Hulk Ranks All The Marvel Movies From Best To Worst

[Hulkshi Tanahashi]

Hulk Ranks Every MCU Movie From Best To Worst

NOTE: There are SPOILERS in all these little reviews.

1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier: The Greatest MCU Movie. Why? The movie is just so damn good! The thing that gets the most notice is the action, as it should. This is easily one of the best action movies ever made. The fight scenes are terrific. The elevator fight gets the most press, which it rightfully deserves. It was a brilliant choice to place it in such close quarters, making the audience feel as claustrophobic as Captain America does when all those agents surround him, which made it such an outside the box move (even though it, ironically, was inside a box). Nick Fury’s shootout with the Hydra agents was also very well done even though it doesn’t make much sense that they’d attack Fury in the middle of the day. It also features some great performances. Chris Evans gives his best Captain America performance, nicely feeling weary as his 1940s black-and-white morals butt heads with 2014’s shades of gray. Scarlett Johansson is also great as Black Widow, doing a great job of mixing Natasha’s playful sarcastic side with her more serious turn when she learns the truth about SHIELD. Samuel L. Jackson is great as Fury in this one, showing off his typical “not suffering any bullshitting fools” persona. Anthony Mackie was a great addition as The Falcon, adding some levity to the proceedings. Sebastian Stan is scarily good as The Winter Soldier, even though all that was required of him was to be silent and look scary. And, of course, Robert Redford aces the role of Alexander Pierce, making him a charming, down-to-earth leader of a massive secret fascist society. Speaking of which, what really made this movie so damn great was it’s big twist. The Russo Brothers did a great job of making this film a fun homage to 1970s conspiracy films. And, the conspiracy in this movie is a doozy: the reveal that Hydra has secretly been in control of SHIELD from the beginning was one of the best scenes in the MCU, nicely overwhelming. It was a bold move to blow up SHIELD like that, especially when a SHIELD TV show had just debuted on ABC. The move took a lot of guts, and it paid off, giving the franchise a huge shot in the arm and letting audiences know that these movies would be willing to take some risks. And, it made Agents Of SHIELD a better TV show as well. In all, this was just a well-made blockbuster, filled with lots of action and some challenging storytelling. It’s a damn fine movie and easily the best of the MCU.

2. The Avengers: This movie had to succeed. If it hadn’t, then the MCU would have been dead. But, it did succeed. And then some. Of course, it helped that Marvel found the right director in Joss Whedon. He’s had some experience in making fictional works about a group of powerful beings who don’t always get along. And, since Marvel wanted The Avengers to bicker before settling their differences and saving the day, he knew how to make it work. He wisely had them fighting amongst each other organically instead of just relying on mind control from Loki’s scepter (Hawkeye excluded). He also managed to give every major character a good arc (again, Hawkeye excluded). And, he handled the comedy well. His sense of humor fit in well with the MCU’s, giving the franchise some of its funniest moments like the Galaga reveal, Captain America getting the flying monkey reference, and Hulk destroying Loki (still the funniest moment in the whole franchise). Whedon also had a great knack for action scenes. This movie’s fight scenes are still some of the best, ranging from the more down to earth fights like Black Widow’s fights with the Russians and with mind-controlled Hawkeye to more epic fights like Thor’s fights with Iron Man and Hulk. And, he nailed the big Battle Of New York finale, culminating in that great long take with The Avengers fighting The Chitauri. And, the actors are all in top form, as usual. Though, I do need to single out Tom Hiddleston, who pretty much stole the movie as Loki, improving on the great performance from the first Thor movie. The only real flaw in the film is Hawkeye gets the shaft a bit. He doesn’t have much of an arc, his transition from hypnotized Loki henchmen to Avenger happens a little too easily, and he doesn’t get a big hero moment. Jeremy Renner does what he can with the role, but he’d have better chances to shine in other MCU movies. Other than that, this is basically a perfect blockbuster: smart, funny, lots of action, and just plain entertaining. That fact that it also had a huge influence on the movie industry is just the cherry on top.

3. Captain America: Civil War: The Civil War comic wasn’t great. Its biggest failure is that it doesn’t present both sides of the superhero regulation argument well. Regulation is a logical solution after the bombing event that begins the comic, but Iron Man, the main proponent for regulation, goes about putting regulation into effect in such a fascist way that you can’t help but take Captain America’s side. The movie does a better job at presenting both sides of the superhero regulation, known as the Sokovia Accords in the movie. It’s easy to see why Iron Man is right to support the Accords as the Avengers have caused a lot of collateral damage over these movies; they do need some regulation. But, Captain America is also right to be distrustful of government oversight, as putting superheroes under the control of world governments and politicians does sound like it could lead to some dire consequences. But, what really makes the Civil War movie better than the comic is the fact that the conflict between Iron Man and Captain America is a lot more personal. Putting Bucky at the center of the conflict and making him, Cap, and Iron Man the central characters really put this movie in high standings. Chris Evans is as good as usual as Cap. Sebastian Stan does a great job with this version of Bucky Barnes. After playing the more playful 1940s Bucky in First Avenger and the stoic badass Winter Soldier in the movie of the same name, this time he has to play the character somewhere in between; and he nails it. Though, Robert Downey, Jr. gives not just the best performance in the movie but his best one as Tony Stark. Here, he’s an exposed raw nerve of a person, still dealing with guilt over Ultron and trying to hold it together under the PTSD of being an Avenger. He’s terrific as this version, who’s looking for any excuse to explode, which he gets after the reveal that Bucky killed his parents. That twist was easy to see coming, but it works incredibly well. Of course, those three aren’t only good performances in this movie. While the whole cast does a great job, I have single out Daniel Brühl, Chadwick Boseman, and Tom Holland. Brühl is great as Helmut Zemo, making him one of the franchise’s best villains. His Zemo is deeply sympathetic, a broken man still hurting from his family’s deaths and so driven for vengeance. He underplays it beautifully, saying a lot with just a few words and emotions. Plus, I love that he ends up winning, getting exactly what he wanted: the Avengers broken up (for a while at least). As for Boseman and Holland, they were great. Black Panther and Spider-Man got great introductions. Holland nailed the role immediately, making a great Peter Parker AND Spider-Man. Though, Boseman really shined at T’Challa. He had a better arc (looking for vengeance for his father’s death only to learn the folly of his ways) in this movie than he did in his own movie. Outside of the terrific acting, this movie has some great action as well. The airport fight gets all the love, as it should. The Russo Brothers made a comic splash page come to life, filling the sequence with a lot of great moments: Captain America and Spider-Man’s fight, Black Panther not caring who Hawkeye was, everything Ant-Man did, etc. But, the other fight scenes were great too. Cap and T’Challa’s chase for Bucky was great and featured one of the best stunts in the franchise when Bucky grabs a moving motorcycle with his metal arm. But, the best fight scene is the final one between Iron Man against Cap and Bucky. This is where the Bucky killing the Starks twist really pays off as it gives the fight higher stakes, with each punch and blow feeling more real and personal. Which, again, is why this movie was so much better than the comic: Personal stakes are much greater than political debates.

4. Avengers: Infinity War: It’s amazing how well this movie turned out. Infinity War could have been a mess, what with so many characters running around and the need to move them around for the plot’s needs. But, it works largely due to how well the casting has been in the franchise. Not only are the actors good in their roles, but they manage to have chemistry with one another no matter who gets paired with whom. Just look at the scenes where Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Doctor Strange have to team up with Starlord, Drax, and Mantis. Such a random team shouldn’t work so well, but they all come together as well as sodium and chlorine making salt. The Russo Brothers also make the movie work by making it so episodic. It’s easily the most rewatchable MCU movie as it keeps moving from different characters and places that keeps it from being monotonous. And, the fight scenes are good. They don’t stand out too much, especially compared to others in the franchise; but they work for the movie. What really makes this movie so great are 2 aspects that subvert expectations of the superhero genre. One is its heavy focus on Thanos. This is basically the villain’s movie, and it works as it hadn’t been done before in the MCU. Josh Brolin is great in the role, and his portrayal as a misguided sociopath who believes he’s trying to save the universe is an interesting take. Though, I would have liked if his viewpoints had been called out more. I mean, no one questions him about wiping out half the universe with the Infinity Stones instead of just making more food and resources for everyone, and it’s a little frustrating to see him not get called on his intense drive to kill trillions of people as much as it happens in the movie. The other thing that makes this movie so great, and the reason why I ranked it so high, is the ending, easily one of the best, if not the best, in a superhero movie. The movie’s gut-punching ending, with Thanos winning and wiping out half the universe, including half of our heroes, was a huge shock. We knew people were gonna die, but we had no idea it would be so many and that it would happen in this movie. And, the way it was portrayed, with everyone crumbling to dust while their friends helplessly looked on, was so effective. The only flaw was that most of the dusted were heroes who were obviously gonna be getting sequels, which took some of the impact out of their deaths since we knew they’d be back. But, the shock was still effective. And, seeing Thanos on his farm at the end was just salt in the wounds. In a lot of ways, this was a typical superhero movie, with everyone running to grab a macguffin before the bad guy gets it. But, it did a great job of being a typical superhero movie so that the unexpected ending could work so well.

5. Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2: Like a lot of sequels, this one has more of what people liked from the original: more comedy, more effects, more action, etc. Sometimes, this can be a detriment to the sequel as the filmmakers are more concerned with style over substance. This movie has a lot of style, but it’s also got a lot of substance. It’s just as funny as the original and looks just as good thanks to the cool effects and production design. The fight scenes are a lot more creative, especially the opening which has the Guardians’ fight with the Abilisk backgrounded by Groot’s dance and Yondu wiping out his traitorous Ravager crew with his whistling arrow. The movie also improves on the flaws of the original. The supporting characters are much better in this movie than the first. Sylvester Stallone, Michelle Yeoh, and Ving Rhames don’t get much to do in this movie, but they leave more of an impression. And, it’s got a much better villain. Ego is a much better character with a more distinct personality than Ronan The Accuser Who Shouts, and he’s wonderfully played by Kurt Russell, who uses all his charm to make Ego a charming, roguish father-figure and has the chops to pull off Ego’s heel turn. But, what really makes this movie work is how it continues the story arcs of the Guardians. The first film was about them becoming a family, and the second is about how they learn to change in order to stay a family. Rocket learns to stop being such an asshole. Drax learns to open up his heart in order to get over his family’s deaths. Groot learns… Well, Groot doesn’t get an arc, but he is entertaining. Gamora has a great arc in this movie, getting more to do than be the straight man. I really liked how her story had her opening up her heart not by falling in love with Quill but rather by making peace with her sister. It was great to see Gamora and Nebula come to terms with their past and turn their hate towards the man who forced them to fight one another rather than continue fighting. And, Zoe Saldana and Karen Gillian sold the hell out of their reunion scene. And, Quill had a great story here in meeting his birth father but learning to embrace Yondu as his dad. Chris Pratt did a great job with Quill’s arc. But, the movie’s MVP is Michael Rooker. He improved on his previous performance and had the best death scene in the MCU. It’s amazing how such an obscure character’s death could have such an emotional impact. The only flaws this movie really has is the character of Mantis. Mantis isn’t a bad character, and Pom Klementieff does great in the role. But, I didn’t like how timid she was portrayed. The comic Mantis is more of a badass fighter, and I would have liked to have seen that in the film. Hopefully, that will be rectified in the sequel. Despite that, the second Guardians is even better than the first.

6. Black Panther: Here’s a first for the franchise: a movie where the villain is more interesting than the hero. It’s not that Chadwick Boseman is bad as T'Challa / Black Panther; he gives a great performance. But, he had a much more interesting story in Civil War. His arc in this film (learning to be a good king) just doesn’t leave as much of an impression as his Civil War arc (learning to let go of his need for vengeance). And, it definitely didn’t help that Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger is a much more compelling character. Jordan throws all of his charisma into the role, playing up Killmonger’s righteous resentment to the hilt. And, Killmonger has a much more interesting story, being the kid of a traitor who got exiled for his father’s sins and grew up dealing with poverty and racism while his family lived like kings and did little to nothing to help him or other black people. It’s easy to sympathize with Killmonger, but his master plan (take over the Wakanda throne and arm black people around the world with Wakandan weapons) is deeply flawed. He’s too blinded by vengeance to realize that not every black person is going to take up the cause, with some either turning in the weapons to the right authorities while others will use them for their own gain. But, that flaw works in the movie’s favor as it allows audiences to root for T’Challa to win while not feeling too guilty about rooting for Killmonger to succeed. And, Killmonger ends up succeeding as T’Challa shares Wakanda’s wealth in a much more peaceful way. The other actors in the film give great performances as well. Letitia Wright and Winston Duke are the real standouts as Shuri and M’Baku respectively; both were hilarious. It was nice to see Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis back as they made big impressions as Everett Ross and Ulysses Klaue respectively in their debuts. Though, I didn’t like that they killed off Klaue; he could have been a good main villain for a sequel. Another great aspect of the movie was the direction. Ryan Coogler did a great job at creating the Afrofuturistic Wakanda, and he has a great eye for action scenes. The Korean casino fight is exceptionally well shot, and I also liked T’Challa’s fights for the throne against M’Baku and Killmonger. Though, he whiffed the final battle between T’Challa and Killmonger, going for a hollow CGI fight instead of a more practical and personal affair. Still, this was a great movie, a blockbuster with a lot of heart, soul, intelligence, and action.

7. Guardians Of The Galaxy: I’m guessing that after the success of The Avengers, Marvel was feeling lucky and decided to take a bigger gamble: a movie featuring obscure alien characters in which the 2 biggest stars would voice CGI characters, one of whom was a talking raccoon and the other a talking tree, and the live action actors would be the goofy guy from Parks & Recreation, the alien chick from the highest grossing movie that nobody remembers, and a pro wrestler with a love-hate relationship with basketballs. The amazing thing is that the gamble paid off: $772.8 million off of a $232.3 million budget. How did this happen? Easy, great main characters. Director James Gunn and fellow screenwriter Nicole Perlman knew that audiences needed to care about the heroes, and they put a lot of work in fleshing out the Guardians. And, it helped that they cast well. Chris Pratt puts all his goofy charm to good use as Starlord/Peter Quill. He plays the character like a kid who grew up idolizing Han Solo and somehow got a chance to be him. It works well. And, he manages the heavy dramatic lifting well. Dave Bautista was a revelation as Drax The Destroyer. The character had one joke (taking everything literally), but Bautista made it funny each and every time. Zoe Saldana had the thankless task of playing the straight man to the other Guardians, but she made Gamora work, making her righteous but not taking the character too seriously. Bradley Cooper is amazing as Rocket, making him a dynamic character through his voice alone. Though Gunn, his brother Sean (who was the live action stand-in), and the special effects team deserve half the credit for making the CGI match Cooper’s voice acting and making Rocket not look like a cartoon. And, major props to Vin Diesel for putting in a lot of soul in Groot, especially since he only had 1 line. And, they all have great chemistry with one another. That scene where the Guardians try to work out a plan is one of the best acting showcases in the MCU. A lot of work went into making the heroes so damn likeable, but I feel that it was a little too much work. While the Guardians are great, a lot of the supporting characters got the short shift. Outside of the Guardians, the only 2 characters that leave any kind of impression are Nebula and Yondu Udonta; and that’s because their actors (Karen Gillian and Michael Rooker, respectively) were great with what little material they were given. As for the others, Glenn Close, John C. Reilly, Peter Serafinowicz, and Djimon Hounsou are all wasted. But, the biggest waste was with Lee Pace as Ronan The Accuser. The character can be boiled down to “angry guy who yells a lot.” Other than that, this is a fine movie. It looks great, with a lot of colorful sets and special effects. The action scenes are pretty good. And, it’s really funny. But, it’s the Guardians themselves that make their own movie.

8. Captain America: The First Avenger: Yes, I put all 3 Captain America movies in the Top 10. That’s how well the character was adapted in the franchise, which is pretty amazing when you think about it. Captain America is the 2nd hardest comic book character to adapt, right behind Superman. The guy is basically an adult Boy Scout, which is not very interesting to watch. Yet, Marvel pulled it off, which isn’t that surprising since he is their character. They did it by focusing more on the man in costume, Steve Rogers, rather than the superhero identity he uses. He’s got a great arc in the movie, trying to prove he’s worthy of being the Cap despite a lot of objections. One of the best scenes in the whole franchise is when the pre-serum Steve confronts a jerk in a movie theater and gets into a fight with him. That line “I can do this all day” sums up his entire character nicely and shows why he was really Captain America before getting the Super Soldier serum. And, they chose the right actor to play him. Chris Evans nailed the role from the beginning, making his rah-rah patriotism sound inspirational without being corny, adding in a dash of cynicism and rebelliousness in his sincerity. Evans isn’t the only good actor in the movie as it’s loaded with a great cast. Tommy Lee Jones, Stanley Tucci, Hugo Weaving, and Toby Jones are all great in their roles. But, the other standout is Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter. She’s great, adding a nice feminine take on the British stiff upper lip stereotype. And, she has great chemistry with Evans. Steve and Peggy’s romance is easily the best in the MCU, a great love story that tragically ends before these 2 can have their dance. It’s the best romantic subplot in a non-romantic movie in cinema history. The movie also looks great. Director Joe Johnston does a great job of making this look like a 1940s propaganda film, especially in that great Star-Spangled Man montage. And, it’s got some good action scenes, though they don’t stand out too much compared to others in the franchise. In all, this is a fun movie set during WW2, giving it a unique look in a franchise that usually takes place in modern times. It’s just a whole lot of fun to watch and holds up quite well.

9. Iron Man: It’s amazing how well the first Iron Man holds up. It’s still pretty damn funny, thanks in large part to Robert Downey, Jr. He was the perfect choice to play Tony Stark. He’s funny but also can handle the dramatic heft the roll calls for. He’s a great improviser, so much so that his improvising in this film set the comedic tone for the whole damn franchise; 23 movies in, and his influence is still being felt in the films’ dialogue and tone. And, he had chemistry with Gwyneth Paltrow. The chemistry between them alone made Tony Stark and Pepper Potts one of the best romantic pairings in the MCU. Speaking of which, it’s also very different from the other MCU films since Disney had yet to buy Marvel. So, this movie leaned a little heavily in the 13 part of PG-13. It’s a little refreshing to see some sex in one of these films, especially since they’ve gotten very chaste over the years. Anyway, outside of RDJ and Paltrow’s great performances, there are some fine turns by Jon Favreau, Jeff Bridges, and Terrence Howard. Favreau also helped with the improvising and also had good chemistry with RDJ. Bridges is great as Obidiah Stane, doing a nice job of subtly repressing his resentment toward Stark until finally blowing up near the end. And, Howard makes a good James Rhodes. He would have worked out well in the role, but I’m glad that Don Cheadle ended up taking it over. One thing that doesn’t hold up is the action. There is one great fight scene, when Stark uses his makeshift suit to escape from the terrorist stronghold. It was a thrilling scene that looked good and made a great case for practical effects in fight scenes. The others are fine, but they’ve been upstaged by later fight scenes in the franchise. But, the amazing thing about this movie is that director Jon Favreau was able to make such a good movie with little to no script and relying a lot on RDJ’s improvisational skills. The fact that he was able to shape a whole movie out of so little clay, one that would launch a huge franchise still making billions of dollars to this day, is astonishing. And, it still holds up.

10. Thor: Ragnarok: As much as I like this movie, it does have some flaws that are too big to ignore. For one, it’s plot gets underway WAY too conveniently. I mean, Thor and Loki just go looking for Odin, he just dies, and Hela shows up. They could have set things up much better. Hela should have shown up first after Thor figured out Loki was disguised as Odin and devastated Asgard, leading them to go looking for Odin with Hela following them. Then, Hela should have killed Odin. A much better setup. Also, there’s not a lot of focus on Ragnarok in Thor: Ragnarok. The movie is too focused on the Planet Hulk storyline to emphasize why it's so important that Thor let Ragnarok happen. It’s like Marvel took two movies and squished them together. Probably because they did squish two movies together. There was supposed to be a separate Planet Hulk movie, but I imagine that the terrible deal Marvel made with Universal before Disney bought them is what led to Planet Hulk being merged into Ragnarok. I also didn’t like how the Warriors Three, Hogun, Volstagg, and Fandral, got bitched out so easily in this movie. Despite those three big flaws, I still enjoyed this movie enough to rank it in the Top 10 because everything else about the movie is SO good. For one, it’s easily one of the funniest, if not THE funniest, movies in the MCU. Director Taika Waititi was a great choice as his comedic chops made this film a hoot, filling it with lots of great comedic moments and characters. He also showed a good eye for the action sequences as this film has some really good ones, like Thor battling Surtur’s army and Thor’s fight with The Hulk. And, the film looks fan-f***ing-tastic. There’s a great 1980s sci-fi ascetic throughout, which gives the movie a unique look. I especially liked the opening shot, which looks like a comic book panel. It’s really nice to see one of these comic book movies look like a comic book for once. It’s also filled with great performances. Chris Hemsworth finally gets to let his comedic talents loose in this film while still doing some dramatic heavy lifting. Tom Hiddleston is still great as usual. Mark Ruffalo does some great work both as The Hulk finally free to be himself and as Bruce Banner who’s confused as hell by the fact he’s on Sakaar. Tessa Thompson is great as the weary, cynical Valkyrie. Karl Urban does a nice job with Skurge, who could have easily been a one-note henchman. Jeff Goldblum’s Grandmaster is one of the most interesting side-villains in the franchise. He’s basically playing himself without any filter, but it’s still a great take on the character. And, his preference for the term “prisoners with jobs” over “slaves” says a whole lot about his character. But, if there’s one performance that owns this movie, it’s Cate Blanchett as Hela. The character is a little underwritten, but Blanchett makes her one of the franchise’s best bad guys with her charisma alone. She manages to be funny and sinister all at once. Plus, she’s easily the best-looking villain in the MCU; she’s sexy even though her character isn’t overtly sexualized. In all, the comedy, ascetics, and performances manage to elevate some big story flaws and give the MCU one of its best comedies.

11. Spider-Man: Far From Home: So, after Spider-Man: Homecoming came out, Sony released an animated Spider-Man movie they did without Marvel: Into The Spider-Verse. It was amazing. It blew Homecoming out of the water. Luckily, director Jon Watts saw Into The Spider-Verse and said, “Challenge accepted!!!!” Far From Home has all the things that worked in Homecoming: it’s just as funny, the cast is just as good, and using Spider-Man to flesh out how regular folks live in the MCU, this time showing how everyone is coping with having half the world’s population disappear for 5 years and then reappear, known as The Blip. And, it did a great job of continuing Peter Parker’s arc, with him coping with Tony Stark’s death; Tom Holland does some great work with that storyline. But, it also improves on Homecoming’s biggest flaw: its flat direction. Far From Home has a lot more visual flair, thanks in large part to making Mysterio the main villain. Mysterio is great in this movie. Jake Gyllenhaal plays him well; he’s great as the mentoring hero in the first part of the movie but really shines as the disgruntled employee looking for validation when he shows his true colors. And, Mysterio’s whole shtick, using holograms and highly technological gadgets, here drones, to create the illusion that he’s magic, works incredibly well here. I like how they retconned him as the inventor of the BARF holograms as it adds to his backstory and explains how he creates such elaborate illusions. But, this really works in that bravura sequence when Mysterio dazzles Spider-Man with an elaborately mindf*** of an illusion that nearly kills Spider-Man and gets him run over by a train. That whole sequence was a technical wonder, with the director and special effects team letting loose their imaginations to create a cinematic spectacle to rival the multiverse fight in Into The Spider-Verse. It is easily one of the best scenes in the MCU. Another great improvement from Homecoming are the fight scenes. In Homecoming, except for the ATM fight, nothing really stands out. Far From Home’s fights were much better, utilizing Spider-Man’s agility to make them look more dynamic. Spider-Man tearing up Mysterio’s drones on the Tower Bridge was a real stand-out among MCU fights. There were a bunch of other great story moments throughout the film: MJ figuring out that Peter is Spider-Man, Aunt May and Happy obviously having sex, Flash Thompson’s mancrush on Spider-Man, Peter’s interactions with Nick Fury, Mysterio framing Spider-Man for his death and leaked the footage to an Alex Jones-like J. Jonah Jameson, and the reveal that Fury and Agent Hill were actually the Skrulls Talos and Soren. In all, this was a fun movie that vastly improved on the MCU’s already great interpretation of Spider-Man. Though, Into The Spider-Verse was still better.

12. Avengers: Endgame: I really enjoyed this movie when I saw it in theaters. Thought it was the BEST THING EVER!!!! Then, I saw it in my home and didn’t like it as much. It’s not that I suddenly realized it was bad. In fact, I still thought it was a good movie with a lot to enjoy. The acting, as always, was good. The MVP’s were: Robert Downey, Jr., who nailed the conclusion of Tony Stark’s arc with ease. He nicely showed off the funny traits that Stark has always had while showing off new shades of anger over having failed, sorrow over all that was lost, making peace with his past and his father, and acceptance over his fate. Jeremy Renner, who gave his best Hawkeye performance to date. He really sold Clint’s depression over losing his family. Chris Hemsworth, who managed to make Thor’s depression over failing to kill Thanos equally sad and funny. Mark Ruffalo, who was a hoot as the Professor Hulk, AKA Bruce’s brains in Hulk’s body. We really need another solo Hulk movie now. And, Karen Gillian, who damn near stole the movie as Nebula. She was great at selling Nebula’s pain over what had happened despite having to do it in just an angry voice. No easy task, but she did it gracefully. The story was fun. Starting off with that bummer beginning with The Avengers attacking Thanos at the beginning to undo The Snap only to learn that Thanos destroyed the stone, it set up a great hopeless tone for them to try the crazy Time Heist plot. Speaking of which, the Time Heist was easily the movie’s best part, one of the most fun stories the MCU has come up with. There were a lot of fun parts in just the Battle Of New York alone: Hulk meeting The Ancient One, Captain America using his knowledge of Hydra’s infiltration of SHIELD to get Loki’s scepter, Cap fighting with himself, Iron Man and Ant-Man failing to get the Space Stone, Robert Redford’s cameo, Hulk taking the stairs. All great. But, it was how the Time Heist honored the MCU’s past that made it work. I really liked how they used Thor: The Dark World in this movie. Yes, that movie stunk. But, the Russo Brothers and writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely could have easily found a different time and place to get the Reality Stone. Instead, they chose to go back to the MCU’s most maligned movie and not only own it as a part of the franchise’s past but also make that movie a little better. It was also nice that Rene Russo got to do something good with Frigga. But, while there are a lot of things in the movie that I enjoyed, I did notice some flaws. For one, Black Widow kind of got the shaft with her death. I liked how she sacrificed herself to get the Soul Stone, but they didn’t do a lot to make it seem like her death was final. I got the impression that using the stone to bring her back would have sent the stone back to Vormir, but I also got the impression that they could have used all 6 stones to bring her back and supersede that rule. They could have made it clearer that she couldn’t have been resurrected. Also, she didn’t get nearly as good of a send-off as Iron Man. It’s like they forgot about her once alternate Thanos showed up. Speaking of which, the final battle with Thanos’s army was fun but felt empty. The first part, with Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America was cool, especially when Cap picked up Mjolnir. But, once all the heroes gathered to take on Thanos’s whole army, it became the CGI spectacle to end all CGI spectacles. It was pretty to look at but didn’t have a lot of substance to it. And, it got to be a bit much as it went on. Though, Iron Man’s death was cool. In all, I really liked the movie, enough to rank it this high, but this is definitely one of those movies that loses a little bit of what makes it special on that first watch.

13. Spider-Man: No Way Home: As good as the MCU Spider-Man films are, they do have one big flaw: they are MCU films first, Spider-man films second. The needs of the larger franchise seem to always take precedence over making a fun Spider-Man movie. I mean, Iron Man loomed large over Homecoming and Far From Home, Captain America stole the show in Homecoming, Nick Fury (and the big twist about him) stole some focus in Far From Home, and half of No Way Home is an ad for Doctor Strange’s next movie. Of course, the other half is a live-action take on Into The Spider-Verse. So, now the MCU Spider-Man is also getting a little overshadowed by the previous 2 Spider-Man franchises, which annoyed me a little for 2 reasons: 1. While I liked seeing the old villains back, I would have liked to have seen new takes on them. 2. Their inclusion did lead to some continuity issues (Since they came from their universes because they knew Spider-Man’s identity, how did Electro and Sandman get there? Did Electro really know Peter Parker was Spider-Man? And, did Sandman ever learn his real name?). Despite this, I still really enjoyed No Way Home. The movie looked cool; adding Doctor Strange did lead to some great visuals. The nostalgia factor of the film was a real hoot. Alfred Molina, Thomas Haden Church, and Rhys Ifans were great at reprising their roles of Doctor Octopus, Sandman, and Lizard respectively. Willem Dafoe was really great as Green Goblin, nailing the cheesy scenery chewing villain he perfected in the 2002 Spider-Man while adding some sinister tones to it. And, Jamie Foxx redeemed himself as Electro in this movie (making him a nerd in Amazing Spider-Man 2 was a bad idea; he’s too cool and charismatic to be nerdy). Speaking of redemption, having Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield back was great, especially after their last films weren’t that great. Maguire was excellent as the elder Spider-Man, adding some Uncle Ben wisdom to his Peter. And, Garfield was a hoot, showing just how good his Spider-Man could have been if he had funnier scripts. Though, the real standout was Marisa Tomei’s Aunt May. After taking a backseat in the previous films, her role gets beefed up; and she becomes the heart and soul of the film. Which leads to the movie's best part: Aunt May’s death revealing the MCU Spider-Man’s arc. Uncle Ben’s death had been purposely left out to show us what Spider-Man would be like if Peter Parker had become a hero without learning that big lesson about power and responsibility. Then, he learns it the hard way, and it’s devastating. Tom Holland was great at selling this arc, and it really elevated the film. I’m really looking forward to seeing future MCU Spider-Man films. I just hope they’re more focused on Spider-Man and less on the MCU.

14. Spider-Man: Homecoming: So, Sony shit the bed with Spider-Man so badly that they had to go running to Disney and Marvel to fix it. And, thank God, because this was easily the best Spider-Man movie since Spider-Man 2. It has some great performances. Tom Holland continued the great acting he displayed as Spider-Man/Peter Parker from Civil War. And, we got another great villain performance from Michael Keaton as The Vulture/Adrian Toomes. He found a great mix of fatherly charm and sinister calm. Plus, I liked the new backstory they had for The Vulture. Instead of the vengeful old coot from the comics, we got a hard-working father who got screwed over by the government and turned to crime thanks to some Chitauri weapons to support his family. It was a more interesting story that made Toomes very sympathetic. Speaking of story, the writing in this movie was really smart and fun. I liked Peter’s ark, with him getting a big head after the German airport battle and causing some problems in his overzealousness, which ultimately led to him to realize he needs to keep his ego in check. This wasn’t just a great story but also gave the movie its two best sequences: the Washington Monument rescue and the ferry debacle. Another great aspect was Peter trying to keep his identity a secret. Ever since Tony Stark revealed he was Iron Man at the end of that movie, secret identities haven’t been a thing, which was fine since that was a played-out storytelling device in superhero stories at the time. But, after not having them for a while, this movie was the perfect time to bring it back; and it felt fresh, exploring a storytelling aspect that the franchise hadn’t used. I also really liked how they used Spider-Man’s friendly neighborhood hero status to give audiences a feel for what it’s like to live in the MCU as a regular person. The little touches like the FMK game with The Avengers, Captain America doing PSAs, and people commenting on events like what happened in Civil War really fleshed out and deepened this fictional universe. And, it did give us the franchise’s best after-credit scene, with Captain America trolling the audience. Really, the only negative in this movie was the direction. It was kind of flat, which was a big problem for Spider-Man. He’s one of the most dynamic fighters in Marvel, and his comics have had some excellent artwork and panels throughout the years. But, outside of a great homage to the classic panel of Spider-Man pushing building rubble off of himself and those aforementioned sequences, there wasn’t a lot of visual flair in this movie, especially compared to the previous Spider-Man movies. Could you imagine if Sam Raimi had directed this script? Thankfully, it didn’t detract from the movie as a whole.

15. Iron Man 3: This is easily the most divisive movie in the entire MCU, and it’s all because of The Mandarin twist. I can see why they chose to change The Mandarin so heavily in this movie, as the original comic character has its roots in old, outdated yellow peril villains similar to Fu Manchu. But, what they ended up doing with the character, revealing that The Mandarin was a creation by Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce, who does a fine job here) and his AIM company, received a bit of backlash from fans, so much so that they had to make a short film stating that there was a real Mandarin and even go as far a making the real Mandarin the villain of the Shang-Chi movie. Even worse, prior to the reveal, they managed to make The Mandarin work by turning him into a full-fledged terrorist. Ben Kingsley’s portrayal of the terrorist Mandarin was fantastic and could have worked if the movie had played it straight. But, I thought the twist worked. I liked that The Mandarin turned out to be an actor hired by Killian, and again, I gotta praise Ben Kingsley. The guy is such a great actor that he worked just as well as the goofball Trevor Slattery, the actor hired to be The Mandarin. His portrayal of Slattery and the Mandarin character was so good it single-handedly made the twist for me. But, I also liked the idea behind the twist, that Killian was using “The Mandarin” to privatize terrorize like how Tony Stark privatized world peace in Iron Man 2. Using Killian as another evil version of Stark was a smart move. But, I can still see why some fans were upset by the twist as it was working before the reveal. And, it’s a shame the twist has overshadowed the movie, because there is a lot of great stuff in Iron Man 3. Shane Black was a great choice to direct, as he managed to make the movie his own while adhering to Marvel’s whims. He wisely kept Tony out of the suit for much of the movie, which made things much more suspenseful. Robert Downey Jr. gave one of his best Stark performances here, giving us a nice portrayal of a PTSD Tony trying to move past nearly dying in The Avengers. Besides Kingsley and RDJ, another performance that stood out for me was James Dale Badge as Eric Savin, Killian’s main thug; he clearly had fun with this role. There were also some great action scenes throughout. Iron Man’s rescue of the Air Force One passengers was a real standout, one of the great all-time movie stunts. And, there was a very inventive fight in the movie where Tony had to fight off a bunch of goons with just a boot and glove from his armor and a gun he picked up. And, I liked how Pepper got a great badass moment at the end when she took out Killian. In all, this was a fun movie, easily the most underrated of the entire franchise. It’s a shame that the backlash from the movie’s big twist has led to a lot of its best ideas (the Extremis virus, the Iron Patriot suit, Tony destroying his Iron Men suits, the Mandarin twist) being ignored. Though, this doesn’t take away from how good the movie is.

16. Ant-Man And The Wasp: This movie was a lot of fun. Like a lot of good sequels, it kept what worked in the first and fixed the flaws. What worked in the first Ant-Man still works here. Paul Rudd is still great at Scott Lang, still funny as usual. Though, I was really impressed with the scene where Janet Van Dyne took over Scott’s body. That was a great acting showcase for him, going from the goofball to a woman who’s seeing her family for the first time in nearly 30 years. That was one hell of a leap, but he nailed it. Michael Douglas still found the right mix of asshole charm as Hank Pym. Michael Peña is still hilarious as Luis, and I really enjoyed his montage story in this film. Also, props to Peyton Reed for not overindulging and littering the movie with them. He wisely stuck to just one good one, and it worked. As for the new stuff, we got more of Evangeline Lilly, this time getting top billing as The Wasp. Even though I wasn’t a fan of her character on Lost, I really liked her. It was great to see her play such a bad-ass chick, especially in that first fight scene of hers. Plus, it’s nice to see her in a role that doesn’t require her to be stuck in a love triangle. This movie also had better villains. Ghost was a good choice for a villain, who had a great story (little girl becomes the victim of her dad’s hubris, has a special talent that’s also a curse, is forced to work for the government to save herself, gets fired and has to fend for herself). Though, while I did like Hannah John-Kammen’s performance, she did get blown out of the water by Walton Goggins’s incredibly fun performance of Sonny Burch, a character who hopefully comes back. I also enjoyed Laurence Fishburne as Bill Foster, who has a real big problem with Hank Pym. But, it still kept what worked from the previous film. And, I liked how much of the plot revolved around rescuing Janet Van Dyne from the Quantum Realm. It was a smart move to build on the history of the Pyms, the Quantum Realm parts were well done, and I liked that Michelle Pfieffer has now been Catwoman AND The Wasp. In all, it was a fun movie. There weren’t a lot of high stakes in the film (except in the stinger), but considering this came after Infinity War, a low-key heist movie was the perfect palate cleanser.

17. Ant-Man: This could have turned into another Thor: The Dark World. Both movies lost their original director due to creative differences between the directors and Marvel. And, while it would have been great to have seen Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man, things worked out for Ant-Man as Peyton Reed proved to be a good replacement. For one, he had the brilliant idea to film Luis’s stories. Those two moments are a beautiful comedic blend of editing, acting, and directing. He also had a great knack for the action scenes. One of the best things about Ant-Man was how well the shrinking powers were shown on film. Prior to this film, the MCU’s heroes were basically a bunch of good fighters who were really strong. Ant-Man was a nice change of pace, with the shrinking being used to great effect. The Ant-Man-Falcon fight, the heist sequence, and Ant-Man’s fights with Yellowjacket in the falling briefcase and then in his daughter’s room were some of the best and most creative fights in the whole franchise. And, the movie continued the MCU’s great casting streak. Paul Rudd was a fine Scott Lang, a nice blend of comedic and dramatic acting. Michael Douglas made for a great Hank Pym, playing up some of Pym’s more unlikeable qualities like his comic version while making him likeable enough to root for. Evangeline Lilly did great as the resentful Hope Van Dyne. Michael Peña gives one of the best comedic performances in the franchise as Luis. And, major props to Corey Stoll as Yellowjacket, the movie’s villain. He is one of the most underwritten villains in the MCU; it’s hard to tell just why he’s so mad at Pym for not telling him about his Ant-Man past. But, he elevates the villain from being a complete lost by his unhinged performance alone. In all, Ant-Man was a pleasant surprise. This movie could have easily turned out bad, but thankfully it didn’t. Though, I still would have liked to have seen what Edgar Wright would have done with this movie.

18. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: When Chadwick Boseman suddenly died in 2020, it left a big void in the MCU as Black Panther was meant to help fill another void left by the characters that had died in Endgame. So, this left people wondering if Marvel was going to recast the role. They did not. So, the sequel killed off T’Challa and had his family and loved ones dealing with his death much like Boseman’s coworkers were dealing with his. This was an interesting choice, as it led to some great performances. Angela Bassett killed it as Queen Ramonda, earning herself an Oscar nomination. Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong’o, and Winston Duke were also good. And, the story of Wakanda dealing with T’Challa’s death while dealing with a new threat. Speaking of which, the introduction of Atlantis was well done. Here, it’s been turned into an Aztec influenced underwater civilization called Talokan with Vibranium technology. The contrast between the Meso-American and Afrofuturistic visuals made for a visually stunning movie. And, on that front, major props again to director Ryan Coogler for making this movie stand-out amongst the MCU, which has gotten a little rote lately. And, the introduction of Riri Williams/Ironheart (Dominique Williams) was well done, with her making a nice contrast to Shuri and a fun exploration of diverse Black experiences. However, Wakanda Forever isn’t without flaws. I wasn’t too impressed with Tenoch Huerta Mejía’s performance as Namor. He was too nice. Well, he wasn’t that nice; but he wasn’t a huge jerk. Namor needs to be a real self-serious asshole. Also, Martin Freeman and Julia Louis-Dreyfus were wasted in this movie. Freeman’s Ross got nothing to do. And, Louis-Dreyfus’s Valentina Allegra de Fontaine was just there for what seemed like obligatory setting up future project reasons. I fully expected her to be the real bad guy, manipulating Wakanda and Talokan into fighting each other so that they would wipe each other out and that she could steal all their Vibranium. A huge waste if you ask me. However, the movie biggest flaw was that it felt very lacking because T’Challa wasn’t there. I just couldn’t help but feel like this would have been a better movie if T’Challa was the one fighting Namor instead of Shuri. I understand why they felt the need to not recast, but I think that was kind of a mistake. There are plenty of great Black actors out there who could have done a great job of portraying T’Challa in a way that was unique while honoring Boseman. But, as they say, review the movie you got. Though, the movie we got was pretty damn good if a little flawed.

19. Thor: Love And Thunder: The biggest flaw of this movie is that it’s got a bad case of sequelitis. It egregiously doubles down on all the things that people liked about Thor: Ragnarok. Some of this isn’t necessarily bad. For one, it really amps up the 1980s sci-fi aesthetic, adding a little heavy metal album cover flare to the proceedings. And, I don’t mind that one bit. The movie looks great and really stands out, especially over the blander-looking MCU movies. Plus, call me crazy; but I expect comic book movies to look like comic books. I’m weird like that. However, the sequelitis does become a problem in other aspects, most notably the comedy. Love And Thunder just wasn’t as funny as Ragnarok. Some of the jokes fell flat, like the added screen time for the Asgardian actors. It just wasn’t as good as the first time. Also, I felt that Russell Crowe’s Zeus was a shameless attempt to recapture the magic of Jeff Goldblum’s Grandmaster, one that didn’t work despite Crowe being pretty good in the role. And, Korg was a bit of a chore in this movie, kind of coming off as a try hard in the comedic sidekick role. Plus, once again, Lady Sif gets the f***ing shaft again! Why in the f*** do they keep bringing her back just to give her NOTHING to do!!!!? I sure do hope that Jaime Alexander is getting paid well for these glorified cameos. Despite the bad case of sequelitis, the movie is pretty good. What really holds it up is the acting of the leads. Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson are good as usual in their roles. Christian Bale does some great work as Gorr The God Butcher, really selling the pathos and righteous anger of a character that is basically Helmut Zemo as an alien taking down Gods instead of superheroes. But, the MVP of the movie is Natalie Portman as Jane Foster. Now that she was given some good material, her acting skills really shine. She’s great in the comedic side of the role, Jane-Superhero In Training. And, she also does some great dramatic heavy lifting on the serious side of the role, Jane Foster-Cancer Patient. Though, what really impressed me was how director Taika Waititi was able get some chemistry out of Hemsworth and Portman. They were just so damn inert together in the first two Thor movies. Here, the CGI lightning wasn’t the only electricity coming from them. I don’t know how he did it, but he deserves a raise for it. That alone makes this one of the better MCU movies. Still, it’s not as good as Thor: Ragnarok.

20. Captain Marvel: I feel a little bad ranking this one so low, because I really did like Captain Marvel a lot. I really like how directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck changed up the usual superhero origin movie, by making it a bit of a mystery for Vers, the amnesiac Kree warrior who falls to Earth and discovers she’s actually Carol Danvers. It was a nice change of pace for the subgenre. Another great aspect was the 1990s setting, a fun period for the MCU to play in. There were some cool fight scenes and a great sequence where the Skrulls f*** around in Carol’s head, a nice trippy scene. There are 2 great twists in the movie. First, the reveal that the Skrulls aren’t the bad guys was nicely done, leading to a nice tease about how they’ll be portrayed in future films. Second, I liked how Carol just shoots Yon-Rogg with her energy beam instead of fighting him without it at the end. It was a great moment for the character, with her finally doing things her way instead of taking orders. And, there were some great performances throughout. Samuel L. Jackson was the stand-out, showing a new, fun side of Nick Fury. It was a nice change of pace from the cynical, weathered spy we’ve seen throughout the previous MCU films. Ben Mendelsohn and Annette Benning were great in their dual roles. It was smart to make Mendelsohn both Fury’s boss and Talos, but he really shined as Talos. He was great at playing Talos as both a sinister warrior in the beginning and the family man at the end. Benning was also fine playing both Mar-Vell and The Supreme Intelligence. Lashana Lynch was fine as Maria Rambeau. And, Jude Law made a good Yon-Ragg, though he did really telegraph Yon-Ragg’s heel turn. In all it was a fine movie, but there were 2 big flaws that kept me from ranking it higher. One was how they wasted Lee Pace again as Ronan The Accuser. I was hoping that his appearance in this film would make up for how poor Ronan was used in Guardians Of The Galaxy, but they didn’t change up his character at all. He was still the Mean Guy Who Screams A Lot. But, the biggest flaw was with the movie’s hero. Now, I thought Brie Larson was fine as Captain Marvel. But, her performance was a bit off-putting. She came off as really smug throughout the whole movie. I don’t know if that was her choice or the directors, but it just rubbed me the wrong way. Hopefully, it will improve in the next movies. But here, it brought the movie down a bit.

21. Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness: Another mixed bag movie, but there is a lot to recommend about this movie. Much like the first Doctor Strange, this one had some dazzling special effects, the highlights being the fight with Gargantos (who looks more like Shuma-Gorath) and the fight between Doctor Strange and his 3-eyed variant with magical music notes used as weapons. Adding to that visual flare was the stellar direction of Sam Raimi. He’s always had a knack for great cinematic visuals, and his unique auteur style brought some much-needed movie visual pop to the screen that’s been lacking in the MCU for quite a while. Plus, it was a great treat to see Raimi indulge in some Evil Dead madness with Zombie Doctor Strange and the Souls Of The Damned. Also a treat was The Illuminati of Universe 838: Seeing Patrick Stewart play Professor X again was nice, especially since he was in the X-Men Animated Series wheelchair. It was also cool to see a live action Captain Carter (from the What If…? episode where Peggy Carter took the supersoldier serum instead of Steve Rogers, and played well by Hayley Atwell), Lashana Lynch as a Maria Rambeau Captain Marvel, and Anson Mount playing a real Black Bolt (man, that cameo brought back bad memories of that awful Inhumans TV show). Though, the Reed Richards cameo was a bit of a letdown. They had to get Jim from The Office to play him, and they didn’t really show off his elastic powers (which annoys me because they aren’t given Ms. Marvel elastic powers in her shows, which leads me to believe that Disney/Marvel thinks that superpower would look stupid on the screen, which I think is bullshit). There were also some good performances. I really liked Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez; she found a nice mix of world-weariness and wide-eyed innocence. Rachel McAdams was good as the alternate Christine Palmer, even if the role was just as thankless as the one in first Doctor Strange. Benedict Wong was fun as usual as Wong. I liked Chiwetel Ejiofor as the alternate Mordo even if I would have liked to have seen the one for the first film (though I get that they couldn’t fit that character in the movie organically). Though, the movie’s MVP was Elizabeth Olsen. She does great work with Wanda’s heel turn, even if it made little sense. I mean, I know she was basically the bad guy in WandaVision, but the show’s ending made it seem like she was on a redemption path. Kind of weird to see a full 180. This brings us to the other big flaws in the movie. For one, the weakest link acting wise again was Benedict Cumberbatch. He’s better here than he was in the first Doctor Strange, but there were times he was clearly phoning it in. But, the weakest part of the movie was the fact that this wasn’t quite the Multiverse Of Madness that I was expecting. I thought there would be more universes explored. And, yes, there was a fun sequence where Strange and America go flying through the multiverse; but only 2 alternate universes were fully explored. I mean, if your movie has “Multiverse Of Madness” in its title, then I expect some freaky Rick And Morty-Citadel Of Ricks stuff. I thought there would be like a bunch of different Dr. Stranges. Hell, even Rachel McAdams complained about playing only 2 different versions of Christine. It was a fun movie as is, but it did feel like a bit of a wasted opportunity.

22. Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings: This movie is a mixed bag, which isn’t that surprising since it seems to exist to capitalize on the MCU’s success in China and to retcon one of the franchise’s most controversial twists (The Mandarin reveal in Iron Man 3). But, there are a lot of positives in the movie. Simu Liu makes for a great Shang-Chi and shows some promise as a future leading man (the fact that he got cast despite being primarily a Canadian TV actor and stuntman is a big indication of that). Meng’er Zhang has some great chemistry with Liu as Shang-Chi’s sister Xialing, and she does a good job with her resentment towards her father and brother over being neglected all her life. And, Tony Leung steals the show as Wenwu, a new character that’s a composite of the comic Mandarin and Fu Manchu, the infamous Asian peril character that’s Shang-Chi’s comic father. He’s great, exuding the type of movie-star charisma critics sometimes complain is on the decline. Leung isn’t exactly being challenged here, but he brings soul to the scant emotional depth of his character, a classic Marvel villain in the sense that he’s sympathetic until he’s not. And, the Mandarin retcon does work well, allowing Marvel to have its cake and eat it too. Plus, it leads to the return of Ben Kingsley as Trevor Slattery; he’s just as hilarious here as he was in Iron Man 3. Also, there are some great action scenes that reference all types of martial arts movies: An early scene pays tribute to the balletic, graceful films of Zhang Yimou, while a dramatic bus chase later on apes the derring-do of an early Jackie Chan vehicle. Shang-Chi’s reunion with his sister takes place at an underground fighting ring with a ’90s raver, Mortal Kombat type of vibe; and later on, father and son will walk into a grimy, fluorescent-lit gangster hangout straight out of an ’80s John Woo movie. There is some great stuff here, but there are some flaws that drag it down. There’s a lot of Awkwafina in this film, and while I don’t mind her, I can see how she can be annoying to others. Michelle Yeoh is wasted at Shang-Chi’s aunt Jiang Nan; why hire a legendary action star, then dedicate most of her screen time to exposition? She made a much better impression in her brief cameo in Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2. But, the film’s biggest flaw is how it devolves into a big CGI spectacle at the end. It’s bright and colorful, but it also feels a little soulless and hollow. And, it’s become very derivative at this point as the MCU heavily relies on these CGI finales. The best moments in this movie are very human, but the MCU is gonna turn back to digital effects time and again for the foreseeable future, much to the detriment of its movies.

23. Doctor Strange: Here’s the thing: Doctor Strange looks amazing. It’s one of the best special effects movies ever made. It’s a visual wonder that I deemed the best movie of the decade to get high to. There are some spectacular sequences in the film, like when Strange goes through a mindf*** trip through the cosmos that convinces him that magic is real. Sure, some parts are clearly ripped off from Inception, but those are some damn good rip-offs. The final battle between Strange and Mordo against Kaecilius and his followers is easily one of the best final battles in the superhero movie genre. It was a great change of pace from the usual battle, where 2 super powerful beings destroy a city while they fight. Instead, the heroes show up with the city already destroyed, turn back time to put it back together, and fight with the villains to keep it that way. It was a great subversion, and director Scott Derrickson wisely incorporated Hong Kong being restored into the fight instead of just having everyone fight against a reverse time shot. And, the way Strange ultimately defeated Dormammu (by using his brains to trick Dormammu into leaving) was another great switch up from the usual superhero antics. Plus, Dormammu looked amazing. The special effects are top notch, easily the best in the whole franchise. But, a movie is more than just its special effects. It’s a story, and this movie’s story is lacking in substance. For one, it feels like they copied and pasted the plot from the 1st Iron Man into this one. Both movies are about goateed egomaniacs who suffer a horrible traumatic event that causes them to become a superhero and stop being such a shithead. Another problem is Benedict Cumberbatch’s portrayal of Strange. He leans way too hard into Strange’s abrasive personality. He’s not bad at it, but there’s little charm in the character for the audience to get behind. The movie also doesn’t have a strong villain. Mads Mikkelsen does a good job as Kaecilius, but he doesn’t get much to do. And, both actors were bested by their costars; Rachel McAdams, Tilda Swinton, Benedict Wong, and Chiwetel Ejiofor all give better performances. And then, there was a casting controversy of making Swinton The Ancient One, who was an Asian man in the comics. I don’t have a problem with making the character a woman, and the comics character was an Asian stereotype. But, it would have been better if they had chosen an Asian woman in the role. So, there is a lot to recommend about Doctor Strange. But, if this movie was a person, it would be Kim Kardashian: looks pretty but doesn’t have much else going on for it.

24. Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania: I’m kind of torn on this movie. On the one hand, there are things I do like about this movie. Mostly, it’s the acting. Paul Rudd is on point as always as Scott Lang. I liked the family dynamics among Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfieffer, and Evangeline Lilly, especially in their scene with Bill Murray, who was also pretty good. Kathryn Newton was pretty damn good as Cassie. They did a good job with M.O.D.O.K.; it was a nice to touch to make him Darren Cross, especially since it allowed Corey Stoll to come back with his interesting take. And, Jonathan Majors killed it as Kang. He looked like a total badass. Everything else, on the other hand… Meh… For one, the special effects were hit and miss. Some of the visuals looked great, like the sequence with the multiple Scotts. And, I liked the idea of make a lot of the Quantum Realm tech to be partially biological, giving it a nice David Cronenberg feel to it. Also, the society of smart ants was pretty cool. But, much of them were butt-ugly. A lot of dark blobs of brown and gray floating around. Just visually unappealing. And, that also made the decision to introduce Kang in an Ant-Man movie a weird one. Ant-Man and The Wasp work better in the real world, seeing them shrink and grow against a normal background with small objects looking big and big objects looking small next to Scott in his giant form. Seeing them shrink and grow in a sci-fi setting just looks like a big CGI mess. Though, I understand why they put Kang against Ant-Man for two reasons. First, the idea of Ant-Man trying to take down such a powerful is interesting, a nice David and Goliath story. Second, I don’t know who else they could have introduced Kang against. Hawkeye, The Winter Soldier, and the new Captain America/former Falcon are too normal and down to earth. Well, down to earth for the MCU. Doctor Strange could have worked with the magic VS science aspect, but a movie with Kang AND evil Scarlet Witch would have been too much. Maybe Thor? Though, Kang is too serious for Taika Waititi’s take on the God Of Thunder. The only other possibility I could see was the Fantastic Four, but they should have been introduced first before bringing in Kang. In the end, this movie was kind of a mess. It’s not terrible, but it ain’t great either.

25. Eternals: Here’s the thing: Eternals looks great. In fact, it might just be the best looking MCU movie around. The cinematography is gorgeous, the CGI, especially the Celestials, looks majestic, and the whole film has a great epic feel to it. It looks like a superhero movie made by Terrence Malick. So, it’s a very beautiful movie. But, looks aren’t everything, which leads to the film’s biggest flaw: it’s not that interesting. In fact, it’s a little boring. Maybe it’s because the Deviants aren’t very captivating villains; Kro, the Deviant who can absorb the Eternals powers, is the only one that stands out; and he was hugely wasted. Maybe it’s because the film devolves into a big CGI fight, like all these movies do. Maybe it’s because I’m just not that interested in the Eternals. I mean, this team has a big Superman problem. Superman is a hard character to make relatable stories about because he’s so damn powerful, and Eternals is a movie about a whole team of Supermen. Hell, Ikaris is basically the MCU Superman: he has similar powers, Richard Madden looks like the other actors who’ve played Superman, a character literally calls him Superman, AND this version of Ikaris was apparently based off of Zach Snyder’s version of the character. Sure, some Eternals stand out, like Sersi (Gemma Chan) for her powers, Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani) for his personality, and Sprite (Lia McHugh) for her characterization (an immortal stuck in the body of a teenager). And, there are some things I did like about the movie besides its looks: The twist about the true nature of the Celestials, Eternals, and Deviants was well done; and I did like how the movie teased that Druig (Barry Keoghan) was the villain only to reveal Ikaris as the real bad guy was another nice twist. But, I still just couldn’t get into this movie. I mean, the end credit scenes introducing Starfox (Harry Styles), Pip (Patton Oswalt), and Blade (Marshala Ali) were more interesting than much of the movie that came before it. But, it still looked great though.

26. Black Widow: It took a long while for Black Widow to get her own movie. The closest she got was Winter Soldier. And, this movie does look a lot like Diet Winter Soldier. I mean, the bad guy is a man hiding in the shadows (Ray Winstone’s Dreykov) with a mind-controlled super-thug (a female Taskmaster played by Olga Kurylenko) who does his bidding willingly and helps him change geopolitical events in secret. There’s a Russian version of Captain America (David Harbour’s Red Guardian). Hell, the climax includes a floating superfortress falling to the ground. There’s a lot of self-plagiarizing in this movie, which is a big flaw. And, to make things worse, it’s nowhere near as good as Winter Soldier. Kurylenko doesn’t get as much to do as Sebastian Stan’s Winter Soldier did. And, the big conspiracy, Dreykov’s new and improved mind-controlled Black Widows, is not as complex as Hydra-cosplaying-Shield. And, there’s a Macguffin that easily cures the mind-controlled Widows, a change of heart in perfume form that comes off as very cheap and ridiculous. And, the movie is a waste of one of Widow’s most interesting characteristics: her backstory of breaking free from the Widow program. A few flashback scenes of her breaking free would have been nice, but it’s all tell and no show. The movie is more focused on the MCU formula. But, one thing the MCU is known for is great casting, which really elevates the film. Harbour’s Guardian is a hoot, a blowhard who loves to boast about fighting Captain America during the Cold War; he has a lot of fun with the role, so much that one hopes for a Red Guardian Disney+ series. And, if he could share some screentime with the Guardians Of The Galaxy, that would be great. Rachel Weisz is good as the no-nonsense, professional Melina Vostokoff, adding some motherly warmth to her deadpan personality. Florence Pugh, who’s wrestled on screen before with a dysfunctional upbringing (in good films like Midsommar and bad ones like Fighting With My Family), understands the assignment; she lets us see the hurt beneath Yelena Belova’s dagger-sharp sarcasm. And, of course, Scarlett Johansson can play Black Widow in her sleep. It’s no surprise she’s good here, and she has great chemistry with her co-stars. And, the humor, another MCU strength, is good here. For example, there’s a great dark joke about the Guardian being proud of the red on Natasha and Yelena’s ledger. And, the action is pretty damn good. In all, there are a lot of positives to keep this movie from being bad. But, it could have been much better and less of a rip-off.

27. Avengers: Age Of Ultron: This film is kind of a mess. There’s a lot to recommend about it. The chemistry among the lead actors is as great as usual. The main cast really shines in the great party scene in the beginning. Jeremy Renner gets a fine showcase as Hawkeye in this movie, which was nice considering how poorly the character was introduced in Thor and how he was wasted in The Avengers. The Iron Man-Hulk fight is one of the franchise’s best, which is especially impressive since it has a lot of CGI. Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, and The Vision were great additions to the franchise. For one, their powers were a lot more unique than the original Avengers, whose powers are variations on being really strong and good at fighting. This added some dynamism to the film’s action scenes. Plus, the actors were pretty good in the roles. Elizabeth Olsen’s turn in this film is still her best, mainly because she kind of forgot how to do her accent in the later films. Paul Bettany doesn’t get much to do as Vision, but he makes the most of the role. Though, Aaron Taylor-Johnson was the real standout amongst the 3 new Avengers. His portrayal of Quicksilver was a lot of fun, a nice mix of brotherly warmth, world-weary cynicism, and frat bro swagger. Which is why it f***ing sucked that they killed him off in the movie. After cockteasing the audience of Hawkeye’s inevitable doom, killing Quicksilver was like a slap in the face, a shock for the sake of shock value. And, it felt like a bit of a “f*** you” to FOX since they also put Quicksilver in the X-Men films. It was a big loss as that character would have been interesting to see in future films. Imagine what he could have done in Civil War. Quicksilver’s death is one of many flaws in the film, which really do drag the movie down. James Spader is fine as Ultron, but he’s also wasted in the role. It felt like they cast him simply for his strange voice. But, what really hurt the movie was director Joss Whedon’s conflicts with Marvel. The studio wanted him to insert that weird ass Thor lightning bath scene. He wisely refused, knowing it would confuse the audience. But, when Marvel threatened to cut the farm sequence he so badly wanted in the movie, he put it in. Ironically, Hawkeye’s farm was just as bad as the lightning bath. It brought the whole movie to a screeching halt and felt out of place, like the Avengers had stumbled onto a Hallmark movie. Both sequences should have been cut and replaced with something better. But, alas, they weren’t. While Age Of Ultron isn’t completely terrible, it definitely doesn’t stand tall with the rest of the franchise.

28. Thor: I feel a little bad ranking this one so low. There is a lot to recommend in the 1st Thor movie. Director Kenneth Branagh was a good choice since he’s such a well-known Shakespearean, and Thor was always the most Shakespearean character in Marvel Comics. He did a fine job of turning Thor and Loki’s struggle for the Asgardian throne and Odin’s disappointment in how they try to achieve it into Shakespearean drama; it helps that he has two good Shakespearean actors playing Loki and Odin. Anthony Hopkins is a fine Odin, but Tom Hiddleston stole the show as Loki. He’s so good at playing up Loki’s charming qualities and turning on a dime into his sinister side. He would have made Loki one of the franchise’s best villains if this had been his only appearance, but Marvel wisely kept bringing him back because he was just too damn good in the role. Also, Chris Hemsworth deserves a lot of praise for his 1st turn as Thor. He more than held his own against Hopkins and Hiddleston and proved to be great at playing Thor as a comedic character. The movie also stood out for its look, especially in the Asgard scenes. With most of the MCU’s Phase 1 films taking place on Earth, this was a nice change of scenery. However, as good as those elements were, there were still some parts that dragged it down. Hemsworth’s chemistry with Natalie Portman wasn’t great. Hawkeye’s introduction could have been done better. The action scenes were kind of boring. The Frost Giants were dull secondary villains. And, some actors, like Rene Russo and Idris Elba, were wasted. But, the main thing that has hurt Thor is that, quite frankly, the MCU has had better movies come out since its release. I mean, it wasn’t even the best MCU movie to come out in 2011 as the 1st Captain America movie soon followed. This wasn’t Thor’s fault, but it still doesn’t change the fact that it pales in comparison to the franchise’s other entries.

29. The Incredible Hulk: The red-, or green-, headed stepchild of the MCU. It’s, to date, the only solo Hulk movie in the franchise, thanks in large part to a deal Marvel made with Universal before Disney bought Marvel. It’s a weird little What If…? for the MCU, as it has many plot points that weren’t explored. The movie’s credit stinger had an Iron Man cameo that suggested that the Hulk was gonna be the bad guy for The Avengers, which didn’t happen. We have yet to see Tim Blake Nelson’s Samuel Sterns become The Leader, a huge missed opportunity. And, Edward Norton got replaced for Mark Ruffalo. As much as I like Ruffalo’s Banner, so much that I wished that he’d been cast from the beginning, Norton is fine in the role. I honestly wouldn’t have minded if he had stuck around. And, he was much better than Eric Bana. Anyway, as much of an oddball as this Hulk movie is for the franchise, it does have some things to recommend. Director Louis Leterrier does a good job with the action scenes, which is surprising considering that most of them feature CGI characters. It was also a smart move to make this a quasi-sequel to the 2003 Hulk movie, which allowed the movie to not have to bother with the origin story and just get to the action. It’s also a nice change of pace to see this movie take a serious side. As much as I appreciate the comedy of the MCU, not every one of them needs to be funny. And, it has a great Stan Lee cameo that actually affects the plot. Still, there are things about the movie that don’t work. William Hurt and Liv Tyler aren't bad as Thunderbolt Ross and his daughter Betty, but they weren’t as good as Sam Elliot and Jennifer Connelly were in the 2003 movie. Tim Roth is a fine Emil Blonsky, but once he turns into The Abomination, the character becomes a drag. Also, the movie does get a little boring at times. But, its biggest flaw is how terrible the Hulk looks. People complained about the Hulk in the 2003 movie, but he looked 100 times better than this one. Thankfully, we got a better-looking Hulk in future films.

30. Iron Man 2: This could have easily been the Worst MCU Movie. What prevented that were a few things. Robert Downey Jr. was still knocking it out of the park as Tony Stark. And, he and Gwyneth Paltrow still had amazing chemistry together. Don Cheadle proved to be a great new War Machine. Gary Shandling was a hoot. Sam Rockwell was great as Justin Hammer; they really should have brought him back as an evil version of Iron Man (and they still could). And, there were some good action scenes. Iron Man and War Machine’s fight was pretty cool. The Grand Prix sequence was great stuff. But, the best fight scene didn’t even involve Iron Man. That would be the Black Widow fight, her first one in the franchise, which helped set up her character. It was a fun fight scene, jumping back and forth between Happy Hogan struggling to take down 1 guy while she took out like 10 in rapid fire succession. So, with all these positives, why is it ranked so low? For many reasons. As good as Black Widow’s fight scene was, the other scenes involving her weren’t so great. Since this movie came before Disney bought Marvel, sex was still in the forefront, as exemplified by how the camera kept eye-f***ing Scarlett Johansson throughout the movie. And, that hasn’t aged well in this woke culture. The camera is basically eyef***ing her, which does get old fast. Yet, it is nice to see some sex in this franchise. The movie also features the biggest example of Marvel’s villain problem. Now, Mickey Rourke isn’t bad as Ivan Vanko, AKA Whiplash. But, he’s just not given anything interesting to do. And, he pales in comparison to Rockwell’s more interesting Justin Hammer. But, really, the movie’s biggest flaw is that it’s kind of boring. It’s just not as fun as the 1st or 3rd Iron Man movies or any other MCU movie. And, for a superhero franchise, boring is one of the worst things a movie can be.

31. Thor: The Dark World: The Worst MCU Movie. Why? Well, it epitomizes the major flaws in the entire franchise. For starters, this is the perfect example of when Marvel wouldn’t let their directors direct. Patty Jenkins was the original director, but thanks to creative differences, she left the project. Marvel then brought in Alan Taylor, who was mainly a TV director, AKA the kind of director who just shoots the script. And, he apparently took the title too literally, which leads to another flaw: bland-looking movies. This was a dark movie; in that it was hard to look at since several parts had little lighting in them. Outside of Frigga’s funeral and a somewhat creative final battle, it was NOT a good-looking movie. And, that final battle, while creative (it looked great with Thor fighting the Dark Elves across the Nine Realms) could have been a lot more creative since this movie featured the Reality Stone, AKA the stone that LITERALLY ALTERS REALITY!!!! This was a big waste of that stone. The Russo Brothers got more creative use out of it in the few times they used it in Infinity War. Hell, James Gunn got better use out of the Power Stone, and that just blows shit up. Speaking of wasting, there’s the fact that this movie is also a good example of the MCU’s Villain Problem, when the early films made the villains bland characters used primarily for the hero to punch. The Dark World’s main villain, Malekith, is easily the MCU’s Worst Villain. The guy spends the whole movie being mad, looking bored about being mad, and looking for the Reality Stone for reasons. And, he looked like crap. This was a huge waste of Christopher Eccleston, the actor who played Malekith. In fact, I had no idea he played Malekith until years after I saw the movie, and this guy is my all-time favorite Doctor on Doctor Who. Eccleston is not the only actor wasted in this movie. Idris Elba, Zachary Levi, Chris O’Dowd, Jamie Alexander, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, and Rene Russo are all given like nothing to do. And then, there's Natalie Portman, who sleepwalks through this movie (probably because she gave up when Jenkins got axed) and has no chemistry with Chris Hemsworth. It’s very distracting. Speaking of distracting, another flaw is one of the MCU’s strengths: the comedy. Usually, these are funny movies, but this is easily the unfunniest. Kat Dennings, who was pretty funny in the first one, is given no good material, and the running joke of Erik Selvig developing a nudist fetish is just painfully unfunny. To be fair, the movie isn’t a total loss. The aforementioned climatic battle that could have been better is still a little fun. Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Hopkins, and Tom Hiddleston are good as usual. And, the movie does have one great scene where Loki disguises himself as Captain America. Though, it is the only worthwhile part of the movie, making the rest pointless to see. Hell, even Hemsworth called the movie “meh.” So, this is the Worst MCU Movie.

[James Fabiano]

Civil War should have been Age of Ultron. That is all. Put the Ultron story somehow in one of the Iron Man movies. Would have been better than what we got for sequels.

Which reminds me...while the Mandarin thing was the turd on top of the crap sundae, IM3 was just boring in general, IMO. Only the first movie of the series was the really good one (I agree about IM2's mediocrity).

[Citizen Snips Has Left]

It's weird how the 3 solo trilogies all have a different order to quality.

Cap: Second movie is best, then third, then first

Iron Man: First, then take your pick on second or third

Thor: Third, then first, then second.

[Hulkshi Tanahashi]

Hulk Ranks Every Non-MCU Marvel Movie From Best To Worst:

1. Logan: The Greatest Non-MCU Marvel Movie. This movie is pretty much the closest thing we’ll get to a mainstream superhero art film, a hyper-violent dystopian Western that gave its hero the respect of transforming him into a gruesome killing machine and granting him some long-sought redemption. It’s a bleak movie with most of the X-Men dead, Logan dying, Xavier slowly losing control of his powers, mutants going extinct, and an evil company performing secret experiments in order to create their own mutant army. It’s a bit depressing, but it’s still a thrilling movie. The action in this movie is very brutal, filled with a lot of blood and gore; the violence in this film takes full advantage of the R rating. But, this is one of the few superhero movies where the fight scenes aren’t one of the main attractions. This movie is more about the acting and writing. Hugh Jackman gives his best Wolverine performance here as a Logan whose powers are slowly fading and who is now feeling the weight of all the things he’s done in the past. It’s a beautifully weary, cynical performance that builds off of his previous performances. Patrick Stewart is also great in this movie, using all his Shakespearean gravitas to play an Xavier full of regret and loneliness and who’s a little senile. He gives a sad, melancholic performance, which was a great way to end the character. I was also impressed by Dafne Keen’s Laura/X-23, who does a great job at mimicking Jackman’s earlier Wolverine performances, and by Stephen Merchant, who is surprisingly good as Caliban, showing a lot of range and pathos the normally comedic actor hasn’t been known for. But, what really makes this movie work is how it does something most movie superheroes don’t do: gives its hero finality. This movie could have only ended with Logan dying, and his death is terrifically done. And, that was Logan’s greatest strength: it doesn’t feature the typical superhero backtrack on any major deaths. While it does end on a hopeful note, Logan is still dead at the end; and that’s tragic. It’s not afraid to be a bit of a bummer, and that’s why it’s The Greatest.

2. Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse: We need more animated superhero movies, especially the kind like Into The Spider-Verse. This movie is amazing, taking full advantage of its animation and delivering a lot of great colorful visuals throughout. From that great upside down shot of Miles Morales falling through the sky to Miles and Peter swinging through the woods to the fantastic final battle with the multiverse colliding together, practically every frame of the film contains a beautiful piece of art. As great as this movie looks, the acting and writing match it beautifully. There are some great voice performances throughout, from Jake Johnson’s world-weary Peter B. Parker to Hailee Steinfeld’s too cool Gwen Stacy to Nicolas Cage’s fun, cheesy Spider-Man Noir to Brian Tyree Henry’s soulful, warm Jefferson Davis. But, the movie does belong to its lead as Shameik Moore nails the role of Miles Morales. He plays Miles well, capturing his confusion over his new powers beautifully while also making him a funny, nerdy, awkward teen. And, the plot of the film is a lot of fun, with all the different Spider-Men from other universes coming together. The movie has a lot of fun playing with the Spider-Man mythos, from the female Dr. Octopus to the Spider-Man themed Jingle Bells. I mean, who ever thought we’d see Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham, in a theatrically released major motion picture? But, the best thing about this movie is that it's just a whole lot of fun. Freed from having to set up any plot points in a cinematic universe, Into The Spider-Verse can just do its own thing, with the filmmakers letting their imaginations run wild. It’s like watching a kid play with his or her Spider-Man toys, only we’re able to see what they are imagining as they play. There were no movies like Into The Spider-Verse when it came out, but hopefully, there will be more movies like it now.

3. X2: X-Men United: The 2nd X-Men movie is still the best, having held up well over the years. It builds on the vision of the first movie, keeping the societal-alienation themes intact, but since it was a sequel and didn’t have to waste time on getting the team together like in the first, it could do more. It raises the stakes, expands the canvas, and introduces a whole lot of fun new characters, like Alan Cumming’s great take on Nightcrawler, Aaron Stanford having some fun as Pyro, and Kelly Hu’s cool stoic take on Lady Deathstrike. Though, the real standout from the newcomers was Brian Cox’s fascist blowhard General Stryker. Cox is great at playing a righteous bastard, and he does some great work as Stryker. It’s got a great plot with the X-Men having to team up with Magneto and Mystique in order to stop William Stryker from tricking Charles Xavier into wiping out all mutants. I also liked the twist that Magneto only helps save the day so that he could use Xavier to wipe out all the humans instead; it was a great, logical heel turn for the character. There are some great action set pieces throughout: Nightcrawler’s White House invasion is still one of the best action scenes in a superhero movie. The Blackbird crash was exceptionally well done. Magneto’s escape from his ultra-secure plastic prison was unique. Finally, the fight between Wolverine and Lady Deathstrike is a great knockdown, drag-out slugfest. And, while there’s a slightly lighter, goofier tone, the movie still brings the drama, especially when Jean Grey sacrifices herself to save everyone. It’s basically everything that a superhero movie sequel should be. While it sucks that the franchise got turned over to a total hack one movie later, X2 still holds up exceptionally well.

4. X-Men: Days Of Future Past: My two big complaints about this movie are: how 20th Century Fox lazily used it to explain the franchise’s continuity problems (time travel screwed everything up) even though the movie created some more, like how Bolivar Trask went from being a tall black man in 2006 in The Last Stand to somehow being a white little person in 1973 or how Mystique disguised as William Stryker saves Wolverine at the end only to see Wolverine as Stryker’s prisoner in the next movie. The other big complaint: how the franchise will introduce cool mutants with cool powers and then just drop them after a scene. I mean, you’d think that Havok would show up to help Xavier, Magneto, Beast, and Wolverine after realizing somethings up with Mystique after she helps him in Vietnam or that our heroes would keep Quicksilver around after he helps bust Magneto out of prison. They both could have added some visual flair to the big climactic fight. Besides those flaws, I did really enjoy this movie. Since it was the 5th movie in the franchise, the X-Men world had been fully set-up. So, it didn’t have to waste any time with origins or getting the team together. They could just jump into the action. Also, say what you will about Bryan Singer and his personal demons, bringing him back to direct was a wise choice as he had a good knack for filming these characters. He did a great job of adapting the Days Of Future Past storyline, nailing the original spirit of the comic. The cast is great as usual. Jennifer Lawrence’s take on the more radicalized but conflicted Mystique was well done. Ian McKellan does great work as the elderly Magneto, full of regret and perspective, but Michael Fassbender does a better job as the young bitter Magneto. While the continuity issue with Bolivar Trask did bug me, I did like Peter Dinklage’s take on the character. And, Evan Peters left a big impression as Quicksilver even though his character wasn’t that fully fleshed out. And, the action and special effects were really well done. The past and future Sentinels were great, both coming off as a great threat. The fights with the future Sentinels were well done. But, the big standout was that Quicksilver scene, where he takes out a bunch of prison guards in quick succession. It was a unique, well-made sequence that showed a lot of playfulness and creativity. And, it told us a lot about Quicksilver’s character. In all, Days Of Future Past is just a great thrill ride with the time travel plot making it unique among other superhero movies.

5. Blade II: As great as the 1st Blade movie is, the 2nd one blows it out of the water. Why? Guillermo del Toro. The future Oscar winning director made a rich, beguiling, visually sweeping movie with a unique premise: Blade has to work with the Bloodpack, a team of vampire mercenaries originally put together to take him out in order to kill a bunch of mutated vampires called Reapers. The Bloodpack is a great addition to the Blade mythos, mainly because their leader is played by a very game Ron Perlman and features Donnie Yen doing his usual badass action man shtick. The Reapers are another great idea, mainly because of how f***ing cool they look. They are a typical del Toro creation: ugly and disgusting but so bewitching that you can’t help but look at them. And, Luke Goss does a good job as Jared Nomak, the Reaper leader. I also have to mention a memorable Norman Reedus as Scud, Blade’s replacement for Whistler (who turns out to be alive, which was a bit contrived but works because it means more Kris Kristofferson) who turns traitor. And, of course, Wesley Snipes is great as usual as Blade. Plus, he does some good work with Leonor Varela, who plays Nyssa, the daughter of the vampire lord who brings Blade in to help him with the Reapers. They make a surprisingly deep connection in the film, and she gets an emotional death scene that works a lot better than it should. Outside of the plot and cool characters, the movie looks fantastic. If there was any director who could beautifully capture the dark tones of the Blade character, it was del Toro. He creates a great dark atmosphere throughout the film. And, the fight scenes are just the best. The scene where Wesley Snipes suplexes a guy through glass and then pops up in Ron Perlman’s face may or may not have caused me to piss myself a little. The action in this movie is even better than the first and has held up incredibly well since 2002. Hell, the whole movie holds up well, thanks in large part to del Toro. The director found ways to indulge his freaky monster-movie imagination, stage impressive fight sequences, and channel some genuine emotion, all without compromising the monumental badassery of his main character.

6. Spider-Man 2: I do have two complaints about Spider-Man 2: For one, the dialogue. It’s clunky and cheesy at times. There are some lines that are just so bad that no one can make them work. The other, I didn’t like how the movie went out of its way to get the mask off of Spider-Man. I mean, a train full of people saw his face. It was so stupid. But, other than that, Spider-Man 2 is a great comic book movie. As good as Tobey Maguire was in the first Spider-Man, he’s even better here. He does great work as Peter keeps getting shit on throughout this movie; he makes a good hapless loser. Alfred Molina makes a great Dr. Octopus. He brings a lot of warmth to the role before he gets the robotic arms fused to his body, and he has a lot of fun when Dr. Octavius goes full bad guy. Sam Raimi keeps up the frantic visual style from the first one, which again adds to the comic book feel. Plus, with the origin story out of the way, Raimi feels free to have a whole lot more fun with the Spider-Man story, sending Spider-Man careening beautifully through Manhattan corridors. And then, there are the fight scenes. Good God almighty are they great! The fights in this movie look like some of the great fight panels from the old Spider-Man comics come to life. The real standout is the train fight between Spider-Man and Dr. Octopus. It was a great tour de force of action, suspense, and special effects. It may very well be the best fight scene in a superhero movie. In all, the movie just works, effortlessly combining special effects and a human story, keeping its parallel plots alive and moving. It’s just a well-made movie that tells a great story so well that you can forgive some minor flaws.

7. Deadpool 2: The 2nd Deadpool is just as funny as the first but has the added advantage of not having to waste any time in telling Deadpool’s origin. It can spend more time making jokes and showing violent fight scenes. All the things that worked about the first Deadpool work here, but it has enough new elements to make it shine better than the first one. The new characters add a lot to the movie. Josh Brolin is great as Cable, playing the straight man role with aplomb. Julian Dennison does some great work as Russell Collins/Firefist. He puts a lot of heart in the role and keeps it from being a token foul-mouthed teenager caricature. And, Zazie Beetz makes a fine Domino, bringing a lot of charisma to the role. I also liked how well they were able to showcase Domino’s luck powers. That scene with Domino running down the streets as everything falls apart around her looks fantastic. In fact, the action scenes in this movie are really well done. Though, the comedy still remains one of the strongest elements of the Deadpool movies. There are a lot of great gags in this movie, like the cameos from the X-Men actors who want no part of Deadpool and the fact that they spent a bit of time to build up the X-Force team only to kill most of them off (with a brief cameo by Brad Pitt as an invisible mutant who only shows his face for like 3 seconds before dying). But, Deadpool 2 works surprisingly well as a movie that deals with getting over the loss of a loved one both in Wade’s job getting Vanessa killed and Cable going back in time to prevent the death of his family and as a movie that deals with overcoming trauma from abuse with Russell wanting revenge the Mutant Reeducation Center. Audiences expected Deadpool 2 to be just as funny as the first, but I doubt anyone was expecting to be a tearjerker as well.

8. Blade: It’s amazing that the movie that got the ball rolling on the superhero movie craze was about an obscure character from an obscure Dracula comic Marvel made in the 1970s. Hell, Blade is better known for his movies than for his comics. Which should really tell you how good the first Blade movie is. Its biggest strength is how it builds its world. You get a full scope of the underground vampire world and Blade’s fight against it within the first scene, and it just builds its world up beautifully as the movie goes on. Another big strength is the case. Wesley Snipes is great as Blade, displaying a great steely badass cool throughout. Kris Kristofferson leaves a big impression as Whistler. Stephen Dorff wonderfully chews scenery as Deacon Frost. I really liked N'Bushe Wright as Dr. Karen Jenson. She did a good job with the thankless role as Blade’s sidekick, managing to not make her a damsel in distress; I’m really disappointed she hasn’t done much since. The movie also looks great. The fight scenes are very brutal and fierce. And, the movie has a great high visual style, using extreme camera angles, bizarre costumes and sets, exaggerated shadows, and confident cutting between long shots and extreme close-ups. It slams ahead in pure visceral imagery that made it stand out from some of the cheesier superhero movies of the 1990s, like the Schumacher Batman films. And, it still stands out today. Blade showed that a more serious, stylish take on the superhero genre could be very profitable. And, the fact that it still holds up after over 20 years shows how good the movie is.

9. Deadpool: After X-Men Origins: Wolverine nearly ruined Deadpool, this movie came along to return the character to its glory. The best decision this movie made was to just completely ignore his previous movie appearance (aside from some funny gags about how awful it was). Instead, this becomes a new origin for Wade Wilson, which does drag the film down a bit as we’re forced to watch Wade get tortured into activating his latent mutant genes. Luckily, the rest of the film is a pure joy. Ryan Reynolds builds on the brilliant flashes he showed in the pre-mouthless Deadpool scenes in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, nailing the character’s wit, sarcasm, and irreverence to a T. Morena Baccarin is great as Vanessa, Wade’s girlfriend. She has great chemistry with Reynolds, matching his comedic chops well. And, she has enough toughness to elevate the role from a mere love interest/damsel in distress. I also love the movie’s portrayal of Colossus as the ultimate goody-two-shoes; it was a great choice, making him unique as well as a great contrast to Deadpool’s more mature personality. The action scenes are pretty well done, being both thrillingly action packed as well as funny. And, speaking of funny, comedy, and its emphasis on being Rated R, is the movie’s biggest strength. It’s absolutely hilarious, and the movie is the closest to an outright satire/parody of the superhero genre. While comedy has been a big part of superhero films, especially due to the MCU movies, it’s mainly been just one bit of a filmmaking element to them. Here, it was the main attraction; and it worked well, making Deadpool stand out among the pack. Deadpool easily proved there was an audience for an R rated, raunchy superhero comedy.

10. Spider-Man: There are a lot of elements of Spider-Man that haven’t aged well. Some of the CGI looks bad. The action scenes aren’t anything to write home about. The Green Goblin costume is awful. Kirsten Dunst’s portrayal of Mary Jane Watson is not great. And, Tobey Maguire’s quips as Spider-Man are just terrible. However, there are elements of the movie that still work. While Maguire doesn’t make a good Spider-Man, he does make a great Peter Parker. He definitely nails the nerdy aspect of Parker and definitely had the chops for the more dramatic parts of the movie. And, while Dunst might not make a good Mary Jane, she still has great chemistry with Maguire; that famous kiss works well not just because Spider-Man is upside down. It’s also got a great supporting cast. J.K. Simmons stole the show as J. Jonah Jameson. He so thoroughly nailed the role that Marvel and Sony had no choice but to bring him back for the MCU Spider-Man movies. Willem Dafoe inhales the scenery as The Green Goblin. It’s not a great performance, but it sure is memorable. James Franco makes a great Harry Osborne, managing to be friendly but hiding a darkness. But, what really makes this movie work is Sam Raimi. The director did a great job to give this movie a unique visual style. He made it feel like a comic book and not in a bad corny way like with the Schumacher Batman films. Raimi let his imagination run wild and made a Spider-Man movie that looked and felt like a 1960s Spider-Man comic. While some things haven’t held up, his direction has.

11. Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse: I get that there is going to be a third Spider-Verse movie. I get that this is Part 2 in a trilogy. But, many second parts of trilogies HAD f***ING ENDINGS!!!! The Empire Strikes Back and Back To The Future Part 2 ended on cliffhangers, but they still wrapped up their stories with an endnote. They didn’t just keep on going like there was going to be a huge fight, like what happened with Miles Morales and his alternate self in the universe he accidentally ended up in because… Okay, it’s complicated and too wordy to explain. The point is, this movie’s ending did not seem like an ending. I thought the movie was going to keep on going after the reveal of alternate Miles as The Prowler. They could have just ended with Miles learning that he wasn’t in his universe and saved Prowler Miles for Beyond The Spider-Verse. Other than that, this was a good movie. It had a lot of the things that worked about Into The Spider-Verse without falling into the sequelitis trap. And, it was cool to see so many different Spider-People, like Web-Slinger (cowboy Spider-Man), Spider-Rex (dinosaur Spider-Man), Peter Parkedcar (do I need to explain what kind of Spider-Man this is?), and Arachnaman. I swear I saw a Spider-Man that looked like WCW’s failed Spider-Man rip-off gimmick. Oscar Isaac was good as Spider-Man 2099, though the character came off as a huge dick, acting like Miles was solely responsible for The Spot and all that multi-verse shenanigans that happened during Into The Spider-Verse. I mean, didn’t Gwen Stacy or Peter B. Parker tell him that that was all Kingpin’s fault? I also liked Jason Schwartzman’s Spot. He was great as the self-righteous dweeb. And, using The Spot as the villain was an interesting choice, leading to some nice visuals. Speaking of which, the movie looked great. I liked how they used different animation styles for each world, giving them a unique feel. Though, I was confused as to why certain characters didn’t take on the characteristics of the world they were in. I mean, you had cartoon characters in live action worlds and vice versa. It was distracting. Still, this was a great movie, though not as good as Into The Spider-Verse.

12. X-Men: For much of the 1990s, superhero movies were a bit of a joke. After the Batman franchise crashed and burned, many thought the genre was dead. Blade proved everyone wrong, but X-Men proved that the genre could keep on making money if people took superheroes seriously. That’s what really makes X-Men work: Bryan Singer made the movie seriously. The characters in the film may make a few jokes, but they treat the events happening as if they’re a matter of life and death. Singer filled the film with great actors. Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan bring their Shakespearean gravitas to Charles Xavier and Magneto respectively. Stewart does a great job of balancing Xavier’s warmth and self-righteousness. And, McKellan plays the role like Richard III, deadly serious but capable of having some fun. Besides those 2, the big standout was Hugh Jackman, who nailed the role of Wolverine. He beautifully captured Logan’s gruff exterior, weathered intensity, wariness, caged-animal body language, and hidden warmth. And, I really liked Famke Janssen’s Jean Grey, able to play her sly intelligence and gentle warmth well. I was also impressed by how Rebecca Romijn was able to make Mystique work through her lithe, predatory physicality, which was nice as she didn’t just rely on the make-up. As great as the casting is, some things in this movie haven’t aged well, like the fight scenes that combine 1990s Michael Bay noisiness and post-Matrix kung fu. The CGI isn’t great; though it was made in the late 1990s, so it at least has an excuse. And, way too much of this movie takes place in the X-Mansion with the heroes talking about what to do. However, despite those flaws, the movie works. Singer creates a great atmosphere and world in this movie, and the acting does a great job of elevating the movie. X-Men was basically made to set up its cinematic world, and at that task, it did a great job.

13. The Wolverine: If I have one complaint about this movie, then it’s the movie’s big twist: that Ichirō Yashida (Haruhiko Yamanouchi), the man who first met Wolverine at the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and brings him to Japan to set up the movie’s plot, is the villain, The Silver Samurai. It doesn’t make any sense. Why would Yashida bring Logan to Japan, ask him for help in curing his cancer, and then fake his death when Logan said no? Why not just kidnap him and force Logan to give up his quick healing powers? The plot could have just as easily been set up with a kidnapping and an escape with the help of Mariko (Tao Okamoto) and Yukio (Rila Fukushima) rather than the fake death. Other than that, this is a pretty good dry run for James Mangold. He’d go on to make the great Logan, but this was his 1st foray with Wolverine. And, he does a great job here. Nearly everything that fans and critics loved about Logan was first expressed in The Wolverine, and while Logan is the superior movie, The Wolverine is a damn fine superhero movie. Mangold made a great adaptation of Chris Claremont and Frank Miller's original Wolverine miniseries. And, the Japanese setting was a great change of pace for locales in superhero movies. I also like how the movie uses The Silver Samurai and Viper, 2 lesser-known X-Men villains. The movie also makes for a great action film. Mangold largely eases up on the CGI theatrics, instead sending Wolverine to Japan and building a low-stakes old-school action movie around him, letting him battle ninjas and yakuza, staging cool fights on bullet-train roofs. The fights are really well done; the bullet-train fight is excellent, and the shot of Wolverine with chained arrows in his back is exceptionally striking. Though, to give the fights some stakes, Mangold and screenwriters Mark Bomback & Scott Frank made the wise decision to take away Wolverine’s healing powers and have him face off against a Silver Samurai with a giant heated adamantium sword. It may have been a little convoluted, but it worked. But, what really makes this movie work is Logan’s arc of getting over Jean Grey’s death. Hugh Jackman does great work with his role here, and the arc helps to break up the monotony of the action scenes. In all, this is a fine underrated superhero flick. Mangold would do a whole lot more with Wolverine the next time around, but this was a strong start.

14. The Amazing Spider-Man: This may very well be the most underrated superhero movie. It doesn’t get a lot of love, probably because of its association with its terrible sequel and Sony’s botched attempts at starting their own MCU with just Spider-Man. And, those attempts are on display here with all the hints to the mysterious circumstance surrounding the disappearance of Peter Parker’s parents. Those parts are unnecessary and a bit of a drag. Another flaw is James Garfield. He’s not great as Peter Parker. He’s just way too cool to be the nerdy Peter, like a jock trying to play geek dress-up. Though, he works very well as Spider-Man, handling Spidey’s quick wit much better than Toby Maguire (though Tom Holland blows both of them out of the water in both aspects of the role). He also has great chemistry with Emma Stone, who’s fantastic as Gwen Stacy. She brings a lot of wit and charm to the role. In fact, the supporting cast is a big factor in what makes this movie work. You can’t go wrong with Martin Sheen and Sally Field as Uncle Ben and Aunt May. Denis Leary is a surprise treat as George Stacy, Gwen's police captain father; he’s basically a stand-in for J. Jonah Jameson and does well in the role. Rhys Ifan does well as Dr. Curt Connors, though there was a little too much reliance on CGI for the Lizard parts. Another thing that works in this movie is the action scenes. While not as good as some of the other Spider-Man movies, they get the job done. Though, there is one stand-out: the library fight between Spider-Man and The Lizard, which was really creative and featured the best Stan Lee cameo of all time. And, the web-slinging parts looked good, especially in 3D. However, there is one other big flaw: the direction is a little rote and by-the-numbers for superhero movies (I highly suspect director Marc Webb simply got the role due to his last name fitting in well with the whole spider motif). Though, there is a lot to recommend in this movie. It doesn’t really deserve to have the stink of its sequel to rub off onto it.

15. X-Men: First Class: The biggest flaw in the entire X-Men franchise is continuity, in that there is seemingly none. Characters who first appear in the 2000s will just show up decades earlier played by different actors. Plot developments brought up in one movie will be completely ignored or changed in another. And, First Class is a big offender of this flaw. The movie ends with Charles Xavier and Magneto having parted ways and with Xavier paralyzed in 1962 even though Last Stand began with both of them still friends and Xavier walking in the 1980s. Needless to say, this confused some people since it appeared that First Class was trying to be a prequel to the first 3 X-Men movies rather than a full reboot. Continuity aside, this is a very enjoyable movie. For one, it’s got a hilariously overqualified cast. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are great as Xavier and Magneto respectively. Both fill the roles as well as Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan did. There’s also Jennifer Lawrence who makes an intriguing Mystique. She does a great job of playing Mystique as sweet and naive in the beginning and slowly toughening up. And, all 3 do a great job with the arc among the 3 as Mystique becomes conflicted between following Xavier’s more peaceful integration for mutants and her intrigue with Magneto’s more violent approach. Outside of the 3 leads, I also enjoyed Kevin Bacon’s fun performance as Sebastian Shaw; and Rose Byrne’s take on Moira MacTaggert was unique. Another great aspect of the movie was its 1960s setting. Director Matthew Vaughn has a lot of fun with the time period, basically making the movie into a superhero homage to that decade’s spy films, which gives this movie a unique look among the franchise and other superhero movies. He also has a great eye for the action scenes; Shaw’s attack on the CIA is exceptionally well done. Though, there are other flaws besides the continuity. The CGI is not great, another big flaw within the whole franchise. And, some of the other mutants get treated as afterthoughts, particularly Banshee (Caleb Landry Jones), Darwin (Edi Gathegi), and Havoc (Lucas Till). But, besides those flaws, this is a pretty enjoyable, unique entry in the X-Men franchise.

16. The New Mutants: Disney buying 20th Century Fox wasn’t a good thing as it gave an already huge company seeming hellbent on monopolizing the entertainment industry another large chunk of content. But, the fanboys didn’t seem to care as it meant that The X-Men were finally coming to the MCU. However, I don’t think that’s a positive. For all the flaws of the X-Men movie franchise, it was a franchise that wasn't beholden to a formula like the MCU. The directors of the X-Men movies were allowed some free-range in their filmmaking, and that yielded some good, unique movies. Case in point: The New Mutants, a superhero take on psychological horror films set in mental hospitals. This setting works much better as the intimate movie Simon Kinberg wanted to do with Dark Phoenix. The film is also anchored by some great performances by Blu Hart (Dani Moonstar/Mirage), Maisie Williams (Rahne Sinclair/Wolfsbane), Anna Taylor-Joy (Illyana Rasputin/Magik), and Alice Braga (Dr. Cecilia Reyes). And, it’s nice to see some of the more weirded superpowered mutants get featured in the films. Though, this movie is pretty flawed. Despite its unique setting, it does feel like a cliche of the type of horror movies it’s homaging. And, the big CGI bear is a dud of a villain. Still, it’s unique enough among superhero films to stand out. Unfortunately, this might be the last hoorah of unique superhero flicks featuring Marvel characters.

17. Hulk: This is a mess of a movie, and a big reason for that is director Ang Lee. Lee loved the psychological approach to Bruce Banner and The Hulk, how Banner struggles to keep the Hulk at bay. However, most people just think of the Hulk as a monster who smashes things. The movie he made was far more cerebral than the typical superhero fare audiences were expecting. However, Lee felt that he also had to deliver something that could work as a summer blockbuster. So, in between scenes of the actors dealing with abusive parental relationships and the big debate between nature VS nurture, we have scenes with a bad looking, incredibly green Hulk fighting with giant radioactive dogs, shots crosscut together to make scenes literally look like a comic book, Nick Nolte doing god knows what as Banner’s dad (who eventually becomes The Absorbing Man), and a climactic battle that takes place in pitch black darkness, which makes it impossible to see. It also didn’t help that the Hulk looked like Shrek on steroids. I know I just mentioned the Hulk looking, but it bears repeating: the Hulk looked awful in this movie. Like I said, this movie is a mess. But, it’s a beautiful mess. There are times that Lee’s vision manages to come together, like when the Hulk is jumping through the desert, and a serene, sublime beauty comes out. Also, the casting is well done, outside of Nick Nolte, of course (and even his batshit insane performance is memorable). Eric Bana is a fine Bruce Banner. But, the real MVPs are Jennifer Connelly and Sam Elliot as the Rosses. Connelly is great as Betsy, who’s nicely terse and distrustful in this movie. And, Elliot, one of Hollywood’s most laid-back actors, seems like an odd choice for the boisterously angry Thunderbolt Ross, but Elliot nails the role. And, while some of the action scenes aren’t great (the aforementioned climax and fight with the dogs), some work well. Hulk’s fight with the Army is well done and leads to that beautiful part with the Hulk in the desert. Lee is a good enough director that he still managed to make the movie work for the most part, but it is still a jarring experience at times. Like I said, it’s a mess; but it’s a sublime, beautiful, ambitious mess. And, quite frankly, I’d love it if more superhero movies were as psychologically serene as Hulk is.

18. The Punisher (1989): Another comic book movie that fails because it changes a lot from the comic. I mean, this is a movie made by people who looked at The Punisher’s iconic skull costume and thought, “Nah! Don’t need it!” In fact, the whole movie is just a basic, generic 1980s action movie that just so happens to feature Frank Castle. In order to turn this a non-Punisher movie, all you’d have to do is change Castle’s name to anything else. But, while this movie fails as a Punisher movie, as a cheesy 1980s action movie, it’s pretty damn good. Sure, the dialogue is a little stilted, the fight scenes a little cheesy, and the whole comes off as a little silly, but that was just how a lot of action movies were back then. And, compared to other action movies from the 1980s, this is better than a lot of them. Dolph Lundgren is pretty good as Castle. The only thing terrible about his Punisher is his dye job. And, the film's atmosphere is genuinely comic book-like, rather than cartoonish like a lot of comic book movies were back then. The movie does a good job of mimicking the dark tones of the source comic even though they changed so much about the character. And, the fight scenes are pretty memorable. I can’t hate a movie in which a gang of ninjas attacks the hero by zooming down an enormous funhouse slide. In fact, all this movie needs is a rewrite to make things more like the comic. Just change a few names, add in some of Marvel’s mobster characters, and put Lundgren in the Punisher costume, and you’d have a good Punisher movie. As it is, it’s not a good Punisher movie. But, it’s much more enjoyable than the movies below it.

19. X-Men: Apocalypse: After Bryan Singer returned for Days Of Future Past, it looked like the X-Men franchise was back on the right track, especially after how well that movie turned out. Unfortunately, Apocalypse came out; and the franchise took 2 big steps back. The movie’s biggest flaw is the titular villain. Apocalypse just isn’t a very interesting villain in this movie (and, honestly, in the comics as well; if you’re like me and aren’t enamored with Apocalypse, then this might not be your kind of film). I give Oscar Isaacs all the props for doing the best he can with what little material and with all that heavy make-up to work with. But, in this movie, Apocalypse is just a big bad mutant who wants to take over the world; and that’s just a boring motivation for a villain, especially considering all the cool villains that have come about since, especially in the MCU. Another big flaw comes in how he recruits his Four Horsemen. They all just join him because he makes them more powerful, and none of them seem to care that he wants to wipe out all of civilization until it’s narratively convenient for them to. Plus, Jennifer Lawrence just sleepwalks through the role of Mystique. She barely wears the Mystique make-up in this film. Though, I kind of understand that. The Mystique make-up in this franchise was needlessly elaborate. I much preferred the minimalist look of Mystique from the comics; just blue skin and red hair looked great to me. I don’t know why they went so detailed with her look in the movies. Plus, this movie continues the franchise’s trend of non-continuity. We got Angel living as a 20-year-old in 1983 even though he was a 20-year-old in The Last Stand’s 2006. Wolverine is William Stryker’s prisoner even though Days Of Future Past ended with Mystique disguised as Stryker saving Wolverine; so, did Mystique just decide to let Wolverine become a prisoner for Stryker’s experiments? And, on a personal note for me, I didn’t like how Jubilee was so wasted in this movie. She’s just there with nothing to do but go to the mall. I know most people think she’s a waste of space, but I’ve always found them wrong. I mean, shooting fireworks from your hands doesn’t sound like that lame of a power to me. Though, this movie does have some things working for it. For one, it’s filled with a talented cast. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are great as usual. And, newcomers Tye Sheridan, Sophie Turner and Kodi Smit-McPhee do a good job as the new versions of Cyclops, Jean Grey and Nightcrawler. But, its biggest strength is the action scenes. They are very well done, from Wolverine’s cameo to the final battle. But, the one stand out in this movie is Quicksilver saving everyone in the mansion as it explodes. While it did look like a rehash of his great scene in Days Of Future Past, it was a great rehash. A lot of creativity went into its layout, and it did a great job of showcasing Quicksilver’s personality. It’s nice to see a mutant in this franchise who likes his powers and doesn’t have any hang-ups about them. Hell, that one scene makes the whole movie worth it, but the movie around it is a mixed bag at best.

20. Spider-Man 3: This is the 1st time Sony f***ed up Spider-Man and would have to start over. And, a lot of the movie’s problems stem from Sony forcing director Sam Raimi to include Venom into the movie. Raimi had no real interest in the villain, and it showed. The Venom arc doesn’t work for 3 big reasons: the first: how ridiculous Peter Parker acts when the symbiote turns him bad. I mean, he was f***ing dancing! And, that scene in the jazz club! That was funny for all the wrong reasons. I get the logic: Peter is such a nerd that his attempts at being cool are dorky, but that doesn’t mean it would play well on screen. The second: how little of Venom there is in the film. There’s just so little time given to Eddie Brock’s downfall and transformation to Venom. That really needed its own movie, and if this film had exercised that part, set up Venom in this movie, and saved Venom for a 4th movie; then this would have worked much better. But, that’s not what happened; and we got this mess. And, the third: Topher Grace. He was just miscast as Venom. Sure, he’s good at being creepy. But, he’s a smarmy creepy, not intense creepy, like Tom Hardy. He came off as a twerp in this movie. Of course, there are other flaws. Bryce Dallas Howard is wasted as Gwen Stacy, another shoehorn this movie could have done without. Kirsten Dunst continued to show how bad of a Mary Jane she is. The butler revealing how Norman Osborne died to Harry was incredibly ham-fisted. And, the goofy comedy, which worked better in the 1st 2 movies, wore out its welcome here. But, there are some things that do work here. The main reason to watch this movie is Thomas Haden Church. His portrayal of The Sandman is the main thing that makes this movie worth watching. He beautifully underplays the role, saying a whole lot with just his expressions. And, his character, criminal trying to do right by his daughter, was a great choice for the character. Him being shoehorned into Spider-Man’s origin was a little hokey, but the movie stuck the landing with Sandman’s confession to Spider-Man at the end. Besides Church, Sandman works because of the effects. That sequence with Flint Marko discovering his powers the first time is just fan-f***ing-tastic. It’s just a beautiful scene, easily one of the best special effects scenes in a superhero movie. Sandman isn’t the only villain who works in this movie as this film finally had Harry Osborn take on the Goblin mantle. And, James Franco did a great job of playing the bad version of Harry (the amnesiac Harry, not so much). Also, the fight scenes, as usual, were well done. I especially liked the 2 fights between Harry and Peter. They were very exciting and had a touch of personal stakes to them. The 2nd was very good, especially since it was the 1 time in the movie that Peter’s turn to the dark side actually worked. Peter throwing that bomb at Harry showed the potential for this movie to truly embrace the darkness the symbiote could bring out in Peter. Sadly, the movie failed to live up to that potential. And, it’s not hard to see why: Spider-Man 3 is basically 2 great movies shoved together into 1 big mess of a movie. Like Peter and the symbiote, they really need to be separated.

21. X-Men: The Last Stand: This movie has a lot of flaws. Most of them stem from Bryan Singer deciding to pass on directing this movie after doing the first 2 X-Men movies. Because of this, Brett Ratner took over. While he was good with action scenes, the more emotional acting parts were lacking. And, he gave us that stupid “I’m the Juggernaut, bitch!” line because he saw a dubbed video of the X-Men animated series on YouTube and thought it was funny. But, Singer’s decision to leave the X-Men for Superman ultimately screwed over Cyclops as he took the character’s actor, James Marsden, with him. This led to Cyclops becoming a whiny wussy still crying over Jean Grey’s death before being killed by the resurrected Jean a third of the way into the film. Cyclops should have been a depressed loser who steps up when Professor X dies and proves himself as the X-Men’s leader. There were other problems. Making a movie that mashes up the Dark Phoenix storyline with the Mutant Cure storyline was a bad idea as the Dark Phoenix parts were treated like an also-ran and gives Famke Janssen nothing to do but look serious. Ben Foster is wasted as Angel, a character who could have been cut and nothing would have been lost, which is bizarre since his dad creates the cure because of his son’s mutant powers. And, Halle Berry is terrible as Storm, though she isn’t given any good material. In fact, Storm comes off as a huge dick in this movie as she’s completely dismissive of Rogue’s reason for wanting to use the cure; she honestly thinks that Rogue, who can’t touch anyone with her bare hands because powers would drain their lifeforce, is perfectly fine with her mutant powers. Speaking of Rogue, the movie doesn’t do enough with her decision to take the cure. So, there’s a lot that doesn’t work in this movie. But, there is a lot that does work to get this movie ranked this high. As I said, the action scenes are very well done. Wolverine’s attack on Magneto’s camp is excellent, and the final battle is a great climactic battle. And, casting Kelsey Grammer as Beast was a stroke of genius. A lot of it does rely on his association with his Frasier Crane role, but that does make him a good choice to play the intellectual Hank McCoy. And, Grammer is a great actor, whose performance shines through all that make-up. And, while the Dark Phoenix plot is an afterthought, there are some good scenes between Jean Grey and Wolverine. The movie is a mix-bag with enough good stuff to make it enjoyable, but there’s still a lot of problems plaguing it.

22. Venom: The fact that there’s a solo Venom film should tell you that it’s not any good. Venom just doesn’t really work without Spider-Man. He was mainly created to be an evil version of Spider-Man, and there’s a convoluted origin to the character: Spider-Man gets a new costume on an alien planet during Secret Wars; the costume turns out to be an alien symbiote that’s turning him evil and slowly draining his lifeforce; Spider-Man gets rid of the symbiote only for it to attach itself to Eddie Brock, a reporter who got exposed by Spider-Man for lying about a serial killer; Brock then learn everything about Spider-Man and tries to kill him as Venom. The movie avoids all this, but that convoluted origin sets up his ties to Spider-Man, which make Brock interesting. Instead, we get this movie, which ends with Venom threatening to eat a robber’s arms and legs and turning him into a human turd and has Jenny Slate mispronouncing the word “symbiote” as “sym-bi-OAT.” It’s a silly movie that takes itself way too seriously. But, it’s not completely awful. Tom Hardy is pretty damn good as Brock and Venom. He brings a lot of crazy energy to the role. And, the Venom symbiote effects are really well done. They look good and give the symbiote some personality. Plus, the action scenes are well done and show some real creativity with the symbiote. This all creates a truly bat-shit insane movie, one that’s not any good but is fascinating to watch.

23. Punisher: War Zone: Here’s the thing about Punisher: War Zone: it’s a well-made movie. For one, it does feel like a Punisher movie, more so than the other 2 Punisher movies. Ray Stevenson does a decent job as The Punisher-Frank Castle. There was some strong use of Micro in the movie; Wayne Knight did a great job as Punisher's partner in crime. And, Dominic West chewed the scenery well as the villainous Jigsaw. It was the Punisher/Jigsaw confrontations that really made the film seem like a comic book movie and not just a typical "shoot 'em up" film. The action scenes are pretty good, and the film looks perfectly dark to match the character’s tone. And, it’s amazing how well this movie came out considering the creative problems between director Lexi Alexander and Lionsgate, mainly over whether it would be a PG-13 or an R rated movie. There were even some reports that Alexander got fired from the film, which turned out to not be true. Despite all that, Alexander has said that she does prefer how the movie turned out. But, there is just one big problem with the movie: it’s just not that interesting. It’s bland and uninspiring, a dark, serious action movie that takes itself way too seriously. It’s a competently made movie, but it’s just not any fun or interesting. That certainly makes it better than the movies below it, but it’s still not any fun to watch.

24. Fantastic Four (2005): The 2005 Fantastic Four movie is actually pretty close to being a good movie. There are a lot of good things that got it ranked so high, and a big one is casting, specifically in half of the titular Four. Chris Evans is now more known as Captain America, but he made his name known as The Human Torch-Johnny Storm. And, he nailed the role, displaying the right amount of cocky swagger and sarcastic charm. It’s amazing that he could later tone all that down to play the more self-righteous Captain, but these 2 roles show just how good of an actor he is. Though, even better is Michael Chiklis as The Thing-Ben Grimm. He brings all his Vic Mackey toughness to The Thing but is able to display enough warmth and kindness to nail the Ben Grimm part of the role. And, he managed to do all this while wearing that thick ass orange rock make-up. There are some other good casting choices. Ioan Gruffudd makes a fine Mr. Fantastic-Reed Richards. Julian McMahon is pretty good as Dr. Doom. And, Kerry Washington makes a great impression in the small role of Alicia Masters. However, there is one casting call that didn’t work: Jessica Alba as The Invisible Woman-Sue Storm. It’s not that she’s terrible in the role, but she’s clearly not as good of an actor as the others. And, it shows. Outside of the acting, the movie has a nice, cheesy tone. It’s like it was made in the 1960s but somehow has the special effects of the 2000s. Though, there aren’t any cool action scenes that make the movie stand out. Basically, this is a mediocre movie with some overqualified actors. This makes the movie better than the ones below it, but it’s not great.

25. The Punisher (2004): Who in the hell thought a Punisher movie in sunny Florida was a good idea? I mean, putting Marvel’s darkest character in America’s sunniest state is such a poor mash-up. Not to mention the fact that The Punisher has a trio of wacky sidekicks in Ben Foster, John Pinnette, and the 1st Mystique Rebecca Romijn. The movie is a weird mix of unfunny jokes with a sunny disposition and The Punisher’s usual dark tones. Still, it mostly works. Thomas Jane is a good Punisher. John Travolta is memorable as Howard Saint, the movie’s villain, giving a nice scene-chewing performance. And, I liked Will Patton as Quentin Glass, the secretly gay right-hand man to Saint; he gives a nice, touching performance. And, I liked the movie’s plot: with Frank Castle coming up with an elaborate plan to get back at the mobsters who killed his family. It was a nice throwback to the old-school action films of the 1960s and 1970s, a fun revenge story. Plus, the action is pretty good. There’s a nice fight scene between Castle and The Russian, played by a fun Kevin Nash. Still, the movie is a tonal mishmash of dark moods and light jokes. It’s not a terrible movie, but it is a bad Punisher adaptation.

26. Morbius: IT’S MORBIN’ TIME!!!! That’s the most memorable thing about this movie: an internet inside joke with a bunch of wisenheimers ironically proclaiming their love for this movie. This meme got so popular that Sony actually put it back in theaters in the hopes that the joke would add to the box office. It didn’t really work. This whole meme led me to think that this was a so-bad-it’s-good movie ala The Room. NOPE!!!! Morbius ain’t a great movie, but it’s also not really bad enough to inspire such a following. There are some elements that do work. Jared Leto is pretty good as Morbius, much better than he was as The Joker. And, Matt Smith is damn fine as the villain, really hamming it up and having a ball. Plus, he and Leto have a great friendly chemistry. But, for the most part, the movie is kind of a drag. It takes itself way too seriously. It tries for some kind of horror/superhero mashup but doesn’t really succeed at either. While Adria Arjona is pretty good as Dr. Martine Bancroft, I don’t like how she got stuffed in the refrigerator near the end, even if that was a bit of a twist on the typical hero-saves-the-day trope of these movies. Tyrese Gibson and Jared Harris are completely wasted. The special effects are great… for a video game. For a big budget superhero blockbuster, not so much. The most interesting part of the movie, Michael Keaton’s cameo as The Vulture, doesn’t last long enough. And, quite frankly, the whole thing seemed pretty doomed from the beginning because Morbius just isn’t that good enough of a character to support his own movie. He really needs Spider-Man or Blade. In all, Morbius is just an okay movie. It was a big disappointment not only in that it wasn’t good but also because it wasn’t even bad enough to be entertaining. Still better than a lot of Non-MCU Marvel Movies.

27. Elektra: Poor Jennifer Garner. This woman deserves a much bigger career than the one she currently has. She’s funny, charming, graceful, and just a plain delight. But, she’s not as big of a star as she should be. Ben Affleck f***ed up Daredevil and then got to be Batman. She made a perfectly fine Elektra (despite being a little too nice for the role) and has to star in a bunch of Capital One commercials and had to be married to Ben Affleck. Garner was a good choice for Elektra, embracing the role with gusto in Daredevil and her own movie. But, she’s saddled with a poor script with no charm and comedy to lighten the too self-serious tone and bereft of intelligent dialogue. The direction is lacking, with the whole movie looking like a TV movie. Hell, Garner’s TV show Alias was a better Elektra movie than this actual Elektra movie. And, the whole thing is filled with incoherent plotting, action scenes, and CGI. But, it’s not all terrible. A strong Garner performance, a surprisingly good turn by Goran Višnjić, the fact that it’s competently made rather than outright terrible, that it has some cool visual moments, and that it’s better than Daredevil elevates Elektra this high. But, it was still a bad movie. Jennifer Garner deserves better.

28. Captain America (1990): Honestly, this isn’t that bad of a movie. The basic plot (Captain America wakes in 1990 after being frozen since World War II and has to save the President of the United States from the Red Skull, who’s been operating in secret since the end of the war) isn’t a bad idea. The problem is in the execution. It’s just not a well-filmed movie. Sure, the cast is fine. Matt Salinger is okay as Captain America. Scott Paulin is a good Red Skull. And, it’s filled with some veteran character actors (Ronny Cox, Ned Beatty, Darren McGavin). But, they can’t really salvage this mess of a movie. For one, the script they were given isn’t that great, filled with clunky dialogue and some shoddy ideas, like the President sending a reporter to pick up the revived Captain America despite the fact he has access to send any kind of military personnel or law enforcement officer instead. But, the script isn’t the only problem. With a shoestring budget, director Albert Pyun can’t really bring the story to life as properly as the MCU outings. Though, Pyun, a life-long direct-to-video B movie director, isn’t exactly the best man to bring this story to life. But still, there is a kernel of a good movie here. Maybe with a better director, a bigger budget, and a competent script, this could have been a good movie. As it is, it’s almost a good movie. But, almost ain’t good enough.

29. Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance: I will say this for the 2nd Ghost Rider movie: it’s better than the 1st. For one, Nic Cage is trying harder in this movie. Also, it’s got a strong cast similar to the 1st one. Idris Elba damn near steals the show as Moreau, an alcoholic priest. Ciaran Hinds makes a fine Mephisto, managing to go toe-to-toe with Cage in the weird performance dance. And, there are some strong turns from stalwart character actors Anthony Stewart Head and Christopher Lambert. The movie also has some filmmakers willing to make a badass movie to go with the badass titular character: Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, the team behind the Crank movies. Unfortunately, they got saddled with a lower budget than the 1st one had. This led to poorer special effects and shoddy use of 3D. And, the duo didn’t write the movie themselves. If they had, I feel like this would have been a much better movie, allowing the 2 to fully unleash their insane, over-the-top style. Why they weren’t allowed a rewrite is beyond me. Needless to say, the dull script and poor special effects failed to live up to the insane style of the directors and actors. This led to a mess of a movie that tries to be a crazy guilty pleasure thrill ride that is only guilty of being no pleasure and not thrilling. It wants to be trashy fun, but it’s just trash. Still, it’s better than the 1st Ghost Rider.

30. Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer: They turned Galactus into a cloud. That’s the biggest complaint lobbied at this movie. And, I get that the idea of Galactus, a giant man in a purple and blue costume who devours planets, works better in a comic book than in a movie. But, this film also features Mr. Fantastic dancing like a goofball at his bachelor party. So, it’s kind of weird that this movie would decide to take a realistic approach to Galactus while still including a lot of superhero silliness. That’s the movie’s biggest problem: it can’t find the right balance between telling a serious story and being a fun superhero movie. Some things do work: the Silver Surfer is wonderfully done. The effects team, Doug Jones, and Laurence Fishburne’s voice all came together wonderfully to make the Surfer look great and come off as a legitimate threat. Also, the film has the same great cast from its predecessor as well as a great addition in Andre Braugher as Gen. Hager. He’s basically great in everything, and he shines in such a small role. But, these serious elements clash drastically with the movie’s attempts at comedy. And, the comedy isn’t all that funny in the first place. There’s a whacky subplot in which the Surfer alters the Human Torch’s molecules, causing him to switch powers with the others whenever he touches them. This leads to a silly final battle with the Torch in possession of all the Four’s powers taking on Doctor Doom with the Surfer’s powers. Speaking of the action sequences, they aren’t very exciting, which is another problem with the movie: it’s a little boring. As for the Galactus cloud, it’s such a huge disappointment. After all that build-up, seeing the World Eater coming to Earth as a big puff of smoke is like getting a wet fart to the face. Hell, that’s what this whole movie is like.

31. Blade: Trinity: You can usually tell if it’s a bad movie if the making of the movie has a better story than the actual movie. This is one of those movies. Behind the scenes, Wesley Snipes had a big problem with David S. Goyer, the screenwriter of the 1st 2 Blade movies, becoming the director for the 3rd. So, he threw a big hissy fit and stayed in his trailer for much of the movie’s filming. He refused to shoot scenes, often forcing director Goyer to use stand-ins and computer effects to add his character to scenes, and refused to interact with Goyer or his co-stars, instead communicating with them through his assistant or the use of notes. Co-star Patton Oswalt alleged that Snipes would spend much of his time smoking marijuana in his trailer, and that he became violent with Goyer after falsely accusing him of racism. Snipes also allegedly referred to co-star Ryan Reynolds as a "cracker" on one or more occasions. Now, that sounds like a movie I’d watch. The actual Blade: Trinity is a bore. Snipes sleepwalks through the movie, which really puts a damper on the proceedings. The film was clearly designed to set up a new film series starring Jessica Biel and Ryan Reynolds as The Nightstalkers. However, while Beil and Reynolds gave it their best shot, there was just no chemistry to be had between them and Snipes’s apathetic portrayal as Blade. Perhaps the worst part of the movie was Dominic Purcell's take on Dracula, who was far too low key to be taken seriously as the ultimate vampire. Hell, the only thing that really stands out in this movie is Triple H. And, typing that just hurts my soul.

32. Ghost Rider: There’s a shot in this movie in which Johnny Blaze (Nic Cage), the new Ghost Rider on his flaming motorcycle, rides alongside the old one (Sam Elliot), The Caretaker who’s on his flaming horse. They’re riding to battle Blackheart (Wes Bentley), and the shot is incredible, a heavy metal album cover comes to life. And, it does a great job of getting the audience hyped for the ensuing battle: two Ghost Riders against Blackheart and his demons. Unfortunately, that battle never comes. The Caretaker leaves Blaze to fight the demons by himself. And, the battle that does happen is very lame and anticlimactic, with Blaze limply fighting off each demon before taking on Blackheart. That is the movie in a nutshell: infuriatingly withholding. Ghost Rider is a movie that wants to be badass but chickens out at the last second. The filmmakers made some weird decisions in this movie, like how they CGI'd Nic Cage’s muscles even though he buffed up very well for the role. It’s like they were afraid to be cool. And, Nic Cage is a little disappointing as Blaze. If ever a role called for him to go full Nic Cage, this was it. But, he holds back a little too, actually trying to give a good, nuanced performance. LAME!!!! Though, he does have good chemistry with Eva Mendes, who is good as Roxanne Sampson. In fact, that is the movie’s strongest part: the cast. It’s stocked well with good actors. Elliot is great as The Caretaker. Bentley is subtly evil as Blackheart. Donal Logue leaves a great impression as Blaze’s best friend Mack. And, Peter Fonda makes a fun Mephistopheles. But, as good as the actors are, they can’t save this so-so, lackluster Ghost Rider movie. It’s a waste of one of Marvel’s coolest badass characters.

33. Captain America (1944): If you’re a stickler for comic book movies staying true to the original comics, then this is not the movie for you. This 1944 serial is a Captain America movie in name only. LITERALLY! The name “Captain America” is the only thing that it shares with the comic. The serial has District Attorney Grant Gardner as Captain America, trying to thwart the plans of The Scarab, really museum curator Dr. Cyrus Maldor, regarding his attempts to acquire the Dynamic Vibrator (boy, that name hasn’t aged well, but I’m sure it elicited a few sex toy jokes back then since the vibrator has been around since the 1870s) and Electronic Firebolt, devices that could be used as super-weapons. So, no Steve Rogers, no supersoldier formula, no Red Skull, nothing from the comic at all. It seems that Republic Pictures (which made the serial) just took an existing script and replaced the name of the original hero to “Captain America.” Why I have no idea. If they thought the original comic story wouldn’t sell, then they’re idiots since America was currently fighting in a World War at the time. So, as a Captain America movie, it’s terrible. But, as a 1940s serial, it’s not bad. Certainly better than the movies below it, but not as good as the ones above it. Also, fun fact: Dick Purcell, who played Captain America in the movie, died of a heart attack a few weeks after filming. Apparently, the strain of making the movie was too much for his heart. So, it had nothing to do with the comic book; and the main actor, chosen to play the epitome of peak human physicality, died of a heart attack after making it because he was too out of shape. So, yeah, not a great adaptation of the Captain.

34. X-Men: Dark Phoenix: If you want to know why this movie failed, then read this quote from writer-director Simon Kinberg from an interview with KCRW’s The Business: “It wasn’t made as a classic superhero movie. It was made as more of a dramatic, intimate, smaller film.” Now, there’s nothing wrong with making a more dramatic, intimate, smaller superhero movie. But, this movie was about a powerful telekinetic mutant who gets possessed by a fire entity from outer space. That’s not the kind of story that needs to be small and intimate. And, trying to make The Dark Phoenix into a small and intimate affair gets you… well, this movie. Now, some things do work. The cast is still ridiculously stacked. Sophie Turner is fine as Jean Grey. The action scenes are good. And, I did like how the story questioned Charles Xavier’s motives for turning his students into basically a private army. But, Dark Phoenix is a bit redundant, sticking to the usual plot of the X-Men movies: the X-Men fighting with human who hate them and other mutants who want to take over the world, all while Professor X makes a bunch of speeches and Magneto switches from good guy to bad guy at the drop of a hat. Speaking of redundant, this is the 2nd time the Dark Phoenix saga has been retold, after the story got shoehorned into X-Men: The Last Stand. And yet, with a whole movie to tell the story, this was somehow worse. And, the fact that it’s a movie about a woman who suddenly gains cosmic powers in the 1990s made it look like a Captain Marvel rip-off. Hell, many speculated that the movie had to reshoot its ending because it was originally too similar to Captain Marvel’s. And, it continues the franchise’s love for continuity errors as it ends with Jean dying, even though the Days Of Future Past movie ended with Wolverine changing the timeline to where Jean lived. But, at its core, the movie is a bit of a bore, a huge whimper to end 20th Century Fox’s X-Men franchise. At times, it looks like the movie is just trying to get this franchise over with so that Marvel can get the X-Men into the MCU quicker. Case in point: Mystique’s new cheap make-up that obviously shows that Jennifer Lawrence didn’t wanna wear the elaborate make-up since the character was going to die anyway. It was just a piss-poor way to end the franchise. But, I will give Kinberg credit for taking all the blame. In that same interview, he said, “I’m the writer-director, the movie didn’t connect with audiences, that’s on me.” You’re damn right about that.

35. Daredevil: When Ben Affleck was announced as the new Batman for the Batman V Superman movie, many fans groaned at the choice. And, with good reason: the guy had already screwed up Daredevil. Now, Affleck isn’t a bad actor; he’s just good at playing douchebags. Whether it’s smug douchebags, like in Mallrats, or douchebags who mean well, like in Gone Girl, that’s his bread and butter. But, Matt Murdock is a good, righteous man. Affleck is just too damn smug to play him. And, that’s a big reason why the movie didn’t work. He’s just not believable as Murdock, and it drags down the whole movie. Another big problem is how badly the movie does the romance between Daredevil and Elektra. Affleck does have good chemistry with Jennifer Garner, but the romance is just so rushed that the audience has no time to feel anything. And, it’s not that romantic, especially since the most romantic scene is that stupid playground fight. Speaking of which, that is just the dumbest scene. I mean, they just fight out in the open, and Murdock is just flipping around, using his powers without any care for his secret identity. It’s also out of place with the dark tone of the movie. Speaking of which, this movie doesn’t do a good job of setting a dark tone. It looks dark at times and takes itself a little too seriously, but it tries too hard, like a teenager trying to be dark and serious but failing miserably. Now, some things in this movie do work. Colin Ferrell makes a good Bullseye, and Michael Clarke Duncan shines as Kingpin. And, there is an R-rated cut of the film. However, these positives are just gold spray paint on a turd. They may make it look shiny, but it’s still a turd.

36. Fantastic Four (1994): To be fair, this movie has a good excuse for being so bad. It allegedly wasn’t really made to be released but rather to hold onto the film rights. German producer Bernd Eichinger obtained the rights to a Fantastic Four movie in the 1980s but hadn’t made a film by 1992. And, the rights were set to expire on December 31, 1992. So, by September, he hired Roger Corman to help him make a cheap film that many, including Stan Lee himself, thought was done in order to keep the rights. Because of this, the movie has a good excuse for looking cheap as hell with 1990s soap opera costumes, make-up, and special effects. The movie has a good excuse for the clunky dialogue that the game actors struggle like hell to make work. The movie has a good excuse for why the actors need some polish from the director, who seemed more concerned with getting it made within a month rather than making a good movie. The movie has a good excuse for its campy, B-movie feel. The movie has a good excuse for being bad because the whole thing looks like a movie that was simply made just for monetary reasons, like a film version of “Springtime For Hitler.” So, it’s not entirely the actors’, director’s, and production crew’s fault this is such a terrible movie. But, it still doesn’t change the fact that it is terrible. If it had been intended for release, then this could have easily taken the very bottom spot. But, the speculation about why it was made keeps me from putting it any lower than here. Again, it’s terrible; but it has a good excuse.

37. The Amazing Spider-Man 2: Aw, the movie so bad that Sony went running to Disney and Marvel and begged them to fix Spider-Man. To be fair, some things work. The chemistry between Andrew Garfield (Spider-Man) and Emma Stone (Gwen Stacy) was great as usual. Dane DeHaan is fine as Harry Osborne. And, the fight scenes were pretty good, especially the ones between Spider-Man and Electro. But, this movie is still overstuffed with bad parts. In fact, “overstuffed” is the best adjective to describe this movie. There’s so much thrown into this movie to set up a Spider-Man cinematic universe that it overpowers the story. We got Peter’s dad and his mysterious disappearance, George Stacy metaphorically haunting the movie, Norman Osborne’s death, all the allusions to The Sinister 6, and 3 freaking villains (much like another Spider-Man movie that was an overstuffed mess). Hell, the movie ends midway through a fight between Spider-Man and Rhino, and Mary Jane Parker was cut from the film entirely. There’s so much that it can’t all fit. All these subplots nearly crowd out Spider-Man in his own movie. And, there’s not enough room for parts of the Spider-Man mythos that people want, most notably The Daily Bugle and J. Jonah Jameson. The whole thing just reeks of desperation on Sony’s part to get their own MCU. Plus, the foreshadowing of Gwen’s death is ridiculous. Jamie Foxx’s Electro make-up doesn’t look great. It's patronizing at times, as if it doesn’t trust the audience to figure out what’s going on and uses computer screens and voices to tell you what’s up. And, Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker is still just way too cool. This was a problem in the first Amazing Spider-Man, but that movie is 10 times better than this one; so it’s not much of a problem there. Here it's more noticeable that Garfield’s Peter is a cool academic kid and not the unlucky nerd that we know and love from the comics. Sure, his coolness works when he’s a wisecracking Spider-Man; but Peter is only cool as Spider-Man. The movie did a bad job with that balance. Of course, the movie did a bad job with a lot of things. Its biggest goal is to start a franchise rather than tell a good story, and that’s never a good way to make a good movie.

38. X-Men Origins: Wolverine: There are some things to recommend about this movie. Some of the performances are good, particularly Taylor Kitsch as Gambit, Liev Schrieber as Sabretooth, Will.i.am as Wraith (he was surprisingly fun), and, of course, Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool. Well... before he got his mouth sewn shut; he nailed the roll before the transformation. Also, there are some good fight scenes, like Wolverine’s fight with Gambit and Sabretooth VS Wraith. And, it has a great opening, showing Wolverine and Sabretooth fighting in wars throughout history. It’s a fantastic sequence that shows off the tragedy of Wolverine’s life so well: a man who can’t be killed and is essentially only good for killing others. But, the rest of the movie is such a f***ing mess that positives can’t elevate any higher. There are a lot of stupid moments throughout the film. For one, there’s the part where William Stryker (Danny Huston) tells a henchmen to kill Wolverine after he’s been given his adamantium skeleton and claws. And, he does this within earshot of Wolverine even though he knows that Wolverine has superhuman senses and can hear from miles away. It’s idiotic and only exists to set up the next scene, like a lot of parts of the movie. And, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. One of the biggest complaints was the portrayal of Deadpool, which is fair. They f***ing ruined him by sewing his mouth shut and turning him into a weird mash-up of mutant powers. And, they got him right up until that point, so that made it incredibly frustrating. This also contained the X-Men franchise’s notorious track record with continuity errors, here with Cyclops getting his glasses knocked off and causing him to cut through a school with his optic blast like a knife through butter even though the 1st X-Men movie showed that when this happens to Cyclops, his optic blasts blast a giant hole in a building. Also, some of the computer effects look awful. The set production does a bad job of making the movie look like 1979; I didn’t even realize that was the year much of the film was supposed to take place in until someone mentioned Three Mile Island. The movie also did a bad job of making the story compelling since Wolverine’s quick healing powers make him immortal. The other 2 Wolverine films went out of their way to make him vulnerable and raise the stakes; this film couldn’t be bothered. And, it shouldn’t shock anyone that there was a big dispute between director Gavin Hood and 20th Century Fox over how the film should be made, which really sank the film. It’s an empty spectacle, though one that is cool to watch at times. Basically, Hood could only make the movie look good as the studio controlled its story content; and he had a hard time with the one thing he could control. So, we just got one big shitshow of a movie that shows some glimmers of a good movie that could have been.

39. Fantastic Four (2015): This is one of the blandest looking movies I’ve ever seen. So, dark, drab and dreary. I guess they wanted the movie to look as dark as the story they wanted to tell, but a dark Fantastic Four is a big mistake. The team is one of Marvel’s premiere properties, and a big reason for that is that the team is filled with bright, colorful personalities. And, there was talent to make this movie bright and colorful with a more serious tone (Josh Trank as director with Miles Teller (Mr. Fantastic/Reed Richards), Michael B. Jordan (The Human Torch/Johnny Storm), Kate Mara (The Invisible Woman/Sue Storm), and Jamie Bell (The Thing/Ben Grimm)). But, instead, they made a dark, brooding Fantastic Four taking on a Doctor Doom out of a David Cronenberg movie, which isn’t as cool as it sounds. There’s not a lot of action, the actors struggle to make the flimsy script work, and the continuity errors brought on by reshoots are impossible to ignore. Hell, the reshoots really drag this thing down as they make it look like 2 different movies (Trank’s original version VS Fox’s version) fighting to be shown only to somehow merge into some kind of cinematic monster. It’s a mess of a film that doesn’t really know what it wants to do. The most accurate description I’ve heard about this movie is that it’s a “100-minute trailer for a movie that never happens” (Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter). It’s just a drab, boring movie that sucked all the joy and humor from the original comic. And, it was the 3rd time the group’s origin story had been turned into a movie; so it was a little pointless, too. Just a big mess of a movie.

40. Howard The Duck: Worst Non-MCU Marvel Movie Ever! Hell, it’s one of the worst movies ever made. It’s just a deeply unpleasant watching experience. The worst thing about it is its tone: it doesn’t know what kind of movie it wants to be. The Howard The Duck of the comics is a cynical, irritable fellow, and his comic is an existential satire, easily the best way to portray a talking duck. The movie, however, doesn’t know if it wants to be a friendly, cuddly duck for kids or the Howard of the comics. It’s trying to appeal to the irreverent adult fans of the comic and kids all at once and ends up failing to appeal to anyone. I mean, there’s a shot of a female “duck” with boobs. Who the f*** is that supposed to be for!? The duck itself is another problem. It looks terrible, its mouth didn’t work right, and its face was expressionless. It was just awful, and since the duck was the movie, this pretty much sunk it. The rest of the cast didn’t fare much better. Poor Lea Thompson, Tim Robbins, and Jeffrey Jones did their best to make this watchable, but it was an impossible task. And, there were a lot of deeply unpleasant scenes and special effects. It was just a terrible looking movie that was also painfully unfunny and a little boring. Watching Howard The Duck is just an awful experience, and anyone who’s able to make it through the whole thing is f***ing champ. There’s no way to sugarcoat it: Howard The Duck is just an awful movie.

[Hulkshi Tanahashi]

And, here are the rankings if I combined all the Marvel movies:

1. Logan
2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
3. Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
4. The Avengers
5. Captain America: Civil War
6. Avengers: Infinity War
7. Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2
8. X2: X-Men United
9. Black Panther
10. Guardians Of The Galaxy
11. X-Men: Days Of Future Past
12. Blade II
13. Spider-Man 2
14. Captain America: The First Avenger
15. Iron Man
16. Deadpool 2
17. Thor: Ragnarok
18. Blade
19. Deadpool
20. Spider-Man: Far From Home
21. Spider-Man
22. Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse
23. X-Men
24. The Wolverine
25. Avengers: Endgame
26. Spider-Man: No Way Home
27. Spider-Man: Homecoming
28. Iron Man 3
29. The Amazing Spider-Man
30. Ant-Man And The Wasp
31. Ant-Man
32. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
33. Thor: Love And Thunder
34. X-Men: First Class
35. Captain Marvel
36. Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness
37. The New Mutants
38. Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings
39. Hulk
40. Doctor Strange
41. Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania
42. Eternals
43. Black Widow
44. Avengers: Age Of Ultron
45. The Punisher (1989)
46. X-Men: Apocalypse
47. Spider-Man 3
48. X-Men: The Last Stand
49. Venom: Let There Be Carnage
50. Venom
51. Punisher: War Zone
52. Thor
53. The Incredible Hulk
54. Fantastic Four (2005)
55. The Punisher (2004)
56. Iron Man 2
57. Thor: The Dark World
58. Morbius
59. Elektra
60. Captain America (1990)
61. Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance
62. Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer
63. Blade: Trinity
64. Ghost Rider
65. Captain America (1944)
66. X-Men: Dark Phoenix
67. Daredevil
68. Fantastic Four (1994)
69. The Amazing Spider-Man 2
70. X-Men Origins: Wolverine
71. Fantastic Four (2015)
72. Howard The Duck

[Citizen Snips Has Left]

I'd have Into the Spiderverse and Logan above any of the MCU movies. Not a knock on the MCU but those two are in a league of their own.

[Mighty Attack Tribble]

Mar 29, 2020 14:06:07 GMT -5 Citizen Snips Has Left said:

I'd have Into the Spiderverse and Logan above any of the MCU movies. Not a knock on the MCU but those two are in a league of their own.

I have to wonder if Feige will tap Lord and Miller to helm an MCU entry of their own.

[Hulkshi Tanahashi]

I've updated the MCU list to include Black Widow and Shang-Chi since I've seen them now.

[Hulkshi Tanahashi]

And, I updated the non-MCU Marvel movie list to include The New Mutants.

[Deleted]

Mar 28, 2020 17:16:29 GMT -5 Citizen Snips Has Left said:

It's weird how the 3 solo trilogies all have a different order to quality.

Cap: Second movie is best, then third, then first

Iron Man: First, then take your pick on second or third

Thor: Third, then first, then second.

Why is that weird?

[Z-A Sandbaggin' Son of a b!%@h]

So guardians 2 over Guardians 1…. That’s one of the first times I’ve seen that take

[El Pollo Guerrera]

Silly question: what about the made-for-TV movies? The 70's Captain America movies and Dr. Strange? The Hulk movies that follow up the TV series? The Nick Fury one with David Hasselhoff?

[Hulkshi Tanahashi]

Nov 21, 2021 23:45:56 GMT -5 El Pollo Guerrera said:

Silly question: what about the made-for-TV movies? The 70's Captain America movies and Dr. Strange? The Hulk movies that follow up the TV series? The Nick Fury one with David Hasselhoff?

I decided to stick to theatrical releases. And, I’ve seen the Hulk ones.

[Hulkshi Tanahashi]

Updated to include Eternals and No Way Home.

[Lizuka #BLM]

I've thought about trying something like this myself sometime, though not seen every MCU movie (to be specific not seen the Ant-Man movies, Shang Chi, Black Widow, or Far From Home). Do think it'd be a very different list in my hands if only because right from the jump I didn't really remotely like Winter Soldier, just thought it was a boring slog.

[salz4life]

I will not stand for this Howard The Duck slander!!!! LOL

[Hulkshi Tanahashi]

Updated as I saw the second Doctor Strange movie today.

[Hit Girl]

Blade 3 should have just been Blade vs HHH

HHH wouldn't have even needed a character name. Just call him "HHH" in the film.

At the end, Blade wins, but HHH gets up and pedigrees him and is the one standing just before the end credits.

[King Boo]

Nov 21, 2021 21:49:50 GMT -5 Z-A Sandbaggin' Son of a b!%@h said:

So guardians 2 over Guardians 1…. That’s one of the first times I’ve seen that take

I love Guardians 2 more than Guardians 1 (though I love both immensely). I know a few people that agree. We're not the majority, but we're hanging about here and there.

[Hulkshi Tanahashi]

Updated the MCU list to include Thor: Love And Thunder and the Non-MCU Marvel Movie list to include Morbius.