The Marvel Cinematic Universe

[Patrick Thistle]

So, now the dust has settled from the Endgame, heres is the entire 10 year span of MCU movies. What do people think are the best ones?


Marvel movies list in order of release date:

Iron Man (2008)
The Incredible Hulk (2008) [This is the Edward Norton one, which I didn't realise was meant to be part of the official MCU]
Iron Man 2 (2010)
Thor (2011)
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
Avengers Assemble (2012)
Iron Man 3 (2013)
Thor: The Dark World (2013)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Ant-Man (2015)
Captain America: Civil War (2016)
Doctor Strange (2016)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Black Panther (2018)
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Ant-Man and the Wasp (July 2018)
Captain Marvel (March 2019)
Avengers: Endgame (April 2019)

I saw 18 of these in the cinema. Hmm. Somehow they have taken a lot of my money.

In terms of quality, I'd rate them as

Definitely watch the 'Marvel Cosmic' ones
Guardians of the Galaxy
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Captain Marvel
Thor: Ragnarok

Decent ones worth watching at last once
Captain America: The First Avenger
Ant-Man and Ant-Man and the Wasp
Iron Man and Iron Man 2
Spider-Man: Homecoming
Avengers Assemble

Ones to watch so you know what the heck is going on
Thor (and maybe Thor: The Dark World)
The rest of the Captain America trilogy
The other Avengers Ensemble ones
Black Panther

Dross that adds nothing to the overall story arc and isn't worth watching
The Incredible Hulk
Doctor Strange
Iron Man 3

[tracteurgarcon]

For someone who’s fairly agnostic about Marvel and superhero films in general, I’m surprised to work out that I’ve seen 15 of those.

Most of them don’t really stick in my memory but were perfectly adequate for passing a couple of hours.

Personally I quite liked Doctor Strange, the film, once I realised you were actually supposed to despise the main character.

[Hot Pepsi]

I've seen them all.

Iron Man 3 is better than IM2, as I recall. I liked the Ed Norton Hulk one too, but it doesn't add much except for the post-credits scene and all that did was to confirm that Hulk and Iron Man are in the same universe. I believe that at that point they weren't really sure if the MCU thing was going to work out. Once they had that scene with Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury at the end of Iron Man, fans were excited about the prospect, but I don't think they were really pot-committed until Thor or the first Captain America.

Black Panther is really good and well worth seeing in its own right, not just because of how it fits in. And I also really like the Avengers ones, especially Endgame because its just so bonkers and OTT. It's also a satisfying ending for some of the characters while helping to set up the next phase.

Thor: Dark World was meh. I can't remember anything about it except that, IIRC, part of it happens in Greenwich.

I enjoyed the Ant-Man ones ok, but I can't imagine watching any of them again or being excited about an Ant-Man 3. The premise is just so ridiculous even for a comic-book story.

[Wouter D]

I was quite impressed that they closed Avengers: Infinity War on such a downer. You know that they'll set it straight in a sequel, but still. Normally the popcorn and merch selling movies don't risk ending on a bleak note.

My wife liked Doctor Strange, but it didn't do much for me. I quite liked Captain America: The Winter Soldier, but it didn't do much for my wife. We both enjoyed Black Panther.

I cannot really be arsed about Thor, but I did enjoy when he had a Lebowski phase.

[Eggchaser]

Watched every one in the cinema and squealed with delight as my love of comic books was finally given a proper treatment by people who understood and respected the characters and format.

In terms of the films and ranking them, it's hard. What I can say is that Iron Man 3 is absolute fucking crap simply because they wasted one of his all time great foes on a pointless plot twist, and also sidelined the main villain of Extremis in favour of a character who puts a bullet through his head at the start of the comic as a MacGuffin to kick the story off.

The absolute best piece of "off the page and onto the screen" is Thor coming down onto the Berserkers on the Rainbow Bridge in Thor: Ragnarok.

I'm not sure if the ending of Endgame was anything other than expected. The arc of the MCU was, once it was established as a goer, always going to be one of Cap or Tony dead, and my money had been on Cap as the logical choice. Although, on reflection, dead dad (yeah, she'll be a hero one day), so downer.

[Ray de Galles]

I cannot really be arsed about Thor, but I did enjoy when he had a Lebowski phase.

You should try and see Ragnarok at least, it's probably the most idiosyncratic and funniest of all the MCU films - only the 'Guardians' ones come close to matching it in those respects.

I've seen all of them in the cinema apart from the Norton 'Hulk' which is still sitting on my Sky box to catch up with purely for the sake of completeness.

As I've said elsewhere, I tend to enjoy them theatrically then move on without giving them too much thought until I need to work out where we are again for the next stage of a saga.

'Infinity War' was an absolutely audacious film though and the absolute highpoint of the whole 20+ arc of movies, I still think 'Endgame' struggled to match it.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

'Endgame' was fucking shite. Complete load of Deus Ex Machina bollocks and a hugely disappointing finale.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Why aren't the X-Men movies, Daredevil, the early Spidermans and so on part of the MCU?

[danielmak]

I've seen all but a few after finally seeing the first Avengers film this weekend on either Netflix or Amazon Prime. It was better than Endgame for sure. Captain Marvel is the only one that I want to see that I haven't seen. The others I'm not too worried about missing (the second Thor film and Dr. Strange). But on the whole, I have to say that Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy set the bar too high. Those films are very memorable and cinematically interesting. The Marvel films just seem less sophisticated by comparison. At the end of the day, I'd probably go with Spiderman and the Guardians films as the standouts and that's probably because they have a sense of humor and are more than just fights/things blowing up. But even those are far off from the Batman films, for me.

[tracteurgarcon]

Why aren't the X-Men movies, Daredevil, the early Spidermans and so on part of the MCU?

I‘m sure someone who knows more will explain it better but I thinks it’s because they were made by Sony and not Disney.

[Patrick Thistle]

Why aren't the X-Men movies, Daredevil, the early Spidermans and so on part of the MCU?

tracteurgarcon is right. Technically the MCU is only films made by Marvel Studios. They came up with the idea of a 10 year arc with all the films interleaving and the team up Avengers movies bringing everyone together.

Fox own the rights to the X-Men, Deadpool, and the Fantastic Four, so those movies don't intersect with the MCU at all. Sony own the rights to Spider-Man (and Venom) although the two Spider-Man movies in the MCU were co-productions between Sony and Marvel Studios (now owned by Disney) but apparently they have fallen out and Spider-Man won't be in the MCU any more.

Obviously all the DC movies are in their own universe (and released by Warner) but even though people keep posting on here about how much they love Batman or whatever, no one can be arsed to start a DC Movies thread. Possibly because most of those movies really are tedious shite.

[Ray de Galles]

Disney and Sony cut a new deal so there will now be more Spider-Man MCU movies.

[Patrick Thistle]

Yippee! I've enjoyed them quite a bit.

If they could bring more of the X-Men back into the fold that would be great. (Scarlet Witch has somehow been included in the MCU)

[Hot Pepsi]

Marvel was just the comics publisher and didn’t have enough money to make movies so it sold the rights to X-Men to Fox and Spider-Man to Sony. Then it started Marvel Studios - I can’t recall if that was before or after it was bought by Disney - but either way, that’s who makes the MCU/Avengers stuff. I’m not sure why they can’t just buy the rights to use Spider-Man in films back from Sony once and for all, but they’ve managed to agree with Sony to put Spider-Man in the MCU, for now, and let Sony make the Spider-Verse animated films. (Well, just one so far, but more coming).

Disney got X-Men in the Fox buyout so it will probably reboot that.


There’s not much to talk about with DC right now. DC has done a good job with their CW and Fox shows, but those shows have 22 episodes a season so I can’t keep up and it’s just too much. That model is dying. Once they get HBO Max going, they’ll probably do shorter, better DC series. The Titans series on the DC Universe series is ok. Apparently the new animated Harley Quinn series is great.

Their attempt at a big universe failed because they hired Zach Snyder to do Superman and then Superman/Batman and then Justice League. Terrible choice. No feel for the characters at all.

But Wonder Woman was good. Aquaman was fun and Shazam really worked, so it’s not all bad. I’m optimistic about the new The Batman so we’ll see if they try to do something more with that. But then, I’ve always believed Batman shouldn’t share a universe with the other superheroes.

[jason voorhees]

5) Iron Man 1
The Sam Raimi Spidermen were the first watchable Marvel movies, and the Brian Singer X-Men were mostly great....but starting with a two-bit none-too-popular character and making him the center of a new multiple-titled comic book version of the movies was breathtaking. Great arc of the character, great origin, and the FTW ending I still watch to this day.

4) Iron Man 3
Scariest heel of the entire universe. The plane rescue scene I still think about quite often.

3) Ant Man 1
Perfect B movie, and like I've said, I'd put the Thomas The Tank Engine battle up there with Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton comedy action sequences.

2) Guardians of the Galaxy
Another perfect B movie with outstanding characters and sequences. One of the rare movies where the soundtrack is as important a character and prop and key to the plot. If they ever made a Voltron movie, I'd hope the Voltron force would be as ragtag as this group. I laughed, I bawled, I am Groot.

1) Captain America: Winter Soldier
I've always been fascinated with what I called "Soothsayer Films," in movies that tell the future. 1976's Network predicting for-profit news, 1989's Do The Right Thing predicting David Dinkin's election to NYC Mayor, etc.

But to think the American government would be infiltrated by Nazis and a shadow government in a movie that was filmed in 2013 when Obama was President and Hillary was obviously going to be the President in a few years...that was about as unthinkable as it gets.

Absolutely terrifying film, and one I would hope ends up in the Smithsonian. The 1970s super computer, the opening scene in Nick Fury's SUV....all an absolute masterpiece.

[danielmak]

Obviously all the DC movies are in their own universe (and released by Warner) but even though people keep posting on here about how much they love Batman or whatever, no one can be arsed to start a DC Movies thread. Possibly because most of those movies really are tedious shite.

As I noted above, the Nolan trilogy stands apart for me. I did like Wonder Woman as well. Beyond that, I can't say that any of the DC films have done much for me. It seemed as if the production companies wanted to imitate Nolan's aesthetic with the Superman re-boots but I don't think it really worked in the same way. And Batman v. Superman/Justice League was poor. But Affleck as Batman is a bad choice in general and I feel for whoever had to follow Nolan since there was no way to make that work. All of the earlier DC movies were very poor; just way too cheesy.

One other general irritant for me is the constant remaking of Spiderman. How many times are we going to get a re-boot of the first story? It's crazy. I'm glad to read upthread that the contract stuff is worked out because it will be nice to have these films continue to follow new plots. There are what 50-60 years of Spiderman comics and each new reboot basically relies on the same isues.

[Hot Pepsi]

The MCU Spider-Man didn’t retell the origin story about the radioactive/genetically modified spider or Uncle Ben or any of that. But it also made him a teenager, which he is in the early comics. They recognize that that’s been done.

I suspect the new The Batman will only reference his parents’ murder in passing or perhaps in a flashback. It won’t be like Batman Begins.

[Ray de Galles]

All of the decrying of the post-Nolan DC movies here (which I largely agree with based on the small amount I've bothered to see) fails to acknowledge that 'Joker' should be included amongst them.

Not only is it a great film but it's already the most profitable comic book movie ever made and will almost certainly end up being the most award-winning.

It's success could be considered a fluke, of course, but shouldn't be ignored.

[danielmak]

All of the decrying of the post-Nolan DC movies here (which I largely agree with based on the small amount I've bothered to see) fails to acknowledge that 'Joker' should be included amongst them.

Not only is it a great film but it's already the most profitable comic book movie ever made and will almost certainly end up being the most award-winning.

It's success could be considered a fluke, of course, but shouldn't be ignored.

I haven't seen it yet, so hoping that it comes back around given the (expected?) Academy Award nominations. I don't go to many movies each year so missed that one (esp. with the missus not very eager to see it and my daughter studying abroad--she would have been interested).

[Patrick Thistle]

I haven't seen Joker but from what I've heard it isn't like the other post-Nolan DC films which were all trying to be blockbusters full of action sequences and CGI. And I'm not sure where it fits in terms of the DC Justice League universe.

FWIW I didn't like either of the Dark Knight sequels especially the third with its 'Accept the benevolent rule of the 1% or suffer anarchy' message.

[Ray de Galles]

I haven't seen Joker but from what I've heard it isn't like the other post-Nolan DC films which were all trying to be blockbusters full of action sequences and CGI. And I'm not sure where it fits in terms of the DC Justice League universe.

Thankfully, it doesn't. The opprobrium was being aimed at the entire DC output though.

I thought the Dark Knight films were great and could never understand why people worked so hard to try and concoct a message that wasn't in the final movie in order to object to it.

[Hot Pepsi]

I haven't seen Joker but from what I've heard it isn't like the other post-Nolan DC films which were all trying to be blockbusters full of action sequences and CGI. And I'm not sure where it fits in terms of the DC Justice League universe.

FWIW I didn't like either of the Dark Knight sequels especially the third with its 'Accept the benevolent rule of the 1% or suffer anarchy' message.

That’s the opposite of what that film was about.

[Patrick Thistle]

Well we've had the discussion before but that's the message I took from it. Bruce Wayne is exiled and the alternative is the Baneocracy with kangaroo courts murdering people by sending them out on the ice.

[Hot Pepsi]

Bruce Wayne being there or not being there doesn’t really have anything to do with why it all goes to hell. After all, in the film version, Bruce Wayne is famous as a rich dick, but isn’t a civic leader in any sense and Batman hasn’t been seen in a while by the time Bane shows up. But nobody really cares that either of them have disappeared.

Gotham goes to hell because the people have lost faith in The City after years and years of corrupt leadership and rampant organized crime. Selina Kyle references that right before she robs Wayne Manor.

Bane just gives it a little push and it goes over the edge.* What faith in The City really means is a bit vague.

Batman is the symbol they need to rally together. At least, that’s what we’re supposed to believe. That idea recurs in a lot of superhero comics. The superhero is supposed to inspire people and represent the best of us. Sorta like Robin Hood or, I suppose, Jesus.

Of course, as Watchman and a lot of other post-modern comics show, it would probably not work like that in real life. Some superheroes would abuse their power and instead of inspiring the populace, they might end up creating a mass learned helplessness. With all the death rays, alien invasions, giant monsters and dudes throwing cars at each other, life for normal people, especially in cities, would mostly be terrifying.

But most superhero comics aren’t really about the real world.

*That’s explained a bit better in the No Man’s Land arc in the comics. The Federal Government closes off and abandons the city. There’s a lot about the power of symbolism, hope vs despair and community spirit.

[Eggchaser]

I thought Shazam was one of the best DC movies ever. It was a a great balance of serious to silliness, respecting the source without ever taking the piss outright. The scene with Dr Sivana threatening death and destruction whilst Shazam is too far away to hear it skewered the comic book world of ham but in an affectionate way. This was also managed on the Teen Titans Go episode "Little Elvis" so someone is doing it right, rather than relentless po-faced grimdark.

The last scene with the unexpected lunch companion was also the best portrayal of him since God knows when, because that's who he is and what he does alongside the Big Damn Hero stuff, and it was about five seconds screen time in total.