Best Comic Book Movie Bracket Round 2 Part 1

On to Round 2!!!  Here's where the decisions start getting tough.  For the first part of Round 2 we are looking at The Dark Knight Region and The Avengers Region.  You can scroll down for some analysis and predictions, but let's get right to the voting!!


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Let's take a closer look at each of the matchups in these two regions.

The Dark Knight Region
1 The Dark Knight vs 8 Ant-Man
Congratulations to Ant-Man for making it two Round 2!!  That's as far as it is going to get.  The Dark Knight is too good to lose to a tiny superhero.

4 Avengers: Age of Ultron vs 5 Superman
This should be an interesting matchup.  Superman was the first superhero blockbuster and is well liked by many.  The second Avengers movie was an action-packed thrill ride that introduced new characters.  I think this could be close, but Avengers probably wins.

2 Deadpool vs Iron Man 2
I know a lot of people loved Deadpool, but I'm not one of them.  I just thought it was ok.  Iron Man 2 might not be the best MCU movie to take it down, but I think it has a shot.

3 Spiderman 2 vs 6 X2: X-Men United
This is a really intriguing matchup between two sequels that are highly regarded within their respective franchises.  I think the power of Doctor Octopus leads Spiderman 2 to a win.

The Avengers Region
1 The Avengers vs 9 Thor: The Dark World
Our first MCU vs MCU matchup.  As much as I like the Thor movies, The Avengers is too powerful in this matchup.

4 X-Men: Days of Future Past vs 5 Spiderman
Here we have another X-Men vs Spiderman matchup.  The original Spiderman was a lot of fun, but Days of Future Past was quite possibly the best of the X-Men movies.  I think X-Men prevails in this one.

2 Wonder Woman vs 10 Captain America
I thought Captain America would have a tough time in its first matchup, but it advanced easily.  I don't think things will be so easy in this round.  Wonder Woman was a fantastic movie and I think it has a good shot to make it to the Final Four.

3 Thor: Ragnarok vs 6 Doctor Strange
We have another all MCU matchup in this one, and I think it could be a little close.  I was not a huge fan of Doctor Strange, but will admit that it was visually stunning.  The third Thor was universally acclaimed, hence the high seed.  I'll be interested to see how this plays out.

For those who want to see what the bracket looks like now, here it is.  I'm looking forward to seeing how this continues to play out!

Best Comic Book Movie Bracket Round 1: Iron Man Region

We’ve made it to our final region of Round 1 voting, the Iron Man region!!  This is very exciting as the field gets narrowed from 64 to 32.  Let’s get right to the voting!  You can scroll down for analysis and a recap of the last round of voting. 

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And here are some of my thoughts about the matchups with some analysis and predictions.  Enjoy!

1 Iron Man vs 16 Punisher: War Zone 

Iron Man was the first movie in the MCU and it set the standard for the Marvel movies to come.  Robert Downey Jr. was excellently cast and the movie is a great introduction to the MCU.  Oh yea, and Punisher had a sequel that made it into this field. 

8 Spiderman 3 vs 9 Superman II 

The third Spiderman in the Tobey Maguire series is the one that killed the franchise.  It was just plain weird.  Superman II continued the success of the first movie before that series also went off the rails with its third installment.  I think Superman should win this one, but we shall see. 

4 Logan vs 13 Hulk 

Logan was a wonderful conclusion to Wolverine’s story.  Hulk was a disgrace to CGI.  This one shouldn’t be close. 

5 Batman Begins vs 12 Blade 

At the time of its release Blade was considered a success and was very popular.  Then the comic book movie revolution happened.  Batman Begins was one of those movies that set a new standard for what a comic book movie could be.  It wins and sets up a very interesting matchup with Logan in the next round. 

2 Guardians of the Galaxy vs 15 Batman and Robin 

There’s no way a superhero suit with nipples could possibly advance in this tournament.  Especially against one of the most enjoyable movies in the MCU.  Guardians should be considered a contender to reach the Final Four out of this region. 

7 X-Men vs 10 Batman vs Superman 

I loved the first X-Men movie.  I’m a little shocked it has such a low seed, but I thought it was great.  Batman vs Superman, however, was quite a disappointment, especially coming after Man of Steel, which I enjoyed. 

3 Spiderman: Homecoming vs 14 Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer 

Yet another Spiderman reboot, but this time without the origin story.  We were already introduced to this version of Spidey in Captain America: Civil War, so in this movie we are thrown right into the action and it is a lot of fun.  On the other side of the matchup is a movie featuring Silver Surfer, who is one of my favorite comic book characters.  The movie did not do him justice though. 

6 Black Panther vs 11 Amazing Spiderman 2 

Black Panther is the newest movie in this tournament, but what a force it is.  It could ride a huge wave of support to the Final Four based on its recent showing in the box office.  If we did this same bracket a year from now, it would probably be an even higher seed.  Meanwhile, Amazing Spiderman 2 was a mess of a movie that ultimately led Sony to stop trying to make Spiderman movies. 

For those wondering how the last round of voting turned out, here's a recap.  We had four shutout victories in this region, the most of any so far.  The Dark Knight Rises, Captain America: Civil War, Captain America: Winter Soldier, and X-Men: First Class all advanced by shutout.  Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Batman also advanced easily as expected.  The last two matchups were very close, though.  Thor squeaked by Batman Returns by a two vote margin.  I expected that matchup to be close and thought it could go either way.  Once again, though Marvel prevailed over DC.  That's starting to be a common theme in this tournament, but DC still has some powerhouses that could make noise.  The final matchup in this region pitted Iron Man 3 against X-Men: Apocalypse, and with that matchup we had our first tie!  As has been protocol in the previous years' brackets, tie breakers are determined by my vote, since I made the bracket.  If you don't like it, I encourage you to make your own bracket where you can set the rules.  In any case, X-Men: Apocalypse moves on in what is our first real upset, seed wise, of the tournament.  I really disliked Iron Man 3 and even though Apocalypse had its issues, I still enjoyed it.  So that leaves us with a bracket that looks like this.  Keep voting as we get closer and closer to determining a champion!

Best Comic Book Movie Bracket Round 1 The Dark Knight Rises Region

We are halfway through the first round!  And now it’s time to move on to voting in our third region led by the top seed, The Dark Knight Rises.  So far, Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy has two number one seeds, which is very impressive.  But there are quite a few interesting matchups in this region.  So vote below and then keep reading for thoughts on the matchups and a recap of The Avengers region.

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Here are my thoughts on the matchups in this region, which features a stacked bottom half of the bracket.  This might be the toughest bracket, as I can see 4-5 films with the potential to reach the Final Four. 

1 The Dark Knight Rises vs 16 Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

So far all the top seeds have rolled to shutout victories.  I don’t see this one being any different, especially since most people didn’t even know they made a sequel to Ghost Rider.

8 Batman Returns vs 9 Thor

Personally, I loved the first Thor, and not just because Natalie Portman was in it.  But I also know that the Tim Burton Batman movies have a large cult following.  I think this one could be very close.

4 Captain America: Winter Soldier vs 13 Fantastic Four (2005)

The first Fantastic Four movie was fun, and underrated in my opinion.  But I’m probably the only person who thinks that.  Cap will likely roll in this one.

5 Iron Man 3 vs 12 X-Men: Apocalypse

Both of these movies were disappointments in their franchise.  The third Iron Man was confusing and long, while Apocalypse tried to be too big for its own good.  Iron Man 3 will probably win because people love Marvel, but maybe this is a chance for X-Men to pull an upset.

3 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 vs 14 Daredevil

Daredevil is the movie that made people hate Ben Affleck.  I’ll be surprised if it gets any votes.  Guardians 2, while not as good as the first, is still way too good to lose here.

6 Batman vs 11 The Wolverine

Tim Burton’s original Batman really set the early standard for comic book movies and many people hold a soft spot for it.  I could see it as a dark horse Final Four contender.  Which is really too bad for The Wolverine because that was a good movie.

7 X-Men: First Class vs 10 Justice League

I was a little shocked to see First Class get such an average seed.  I thought it was a great movie and a wonderful continuation of the X-Men series.  Fortunately, I don’t see it having any issues getting past Justice League which is widely regarded as a disappointment.

2 Captain America: Civil War vs 15 Superman III

Civil War was a non-stop thrill ride, and I was a little surprised that it didn’t end up as a number one seed.  I think it has Final Four potential, but has to get through a really tough half of the bracket to do it.  Getting by Superman III shouldn’t be an issue, though.

And here is a look at what the bracket looks like after the last round of voting.  As you can see, all the films that advanced did so by wide margins.  Once again the two top seeds won in shutouts, but the closest matchup we had was an 8-3 win by Thor: The Dark World over Man of Steel.  I thought that matchup would be closer, but I guess it shows the gap between the MCU and DCEU.  The only other upset seed wise was Captain America over The Amazing Spiderman, but I wouldn’t necessarily call that an upset.  Nevertheless, the second round sets up for some more intriguing, and hopefully closer, matchups.

Best Comic Book Movie Bracket Round 1: Avengers Region

The Best Comic Book Movie Bracket is moving along as voting has completed in The Dark Knight region for Round 1.  You can check out the results below.  But now it is time to move on to our next region, headed up by #1 seed, The Avengers.  Vote below and then continue reading for my thoughts and analysis.


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Looking at the matchups, here are some quick thoughts and predictions.

1 The Avengers vs 16 Fantastic Four (2015)
This one shouldn't be close.  The Fantastic Four reboot completely bombed, and The Avengers showed how impressive a super hero team up movie can be.

8 Man of Steel vs 9 Thor:The Dark World
This is actually a tough matchup.  I enjoyed both of these movies.  Man of Steel was a fun reboot of the Superman story and what appeared to be a good intro to the DC Universe.  More on that later.  The Thor movies are just so complex from a character perspective and I enjoy that.

4 X-Men: Days of Future Past vs 13 Blade II
Days of Future Past was my favorite X-Men storyline as a kid.  The movie did not disappoint.  I don't think the second Blade offering has much of a chance.

5 Spiderman vs 12 Batman Forever
I don't hate Batman Forever like many people do, and I think there are some fun moments in the movie.  But the first Spiderman movie really started to show what comic book movies could be.

3 Thor: Ragnarok vs 14 The Punisher
The third Thor installment was widely acclaimed, while The Punisher franchise couldn't catch on on the big screen.  I don't see this one being close.

6 Doctor Strange vs 11 Suicide Squad
I didn't particularly enjoy either of these movies. But Doctor Strange was visually impressive and Suicide Squad was just plain bad.  In the first matchup we have of MCU versus DCEU, Marvel is clearly a class above.

7 The Amazing Spiderman vs 10 Captain America: The First Avenger
I didn't understand why they decided to reboot the Spiderman franchise so soon, but I enjoyed the first film in the new franchise.  The first Captain America, however, was a little boring and stiff.

2 Wonder Woman vs 15 Blade: Trinity
Wonder Woman was a cultural phenomenon, and by far the best movie in the DCEU.  Sorry, Blade: Trinity.

And now let's look back at the results from the previous region.

As expected, the top two seeds won in blowouts.  In fact, they shut out the competition in moving on.  The other matchups, though, also weren't that close.  Iron Man 2, Age of Ultron, and Spiderman 2 all won easily.  The closest matchup we had was X2 vs The Incredible Hulk.  X2 moved on by an 8-5 margin.  The two matchups that I thought would be close, weren't all that close.  Ant Man dispatched X-Men 3 by a 9-4 vote, while Superman beat Watchmen by another 9-4 margin.

This sets up some interesting matchups in the second round.  The Dark Knight takes on Ant Man.  Sorry, Ant Man.  In a matchup of old vs new Age of Ultron meets up with the original Superman.  And on the bottom half of the bracket, sequels Spiderman 2 and X-Men 2 face off, while another sequel, Iron Man 2 takes on Deadpool.  I can't wait to see what happens when we get to that vote!

For a look at the updated bracket, check it below!

Best Comic Book Movie Bracket Madness!!!!

The madness is back!!  After a one year hiatus, the Davi March Madness Mania has returned!!  I know you all can barely contain your excitement.  I, too, am having a hard time controlling my excitement, and I knew it was coming!  But let’s get to the good stuff, the explanation of this year’s bracket.

For the 2018 version of Davi March Madness, I decided to look at comic book movies.  At first I wondered if I would be able to get to 64 movies, but I quickly realized that numbers wouldn’t be an issue.  I started by listing out Marvel and DC movies.  That alone got me to 68 movies, so I thought that would be a perfect place to start.  I know there have been other various comic book movies that are not based on a Marvel or DC property, but by focusing on the two biggest companies, it makes things simpler and reduces the questions of why this movie was included and not this other one.  Plus, I don’t get paid to do this, so ranking 68 movies was far less daunting and time consuming than ranking 100 or so.  I know there will still be complaints about that decision, but, remember, this is supposed to be fun.

Now let’s get to how the movies were ranked and seeded.  I tried to be as objective as possible when seeding teams so I used a variety of criteria to rank the movies.  All 68 movies were ranked 1-68 using IMDB rating, Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score, Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score, and Box Office Gross (adjusted for inflation).  The rankings across all categories were averaged to create a composite score, and the composite score was used to create a master ranking of 1-68.  The top 64 movies were then placed in the bracket in a typical S-fashion, with the lowest ranked 1-seed in the same bracket as the highest ranked 2-seed, and so on.  

 

Once in the bracket I looked for any conflicts such as movies from the same franchise meeting in the first round.  I had to movie a couple movies around to avoid things like that, but kept them on the same seed line across the bracket.  For those who don’t have experience with the NCAA tournament bracket, teams are seeded 1-16 within four different regions of the bracket.  I maintained the same seeding structure as the NCAA and attempted to balance the regions as much as possible without compromising the overall seeding.  With the amount of Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movies out there now, it was difficult to keep them completely separate.  But without further ado, here is the 2018 Comic Book Movie Madness Bracket!!!  Admire and enjoy! 

As I do every year, I leave the voting to you.  The first round of voting will be broken up into four different parts as we go region by region.  I will leave the voting open for a few days in each round before moving on, so make sure you get your votes in.  We are starting this year’s voting in the region of the Number-one overall seed, The Dark Knight.  Let’s take a look at the match ups!

1 The Dark Knight vs 16 Elektra

This one should be no contest.  Elektra barely snuck into the field and will likely get blown out by the behemoth that is The Dark Knight.

8 Ant-Man vs 9 X-Men: The Last Stand

Arguably the weakest of the MCU movies versus arguably the weakest of X-Men movies.  This one should be interesting, but I think Ant-Man has the advantage of being more recent.

5 Superman vs 12 Watchmen

The original Superman often gets forgotten among the mass of more recent comic book fare, but it still holds up surprisingly well.  Meanwhile, Watchmen has quite the cult following, so an upset could be possible.

4 Avengers: Age of Ultron vs 13 X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Another MCU versus X-Men matchup.  Once again, the X-Men franchise has better movies to offer up while the second Avengers movie was filled with exciting and memorable action.

3 Spiderman 2 vs 14 Green Lantern

I know many people would like to forget the Green Lantern movie, Ryan Reynolds included, but it still made the field.  And it gets served up to Dr. Octopus and Spidey.

6 X2: X-Men United vs 11 The Incredible Hulk (2008)

I know this is our third X-Men versus MCU matchup, but I promise they aren’t all matched up against each other.  I think X-Men gets the better of the MCU in this one, though.

7 Iron Man 2 vs 10 Superman Returns

The first attempt to bring back the Superman franchise did not go as well as planned.  Based on seeding this should be a close matchup, but I don’t see it playing out that way.

2 Deadpool vs 15 Ghost Rider

Deadpool was a huge hit both critically and with audiences, hence the high seed.  Ghost Rider starred Nicolas Cage.  This one could be close.

And now it is time cast your ballot!  Vote and share!!
If you are have trouble voting on a mobile device, try using this link https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PSZ3MSF

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