The trailer is an art form of its own, a short film designed to make would-be viewers want to see an upcoming movie. When it comes to movies based on already existing source material — i.e. the superhero film — trailers can be even more important, as they give fans an idea of what kind of adaptation they are in for.
In the era of the superhero film and the time of peak content, a superhero movie can be made or broken on the merits of its trailers. In other words: trailers are more important than ever when it comes to superhero films. With these qualifiers in mind, here is a list of the best superhero movie trailers of all time.
Before we begin, some disclaimers: For the purpose of this article, I’ve limited each superhero movie to one trailer per list.Logancan’t just be all of the spots, even if all of its trailers are great. Second, this list has nothing to do with the quality of the film the trailer is promoting. Some of these amazing trailers tricked us into believing the movie from which it drew was going to be amazing. Well played, trailer. Well played.
25) The Incredible Hulk — Official Trailer
Say what you will aboutThe Incredible Hulk, the black sheep of the MCU (personally, I think its underrated), the official trailer for this standalone feature gets it right, highlighting the character struggle of Bruce Banner before letting us see the destructive power of the Hulk.
“I’ve been running for a long time. Not because I want to be, but because until I solve this problem, I have to be,” Ed Norton’s Bruce tells us, as the trailer gives us shots of the man trying to avoid armed military men as he is chased across the globe. Finally, they catch him and the Hulk comes out, giving us a glimpse of what kinds of visuals were finally possible in superhero movie storytelling.
24) X2: X-Men United — Official Trailer
Starting with the iconic “Have you triednotbeing a mutant?” scene, the official trailer forX2: X-Men Unitedreally gets to the thematic heart of this movie before diving into the traditional action sneak peeks that have become a superhero movie trailer mainstay. Add in some highlights of the characters new and old who will be appearing in this much-anticipated X-Men sequel, and you have yourself one hell of a trailer.
23) Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer — Teaser Trailer
Rise of the Silver Surferwas a garbage movie. I’m still upset that I paid to see it in theaters and I at least partially blame this impressive trailer for the monetary misstep. After a humdrum first film in the would-be franchise, the trailer forFantastic Four 2convinced millions that this film would be different by highlighting an epic chase between the Silver Surfer and Chris Evans’ Human Torch in its teaser trailer. Unfortunately, this was the best part of a terrible, boring movie.
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22) Superman II — Official Trailer
If you don’t want to be spoiled for a 40-year-old movie, don’t watch the trailer forSuperman II, which gives pretty much the entire plot away. But there’s something endearing about this no-chill trailer, which includes the classic voiceover narration that used to be so common in trailers, telling you a story about what you are about to see.
This classic trailer plays like a supercut of some of the best moments fromSuperman II— including Superman and Zod fighting in the air and Lois Lane pushing out of frame someone who doubts Superman’s superiority. What’s not to like about that?
21) Black Panther — Teaser Trailer
This trailer starts off slow, but more than makes it up for it by the end by giving us our first look at a big-budget superhero movie populated by black people. It’s a first for the superhero movie genre, and a milestone that makes this already epic, stylish trailer that much better. With a killer soundtrack from Run the Jewels, our best yet look at the world of Wakanda, and voiceover quotes like this, “The world is changing. Soon, there will only be the conquered and the conquerers,” this trailer has pumped the world up for theBlack Pantherstandalone film.
20) Deadpool 2 — Teaser Trailer
With its first irreverent installment, theDeadpoolfranchise made a name for itself as a film series more than willing to poke fun at the superhero genre from whence it came. This short film teaser forDeadpool 2, released in front of Logan for American audiences, built on that reputation, lampooning everything fromSupermanto Stan Lee toLoganin its three-and-a-half minutes as we watch Deadpool fail to save an elderly man’s live because he is too busy getting his outfit right. Classic.
19) Thor: The Dark World —Trailer #1
Coming off of Loki’s success inThe Avengers, Thor’s relationships with his family are at the center of this trailer forThor: The Dark World, a smart move for a film series that relied heavily on fish-out-of-water dramedy in its first outing. Unfortunately, Loki wasn’t in this film half as much as the trailer would suggest and, while Thor’s familial relationships do get a fair amount of screen time, the MCU continues to have trouble melding the world of Asgard with the world of Earth.
18) Deadpool — Trailer #2
“Surprise, this is a different kind of superhero movie.” If you didn’t realize it after watching the firstDeadpooltrailer, then Wade Wilson spells it out for you in the second one. While bothDeadpooltrailers are great, the second one gives us a bit of a better look at Wade’s superhero team, while also upping the ante on all of the meta-commentary that played so well in the first trailer. “I don’t have time for your X-Men bull, Collossus.” The world of superhero movies — or superhero movie trailers — would never be the same.
17) Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice — Comic-Con Trailer
It’s hard not to be interested by a trailer that teases the clash of Superman and Batman, two of the most iconic superheroes of all time, but for it to also be visually mesmerizing and to include our first real glimpse at Wonder Woman, that’s just icing on the cake! Whatever you may think ofBatman v. Supermanas a movie (personally, I think it’s a joyless mess), it’s hard not to be drawn in by this beautiful, stakes-raising sneak peek. Even if it has a few too many Jesus shots.
16) Wonder Woman — “Rise of the Warrior” Trailer
This finalWonder Womantrailer still makes me want to see this film… and I’ve already seen it three times. The first two trailers in this marketing campaign sold this film and what it was about so well, this final trailer could just have some fun with its promotion, highlighting Diana as a warrior by pairing Imagine Dragons’ “Warriors” with some killer highlights of Diana’s path to becoming a defender of humanity.
