Rank the greatest movie sequels ever made — which one actually topped the original?

Francis Ford Coppola somehow made lightning strike twice — then made it strike harder. Many critics consider this the greatest film ever made, let alone the greatest sequel.

James Cameron took a claustrophobic horror masterpiece and turned it into a breathless action epic without losing a single drop of tension. A near-impossible act that he pulled off brilliantly.

The original Terminator was a lean, scrappy thriller. T2 was a blockbuster that somehow also made you cry about a robot. It redefined what summer cinema could be.

Batman Begins was solid. The Dark Knight was something else entirely — a crime epic anchored by Heath Ledger's terrifying, Oscar-winning Joker. It made comic book films respectable.

George Miller waited 30 years to make this, and delivered one of the most relentless, visually stunning action films in cinema history. The original Mad Max films look like warm-up sketches.

Just when parents thought they'd escaped the first film's emotional gut-punch, Pixar unleashed a sequel with even deeper themes about love, loss, and what we're worth. Woody's heartbreak hits different.

After Die Another Day nearly killed the franchise stone dead, Daniel Craig arrived and made James Bond feel genuinely threatening again. It's the best Bond film by a considerable margin.

Sam Raimi's follow-up gave us Doctor Octopus, a hero in crisis, and a train sequence so good it still hasn't been topped twenty years later. Marvel's entire MCU owes this film a debt.