I have spoken before about my history with the films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and, considering the upcoming release of Black Widow, I thought that now might be the time, finally, to discuss my personal ranking of these movies. Keep in mind that this list represents only my personal opinion and that readers are free to disagree with my thoughts and ranking of each film. With all that out of the way, let’s begin with my least favourite MCU film.
23. The Incredible Hulk
This movie ranking so low will probably be unsurprising to those familiar with the Marvel Cinematic Universe films. The second film of the MCU, released in 2008, the film stars Edward Norton as Bruce Banner with a nice nod to fans of the original TV series as Lou Ferrigno provides the vocal performance of the Hulk. The film itself isn’t terrible but feels decidedly average with a poorly developed romance between Bruce Banner and Betty Ross, played by Liv Tyler, dragging the movie down. The film has also aged poorly within the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Bruce Banner was later recast with Mark Ruffalo replacing Edward Norton. Taking all this into account, I have no hesitancy in saying that The Incredible Hulk is the film I look forward to the least when I watch the MCU films.
22. Thor
I have vivid memories of going to see Thor in the cinema with some friends when it was released in 2011. I had high expectations for the film since the early reviews had been positive and the story was developed by J. Michael Straczynski of Babylon 5 fame. Instead, I found the film to be incredibly uninspired with a bland, fish out of water story of Thor being sent to Earth to find himself. Admittedly, there are some positives to the film, Tom Hiddleston gives a memorable performance as Loki and I remember the scene where Thor walks into a pet shop and demands a horse sending the movie theatre into a laughing fit. However, I left the cinema feeling disappointed and I continue to feel so whenever I think of Thor.
21. Thor: The Dark World
Following up Thor is its sequel “Thor: The Dark World”. While I’ve seen many people argue that Thor: The Dark World is worse than Thor, I ended up liking the film slightly more than its predecessor. This basically came down to the banter between Chris Hemsworth, who was really beginning to settle into his role as Thor, and Tom Hiddleston as Loki which I thought was genuinely funny and endearing. Besides that, the rest of the film is dry and bland with an uninteresting antagonist but at least it’s a slight improvement.
20. Doctor Strange
There is a lot that can be said about Doctor Strange. For one, there is no question that the visual presentation of the film is excellent with a lot of psychedelic action sequences and Benedict Cumberbatch plays his role as the titular character superbly as does Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One. On the other hand, I was disappointed at how by-the-numbers the film felt and how Mads Mikkelsen’s character is highly underdeveloped. In addition, Christine Palmer, Doctor Strange’s love interest and played by Rachel McAdams, is a non-entity throughout the film with very little to do except to chastise Doctor Strange at the beginning of the film and to react to his newfound powers later on. While certainly not the worst MCU film, Doctor Strange felt like a wasted opportunity to me and I hope, though doubt, that the sequel will find its own identity.
19. Black Panther
I had a lot of expectation going into Black Panther. It was the first superhero film to have ever been nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards and I had liked what I had seen of Black Panther in Captain America: Civil War. However, I ended up being quite disappointed by Black Panther as the film felt, for the most part, generic. Admittedly, I do like Michael B. Jordan as the villain who believes that Wakanda, the technologically advanced African nation that Black Panther rules over, should arm people of African descent throughout the world in order to fight oppression. There are also some great set pieces with a stand out scene being the car chase sequence in Korea. However, the battle at the end of the film felt particularly uninspired and, overall, I consider Black Panther to be a slightly better than average superhero movie.
18. Iron Man 3
Iron Man 3, the third and last Iron Man film, was released in 2013 is an enjoyable film which sees Robert Downey Jr. return as the highly entertaining Tony Stark AKA Iron Man. There are some great action sequences in the film, although admittedly the final battle drags on slightly, and I enjoyed seeing how the relationship between Tony Stark and Pepper Potts, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, developed after they got together in Iron Man 2. Interestingly, I also enjoyed the twist regarding the Mandarin, something which others have criticised the film for. Perhaps not being familiar with the comic book incarnation of the Mandarin helped in that regard. However, I do confess that the villain, played by Guy Pearce, felt quite uninspired and I couldn’t help but get the feeling that the events of the film were less important than its predecessors. While I ultimately liked Iron Man 3 overall, I still consider it to be the weakest of the three Iron Man films.
17. The Avengers
Many might be surprised to see the first Avengers film rank so low on this list. Don’t get me wrong, I do like this film. Loki finally gets the spotlight after his appearance in Thor, the cast in general is excellent with Mark Ruffalo taking over as Bruce Banner from Edward Norton and delivering a nuanced and impressive performance. There are also plenty of incredible action sequences with the battle in New York being a particular highpoint. The movie also has an excellent sense of comedy with many brilliant one-liners. However, my expectations for the film had been heightened by Joss Whedon’s involvement as well as how much I had enjoyed Captain America: The First Avenger the year before and, while watching the film, even though I enjoyed all of the positives I’ve mentioned, I couldn’t help but feel that the film could’ve been more tightly edited with some scenes feeling like they dragged on a little too long. Also, while many of the scenes of the Avengers interacting with each other feel well-written, I couldn’t help but get a sensation that their interactions felt forced on occasion.
16. Iron Man 2
The second Iron Man film was released in 2010 and had the unenviable duty to start setting up various plot threads that would establish future events within the MCU. While many would argue that the film struggled to carry this out, I, for the most part, really liked this film. The idea of the US government feeling threatened by Tony Stark’s Iron Man suit felt very believable and Tony Stark’s struggle with his health due to the arc reactor in his chest that he built from the previous film felt like a logical step. While Sam Rockwell’s character of Justin Hammer falls into the category of uninteresting evil businessman that seems to plague the Iron Man franchise, I quite liked Mickey Rourke as Whiplash. I thought his backstory was quite interesting and he has some great action sequences as well as some good moments of intimidating Justin Hammer. While low enough on my list, I genuinely believe Iron Man 2 to be an underappreciated film within the MCU.
Be sure to check out “My Ranking Of The Marvel Cinematic Universe Films Part 2“!
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