Super Bowl 50 has come and gone and the Denver Broncos are once again on top of the NFL. While the game lost after Cam Newton’s late fumble, it was still worth watching for commercials. At this point, watching Super Bowl commericals is practically a pastime of its own. Every year, companies spend millions to get a captive audience watching football’s biggest game. Usually, that means that the ads themselves are bigger and better. Even the failures have some degree of watchability.
CraveOnline’s film editor, William Bibbiani has already posted his ranking of the Super Bowl 50 movie trailers, which you can find at this link. But for our annual list of the best Super Bowl ads, we’re focusing on actual commercials. Although there is some crossover, as you’ll soon see.
In no particular order, these were our favorite commercials from tonight’s Super Bowl:
Coke Mini: Hulk vs. Ant-Man
Putting aside the fact that Hulk vs. Ant-Man makes no sense, and the way that the commercial had to hide Mark Ruffalo’s lack of involvement with a quick cut away from Bruce Banner, it was still really entertaining to see Ant-Man trying to steal the last Coke Mini from the Hulk…and spectacularly failing.
We probably won’t see these two heroes sharing the screen until Avengers: Infinity War Part 1. But if this scene ever happened in the MCU, it would have triggered the superhero Civil War before the next Captain America movie.
Meet The Marmot
Cute animal commercials are a Super Bowl tradition, but this is definitely one of the weirder ads to come along. It’s the rejection that really makes this one memorable.
Doritos Dogs
Doritos has been outsourcing its Super Bowl commercials for years. The “Doritos Dogs” spot is one of the best ads to come out of that program, as three adorable dogs go through cartoonish hijinks just to lawfully purchase Doritos of their own.
Meet the Ketchups
Speaking of cute animals, Heinz evoked the classic “Cat Wranglers” ad with its newest commercial: a stampede of dogs wearing hot dog costumes as they jump into the loving arms of anthropomorphic condiments.
A New Truck to Love
The sheep sing Queen. Or rather, they lip sync Queen. That’s really all you need to know about this Honda ad.
The Walken Closet
This is actually a terrible ad for Kia, but a great showcase for Christopher Walken’s awesomeness. I was ready to buy some socks.
The Commander
Proving that it’s never too early to cash in on David Bowie nostalgia, Audi brings a former astronaut back to his space glory days with a chance to get behind the wheel at least one more time. It’s a pretty solidly commercial, but it’s Bowie’s “Starman” that makes it memorable.
The Longest Chase
Okay, nobody is ever gonna get that excited about a Prius, ever. But this heist gone wrong takes a funny turn when the “borrowed” Prius allows a gang of inept crooks (played by some very familiar faces) get away from some really incompetent cops.
Train On
Now, if they made a live-action Pokemon movie half as compelling as this ad, it would still be a huge improvement over the Super Mario Bros. film. The Pokemon 20th anniversary Super Bowl spot was definitely one of the most well made ads of this year’s game. But for the non-Pokemon fans, it’s a bit of a head-scratcher.
Storm’s a-Brewin
I’ve never heard of Death Wish Coffee before, but I did love the visual of Vikings eagerly rowing towards their doom in the service of giving some dude his caffeine rush.
What were your favorite Super Bowl 50 ads? Let us know in the comment section below!
