Ranking the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Hello! Roly (teen son) here. I haven’t written a post in a while. So, I chose to write something I have been wanting to write about for quite a while. Today, I will be giving a thorough ranking of the MCU, or Marvel Cinematic Universe. The MCU is comprised of 13 movies and 4 TV shows. While I have not seen two of the shows (Agent Carter and Jessica Jones), I plan to start Agent Carter shortly and will add her show to the list. Keep in mind that this is my personal opinion. Most of my favorite superheros are ones whose comics I remember reading when I was 7-9.

And now, in last place is…

15. Marvel’s Agents of Shield

While a good show and revolutionary for the time, it comes in at the bottom. The show was started soon after the massive success of The Avengers. It endeavored to show the inner workings of the giant, made-up government organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D. However, unlike DC Comic’s Arrow and Man of Steel, or Gotham and Batman vs. Superman, Marvel keeps the show connected with movies and the Marvel Cinematic Universe: whatever affects the movie world affects the TV world, because it is the same world. It also means that movie characters such as Lady Sif and Nick Fury can make appearances on the show. However, due to budget, and scheduling conflicts, this rarely happens. This makes the show at times feel like a missed opportunity. Another thing this show suffers from is unrealistic and all too-frequent fight scenes. Most of them involve the shows resident ninja Melinda May, who can do the most ridiculous feats, all without superpowers, and render an opponent unconscious with a single ballet-style kick. This show perfectly demonstrates how stretching the action (and story) of a 2 hour movie over 22 episodes doesn’t always work. Overall, while good, the show had a gradually improving first season, a great second season, and a slightly disappointing third season.

14. Avengers: Age of Ultron

Though better than Agents of Shield, it is still by far the most disappointing Marvel movie. When I say better, I mean barely, and that is with characters such as Hulk, Iron man, Scarlet Witch, and Ultron himself. This movie is out-shined easily by DC’s Man of Steel, which was at least expected not to be that good. I will start off in my cutting down of the movie with the villain. You might think, how good of a villain can a robot be? Well apparently, not good at all. Ultron is literally every non-human villain in the history of cinema. He spouts off predictable lines like “the human race needs correcting” constantly. By the end of the movie you think he will make the human race die of boredom. While it does introduce Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, any average person who knows anything about the comics is simply waiting for them to join the Avengers. The worst part of the movie is the comedy. In trying to copy the first Avengers movie, Joss Whedon tried to add plenty of comedy to keep it light, while it didn’t need to be in the first place. What ended up happening was failed joke after failed joke. In summary, this movie was a failure.

13. Iron Man 2

Considered by many to be the worst movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this movie is another example of a failed sequel. However dull it might be at times, it did probably do the most of any of the first five Marvel Cinematic Universe movies to set up The Avengers. The movie did introduce War Machine, but more than made up for him with it’s horrible villains.

12. Thor

Unlike the past 3 entries on the list, this movie did everything right. It had good casting, a storyline that was reasonably faithful to the comics, and it introduced Hawkeye. This movie even introduced the best villain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Loki. No matter how good it sounds, it ended up falling short. Anybody who reads the comics will know that Thor is not the most interesting of superheroes. Thor is worth watching, even though it’s not one of the best.

Thor: The Dark World

11. Thor: the Dark World

The second Thor movie was, like the first, a solid movie. The best part about Thor: the Dark World (like the first Thor) is Loki; but this time, he isn’t the villain. The real villain of the movie is Malekith, the Dark-Elf who nobody knows about. Overall, like the first movie, I don’t have much to say about this one, except that it’s good.

10. Captain America the Winter Soldier

I will get hate from many Marvel fans for this one, I know. After The Winter Soldier came out, it was hailed as the greatest Marvel movie in the studio’s history. While it has been over a year since I saw it, I feel no real need to watch it again any time soon. Somehow, with all it’s action, and what sounds like a solid plot line, it managed to bore me. Most of the praise this movie gets is for destroying S.H.I.E.L.D., This was admittedly a brave move, and one that you would think would change the Marvel Cinematic Universe forever. However, though it sounds important, it really does little to change the MCU at all. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. seems to undo everything the movies do. First, they resurrect Phil Coulson and then S.H.I.E.L.D. itself. At least, Grant Ward is still dea…. oh wait, never mind.

9. Captain America the First Avenger

This is the part of my list where the movies start to go from worth watching when it comes on Netflix, to going to the theater to watch. Next to Iron Man 2, this movie did the most to set up The Avengers. As one might tell from the title, Captain America did something most other movies would only accomplish with time-travel (something I hope never comes to the MCU); it took movie-goers back in time. It does an incredible job giving Captain America’s backstory. It makes one of Marvel’s less interesting characters into the Superhero the comics have been trying to make him.

8. The Incredible Hulk

I will just assume that I am the only one who would have this movie as high as it is on a list of top Marvel Cinematic Universe shows. To many, this is the worst, or second worst, in the MCU. While I think some of the higher-number movies on this list might be better overall movies, that can’t erase how much I like the character of Hulk. The movie does an amazing job of bringing the Hulk into the MCU. Of the three different actors who have played Hulk/ Bruce Banner, two of which are in the MCU, Edward Norton is my favorite. Another thing I wonder is how this movie will affect the Netflix shows. Daredevil frequently makes passing mention to The Avengers. In fact, the destruction of New York spilled over into Hell’s Kitchen enough to make Wilson Fisk (the bad guy of Daredevil season 1) start his “Better Tomorrow” campaign. But while The Avengers battle was more in Manhattan and Hell’s Kitchen, the Hulk’s battle with Abomination was in Harlem, the setting of the upcoming Netflix show Luke Cage.

7. Captain America Civil War

And now, the movies enter into the “MUST WATCH, NOW” category. In fact, Captain America Civil War is so good that it pained me to put it so low. This movie did more for the Marvel Cinematic Universe than the MCU’s first 5 movies combined . Civil War boasts the largest number of MCU superheroes in a single movie. Not only did it introduce The Superhero Registration Act, or as the movie calls it, “The Sokovia Accords, (in reference to the city that The Avengers dropped out of the sky in Avengers: Age of Ultron), but it also introduced the most famous superhero in the Marvel comics. Yes, Sony finally gave Marvel Studios partial rights to Spider-Man, after their (Sony’s) failure, The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Until now, the MCU had a hole in it where Spider-Man should have been. While it still is left with many holes (thanks Fox!), who cares about Mutants (X-Men) when you can have Spider-Man. But wait. There’s more! Not only did it introduce Spider-Man, but also Black Panther. Black Panther is to me the best character in Captain America Civil War. He is motivated by his fathers death, seeks vengeance for it, and is the only superhero who sticks to his morals alone. Oh, and one more thing: TEAM CAP!

6. Ant-Man

Ant Man barely makes it higher on my list than Captain America: Civil War. It went with no hype whatsoever, and yet was so shockingly good. In the Marvel comics, there were two men who were Ant Man. The movie showed us the lesser know of the two, Scott Lang. The action, the humor, and fast pace make the movie enjoyable. Louis, Scott/Ant Man’s hilarious friend gives two of the funniest and most memorable scenes in the movie and really steals the show.

5. Iron Man 3

Iron Man 3 committed the biggest comic sacrilege in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it is still somehow one of my favorites. Iron Man 3 got loads of attention for its shocking Mandarin twist. The twist revealed Iron Man’s biggest comic book foe to be nothing more than an actor! The MCU Mandarin was just a junkie named Trevor who signed up to do fake terrorism for free drugs. While this did pain me at first, I now realize how the Mandarin and his ten rings would take much more than one movie to set up. Not to mention how the ten rings, if introduced, could even rival the Infinity Stones, which is the main subplot of the MCU. After thinking about it, it is no wonder Marvel Studios didn’t want to introduce an Avengers level villain into an Iron Man movie. The movie, even without the true Mandarin, managed to be a great start to phase 2 which took us from the aftermath of the destruction of New York in The Avengers through the events leading to Captain America Civil War and phase 3.

4. Guardians of the Galaxy

Nobody would have believed that Guardians of the Galaxy would have been as good as it was. It is Marvel Studio’s first movie that could qualify as a comedy. The movie gives us a group of galactic criminals who join together for separate reasons to stop Ronan the Destroyer, the villain of the film. Ronan would be a mediocre villain, if not for his direct connection to Thanos. Thanos is the biggest villain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and was responsible for Loki. Thanos is even shown several times in the film and has several lines. Guardians of the Galaxy centers around trying to stop Ronan from getting one of the 6 Infinity Stones; something that until this movie, the MCU had only made passing references to. The movie is a fun comedy in most parts, and a true Marvel movie at all times. If you need one scene to represent the whole film, Star Lord challenging Ronan to a dance off would be it.

3. The Avengers

The biggest thing in superhero movie history, it took 5 movies to set up the most important team in all of comic books. The Avengers could have ended Marvel Studios if it had failed. It is what the billions of dollars had all led up to, and if it had failed, it would have meant that all those solo movies had been for nothing. We might never have had all the amazing MCU movies that followed. But obviously it didn’t fail. The Avengers was one of the biggest successes in movie history. It brought Loki into a movie good enough for his great character. The battle at the end of the movie also was the main reason for the second best villain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Wilson Fisk (who was trying to rebuild New York after the battle destroyed it) who is featured in Daredevil, which has to count for something..

2. Iron Man

The movie that started it all and introduced us to the Marvel Cinematic Universe was Iron Man. Robert Downey Jr. is, in my opinion, and I know many other people’s, the only Iron Man that there ever could be. In the comics, Iron Man was a product of the War in Vietnam. The movie takes Iron Man’s story from the jungles of Vietnam and places him in the center of the current War in Afghanistan when he gets captured, making the story more contemporary. Even if The Avengers had failed, the MCU would still have given us the best superhero movie ever. .

1. Daredevil

The final Superhero on this list is the only one who is more vigilante than superhero. Daredevil has no lazers, no iron suit, no gamma radiation, no magic hammer, no web-shooters, no super-soldier serum, and no vibranium suit. In fact, he’s blind. His alter-ego, Matt Murdock is not a billionaire. He’s a lawyer who works in a firm with no clients. Daredevil did everything right that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. did wrong. Instead of wasting time on meaningless fight scenes that are completely unbelievable, Daredevil spends most of it’s minutes on developing it’s characters. In fact, it goes so far as to show Matt Murdock’s favorite bar, the church he attends, where he goes to work out, and his rival law firm. But don’t worry about the time it takes away from fancy fight scenes; it more than makes up for it. One of the things that Daredevil has gotten famous for is it’s extremely realistic fights; some of which are more straight up murders (bowling ball, car-door, hammer, all those throat slices). When the show isn’t bashing brains out, it’s regular fights are unique in themselves. In Daredevil, it takes about 15-30 punches to knock someone out and the hero gets scars that last into the next shows. Speaking of the next season, Season 2 of Daredevil introduced both Punisher and Electra. Since it is on Netflix, this show is limitless in what it can show which helps bring the Punisher to life, without being filled with ridiculous amounts of gore (like that scene in the 2008 non-MCU Punisher movie where he makes a man’s head explode simply by punching it.) Daredevil also gives any other superhero who does not fit into the PG-13 category, a place on Netflix. Daredevil has always been one of my favorite superheroes. Marvel Studios brings him to life and shows us why Marvel is still the best when it comes to movies, and now TV shows.

And finally, here is everything so far, and everything yet to come, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Keep on the lookout for Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Spider-Man Homecoming, Thor Ragnarok, Black Panther, Avengers Infinity War Part 1, Ant Man and the Wasp, Captain Marvel, and Avengers Infinity War Part 2. For all of you fans of Marvel’s tv shows, keep on the lookout for Agents of Shield Season 4, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones Season 2, Iron Fist, The Defenders, Daredevil Season 3, The Punisher, and Cloak and Dagger.

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