So I just got back from the opening of Guardians of the Galaxy, and it was, quite simply, amazing. I’ll write more about it in a bit, but after exiting the theater, I decided that this would be an excellent time for me to rank the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movies. Guardians essentially marks the end of the Phase 2 Marvel films (with the notable exception of Avengers 2), so it will be fun to step back and take look at this juggernaut that Marvel built as a whole. For extra funsies, I’ve decided to put these films into categories names after the recent slew of DC movies (I was calling these the Nolan-verse, but then DC went and screwed the whole thing up by adding Bats into the new Superman movie. So now the DC cinematic universe is really two universes, even though they are both being produced by Nolan and are damn similar in tone).
As per usual with these types of things, the films will be presented in reverse order.
Category I: The Man of Steel Category
i.e., the kind of mentally handicapped, related-but-not-really-related cousin of the the films we actually want to watch
10. The Incredible Hulk (2008)
I kind of wanted to create a separate category for this one, but unfortunately there aren’t enough DC movies (we do not speak of Green Lantern). I guess The Incredible Hulk was a decent enough movie when it came out (though I struggle to remember what exactly happened in the movie. Something about the Abomination, I think). Ed Norton and Liv Tyler did decent enough jobs in the lead roles, though neither of them are likely to appear in the MCU ever again. Which is why this film was odd. If Tony Stark didn’t appear at the end of the movie, I would wonder if we should even consider this as part of the MCU. He did, however, and I guess we have to live with it. The Incredible Hulk is kind of like the appendix to the MCU. It may have served a purpose at some point in time, but we’ve long since forgotten what that point was.
9. Iron Man 2 (2010)
Iron Man 2 was probably the most disappointing of the MCU films. While I don’t think it’s as bad as some people claim, it does feel like it was rushed out to cash in on the success of the first Iron Man film. I guess you could argue that the film is important to establishing the character of Coulsen, introducing Black Widow and War Machine, yada, yada, yada. The problem is that the neither the film, nor the characters, are really that interesting. This might have been the only MCU film to insult the audience’s intelligence. Rather than establishing meaningful conflict, they just threw more suits at us (admittedly Iron Man 3, which is a much better film, also was guilty of this). Both critics and audience were quick to announce their displeasure at Marvel’s laziness. In response, Marvel’s subsequent films have all been far superior to Iron Man 2.
Category II: The Batman Begins Category
i.e., films that are fine in their own right, but don’t quite stack up to studio’s best
8. Thor (2011)
7. Thor: The Dark World (2013)
These films are so close together to me, that I don’t really want to do a full writeup on each one. Both films had great potential, but ultimately failed to live up to it. Thor had fantastic character development yet, apart from the opening battle, failed to live up in terms of the action side. Thor 2 had much better action sequences, yet apart from a predictably great effort from Tom Hiddleston (Loki), the acting really wasn't there (Natalie Portman, in particular, seemed to just be going through the motions for the entire film). Maybe if these two were combined into a single film (element-wise, not plot-wise), we would have a movie that could hang with the big boys. Ultimately, we’ll just have to settle for “good enough.”
6. Captain America (2011)
Of all of the Phase One films (not including Avengers), Captain America had the greatest potential. A wartime epic, perhaps with espionage, that had occasional superhero-ish moments. The birth of perhaps the most iconic Marvel character not named Spiderman. A villain in Red Skull who, if done right, could be truly terrifying. Instead by got a war film that wasn’t really a war film, with a guy that just so happens to be able to run very fast, and one of the more cartoony villains in the MCU. I went into the movie expecting something that could challenge Iron Man. Instead I had to settle for another Thor.
Category III: The Dark Knight Rises Category
i.e., films that could be the studio’s greatest, if not for that other guy
5. Iron Man 3 (2013)
This was probably the most divisive of the MCU films, and I happen to fall on the side of people who love it. Tony Stark was not really Iron Man in this movie, he was a real person. Which is important because he really is the only on the super-friends that doesn’t really have any superpowers. Kinda like a snarky Batman. The film's interpretation of the Mandarin was fantastic, and Iron Man 3 was the by far most personal of the MCU films. Yet it still had the action chops to contend with the other films above this list. However, the film did not really bring anything new to the table and, thus, can only be ranked this high.
4. Iron Man (2008)
3. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
And now, we’ve reached Guardians. This film was definitely Marvel’s biggest gamble since the first Iron Man. The casual comic book fan was at least aware of who Iron Man was before this whole thing started. You would be hard pressed to find anyone who really knew anything about Guardians before this movie came out. Yet somehow, Marvel has succeeded again. It remains to be seem whether or not Guardians will reach the same economic highs as the other MCU films, but in terms of quality it can punch with the best of them. Sure the action sequences might now have the polish of an Avengers or Captain America 2, but Guardians is hands down the funniest of the MCU films. On top of that, the balance struck between each of the five main characters is exceptional. Chris Pratt (Star-Lord) and Bradley Cooper (Rocket Raccoon) might steal the show occasionally, but Zoe Saldana (Gamora) and Bautista (Drax) more than hold their own. Vin Diesel’s mo-cap work as the relatively silent Groot is outstanding as well. This is the most light-hearted of the Marvel movies, yet there is still enough danger to lend some gravity to the situation (oh, and that soundtrack is amazing). Who knows when we’ll see the Guardians again (I suspect we won’t be seeing much, if any, of them in Avengers 2 considering Thanos isn’t supposed to be a major player yet in that film), but I do know that I will be eagerly awaiting their next excusion.
2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
Moving from the lightest Marvel movie to the heaviest, I really considered putting Captain America 2 first on this list. Ultimately, I couldn’t rank this over The Avengers, but by all regards this is a near perfect superhero flick. The action is among the best of the genre, the villain (H.Y.D.R.A., not Robert Redford) is terrifying, and the interplay between Chris Evans (Steve Rodgers) and Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow) is endearing. Plus Sam Jackson as a badass again? Plus Cobie Smulders finally being allowed to kick some ass? Plus Danni Pudi from Community (that last one’s for me)? This film really was amazing, and was everything that I had hoped for the first Captain America to be. In fact, just this might be the only other superhero film than The Dark Knight to truly transcend the genre. Just as the The Dark Knight was a crime film that happened to have guys running around in masks, The Winter Soldier is a spy thriller that just happens to have a few Avengers in it. If not for a rather uninteresting interpretation of the Winter Solider himself, this film might very well have place on the top of this list. As it is, the film will have to settle for second.
Category III: The Dark Knight Category
i.e., The Best
The Avengers (2012)
Remember “Puny God”? Remember “We’ve got a Hulk”? Remember “Shawarma”?
Remember this?
And this?
And this?
Remember how Joss Whedon undid the damage done to the Black Widow character in Iron Man 2, and made her a badass? Remember Loki? REMEMBER LOKI?!?!?
Avengers managed to achieve perfect balance between all of the characters, made the Hulk character interesting again (thanks to a fantastic performance by Mark Ruffalo), and firmly established that the MCU is here to stay.
What was I thinking trying to rank this anything but first?
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