Ranking the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Part 2
- Steve Katz
- Apr 26, 2018
- 8 min read
Welcome back! It’s day two of my ranking of Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. I am positive no one has any concerns, issues or complaints about part 1! Be sure to pop back to that one to find out how we started at the bottom, and now we’re here.
Let's get moving.
THE ‘THIS ONE IS FINE, BUT IT HAS ITSELF SOME FLAWS’ ONE
8. Thor: Ragnarok (2017, Taika Waititi)
There’s something real weird about seeing Korg, the stoic, silent warrior who befriends Hulk on Sakaar during Planet Hulk reimagined as a wisecracking New Zealander voiced by Thor: Ragnarok’s director, Taika Waititi. Obviously, anyone who didn’t read Planet Hulk prior to seeing this won’t have to contend with such cognitive dissonance, but it’s quite the experience for those in on the...joke? He’s a fun and engaging character, though, and Thor: Ragnarok goes even deeper on the comedic roots of the first two Thor movies to make it the first true blue full blown comedy of the Marvel Universe. That levity is welcome, but there’s no denying Thor: Ragnarok is just as comical in its overstuffed plot, essentially cramming a short-form version of Planet Hulk into the middle of a movie about Hela taking over Asgard. There’s way too much going on, and like always, the stakes are nonexistent. Luckily, the movie is just so darned silly that it works, even if it kind of wastes Cate Blanchett (which, to be fair, should be illegal, even though she's clearly having a blast).
THE ‘ON PAPER THIS PROBABLY SHOULDN’T BE VERY GOOD BUT HEY, SHANE BLACK’ ONE
7. Iron Man 3 (2013, Shane Black)
First thing’s first. The reveal of The Mandarin is awesome. Fight me.
I understand the importance of the character as a foil to Iron Man. I understand the desire to make him a badass villain based on his history and the use of his character in the first act of the movie. But this is a Shane Black movie, folks, and Shane Black lives to undercut super serious stuff like that. And Ben Kingsley IS GREAT on both sides of the equation. He’s fully committed to both being a super intense philosophical terrorist badass and a drunken idiot actor when the scene calls for it.
Anyway, this movie falls apart something fierce when it gets into smashy smashy explosiony mode in the last act (and it doesn’t help that the big consequences of this one are completely forgotten by the time Iron Man shows up again in Avengers: Age of Ultron), but the Shane Black-iness of it all, especially the extended middle section with Stark hanging out in the garage of a smart-ass kid as he tries to rebuild his suit and his life, is great, and the few moments where Tony deals with the fallout of nearly dying at the end of Marvel's The Avengers do well highlighting his mortality and frailty in a world of superheroes.
THE ‘MY GOD THERE ARE A LOT OF CHARACTERS IN THIS BUT THEY JUST ABOUT PULL IT OFF’ ONES
6. Captain America: Civil War (2016, Joe and Anthony Russo)
In some ways, Captain America: Civil War was the end of my true fandom for Marvel movies as Marvel movies in themselves. Bit of a funny statement considering how high it shows up in these rankings, but oddly enough, no movie has crystallized my problems with the MCU as a whole more than Civil War. Pretty late in this movie, War Machine gets shot full force in the chest, has a huge hole in his armor and hits the ground at terminal velocity, causing a crater to form around him.
And he survives.
I mean, come on.
Just let someone (of consequence) die. Anyone. I don’t care. Let that play out as a real bit of moral grandstanding surrounding Vision and his artificial nature. And yeah, I know this is based on comics and no one ever dies for good in comics, but those are decades-long stories, not a two hour popcorn movie. We need stakes, stakes that establish themselves and play out within the context of the movie in front of us, and having War Machine get a hole blown through his chest and survive pretty much destroys any belief that these guys will have the guts to create some real stakes, even leading into a movie like Infinity War that seems predicated on a bunch of people dying. The movie’s fine, often good (that showdown at the end is class, and while I take issue with some aspects of Baron Zemo's character, Daniel Brühl is a solid actor for the role), but man oh man it would be so much better if they just killed Don Cheadle.
5. Marvel’s The Avengers (Joss Whedon, 2012)
The far more Whedon-y of the two Whedon Avengers movies, this is another one that starts to lose its luster a bit on repeat viewings thanks to just how little actually happens in it when you really get down to brass tacks. This movie moves at a mile a minute, throwing characters into rooms together as fast as possible so we know who everyone is and where they stand before a portal opens above New York City and everyone has to try and avert the apocalypse. This one is all about building the team, and it’s those moments, when everyone is in the same room bickering back and forth about their assumptions and their preconceived notions of who these other costumed heroes are that the movie hums with energy. I think The Avengers works better as a concept than a movie on its own (I think this about most MCU movies, to be fair), but the fact that they pulled it off in the way they did is a hell of a thing. Even some of the battle scenes are well-framed, though hopefully they’ll stay away from zooming the camera to each hero mid-battle, as that looked a little stale the second time around in Age of Ultron.
4. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014, James Gunn)
In the theater, Guardians of the Galaxy easily challenged for the top spot of the MCU rankings, but as is so often the case with these movies, it really loses something on the rebound. The first act of this movie is a nonstop blitz of Proper Names and Characters of Consequence that it can really make your head spin, and that’s coming from someone who’s read the entirety of the Abnett and Lanning run of the series and knew who everyone was before the movie started. The word salad is just awkward coming out of the actors' mouths and that takes a lot to overcome, but James Gunn at least knew enough to keep it light and hire a charismatic cast to make up for the simply absurd amount of world-building needed to establish the cosmic arm of Marvel and a five-member team of heroes and a villain all in the same movie. So yeah, the villain suffers. It’s a Marvel movie after all. And as a huge fan of Ronan the Accuser in the comics, I tried not to take that personally. And let's be real, here: some of the jokes don’t really hit (even though others certainly do). It’s honestly kind of a mess of a movie, but it’s got that sort of slapped together DIY vibe that carries it through its rough patches.
THE GOOD ONE
3. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014, Joe and Anthony Russo)
“It’s Three Days of the Condor, but with Captain America! Even Robert Redford’s there!” Sure, the 70’s paranoid government thriller comparisons are probably a little bit of a reach (especially when you get past all that stuff into its turgid action snoozer of a third act), but there’s some truly great stuff to be found in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Look no further than the sequence in a long-abandoned bunker that sees some Cold War era reel to reel computers chug to life as the disembodied soul of Arnim Zola (as well as throwing all sorts of exposition at you without making it painful) to see why Marvel and Disney have fallen so head over heels for the Russo brothers as the de facto lead directors of the franchise (taking the mantle first from Jon Favreau and then from Joss Whedon). In some ways, this is among the most consequential of the MCU movies, with the reveal that SHIELD was infiltrated by HYDRA and disbanded having ripple effects across the MCU properties on both film and television. Of course, this one has a death problem like all the MCU movies, with its rather cheap bait and switch with Nick Fury. But it also creates a compelling character in The Winter Soldier, one that pays dividends in future movies. Marvel’s “let’s turn this superhero movie into a genre film” project around phase 2 of their movies had mixed results, but this is one of the better examples of the concept working.
THE GREAT ONES
2. Black Panther (2018, Ryan Coogler)
I was tempted to give Black Panther the top spot, but recency bias is a thing we must always combat, and I’ve been fooled by the theater experience of Marvel movies before, so I’m loath to make any truly grand proclamations until I see it for a second time. But there’s so much to like about Ryan Coogler’s pop culture phenomenon. Erik Killmonger may have one of the dumbest names of any MCU villain, but he’s by far the most dynamic of the bunch. Granted, that’s honestly not that difficult considering his competition. Still, Michael B. Jordan is an incredible actor bringing the full force of his talent and charisma to his role, with the script giving him the depth needed to back up the prowess of the actor. That’s almost all you need to know, in a way. You make a great villain, and your movie shoots to the top of the list. It helps that there’s more to Black Panther than Killmonger (the way the movie turns “colonizer” into a dirty word is both a no-brainer and a stroke of genius), and on balance, this is probably the most well-rounded MCU movie of them all.
1. Iron Man (2008, Jon Favreau)
It is perhaps the biggest statement about the Marvel Cinematic Universe that after seventeen films and ten years, the first movie is still the best. The lack of expectation surely helps with that; no one really knew what we were getting into here, and while Iron Man is one of the cornerstones of the Avengers, he doesn’t exactly hold up all that well compared to the Spider-Mans and the X-Mens of the world when it comes to pop culture cache. And in some ways, we have Iron Man to blame for creating the template of “guy (because it’s never a girl, at least not until Captain Marvel comes out) becomes hero and fights evil version of himself (also a guy) as his first major test” that they’ve run into the ground with every solo hero debut, but the first iteration was clearly the best interpretation of the concept. Jeff Bridges’ Obadiah Stane again became the template for a litany of boring, underwritten heroes, but he knows how to chew the scenery and spit out menacing dialogue that he manages to be compelling up to the last battle.
And there we have it. We’ll see how Avengers: Infinity War works out in the coming days. Will the biggest and loudest (and longest) movie of the series be the best? Will the wait to throw down with Thanos be worth it? Stay tuned to find out, we'll have plenty more to talk about.
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