19 comic-book movies you can now stream on Netflix, HBO & more

A wise uncle once said, “With great power comes great responsibility.” A wise Polygon employee once said, “With great time on your hands, comes great responsibility to pore over Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and every available streaming movie platform to remind people what’s worth their time.” Fair enough.

We’ve heeded the call. While it doesn’t take a Brainiac to log on and check Netflix’s offerings, finding something of note, or knowing where your favorite movies can actually be found, can feel like leaping a tall building in a single bound. Allow us to flex our super strength and recommend some comic-book movies you’ll want to watch, rewatch, or play in the background as you futz around on your computer. Nothing says multitasking productivity like the sound of Tony Stark grunting.

Here’s what you can watch right now:

Atomic Blonde (2017)

Available to stream on HBO Now and HBO Go

Based on Antony Johnston’s graphic novel The Coldest City, this Cold War thriller streaks icy Berlin with glowing neon for the ultimate ‘80s spy vehicle. As Lorraine Broughton, Charlize Theron punches, kicks, and shoots her way through a knotted KGB mystery. While the edges are rough, director David Leitch (John Wick) lays down one of the most brutal fight sequences in recent memory, a one-shot staircase brawl between Lorraine and two high-caliber goons that tumbles into a car chase. It’s worth muscling through the slower, more confounding parts to get that gut-punching pleasure.

Bulletproof Monk (2003)

Available to stream on CBS All Access

Fact: Seann William Scott is an A-grade comedy talent and the only reason people think otherwise is because of the regressive, sophomoric flameout of the American Pie franchise. He’s underrated in movies like Dude, Where’s My Car?, Goon, and Cop Out, and while this adaptation of Michael Avon Oeming’s graphic novel won’t be topping action-movie lists anytime soon, his comedy chops alongside straight man Chow Yun-fat make this more than a Rush Hour knockoff. Believe it. Produced by (and owing everything to) John Woo, Bulletproof Monk is Americanized wuxia steeped in early 2000s pop culture, a play for Matrix money that proves casting and choreographing is all you need for a good time.

Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Available to stream on Netflix

The Captain America threequel shifts the spotlight from our man Steve after the high-stakes Winter Soldier to internal Avengers conflict. We’re over it. But looking back, we realized we had little memory of what actually happens in this movie before and after the much publicized airport showdown. No surprise, the best parts are when it’s actually a Captain America movie (vindication!): Steve leading a team of Avengers to take down Crossbones in Lagos, protecting Bucky from government assassination, and his investigation into Zemo (Daniel Brühl, who needs to return to the MCU ASAP) are all highs orbiting an Avengers-style battle that feels more like fan servicing short film designed to watch on Netflix whenever you have 10 minutes. But if that’s what you’re looking for, guess what? You’re in luck!

Doctor Strange (2016)

Available to stream on Netflix

Now you can relive the fractaling action of Marvel’s most delirious movie over and over and over again, Time Stone style. After this origin film, his cameo in Thor Ragnarok (also on Netflix), and his friction-filled role in Avengers: Infinity War, it’s hard to imagine Benedict Cumberbatch replacing Tony Stark as the Avengers’ cynical quipper with a suit that can do pretty much anything, but this movie works tirelessly to position him as such. At least his prismatic, spell-casting powers rule.

The Flashpoint Paradox (2011)

Available to stream on Hulu

A slew of recent DC animated films are now on Hulu, and there are gems among them. Adapted from DC’s Flashpoint crossover event, The Flashpoint Paradox finds Barry Allan a.k.a. The Flash in an alternate timeline where Aquaman and Wonder Woman are leading a combined Atlantean-Amazonian campaign against mankind, Cyborg leads the global faction against them, and Batman, now Thomas Wayne, having taken up the mantle after Joe Chill killed his son Bruce, is hunting down The Joker a.k.a. Martha frickin’ Wayne. A violent, unnerving episode in the DC animated-verse, Barry’s quest to undo the chaos — which becomes a form of self-sacrifice — is high stakes from beginning to end.

Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 (2017)

Available to stream on Netflix

There is a Guardians of the Galaxy cartoon you can find on Disney XD, but… we essentially got the sugar-puff-gorging, Saturday-morning version of the team in this sequel. With a rollicking plot and plenty of sight gags (Yondu and Rocket’s bug-eyed portal jumping is an MCU all-timer), James Gunn’s follow-up is a dessert course of Pop Rocks and Coke in the never-ending meal that is the Avengers megafranchise. Honestly, it’s amazing that what happens at to Yondu at the end packs such a punch considering every turn in this movie has the weight of a Monty Python sketch. We’ll keep mum on the spoilers, just in case you need to catch up with this one on streaming.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)

Available to stream on Netflix

Someone who worked closely with Guillermo del Toro on Hellboy II recently told us that there was very little chance of a Hellboy III, despite how the movie ends. GDT apparently gave the sequel everything he had, from Lovecraftian monsters to automaton giants to creatures yanked straight out of Pan’s creepy labyrinth. That meticulously crafted, grand adventure makes the relationship between Hellboy and the telekinetic Liz Sherman all the more powerful; so often we see heroes put their lives on the line when you know everything will work out in the end. Hellboy II is a movie about risks built from risks.

Justice League: The New Frontier (2008)

Available to stream on Hulu

Another DC animated standout, this alt-universe Justice League story lifts the plot and Silver Age-inspired art from Darwyn Cooke’s acclaimed graphic novel. While the story’s captivating — the Justice League unite for the first time to battle an alien force known as “The Centre,” which has earned its own cult on Earth — it’s the blocky, graphic renderings of the heroes, as well as some Old Hollywood throwback performances from Jeremy Sisto (Batman), Kyle MacLachlan (Superman), and Wonder Woman (Lucy Lawless), that elevate this one from the usual hero brawler.

Justice League Dark (2017)

Available to stream on Hulu

While we’re still crossing our fingers that the aforementioned Guillermo del Toro might make good on his teased live-action Justice League Dark movie (Edge of Tomorrow director Doug Liman is currently circling that project), DC animated delivered the next best thing. Despite forcing Batman into the supernatural action mystery, John Constantine, Zatanna, Deadman, Etrigan the Demon, Black Orchid, and Swamp Thing all enter the cartoon pantheon in this creepy adventure where they take on the master sorcerer, Destiny.

Iron Man 3 (2013)

Available to stream on FX Now

Shane Black’s trilogy-capper split Marvel fans down the middle: was the long-anticipated appearance by The Mandarin a clever twist on a problematic legacy villain or a big F-U to fans of the series? We’d urge anyone in the “Iron Man 3 sucks” camp to rewatch this surprisingly voicey Marvel movie, which also features the best stunt work across the entire Avengers saga — the plane rescue sequence is up there with anything in Fast and the Furious. Or, you can keep hating Iron Man 3 and just watch the original movie, also streaming on FX.

Logan (2017)

Available to stream on HBO Now and HBO Go

Nominated for Best Original Screenplay at last year’s Oscars, Logan puts a button on the nine-picture arc of cinema’s Weapon X, as well as Hugh Jackman’s run as the character, up there with Sean Connery’s history-stamping take on James Bond. Looking back at the movie a year later, Fox’s decision to go “hard R” with the final picture overshadowed what’s truly great about it, and while it’ll have rewatch value for years to come: Jackman and Patrick Stewart forge something here that can only be built after 17 years of playing off one another, and writer-direct James Mangold mounts frightening drama by pushing their individual superpowers past their limits. Plus the girl who plays X-1 is really good! Where’s her YA movie spinoff? If you need some more X-treme fun, check out X2, also on HBO. If you need X-istential dread, dare to revisit the streamable X-Men: Origins – Wolverine.

Oldboy (2003)

Available to stream on Netflix and Kanopy

Based on Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi’s mid-’90s manga series, this grimy revenge noir has aged like a man trapped in a motel room for 15 years. Unhinged and operatic, the journey of Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik) maintains the episodic nature of a Japanese page-turner, Park Chan-wook ratting the cage each time a nerve pops during incarceration, a synapse misfires and causes him to consume stuff a live octopus into his mouth, or his emotional compass cracks in two after… well, we still won’t spoil it. If you’ve only ever seen the side-scrolling hammer fight on YouTube, sit down and finally watch Oldboy.

Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (2017)

Available to stream on Hulu

2017’s second Wonder Woman movie tells the story of William Moulton Marston, who along with his wife Elizabeth and Olive Byrne — the third point in their polyamorous trifecta — went on to create the most iconic female superhero of all time. Completely overlooked during its theatrical run, Professor Marston and the Wonder Women is a sturdy biopic that doesn’t flinch from the sexual drive of its main characters or the kink roots of Princess Diana of Themyscira. You won’t get that gravity on Wikipedia.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010)

Available to stream on HBO Now and HBO Go

Time has been kind to Edgar Wright’s adaptation the Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Canadian shōnen tale. While his recent Baby Driver skyrocketed at the box office thanks to adrenaline-pumping action and musical calculus, the vision involved with replicating O’Malley’s video-game influences and magical realist love story, while maintaining the cinematic voice established in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, makes Scott Pilgrim the kind of pure pop expression you only find at a modern art museums. The dimensional, Super Nintendo-esque CG holds up, the cast is stacked, and the humor all springs forth from familiar, awkward situations. It all clicks. A masterpiece.

Speed Racer (2008)

Available to stream on Netflix

We could do an entire list of movies based on manga, but will leave it at Oldboy and this rare American adaptation. A bomb upon release, despite trumpeting “from the creators of The Matrix” all over the marketing, Lana and Lilly Wachowski’s hyperkinetic take on Mach GoGoGo is a rebuke to practical-effects junkies and their Why Computer Graphics Suck thinkpieces. As Speed’s Mach 5 drifts and loops around the Grand Prix track, the Wachowskis splatter florescent motion effects across the backdrops to create the Hollywood blockbuster version of a Van Gogh. Their Speed Racer is radical even at rest, faithful to the manga and cartoon down the character tics. It’s not for everyone — but hopefully it’s for you.

Spider-Man (2002)

Available to stream on FX Now

Remember when there was only one Spider-Man movie, existing alone in its own vacuum, eying a possible trilogy at best? Not to be nostalgic — we like the MCU’s Spider-Man: Homecoming just fine! — but Sam Raimi’s webslinging adventure benefits from the lack of an expanded universe, delivering the due diligence of an origin story with romance, adventure, and never-been-done, high-velocity visual effects. There’s an old fashioned beginning, middle, and end to the script by David Koepp (Jurassic Park) with an emphasis on moments: Peter saving the cafeteria lunch tray, the upside down kiss, Willem Dafoe’s Jekyll/Hyde mirror conversations — it’s like the movie was bit by a radioactive comic book.

V for Vendetta (2005)

Available to stream on Netflix

Produced by the Wachowskis and helmed by their longtime second-unit director, James McTeigue, this adaptation of Alan Moore’s graphic novel came off a little too Matrix-y when it hit the scene. In today’s political climate, the the freedom fighting exploits of V (Hugo Weaving) and Evey (Natalie Portman) may strike a more haunting chord. V for Vendetta combines Rorschachian politics of Moore’s original text with the glossy, Guy Fawkes iconography and a bleak backdrop that feels all too real in when given high-budget production value. But Iron Man this is not — if the doom and gloom is too much for you, maybe hold off on this one for awhile.

Wonder Woman (2017)

Available to stream on HBO Now and HBO Go

Wonder Woman 1984, the sequel to DC Films’ first acclaimed superhero movie, will arrive on Nov. 1, 2019. That means you have just under 500 days to revisit this confident, grand standalone picture. Real talk: the final showdown with Ares is a total bust, ripped from the seemingly defunct Justice League playbook, but director Patty Jenkins nails Diana’s origin material, down to the Spider-Man-like let’s-see-just-how-far-these-powers-will-take-me jumping sequence. And even in the era of stiff, previsualized action, Jenkins delivers rousing, personality-filled combat when Diana enters the No Man’s Land and fights her way to a town under attack. Credit goes to Gal Gadot, whose playfulness in the down moments makes her strength all the more surprising. Wonder Woman isn’t Richard Donner’s Superman, but working in the modern blockbuster mold, it’s the closest anyone may come to character-first, on-screen superheroics ever again.

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

Available to stream on FX Now

This movie is better than you remember. Right? We’re feeling confident on this one. If you’re looking for a sure-thing X-Men movie, by all means, watch The Wolverine (also on FX), but the X-universe’s decision to siphon The Avengers epicness by transporting the first trilogy cast through time to meet with the prequel trilogy cast, and using Chris Claremont and John Byrne’s legendary storyline to do it, was a risk worth taking and a movie worth watching. The future material is where all the bonkers, CG-filled action goes down. In the ‘70s, where Wolverine hunts the creator of the Sentinel robots, the movie amounts to a great clash of actor talents, Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, and Michael Fassbender chewing scenery and dotting every sentence with existential punctuation. It’s a circus of a movie, and balanced in stark contrast to the too-big-for-its-own-good X-Men: Apocalypse.

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