Science fiction is easily one of thཧe most popular and prolific genres in movies🔯 today. But while there are countless major hit sci-fi movies, there's many if not even more cult sci-fi classics still waiting to be discovered.

Sci-fi cinema began almost as soon as movies themselves began, with Georges Méliès' A Trip to the Moon – widely considered the first sci-fi movie – released in 1902. Méliès was only the first of more than a century of filmmakers using science fiction to contemplate humanity's future – the dreams, the nightmares, the🅺 endless possibilities. While there's a ton of undisputed classics in the genre, there're many more underrated and undiscovered gems that still deserve their proper due.

For those worn out on Terminator and Avatar, for those who♔'ve had their fill of Star Wars and Star Treks to last a lifetime yet🌃 still crave the speculative tech and outlandish tales of extraterrestrial existence – congratulations, you've come to the right place. This is your new favorite go-to list of under-the-radar science fiction flicks. Here are 32 underrated sci-fi movies.

32. I'm Your Man (2021)

Can love be created? Even programmed? That's 🐲the question powering Emma Braslavsky's acclaimed science fiction romance I'm Your Man, released in 2021. Dan Stevens (The Guest, FX's Legion) stars as Tom, an android who is designed to be the perfect partner exclusively for lonely scientist Alma (Maren Eggert). As part of a research project, Alma is forced to live with Tom and document their relationship. While Alma is resistant at first, emotions slowly become real. Sparks really🦹 fly in this alluring German-language production, a movie that supposes love can be found when you least expect it.

31. The Super Inframan (1975)

The genre of transforming superheroes like Ultraman, Kamen Rider, and Power Rangers began in Japan. But in 1975, prolific Hong Kong studio Shaw Brothers took a stab at their own metamorphing hero with The Super Inframan, from director Hua Shan. Danny Lee stars as the red-clad lightning avenger, Inframan, who saves the Earth from alien invaders using his new superpowers and mastery of kung fu. While Chinese action movies are typically either lavish Wuxia historical epics or bombastic "heroic bloodshed" 🐎dramas, The Super Inframan stands out as a cross-cultural hybrid of many influences. It's a movie still deserving of the franchise treatment, even now. Fun fact: Ant-Man director Peyton Reed confirmed in a 2018 Q&A on Twitter/X that the MCU's Ant-Man was visually inspired by The Super Inframan.

30. I.S.S. (2023)

In this overl💜ooked pressure cooker thriller, Russian and American astronauts aboard the International Space Station grow suspicious of one another when a ground war between the superpowers begins back on Earth. Thanks to a small but capable cast, including Ariana DeBose, Chris Messina, and John Gallagher Jr., I.S.S. powers through its shortcomings to be a suspenseful story about trust, and if hatred really is as simple as picking sides. Also, for a tiny budget of less tha🅘n $14 million, I.S.S. has some pretty spectacular production value with gorgeous overviews of Earth.

29. The Pod Generation (2023)

Writer/director Sophie Barthes satirizes our very possible future in 💫her sci-fi rom-com The Pod Generation. Emilia Clarke (of Game of Thrones fame) and Chiwitel Ejiofor co-star as a married couple living in a near future New York City. In trying to start a family, Clarke's character Rachel is eager to give birth via mobile artificial wombs, while Alvy (Ejiofor) is hoping for more traditional methods. The Pod Generation is terrifically funny, with quietly dark underpinnings of our imminent submission to artificial intelligence and techno💖logy. Because when we even depend on the machines to give birth, at what point are we still human? The Pod Generation lightly ponders this question with delightful humor.