The Best Marvel Movies Not Made by Marvel Studios

Not all Marvel movies are created equal — or, for that matter, made by Marvel at all. In fact, it took decades for Marvel to take control of their own cinematic destiny. The Marvel that we know now really began in the early 1960s, and it wasn’t until the mid 2000s that Marvel Studios was born and began adapting comics into movies. Even now that the Marvel Cinematic Universe occupies such an enormous part of the Hollywood landscape, there are still several Marvel franchises produced outside the company’s purview — most notably Spider-Man and its spinoffs like Kraven the Hunter, and Venom.

While it’s true that many of the best Marvel movies have been produced by the company itself, quite a few very good ones — including several of the most important and influential of the last 25 years — came from other Hollywood studios who licensed the rights to Marvel’s signature heroes and villains. And, sure, most of the worst Marvel movies have been made with limited oversight from the people who make Marvel Comics. (I mean have you seen Madame Web?) But the results overall have generally been pretty good.

Below, we’ve ranked the 15 best Marvel films that were not made by Marvel Studios. Yeah, you might see a couple Marvel executives listed in the end credits, and yeah, you’ll get some version of that distinctive red Marvel logo at the top of every single one. That doesn’t mean they’re not worth watching.

The Best Marvel Movies Not Made By Marvel Studios

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