality and nothing exemplifies this more than Aliens. The original movie is a fantastic survival horror movie and it’s sequel became an action/horror hybrid that established the franchise as a major force in Hollywood. The sequels, not so much. Alien3 tried to recapture the magic of the original Alien but failed and the less said about Alien: Resurrection, the better. Aliens itself, however, is one of the greatest sci-fi movies of all time.

#3. Blade (Peak; Blade II)

Wesley Snipes did an absolutely fantastic job as the daywalker, to the point where it’s difficult to see anyone else step into the role, but that was the case with the Blade TV series, which came after the third movie, Blade: Trinity. Trinity itself is a decent film, as is the original Blade movie but Blade II is a fantastic comic book horror movie that plays to all of the strengths of the character and does an incredibly good job of drawing the audience in to the story of the movie and features a genuinely heart-wrenching ending.

#2. Sony’s Spider-Man (Non-MCU)

This is a tough one as Spider-Man: No Way Home is quite possibly my favourite comic book movie of all time but I’d say that is more of the MCU franchise than Sony’s. The thing is though, I love every Spider-Man movie for different reasons but I’d have to say that Spider-Man 2 had the best plot and villain arc out of everything prior to the MCU Spidey. Doc Ock is fantastic in this (and is a massive part of No Way Home) and Norman Osborn continues to make his presence felt throughout this despite being dead, leading to me being genuinely hyped to see Harry become the Goblin in Spider-Man 3, so yeah. Spider-Man 2 has to be the peak.

#1. Star Wars (Franchise Peak; The Empire Strikes Back)

I love Empire. This has to be number one on my list as it’s general quality is what has kept me a fan of Star Wars. I’ve seen every Star Wars movie in the cinema and yet, the second one to be released out of 12 theatrical releases is still my favourite (note; I saw the original trilogy at the cinema when they were remastered and rereleased in the mid 90s). Everything about this movie is great, from the opening events on Hoth all the way to the ending that leaves the heroes completely decimated and downtrodden. Seriously, this movie ends on a massive series of down notes and it works soooo well.

Anyway, that’s my list. Let me know yours in the comment section and whether you agree or disagree with my picks!