Ranking the 10 best Marvel movies, from Iron Man, to Captain Marvel.
It’s time. I’ve been putting this off for some time now. Marvel has been apart of our lives for a decade now, although it feels much longer, and the conclusion to the 20 plus movie series is complete with Endgame’s release. That means its the perfect time to rank the ten best Marvel movies.
I’ll be separating the movies into a few categories. If I’m being completely honest there are only a six movies in the Marvel universe that I believe to be considered good to great. The rest weren’t necessarily bad, but ya know, we’ve seen at least two of these a year for the last 10 years so ima bit burnt out.
As always, these best of lists are morphing and living pieces. As time goes on and I think about these movies more, this list may change.
This list has to be 10 deep right?
10) Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Whenever I talk about this movie, both right after and even now, I begin with the caveat: “for a Marvel movie”. I’ll probably never watch this movie again because it’s the setup for Endgame.
The best Avengers movie is Civil War, which I go into below, and Infinity War has a plethora of problems with it. However, it maintains a decent amount of the charm and action that Marvel movies have come to formalize.
9) Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
If this had been the first Spider-Man I had seen in the last 15 years I want to say I would have been much more positive about it. In a vacuum, which is hard to do with Marvel movies, this movie is much better than it is ranked on the list. Unfortunately, the weight of previous Spider-Man movies hang over Homecoming pretty heavily and weigh it down.
8) The Avengers (2012)
The only reason this movie makes the top ten is that it was a monumental moment in movie history. Everyone knows what I’m talking about. The hype that led up to this movie and surrounded it to overcome what is in the end an incredibly average movie. However, the excitement of seeing everyone together was so overwhelming that it made up for the majority of the crappy storytelling.
Feats of competence
7) Captain America: Civil War (2016)
In Civil War, you spend what feels like a lifetime getting caught back up with every character that’s going to be involved in the film. Pretty boring and frankly one of the fatal flaws in the Marvel/Avenger films. This movie is technically a Captain America film in title, but the story it tells is of a broken Avengers group.
As a result I consider this the best Avengers movie they’ve done so far. After we got done with the boring introductions, we got to see a really interesting story play out. One that culminated in one of the better fights in the franchise. Because it was between three people, not 10 people and CGI.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebCuHnvmZwI[/embed]
6) Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Three hours. It’s tough to make three hours not feel like three hours. Endgame definitely makes you remember it’s three hours long. As your bladder angrily yells at you for mercy, your brain tells you that you need to stay and watch sexy middleaged Hulk talk in the diner, but you don’t. Go pee.
That’s about all I can remember from the first half of this movie. There were a plethora of cute, funny moments that were classic Marvel. Ant-Man and Thor were delights, Captain Marvel was used so oddly, and Iron Man can finally put his one-liners in the grave. A genuinely good movie that was a stark reminder of the conglomerate that cannibalizes anything we love.
5) Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
I didn’t see Thor: Ragnarok till recently. To be completely honest I was a bit underwhelmed with how people had talked about it. That’s not to say it wasn’t enjoyable. This was a buddy cop movie in the Marvel universe, and that’s what you hope for in the “extra/side thread” movies.
4) Iron Man (2008)
This movie was a shock to see. I remember being awestruck at what a 21st century superhero movie could look like. The dorky suaveness of Robert Downey as Iron Man is wonderful for the entirety of this movie.
Downy was the embodiment of the rich tech guy who could also be cool. The 2000s were the forefront of the Silicon Valley ladies man in pop culture, and Downey perfectly encompassed that in Iron Man.
3) Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
One of the peak scenes in the entire Marvel universe is the elevator scene in this movie.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUpvwMLHdUE[/embed]
Barebones Captain America fights are always enjoyable. This movie has some of the ridiculous aspects of Shield and the science that is hilarious behind it. But Falcon, Bucky, and Black Widow are in this movie so it’s a good time.
[embed]https://unprofession.com//tagged/best-of[/embed]
The Triumphs
1b) Black Panther (2018)
When I look back at this decade of Marvel movies I probably won’t remember the three Iron Man, Captain America, or Thor movies. I’ll eventually think about them, but those all carry weights with them that frankly don’t make them all that lighthearted to remember.
I love this movie because it holds onto some of the tropes of superhero films and changes them. Like right before the hero of the film is about to go on a mission they need to go to a lab to get “geared” up. When T’Challa goes to get his gear, its his sister Shuri that’s the genius who gears him up. It keeps the comedic nature that these gear up sequences usually play up, but does it in a unique, new, and interesting way.
Black Panther is the type of Marvel movie that I’ll immediately go back to as one of the two shining stars of this decade of movies. There were many good movies, but Black Panther, and the 1a movie on this list were the only two great movies.
1a) Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
There’s little to no discrepancy with Black Panther and Guardians of the Galaxy in my opinion. Both were so unique and enjoyable that frankly if they’re the two defining unicorns of this stage of the Marvel cinematic universe, that’s totally fine with me.
Guardians is one of the funnier and impressive movies that has been created in recent memory. Marvel movie or not, Guardians has a sureness about it that makes it difficult to critique. The cast is perfectly made up to complement each other and the script is a joyride of action and comedic genius.