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Top 10 superhero movie directors of the decade

By Josh Baggins

LOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 07: (front L-R) Danai Gurira, Jeremy Renner, Director Anthony Russo, Chris Evans, Director Joe Russo, Brie Larson and Mark Ruffalo, (back L-R) Karen Gillan, Paul Rudd, Scarlett Johansson, President of Marvel Studios/Producer Kevin Feige, Robert Downey Jr., Don Cheadle and Chris Hemsworth onstage during Marvel Studios' "Avengers: Endgame" Global Junket Press Conference at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown on April 7, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney)
LOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 07: (front L-R) Danai Gurira, Jeremy Renner, Director Anthony Russo, Chris Evans, Director Joe Russo, Brie Larson and Mark Ruffalo, (back L-R) Karen Gillan, Paul Rudd, Scarlett Johansson, President of Marvel Studios/Producer Kevin Feige, Robert Downey Jr., Don Cheadle and Chris Hemsworth onstage during Marvel Studios' "Avengers: Endgame" Global Junket Press Conference at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown on April 7, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney) /
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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – OCTOBER 03: Matthew Vaughn attends New York Comic Con in support of “The King’s Man” at The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on October 03, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for Twentieth Century Fox )
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – OCTOBER 03: Matthew Vaughn attends New York Comic Con in support of “The King’s Man” at The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on October 03, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for Twentieth Century Fox ) /

9. Matthew Vaughn

Directed: Kick-Ass (2010), X-Men: First Class (2011)

The producer of Guy Ritchie’s contemporary British crime landmarks, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, Matthew Vaughn broke into the directing game in the 2000s. First, he stuck with what he knew best with Layer Cake and then ventured off into fantasy adventure territory with Stardust. By the time he got into the superhero movie game, his direction was more astute and his content was unexpected.

Kick-Ass is generally based in a real-world environment, just like gangster movies. Vaughn presents a violent landscape where the protagonist taking on corrupt murderers aspires to be a superhero. Vaughn decides to play around with the genre elements by illustrating how dangerous this aspiration is in reality and then also allows the heroes to thrive in comic book scenarios featuring extravagant fight moves, precision aim, and big explosions.

Vaughn lands his big-time gig with X-Men: First Class. He had a lot to work with because of the mutant mythology and source material, but he also had a lot to prove after the previous two X-films (X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine) were not high-caliber superhero outings. What he delivers is an exceptional origin tale for both Professor X and Magneto. Their brotherly relationship where they are two different sides of the same coin is intimately forged and unfolds exquisitely as their incompatibility reveals itself. X-Men: First Class is Matthew Vaughn’s best film to date (granted I have never seen the Kingsman sequel) and will likely remain as one of the best X-Men movies ever made.

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