If you’re a Marvel fan, you will have noticed that the entertainment behemoth has reduced the frequency and number of releases they’ve put out in recent years. At one point, they were releasing three movies a year (on top of a TV show or two), but this year, that output has been dramatically reduced to just one. In 2024, the only movie set to be released in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is Deadpool & Wolverine, due July 26. This will also mark both Deadpool and Wolverine’s entrance into the MCU after Disney (which owns Marvel studios) merged with Fox and took over the X-Men franchise.
Many factors have contributed to this new approach, including, but not limited to, figuring out how to engage audiences without their core team of superheroes, who brought moviegoers to the theaters in droves; navigating a fickle movie industry amid the streaming boom and after a global pandemic; and Jonathan Majors’ domestic abuse scandal, which caused Marvel to drop their new central villain and raised questions around whether to recast him or reassemble the timeline they had set in place.
With these pressures looming, and the upcoming release of the MCU’s first and only movie this year, it was time to overhaul TIME’s ranking of the films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, originally published in 2019, now adding the releases of the past five years. We are sticking only to the MCU for this ranking, so it does not include Sony releases (we drew the line at having to watch Morbius).
Whereas the previous list was developed using a comparatively complicated methodology, this time we have kept it simple. This list is based on the opinions of the two biggest Marvel nerds on TIME’s staff who have, naturally, watched every single movie the studio has produced. When putting the list together, we collaborated to decide which movies were well-balanced—that is, both good movies and good Marvel movies. The picks toward the bottom were lacking in both respects. In contrast, our top picks did their part in entertaining and even, at times, intellectually stimulating us while also providing a broader context to the Marvel universe in an engaging way.
With that, here’s our ranking of every single movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
34. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)
What’s disappointing about this movie being at the bottom of our list is that it is led by Paul Rudd. But even his charm and charisma were not enough to save the trainwreck that was Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Not him, not Michelle Pfieffer (my personal favorite Catwoman), not Bill Murray, nor Owen Wilson. Maybe there’s something to be said for just one or two movies for each Marvel hero being sufficient, unless there’s something larger to draw out from their story. But if not, a third movie is overkill—which is exactly what Quantumania was. We see Ant-Man (Rudd) and the Wasp (Evangeline Lilly) venture into the Quantum Realm after being sucked in by a portal opened by Hank Pym (Michael Douglas). They have to find their way out but help the native people who are fighting against the ruler, Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors), whom they ultimately kill. All of this is not even to mention the distractingly god-awful visual effects (for more on that, see stories about Marvel VFX artists claiming to be overworked and undervalued, leading to a unionization effort). One watch is more than enough.—Moises Mendez II
33. The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Shhhh! It’s the movie we’re supposed to pretend never happened. Only the second MCU film, the folks at Marvel were still figuring out their formula. Though it followed shortly on the heels of Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk was missing all of that movie’s verve. For a film about a man who can transform into a giant, vein-y green monster, it’s rather dull. Curiously, this film’s only legacy is the character of Thunderbolt Ross, a military man who keeps popping up in the MCU to stoke chaos among the Avengers team members.—Eliana Dockterman
32. Thor: The Dark World (2013)
The further the plot of any Marvel movie moves away from the larger MCU, the less interesting it often becomes. The third installment of the Thor movies is light years away (quite literally, as most of the movie takes place in Asgard), and the characters have to fight an inconsequential alien race threatening to take over the nine realms. It’s easy to get lost in the plot of this movie with the amount of nonsensical astrophysics the characters attempt to explain throughout. But my biggest gripe is that I’ve never been sold on the Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Jane (Natalie Portman) love story that the movie works too hard to sell. On top of that, they throw in that weird love story with Kat Dennings’ character, Darcy, and her “intern.” A little note for Marvel: a male and female character can exist in a movie without being in love, and can in fact be even more enjoyable to watch when they are just platonic partners working toward a shared goal.—M.M.
31. Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)
Thor reunites with long-lost love interest Jane only to discover she is sick and relegated to a hospital bed except for brief bouts of time when she finds herself with Thor’s superpowers. This leads to various hijinks involving the reunion of Jane and Thor that clash tonally with Jane’s ultimate character trajectory. The vacillation between tragic and comic set pieces does justice to neither. Christian Bale is utterly underused as the movie’s villain. He captures some cute kids and then disappears for long stretches at a time. Aside from a final fight scene that takes daring chances with color, co-writer and director Taika Waititi’s follow-up to Ragnarok proved utterly forgettable.—E.D.
30. Captain Marvel (2019)
Captain Marvel is undoubtedly one of the strongest (if not the strongest) Marvel hero in the MCU. However, the same could not be said for her origin story or Brie Larson’s performance in it. The movie offers viewers a look into who Carol Danvers was and how she became the titular hero. It gets some points for serving as a springboard for the Monica/Maria Rambeau storyline that gets developed later in Wandavision and The Marvels. But it ultimately loses viewers thanks to an unnecessarily complex plot.—M.M.
Read More: This Is Not Another Story About Captain Marvel’s Gender
29. Iron Man 2 (2010)
Iron Man’s second outing is weighed down by the responsibilities of jumpstarting the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. In a film stuffed full of character introductions (hello, Black Widow and Nick Fury!) and ominous lines about coming threats, Tony Stark gets to spend hardly any time mulling over his daddy issues. Iron Man 2 also features one of the worst villains in MCU history—and no we’re not talking about Elon Musk. Mickey Rourke plays a baddie with an incomprehensible accent, a thing for exotic birds, and—checks notes—plasma whips attached to his arms? Yeah, it’s a strange character.—E.D.
28. Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
If you haven’t seen this movie recently, there’s a good chance you’ve forgotten the plot entirely and need a refresher. To recap, Dr. Hank Pym believes his wife Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) is in the Quantum Realm after shrinking to sub-atomic levels in 1987. So Pym, Hope van Dyne (a.k.a. The Wasp), and Scott Lang all team up to bring her home. Spoiler alert: they successfully do so, but in the mid-credits scene, we see Pym, Hope, and Janet send Lang into the Quantum Realm, and then we see them become victims of The Blip (for more, see: no. 3, Avengers: Infinity War) and turn to dust. Neither the story nor the characters themselves incite what you might describe as real emotions.—M.M.
27. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
A delightful early party scene in which each of the Avengers tries to lift Thor’s hammer and thus prove themselves “worthy” in the cosmic sense capitalizes on the chemistry among these cast members. Unfortunately, the movie devolves into a total slog as soon as an A.I. Tony Stark invented named Ultron (James Spader) becomes sentient and starts monologuing about how there are “No Strings on Me.” Ultron decides the human race is doomed so decides to speed up the process and destroy Earth…by picking up and dropping an entire city. It’s one of the more bizarre and convoluted villain plans in cinema history! Oh, and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Quicksilver (Aaron Tayor-Johnson) are kicking around as henchmen. Wanda gives all the Avengers hallucinogenic dreams, which we honestly wish were stranger than they are.—E.D.
26. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)
Let’s talk about animal cruelty. In his third outing in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, director James Gunn explores the backstory of one of the crew, Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper). The movie is filled with an excessive number of flashbacks to Rocket and other helpless animals being experimented upon by a villain named, fittingly, the High Evolutionary. One scene of animal cruelty would have been sufficient to communicate the film’s themes. Plus, the movie ends with a reshuffling of the Guardians team that loses some of its most interesting players and leaves us less than enthusiastic to rejoin this group of space bandits in future iterations.—E.D.
25. Iron Man 3 (2013)
It takes a lot to pull off a threequel, but this one does a decent job. Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is up against a mad scientist who develops an unstable regenerative super serum which causes people to explode, when injected, if their bodies reject it. Yes, it’s as nuts as it sounds. While rewatching this movie, I could only think about how it’s unfortunate that Gwyneth Paltrow doesn’t have plans to make another Marvel movie, because she makes a damn good action star. So, too, does Don Cheadle, and thankfully, he seems to be making a comeback, having signed on to lead the upcoming Avengers movie, Armor Wars. While we get a nail-biting scene where Tony has to save a group of people who flew out of an airplane with a not-yet-perfected suit and an army of Iron Man prototype suits, we don’t get much else from this movie.—M.M.
24. Thor (2011)
Thor’s father (played by Anthony Hopkins, of all people) deems him undeserving and casts him down to Earth to learn a lesson. What should have been a quirky fish-out-of-water comedy from Kenneth Branagh is laden by a little too much plot. The movie must explain what, exactly, S.H.I.E.L.D. is. The acronym alone takes an entire scene to spell out. And the film culminates in a truly terrible fight scene between Thor and what looks to be a giant, not particularly nimble C.G.I. knight called The Destroyer. The one saving grace is Tom Hiddleston’s trickster Loki, who is auditioning for the role of Big Bad in the first Avengers film with a wry smile. —E.D.
23. Eternals (2021)
Why, you might ask, is Eternals, one of the biggest critical and commercial bombs in the history of Marvel, in the middle of this list? The movie about a group of immortal beings questioning the purpose of their creation was admittedly a snooze, and one that is not worth enduring again because it has basically no connection to the rest of the MCU. But credit to director Chloé Zhao who at least tried to do something different with her Marvel movie, like shooting in actual locations rather than against a green screen. Sure, the love triangle formed by Richard Madden, Gemma Chan, and Kit Harrington was muted. Yes, Kumail Nanjiani’s character did strangely declare he was sitting out the third act of the movie and then disappear from the screen. And, certainly, we will never forgive Marvel for laying fault for the atomic bomb at the feet of Brian Tyree Henry, who deserves better. And yet, Barry Keoghan and Lauren Ridloff had crazy chemistry as the B-plot romance. The surprise cameo in the end-credits was actually quite surprising. And those vistas were nice to look at.—E.D.
22. Black Widow (2021)
Too little, too late. Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow deserved her own solo outing back when the original Avengers team assembled. Instead, Marvel waited nearly two decades to give Johansson a solo film. By the time Black Widow debuted mid-pandemic on Disney+, the character of Black Widow had died in Avengers: Endgame. So the film plays out as one long flashback with little reason to exist. The story involves Russian sleeper agents with muddled motivations and the baddie who mind-controls them. The underwhelming mission to set the ballerina-turned-assassins free is saved only by the presence of Florence Pugh, one of our brightest young stars, who infuses every line with a bit of withering sarcasm. We hope she gets a better follow-up film.—E.D.
21. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
A scrawny Brooklynite volunteers to be injected with super soldier serum and turns into Chris Evans. Not a bad deal. The hilarious scene of Hayley Atwell’s Agent Peggy Carter feeling Captain America’s abs after his transformation is the pinnacle of this movie. The rest is rather rote Nazi punching. Though not unenjoyable, the beats are pretty familiar. That this movie is interesting at all is a credit to Chris Evans, who manages to transform what could be Cap’s irksome optimism into irresistible charm. The chemistry between Cap and Peggy—and their tragic parting at the end of the movie—also stood the test of time. It became a pillar upon which the Avengers finale, Avengers: Endgame, was built. Iron Man might be the brains of the Avengers team, and Thor the brawn. But beginning with this movie, Cap was the much-needed beating heart.—E.D.
20. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
The second Guardians of the Galaxy installment was weaker than the first but certainly better than the third (once again, the animal cruelty!). Whereas the first movie introduces Peter Quill’s mother and their close relationship, this movie dives deeper into his father and why he wasn’t in Peter’s life. We see the Guardians defeat an alien monster in exchange for Gamora’s sister Nebula—which becomes important later—and the team flies to a nearby planet where they meet Peter’s father, Ego (Kurt Russell). Peter and his father fight, the Guardians kill Ego, and in the end, Gamora and Peter admit their feelings for each other. When it comes to the Guardians movies, the dynamic between the teammates is much more engaging than the overall story itself.—M.M.
19. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)
It’s hard to explain the plot of Multiverse of Madness without falling down a Disney+ rabbithole, but suffice it to say that Doctor Strange must defend a young superhero named America Chavez from Scarlet Witch, who believes killing America will bring back the phantom sons she created in the Disney+ series WandaVision. There’s a lot to like about the Doctor Strange sequel, including director Sam Raimi’s decision to lean into horror and willingness to massacre the many fan-favorite characters who make cameos in the film. But the movie’s bizarre treatment of Scarlet Witch prevents it from ascending higher on the list. While I can certainly empathize with a willingness to do literally anything to reach my child, Wanda is defined exclusively by her role as crazed mother. The sexist trope leaves little nuance for a character who is arguably the most powerful superhero in the MCU. And while Benedict Cumberbatch is always a welcome presence onscreen, his version of Strange continues to be little more than a low-rent Tony Stark.—E.D.
18. The Marvels (2023)
This movie is the definition of three girlbosses joining together to maximize their joint slays. In the Nia DaCosta-directed film, Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris), and Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) are cosmically linked by the similarities between their powers and learn to work together to defeat Dar-Benn as she attempts to steal the Earth’s sun for her own planets. It comes with a smattering of outdated girlboss feminism sprinkled in and drags in a few places, but the Khan family dynamic saves this movie from being a miss. The CGI wasn’t distractingly bad (the bar is unfortunately low) and the climactic fight scene toward the end, when the three women use their cosmic abilities to switch places to their advantage, also helps this pick secure its respectable spot on the list.—M.M.
17. Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
In this one, a group of disgruntled former Stark employees are mad at the brazen billionaire, and Jake Gyllenhaal, as the charming Quentin Beck, is their leader. One of the best parts of almost every Spider-Man movie is that most of the villains are nuanced and they often (if not always) have a method to their madness. I was coming around to the idea of Beck getting back at Stark for firing him for his “unstable nature”—let the man play magician with his optical illusions! But he lost me when he wanted to scale them to an even higher degree for his own gain, and of course I fell back on Peter’s side. Not to mention that all Peter wanted to do was enjoy this European class trip with his friends and his crush, MJ—wonderfully played by his now real-life girlfriend, Zendaya. It’s not a Spider-Man movie if he doesn’t make a gigantically huge mistake in pursuit of his love, and we get that when Peter relinquishes control of Stark’s E.D.I.T.H. over to Beck, after which he realizes the errors of his ways and the gravity of his responsibility.—M.M.
16. Ant-Man (2015)
Scientist Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) recruits career thief Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) to don a suit that makes the wearer shrink in size and prevent a rival scientist from using the technology for evil. If that sounds ridiculous, it is, and consciously so. Ant-Man was, in theory, Marvel’s venture into the comedy space. But the fact is, every Marvel movie up to this point was also stuffed with jokes. The Michael Peña narration was mildly diverting, and Paul Rudd, given enough screen time, can dazzle an audience with his perfect comedic timing and million-watt smile. Still, I can’t help but wonder if the heist plot wouldn’t have been better served by the movie’s original director Edgar Wright, who after exiting Ant-Man went on to make (and, perhaps, stuff a lot of his best ideas into) Baby Driver, a superior film.—E.D.
15. Doctor Strange (2016)
This often-overlooked Marvel movie is actually pretty fun. A cocky surgeon gets into a car crash that damages his hands. In search of a solution he falls into a world of mystical arts and becomes the only person who can prevent a bad magician from destroying the universe. Strange is a bit insufferable, though Benedict Cumberbatch tries his hardest to imbue the character with Sherlock-esque charm. But let’s talk about the visuals. Marvel’s C.G.I. battle scenes have been deteriorating lately. Everything looks fake, dark, boring, and hard to track in movies like Quantumania. Doctor Strange battles in a place called the Mirror Dimension. As a concept, it’s pretty silly. But jumping into a kaleidoscopic universe for every fight scene makes for some delightfully trippy action.—E.D.
14. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)
Writer-director Ryan Coogler was tasked with an impossible mission: Rewrite a Black Panther sequel without its star following Chadwick Boseman’s untimely passing. Coogler had initially conceived of a film about King T’Challa struggling with his family’s legacy while meeting the demands of fatherhood himself. Wakanda Forever instead focuses on a country mourning its king just as it comes into conflict with another kingdom that has secreted itself away from colonizers, the underwater realm of Talokan.
The resulting movie has transcendent moments—and ones that had us desperately missing Boseman. Letitia Wright does not yet have the movie-star charisma of Boseman before her and is not quite up to the task of carrying the immense weight of the film as Princess Shuri trying to figure out how to rule Wakanda in her brother’s stead. Supporting characters, particularly Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong’o and Emmy-winner Michael Coel, feel underutilized. And on the CGI front, the world of Talokan, which should be as wondrous to behold as Wakanda, looks murky at best. Still, any Ryan Coogler movie is bound to be better than most other blockbuster films.—E.D.
13. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
When Marvel veers off the beaten path, it doesn’t always pay off (see: entries 23, Eternals, and 19, Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness). But Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is one of those rare instances when it does. Simu Liu has a strong grasp on the reins of the titular character, who is joined by the likes of (future) Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh, acclaimed Hong Kong star Tony Leung, and Awkwafina for comic relief. Shang-Chi has to fight his father as the latter tries to open a sealed gate in Ta Lo that he believes is holding his wife who passed away years earlier. The movie effortlessly blends the intricacies of Chinese mythology with various forms of martial arts and stunning visuals during the fight scenes. The ending is rushed and sort of clunkily makes its way past the finish line, but I wouldn’t be mad at a sequel.—M.M.
12. Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)
Forgive our recency bias, but Deadpool and Wolverine—the MCU’s first R-rated movie—was hilarious. Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman are two of the most successful superhero actors of all time for a reason. They simply work as a duo. There isn’t much of a plot: Deadpool recruits Wolverine to help him save his timeline from getting obliterated. The real purpose of the fourth-wall-breaking movie is to memorialize—and, in some cases, dance upon the graves of—forgotten Marvel characters. Deadpool and Wolverine are banished to The Void, essentially the MCU’s version of a creative trash heap, where they meet several superheroes whose franchises have been tossed aside by the business minds at Marvel. Sure, it’s meta. But for a movie that could have been stuffed with cameos, Deadpool and Wolverine demonstrates surprising restraint, choosing particular characters for specific jokes and dispatching them before they overstay their welcome. It’s a simple and contained story full of jokes that hit more than they miss. This is how multiversal storytelling should work.
11. Captain America: Civil War (2016)
This will sound possibly deranged to write, but I think the Sokovia Accords weren’t a terrible idea! The Avengers constantly destroyed cities in the name of saving the world but never had to answer for the casualties in the wake of that destruction. Do I think they should’ve relinquished control? No. However, I think there was a conversation to be had rather than being resigned to their two options: submitting to the Sokovia Accords or becoming fugitives with Captain America to side with his formerly hypnotized murderous best friend from decades ago. We all know the American government has made some terrible choices both in our reality and in the MCU (see blurb 7 for The Avengers). But this movie works its way up the list for the fight scene at the airport between the Avengers on the run and the U.S. government-sided Avengers, and the climactic fight between Captain America and Iron Man (I’m on Iron Man’s side for that one).—M.M.
10. Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
After being introduced to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War, audiences clamored for his version of Peter Parker to get his own movie. And that film, which arrived in 2017, perfectly captures all of the best parts of the character: his quick wit, the respect and love he has for his Aunt May, close-knit friendships, and—given that it’s an origin story—his journey as a superhero in training who has his inevitable missteps. Holland was born to play the role of Peter Parker in part because, of all of the character’s iterations, the then-21-year-old convincingly looked and acted like an awkward teenager learning to balance the great power that comes with his abilities and his responsibility not only to his community, but to all of humanity. And let’s not forget Michael Keaton as Vulture, who delivers a standout performance as the film’s villain.—M.M.
9. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige likes to talk about how Marvel spans genres. Ultimately, most movies follow the same joke-punch model. Winter Soldier was one of the first to truly forge a different path and at least approximate the drama of a Cold War thriller. Captain America susses out a faction of HYDRA (the Nazi-backed terrorist organization from the first movie) in the U.S. government. While trying to uncover their plot, he must face off against a mysterious supersoldier who turns out to be his old pal Bucky. The twists and turns can get rather convoluted, and it’s a welcome relief when the movie takes a pause so Cap can flex his fighting skills in the unforgettable elevator scene. There’s a reason that Marvel hired the Russo brothers to helm the two biggest chapters in the MCU after they wrapped this movie. —E.D.
8. Iron Man (2008)
Iron Man on its surface is the classic tale of a hubristic billionaire humbled by circumstance. Tech prodigy and arms dealer Tony Stark is kidnapped by terrorists wielding his own weapons. He must build a suit to survive and lives to regret his playboy lifestyle—well, sort of regret it, anyway. Robert Downey Jr.’s charismatic performance as Tony Stark transformed a B-list superhero into a franchise lead and single-handedly launched the MCU. That success was far from guaranteed. Tony Stark was a flawed character, for better or worse—he had a stripper pole in his jet, after all. But Tony’s behavior also set the stage for his maturation over the course of nine Marvel movies, evolving into a symbolic dad (to Peter Parker) and then a real dad (to his daughter). Tony Stark announcing at the end of the movie, “I am Iron Man” upended years’ worth of expectations about secret identities in superhero storytelling. Downey utters that line again in a totally different context at the end of Avengers: Endgame—a moment that saw full-grown adults weeping. The power of those two scenes speaks to the staying power of the Iron Man character.—E.D.
7. The Avengers (2012)
The scene where the Avengers officially assemble for the first time and the powerful score plays in the background as the camera circles around them is awe-inspiring no matter how many times you rewatch this movie. In this installment that brings together Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow and their superhero teammates, we see how the members butt heads as they manage egos and remind each other of their common enemy, an alien race called the Chitauri and Loki. The leader of the Chitauri promised Loki an army to help him take over Earth and after Loki gets his hands on the Tesseract, he opens a wormhole to invite the Chitauri to take over New York City.
After realizing S.H.I.E.L.D. had plans to use the Tesseract to create weapons of mass destruction, the Avengers band together to prove they can handle any extraterrestrial forces on their own. In a way, they are the world’s weapons of mass destruction, which is never more evident than in the aftermath of the Battle of New York. What might be the craziest part of this battle is when the World Security Council unanimously agrees to just NUKE THE ENTIRE CITY OF NEW YORK?! In the end, Tony saves the day by sending the missile into the enemy portal, proving they might be better at this whole saving-the-world thing than the world leaders themselves.—M.M.
6. Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Thor was arguably the most popular Marvel character to get an initial run of MCU films—more famous than either Iron Man or Captain America when each of their solo movies debuted. And yet his series was, initially, the weakest in the franchise. Director Kenneth Branagh put a self-serious Shakespearean spin on the Norse god’s story that landed a bit flat in Thor. And Thor: The Dark World proved incomprehensible. It was only once Disney recruited Hunt for the Wilderpeople director Taika Waititi that Thor found his groove. In theory, the plot of the film—Thor must prevent Ragnarok, the apocalyptic end to his home planet of Asgard—sounds sobering. But Waititi recognized that actor Chris Hemsworth had impressive comedic chops and, taking a cue from the Guardians films, transformed Thor’s world into one of colorful hijinks and nonsense jokes. He stripped Hemsworth of his usual allies, cut off his famous long mane, and marooned him on a planet ruled by a quirky character played by Jeff Goldblum. It worked.—E.D.
Read More: How Taika Waititi Made Thor Funny
5. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
One of the best parts of the MCU is the teams formed among superpowered individuals who don’t always see eye to eye but work better together than apart. Guardians of the Galaxy gives us the origin story of one such team and the snags they hit along the way. Chris Pratt, for all of his ups and downs among the Hollywood Chrises, convincingly plays the role of Peter Quill, and his love story with Gamora (Zoe Saldaña), a bright-green alien with a tough exterior but a soft spot for Peter, is one of the more heartfelt and believable ones in the MCU. While the Guardians storyline is still on thin ice with me because of the animal cruelty (see entry 26), it has all of the heart and charisma that one could hope for from a Marvel movie and boasts a high rewatch value for its smart balance of jokes and action.—M.M.
4. Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
No Way Home helped lift movie theaters out of their pandemic slump. It’s the best of the MCU’s Spider-Man films—and not just because it contains three times the number of usual Spider-Men. Peter Parker hopes to attend MIT with his friends but when Spider-Man’s secret identity is revealed, his chances of securing a spot at the elite school diminish. He makes an ill-worded wish that accidentally ushers old Spideys and their foes into his universe. While most of Marvel’s other multiversal stories are muddled, the third installment in the Homecoming trilogy capitalizes on its cameos, resurrecting some of Marvel’s best villains—particularly Doctor Octopus and Green Goblin—and offering a sense of closure for Tobey Maguire’s and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Men. Tom Holland and Zendaya, nominally the film’s stars, can sometimes get lost in the Marvel mechanics. A few more quiet moments with the couple would have buoyed the film even more. But it’s a thrilling entry that leaves open myriad possibilities for Spidey’s future.—E.D.
3. Avengers: Infinity War (2021)
Avengers: Infinity War made it clear that the elaborate work of building an interconnected Marvel Cinematic Universe was paying off. The film was the first of a two-part culmination of the multi-billion-dollar franchise’s major Infinity Saga world-building, and it stuck the landing. Audiences are treated to an overwhelming number of superheroes working together against a common enemy—Thanos—who spends most of the movie collecting the six Infinity Stones needed to execute his plan of wiping out half of Earth’s population. It seems like the Avengers have a fighting chance—but after the last stone is collected, he snaps his fingers and thus commences the Blip. We see our favorite heroes vanish right before our eyes. I’ll never forget the theater’s collective reaction to seeing Black Panther vanish into dust and Spider-Man gripping onto Tony Stark, scared and hopeless, crying, “I don’t wanna go” as he disappears. The year between Infinity War and Endgame was brutal as fans mourned the loss of some of the best Avengers in the MCU with no hint of their return.—M.M.
2. Black Panther (2018)
Even before I took my seat at the movie theater to see Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther, I was already thrilled to see Chadwick Boseman’s formidable character, introduced to the MCU in Captain America: Civil War, get his chance in the spotlight. And the movie delivered, and then some: The world of Wakanda is awe-inspiring, an Afro-futuristic spectacle that earned every bit of its eventual Oscars for costume design and production design. Boseman leads a group of skilled actors to tell the story set in this world—Angela Bassett, Lupita Nyong’o, Forest Whitaker, Michael B. Jordan, Daniel Kaluuya, Danai Gurira, and Letitia Wright help tell a story that explores complex themes of isolationism vs. international cooperation and the African diaspora. The film made many people of color, many of whom grew up reading the Black Panther comics, feel seen, and gave us an unforgettable killer Kendrick Lamar-curated soundtrack to boot.—M.M.
1. Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Watching Endgame in a movie theater was one of those rare communal experiences audiences hardly get at the cinema anymore. A year prior, Thanos literally turned half of the superheroes in the MCU to dust at the end of Avengers: Infinity War. And for a year, audiences wildly speculated how the superheroes might undo Thanos’ evil deeds, whether Thanos had a point, and if the Russo brothers could offer a cathartic conclusion. Endgame delivered.
The Avengers embark on a complicated time heist that allowed directors Anthony and Joe Russo to revisit some of the most memorable moments in the franchise’s history. The entire theater broke into laughter when Captain America checked out his own behind during a fight against his younger self. Cheers went up when Thor’s hammer flew into the hand of Captain America, a callback to a joke in Age of Ultron—but also a capstone to that character’s journey. And full-grown adults wept when Iron Man snapped his fingers, uttered the “I am Iron Man” line from the very first MCU movie, and sacrificed himself for the greater good. While maybe not the best movie on the list—that honor goes to Black Panther—Endgame is certainly the best superhero movie on the list. Rarely has a franchise finale balanced humor, nostalgia, and thrills while providing closure for its audience.—E.D.
