I think this is a difficult one to give out this year, and I do think that my decision is different than I have ever done before.

There are three possible films: Thunderbolts, Superman, and Fantastic Four. I usually give this award to the superhero film that is highest on my Best Films list. That is not the situation this year. In fact, of the three, this one is my least favorite of the three. They are all awesome, but it just felt right to give this award to this certain film.

The Christopher Reeve Memorial Comic Book Movie of the Year

Previous Winners: Batman (1989), Dick Tracy (1990), The Rocketeer (1991), Batman Returns (1992), Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993), The Crow (1994), Batman Forever (1995), The Phantom (1996), Men in Black (1997), Blade (1998), Mystery Men (1999), X-Men (2000), From Hell (2001), Spider-Man (2002), X2: X-Men United (1993), Spider-Man 2 (1994), V for Vendetta (2005), 300 (2006), Superman: Doomsday (2007), The Dark Knight (2008), Watchmen (2009), Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), Captain America: First Avenger (2011), The Avengers (2012), Iron Man 3 (2013), Captain America: Winter Soldier & Guardians of the Galaxy [tie] (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Logan (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Birds of Prey (2020), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), Deadpool and Wolverine (2024)

So, in 2025, The Christopher Reeve Memorial Comic Book Movie of the Year goes to….

Superman.

This film brought the character of Superman back to the big screen and did it in a way that truly paid homage to the Christopher Reeve version back in the 1978 movie.

Director James Gunn placed this new Superman smack dab in the center of his new DCU where Superman had been around for awhile. No origin story here. We all know it.

It’s not perfect, but it is the best rendition of Superman since Christopher Reeve and that is why I gave Superman this award, despite the fact that both Thunderbolts and Fantastic Four are higher up the list for me than Superman.