Superhero Soundtrack - 2016 Edition

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What has been your favorite soundtrack from all of the superhero movies released in 2016? Which one are you looking forward the most?

My own ranking:
Batman v Superman - 7/10
Ambitious, but very ill-fitting at times, and not quite at the level these two composers usually work at.

Deadpool - 6/10
Very good and positively different, but not something I would listen to out of context.

Captain America: Civil War - 4/10
Background music without many characteristics. The one real flaw that movie had from becoming an instant classic for me.

Expectations:
X-Men: Apocalypse
I really like Ottman's earlier work with the X-Men movies, so I'm expecting a lot from Apocalypse as well. Just to hear that classic X2 theme again will be a delight.

Suicide Squad
I'm so excited for this one. Steven Price is a genious and his work on Gravity is one of my all time favorite soundtracks.

Doctor Strange
Hard to say, yet. The MCU isn't known for fantastic soundtracks, but considering how special Doctor Strange is, the music should have some very special flair to it as well.

 

[ernesth100]

BvS won with Wonder Womans theme

 

[David H.]

Haha, WW's theme caught me by surprised. Zack should have made a Heavy Metal movie instead.

 

[Logan0327]

dont know why the mcu cant get good soundtracks henry jackman scored civil war and the score was forgettable

especially when you compare it to jackman's work on x men first class
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[BatLobster]

I don't know why it is that Marvel scores seem to be so forgettable. It's like they consistently drop the ball in the one area where DC almost always succeeds- memorable scores and villains.

They've obviously been hugely successful despite that, but it's definitely one of those things that contributes to the "big budget TV show" feeling of their universe.

 

[The_Manhunter]

BvS by far. It's my favorite superhero score ever.

 

[Greens]

BvS wins so far.

 

[Elevator Man]

Deadpool - Junkie XL
Aside from droning I wasn't expecting much from Junkie XL, when he signed on. After one viewing of the movie the score failed to leave an impression on me b/c I honestly didn't notice any music accompanying it. I'm not bothering with the soundtrack album to find out. The songs played a bigger role in the movie than the score did anyway. So it didn't matter in the long run it was just an easy paycheck for Junkie.

Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice - Hans Zimmer & Junkie XL
I don't know what Zimmer sees in Junkie XL but I wasn't expecting much since (aside from Ottman's underrated Superman Returns) the scores to DC movies post '05' have been mostly generic droning. BvS was no exception. Certain moments of the score in the film (based off the samples from the soundtrack album) were overbearing.

I wasn't a fan of Zimmer's MOS score so I didn't care about his even bleaker Superman motif returning. I agree with Ene about Luthor's theme/motif being obnoxious though fitting for Eisenbergs version of Lex.

Junkie's bombastic Batman theme/motif was nothing special and was lacking something that screamed Batman, imo. And sounded like a variation of the "horns of doom" from Zimmer's Inception. Junkie was trying too hard to make it seem hardcore and aggressive. I didn't mind the solemn trumpet motif for Bruce.

Wonder Woman's electric cello driven theme/motif was interesting though a little too hip for my liking. The score to me felt like it was still in the brainstorming stage b/c a lot of the themes/motifs felt repetitive and lacked nuance imo. I honestly believe Zimmer clicked the most with the Spider-Man character than he has with any of the DC superheroes.

Captain America: Civil War - Henry Jackman
Even though I thought CA:TWS score was decent and serviceable overall. I still wasn't expecting to be impressed much by Jackman's CA:CW. From what I noticed on one viewing the emotional theme/motif, which was used during the climax between Steve, Bucky, and Stark, was the only piece that left a strong impression on me.

X-Men:Apocalypse - John Ottman
I was somewhat underwhelmed by Ottman's DOFP score. Aside from the glorious return of his X2 theme the rest of the score didn't measure up to X2 or to the emotional heights of Ottman's own Superman Returns. Also Xavier's theme was distractingly similar to Zimmer's "Time" piece from Inception, imo. I get the impression during post production of DOFP that Ottman concentrated more on the editing than the scoring. I'm hoping that he's found a perfect balance between the editing and scoring for X:A as he did for X2. There's so much potential with Apocalypse being the main villain. I'm a little worried that he blew a wad out of this genre after his Superman Returns score.

Suicide Squad -Steven Price
I haven't any clue what to expect from this score. I'm not familiar with Price's work, but I'm hoping for something unconventional from previous DC scores.

Doctor Strange - Michael Giacchino
Easily my most anticipated superhero score of 2016. Michael Giacchino rarely disappoints, imo. I'm hoping for a unique Giacchino and MCU score. This score and movie has a lot of potential. I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up (for me) being top contender of the year for best superhero score.

Pre X-men: Apocalypse I haven't been wowed by any 2016 superhero scores as of yet.

 

[Drz]

1) Batman v Superman entire soundtrack
2) Apocalypse's theme song
3) Winter Soldier's theme song.

 

[AnneFan]

Really liked BvS's score. Top quality tracks in there. The MCU doesn't do it for me musically.

 

[Drizzle]

As far as score, I thought Batman v. Superman's was stronger than Civil War. However, my favorite soundtrack so far is Deadpool.

 

[Milu]

1. X-Men Apocalypse. John Ottman hasn't let me down with an X-score yet.
2. Deadpool. Okay score, but what really makes the soundtrack stand out is the choice of songs.
3. Civil War. It's weird; I appreciated CW's more orchestral approach, and I actually like Cap's new theme, but didn't think the score as a whole was as strong as TWS's.
4. Batman V Superman. Too loud, and not particularly memorable.

 

[Greens]

I liked some of the BvS tracks but I agree that it was way too loud. I walked out with a headache.

 

[Elevator Man]

X-Men: Apocalypse - John Ottman

Well I'll add Ottman's X:A to the list of superhero scores of 2016 that didn't impressed me unfortunately. I haven't heard the score outside of the movie so I'm going off my first viewing of the film. Aside from one of the movements from Beethoven's 7th and the recurring themes (X2 main theme and Striker's motif) from previous X-men movies (X2 and DOFP) nothing from Ottman's serviceable score really resonated, imo. But then again most scores these days tend to that on first viewing b/c my attention is usually on the movie to even notice unless it's very conspicuous.

 

[Brother Jack]

I liked some of the BvS tracks but I agree that it was way too loud. I walked out with a headache.

BVS was like a collection of all of Zimmer's worst tendencies ratcheted up to 11. Just an overbearing wall of sound without any memorable thematic pinning apart from reused MOS material. It features probably my least favorite Batman theme ever done.

 

[Drizzle]

I'd now say that X-Men: Apocalypse had the best score of the superhero movies this year so far. John Ottman never disappoints on his X-Men scores.

 

[Elevator Man]

Suicide Squad - Steven Price
Price's inconspicuous score didn't have any impact on the film, imo. That's mainly b/c it was overshadowed by the very contrived, conspicuous, and annoying soundtrack/songs. The score suffered b/c of that.


Doctor Strange - Michael Giacchino
Honestly Giacchino's score didn't really stand out on my first viewing. Again when it comes to my first viewing of movies I'm normally focused on the film/story than it's score. I did notice Strange's theme. And that's probably b/c it shared similarities to his main theme from the Star Trek reboot franchise. I guess the score was serviceable in the film. Maybe on repeated viewings I'll appreciate it more, but unfortunately the score didn't leave much of an impression on me.

Overall it was a tepid year for the major superhero/cbm scores, imo.

 

[OutOfBoose]

BvS soundtrack is the best. Other original soundtrack were unnoticeable. I don't remember anything else, outside licensed songs.

 

[jihado86]

The only memorable OST generally was BvS, it wasn't at the usual level of Hans and Junkie XL but it was the best of the 6 films we saw this year.

CW is a big disappointment, I was excited before because I trust in Henry Jackman and his modern approach, but in CW he just delivered the same lame style of the old and generic guys, the only track I loved is Cap's Promise.

The other 4 movies have totally unnoticed soundtracks, I'll completely decide after Doctor Strange 2nd watch when it's released on Blu-Ray.

 

[Greens]

None of the scores this year will be held up as classics. BvS, Doctor Strange and X-Men: Apocalypse had some great moments but as a whole they don't really hold up.

 

[Drizzle]

Overall, Doctor Strange had the best overall score. But the most memorable tune was Zimmer's Wonder Woman theme from BvS.

 

[fancyarcher]

Best superhero score this year was Ottman's Apocalypse, which surprised me quite a bit. He managed to create some good themes (include one for Apocalypse), considering that DOFP was clearly trying to emulate the modern remote control style of scoring. His best X-Men score to date.

Doctor Strange was pretty solid, if not a bit too Star Treky. BVS had it's moments, but a lot of it felt like typical Zimmer noise. Civil War was more of the same, and I didn't particularly care for it either.

Also, forget to mention Suicide Squad. While it had its moments, a lot of that score was very muddled, probably not helped by the fact that a lot of the score was cut to pieces, so WB could try and emulate Guardians's success.

 

[Bats123]

If there's one thing i liked about BvS and SS is the soundtrack, we know Zimmer is a master but im ****ing FURIOUS, that Squad ditched most of Steven Price's compositions for ****ing pop songs, cus there's some legitimately good stuff in there.

Wanna give a shout out to Giacchino's Strange soundtrack, solid stuff, loved the main theme.

 

[Greens]

that Squad ditched most of Steven Price's compositions for ****ing pop songs, cus there's some legitimately good stuff in there.

The score is still pretty nondescript, though.

 

[Bats123]

The score is still pretty nondescript, though.

Didn't say it was great but there's some tracks that i liked that are completely gone in the movie, and instead they are replaced with ****ing "Gangsta", ugh.