Back when Avengers: Age of Ultron was about to hit theaters, I ranked
the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, 11 films at the time. Now, with
Ant-Man the latest MCU release coming this weekend, I’m going to go
ahead and re-rank Marvel’s titles. I’ll have more to say about Ant-Man
than the others, of course, but essentially I’m just slotting in Paul
Rudd’s diminutive hero into the old list, particularly since this list
will continue to be in flux over the next few years. What Peyton Reed
and company accomplished with this one is worth taking note of, but 2016
and beyond offers plenty more Marvel to get excited about. As such,
this list will pop up again before long. In the meantime though, it’s
fun to see how it looks with a new movie added in.
Quickly, a few initial thoughts on Ant-Man. In short (no pun
intended), it’s quite good and works in spite of a tonal oddity. What I
mean by that is Edgar Wright’s DNA is still very much there, despite
Wright having left the project and not directing it like he initially
intended to. His script is still partially used though, so at times this
is an above average Marvel flick and at others it’s a really offbeat
pseudo Wright movie. The end result is a lot of fun, if slightly quaint
by current MCU standards. Rudd and Reed have a blast and it rubs off on
you. This isn’t as good as Marvel’s best, but it’s not nearly as far off
as you’d think.
Like last time, one thing to keep in mind is that this list is going
to change in a hurry. In less than a year, Phase Three will be in full
swing for the MCU and Kevin Feige’s big plan for cinematic world
domination. That next stage will bring Captain America: Civil War and
Doctor Strange in 2016, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, the untitled new
Spider-Man movie (rumored to be called Spider-Man: The New Avenger), and
Thor: Ragnarok in 2017, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1, Black Panther,
and Captain Marvel in 2018, and finally Avengers: Infinity War Part 2
and Inhumans in 2019. After that, I’m sure we’ll have an Ant-Man sequel
at some point, among others. Basically, expect this list to get updated
more than once in the years to come…
Here now are all of the current installments of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, ranked once again:
12. Thor: The Dark World – If this is the worst that Marvel can do,
we’re in a good place. Thoroughly acceptable but without much of a
spark, this sequel has Thor pretty much doing the same thing as in the
first one. The enjoyably larger role for Loki saves it from turning into
a slog.
11. The Incredible Hulk – More a byproduct of not knowing how to use
Hulk properly than anything else, this shows Marvel as a studio still
finding their footing in the world. The fact that it’s more or less not
referred to at all in the canon of the MCU should be telling, though
it’s not unenjoyable at all. Still, this and the title above are the
clear weak links.
10. Iron Man 2 – The one film in the series that got too concerned
with setting up The Avengers, there’s plenty to like here with Tony
Stark/Iron Man just as fun as always. At the same time though, it’s a
bare bones plot where the sequel building is unfortunately the prime
focus. It’s middle of the road for Marvel in just about every way.
9. Thor – From here on out, the titles move to the good/very
good/great range, with the God of Thunder perhaps just suffering from
being their least interesting character. There’s nothing wrong with this
movie, and the Hawkeye cameo is pretty cool, but it’s on the
forgettable side, that’s for sure.
8. Iron Man 3 – Making this the Tony Stark show as opposed to
watching him just use the suit for two hours was a top notch decision.
Besides just showcasing Robert Downey, Jr. in a big way, it mixes up the
formula, which was needed. If they make an Iron Man 4, it’ll partially
be based on the success found here.
7. Captain America: The First Avenger – A bit cheesy at times, but
intentionally so, this is the most throwback of any Marvel outing to
date. The ending is very solid, but up until then it’s basically an
unexceptional World War II tale. That doesn’t mean it isn’t good, but
it’s put to shame by its sequel, as you’ll see below.
6. Avengers: Age of Ultron – As much as this is great summer
blockbuster entertainment, I found myself hoping for a bit more. The
recent movies from Marvel (the next two down, actually) as well as the
first Avengers flick really are a cut above, so to see this just be
pretty good was a slight disappointment. Part of that might just be that
we’ve now seen the group together already, so some of the magic is
gone. Still, this is more than effective and well worth seeing.
5. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – An out of nowhere spy
thriller that could have almost come out in the 1970’s and been about
the Cold War, this was one of the MCU’s most pleasant surprises. It’s no
shock that the filmmakers here have been given the keys to the Marvel
kingdom from here on out, taking over the upcoming Avengers sequels.
4. Ant-Man – One of the sillier Marvel outings to date and a riskier
one too, this probably shouldn’t have worked, or at least not as well as
it did. The original combination of Paul Rudd working with Edgar Wright
had many pumped up, but Wright obviously left the project, ultimately
leaving it in the hands of Peyton Reed. At times Reed lets things get a
little generic, but the script is still partially credited to Wright and
it shows. His clearly influenced moments are by far the best, but it’s a
fun flick throughout. It’s at its best when the ridiculousness of the
idea isn’t being shied away from. Plus, it’s just enjoyable to watch MCU
fight scenes done on a totally different scale.
3. Guardians of the Galaxy – The biggest gamble Marvel has made since
actually setting forth with the MCU concept, this turned out to be one
of their biggest and most purely entertaining success stories. Taking
their universe and truly making it universal, this space opera of sorts
is as much Star Wars as a miniature version of The Avengers. It’s just
so much fun.
2. The Avengers – It was all leading up to this one, so it was a joy
to see just how well the meeting of Black Widow, Captain America,
Hawkeye, Hulk, Iron Man, and Thor ultimately was. Probably the biggest
superhero movie ever (at that point), it was lighter than the Batman
franchise it was opening up the same year as, and while not quite as
amazing, still more than blew audiences away.
1. Iron Man – It’s hard to beat the one that started it all. RDJ is
just perfection as the title character, setting up everything that has
come since. If he hadn’t been at the top of his game, none of this would
have turned out the same. For that alone, it’s worth heavy praise, but
this is also a nearly perfect superhero film. It stands tall among the
MCU titles so far.
Stay tuned to see where next year’s releases fall on the list when it gets updated again!
Tags: Ant-Man, Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Edgar Wright, Guardians of the Galaxy, Iron Man, IRON MAN 2, Iron Man 3, Paul Rudd, Peyton Reed, robert downey jr., The Avengers, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Thor: The Dark World
