Top Ten Movies in the
Marvel Cinematic Universe (All Ten films released so far ranked from worst to
best)
The highly
anticipated Avengers: Age of Ultron comes
out on May 1st, marking the eleventh film entry in the Marvel
Cinematic Universe (or MCU for short). Marvel has had some ups and downs since
launching this huge interconnected franchise of films and TV shows, and now it’s
time to rank them from worst to best. Warning:
spoilers for all ten films ahead.
10. Thor: The Dark World (2013)
This follow-up to both The
Avengers and the first Thor is perhaps
the most inconsequential film in the MCU so far. Before I get into what’s wrong
with Thor: The Dark World, let me
point out the good parts. Thor actually fights a lot of bad guys this time and
there’s more action than in the first Thor.
Loki returns and is more of a trickster this time around, which is truer to his
character in the comics. He has a lot of great scenes with Thor, and this is
probably the best aspect of the whole film. The signature Marvel humour is at
full force, but at some points it becomes a little too silly to be enjoyable if
you’re over the age of ten. The plot is centered on defeating the dark elf
Malekith, who’s the most one-dimensional stock villain ever. He’s trying to get
the Aether, some mysterious substance that’s one of the infinity stones which
is important for setting up Avengers:
Infinity War, but in this storyline it comes off as just another MacGuffin.
If there isn’t an action scene happening, and if Thor and Loki aren’t
interacting, it’s pretty dull. Almost nothing in this film impacts the Marvel
universe. Of all ten of these films, this is the one I liked the least not just
the first time, but upon repeated viewings. It still has moments of fun and
entertaining action, it just doesn’t live up to the quality of previous
installments in the MCU.
9. Iron Man 2 (2010)
One of the things Marvel has done so well is deliver great standalone
films that also tie in directly to other films in the universe and setup future
events. Iron Man 2 handles the
introduction of new characters, tie-ins to other films, and setup of future
films with a lack of ease. We get properly introduced to Nick Fury, as well as
Natasha Romanoff, who’s undercover for S.H.I.E.L.D, and we learn more about
James Rhodes, who gets his own suit of armour and becomes War Machine. Ivan
Vanko, the big bad who uses the arc reactor technology to make weapons of his
own and has a personal grudge against Tony Stark, poses the biggest problem.
Justin Hammer, a weapons manufacturer, helps out Vanko, who tries to take down
Stark, but together with Rhodes, they defeat both of them. Vanko is a
disappointing villain, who’s too easily dispatched at the end, and the film
lacks the focus the first Iron Man had.
Coming off the hugely successful and popular first film, it’s not surprising
that Iron Man 2 was seen as mostly a step
down, but I still enjoy it. The character of Tony Stark is further developed,
while also delivering enough Iron Man action, and Don Cheadle easily slips into
the role of Rhodes, even though I liked Terence Howard better. Overall, Iron Man 2 serves as further setup for
the MCU, but still has enough entertaining scenes to make it mostly good on its
own.
8. The Incredible Hulk (2008)
After 2003’s Hulk,
expectations for another Hulk film were so low, just about anything would have
seemed better than that abomination.
As it turned out, The Incredible Hulk
was better, and it re-introduced
Bruce Banner/The Hulk (played this time by Edward Norton) without an origin
story, as well as introduced the mutated monstrosity Abomination, who was a
much more formidable enemy than anything in the 2003 film. Unfortunately, The Incredible Hulk doesn’t have the
same re-watchability factor that other Marvel films have, but it still succeeds
in multiple ways. The Hulk is formidable and actually does some damage this
time around, as does Abomination, and the final fight is pretty awesome. The
filmmakers still managed to work in some humour, despite an overall more serious
tone, and it makes a great connection to Iron
Man at the end (which only came out a month earlier). Where it falls short
is the inconsequentiality of the overall story. When I think back to The Incredible Hulk, I don’t remember
much about the characters or story beyond the basic elements. The film served
more as a re-launch of the character, and it did manage to do that, but not
having Edward Norton continue in the role was disappointing (until Mark Ruffalo
blew everyone away in The Avengers). Its
lack of impact on the MCU, which was still early in development (this was only
the second film, remember) is ultimately what makes it less memorable.
7. Iron Man 3 (2013)
The Avengers was a
tough act to follow, and while I was initially kind of disappointed by Iron Man 3, I respect a lot of the risks
director Shane Black took with the story and the character, and while not all
of them worked, Iron Man 3 is not
without great moments. The scene that stands out to me is when the helicopters
shoot down Tony Stark’s house and it crumbles into the ocean (the scene teased
in all the trailers). This was an extremely well-directed action sequence, and
the visual effects achieve the quality that fans have come to expect from Iron Man films. Speaking of Iron Man,
that was one of the problems with this three-quel. We got a lot of Tony Stark,
but not much of him in the suit. This wouldn’t have been as forgivable if RDJ
wasn’t so damn likeable and entertaining, both inside and outside the armour. The
big twist of course with the Mandarin went over like a lead balloon, but it was
a ballsy misdirection and genuinely surprising, even if for the wrong reason. In
the end, Iron Man 3 lacks the power of
Phase One Tony Stark, and the plot is uneven, but it still delivers enough
action to be worthwhile for Marvel die-hards.
6. Thor (2011)
Of all the principal Marvel heroes, Thor was my
least-favourite as a kid. First of all, he’s a god? It was too much a fantasy
element in contrast to the more science-fiction-based Marvel stories I loved
like Spider-Man and Hulk and Fantastic Four. Second, his outfit looked ridiculous. That hat with
the wings sticking off it, and a big billowing cape, and a tiny little hammer
for a weapon? Lame! And third, Thor had no famous enemies that I knew of. I was
semi-familiar with Loki, and that was all. But when trailers for Marvel’s Thor origin film started coming out, I
realized he looked a lot more badass than I remembered from comics and cartoons
as a kid, and I gave the film a shot. Thor
successfully brought the hero to the mainstream in a way that everyone
enjoyed and accepted. They gave him a much cooler getup, did an effective job
of connecting Asgard to the larger galactic picture, as well as to earth, and
blending those sci-fi and fantasy elements, and introduced Loki as a good guy
who becomes a bad guy (and would return for Avengers
a year later). But most importantly, Thor
had the sense of humour needed for skeptics (like me) to buy into the hero
and this huge world he’s a part of, and Chris Hemsworth made Thor a cooler dude
than he ever was in the comics.
5. Captain America: The First Avenger
(2011)
When I first heard Chris Evans was going to be playing Steve
Rogers/Captain America, I thought it was a bad casting choice and I wasn’t
really interested in the film. He had already played The Human Torch in two Fantastic Four films (which weren’t so
fantastic) and much like Thor, I never really cared for Captain America (not
just because I’m Canadian). I still went to see it, and while I can’t say I was
blown away, I left feeling genuinely surprised and satisfied that Captain America: The First Avenger was
another great Marvel film. They had a lot of back story and ground to cover to
get Cap up to speed for The Avengers,
and it took me a few viewings to appreciate how well they did with delivering a
solid story while also tying it in to the ever-expanding MCU. Chris Evans was
great as Cap, and I’ve since forgotten about him as Human Torch. Of all the
films in the MCU, I think this is the one that got better with repeated
viewings. It’s a period piece and a war drama at its core, but it still has the
Marvel essentials and delivers a good enough story on its own without solely
relying on setting up The Avengers.
4. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
(2014)
After the Captain
America origins story and then seeing him thrust into The Avengers, I was interested but not thrilled about seeing the
character again. After The Winter Soldier,
Captain America launched to the top of my favourite Marvel heroes list (right
below Iron Man, of course) and this sequel proved to be yet another home run
for Marvel. The signature Marvel humour and fun is still ever-present, but
bringing back Bucky Barnes as the brainwashed Winter Solider and having Hydra
take over S.H.I.E.L.D added darker elements and higher stakes to the story, and
the resulting team-up between Cap and Black Widow made me understand both
characters more and root for both of them more than I did even in The Avengers. With the origins out of
the way, Marvel was clever to take Captain America in a new direction and make The Winter Soldier a spy thriller on top
of still being an action adventure film, which made it feel fresh and exciting,
and added further anticipation for Age of
Ultron. This was the first Phase Two film that I thought was better than
just great—it was marvellous (no pun intended).
3. The Avengers (2012)
Not only did The
Avengers pose a daunting challenge for writer/director Joss Whedon, but
expectations were already high just based on the premise of bringing together
Iron Man, The Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, and Hawkeye and having
them all in one film. No studio had ever attempted a superhero film this epic
and this bold, but leave it to Marvel Studios to be the first to assemble a
giant team of heroes, and do so in the best way possible. Loki opening a portal
over New York City and bringing through an alien army certainly warranted such
a team-up, and while some of the elements of the story are familiar (we’ve seen
aliens invade and destroy a city how many times in a movie?) the chemistry (and
hostility) between all these heroes is what makes you buy into the whole thing.
Add to that a charismatic villain, top-notch visual effects, loads of hilarious
jokes and moments, and you have the makings of one of the best superhero films
of all-time. I definitely loved The
Avengers as much as everyone else, but I did feel there were a few things
that could have been improved, and this is just one of the reasons I’m so
excited for Avengers: Age of Ultron,
which will likely turn out to be even better than this first-ever Avengers
Assembly.
2. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
What do you get when you take a rogue Han Solo-like
character, a green-skinned alien assassin, a grey-skinned brute out to avenge
the death of his family, a talking Raccoon with an affinity for weapons and
crass jokes, and a walking, talking tree with a limited vocabulary and the
biggest heart of them all, and you put them all in a movie with aliens that
include pink and blue skinned creatures, a guy with a giant hammer (who isn’t
Thor), another guy who collects stuff from all over the universe, and Howard
the Duck? You get Guardians of the Galaxy!
Marvel took a huge risk by putting together this rag tag group of
sort-of-heroes no one had ever heard of before, but they got the perfect cast
(Chris Pratt is now in the conversation for every big role it seems), hired the
perfect writer/director (James Gunn is returning to do Guardians of the Galaxy 2), and went all-out with the humour and
self-awareness to the point that it almost becomes more of a comedy than a
superhero film, but in a good way. The craziest part is that everything came
together and it all works so well. The film went from what I thought looked
weird and might be Marvel’s first misfire to my second favourite (a very close
second) Marvel film to date. Most people
seemed to enjoy Avengers more over Guardians, and perhaps expectations
influenced my enjoyment of one over the other, but what I enjoyed most was how
different Guardians felt from
everything else Marvel has done.
1. Iron Man (2008)
The film that launched the MCU, re-launched Robert Downey
Jr. into stardom, and kicked off what has become one of the biggest film
franchises of all-time, the first Iron
Man is not only my favourite film in the MCU, but one of my favourite
superhero films ever. It’s easy to forget that virtually everyone who wasn’t a
comic geek didn’t even know who Iron Man was before 2008. Director Jon Favreau
balanced the action, visual effects, and spectacle of the Iron-suited hero with
his equally exciting alter ego Tony Stark—arguably the best-cast superhero role
since Michael Keaton as Batman. RDJ delivers clever dialogue, his interactions
with the other characters are hysterical, and seeing his rise from a man who
builds weapons and reaps the benefits for himself to a hero who turns himself into a weapon, but
one that’s designed to save mankind, is truly fascinating. The elements we’ve
come to expect from Marvel films originate here, with the blend of action and
explosions with one liners and laugh-out-loud moments. It may be nearly
impossible for any future film in the MCU to be able to surpass Iron Man for me (Age of Ultron has a good shot), but one thing is for sure, all
subsequent Marvel films owe their success to this, the one that started it all.
MCU image from www.comicbookmovie.com
Posters from www.wikipedia.org
No comments:
Post a Comment