Having watched everything in the MCU multiple times, (yes, I know the exact number of times and its embarrassing), we decided to rank them in order of general awesomeness. So from ‘Meh to Holy shit, I had a nerdgasm’. You know what we mean!
#24 Thor: The Dark World
From its overtly dramatic yet simplistic story to the total nerfing of one of Marvel’s strongest villains, the movie achieved it all. What it could not get was good reviews from the audience.
#23 The Incredible Hulk
The movie is canon. So I guess, we have to take that into account. That said, while this film’s Hulk was way more savage than Ruffalo, the film lacked a decent plot, downplayed Abomination and tried to do too many things at once.
#22 Avengers: Age Of Ultron
There are very roles where James Spader’s mysterious voice doesn’t do the trick. This was one such film. Again, Marvel tried to recreate the circumstances and the success of the first Avengers film but only managed to replicate the latter.
#21 Iron Man 2
The film veered unnecessarily into territories that it didn’t need. Did they have to establish the SHIELD and introduce Black Widow? Yes. Did they also try to further the MCU too much through this one film? Also yes. The film also sacrifices a lot of its story for its action sequences making it feel like Michael Bay made it while on grass.
#20 Thor
Basically, 3.6 Rontgen. Not good not bad. But it did establish its characters really well, as was its purpose. It was an origin movie after all.
#19 Ant-Man
It’s actually quite a fun movie. It actually has a very Christmas movie vibe going and does exceptionally well to introduce the Quantum Realm to the MCU. The only reason it’s this low is because 19-14ish are very interchangeable.
#18 Iron Man 3
The movie builds up on a lot of cool things like the Mandarin and the million Iron Man suits among other things and then just tells you LOL JK KBAI! And just like that, it’s over.
#17 Doctor Strange
The film starts off with an interesting premise but all the cool things Dr Strange does actually happens in Infinity War. This is fine because it was an origin movie. But then again, the film nerfs its big bad and instead replaces him with a CGI celestial being, who is supposed to be really powerful but it just doesn’t come across that way.
#16 Captain America: The First Avenger
Pre-serum Steve Rogers just looks weird. He looks like how the dinosaurs from 1994’s Jurassic Park look to us right now. The movie sets up his character very well but other than that, it doesn’t do much and is generally very vanilla for an action movie.
#15 Ant-Man & The Wasp
All Ant-Man movies are cool, courtesy of Paul Rudd and this ain’t any different. It introduces new cool characters and story arcs, while never forgetting that you are in the theatre to watch this movie and not the one it’s trying to set up next.
#14 Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2
Again, a very fun and unique movie but what it mostly does is recreate the magic of its predecessors. And it somewhat does. It definitely makes you cry though. Michael Rooker’s Yondu is just that good.
#13 Captain Marvel
Captain Marvel was advertised as the first female superhero extraordinaire and the film did more than enough to justify that tag. Brie Larson made an amazing Captain Marvel and a de-aged Samuel L. Jackson was also a delight to watch. The only complaint about the film was that its villains were poorly written and lacked motivation.
#12 Black Widow
The newest release in the MCU gives Natasha Romanoff’s death in Endgame so much more perspective. And Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova is a breath of fresh air. BTW, who knew our generation would be thirsting for the chubby Harrison Ford aka David Harbour.
#11 Spider-Man: Homecoming
After being introduced in Civil War, Tom Holland’s Spider-Man returns to the street to be the friendly neighbourhood guy. Holland’s portrayal of a teenage Peter Parker is very different from Tobey Maguire. That said, it is honest and a little more childish and way more fun.
#10 Spider-Man: Far From Home
Following up Endgame was a massive risk for the film, but that’s exactly what makes this film so good. Far from Home doesn’t ignore the events of its predecessors. In fact, uses Peter’s connection to the past to set up the building blocks of the new Avengers.
#09 Guardians of the Galaxy
The movie was released at a point where the MCU perhaps felt a little stale. So came these guys. And let’s be honest. Nobody expected them to go as big as they did. I mean, who knew a talking racoon would be so much fun?
#8 Thor: Ragnarok
Ragnarok is what changed the Thor franchise, a franchise that had seemed to have run out of options. Taika Waititi’s indie sensibilities and his personality seemed to have bled into the film and it shows. And even with all that going on, it still establishes Thor as a true adversary to the upcoming threat in Infinity War.
#7 Iron Man
The movie that started it all, Iron-Man literally kicked off the genre into the stratosphere. The story was grounded, the acting was honest and Robert Downey Jr. was so charismatic he could have been the devil and we would have never known.
#6 The Avengers
The world had never come together like it did when this film was released. Nerds all over the world had spent decades in agony and inside lockers waiting to see their favourite superhero team. But the news on Justice League was sketchy back then. So we got The Avengers. And it delivered. The success of the film meant that the genre was here to stay and the stakes had just gotten higher.
#5 Captain America: Civil War
It must have been difficult to follow Winter Soldier for this film series but boy, do they come close! The fight between Iron Man and Captain America goes from being a purely moral conflict to one that gets very personal very soon. Add every other superhero except Thor and Hulk to the list and we actually almost had an Avengers film.
#4 Black Panther
Arguably the most culturally significant comic book movie of all time, Black Panther inspired people like no movie before had. It was an epic story and the individual performances stood out to make the film even better. From the Late Chadwick Bossman’s T’Challa to Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger, everyone was so perfect in the film.
#3 Avengers: Endgame
The grand finale to 10 years of filmmaking. There has never been anything of this scale ever made in cinema before. This movie brought an end to the story it took 22 movies to tell. And it did more. It gave everyone who has been following the MCU a certain closure.
#2 Captain America: Winter Soldier
I had half a mind to put this at numero uno just because this was such a unique superhero film. It was more like Mission Impossible meets The Terminator. And it definitely is the coolest movie made in the MCU. This movie also proved to the world that there are no specific formulae to making superhero movies. The action scenes were also so cool that they instantly made Steve Rogers an OP character.
#01 Avengers: Infinity War
First of all, it must have taken some nerve to tell the story of one of the biggest events in comic book history from the point of view of the bad guy. This made him more complex and established him as an invincible force. And the movie ends in heartbreak, which is not usual for the MCU. Plus, the hype around this film was so great that on the first day of release, it felt like there were crowds waiting to watch Football matches outside theatres.
Of course, you can disagree on the ranking. Just don’t call me a piece of crap over this. They don’t know you exist.