Fanboys Anonymous

Welcome to the Fanboys Anonymous ranked list of all the films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe!

This list will be updated after each new film comes out for as long as the foreseeable future, comparing each and every movie the MCU has had to each other and keeping track of the tally from time to time.

Disney+ series will be counted in a way where each season will act as one entry on this list.

Once in a while, there will be adjustments made upon repeated viewings and future films being added into the list.

** RANKINGS AS OF JULY 2024 **

[S-TIER MCU]

1. Iron Man (2008)

This and #2 are essentially tied to me, but I have to give the slight edge to the film that started it all, set the tone for everything to follow and did it without anything ahead of time to rest on.

Iron Man is just so goddamn good. All of the characters are engaging, the plot is incredibly tight and sound and has no superfluous elements while also managing to set up SO many factors of what's to come in the future, the humor is there, the action is there....it's just pretty much flawless.

2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

The only reason Captain America: The Winter Soldier is #2 is because it couldn't exist without a handful of movies to set up the elements that pay off, similar to how you can argue Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope is better than Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back for the same reason, or The Godfather Part II relies upon The Godfather to execute half the story's setup.

Other than that, this movie is the one that I think is the most ambitious to change the tone and become something beyond a superhero film. It's a travesty that it wasn't nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay that year at the Academy Awards as I think it's one of the best political spy action films ever made while also setting the benchmark for how Phase 2 doesn't need to be just a repeat of Phase 1.

First impressions movie reviews here and here.

3. Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

I know that this is hard to say, because it's the freshest at the time that I'm adding this in there (but, then again, so are the majority of these, as I started this back when Doctor Strange or something came out) but this was just balls to the wall fun the entire time.

It had the benefit of having 10 years to build up to this point and it really felt like the first part of the culmination of that in so many ways, that even though the film itself doesn't 100% come off like a "complete film" on its own, it's not supposed to, and I think that if we judge this based on the merits of what it was trying to accomplish, they knocked it out of the park. I'm SO pumped for the next film to finish off this storyline, and I have a feeling when it happens, I'm going to have to put it here tied with this as one big movie, rather than separate.

First impressions movie review here.

4. Avengers: Endgame (2019)

I don't know if this is as rewatchable as some of the other movies until I watch it for at least a second time, but holy hell, this film took me for a ride.

I feel so sad, but happy-sad, similar to how it feels to go through the series finale of a television show that has been on for a decade, even though we know things will continue for some of the characters.

Sure, I can nitpick some stuff that I didn't love 100%, or that I wish they would have included but didn't (like no Living Tribunal), but there were so many things I actually teared up about. For instance, Cap wielding Mjolnir and saying "Avengers assemble" with a MASSIVE army of characters behind him, to the little emotional moments like Happy Hogan saying "your dad liked cheeseburgers" and....UGH....so good....SO GOOD....

"Awesome" is a word that has lost meaning, because it became a variant of "cool" instead of something wildly impressive beyond conception. As Thor says in Infinity War, this end of an 11 year journey was truly awesome, as I am in awe of how they pulled this off.

First impressions movie review here.

5. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Who would have guessed such a ridiculous movie would be so beloved? I went into this film expecting it to be the first bomb that couldn't possibly work, but it's just such a fun movie from start to finish that it's hard not to rank it up high.

Some movies on this list struggle to give you interesting characters to get attached to, but this movie managed to make every single one of the main cast (save for Ronan) someone you want to see more of, even though one of them is a tree that speaks five words and another is a raccoon.

This is also chock-full of Easter eggs like the Celestials, Howard the Duck and all sorts of things that were blowing my mind when I saw it in theaters. Never did I think we'd get to this point in superhero films where it could get that deep and geeky and it would be accepted as quality entertainment instead of just nerd noise, but they pulled it off. 

First impressions movie review here and here.

[A-TIER MCU]

6. Marvel's The Avengers (2012)

There are elements to this movie that don't work as strong as a standalone film, but when you consider it to be Act III of the setup of previous movies where it's predominantly just the fallout action set pieces, it's just so fun.

This film changed the movie industry forever, like it or not. It proved that such a monumental task could be accomplished and that the end result wouldn't be a total mess, but could still be an enjoying ride.

7. Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Here's a case where so much of this is just bonkers awesome, but there are a few problems that put it below the other films.

For instance, Baron Zemo sucks. His plan is one of those film-specific things that is dependent upon the plot happening exactly how it does, which makes no sense when you start to analyze it.

But man is this a geek's dream for a lot of reasons. Hinting at a relationship between Vision and Scarlet Witch? Tony and Steve arguing? Steve finally kissing Sharon while his two best buds give him a "dude, nice" head nod? Black Panther being the shit. Spider-Man being Spider-Man again! GIANT-MAN. We get a payoff of Stark's parents being killed by Winter Soldier. We get Crossbones. We get The Raft prison! Thunderbolt Ross is back. Aaaaaaah.

First impressions movie reviews here and here.

8. Black Panther (2018)

I rank this above Spider-Man: Homecoming as far as pure quality goes, but not in terms of what I think will be rewatchability. What this movie lacks in the fun of putting it on at any time and sitting through it, it makes up for in terms of just being so well-rounded.

First impressions movie review here.

9. Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

This movie ranks so high based almost purely on fan service. Fundamentally, as a film, it's not as good as some of the other ones higher up on this list for a standalone piece. But holy shit does it make the nerd in me squeak over combining all the previous Spider-Man films together.

All of the characters serve a purpose and stand out in their own ways, the themes tackled in it are heavy but done in a very sophisticated way to avoid snagging any troubles, and it's just damn good. Upon seeing it, my initial reaction was that I had almost nothing negative to say about it at all, which is just amazing, and I'm so glad to see that the reception it's received has been positive by the vast majority.

I feel like this is a movie that even people who aren't well-versed in the MCU could still enjoy, whereas plenty of other ones on this list require you to have done your research ahead of time.

First impressions movie review here.

[B-TIER MCU]

10. Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

I love nearly every aspect of it. I still find it frustrating that they had Michelle say to call her MJ and why they felt the need to not write Liz Allan to be Liz Allan (and for her to be Vulture's daughter...they just couldn't resist doing that, just like the Terminator series wanted desperately to make John Connor a Terminator...ugh) - but the tone of this movie is perfect for a Spider-Man film.

I feel like this is a movie I'll be revisiting in the future and enjoying just as much, as it seems like it has a lot of rewatch value. I may have to adjust this up or down after a second viewing, but we'll see what happens and cross that barrier when the time comes.

First impressions movie reviews here and here.

11. Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)

Solid movie that has some of the same problems as Homecoming, in that I still don't like how certain characters like MJ and Flash are plotted out, and I don't like throwing away the Nick Fury and Maria Hill characters with the Skrull finish kind of reshapes the whole movie (especially since I don't like how the MCU has "good Skrulls" and all), but I absolutely loved Mysterio's fight sequences with the illusions, I think they did a great job with the character as a whole, the story was interesting enough and I still enjoyed the movie a lot.

First impressions movie review here.

12. Thor (2011)

I get why people can dislike the human characters and feel like the New Mexico stuff feels like everything is on a minimal sound stage, but the Asgard content in this movie and the story itself of Thor becoming a hero is one of the best things the MCU has put out.

Loki's story is amazing. The integration of S.H.I.E.L.D is perfect for what they needed to be going forward. Hawkeye's cameo is a bit meh, but hey, it's Hawkeye! There's tons of funny moments in the movie and this was the first to step outside of the comfort zone of being more grounded in reality, and we all bought into it without thinking twice that aliens could be doing all sorts of crazy stuff.

13. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

On repeated viewings, I've liked this film more and more over the years, but I do find some sections of it to be a bit underwhelming.

In my mind, Red Skull isn't as captivating of a villain as others think. He kind of just has two scenes with Captain America and that's it.

The same goes for the romance between Peggy and Steve, which feels better in retrospect now that we've had Peggy appear in more films and the Agent Carter spinoff. Now, I buy into their love, but in The First Avenger, it felt rushed.

Bucky is good, though, and the world-building was decent. There's interesting little bits and pieces all throughout the movie—whether it's the reference to The Human Torch or it's just how tasty the steak and potatoes look—and it holds up.

14. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

A lot of people shit on this movie and I don't quite understand why. Is it perfect? By no means. Is it awful? Absolutely not.

The biggest problem this film faces is that it has to cram in so much that it loses track of a few elements. For example, what's up with Thor's prophetic water dip? That just felt so strange seeing that for the first time and it seemed more like a necessary means to set something up for the future without serving much of a point in this individual film itself.

Quicksilver's death sucks, but where was the character going to go in the future? Plus, people say Marvel doesn't have the balls to kill a character and keep them dead. Well, have you seen him come back yet? Nope.

Ultron didn't measure up to the severity of an evil villain threat that he normally is, I'll admit that. We got Klaue, so that's cool. Also, we got to see The Avengers acting like The Avengers, along with S.H.I.E.L.D. stepping in for a cool scene at the end where we don't leave Rhodes out of the mix, nor even the one tech who supported Cap in The Winter Soldier. Nice touch.

I love parts of this movie for the references. Is Dr. Cho the mother of Amadeus? Does the healing skin machine come from Extremis technology? Vision as a byproduct of the Mind Stone is awesome. Even better, one of my favorite scenes of anything in the MCU is the characters all standing around, trying to pick up Thor's hammer, with Cap making it budge. That's how it should be!

First impressions movie reviews here and here. 

15. Ant-Man (2015)

I feel like an extra 20 minutes or so could have really helped this movie by bulking out some of the thinner elements, like the relationship between Hope and Scott.

It's funny, but the funniest part is Michael Pena. The powers are interesting, but I don't know how they can make a second film without retreading familiar ground. I applaud them for pulling off a Scott Lang film rather than a Hank Pym one, which worried me to no end at first, but I also just think it isn't one of the strongest entries.

Ant-Man works best as a break between the bigger and more standard films just to take a breath of fresh air with something different.

First impressions movie reviews here and here.

16. Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

If we're looking at these in terms of episodes of a television show, this is one of those entries where it was a lot of fun and enjoyable as well as a big step up from its predecessor (Thor: The Dark World, not Spider-Man: Homecoming) but at the same time, it annoys me that they killed off The Warriors Three and that they didn't give me more information about the impending threat of Thanos, which of course might be things that I change my opinions about once we see future installments and see where this is all heading.

All in all, this is a very fun movie seeing Thor and Hulk team up, and I enjoy some of the additions and some of the tweaks to how things were told in the MCU, but I can't help but also feel like it was a random offshoot rather than something that has the same gravitas as the first Thor or something like The Winter Soldier. The jokier these movies get, the less weight I give them.

First impressions movie review here.

17. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)

Hm...I don't know if this is too high at 17 from my initial viewing. It might be adjusted down the line. But stepping out of the theater, I enjoyed this as an overall film quite a bit. It lacks the same punch that some other MCU projects have where I feel like they're building to something bigger, but then again, this was the culmination of a trilogy, so it did its job focusing on that.

It has a lot of heart to it, and I appreciate how it wasn't doing what Love and Thunder does, where it acts like every heartfelt moment has to be sandwiched between 3 jokes. James Gunn just lets you feel sad for parts of this, as you should feel.

I'm disappointed we won't get more of High Evolutionary, but I also think he probably already served his purpose, so that's ultimately okay. This ending left me satisfied that if they don't do anything more with these characters again, I'll mostly be okay with that. I still don't quite get why Mantis left like she did, and I think Adam Warlock was done dirty and needs to show up more, but we'll see.

Functionally, this movie doesn't touch Vol 1, but I think it tells an overall better story than Vol 2.

18. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

Not as good as the first, but they had a lot of mountains to climb and it still managed to be rock solid while juggling everything, rather than crumbling to pieces. I commend them.

Shuri isn't my favorite character, but she managed to step up and fill more of the gap left behind from T'challa than I would have imagined.

Speaking of characters that aren't my favorite, Namor. "An even shittier Aquaman" is how I always really looked at the character, for the most part. He worked super well here and wasn't something to be laughed at. I enjoyed him well enough that I want to see the character return in future installments for some bit parts here and there, even if I'm not particularly interested in seeing him as the primary antagonist of another film, or as the protagonist of his own feature length movie. A Special Presentation hour? Sure. Totally. But you're not going to hear me pitching that we need Namor vs. Tiger Shark in Phase 5 when we still don't have X-Men.

I loved some bits and pieces here, like the Ancestral Plane scene and how badass Okoye always is. Queen Ramonda leveled up to a whole new tier in the MCU pantheon. She was great. M'Baku is awesome, as always. I liked Riri more than I thought I would, even though I still feel like she's a character I'm not too interested in seeeing a full show about.

Some stuff could have used a punch-up. I was underwhelmed with Lake Bell's part not being something more interesting. Everett Ross ultimately felt like more of a cameo than someone who contributed much to the story.

Clearly, this would have been a much different movie had Chadwick Boseman not passed away. I really wish we could have seen that instead, and I'm curious to know what would have changed. But given the monumental task they had with this, I think they pulled it off.

19. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law Season 1 (2022)

Everyone complaining that this wasn't the type of show they were hoping for was probably going into this without having any idea what She-Hulk was like in the comics.

Tone-wise, this was exactly what I wanted. They had fourth-wall breaks, legitimately funny jokes (for my tastes) and they built on established lore and continued moving some things forward, like with the reveal that The Sokovia Accords is over and such.

Some parts didn't land as well as they could have, and there were some missed opportunities, but when you do a comedy like this, I enjoy it much more than when you take a more serious thing and make it overly humorous, like Thor: Love and Thunder.

I'm down for a season 2.

20. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)

Much better than the previous film (which you'll find rather low on this list). This was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the Illuminati content, the story was quick but not rushed, it went more heavily into the horror stuff, which was great for differentiating it, and it was all around just a thumbs up experience. My only real gripe is that I wish Nightmare had been pulling the strings as puppet-master for Wanda to make her more redeemable and that I wish I was spoiled with even more cameos, as I couldn't have gotten enough of those.

First impressions movie review here.

[C-TIER MCU]

21. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)

I was surprised at how good this was. It's not something I'll jump first to in terms of rewatching if I have an itch to see something from the MCU, but it was thoroughly entertaining and checked off pretty much every box. 

First impressions movie review here.

22. Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

Fun, interesting, and entertaining, but while I enjoyed the movie, I don't think it stands alone as being on par with some of the heavyweights above. It was pretty generic in some ways, and I don't think it's as rewatchable as some of the other movies, so I just simply can't rate it all that super high.

First impressions movie review here.

23. The Incredible Hulk (2008)

Liv Tyler was a fantastic Betty and I really want them to bring her back. I'm glad this movie acted as a sort of sequel to the original Ang Lee film without making it a TRUE sequel to it, as it didn't need to go over the exact same plot points, but just repackage a few of them in a different way.

Outside of a few decisions here and there in its execution, this is honestly the exact movie I would have made if someone told me to do a Hulk film at that point in time.

You're not wrong in thinking that it's a weaker entry, but I think if you act like it's an atrocious film, you're beating it up too much.

24. Iron Man 2 (2010)

A lot of the flack from Iron Man 2 comes from it not being as good as the first, but really, how could it have been? This movie is hindered by the massive need to build the world for the future and if you step outside of the bubble of judging it as a standalone movie, it ends up being enjoyable.

I can put this on in the background and get a kick out of certain elements to it. Robert Downey Jr. is always good to watch, for instance, and I like how they start to incorporate more elements of S.H.I.E.L.D. and even Captain America in the mix.

Yes, Mickey Rourke is awful, but Sam Rockwell is interesting. Yes, they didn't pull off "Demon in a Bottle" but they did a variation of it.

25. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

I was disappointed that this wasn't better. Basically, it feels like a kind of weak episode of a television series that happens to give us some good character moments, but seems like the story for that edition didn't quite come together.

The main driving force of the plot is that Rocket takes a few batteries? Really? The Sovereign only show up when we need an action sequence here and there, which is also kind of the same for The Ravagers, but I at least enjoyed Yondu's arc along the way.

If it weren't for the fact that these individual characters are so great, the movie wouldn't be as enjoyable, and I have a feeling I might end up moving this down the list upon a second viewing.

First impressions movie reviews here and here.

26. The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022)

This was adorable. While the musical parts of it weren't really doing much for me, the idea of Mantis trying to help "save Christmas" for Peter because of the reveal she's technically his sister, and for this to be the backstory of how Yondu got his little dashboard figurine and all, was super cute.

27. Loki Season 2 (2023)

This was better than the first season to me, somehow. Strange, considering it was arguably one sequence playing out over the whole season, with a much smaller scope. But for some reason, it worked better in my mind. Maybe because the focus was entirely on Loki accomplishing a goal, rather than a mystery? I don't know, but I was having a lot of fun with it. Plus, OB is great.

28. Deadpool and Wolverine (2024)

Eight years since the first film, a pandemic, everything after Endgame, and the world falling apart in so many ways has really dated the humor of this franchise, sadly. Maybe I'm just old and bitter at this point, but this didn't resonate with me the same way the first one did. I wish this were higher up.

But don't get me wrong...I still enjoyed this. Obviously, for it to be C-tier, it had more than its fair share of positives that made me smile and jokes that made me chuckle. I actually really liked how much of this was dedicated to just rewarding nerds like me who would geek out over things like Channing Tatum finally playing Gambit. The movie's strengths, in my mind, are when it just tells a multiverse tale within that mindset, rather than actually even trying to be a comedy, and the best jokes were the ones that are proxy of that, like the gag of Chris Evans being in there not as Captain America, but as Johnny Storm.

For a finale for Deadpool, I think it could have been a little better, but I'm thankful we're in a landscape where we can get all these characters doing these crazy things in general, as I remember the days when I would be considered too geeky and asking for too much to say they should have Scorpion in a Spider-Man film. Crazy how times have changed.

29. Hawkeye (2021)

Far and above my favorite of the television shows at this particular moment (as you'll see as this list goes on). This not only was a more compact and tight story that didn't drag on, but actually made me wanting more, I happened to like more of the overall characters. It still has its flaws, like how Eleanor isn't a particularly strong villain or, more particularly, how I'm not at all a fan of Echo, but you've got to love Kingpin and Pizza Dog. I really hope they didn't kill off Kingpin here. Kate Bishop earned her spot in future Avengers projects from this and I think Hawkeye leveled up as a character, too.

[D-TIER MCU]

30. Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)

On par with Ragnarok in some ways, but with a storyline that I felt less interested in than the destruction of Asgard, in comparison. I'm glad they wrapped up the love story between Thor and Jane and gave Jane a good send-off, but I'm not at all into the idea of Thor as a father as the next phase of his character. That's not a journey I'm particularly hyped to watch unfold.

Many of the jokes land, but there are too many of them that makes it undercut the tension and prevent this from feeling like one of the "better" movies. It's still a lot of fun, though. I was digging Stormbreaker's jealousy. I loooooooooooove that Eternity was incorporated into this. Major thumbs up on not forgetting about Sif. Glad to see Miek was reduced to a short cameo. Zeus was...eh...and I'm not super into Hercules, but we'll see how that pans out.

Overall, the movie's still good in some ways, but it isn't great by any means. Within the MCU itself, it doesn't hold a candle to many of the previous films (hence its placement). But in terms of general movies? Yeah, I've seen a lot of garbage, and I'm much more open to rewatching this. It's still a Thor movie. I would just go into rewatches not at all with the idea in mind of having a dutiful villain. Basically, I would watch scenes of this movie again, but maybe not the whole thing in a full rewatch.

The story could be tighter, the villain could be better and the ending is probably setting me up for a movie that has multiple elements I'm not interested in tracking.

First impressions movie review here.

31. Werewolf By Night (2022)

I'm not super into this genre, so by its very nature, it wasn't going to score up on the highest range. However, I'll say that they still managed to make this an enjoyable little special. I'm definitely down to see more 1-hour focused content if there isn't enough to justify it as a full-length movie without stretching it out to a dull level. This could have fallen into that trap, and if it were a 6 episode television series, it certainly wouldn't have landed as well for me. But as a quick bite, it was rock solid.

32. Moon Knight (2022)

This started off with a bang, but quickly became a bit tiring to watch. I found myself wanting them to cut some of the content and get straight to the next part of the story for an episode or two. While some might have enjoyed the journey to explore the different characters, I think there was too much lingering and not enough actual plot. This, like Wandavision and Falcon & Winter Soldier, are projects I think should have been movies, instead, while Eternals should have been a series. 

33. Iron Man 3 (2013)

The way The Mandarin was done in this movie just pisses me off and I have to rank it toward the bottom for that reason alone, at the very least. That was one of the biggest missteps in the entire MCU and it makes me wonder why they ever thought it was a good idea, knowing full well that people had been looking forward to seeing the character built up in the previous two films.

Killian isn't a good villain, nor are the henchmen interesting. Happy Hogan gets put out of action for a good portion of the film to be replaced with a little kid, which starts to give it a vibe of a standard action flick and not something in this series. It's almost like this is the shell of another movie that they slapped Iron Man onto and tweaked a few elements of the script to fit it.

First impressions movie review here. 

34. Doctor Strange (2016)

This is controversial, I'm sure, but Doctor Strange is a flat film to me.

None of the characters are interesting or different enough. Strange is just Tony Stark but not charming. Christine Palmer is one of the most under-written female leads in the MCU (and Rachel McAdams deserved better than that). Kaecilius is as generic as most villains. Baron Mordo is on par with Sinestro from Green Lantern where his turn to evil isn't justified enough. I do like Tilda Swinton as The Ancient One, and I do agree that the visuals are interesting, but that isn't enough.

People like to argue that other MCU films are "too similar" but can you really tell me anything other than the visuals for the magic scenes that are different about this film? It's a generic origin story, which in itself isn't bad, but since I don't like any of the characters, I'm not interested in their origins.

First impressions movie reviews here and here.

35. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)

This didn't have the same feel as the previous two movies. Not only did it lack that comedic punch by not being set in the real world, but the Quantum Realm isn't as interesting to me as a universal environment than seeing Ant-Man physics play out on the reality we're used to. Plus, that meant several characters like Luis had to be expelled from the movie, as they didn't have enough time to even give them one scene prior to being trapped in the realm.

This felt more like a generic Star Wars film to me than the third part of the Ant-Man trilogy. And to be perfectly honest, the whole "look at all the aliens and strange environments and spaceships" aspect of Star Wars was never what appealed to me about that series, either (it was the Jedi; hence why I hate the sequels for what they did to that plot).

Cassie isn't as good as she used to be. I preferred the father/daughter dynamics with Paul Rudd and Abby Ryder Fortson. Kathryn Newton was fine in her role, but it almost felt like an entirely different character.

There are some laughs for sure, but nothing that really got a huge belly laugh out of me.

This isn't bad. It is just extremely average, and considering it has such heavy-hitter movies to compare it to these days, and the weight of Kang the Conqueror as its villain going to waste while setting up more of the next big crossover, it does fall a little flat.

I don't think this will be one of the movies I regularly revisit. It was just fine.

First impressions movie review here.

36. Black Widow (2021)

So far, as of the day I saw this on the premiere, this is the most generic spin-off feeling movie of the bunch. It kind of feels phoned in, like it's a paint-by-numbers action flick with exactly the same stereotypical characters and beats that every other film of this genre fits into.

Everything down to Taskmaster being changed to a woman so she can battle the titular heroine more "fairly", the old overseer Ray Winstone plays that has no character other than "evil" (seriously, tell me one thing about the guy other than that he's the bad guy) and even the jokes were things you could see coming a mile away.

It's perfectly fine, but it's not something I'd imagine I'm going to want to revisit often. It'll likely go down as one of my least-watched of this series, because it doesn't do anything good enough to stand out. The music isn't memorable, no action scene is stunning, all the characters are one-note and most likely won't be seen again, and it just felt like filler, ultimately.

I'm extremely glad Black Widow got her own film, though. That was necessary and a long time coming. Frankly, it should have happened prior to Infinity War and I think it would have come off better, too. However, if it were the exact same script (since the story would still be the same), it still wouldn't make it a better movie, fundamentally.

First impressions movie review here.

37. Loki (2021)

This was better than WandaVision and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier mostly because it didn't feel like it was dragging. However, I don't think these shows are sticking the landing for anything.

[F-TIER MCU]

38. Thor: The Dark World (2013)

In my point of view, this is one of the hardest ones to rewatch and it has some of the least substance to it. There are really only a few strong points to it, which include: 1) Odin revealing more information about the Infinity Stones, 2) Frigga's death, 3) Loki hinting that he might sacrifice his life for Thor despite all they've been through, 4) the Captain America cameo, 5) um.....hold on, I might be able to think of a fifth.

Everything with the humans is awful. Darcy is as annoying as ever, but she now has a pointless love interest buddy to tag along with. Selvig running around naked isn't funny. Jane just whines and looks confused the whole movie.

Malekith is one of the least interesting villains in the MCU, the action is forgettable, the film doesn't know if it wants to be a buddy team up with Thor and Loki or if it wants to be a story about Jane needing to be cured, the hybrid of medieval elements and spaceships feels jarring and every character that was charming the first time around seems wooden this time.

First impressions movie review here.

39. Captain Marvel (2019)

Before you complain, no, this isn't so far down the list because the protagonist is a woman. I'm not some stupid bigot sexist. Get off your horse. The problem I have with this movie is that I feel like it's incredibly bland and people are going to overlook that. What does it really give the MCU that it didn't already have? Carol Danvers isn't a fully fleshed out and interesting character with traits that separate her from anybody else (Stark is the smart asshole, Cap is the morally perfect perpetual good guy, Black Widow is the spy, Hawkeye's the broken down dad, Thor's the fish out of water, Hulk is the tragic monster, Ant-Man is the goof as are the Guardians of the Galaxy who bring the cosmic side of things to the table...so what is Danvers?)

There was no reason this needed to be set in the 90s and it just creates continuity errors. The supporting characters are pretty bland (like the Kree soldiers). The villain is weak. It's just a very generic movie.

It's not a BAD movie. I enjoyed it. But it's just not anywhere near most of the other movies on this list and I feel like I got more for the MCU out of Iron Man 2 and at least with GOTG 2, the end made me get a little choked up. This didn't make me feel much of anything. It was like being on autopilot.

First impressions movie review here. I will say that in 2023, before the release of The Marvels, I rewatched this, and I enjoyed it more the second time around, leading to it going up a little higher on the list from where it was before. I used to have it below

40. The Marvels (2023)

For an episode of a television show (if you approach the MCU in that fashion), this was fine, albeit just blah. The villain is arguably the most forgettable out of any in any movie in this series, which does it no help. The plot is pretty basic and while it works, it doesn't really do anything or put the characters in any new path. It's just a sort of wacky day in the life of the Marvel universe and nothing more.

Couldn't we do without the dance sequence? That was 100% pointless, other than someone thought it would get some laughs. For that matter, all the cat stuff felt forced, too. But I'll admit that I enjoyed Kamala Khan WAY more in this than the television show, and she was a highlight.

41. WandaVision (2021)

This felt like it would have been much better as a two-hour movie where they would have had to trim down some of the ideas, flesh out some characters and take a "less is more" approach.

The first two episodes were largely just actual episodes of the types of shows they were parodying. Not much moved the plot along. Basically, what you would have gotten in a movie with that would have been maybe 20 minutes that would have been tighter and tied back into the overall narrative, rather than 60 minutes of "let's just have fun with this for a while." Since I'm not a fan of those types of old timey shows, that was more bothersome than charming.

Agatha Harkness as the villain the whole time was weaker than it should have been. Far worse, though, was the reveal of casting Evan Peters as Quicksilver just for him to be a throwaway random guy as a boner joke. They had to know that that would just upset people.

In fact, that was a theme of this. Everyone kept hyping it up as "OMG, you'll never believe what's going to happen with THIS character" and it turned out to be something underwhelming every time. Paul Bettany's actor he gets to work with and have great chemistry with? Just a joke about working opposite himself. The big reveal of the character Monica teased? Just a skrull. Main villain? The guy who was obviously the main villain from the start, and he's just a generic bureaucrat military guy created for the show rather than any of the dozens, if not hundreds of characters they could have at least pulled from the comics that were one-shot people to expand on, if not generally more interesting people from the start to do more with.

Even the positives aren't all that great. They brought back Darcy Lewis, but she was never a great character, and her exit from the finale is very indicative of COVID screwing over how this show played out, cause she does nothing and leaves. Randall Park is back as Jimmy Woo, which is awesome, but he barely does anything. The ship of Theseus discussion is one of the best parts, along with some parody elements like the take on Modern Family and The Office, but are those really worth saying this is on par with something higher on the list? Not in my mind.

This was absolutely underwhelming.

First impressions review here.

42. The Falcon and The Winter Soldier (2021)

Frankly, I was disappointed. This felt like it could have been on par with Captain America and The Winter Soldier, which is one of my favorites, as indicated above. I guess the title was just too deceiving.

Instead, we got a weak villain in Karli Morgenthau, who didn't need to be changed to a teenage girl as that did nothing to help the character. I didn't like the twist that everyone saw coming but it doesn't make too much sense about how Sharon Carter is now the evil Power Broker. The John Walker stuff had some serious potential, but was unfortunately super rushed in order to spend more time talking about Sam's sister and the boat, which just dragged.

They missed out on the madbomb and dropped the ball with this in a lot of ways. I found myself each episode more interested to see if they'd turn it around the next time to make it better than what it had already been, rather than thinking to myself "That was so great and I can't wait for the next episode."

43. Echo (2024)

I'm glad they trimmed this down to 5 episodes, as I don't even think it needed to be that long. Many elements of this, I just didn't care about. To be honest, one of them was Maya herself. She's not a hero I've ever been interested in, and the show didn't do much to make me think otherwise. Kingpin, though, I enjoyed a lot. He helped save this show from just being a history lesson. And for anyone who thinks that's targeted toward this culture, it's how I view all period piece type projects. I didn't enjoy Captain America: The First Avenger because it was set in the 40s—I enjoyed it because I like Captain America, the character. And I don't feel that way about Maya Lopez. But hey, a rather mundane show about a character I don't love, but it has a suitable enough coherent story, is better than something that's just an outright mess like some of the things below this on the list. Cool opening theme song and intro. Very James Bond.

44. Secret Invasion (2023)

Damn it. I wanted this to be something great. It had a ton of potential. But instead of doing anything remotely close to the comics, they did a rushed, lackluster, low-stakes version of it that they then feel the need to add stakes to, so they just kill Maria Hill because "that'll make it seem like a big deal" and pulled the Rhodey swerve to get people talking, too. That was poorly executed and obvious from a mile away, for the record. This does more damage to the MCU than it does to help. It ruins poignant moments from previous films and it doesn't even set up anything for the future that I'm all that interested in. The Skrulls have been mishandled from the start in Captain Marvel. They never should have been a sympathetic ally, and I don't care whatsoever about G'iah. Thumbs down.

45. Eternals (2021)

To date, this is the only movie in the MCU that I've actually found myself wanting to see it end 1/4 of the way through. By the midway point, I knew there was no hope it would get better. By the end, I told myself "I hope all the characters die so we never have to see them in any other movies." Many other properties in the MCU lately haven't been good, but they've been at least okay or had some redeeming qualities once in a while. This, though, actually sucked. Walking out of the movie, I can't think of one truly decent aspect to it. Every character is bland. I can't even tell you most of their names. The pacing is awful. None of it matters and it takes forever to get to that point. I really hope I like this better on a second viewing, but I don't know if I'll ever actually feel up for watching it again.

Update: On the second viewing, I did like this better...but not enough to bump it up significantly higher on the list. Just a few spots.

46. What If...? (2021)

For a show that had a ton of promise, I didn't actually enjoy almost any of the stories they chose to tell. Even the zombies were botched with a jarring tone. "I'm covered in Sharon"? What? That was your friend. Just because the MCU likes to crack jokes all the time doesn't mean it should fit in any scenario as a baseline. It's about tone. That's why Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man have different feels than The Winter Soldier.

Instead of telling true "What If" scenarios, like "What if Captain America and Iron Man were on the opposite sides of the civil war than the ones they chose?" or "What if Thor had gone for the head in his fight with Thanos?", they chose to do "What if Peggy Carter just did everything Steve Rogers did, until, I don't know, some space octopus attacked?"

I wanted more out of this. Rather than "What If", this is more like "Whiffed".

47. What If...? Season 2 (2023)

I was really hoping there would be a different approach to this season than the last one. Sadly, it seems they doubled down on doing random ideas, for the most part. This must mean they have a completely different idea of what this series should be, and that I can expect going forward that it just won't align with how I would have gone about doing it.

Sometimes, the idea is solid, but the execution doesn't do it for me. I get doing Happy Hogan in Avengers Tower as Die Hard, but I got bored watching that episode. The one about Iron Man against Grandmaster, even though I could see the pitch there, was another that fell flat for my eyes.

But what if Nebula joined the Nova Corps? If I heard that pitch, I'd honestly say "you have to sell me on it." It just feels like some of the ideas came about through a game of mad libs. Why is it that Hela finds the 10 rings? Why not maybe a story exploring what would have happened if Shang-Chi would have gone along with becoming his father's son and been a true villain?

I feel like if there's a third season, we're just as likely to see random ideas like "What if Kamala Khan and Love from Thor 4 became best buds?" and less "What if Doctor Strange refused to erase everyone's memory of Peter Parker?"

I think I would just like to see more of a series that takes alternate routes of what we've seen in the MCU, rather than just having a germ of an idea someone found interesting and then crafting a quick story around it that has to live in its own world.

48. I Am Groot (2022)

Cute. Not much to it, since it was just five disconnected shorts at a grand total of less than 20 minutes that doesn't factor into the grand scheme of things on a massive scale. But I enjoyed them for what they were. I'd like to see more of these type of projects that explore the MCU in fun ways. I liked the shorts that they had before (that I haven't ranked here yet, but maybe I should). Let's explore that. I can't rank this super high, but that's because the other projects simply have more depth.

49. I Am Groot Season 2 (2023)

Even less meaningful than the first season. I actually hit the fast forward button on the majority of these episodes. They were just "Groot interacts with a small object" for 15 minutes. I did like seeing The Watcher, though.

50. Ms. Marvel (2022)

I can't even finish it. I'm not fond of the tone, characters or the writing in general. It doesn't speak to me, as I'm not the target audience and they didn't do a good enough job bridging that gap to make it more universal.

What is your ranked order and why?
Tell us in the comments below!