For the last nine years Marvel has been cranking out tons of wonderful movies. Fourteen to be exact. Of course some of the films are better than others. So on that note let me start the ranking.
14. Incredible Hulk (2008)
I love the Hulk. He’s one of the strongest and most entertaining superheroes in Marvel. His movie however was not so great. There were a lot of corny moments and it wasn’t a well written movie. On top of that the man they chose to be Bruce Banner before Mark Ruffalo didn’t even look like he would turn into the Hulk. The villain was the best part of the movie because at least he was threatening. The fight between The Hulk and the villain at the end is, to a certain degree, entertaining but overall the movie is a C-.
13. Thor: The Dark World (2013)
I have not actually watched the second Thor movie but I know for a fact it’s better than The Incredible Hulk. The reason why I place it at #13 is because I haven’t watched this movie because I have no desire to. Thor is not high on the list of awesome Marvel characters adding to the reason I gladly skipped this installment.
12. Thor (2011)
The first part of this movie was very good. I loved seeing Thor’s homeland, Asgard, and the other cool worlds. The story was interesting and had me engaged. And then he fell down to Earth. After that the movie went on a downhill spiral. Natalie Portman’s character, Jane Foster, was annoying. The story was boring. When he eventually found his hammer and couldn’t pick it up I was so done. It was a decent part when that robot thing sent by Loki (who was the most interesting person in the movie) came to the town where Thor was until Thor “died”. Natalie Portman did the worst cry I have ever seen. It didn’t even seem like she was that sad. And then, to top off the corniness, when that hammer came rushing to Thor and he miraculously came back to life the movie dropped even further. Overall the only reason why this movie is #12 and not #13 is because I didn’t watch the sequel. I give it a C.
11. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
I love Captain America. He’s easily in my top five of coolest Marvel superheroes. His first film however fell a little short. I just recently watched this movie and I was excited. I had seen The Winter Soldier and Civil War multiple times but I didn’t know his backstory except for fleeting glimpses in the other movies. The first half of the movie was good. I loved his transformation. I loved seeing how he became known as Captain America. Peggy was a great character in the movie. Unfortunately after he saved all those people the movie seemed to get real rushed. There was too much slow motion during the action scenes and the story was going at a hundred miles an hour. Within no time it was over. The best part of the film was when he ran out of that building at the end and was in the middle of Times Square. That was pretty awesome. I wished they had utilized Bucky a lot more because the brief look into their friendship was one of the highlights of the film to me. I give this movie a B-.
10. Iron Man (2008)
This was another movie I’ve watched recently for the same reason I watched the first Captain America. I knew Iron Man but I didn’t know his backstory. The movie was fairly decent. I loved the very first Iron Man contraption he made. That was cool. The villain was great. He was actually kind of scary. I liked the part when he nearly caught Pepper. That was a nail biting moment. I liked seeing the beginning of Tony’s relationship with Pepper because now when I watch Civil War I truly understand why he’s sad that they broke up. And I’m so glad Don Cheadle is now Col. James Rhodes. He’s a much better War Machine. I give this film a B.
9. Iron Man 3 (2013)
I liked Iron Man 3. It was pretty good. It was funny because Tony Stark is funny. I loved the surprise of finding out that The Mandarin was really the blond haired man. That was a good twist. Especially when he shot Tony’s old girlfriend. That was shocking as well as him turning Pepper into one of those fire people. The one major flaw the movie had was having the little boy in the movie. He was okay but it did downgrade the story a little bit. There’s nothing really bad to say about this movie however. It was enjoyable and I can watch it more than once. I’d say this movie just managed to just get out of B territory to reach a B+.
8. Iron Man 2 (2010)
As you can see this is my favorite Iron Man film. I really liked this movie. The story was good, the villain was okay but not very memorable, but most importantly this was the movie that introduced Black Widow, one of my favorite superheroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I give it an A-.
7. Ant-Man (2015)
This is where things start getting complicated because I really like these last seven movies. I put Ant-Man at #7 because the competition it’s going against is pretty stiff. I did really like Ant Man though. The story of how he becomes Ant-Man is decent. I mean it’s nothing new or original but it is well written. I love the part where he fights Falcon. That is definitely one of the highlights of the movie to me. And Scott Lang is hilarious! I love his take on being a superhero because he’s just a regular guy who just so happened to be chosen to be Ant-Man. He’s not very heroic like Captain America but he is in his own way. Evangeline Lily does a great job as Hope in the movie. I can’t wait to see her in action as The Wasp in the next Ant-Man film. The best part of this movie is the way they lead up to his involvement in Civil War. It’s perfectly done and had me so excited for Civil War. The credit scenes were definitely some of the best out of all the Marvel movies as well. This is however a very predictable origin story that doesn’t have any sort of plot twists so I give this movie an A-.
6. The Avengers (2012)
The Avengers was a ground breaker in terms of superhero movies. It brought together six heroes to protect the world in an epic showdown against Loki and a seemingly unstoppable alien army. This was a great movie but the reason why I have it so low is because it took about an hour and a half for anything to really happen. The rest of the movie is filled with getting the team together and getting the heroes to respect each other (mainly Captain America and Iron Man) in between bouts of awesome action scenes. There’s not really a story, there aren’t any shocking moments (well except for when Agent Coulson died but he really didn’t die so whatever,) and Captain America was horrible. First of all the writers hadn’t figured out how to fit him in with the other Avengers just yet so he came off as too stern and kind of annoying. But worst of all is that super blue tight suit that they gave him. It is putrid. Thankfully they fixed that problem in the later films. Now I’m not saying this movie is bad, it’s very good, but there are a few problems with it. I give it an A- as well.
5. The Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
The first Avengers, story wise and villain wise, is better. The situation seemed to be more dire. Maybe that’s because, I don’t know, they were facing an alien army led by Loki instead of a talking robot Tony Stark accidentally created. There was also a lot of joking in the second Avengers. In fact I counted to see how many jokes were in Age of Ultron and there were 84. And I’m sure I missed some. That’s a lot of jokes in a movie that’s not supposed to be a comedy. Even after all that I happen to like this Avengers better than the first one for two reasons. They introduced The Vision and Scarlet Witch to the Marvel Cinematic Universe/MCU. I remember watching this movie for the first time and thinking who’s this red guy. Then when he picked up Thor’s hammer I was stunned. That was too awesome. And Scarlet Witch is simply cool. I can’t to wait to see her again in Avengers: Infinity War. So for that reason I put this movie at #5. I also give this movie an A-.
4. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
This movie was a success. When I saw the first teaser I was already very intrigued. It looked like it was going to be a good movie but trailers can sometimes be misleading. After watching it I loved it. It was very funny and light compared to the other Marvel movies, I loved the new characters and everything was done perfectly. There is nothing I can say is wrong with this movie. The only reason why it’s #4 is because the story is very simple and there aren’t any huge surprises. I am very excited to see the next Guardians of the Galaxy this year to see what they’ll be up to next. I give this movie an A+.
3. Doctor Strange (2016)
Oh my goodness I absolutely loved this latest addition to the MCU. From the beginning to the end I was riveted. I didn’t know how they could transform Benedict Cumberbatch, a Shakespearean actor, into a Marvel superhero but they did it and he did a marvelous job. His character, Doctor Strange, was surprisingly one of the funniest characters to me out of all the movies. His cape is such an awesome sidekick that I would have to place him in the legendary list alongside characters like Chewbacca. Why this movie was really special is because not only was he great but the characters around him were just as memorable. The Ancient One was perfect and possessed a kind, all-knowing personality that matched her name, Mordo was great and now that he’s kind of turned into a villain it makes his story that much more interesting, and Christine Palmer was a nice addition to the movie because she was the one person who was normal. I loved that they kept her role limited because it made sense. The villain, Kaecilius, was also fantastic. In a long list of forgettable villans he stood out. First of all he is only the second villain in the MCU to actually have a valid reason for what he was doing next to Zemo and secondly he managed to kill The Ancient One which was sad.
To top it all off instead of using brute force to win at the end like all of the other heroes Strange used his wit to save the day. It was a brilliant move that helped this movie stand out. The only reason why this isn’t my favorite Marvel movie so far is because it did have one flaw. When it came to the hospital scenes while he was dressed in the garb of the sorcerers why wasn’t there one person who looked at him with a cocked eyebrow? Everyone in the hospital was acting as if they always see people who look like him walking around. That minor but major flaw prevents me from putting it on top of the leaderboard. I’ll give this movie an A- because as great as it is it’s still an origin story that’s been done a thousand times. I still am very excited to own it on Blu-Ray and I can’t wait to see Doctor Strange in Thor: Ragnarok.
2. Captain America: Civil War (2016)
Yes this is the best movie in the MCU to date. This was The Avengers on steroids. I mean when do you get to see twelve superheroes fighting against each other? Um…never. And the Russo brothers did such a great job directing it that it never felt like there was too much stuff going on at once. The story was fantastic, the plot twists were exceptional, the new characters were amazing, and for the first time in a Marvel movie the villain, Zemo, won…to a certain degree. They didn’t kill each other like he wanted them to but he did manage to fracture the Avengers deeply. There are, unfortunately, two problems with this movie. First of all the music for this movie is horrible. Now I don’t say that in terms of it sounding bad. It’s just the fact that there really isn’t any. When there’s an action scene there’s classic action music. When there’s a sad scene there’s a piano. It’s just so boring and basic that I still can’t quite get over it. I love music in movies so to me that’s a big loss. And then secondly the relationship between Captain America and Agent 13. I get it, this is a romance that’s been slightly blooming since The Winter Soldier but it felt very rushed to me in Civil War. It’s like the writers wanted him to have a romance so badly they forced it into the movie without really thinking about it. Did Agent 13 have to be in the movie? No. Was the movie better with her in it? No. So yes, I love Civil War. It’s a fantastic blockbuster that had me surprised at every turn but it had a few flaws. I still give the movie an A though.
1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
This is my favorite Marvel movie because it’s basically perfect. I love the simplicity of this film. Captain America is strong but he doesn’t have any super awesome abilities like summoning lightning or being able to read someone’s mind. Black Widow is just an assassin. There’s nothing overly special about her. Falcon can fly but that’s with the use of his exoskeleton. And even then it’s not like he can shoot lasers or missiles like Iron Man. His abilities are very basic. The Winter Soldier’s abilities match Captain America’s which ends up in some pretty even matches between them. The main villain of the film, Secretary Pierce, is the best villain out of all the Marvel movies. I remember being so surprised when I found out he was the bad guy. They give this film a certain grit that I love compared to other movies. There is nothing flashy about either of them. There are a few shocking moments, the music is the best of any of the Marvel films, and I love this movie from the beginning to the end. I give it an A+.
So this is my ranking of the Marvel movies from worst to best. I can’t wait to see the next few Marvel films to see where they’ll end up on the list.