5 Rock Songs Written For Superhero Movies That Soared Up The Charts

Nothing helps build up the epic vibe of a superhero film quite like a tailor-made rock song for its soundtrack — and interestingly, quite a few of those heroic headbangers found mainstream commercial success (read: soared all the way to the top spot on music ranking charts) beyond their movie tie-in status.

In putting together — or should we say, "assembling" — this list, we looked at songs that were completed by rock musicians specifically for superhero movies and released at around the same time as their tie-in films. We did not include superhero movie songs that were already part of an earlier album by the artists (meaning songs that were selected for inclusion in superhero movie soundtracks, but not original creations for them). We also used Billboard's music charts as our main success metric; to qualify for inclusion on this list, a song must have reached #1 on at least one Billboard chart.

Lastly, while there are numerous examples of superhero movie songs that fit all of these categories, we limited our selection to just rock songs (which is why you won't find Seal's ballad "Kiss From a Rose" for 1995's "Batman Forever" or Post Malone and Swae Lee's soulful contribution to the 2018 "Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse" soundtrack, "Sunflower," on this list). Without further ado, it's time to throw up your best devil's horns (or webshooting fingers?) as you strum your air guitar to these larger-than-life hits.

Say what you will about these infamous Canadian rockers; it's hard to deny that Nickelback is a better rock band than you remember. After all, half of the group was directly involved in creating and releasing "Hero," a heart-swelling and appropriately heroic-sounding track for the 2002 film "Spider-Man." That same year, "Hero" held the top spot on Billboard's Alternative Airplay chart for one week and the Mainstream Rock Airplay for two; it's the only song under Nickelback vocalist Chad Kroeger's name to hit #1 on those lists. And while it only peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, "Hero" also enjoyed chart-topping success in the U.K.

Kroeger, who worked with his brother (and Nickelback's bassist) Mike Kroeger on the song, released two versions of "Hero": a standard "rock" version, and one accompanied by an orchestra. Whichever version you listen to, it's clear why the song is an excellent fit for the "Spider-Man" soundtrack. While the lyrics don't mention the webslinging superhero by name, they make repeated references to being high up in the sky, akin to soaring on eagles' wings. The song also tackles themes of sacrifice and responsibility, which are core concepts associated with the Marvel character. And as far as the music itself goes, the rolling drums, simple but powerful chord progression, and pounding base all come together to produce a harmonious yet unapologetically hard rock sound that is nothing short of epic.

When Twenty One Pilots frontman Tyler Joseph was writing "Heathens" for the 2016 movie "Suicide Squad," he wasn't actually creating it specifically for the movie — he wanted it to be a Twenty One Pilots song, first and foremost. In various interviews, both Joseph and Twenty One Pilots drummer Josh Dun have gone on record saying that, while it was the first time they made a song for a movie soundtrack, they didn't change anything about their creative process, and were even expecting it to be junked. The result: a chilling yet catchy rock anthem about having unpredictable ne'er-do-wells as comrades, which still fits the theme of the film without being explicitly about it.

Joseph and Dun's deliberate choice to preserve their musical integrity instead of giving in to corporate dictates paid off immensely for the duo in terms of the success of "Heathens." The song went on to top the Billboard Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart for a staggering 30 weeks, a feat that, according to Forbes in 2017, made it the longest-running No. 1 rock song ever on that Billboard list. "Heathens" also grabbed the No. 1 spot on Billboard's Rock & Alternative Airplay list for 9 weeks, reached No. 2 on the Hot 100 chart, and ultimately helped Twenty One Pilots achieve global stardom.

When "The Avengers" hit the silver screen in 2012, it accomplished what no other movie before it did by bringing together protagonists from previous films set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to form a superhero ensemble cast. On the music side of things, the soundtrack also marked a major milestone for Soundgarden, as their contribution to the album, "Live to Rise," was their first new release in a decade and a half. "Live to Rise" rose to the top of Billboard's Canada Rock chart, where it held its ground for three weeks. It also held the No. 1 spot on Billboard's Active Rock chart for the same amount of time. Notably, it was No. 1 on the Heritage Rock list for three straight months.

Lyrically, "Live to Rise" isn't specifically about the Avengers, which is precisely how the band intended it to be. While it doesn't try to be the poetic pinnacle of superhero songs, it certainly works as an anthem for star-spangled shield-throwers and hammer-wielding thunder gods, from its powerful riffs to its dynamic, booming drums. It sounds like the kind of song Iron Man would be listening to inside his armor as he blasts through wave after wave of Chitauri. Given how well it performed on the charts, it's clear that to many fans of Soundgarden, "Live to Rise" still carries the grunge-rock DNA of the band they loved many years ago.

Many regard Fall Out Boy as one of the most important rock bands of the 2000s, so it's no surprise that they'd be selected to contribute a song to a superhero movie soundtrack, a genre that in no small part defines early 21st-century cinema. But the band's inclusion on this list isn't for a live-action blockbuster, but for an animated film that some may not even realize was based on a Marvel property. In 2014, Disney released "Big Hero 6," and part of its soundtrack was "Immortals," which held the No. 1 spot on Billboard's Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart for a week. A few months after its release, "Immortals" peaked at No. 1 in the U.K.

The line: "We could be immortals, just not for long" may sound contradictory, but it's perfect for "Big Hero 6," a story about an unexpected protagonist forced to step up and continue the heroic legacy of a loved one who died. (It's also a curiously-appropriate verse for a movie about superheroes from comics, a medium famous for death being treated like a revolving door as characters are routinely killed and brought back to life.) The overall package — with its high-tech musical vibe, energizing lyrics, and Fall Out Boy vocalist Patrick Stump's unmistakable vocals and enunciation — makes "Immortals" just the right kind of song for this movie; it's even played in the background during the sequence where the team officially begins their journey as superheroes. 

Everyone knows the story of how "Batman Forever" turned Seal's "Kiss From A Rose" into a hit, but that catchy ballad is far from the only chart-topper from the soundtrack. Released days before the film's debut in 1995, U2's "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" was well received by the American public, snagging the top spots on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Airplay and Alternative Airplay charts. Aside from that, the song also topped the charts in other countries, including Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, Hungary, Norway, and Canada.

There's a certain element of gothic villainy in "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me," and you don't even need to watch the creepy, cartoon-inspired music video to feel it. Some music critics observed how the song perfectly captured the transition between U2's earlier work and the electronically-influenced turn that the band took in their later releases; one could also say that it mirrors the shift in tone of the Batman films after Schumacher took over the reins from Tim Burton. Even though "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" isn't quite as popular as it used to be (and is also probably not one of the first U2 songs anyone would think of nowadays), it's not hard to understand why this song achieved mainstream success when it came out alongside "Batman Forever": Its sound, lyrics, and associated visuals were definitely products of their time.