7 essential superhero movies for you to watch this summer

Teen Titans: The Judas Contract

If you’ve grown away from superheroes but have fond memories of Teen Titans from the early 2000s, look no further than the recent adaptation of The Judas Contract. You’ll find it familiar if you remember the episodes featuring Terra from that cartoon, but the original source material is a bit more adult — and this movie leans more towards those adult themes, both in its humor and its storyline.

You’ll find Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy, and Nightwing (as well as another Robin) all there waiting for you, alongside heroes like Blue Beetle.

The Judas Contract is on Hulu, but also open for rental on Amazon.

Thor: Ragnarok

Yours truly would be doing herself a disservice if she did not include Thor: Ragnarok on this list. This is the kind of movie you watch once for the action, and then again to appreciate the humor of it all.

Also, with the events of Avengers: Infinity War in mind, this movie takes a seriously dark turn at the end. But the preceding two-and-a-half hours are stellar, and look: appreciating Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, and Tom Hiddleston is practically what summer is meant to do.

Thor: Ragnarok is on Netflix.

The Incredibles

Set aside the debate on which movie — The Incredibles or its sequel — is superior, or even if Incredibles 2 needed to exist in the first place. This is not the place for that debate. This is for how The Incredibles, way back in 2004, asked a question that Marvel didn’t address until Captain America: Civil War.

That question is this: What happens if the government tries to limit superheroes’ penchant for collateral destruction?

For a kids’ movie, it’s also surprisingly dark in a lot of ways, and even 14 years later, the animation still looks pretty good.

You can rent The Incredibles on Amazon.

Black Panther

Do we need to explain why Black Panther is on this list?

Do we need to point out that Michael B. Jordan cracked “Wakanda forever” jokes just this month, encapsulating how this movie has carved out a place for itself in the pop culture zeitgeist almost immediately?

Or do we just need to say that this movie has Shuri?

You can find Black Panther available for rental on Amazon

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Which seven superhero movies would you deem essential?