Everyone loves the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. They're fun, well directed and acted, and everyone loves sitting through the credits to get a glimpse of something they'll have to Google later. With the recent announcement (by recent, I mean I woke up and twitter had exploded) of Spider-Man being introduced to the MCU, I thought to myself, what is the best and what is the worst MCU movie? (Honestly, I couldn't think of anything better to write about). So, lets begin, like always from worst to best, the MCU movies - Ranked!
10. Iron Man 2
It's not terrible, it's just not great. A fact that isn't surprising when you consider this is basically a two hour trailer for the Avengers. And yes, War Machine is great, Sam Rockwell is a saving grace and seeing Black Widow for the first time is cool, but maybe this should have been called "Avengers: Prelude" or something. I don't hate it, but compared to some of their other films, it's not fantastic.
9. Captain America: The First Avenger
I just want to make something clear, I really like this movie. I even had a poster of it in my room at one point. Everyone is great in it, and I sincerely hope Red Skull will return. But, one of it's main problems was it's false advertising. Remember the trailers? They showed a bunch of awesome action sequences which turned out to just be propaganda films in the actual movie? Don't get me wrong, it was handled well, kind of making fun of itself while still presenting Steve Rogers as a likable character. It's good, but it falls short of the rest.
8. Iron Man 3
Better than 2, but it still doesn't beat the original. If you haven't seen it yet, you should, it's a good film, but also because I'm going to spoil the twist in 3-2-1...
It's revealed that the Mandarin is just a front to set the US government on a wild goose chase, while Aldrich Killian (Not the Mandarin, despite what he yells from a fiery inferno) can carry out his dastardly deeds, which involve turning people into Extremis soldiers. It's clever and somewhat real-world (not the Extremis part). It's problem is the fact that Ben Kingsley's performance as the Mandarin (or rather, Ben Kingsley's performance as the actor performing the Mandarin) was so awesome that it was a bit of a let down when he was turned into comedic relief. I realize they're planning to bring back the Mandarin, but it'll have to be someone really good. I know who I want.
(I know he's not middle eastern but it would be great.)
7. Thor: The Dark World
I originally thought this surpassed the original, but after a re-watch, I realized I was wrong. Thor: The Dark World is a fun space/fantasy romp, and certainly holds up for the most part, but it falls short on the element I was most excited for. The villain. I'm a big Doctor Who fan, and Christopher Eccleston as the new Marvel villain made me jump with joy. Arguably the darkest doctor playing something called a "Dark Elf" did make me slightly happy. But it was just... Under whelming. Not to the fault of the actor but more the writers and directors. Marvel focus's more on it's heroes than it's villains, and has a bad habit of killing of the villains that could develop into something really cool. This film is no exception. It's fun and even funny at times, and Loki is great, but the lack of a standout villain makes it fall short. Fun little fact, David Tennant - the Doctor who followed Eccleston - will be playing the Purple Man on Jessica Jones, being the second Doctor to play a villain in the MCU.
6. Thor
Thor is awesome. It does something similar to Iron Man 2, in which it does set up the avengers, but in a not as in your face kind of way. Sure, it features characters like Hawkeye and Coulson, and a mention of Tony Stark and the Hulk, but it feels less like someone screaming "GO SEE OUR MOVIE!" and more like a wink at the fans who know what's coming. It was also a nice surprise to see a character so ridiculous done so seriously, without the film becoming a self parody. Sure there's humor, but it's nothing cringe worthy. A tale of a fish out of water that goes down smoothly. A fish out of water with a magic hammer? No, let's stop the metaphor there.
5. The Incredible Hulk
The Incredible Hulk is a really good movie. I know both Hulk films get a generally bad reception, but the Incredible Hulk is infinitely better than Ang Lee's piece of garbage. It's gritty while still fun, and do you remember what I said about villains earlier? I love Abomination in this movie. more so when he's Tim Roth, but I loved the ending fight. It's awesome. Plus, no matter how much I like Ruffalo as the Hulk, I will never forget Edward Norton in the role. He pulled it off so well! Plus, the end credits scene is awesome.
4. Iron Man
The movie that kicked off the MCU, Iron Man is fantastic. It's fun, action packed and a good time for all ages. It's also the film that put Robert Downey Junior back on the map! If this film had failed, we may not have had an Avengers... And we probably never would have known about Guardians of the Galaxy. *Gasps in horror*. Count your lucky stars for Iron Man.
3. Avengers Assemble
Surprisingly enough, this isn't at the top of my list. The fact is that there are better MCU films than this, but that doesn't take away from the fact that Avengers Assemble is awesome. Bringing all of your favorite superheroes together (bar the ones Marvel doesn't own) and making fanboys wet themselves. Also, being directed by the creator of Firefly and Buffy is never a bad thing. Bring on Ultron!
2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
I just want to say that the final two places on this list were practically interchangeable and the final decision came down to general personal preference. Winter Soldier is the brilliant love child of espionage and superhero films. It features the best action in a Marvel film to date, and spawned one of the greatest memes of all time. You know the one I'm talking about.
If Marvel keeps their films up to this standard, they'll be unbeatable.
*Drumroll*
1. Guardians of the Galaxy
Who else had Hooked on a Feeling by Blue Swede stuck in their heads for weeks after seeing the trailer? Who else quoted Groot endlessly? Who else thought Chris Pratt was awesome? Who else loved Rocket? Who el... Yeah, you get the picture. Everyone loved this movie. Truer to Star Wars than all of the prequel series combined, and the biggest risk Marvel has ever taken. It's a great film, once again only falling short in it's main villain... But who cares? The Heroes are so fantastically funny and awesome you forget about Ronan the Forgettable. Also, Karen Gillan was great.
So that's it, the MCU movies ranked (in my opinion) from worst to best. What do you think? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!
Thanks for reading - CapedCruVader
Twitter - @Dyannaghas