Superhero film/movie is a film genre categorized by the presence of superhero characters, individuals with extraordinary abilities who are dedicated to fighting crime, saving the world, or helping the innocent. It is sometimes considered a sub-genre of the action film genre and has evolved into one of the most financially successful film genres worldwide. These films focus on superhuman abilities, advanced technology, mystical phenomena, or exceptional physical and mental skills that enable these heroes to fight for the common good or defeat a supervillain antagonist.

Superhero films typically include genre elements of romance, comedy, fantasy, and science fiction, with large instances of the superhero genre predominantly occupied and produced by American media franchises DC and Marvel, originally adaptations of their existing works of superhero comic books. Individual superhero films frequently contain a character's origin story.

Superhero stories initially gained popularity through comic books and were later adapted into film serials. Early examples include Flash Gordon (1936), Mandrake the Magician (1939), The Shadow (1940), Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941), Batman (1943), The Phantom (1943), Captain America (1944), and Superman (1948).

Between 1941 and 1942, Fleischer Studios produced a series of eight animated cartoons and one additional short based on the Superman comic book. Famous Studios, the successor of Fleischer Studios, created eight more cartoons between 1942 and 1943.

In the following decades, the decline of Saturday matinée showings of serials and turmoil in the comic book industry slowed superhero motion picture production greatly, although films were still being produced. These films included Superman and the Mole Men (1951), starring George Reeves, and Batman (1966), a big-screen extension of the Batman television series starring Adam West. Superman and the Mole Men was a pilot for the TV series Adventures of Superman. Compilations of the series were later released theatrically.

In 1957, Shinto Ho produced the first film serial featuring the Tokusatsu superhero character Super Giant, marking a shift in Japanese popular culture toward masked superheroes in Tokusatsu. The Super Giant film series and Astro Boy heavily influenced later Japanese Tokusatsu superhero films. Moonlight Mask also became popular around that time, with six films retelling the story of the TV series. Another early Japanese superhero film was Ōgon Bat (1966), starring Sonny Chiba, based on the 1931 Kamishibai superhero Ōgon Bat.

Although kaiju movies, or movies featuring kaiju monsters, do not typically fall under the superhero category, the kaiju monster Godzilla, originally a villain, transitioned into a superhero role in subsequent films. Godzilla has been described as "the original radioactive superhero" because his nuclear origin story predates Spider-Man's 1962 debut. However, Godzilla did not become a hero until Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964). By the 1970s, Godzilla was viewed as a superhero, with the magazine King of the Monsters describing Godzilla in 1977 as the "Superhero of the '70s." Donald F. Glut wrote that Godzilla was "the most universally popular superhero of 1977."

1966 saw the debut of the Ultra Series with the kaiju TV show Ultra Q. With the release of the original Ultraman, the franchise started focusing on superheroes and the series averaged an audience rating of 36.8% through its first 39 episodes. In 1967, Ultraman started expanding to films. Early films, such as Ultraman: Monster Movie Feature, were compilations or theatrical releases of TV show episodes. The first original Ultraman film was The 6 Ultra Brothers vs. the Monster Army, a co-production with Thailand.