15 greatest superhero movies of the decade

7. Thor: Ragnarok

Released: November 3, 2017

It’s hard to believe that there was a time when Thor was one of the MCU’s most identity-less heroes. One of the fan-favorite characters in the Avengers movies, he struggled to find his own footing in his own films, as the first one (aptly titled Thor) employed an enjoyable and jovial tone while the second installment (Thor: The Dark World) took its title far too seriously and flooded his world with too much darkness.

However, everything changed with the release of Thor: Ragnarok. Directed by Taika Waititi, the film revitalized the franchise, pulling from all of the most enjoyable aspects of the first Thor film and heightening the most eccentric of them. The result was a loud, tongue-in-cheek and completely off-the-wall parody-like pantomime packed full of stunning visuals, accompanied by a killer soundtrack and with more laugh-out-loud moments than the rest of the MCU put together (and that’s really saying something).

Ragnarok was built around a strong story (which, of course, involved Thor and Loki) but it never took itself too seriously and, in the process, became a pop-culture phenomenon. As a result, it not only breathed new life into the character and just about everything else in the franchise, it set a standard so high that any time Thor appears on-screen, we’re automatically waiting for an offering as colorful as this one.

Few superhero movies are as genuinely fun as this one, and that’s what makes it so unique.