What’s up true believers? With phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe coming to an end, what better time to assemble our ranking of all the MCU movies? So suit up, don’t Hulkout and enjoy our countdown as we go from worst (event though they’re all pretty good) to first!
Watch our countdown above, or if you’re not the video viewing type, read the blogged out countdown below!
Before we get started let me just clear this up. We felt that all of the Marvel movies are pretty good movies and Marvel has yet to make a completely “bad” movie. That being said, some movies are better than others and some of the lower ones left us disappointed. In order to figure out this list, all four of us at Cool Nerd Show created our own list and then we averaged out each movie’s place. Here are the results:
12. Iron Man 3
Coming in last place on our list is Iron Man 3… or as it should’ve been named, “Tony Stark: The Movie.” After the events of The Avengers, the movie spends most of its time focusing on Tony outside of the suit dealing with PTSD. Not to mention it took one of Iron Man’s most feared villains, The Mandarin, and turned him into a hungover out of work character actor (after building him up as the big bad in almost every trailer.) This let many Marvel moviegoers (ourselves included) pretty disappointed with Iron Man 3, and that’s why it falls to the bottom of our list.
11. Captain America: The First Avenger
Captain America: The First Avenger was the last MCU movie before Marvel’s The Avengers. While it’s not necessarily a “bad” movie, it just felt a little rushed and crammed with montage scenes.
The flick was used mainly as a character development plot for Captain America himself, Steve Rogers. All things considered, this could have been one bad ass superhero war movie, but fell just a bit too short.
10. Iron Man 2
In at number 10 come the sequel to the movie that started the MCU. Iron Man 2 was supposed to zoom in and outdo the first when it reality it came in with a somewhat of a fizzle. Iron Man 2 sports one of the MCU’s weakest one-off villains, Whiplash (apparently he can get hit with a car 5 times and survive.)
Not to say the movie was without its cool moments though. In Iron Man 2, when we did see Tony in the suit the action was great and we got introduced to characters like Black Widow, War Machine and Nick Fury (in a sense) giving us a feel of them building more towards The Avengers culmination.
9. Thor: The Dark World
If it’s one character Marvel hasn’t gotten 100% right yet, it’s Thor. Sure he’s great in both Avengers movies, but Thor solo films always seem to be a little lacking. That’s why we’re putting Thor: The Dark World at number 9.
Thor: The Dark World gave us a very confusing story with the convergence and another weak, forgettable Marvel villain, Malekith. The movie did have it’s ups though including that gripping funeral scene and Tom Hiddleston returning as Loki.
8. The Incredible Hulk
The Incredible Hulk made it to number 8 on our list mainly because it washed the taste that Ang Lee and Eric Bana left in our mouths with 2003’s Hulk. This movie did a nice job of rebooting the Hulk without giving us excess screen time for another origin scene similar to what we saw a few years earlier (we’re looking at you Amazing Spider-Man!)
The film set us up for a Hulk to be included in The Avengers… but it’s still upsetting he won’t get another solo film in any of Marvel’s planned phases… give us Planet Hulk dammit!!
7. Thor
Flying in at number 7 is Thor. The God of Thunder’s first solo film was definitely a fun one. Thor opened the Marvel Cinematic Universe to the cosmic world and introduced us to the current MCU’s strongest villain, Loki.
Although much of the movie showed Thor trapped within a mortal form, The film did give us great acting, loads of Easter eggs and expanded Marvel’s mythology. For the first time ever we got just a glimpse at how big the Marvel Universe can actually be.
6. Ant-Man
Ant-Man burgles his way into number 6. The last movie in Marvel’s phase 2 brought an original take to a somewhat hokey character. With all the drama of losing a director 8 weeks before production the finished product was polished, fun, innovative and most importantly entertaining as hell. I challenge anyone to not find these characters a likable addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
5. Iron Man
The movie that started it all, Iron Man! Iron Man blasted open the door for every other MCU movie and made a relatively unknown superhero as common a name as Spider-Man or Wolverine. Most people forget, before Iron Man common folk didn’t really know who Iron Man, Thor or Captain America were.
The entire Marvel Cinematic Universe owes it to Iron Man for successfully starting up the whole universe. Not to mention, fanboys around the world lost their Sh*t when we saw Nick Fury make his appearance at the end credits.
4. Avengers: Age of Ultron
The sequel to Marvel’s The Avengers lands at number 4 on our list, while it was not as impactful as the first Avengers it’s always a good time to see your favorite MCU characters on the big screen at the same time. Like its predecessor, Age of Ultron was filled with huge action set pieces, tons of fan service and that memorable Whedon humor. Still, some could say it’s more or less the same movie as the first. A robot army instead of an alien army, a giant city in the sky rather that a giant wormhole, etc. These reasons kept Age of Ultron out of our top 3.
3. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Cap is back in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, coming in at number 3. This sequel was a huge improvement from the first film. Captain America: The Winter Soldier gave us an inside look at S.H.I.E.L.D. and provided us with the best fight choreography the Marvel Cinematic Universe has seen to date.
Sebastian Stan portrayed the Winter Soldier perfectly, giving us Marvel’s first truly terrifying villain. Captain America: The Winter Soldier stands out among most of the other MCU movies, and that’s why we’re putting it at Number 3!
2. Guardians of the Galaxy
Coming in the silver medal spot is Guardians of the Galaxy. This movie was Marvel’s boldest chance to date. I mean come on, the fact they made a talking raccoon and tree the most likable characters in their Universe is a pretty commendable feat. Couple this with amazing visuals, an iconic soundtrack and our first real look at Thanos makes this space opera one of biggest successes and introduced a taste of just how weird comics can get to the masses.
1. Marvel’s The Avengers
Number 1, you guessed it: Marvel’s The Avengers. After years of buildup The Avengers flew into theaters breaking records every step of the way. Marvel successfully connected all of it’s previous films into one culminating movie, something that had never been done before!
There was something magical about that first Avengers film that came together perfectly and could not be replicated. Because of the success of The Avengers, every Hollywood studio is rushing to assemble a “cinematic universe.” The Avengers will always stand the test of time and will go down in history as a timeless classic.
So there you have it, that’s our worst to first ranking of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. If you disagree or got something to say, sound off in the comments.
Leave a Reply