The 32 greatest movie sequels

Mad Max: Fury Road
(Image credit: Warner Bros. Pictures)

Sequels are never better than the original. At least, that used to be conventional wisdom. In reality, sequels are sometimes 🌸as good, if not better, than their precursors. Maybe it’s time to finally consider what are some of the greatest sequels of all time.

In the history of motion pictures, the beginnings of sequels begin with two different movies: The Little Train Robbery, a sequel to the s🍌eminal short film The Great Train Robbery with an all-child cast performinಞg on a miniature railroad and playhouse; and the 1916 feature-length film The Fall of a Nation, a lost sequel to D.W. Griffith’s technically revered but artistically ghastly historical epic The Birth of a Nation. 

For so long, sequels have been perceived to be lesse⛎r and inferior to their respective originals. While it is true that many sequels fail to live up to expectations set by the first in their series, it’s also true that some seqౠuels eclipse the movies they spawn from. With Hollywood more obsessed to sequel-ize movies more than ever, we collect 32 of the greatest sequels ever made.

32. Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Thor: Ragnarok

(Image credit: Marvel Studios)

When Taika Waititi took the reins of the Thor series, he lit up the Marvel franchise in ways even the God of Thunder could not. A tonal 180 from the more straightforward superhero b🔴lockbusters that preceded it, Thor: Ragnarok injects the most operatic Avenger with superhuman levels of humor, fostering the vibe of a cosmic rave atop the burnt ashes of Asgard’s apocalypse. Chris Hemsworth, having felt creatively limited in his role as Thor up to that point, lets his funny bone hang loose while still ensuring that his Thor stays mighty. Even Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett conjures up a few laughs as villainess sorceress (and Thor’s sister) He♊la.

31. Clerks II (2006)

Clerks II

(Image credit: The Weinstein Company)

Never has a filthy stoner comedy felt so tender in the heart. Picking up more ꦛthan 10 years after Kevin Smith’s era-defining ‘90s indie classic Clerks, Clerks II reunites audiences with slackers Dante (Brian O’Halloran) and Randall (Jeff Anderson), now thirty-somethings flipping burgers at a fast food joint. Set over yet another fateful day in their unambitious lives, Dante prepares to leave New Jersey and move to Florida with his fiancee, only for Randall to have some bright ideas about his going-away party. A touching movie about realizing it’s never too late to start the rest of your life, Clerks II shows there’s adventure behind and beyond the register.

30. Police Story 3: Supercop (1992)

Supercop

(Image credit: Miramax)

Those well-versed in Jackie Chan’s storied career know the importance of his 1985 classic Police Story, but its second sequel Police Story 3: Supercop is so much bigger and bett🍨er in nearly every way, it’s no wonder why the movie was released on its own in the U.S. (Under the simplified title Supercop.) Marking the first collaboration between Chan and director Stanley Tong, Chan reprises his heroic cop Ka-Kui (“Kevin” in English translations) and teams up with Beijing-based INTERPOL agent Yang, played by destined Oscar recipient and crossover actress Michell💦e Yeoh. Whereas the first two Police Story installments are clever crowd-pleasers with manageable scale, Supercop is nuclear-powered popcorn entertainment.

29. Blade 2 (2002)

Blade II

(Image credit: New Line Cinema)

Stephen Norrington’s predecessor Blade is a sublime artifact of late ‘90s techno-goth urban fantasy, jagged edges and all. But Guillermo del Toro’s 𝔉finely tuned sequel f🃏rom 2002 smooths out all those edges without sacrificing any sharpness. While its undercooked script simply continues Blade’s adventures - this time, Blade steps up against mutant vampires who seek to wipe out the whole world, vampires and humans alike - the movie surrounds the ultra-cool Wesley Snipes with even more cool actors, like Norman Reedus, Ron Perlman, and even Donnie Yen, making Blade’s cinematic underworld feels a lot more alive than undead. 

28. Magic Mike XXL (2015)

Magic Mike XXL

(Image credit: Warner Bros. Pictures)

When the first Magic Mike by Steven Soderbergh hit screens in 2012, its depiction of vulnerable men with hard bodies was obfuscated by its novelty factor as a bawdy studio tentpole ostensibly made for straight women. Three years later, its sequel - in which Soderbergh steps away from the director’s chair and instead performs work as both cinematographer and editor - is fully lathered up as the ultimate hangout movie for men, in which modern masculinity is poked and prodded by men, with utmost sensitivity. Rebelling against rules of “look but don’t touch,” Magic Mi♒ke XXL dares you not to feel something.

27.  Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

(Image credit: Paramount Pictures)

Regarded as one of the finest entries in the entire Star Trek media franchise, the solemn film sequel Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan brings back the scene▨-chewing Ricardo Montalbán as Khan, a genetically-engineered warlord from the original television series on a mission of revenge against Captain Kirk (William Shatner). Notably, the film ends on a horrific note for longtime f🐼ans, and pretty much anyone along for the ride, as it stands as a testament to the powers of friendship, the nobility of logical self-sacrifice, and all that it means to be human. 

26. Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994)

Wes Craven's New Nightmare

(Image credit: New Line Cinema)

Way before moviegoers became too familiar with meta storytelling, Wes Craven’s New Nightmare set itself in our actual “real world,” and it chilled us to the bone. In Craven’s second directed feature in the series, Nightmare on Elm Street exists as a successful Hollywood franchise - and the only way of keeping the true evil of Freddy Krueger contained. Heather Langenkamp, who plays a fictional🐼ized version of herself, finds her waking reality collapsing as Freddy menacingly creeps out of the screen and comes after her and her family. Through stunning direction by the master Wes Craven, his New Nightmare still plays like a terrifying dream.

25. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

(Image credit: Netflix)

After the success of 2019&𝄹rsquo;s Knives Out, audiences hoped to see more of Daniel Craig’s gentleman detective Benoit Blanc take on a new case - a true 21st century Hercule Poirot, basically. In 2022, Kn😼ives Out fans had their wishes granted in the Netflix-exclusive sequel Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, with Benoit eagerly taking on a case involving a tech billionaire (played by Edward Norton) and a private Greek island party thrown for his closest friends and enemies. Set during that sweltering COVID-19 summer of 2020, Rian Johnson’s lively sequel stands on its own feet as a satire of just how much quarantine made us lose all our right senses.

24. Army of Darkness (1992)

Army of Darkness

(Image credit: Universal Pictures)

No shade towards Evil Dead II, itself a classic sequel with its mixture of splatter horror and humor in ways that have yet to be replicated. But the final installment of the Evil Dead trilogy, 1992’s Army of Darkness, shows just how much fun can be had by discarding established formulas. Picking up frܫom the ending of Evil Dea🐼d II, Army of Darkness follows Ash (Bruce Campbell) time displaced to the Middle Ages where he must battle legions of waking skeletons before returning to his proper time. While Army of Darkness (which once had the working title of Medieval Dead) is lighter in tone compared to its predecessors, it’s heavy on action and a lot more daring even just on paper, showing the virtues of refusing to rest on laurels. Why the Middle Ages? Well, why not?

23. Creed (2015)

Creed

(Image credit: Warner Bros. Pictures)

The Rocky film series launched some powerful sequels: Rocky II and Rocky III are authentically riveting sports dramas, while Rocky IV is a cultural artifact that cast𝔉s in emb▨er Cold War-era tensions. (The less said about Rocky V, the better.) As good as 2006’s Rocky Balboa was, 2015’s sequel/spin-off Creed, with Michael B. Jordan as second generation pugilist Adonis Creed, is the true spiritual reincarnation of ‘76 Rocky without overwriting or rebooting it outright. In addition to a revelatory Jordan, it allowed director Ryan Coogler to prove his mettle as a true contender for the Marvel Universe, ultimately helming the billion-dollar mega-hit Black Panther.

22. Back to the Future Part 2 (1989)

Back to the Future Part II

(Image credit: Universal Pictures)

After the original installment flung Michael J. Fox’s Marty McFly backwards into the past, it was only logical that the sequel should fling him forward. Set in the then-future year of 2015, it’൲s startling to see what Back to the Future Part 2 actually got “right,” at least as far as anyone could foresee in the late ‘80s. (We sadly never got real hoverboards, but Nike did come out with those self-lacing sneakers for a hot minute.) But more than that, Back to th🅠e Future Part 2 is a worthy successor as a film that warns yesterday’s happy ending doesn’t prevent tomorrow’s despair.

21. Toy Story 3 (2010)

Toy Story

(Image credit:🎉 Walt D✤isney Motion Pictures Studios)

Toy Story 2 was heading to straight-to-video purgatory when it was retooled at the last minute into a worthwhile follow-up of the ‘95 original. But in 2010, as Toy Story’s original target audience were themselves embarking onto young adulthood, Disney and Pixar gave them one last reminder of their childhoods in the moving and🎀 unflinching sequel Toy Story 3. With Andy off to college, his beloved toys including Woody (Tom Hanks) and Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) struggle to make a new home for themselves at a preschool. In the end, Toy Story 3 testifies that the most rewarding thing about starting young adulthood isn’t elongating one’s childhood, but sharing to make other childhoods happy too.

20. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

(Image credit: Marvel Studios)

Back when the Marvel Cinematic Universe was still charting new territory, its seemingly winning formula of enlisting up-and-coming directors - like Joe and Anthony Russo, who originated from comedy television - to put their own spin on its prized collection of action figures resulted in the likes of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. In the aftermath of 2011’s C♐aptain America: The First Avenger and 2012’s seismic hit The Avengers, the stand-alone sequel finds Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) adapting to his 21st century surroundings, in a plot that touched on surveillance paranoia and what privacies we’re sacrificing for the sake of technological convenience. In addition to introducing Anthony Mackie as franchise mainstay Sam Wilson/The Falcon and bringing back Sebastian Stan as the troubled Bucky Barnes, The Winter Soldier remains a classic for its homage to ‘70s spy thrillers, demonstrating how flexible superhero stories are outside their familiar spandex.