12 Best Superhero Movie Trailers Of All Time

2. The Avengers

And there came a day unlike any other, the day that we were first officially served notice that The Avengers was a thing that was actually happening and not simply the fever dream of fanboys and fangirls everywhere. The core concept had been known for a while, but reading about it and seeing it were two different things.

What was presented to us in this trailer was a threat too big for one hero, an essential part of any assembling of Avengers. Tom Hiddleston’s voice, already familiar to us from the first Thor movie, dripped with menace as Loki, and his presence in the film linked it to the team’s original comic book origin.

Nick Fury explained why the Marvel Cinematic Universe needed the Avengers, and we saw all the cool shots we would need to convince us that this was really going down. A little internal conflict was also on the menu, capped (no pun intended) by Tony Stark’s “genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist” comeback.

Mostly, though, this was pure wish fulfillment distilled into just over two minutes of awesomeness (and wisely ending with a gratuitous shot of Iron Man zooming into the air and flying toward New York City). By the time you saw the logo pop up, you were sold, no questions asked. This was the kind of trailer that drew applause after it showed prior to movies, a rare feat indeed.

Next: 1. Batman