It’s not that long ago that good superhero movies were exceptions that proved the rule about comic book movies, and even those shining examples – Superman: The Movie, Batman 1989 – eventually gave way to extinguished returns in sequels. Even after the triple-tap of Blade, X-Men and Spider-Man at the turn of the millennium gave the genre a sense of legitimacy, the scales were still tipped against costumed heroes; the third entries of each of the series those movies formed were duds that ended the trilogies or led to reboots.

Typically, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is broken down into its chronological narrative Phases: Phase 1 (six movies released 2008-2012) shows the formation of the original Avengers; Phase 2 (six movies released 2013-2015) the impact of superheroes on the world; and Phase 3 (ten movies released 2016-2019) circles the Infinity War against Thanos, along with introducing a new generation of heroes. And, starting in 2021, Phase 4 forged a new multiversal path, dealing with the aftermath of Endgame, before Phase 5 officially switched over to the Multiverse Saga in 2023. This idea of narrative blocks has been at the core of the series since the very start, doubling as a way to hyper-focus audiences on what’s important in the immediate future.

But it’s also legitimate to take a look at them from a more critical perspective. These films do tell a narrative tapestry, but each one needs to work on its own. And, while the overall quality is uniformly high (few are outright bad, and most are at least above-average), MCU movies can be broken into clear strata of quality, ranging from the sure-fire classics to misfires.

How We Rank MCU Movies

Alex Leadbeater and Simon Gallagher have combined experience writing about movies and TV of over 25 years. While the question of quality is subjective, they combine their experience with objective metrics, critical consensus, and – crucially – audience expectation to rank Marvel’s 33 movies. At the heart of every decision are simple questions: what makes a great comic book movie experience, what do viewers expect, and pure entertainment value. It’s not all about how good each movie is compared to Avengers: Endgame.

Marvel Movies Ranked: All 33 MCU Movies From Worst to Best

33Iron Man 2 (2010)

Iron Man

Iron Man is the first film in the long-running Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise. Robert Downey Jr. stars as Tony Stark, who becomes Iron Man after he is kidnapped and discovers terrorists are using weapons developed by Stark Industries. Gwyneth Paltrow stars as Tony’s love interest Pepper Potts alongside Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan and Jeff Bridges as the villainous Obadiah Stane.

Release DateMay 2, 2008DirectorJon FavreauCastRobert Downey Jr., Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard, Leslie Bibb, Shaun Toub, Clark Gregg, Paul BettanyRuntime126 minutes

All of Phase 1 displays signs of a studio struggling to find its edge, but nowhere do you feel the strain of the shared universe as much as with Iron Man 2. Primarily, Jon Favreau’s sequel seems to exist to move Tony Stark backwards from where he was left by the two post-credits scenes of Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk – The Avengers plan changed and having Stark at the forefront of the team was no longer the starting status quo – which requires a lot of confused setup for the future, none of it very interesting. But if you strip out the big picture wheel-spinning (which included not only Avengers but nods to Black Panther, Captain America and Namor), then it’s not got much to offer besides.

It’s really a half-dozen different stories all pulling in different directions. Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D., Black Widow, Whiplash, War Machine, Justin Hammer and Pepper and Stark Industries all have their own subplots alongside Tony’s demon in an arc reactor plot, and they’re so disconnected that at one point Fury has to put the hero under house arrest so he can unlock enough power to get to the boss fight. So much of what made the first film work is undone, with confidence in the characters making way for repeated winking – Don Cheadle’s first line is “I’m here, deal with it“, Coulson draws attention to what may or may not be a prototype Captain America shield – and the distinct feel replaced with a visual style that jumps between generic late-2000s blockbuster and Bay-esque militaristic fetishism (and leery camera).

Robert Downey, Jr. and co. anchor the whole thing well, the Iron Man design and implementation is still amazing, and the goals are admirable enough, which is enough to make it passable, but it still pales compared to the rest.

32Thor: The Dark World (2013)

Thor: The Dark World

Thor: The Dark World is the first sequel to Thor’s introductory MCU movie and the second release in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase 2. Set after the events of The Avengers, Thor: The Dark World follows Chris Hemsworth’s God of Thunder as he tries to stop the villain Malekith with the help of his girlfriend Jane Foster, his brother Loki, and his father Odin.

While it’s often cited as an out-and-out bad film, Thor: The Dark World‘s real problem is that it’s bland. The story is – like other low-ranking MCU sequels – multiple different threads all undernourished. The tone never embraces the full-on Kirby cosmic side to the extent the movie thinks yet neither passes as a knockabout comedy either. And there’s so little ingenuity that its finale where all reality hangs in the balance is set in one square at the University of Greenwich

Its relation (read: disregard) of the past is a particular problem. Alan Taylor took the broody, high-contrast style of Kenneth Branagh’s original and replaced it with clean CGI, expanding Asgard in a superficial way that comes across as cheap Star Wars; and if that’s what it was going for, the inconsistent story flow, set blocking and editing are more Attack of the Clones than The Empire Strikes Back. The director was allegedly picked to apply a Game of Thrones style to Marvel’s mythic franchise, but there’s no verve here and just a couple of bar scenes to pay lip service. Even the once good stuff doesn’t really work; Anthony Hopkins’ Odin performance is shocking and while Hiddleston is still fun as Loki, his arc and weird betrayal fake-out on Svartalfheim is amateurishly written. Later efforts from Taylor – equally unimaginative Terminator Genisys and Game of Thrones‘ dire “Beyond the Wall” reveal him as the likely core issue here.

What Thor: The Dark World does mark is the point where Marvel bias began to take hold. Thanks to the success of The Avengers and promise of growing inter-connectivity (this was the first movie to explicitly confirm the Infinity Stones), there was a lot of goodwill directed at Thor 2 upon release that feels incredibly in the moment and oblivious to its many flaws.

31Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)

Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is a sequel to 2018’s Ant-Man and the Wasp and is part of the ever-growing Marvel Cinematic Universe. Jonathan Majors returns as a variant of He Who Remains from the Loki TV Series named Kang the Conqueror. In addition to returning cast members Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, and Michelle Pfeiffer, Kathryn Newton makes her MCU debut as Cassandra “Cassie” Lang, Scott’s daughter. When Cassie activates a signal to the Quantum Realm, she, Hope, Janet Van Dyne, Hank Pym, and Scott are pulled into the dimension, embarking on a chaotic journey the likes of which the Marvel Universe has never seen.

After Ant-Man and The Wasp somewhat surprisingly outperformed the original, Marvel decided to go bigger, tying Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania into the then unnamed Multiverse Saga and using it as a de facto backdoor pilot for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. In theory, the logic was smart enough: Ant-Man 2 had been used to set up Avengers: Infinity War in a way that didn’t compromise the personal stakes of the movie and the MCU was in need of a Thanos replacement. What better way to achieve that than to follow up Loki’s post-credits Kang tease and to go even harder on the Quantum Realm?

While Jonathan Majors’ Kang is a strong presence, and there is a very personal story at Quantumania‘s heart, it’s ultimately quite difficult to care about the stakes. The entire story sets up Kang as a formidable threat to the Avengers and the world, but it’s all undone by the end to establish the Kang Dynasty loophole that never quite works as intended. Even before the Multiverse Saga really started, Marvel fatally introduced the idea that nothing really matters in it: rather than it bringing an infinite promise of creativity, Quantumania‘s lasting legacy is of pointlessness. And no amount of Paul Rudd charm can really grapple with that.

There’s too much reliance on CG, the scale is too large and surprisingly hollow at the same time, all sense of fun evaporating as it becomes clear that Ant-Man has once again been used as a stepping stone for when the big boys will come back to hoover up all the glory. Despite its good parts, it’s destined to not be remembered.

30The Incredible Hulk (2008)

The Incredible Hulk

The second film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is The Incredible Hulk, which was released in 2008. The film introduced a new backstory for the Hulk to differentiate it from the 2003 movie, Hulk. Actor Edward Norton played the role of the green hulk, and his alter ego Bruce Banner. He is joined by actress Liv Tyler who plays his love interest, Dr. Elizabeth “Betty” Ross. Betty’s father, General Thunderbolt Ross (William Hurt), is hoping to recreate a World War II supersoldier program and, in the process, exposes Bruce to gamma radiation that transforms him into the Hulk. He flees to find a cure for himself but is eventually tracked down by Thunderbolt, who forms an alliance with Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth). After The Incredible Hulk, Mark Ruffalo took over the character for subsequent movies in the MCU.

It’s not the worst MCU film, but The Incredible Hulk is undoubtedly the black sheep. The only actor who’s returned so far is William Hurt as a changed General Ross in Captain America: Civil War, and the primary event referenced later by Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner is a deleted opening scene (that thanks to a Captain America Easter egg is patently non-canon). Despite that, The Incredible Hulk is a solid piece of world-building. It’s full of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Stark Industries Easter eggs that build on Iron Man, roots Hulk’s origin in Captain America’s super soldier serum three years ahead of Steve Rogers’ debut, and directly builds to the Avengers with its ending and immediate credits scene (even if the idea of Iron Man recruiting a team against Hulk was canned).

All of that is great flavor to an otherwise generic 2008 blockbuster. Louis Leterrier’s direction is off the shelf, with high contrast, sweaty night-time scenes style du jour, and its story is any werewolf narrative turned action movie. Edward Norton may have had grander plans in mind, but The Incredible Hulk is lacking anything unique.

The MCU connections actually highlight a lack of identity. For all the aforementioned setup, the movie is also trying to honor the 1970s TV series; Lou Ferrigno gets an ingratiating cameo, the theme tune plays throughout, and the ending appears to be almost indicating this is intended as a quasi-remake. Worse, it betrays one of the biggest rules of Marvel Studios: it doesn’t explain what the Hulk is and how he could work in a wider context.

29Ant-Man And The Wasp (2018)

Ant-Man and the Wasp

From the Marvel Cinematic Universe comes a new chapter featuring heroes with the astonishing ability to shrink: “Ant-Man and The Wasp.” In the aftermath of “Captain America:  Civil War,” Scott Lang grapples with the consequences of his choices as a Super Hero and a father. As he attempts to rebalance his home life with his responsibilities as Ant-Man, he’s confronted by Hope van Dyne and Dr. Hank Pym with an urgent new mission. Scott must again wear the suit and fight alongside The Wasp as the team works together to help the father-daughter duo uncover secrets from their past.

Ant-Man and the Wasp is the Marvel movie everybody who dislikes the MCU sight-unseen thinks Marvel movies are. It’s an unimaginative stringing together of multiple random plot strands that never fully pay off (the third act involves six different sets of characters and yet they barely connect up), instead repeatedly falling back on the charisma of its leads for quick laughs. The result is the most out-and-out boring entry in the series, one that does very little with its characters and is instantly forgettable.

With the production issues that restricted Ant-Man in the past and a cast family well-established, this could have been a real step up. It wants to be the Honey, I Shrunk The Kids family comedy of the MCU, yet Peyton Reed all-too-often falls back on formula meaning ideas are repeatedly left hanging: most applications of the Pym Particle size-changing are variants of “small thing becomes big” or “big things become small”, and when things are a bit different, there’s no story purpose (Scott Lang shrinks to the size of a child in a high school and nothing comes of it). It plays like a superhero movie of the 1990s, and not in an intentional way; at one point, the villain calls in motorbikes like he’s Mr. Freeze trotting out another piece of plastic merchandise.

Viewed in the context of Avengers: Infinity War, the film weakens further. Far from the palette cleanser promised, Ant-Man and the Wasp is lacking any substance at all, with the only moment that really captivates being the post-credits scenes that show the effects of Thanos’ snap. When the most exciting moment of a film is a reminder that a previous, better film happened earlier that summer, you know something’s gone wrong.

28Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Avengers: Age of Ultron

In Avengers: Age of Ultron, Earth’s Mightiest must reunite and work with newcomers Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch to battle a new antagonist Ultron, who receives an all-new origin story while dealing with a new level of inner conflict amongst the team. Quicksilver & Scarlet Witch may not necessarily agree with The Avengers and initially blame Tony Stark for creating the new villain and the death of their parents. Avengers: Age of Ultron was directed and written by Joss Whedon and produced by Kevin Feige for Marvel Studios. The movie was released on April 13, 2015, followed by its eventual sequels, Avengers: Infinity War in 2018 and Avengers: Endgame in 2019.

Avengers: Age of Ultron remains the biggest disappointment in the MCU. It was admittedly the most hyped entry up until that point also, carrying the weight of the 2012 original and the many excellent standalones since, but that doesn’t make the fall any less painful. Whereas with most Marvel films you can at least understand what the intent was, here many ideas feel misguided; this was positioned as Whedon’s Empire Strikes Back (bigger, deeper, darker) yet doesn’t have the plot urgency or consequence to make the new themes, characters or threats have any proper impact, while the bolder moves it does make – the twins, Nat and Bruce’s relationship – are interchangeably underserved and insulting.

It’s easy to nitpick the narrative (Scarlet Witch’s dream-visions are so ambiguous in intent it hurts) but that’s only because the filmmaking is overall considerably weaker. While it’s common to claim this is better directed than The Avengers, that’s only on a superficial level; the original looks a little too like a TV show at points, sure, but its sequel doesn’t offer much more beyond a more experienced CGI team with its considerably weaker script. What really stands out is the editing – scenes have no placement and most are cut down to the point big moments don’t land because they have no setup or breathing room. All this together leaves a disjointed experience, one all the positive elements – Vision (especially his origin), the core three, Andy Serkis, the Hulkbuster fight – are struggling to combat.

One the one hand, Avengers: Age of Ultron is very much the result of the infamous Marvel Creative Committee, who by most accounts were meddling with the film’s direction to a damaging degree. On the other, many of its missteps have come to define the MCU going forward: comedy undercutting sincerity (see: Ultron’s “children” line); slow scenes filling in for genuine character development (see: Hawkeye’s farmhouse); and a disregard for the continuity (see: the mid-credits scene with a totally new Infinity Gauntlet).

27Black Widow (2021)

Black Widow

Black Widow is a film about Natasha Romanoff in her quests between the films Civil War and Infinity War. This is the 24th installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the first solo film for Black Widow, one of the original six Avengers. The character previously appeared in seven MCU films, including all four Avengers movies. Black Widow was originally scheduled for May 2020 but was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The decade-long wait for Scarlett Johannson to get her own solo movie, extended even further by the COVID-19 pandemic, wasn’t worth it after all. Set directly following the mainline events of Captain America: Civil War, Black Widow could have effectively released in the early stages of MCU Phase 3 – nestled between Doctor Strange and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, perhaps – and been entirely unaltered as a movie or experience. But the problems with the Phase 4 starter as a movie aren’t related to it coming after the outer-space death of its protagonist in Avengers: Endgame, but are more rooted in its uncharacteristically poor filmmaking.

The story at Black Widow‘s heart, resolving Nat’s past with the Red Room (as well as nods towards the Winter Soldier and her stint with Hawkeye in Budapest) by introducing her former “family” is expansive on paper, and for the first hour or so director Cate Shortland tees up a solid espionage thriller – the 1995-set opening and Nirvana-cover-scored opening credits are The Americans meets Bond. But a mixture of gross miscasting (Ray Winstone as uber-villain Dreykov), contrived narrative mechanics (a plan is detailed in repeated flashbacks after its impact has passed relevancy) and general choppy editing undo the third act and leave a movie without a strong throughline or much action excitement. Even the aforementioned cultural touchstones become trite, with Moonraker getting an explicit callout and nods to Terminator 2 and Point Break so unsubtle they defy classification as homage.

It’s especially disappointing for Johannson given the film plays it as Nat’s final outing; while Black Widow is the lead, her character exists in timeline-mandated stasis allowing little real development. There are few dangling threads for her remaining, but neither are new layers uncovered. Even the future prospect of the memorable supporting additions – Florence Pugh’s Yelena and David Harbour’s Alexei – is weakened by neither feeling as prominent as they should.

26Eternals (2021)

Eternals

Eternals is the 25th installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and is part of its fourth phase. Over 500 years ago, when the ten Eternals complete the task given to them by the Celestial Arishem to wipe out the invasive alien species known as Deviants that roam the earth, the group decides to go their separate ways as they find themselves at odds with how to continue their interactions with humanity as they grow and learn. Blending into society, the Eternals continue to live their lives in the modern day until the Deviants emerge again. When one of the Eternals is supposedly slain by a deviant, events are set in motion that will reunite them once again to discover why the Deviants have returned and what the true intentions of the Celestial have been for all these millennia.

Fittingly, given how the comic inspirations for Eternals were created after Jack Kirby returned to Marvel Comics after his New Gods arc was cut short, there’s a distinct sense of DC to MCU Phase 4’s most experimental film. This team is the real-life inspirations of mythic figures like Athena, Icarus and Gilgamesh who exist above and apart from the humans that (most) love and protect. Icons far from the world outside your window, comparisons to Zack Snyder’s work in the DCEU are not flippant or ill-informed. With Chloe Zhao at the helm, the result is bold, often exciting, but coming as the 26th entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe also confused.

Whereas Marvel’s weakest entries are undone by playing it too safe, Eternals finds itself overburdened by the restrictions the universe’s well-worn formula imposes. Where this clash is most felt is in the story-character balance. The narrative of Eternals is so large, upending the creation of Earth and birth of humanity as all know it, with genuinely unexpected twists and uncomfortable assessments of societies ills (the real reason why the Eternals didn’t get involved in Endgame is bleak)… yet it doesn’t have the strong characters to underpin it. Several of the titular team break through (Barry Keoghan’s Druig and Brian Tyree Henry’s Phastos most remarkably, and Richard Madden does strong things with seesaw material) but the rest are either underwritten (Lauren Ridloff’s Makari, Don Lee’s Gilgamesh) or lack clear personality direction (Angelina Jolie’s ethereal Athena or Gemma Chan’s passive protagonist Sersi).

It’s the inverse issue of the more comedic movies, where strong characters bolster flimsy narratives, and means that while Eternals takes many larger swings, it also has more embarrassing misses. It’s a mixed bag, neither as bad or as good as some will say and represented throughout the filmmaking, from its rugged on-set locations making way for rubbery CGI, or the pervasive sequel tease of Kit Harington’s Dane Whitman.

25Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness (2022)

Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness

In Marvel Studios’ Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the MCU takes a deeper dive into the Multiverse and the unknown, introducing variants of Strange and other familiar friends and foes – including The Illuminati – and offers a new perspective on how it works and connects. The story follows Stephen Strange, now post-blip and no longer the Sorcerer Supreme. When a terrifying monster rampages through New York seeking to capture a young girl from another multiverse named America Chavez, Strange finds himself as her newfound protector. Unfortunately, his new foe is a former ally, Wanda Maximoff. To protect Chavez and stop Wanda’s rampage, Strange travels the Multiverse looking for answers – and encounters engrossing and terrifying realities that expand the Marvel Universe in a whole new way.

A Sam Raimi multiverse Marvel movie implicitly promises a lot of things; horror-comedy tinges; weird and wacky universes; big, alt-take cameos. Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness delivers on all of these aspects, but in a lackluster manner. The Evil Dead stylings, outside of some nifty camera movements and a top-tier Bruce Campbell cameo, come across as window dressing. Stephen Strange’s sophomore adventure takes him to only two other universes for more than a second of screentime. And the much-lauded Illuminati cameos feel the strain of contract and COVID measures, most lacking depth within the narrative of the film or the wider MCU and existing mainly to deliver a gag done better by both Deadpool 2 and The Suicide Squad.

The most egregious aspect in Doctor Strange 2, though, is the MCU’s handling of Scarlet Witch, taking her slow-burn grieving process in WandaVision and distilling it to shorthand for a villain arc. Elizabeth Olsen gives an admirable performance as an angered Wanda Maximoff, but she’s always working against a script that doesn’t understand her character or motivations (indeed, it’s telling that Raimi hadn’t finished the show in question when filming the movie). An upsetting treatment of one of the MCU’s best characters, it also provides a wider window into the creative flaws present in MCU Phase 4. Projects are conceived as intricate jigsaw puzzles but then made in isolation, with only passing glances at aspects that would have been backbones in earlier phases.

All of this comes together for a movie that lacks any sense of consequence. Nothing matters because the solution is always a plot contrivance away, and will be unspokenly altered in the next movie anyway. Doctor Strange’s arc is barely worth a mention, given how little challenge, risk, or change he goes through. What a stark contrast to his original movie – and the Marvel Cinematic Universe as it once was.

24Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Thor: Ragnarok

Thor: Ragnarok is the third Thor solo film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the first directed by Taika Waititi. In the sequel, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) finds himself stranded on Sakaar, ruled by the Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum). Soon he teams with Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) to return to Asgard and defeat his sister Hela.

Thor: Ragnarok is the epitome of Marvel fun. It’s an entertaining but flippant movie, one that prioritizes in-the-moment laughs over anything of greater weight; its subtext – how colonizers hide their dark pasts – is given brief mention before being relegated to background references. That is fine enough as mid-tier entertainment, but it can’t help but feel a little lacking considering where the MCU had reached at this point.

Comedy is Thor: Ragnarok‘s best and worst quality. Being from Taika Waititi, the jokes have slightly more edge than standard Marvel and set the tone differently, but it’s a shame so much improv led to rather static scene blocking and unrefined editing. What’s really lacking is the trademark Waititi balance of emotion and comedy: both What We Do In The Shadows and Hunt For The Wilderpeople used their wit to accentuate tragedy, but none of that’s here. In fact, Thor: Ragnarok actively bypasses letting sadness sink in: Odin’s death was reshot to be blandly spiritual after it made test audiences feel too sorry for him, and the loss of Asgard is undercut by both a lack of connection with its people and a Korg joke immediately after.

With all that said, there’s plenty that works. Both Thor and Hulk are well-defined enough at this point to thrive in this new environment and, while most new characters are a little exasperating (see: Jeff Goldblum’s Grandmaster), Valkyrie is a fully-rounded delight. The less-improv heavy moments bring that Kirby style to the fore without much resistance. It’s just hard to not want something a little more balanced given how impactful it feigns to be.

23Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Set to the sonic backdrop of Awesome Mix 2, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 continues the adventures of Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket, and Baby Groot as they traverse the outer reaches of the cosmos. The Guardians must fight to keep their newfound family together as they unravel the mystery of Peter Quill’s true parentage. Old foes become new allies and fan-favorite characters from the classic comics reappear.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 has a lot going for it. It looks absolutely incredible and there’s a cast of likable, offbeat heroes to provide a string of great moments. It’s just a shame the movie doesn’t have a proper story. The movie begins with the team on the run from Sovereign, then they’re saved by Ego, then Ego reveals he’s bad and they have to stop him. That’s pretty much it, and it leaves a film with plenty of style but no momentum; once Ego arrives, everything grinds to a halt for 30 minutes where there’s no direct threat (something that makes Hawkeye’s farmhouse look positively riveting). It highlights the problem Marvel has with first sequels, wanting pure character development but not knowing how to realize that beyond a string of scenes where characters explain how they feel.

If you break it down, on paper Guardians 2 is about fathers absent and adoptive, and the nature versus nurture debate. Unfortunately, while plenty of sides to this are raised – every single character has a part to play in the theme, one way or another – it never comes together to be anything more than individual. There’s a sense Baby Groot was supposed to be the uniting aspect given his hugs at the end, but his role for most of the film is that of comic relief.

As already mentioned, the characters keep James Gunn’s head above water. Star-Lord gets a payoff to his backstory that honors a lot of seeds in the first movie, although Rocket comes across the best by far, his personality painfully laid bare without having to lean too heavily on the whole scientifically-altered raccoon thing, and gets the fair share of great moments; were it better set up “I’ve lost too many friends today” would be an all-timer.

22Captain Marvel (2019)

Captain Marvel

Set in 1995, Captain Marvel follows Carol Danvers, a former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot, as she turns into one of the galaxy’s mightiest heroes and joins Starforce, an elite Kree military team, before returning home with new questions about her past and identity when the Earth is caught in the center of an intergalactic conflict between two alien worlds.

Unlike most MCU movies where there’s a degree of consistency to the quality throughout, Captain Marvel is the one that varies the most. Some moments and long stretches of story are very strong – anything involving the Skrulls and their true purpose is fascinating – yet many decisions have more mixed reactions.

It’s all rooted in a welcome, non-linear change-up to the formula; Brie Larson enters as Kree Starforce member Vers and only gradually uncovers her past as Carol Danvers, eventually choosing the hero persona entirely of her own accord. It’s strong messaging, having the first solo female MCU hero emerge from a place of external restrictions to define herself, but also leads to unclear audience perspective – even at the end, viewer and star aren’t on the same page – and turbulent narrative. Not to mention some classic concerns aren’t adjusted; villain Yon-Rogg who earlier warned humor was a distraction is beaten in a gag beat.

Operating as the MCU’s first lore-heavy prequel, Captain Marvel does a good job of expanding the world. 1990s period details are mostly background (bar specific music choices), and the Marvel references are mostly organic and expand known ideas without contradicting (just don’t ask Nick Fury how he lost his eye or where the name Avengers came from). And, of course, with clear connections to Avengers: Endgame (which Larson shot first), it exemplifies origin stories as dry runs for bigger adventures; Brie Larson is more Hemsworth than Evans (strong, promising, not fully there yet) but it doesn’t matter because this functions as just one piece of a whole.

21Ant-Man (2015)

Ant-Man

Former S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) is alarmed when his protégé Darren Cross (Corey Stoll) announces his near success in replicating his shrinking technology. Representatives from HYDRA are looking to buy the suit that could cause massive destruction, and Hank must find a man who can successfully infiltrate a tightly guarded facility. After rigorous training with Pym and his daughter Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), including the manipulation of a technologically advanced suit, control of ants, and physical fighting skills, ex-convict Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is chosen to become the new Ant-Man. Together with Hank, Hope, and his friends Luis (Michael Peña) and Dave (Tip Harris), Scott must fight with Darren, who has perfected his version of the suit called the Yellowjacket. Ant-Man is the twelfth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and acts as the final addition to Phase 2.

Ant-Man was the first in a new type of Marvel origin film. Here was a character becoming a superhero in a world where the Avengers already exist, where namedrops and cameos were de rigor, and the formula was down to a tee. But this was also a movie where the production limitations (Edgar Wright was infamously fired three months before production began, replaced by Peyton Reed) and the high hit-rate of said formula made for safe choices. The result is actually the median Marvel film, overall competent but with little ambition, and where the character would only truly shine when part of the wider ensemble.

What Ant-Man gets unavoidably right is the casting. It’s a shame we never got an in-his-prime Hank Pym, but Paul Rudd as Scott Lang is an effective twist on the typical Marvel hero (this one is a real criminal, no questions) and Michaels Douglas and Pena add edge as aware mentor and hyperactive buddy respectively. There’s also a large, affable supporting cast (Bobby Cannavale as an upending of the step-father is an underrated highlight) that take audiences through the rather standard story and making a more overtly comedic movie pop.

It’s on the superhero side where Ant-Man struggles. The action, in particular, is a major let-down, with a constant uncertainty in how to shoot the micro-sequences. Are they told from Scott’s shrunken down perspective or a full-size human? With minimal pre-production, Peyton Reed doesn’t have an answer so goes for an uneasy blend of the two, which is disorienting and sometimes interesting, yet never that innovative.

20Thor (2011)

Thor

Chris Hemsworth’s MCU debut as the Asgardian God of Thunder saw him navigating the ultimare sibling rivalry and parental expectations. Kenneth Branagh’s theatrical adaptation of the long-running Marvel Comics deals with Thor’s quest to prove himself worthy. Banished to Earth for his impulsiveness and tendency to violence, Thor must earn his destiny, while Tom Hiddleston’s Loki tries to destroy him.

For a movie that every subsequent outing for the character seems to have been trying to somehow “correct“, Thor really is a forgotten MCU hit. The Dark World attempted to go more grounded, Ragnarok more all-out comedy, but they miss how Kenneth Branagh pretty much nailed the balance between both first time out. The story mixes the fish-out-of-water comedy with faux-Shakespearean drama (the plot as much as the dialogue is rooted in classical storytelling) well, the filmmaking choices (dark-lit sets and dutch angles) accentuate the otherworldly feel, and it was overall the most earnest embracing of comic weirdness up to that point.

Chris Hemsworth isn’t as out-of-the-gate perfect as Thor compared to Evans’ Cap or RDJ’s Tony Stark, but the sillier Earth-side of the story allows him to ease into the role. On the other side, Tom Hiddleston is a revelation as Loki, who’s never been more complicated than here, and the supporting cast like Anthony Hopkins as Odin is inspired. There’s no specific weak aspect, more a general sense of good-not-great; Jane Foster is a solid love interest but underserved, the same with the Warrior’s Three.

Thor is an overall affable movie, balancing big world building for the franchise and universe (the “magic as science” descriptive is non-aggressively pushed) with more internal character debates. It was only by Avengers: Infinity War where Thor truly became a worthy MCU lead, but you feel that if the ideas raised by his first movie had been followed through on, he’d have reached that point a lot sooner.

19Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)

Thor: Love and Thunder

Thor: Love & Thunder is the fourth Thor film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and director Taika Waititi’s second outing with the character. The movie finds Thor (Chris Hemsworth) on a journey to find inner piece. But when Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale) goes on a killing rampage against the gods, Thor is thrown back into the action. Tessa Thompson returns as Valkyrie, as does Waititi’s Korg. Natalie Portman also returns to the franchise for the first time in nine years as Jane Foster, who transforms into the Mighty Thor to wield Mjolnir.

Though critically maligned and ranked in the same bracket as The Incredible and Thor: The Dark World on Rotten Tomatoes, Thor: Love and Thunder scores the highest slot of the franchise. It takes what worked for Thor: Ragnarok and dials it all up a notch, with director Taika Waititi gifted more creative freedom. While that manifests in a new level of weirdness and even more quirky comic beats, it’s still rather obvious that the reins were still. The pre-release promise of Love and Thunder being “so gay!” doesn’t quite land, and details of a four hour cut with even more strangeness mean there’s still the same distracting ghost of what could have been in the background as there was for its predecessor.

Love and Thunder‘s high points are found in its redemptive story for Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster, and the delightful comedy of her awkward transition into superheroism, as well as Christian Bale’s incredible performance as Gorr the God Butcher. In the case of the latter, it would have been even better to see more, but Bale balances pathos with outright oddness in the most convincing way. Adding to that Chris Hemsworth’s still charming God of Thunder – who could go on forever at this stage – and a collection of great supporting roles, and the cast has few downsides. Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie is perhaps a little undernourished (and her promised romantic arc fails to get off the ground), but new additions like Russell Crowe’s Zeus do justify difficult decisions in cutting other subplots. And Love and Thunder‘s post-credits pay-off to that story is a thing of true joy.

Even if this proves to be the last the MCU sees of Taika Waititi’s brand of superhero moviemaking, Love and Thunder was a good account of Marvel allowing a director to do mostly what they want. Yes, it has its flaws, but the low critical rating feels more like a reflection of a change in perception – and the willingness to accept that not every MCU movie needs a waterfall of hyperbole – than an actual drop in quality.

18Shang-Chi And The Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is the 26th installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Simu Liu plays Shaun (Aka Shang-Chi), a valet living and working in San Francisco, along with his friend Katy (Awkwafina), when one day, his past comes knocking back at his door. To protect himself and Katy, Shaun reveals himself to be Shang-Chi and his lineage, with his father being the actual “Mandarin,” the leader of the Ten Rings criminal organization. His father is now reaching out to him, and his estranged sister and Shaun must head back to China to save his sister and figure out his father’s true motivations. Shang-Chi was one of the first films in the fourth phase of the MCU.

It may be the second movie in MCU Phase 4 (and sixth release counting the Disney+ shows), but Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings feels very much like old-school Marvel. There’s that care paid to a lesser-known character in a singular story that hearkens back to the wins of Marvel’s Phase 1 before the formula became overly prescriptive and shared universe requirements started to dominate the storytelling. That comes with all the discussed positives and negatives (the action is tailored to kung-fu stylings, yet the finale inevitably falls into a suffocating CGI kaiju fight) but having ten years of refinement ultimately serves as a tone and scale reset Marvel desperately needed.

What may be most noteworthy about the protagonist – aside from his kicks – is the seriousness. Simu Liu doesn’t quip, taking talk of millennia-old fathers and alternate dimensions guarded by moving trees in his stride with an unexpected self-sincerity. Instead, the comedy duty is centered almost exclusively on Awkwafina’s Katy, who manages to steal the majority of her scenes. This diversion from the Whedon-dominated Marvel process is hardly revisionist or groundbreaking, but it is refreshing and rare even in the more successful solo movies (Doctor Strange and Black Panther both succumb to it). Even its more overt MCU connections are either fun asides or made to stand fully on their own.

Where the film could have been stronger is in fully embracing Shang-Chi’s own story. Liu sometimes gets lost in the bigger world-building and there’s a paradoxical overreliance on flashbacks to underscore impactful moments yet the emotional beats that stand alone lack the full heft. But, being in the spirit of Phase 1, these are knocks not breaks, setting up a promising future for Shang-Chi.

17Iron Man 3 (2013)

Iron Man 3

Iron Man 3 pits genius-billionaire-playboy-philanthropist Tony Stark (Iron Man) against the Mandarin, an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his world destroyed by his mysterious antagonist, he embarks on a dangerous quest to find those responsible. His journey will test his character at every turn. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him and determine whether or not the suit makes the man or if Tony himself is the hero.

Iron Man 3 is far and away the most underrated movie in the MCU. Coming off The Avengers and returning straight to standalone stories with the odd nod to Thor and Captain America was a tricky ask, but Marvel went for broke with what will likely be the last Robert Downey, Jr-led outing. It’s a Shane Black movie through and through, from the stylish ephemera – framing narration, Christmas setting – to more fundamental aspects – the wry humor, the focus on buddy-cop escapades – and doesn’t fall into many of the Marvel formula pitfalls that later movies would (the Whedon influence was yet to sink in). Plainly, Iron Man 3 has one of the most distinct personalities in the series (even more so than Guardians of the Galaxy).

Much of the backlash rests at the feet of the Mandarin. The movie marketed itself on seeing Tony Stark showdown against a modern update of his archnemesis, and that’s exactly what it delivered; just not in the way many were expecting; the Osama Bin-Laden channeling Mandarin was just an actor, the Eastern-influenced Ten Rings all part of a terrorist front by vengeful Western tech genius Aldrich Killian. But while that’s not accurate to the comics, it is to the real world. Terrorism is a performance and the real threats to our society are at home, making the Mandarin as thematically rich as it is hilarious.

If Iron Man 3 has a villain problem, it’s everything else. Maya Hansen was the secret big bad in earlier drafts but studio rewrites make her character-less, the Extremis soldiers are vague goons without any clear weaknesses, and while Killian being a suave rich guy is accurate to what the movie is spearing, it’s doesn’t make for an interesting final battle.

16Doctor Strange (2016)

Doctor Strange

Enter the world of Dr. Stephen Vincent Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), a world-famous neurosurgeon whose car accident left him unable to use his hands. As he desperately tries to find a cure to enable his hands to perform operations again, he comes across a world that leads to another dimension. After being taught about the different dimensions and learning about the constant threat that looms on Earth, he began to embrace his role as the humble protector. Taking after the responsibilities of the Ancient One who trained him before her demise, Strange goes on to become the Sorcerer Supreme himself.

It’s easy to be glib about Doctor Strange. An origin story for an arrogant, sarcastic, rich man with a goatee who suffers a life-changing injury but directly through that discovers new powers – on paper it transplants Iron Man‘s formula to Stephen Strange to a tee. Yet this is a wholly unique film that simply uses the tropes to tell a much more offbeat story than Marvel was used to. Benedict Cumberbatch is easy casting but gives his all, as do the often underutilized cast, while the humor that waylaid many Phase 3 movies is worked into the character beats more organically than most.

While this movie is often compared to Inception, the Christopher Nolan this Doctor Strange has most in common with is actually Interstellar: the idea that time is the true enemy and death the ultimate fear is a heady topic for a superhero blockbuster, yet it’s one that Scott Derrickson takes to its natural conclusion with the Ancient One’s reflective death and series high-mark “Dormammu, I have come to bargain.”

Going from themes to visuals is where Doctor Strange loses itself a little. Derrickson certainly offers up some strikingly weird imagery, yet a lot of it is odder for the sake of it than having some greater visual purpose. Claims Doctor Strange was “like nothing you’ve ever seen” act like 2001: A Space Odyessy didn’t do it better almost 50 years earlier. This problem is most evident in the action, which are rather flat chase scenes with impressive CGI grafted on them; only Marvel would have a sequence where characters must defend against reversing time and set it in a bland alley set.

15Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is the sequel to the 2018 film Black Panther and is part of Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Gripping with the passing of their king, the nation of Wakanda attempts to figure out how to move forward with Queen Mother Ramonda (Angela Bassett) and Princess Shuri (Letitia Wright) at the helm. However, a nation in grieving is not observed by all, as soon Wakanda comes under attack by the underwater civilization of Talocan, led by Namor (Tenoch Huerta.) Wakanda will enlist allies outside and from within to push back this new invading threat and ensure that Wakanda truly does live on forever.

On reflection, it’s fair to say that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was one of the MCU’s most anticipated movies of all, given a near-impossible mission to not only follow the financial and critical success of its predecessor, but also to hold up a mirror to the collective grief at Chadwick Boseman’s death. Ryan Coogler’s sequel could have been a mournful eulogy to the MCU’s T’Challa, putting aside a broader story for the sake of careful reflection and the issue of legacy, but Coogler aimed bigger. Wakanda Forever is not only a reflection of loss, but also a claws-out superhero event that packs in all-out war alongside a tender, deeply personal story.

Wakanda feels bigger thanks to the introduction of its neighbors – the kingdom of Talokan and its king Namor (Tenoch Huerta Mejía), who succeeds Michael B Jordan’s Killmonger as a complex figure straddling the whole moral spectrum at times. There’s also a very definite weight to the shadow of T’Challa, not only in Black Panther’s succession (which Letitia Wright’s Shuri convinces of entirely), but also his legacy as a man, thanks to the revelation of Wakanda Forever‘s ending. Sure, there are some missteps (like the death of Queen Ramonda), but the overall picture if of an MCU sequel that aims higher and just about manages its lofty aspirations.

14The Marvels (2023)

The Marvels

The Marvels sees the long-awaited team-up of Carol Danvers (Brie Larson), Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani), and Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) as the trio work together to find out how their powers have become inextricably linked. Acting as a sequel to both Captain Marvel (2019) and the Ms. Marvel television show, The Marvels is the 33rd film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Despite a marketing campaign marred by distracting online discourse and the SAG-Aftra strikes, The Marvels is among the best MCU sequels. 4 years after the events of Captain Marvel, Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers is isolated in space, accompanied only by Goose the flerken and haunted by the ghosts of a past she can barely remember. That world comes crashing to an end when a new Kree threat arrives in the shape of Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton), who is intent on saving her own people and making Danvers pay for her part in their ruin.

The Marvels zips along at an entertaining pace, buoyed by the chemistry between the uneasy alliance of Danvers, Iman Velani’s superfan Ms. Marvel, and Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris). And most admirably, despite the introduction of so many new elements and the ominous weight of MCU lore, the sequel very much justifies itself as Captain Marvel 2 and not just another chapter in the sprawling shared universe. Freed from any awkwardness of Danvers’ origin, The Marvels is funnier, bolder, and more entertaining than its predecessor, fleshing out Captain Marvel’s character impressively.

Alongside two of the most memorable sequences in the entire MCU, The Marvels is confident, colorful film-making that prioritizes fun. There are, as ever, universe-changing haymakers built in, starry cameos, and stunning choreography, but it’s best when it’s doing things the MCU hasn’t seen lots of times before. And for any movie to do that after 32 other releases in the same brand really is something to cherish.

13Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

Spider-Man: No Way Home

For the first time in the cinematic history of Spider-Man, our friendly neighborhood hero is unmasked and no longer able to separate his normal life from the trials and tribulations of being a superhero. In Spider-Man: No Way Home, Peter Parker (Tom Holland) asks for help from Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) when his identity becomes a problem for the ones he loves. Unfortunately, when the spell goes wrong, Spider-Man will now have to face off with villains such as Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina) and Electro (Jamie Foxx) as Peter finally comes to terms that he can’t run from being Spider-Man. Supported by his close friends and help from an unexpected place (or multiverse), Spider-Man will go toe-to-toe with some of the most legendary foes in his storied history.

Taken on a purely conceptual level, Spider-Man: No Way Home reads as a top-tier MCU movie. Grabbing the baton from Far From Home‘s eye-widening cliffhanger and then using Doctor Strange to bring both previous Spider-Man franchises into the Marvel Multiverse, it’s a relentless movie aiming to celebrate almost 20 years of the character on the big-screen, round out a trilogy of Tom Holland’s take on the web-slinger and deepen the long-teased Phase 4 universe explosion. Execution, however, makes for a far more mixed bag.

What worked in Homecoming continues to hit the right emotional notes. The combined efforts of concept artists, costume designers, directors, writers and, of course, Tom Holland himself gave the MCU Spider-Man an energy the character had lacked for so long, and that’s very much continued here – with the added depth of Peter Parker’s relationship with Zendaya’s MJ. But as the stakes and ensemble get bigger, Jon Watts finds everything a little overwhelmed. Characters make choices based on where the plot dictates leading to an uneven middle act, and multiple pivotal scenes take place in front rooms or isolate heroes in wide-open frames during dialogue scenes, blocked seemingly based on COVID bubbles more than what the script idealizes; it’s very static for a movie whose plot pushes the limits of the universal envelope. These are common Marvel movie issues but stand even stronger when actively compared to the distinct stylings of Sam Raimi and, to a localized extent, Marc Webb: Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin especially, a hammy delight in Spider-Man 2002, is goofy in the flatter MCU, which undercuts his position as the movie’s de facto main villain.

There’s no doubting the ambition of Spider-Man: No Way Home, and that it all hangs together despite its overburn speaks to the smarts applied in the early stages (specifically contract wrangling). But given the strongest moments center on ideas first introduced in Homecoming, it’s a shame Sony couldn’t hold themselves back for one more film.

12Iron Man (2008)

Iron Man

Iron Man is the first film in the long-running Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise. Robert Downey Jr. stars as Tony Stark, who becomes Iron Man after he is kidnapped and discovers terrorists are using weapons developed by Stark Industries. Gwyneth Paltrow stars as Tony’s love interest Pepper Potts alongside Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan and Jeff Bridges as the villainous Obadiah Stane.

It’s easy to heap a lot of importance on Iron Man for how it kickstarted the MCU, marking Marvel Studios out as a blockbuster force to be reckoned with and in its post-credits scene building directly to The Avengers. But all of that ignores that, at its arc reactor core, Iron Man is just a good movie.

At this point in time, critics were starting to question if superheroes were going out of vogue – the previous two years had dud third installments for trailblazing X-Men and Spider-Man franchises – only for 2008 to offer two rebukes. The Dark Knight got a lot of the spotlight for its high-end removal of all genre tropes in favor of a stripped back crime story (and indeed remains the superior film), but that doesn’t mean Iron Man was by the numbers; it took the basic origin story playbook but subverted much of it. Robert Downey, Jr. is an off-base superhero protagonist, Jon Favreau gave his cast freedom to adlib, and in its final moments undoes the entire secret identity trope (something not even Spider-Man could maintain for more than one movie in the MCU).

What’s so amazing about Iron Man is how so much of it holds up on a filmmaking level. The cinematography is clean, the CGI refined (the same can’t be said of that year’s Visual Effects Oscar winner The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), and even the pacing modern. Were this released today, audiences may question the lack of any fantastical elements, but they’d engage with it in much the same way.

11Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Captain America: The First Avenger

Captain America: The First Avenger is a 2011 superhero movie starring Chris Evans as Steve Rogers, a weak patriotic civilian who becomes the test subject for the military’s Super Soldier project. The film was the fifth film in the long-running MCU franchise and also starred Samuel L. Jackson, Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell, and Sebastian Stan.

“I had a date.” Few MCU moments have quite the same heartbreaking gravitas of Captain America: The First Avenger‘s final moments where the inescapable sacrifice of the man out of time comes crushingly real. That ending sequence is shared universe building done right, with an emotional payoff to the film’s core themes beelining into a tantalizing bigger picture, yet it only works so well because of everything that came before.

The best MCU origin movies get to the core of their titular character, but with Captain America, Joe Johnston goes one better and thoroughly deconstructs who exactly this former propaganda piece is and makes a detailed case for why he’s still relevant today. Whether it’s being crushed by his song-and-dance number or betraying orders to become a true hero, the delineation of the Captain from his namesake country is so effortless. Much of that praise has to go to Chris Evans, who is such perfect casting as the Star-Spangled Man that he almost single-handedly pivoted Cap as the lead of the franchise in place of Iron Man (and comes across fairly convincingly as a weakling despite the shrunk CG body).

Above all, Captain America is an Indiana Jones-style adventure, a fantasy World War II romp with a visual style straight off the cover of a Boy’s Own sci-fi collection. The Red Skull is a deliciously teased villain, the dancing-and-fighting montages captivating, and there’s a greater foreknowledge of where the story will go – the filmmakers know Steve isn’t making it out alive and Bucky’s death is done with knowledge of the future. Captain America has far-and-away the best standalone Marvel series, and while his Russo-directed efforts are stylistically different, the core of the character and themes are all in The First Avenger.

10Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)

Spider-Man: Far From Home

Following the events of Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: Far From Home follows Peter Parker (Tom Holland) as he deals with the fallout of Thanos’ snap and the weight of Tony Stark’s legacy in a post “blip” world. Peter and his friends go on summer vacation to Europe, where Peter finds himself suddenly the inheritor of Tony’s incredible tech. However, the trip suddenly goes awry as Europe comes under siege from otherworldly villains, routed by a cloaked hero, Mysterio. Partnering with Nick Fury, Maria Hill, and Mysterio, Peter will fight to protect his friends while figuring out his place in a post-Iron man world.

When Kevin Feige proclaimed Spider-Man: Far From Home the real end to Marvel’s Phase 3, he made Jon Watts’ sequel the fifth consecutive movie to be explicitly marketed on the hype for Thanos. That’s a burden for a movie that is in the basic plot so isolated and whimsical in focus, but unlike some of the other solo films at the tail end of The Infinity Saga, Spidey handles this with grace. Like its predecessor, Far From Home balances being a high-school comedy, superhero actioner and MCU puzzle piece by having each part inform the other: Tony Stark’s death doesn’t just define Peter Parker’s arc, it provides a reason for the most elaborate school trip in history and, in a slightly more roundabout way, the villain’s scheme.

Like in Homecoming, the villain of Spider-Man: Far From Home is certainly the most interesting talking point. Marketing Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio as a hero may have fooled no one, but the multiverse distraction was worth it for his goofily grounded motivations and Ozymandias/Syndrome scheme, not to mention the mind-bending vision sequence. Quentin Beck is another example of Stark collateral damage, one who’s descending into villainy out of rejection and in direct contrast to our hero.

Nevertheless, as with most Part 2s in the MCU, especially those that retain the same creative team, Spider-Man: Far From Home can’t help but feel more disorganized than the first. There’s bigger action, sure, but it’s confusingly shot and consists mainly of the same CG-augmented web acrobatics (a shame when Tom Holland is such a proven physical performer). And for all Mysterio works, the film’s rush to his big grin leaves behind skipped-over locations and character beats (Nick Fury’s characterization is so off-kilter a universe-adjusting post-credits twist barely saves it). It’s a good, often great film that relishes in its surprises. Hopefully, again, as with Homecoming, it’ll be one to improve on rewatch.

9Black Panther (2018)

Black Panther

Black Panther is the eighteenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and sees the titular hero return after the events of Captain America: Civil War. Set in the fictional nation of Wakanda, Black Panther sees the succession of T’Challa as the nation’s new king. However, when a mysterious soldier with ill intentions arrives with proof of his claim to the throne, the future of Wakanda is thrown into jeopardy.

“Just because something works doesn’t mean that it cannot be improved,” Shuri says to T’Challa. She’s talking about his Kimoyo Beads, but is very much summing up the creative drive of the film. Black Panther is how to do Marvel right while evolving it. It presents the character full-on, building on the Captain America: Civil War introduction and deconstructing the ideas that define him, but goes a step further than even The First Avenger and adds on proper social commentary.

Ryan Coogler proves himself like no other breakout director has in the MCU, crafting a story that at every turn is using the superhero genre to explore the ills of colonialism and question what we can do today to correct the mistakes of the past. It’s rarely preachy or obvious, and builds to a rational conclusion in a tough manner. The chief stroke of brilliance is Killmonger. Marvel corrected their villain problem by developing them as if they were heroes, which for Erik means making him come from a logical place but then extend to an extreme level: Killmonger is right but his actions are wrong.

While the movie can’t totally escape Marvel formula – jokes are hit-and-miss, while the scale of the final action scene feels mandated – the next-level world-building, seamlessly creating an afro-futurist land that feels truly real (bar the recurring street set), marks Black Panther out as something beyond its ilk (and more than worthy of its game-changing Oscar wins). Franchise connections are light, but that’s only because that approach is the future of the franchise.

8Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Guardians of the Galaxy

Egotistic loner and “legendary” space pirate Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) falls foul of bounty hunters and his former allies after he steals an orb containing the Power Stone. Chased by Ronan the Accuser, a powerful Kree villain and thrown into an uneasy alliance with a group of similar misfits, he must adapt to his new dynamic or risk everything. He’s joined by gun-toting Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper), treelike-alien Groot (Vin Diesel), Thanos’ daughter Gamora (Zoe Saldana), and the vengeful Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista). Can the galaxy’s most infamous a-holes really save the day?

The narrative is that Guardians of the Galaxy was Marvel’s biggest gamble thus far, trying to sell a talking raccoon and a walking tree to general audiences. That’s true to a point, but it must be remembered that there was a point when a Norse God or World War II relic or robot suit named after a transition metal were similarly confounding to the mainstream; Marvel never had safe bets by nature of not having A-list characters. This reading does, however, highlight Guardians of the Galaxy‘s biggest strength – its swagger. From the moment Chris Pratt starts dancing to Redbone’s “Come And Get Your Love” as the title fills the screen, this is an incredibly confident, blended riff on Marvel superhero and Star Wars sci-fi tropes that has no interest in whether you’d heard of them before SDCC 2012 or not.

Much of the credit rightly goes to James Gunn, who melds his personality sensibilities with that of the cosmic Marvel comics and the MCU without sacrificing much of any individual part. If Star Wars was a used future, this is a casually-zany future. Everything is weird, but when everything is weird, nothing is: the vibrancy is charm, not in-your-face spectacle; the stilted yet straight dialogue is making for comedy without undercutting the scale of the story.

Where the movie does struggle a little is in its plotting, with the mix of team-up and origin story formulas buckling around the second act; the Knowhere sequence slows the pace, drops exposition and then needs characters to act out of sorts to get towards the final act. This problem would return in the sequel, but it doesn’t bring the movie down too much because of the effort put into making sure each character is defined and the MacGuffin has meaning way beyond purple whisps.

7Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

The conclusion to the trilogy, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, will see the Guardians on one final adventure together as they face off with the powerful Adam Warlock – one of the most significant threats the Marvel Cinematic Universe has ever seen. To protect a friend and their world as they know it, Peter Quill and his allies will band together to save one of their own and the galaxy from certain doom.

The High Evolutionary’s villain plot in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 may be another retread of the “burn the world down and build a better one” trope we’ve all seen over and over, but it’s a small price to pay for the quality of James Gunn’s trilogy-ender. Most impressively, Vol. 3 delivers on the promise of tying up all the Guardians of the Galaxy’s individual threads, giving everyone a fitting ending. Star-Lord goes home (and promises a solo spin-off), Drax becomes a father again, Gamora is cut free of Quill’s love, Mantis is gifted agency, Nebula given power, and Rocket earns his destiny. Groot remains Groot, naturally, and Kraglin is also there, but that’s very much status qu maintenance.

Gunn’s musical taste takes over Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in a more substantial way than the previous two Awesome Mixes, with more moder music thrown in, but the “Dog Days Are Over” sequence may well be his masterpiece. Or it would be if the handle on Rocket Raccoon’s origin story – the real heart of the trilogy, which gives everything before it greater meaning – weren’t so beautifully crafted. Rocket’s trauma is hard to watch, but the fact that Gunn makes that story so profoundly relatable cannot be overlooked.

More generally speaking, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 continues all the successful trends Gunn’s previous two movies set up: there’s a universe full of heart, capers, humor and there’s even room for new ideas. Vol. 3, for instance, feels way more like a Star Trek love letter, and offers a scale to the cosmic context of the universe that the focus on the multiverse doesn’t land. Crucially there’s also a team dynamic the Avengers could only hope to achieve. There’s absolutely no sense of disparate parts here, and the final realization that it’s all come to an end lands Gunn’s most impressive emotional punch. Yes, there’ll be more in some way, but it won’t be the same.

6Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Avengers: Endgame

The penultimate chapter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Avengers: Endgame, marks the finale of the first three phases of the MCU and acts as part two of Avengers: Infinity War. With Earth’s Mightiest Heroes failing to stop Thanos from wiping out half of all existence, the heroes discover one final chance to make things right. Journeying back through space and time, the surviving Avengers attempt to stop Thanos before all is lost.

The MCU is greater than the sum of its parts, but if there was any one movie that best represented that sum, it would be Avengers: Endgame. It’s the Marvel Cinematic Universe in microcosm, with all the good and bad that brings. It’s big, it’s bold, it’s messy, it has a very confusing approach to micro-continuity, but it’s ultimately incredibly character driven and delivers an emotional catharsis beyond what any solo movie could do.

Being the ending – at least as close to an ending as a movie with seven movies confirmed in development for the next few years can be – Avengers: Endgame has a massive advantage in when it comes to stakes; so much of the legwork has done before a single frame of new footage. But the Russo brothers do not slack. The opening and closing scenes of Endgame eclipse anything in Infinity War (yes, even the snap), and the in-between journey is so sprawling yet focused in intention that moment after moment hits. Fan service is laid on thick yet feels earned and rarely Tumblr-bait, there’s no green screen flubs, and the ability to pull back from the jokes and let the darkest scenes land delivers what some previous films were missing.

But it’s not perfect. Some of the choices made to get to the ending are rather perplexing, doubly so considering how they seem so opposite to how things were set up in Avengers: Infinity War, a movie written and filmed alongside it. And long-predicted story turns are just as lacking in plot logic as feared. This may be the worst movie to introduce someone to the MCU with, but it’s the perfect one to express what’s made it so great.

5Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

Spider-Man: Homecoming

After making his MCU debut in Captain America: Civil War, Tom Holland is back as Peter Parker for a new Spider-Man solo film. This time, Peter battles with Adrian Toomes, who takes on the moniker Vulture after profiting off of selling Chitari technology and weapons. Under Tony Stark’s guidance, Peter must prove himself a hero while protecting his city from Vulture and the other criminals in New York. Spider-Man: Homecoming was the first of three films in director Jon Watts’ MCU journey, dubbed the “Homecoming” trilogy.

After the second act of Spider-Man: Homecoming, it feels like Peter Parker has finally found some balance in life. His superheroics are taking a backseat and his life is together to the point he’s taking his senior year crush to the dance. He rings her doorbell… and then Vulture opens the door, crashing both sides of his life together. The greatest twist ever in a superhero film – the villain was the love interest’s father is a well-worn trope, but Homecoming buries it deep – that this happens purely on a character level, devoid of MCU or Spider-Man franchise context, is a shining example of just how well balanced Jon Watts’ film is.

Rebooting Spider-Man for the third time that was at once faithful and new was a tough order. Marvel decided to strip the character of what had been overdone before and built him up from what was left. This is a version of Spidey rooted most in the early Stan Lee and Steve Ditko comics, but transplanted to Generation Z to enable a modern-day deconstruction akin to what Phase 1 did for Steve Rogers and Tony Stark. And Homecoming certainly nails his balance of youthful, neighborhood vigilantism with the instantly relatable troubles of leading a normal teenage life, thanks to Tom Holland’s semi-awkward performance and a heavy dose of John Hughes referencing.

Eight years later aside (likely a result of needing Liz to be young enough to draw a picture of theAvengers in crayon), the movie’s placement in MCU canon is elegant as well. Tony Stark is a fitting father figure, the cameos are worth your patience, and, best of all, Peter (and Ned’s) wide-eyed passion brings “heroes outside your window” to life.

That all these three aspects – movie, character, universe – work so well results in one of the most satisfying Marvel movies, and one that has already aged better than its contemporaries (even if it doesn’t quite reach the heights of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2).

4Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Captain America: Civil War

This third Captain America film adapts the “Civil War” storyline from Marvel Comics and sees Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) at an impasse over who governs superheroes and how. Captain America: Civil War pits two teams of Avengers against one another and introduces new superheroes Black Panther and Spider-Man. The divide between the two perceived leaders of the Avengers caused the other members to choose sides. It all started when the UN decided to take control of the superheroes’ involvement in fighting crimes. Steve disagreed with the UN’s proposal, while Tony supported the decision. Things turn for the worst when Steve’s friend Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), also known as the Winter Soldier, becomes the prime suspect in a terrorist bombing.

Much was made at the time how Captain America: Civil War was similar to Batman v Superman, from the macro – the shared universe is split in two as the major heroes duke it out – to the micro – the fights are dictated by characters’ emotions for dead mothers. But what’s so striking is that, when both movies landed on the May weekend, it was DC who balked, moving Dawn of Justice to a less competitive March. This was the moment where the MCU’s scale became next-level, where former B-list characters were a bigger draw than the World’s Finest.

Civil War uses that growth and development very much to its advantage. Threads established in as many as nine previous movies (Iron Man 1-3, Captain America 1-2, Avengers 1-2, Ant-Man and The Incredible Hulk) are brought together to tell a story that grapples with the real world applications of having superheroes leveling cities outside your window, and the more personal story of Bucky that’s been simmering for the past two Cap films. And this is a Captain America film first and foremost; Steve Rogers’ responsibilities and guilts power the narrative and resolve the identity exploration of the previous films by having him desert the Avengers and the shield, yet remain the hero. Not that the solo movie arc means the Russos don’t elevate every other character; Tony Stark’s arc is extended, Hawkeye gets more development than in Age of Ultron, Ant-Man gets the showcase he deserved, and in Black Panther and Spider-Man two major heroes are introduced fully formed.

That said, it would be a lie to say some of the shine hasn’t worn off Captain America: Civil War over the past few years, inevitable for such a sprawling tale. The Sokovia Accords are really a plot device and characters – Black Widow especially – choose sides based on narrative requirements, not their past, which means the film doesn’t have as much to say as it thinks. But considering the scale Marvel was now working on, in stark contrast to the twin movie, that didn’t really matter.

3Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Avengers: Infinity War

Avengers: Infinity War is the third Avengers movie in the game-changing Marvel Cinematic Universe. This film is positioned as the beginning of the culmination of everything that has transpired in the franchise to date. Directors Joe and Anthony Russo, who previously helmed Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Civil War, have assembled the largest ensemble in a superhero film to date. Nearly every living character in the MCU is included as the Avengers join forces with the Guardians of the Galaxy to take down Thanos in a battle that has massive repercussions for the future of the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. A sequel, Avengers: Endgame, was released in 2019 and marked the end of the Infinity Saga.

Sold as the culmination of the entire MCU (but really just Part 1 of 2 as Marvel always promised), Avengers: Infinity War is barely readable by any standard narrative means. It has two dozen heroes each with their own interlinked arcs, but even at 160 minutes long, the film can only develop them incrementally, with a handful getting anything approaching proper focus. It’s certainly entertaining to see Bucky and Rocket live out a meme or Steve Rogers meet Groot, but the only way to really parse down its story is from the perspective of villain Thanos, which may be the Russo brothers smartest decision in the entire MCU.

In direct contrast to Killmonger (right motives, bad actions), Thanos is misguided to the bone, his plan horrific and means distressing. Wanting to destroy half of all life in the universe is utterly insane, but it’s framed in something approaching a Campbellian hero’s journey that makes the drive understandable, if not relatable. And that is why, even when he and Thor, the closest thing the film has to good protagonist, come face-to-face, the Mad Titan still wins: he is a force of pure will, who is able to collect the Infinity Stones because at every stage he’s willing to do what none of the heroes are capable of.

Infinity War is a hard film to assess on its own merits considering its cliffhanger ending leaves everything up in the air ahead of Avengers: Endgame, but there’s no denying the audacity of the mass decimation at the end (even if a return is oh-so-obvious). It’s grim storytelling done on a scale only possible with blockbuster budgets and the sheer weight of what’s to come. Avengers: Infinity War ignores so much of the set up (Thanos is a different being) but it works because it fundamentally understands the core of the Marvel universe is character.

2The Avengers (2012)

The Avengers

The sixth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers is an action superhero film that sees the heroes assembled across the franchise face off with a deadly galactic threat. With the arrival of Thor’s brother, Loki, heroes such as Captain America, The Hulk, Iron Man, and Black Widow are brought together to stop him from unleashing an alien race upon earth.

The Avengers is where the MCU truly became the mega-franchise it is today. Up until 2012, Marvel Studios had marked themselves out as being able to produce consistently “good” action movies with strong characters (Iron Man 2 notwithstanding) that challenged superhero norms of recognisability and marketability, but it was only with Joss Whedon’s team-up they truly became “great“. It released in May 2012, two months before highly anticipated conclusion The Dark Knight Rises, yet not only made more but ended up being the most influential. Many studios tried to build their own shared universes (none quite as successful) and Whedon’s blockbuster style became the norm for this franchise and many more.

But The Avengers wasn’t just bringing the characters together and riffing humorously on their differences. It could have been that sort of gimmicky movie, sure, and would have likely still passed $1 billion, but what really made it work was how energized and focused it was. There’s not really a plot, more a chase for the magical MacGuffin, yet the character interactions provide a story backbone – in the first 40 minutes or so, every scene transition connects directly to the previous one – that remains tight. And that allows the movie to do more than bring heroes together: it analyzes the notion of a team-up in a mildly-meta way, responding to preempting critics and making the eventual group shot a triumph even if you’d not seen a single previous film.

Even then, not everything works – some of the earlier action sequences are very televisual, Hawkeye’s entire arc is undone by a complete lack of setup – but those are overridden by the smart script (what seem like improv asides become emotive throughlines in stark contrast to Whedon’s reshoots on Justice League) and an explosion into three-dimensional action. And while the base thrill of the Avengers coming together is now part and parcel of any random MCU film, it’s been allowed to retain its special feeling by future films thanks to a careful honoring of its core ideas (and a movie-long tease of the purple alien behind it all).

1Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is the ninth entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After being awoken from cryosleep in the previous film, Steve Rogers struggles to embrace his role in the modern world. As he adjusts, he must battle a new threat from old history: the Soviet agent known as the Winter Soldier.

Some of what makes Captain America: The Winter Soldier so effective was a complete accident; its story of modern espionage and invasion of freedoms lines up so well with the Edward Snowden NSA leaks that it’s amazing the film was in production before his story broke. However, that real-world caveat does nothing to take away from what the movie does with the character of Steve Rogers. If The First Avenger was about divorcing Captain America’s patriotic values from his propaganda origins, its modern-day follow-up is how you apply that to a morally-ambiguous, ostensibly peace-time landscape. This is there from the discovery his government bosses are corrupted to that the big villain is his former best friend.

This was the Russos brother’s first entry in the MCU and much of what made their subsequent team-ups so epic yet satisfying is rooted here. The action has proper heft – bullets wound and falls hurt – and there’s a deft balance of character and story, with every single player getting a proper arc that has a tangible impact on the plot; astounding as juggling two-dozen heroes in Avengers: Infinity War is, here there are still more than 10 essential characters interlocking. The core of it, though, is that Steve-Bucky relationship: the Winter Soldier twist is clearly signposted (and spoiled by anybody who was redirected to Bucky’s Wikipedia page pre-release) but that’s all effective setup for an emotional climax.

The weakest part about The Winter Soldier as an MCU film can hardly be blamed on the movie itself: its consequences are mostly meaningless. The Hydra-is-S.H.I.E.L.D. twist should have been seismic, yet Avengers: Age of Ultron not only mops up the fallout before the opening title but it has Nick Fury once again flying a helicarrier. In that regard, it highlights what a great Marvel movie should do – be as good as you can on your own.