The Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to set the pace for blockbuster movies with interconnected stories and characters eight years after they kicked off the trend with Tony Stark aka Iron Man showing up at the end of ‘The Incredible Hulk’ to plant the seed for ‘The Avengers’ which would be released four years later. The 14th movie in the MCU was released this past weekend and ‘Doctor Strange’ is yet another successful installment. With an opening weekend of $85 million here in the United States, the film has already made $325 million worldwide. It should end up making around $700 million when all is said and done with good word of mouth. Reviews have been great. It has a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes from critics and 91% from moviegoers so that keeps Marvel’s batting average at 1.000 as far as fresh ratings from RT.

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Superhero movies have been one of the most popular genres for a while now but I’ve been a big Marvel comics fan for as long as I can remember. There were some great movies based on Marvel properties in the 2000’s, the first two Spider-Man movies and X2: X-Men United for example, but they were all licensed out to different studios. A big joy in reading superhero comics is you never know when your favorite heroes are going to pop up in other books and Marvel especially was good at team-ups and crossover events. So it was exciting when they finally decided to open up their own film studio and slowly set up a team movie with some of the biggest heroes comics have to offer. And they did it right by giving each of the biggest stars their own movie to develop their characters so when the time came for them to join forces we were invested in their story and interactions. Some have been better than others but none have been downright bad which the same can’t be said of some other superhero franchises (ahem… ‘Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice). Here is how I would rank the Marvel Cinematic Universe films prior to seeing ‘Doctor Strange’.

  1. Guardians of the Galaxy

Guardians was the first movie where Marvel took a real risk and introduced all new characters that weren’t connected to the main Avengers team. It’s a sci-fi comedy superhero team movie with characters that include a talking Raccoon and a walking tree. If it was a test to see what they could get away with and still make tons of money than it passed with flying colors. Movies such as ‘Ant-Man’ and ‘Doctor Strange’ probably wouldn’t have been seen quite as viable if GotG had been a bust at the box office but instead it gives Marvel confidence that anything they do can be successful as long as its good. And ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ was very good. Its a movie that would feel at home being a part of the Star Wars extended universe if it wasn’t part of the MCU. Visually striking with great individual characters that become even better when put together as a team. Its legitimately funny and balances being lighthearted fun with high stakes action perfectly. I know not everyone agrees with me but I think Ronan is one of the few great villains in the Marvel movies. It is an imminently re-watchable film and one that I was looking forward to a sequel the second I left the theater. Fortunately we don’t have to wait long for it now as it is the next MCU movie to be released, next May.

  1. The Avengers

Expectations were sky high coming into 2012’s ‘The Avengers’ as we finally saw the culmination of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, and the incredible Hulk come together to form the most powerful superhero team ever put on screen. We were not disappointed. Reviews were great which helped lead to the biggest opening weekend of all time (until ‘Jurassic World’ and then ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ would top it). On re-watch the opening 30 minutes or so setting up the plot is a bit slow but it worked well on the initial viewing but once they all get together in the same room its perfect how they all interact with each other. The action is top notch with the fight between Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America and of course the epic battle for New York being the highlights. I was skeptical going in that they were reusing a villain so soon but Loki almost steals the show. The real gem here is Mark Ruffalo taking over the role o Hulk from Edward Norton. It turns out the best way to use a character like that is sparingly where he can steal some scenes but he isn’t asked to carry a whole movie on his not especially charismatic shoulders. And we didn’t miss Norton at all.

  1. Captain America: Civil War

The last Marvel movie I have seen is this unofficial Avengers movie. It may be titled ‘Captain America’ but the whole gang is here minus Thor and Hulk plus some new characters are added to the mix. Based off the great Civil War story arc from the comics, the team is torn apart after an incident killing innocent people leads to the government wanting to get involved with when and how the Avengers are deployed. Captain America and Iron Man are at odds and each have fellow heroes that take their respective sides. There is a traditional villain in the film but I like that the main antagonists are the heroes themselves. There are a bunch of characters but they manage to give everyone enough screen time and impact to make it work. Ant-Man brings some much needed levity and plays a big role in the stand out action set piece in the middle of the movie. But the real standouts are two new characters to the MCU. Black Panther played by Chadwick Bosman had me eagerly anticipating his solo movie and finally Spider-Man is done to perfection after Sony and Marvel came to an agreement to help each other make millions of dollars. While it does feel like an Avengers movie, it truly is the conclusion of a character arc for Captain America and his relationship to Bucky as well as the country he was so eager to fight for in ‘The First Avenger’.

  1. Iron Man

The movie that started it all. In order to be where we are today ‘Iron Man’ had to be a hit and it surely was. Before we knew Marvel’s vision of a cinematic universe people flocked to theaters to see Robert Downey Jr. play a fast talking billionaire arms dealer turned flying superhero who shoots rockets out of his armor. An opening weekend breaking $100 million was certainly not the expectation from a ‘B level’ superhero but the marketing worked to get people in and once they saw how good it was word spread quickly. Tony Stark was casted perfectly and he had to be as the centerpiece of a huge franchise and leader among leaders. RDJ’s quick wit and sarcasm helped keep the dialogue from being cliché and cheesy. Much like Christopher Nolan’s ‘Batman Begins’ everything felt conceivable like it was happening in some version of our real world. Jon Favreu did a great job directing. He took his time in getting us to the guy on the poster and it was a great progression from smug asshole selling weapons to smug asshole being a weapon. It could have easily been rushed to sacrifice character for getting straight to the action. The only real downside is the villain which is a problem that these movies have a tendency to run into. Its a predictable, bland ‘evil’ interpretation of our hero. Luckily the bulk of the movie doesn’t revolve around him as a threat.

  1. Captain America: The First Avenger

Captain America was never one of my guys for whatever reason when I was reading comic books but so far his movies have been some of my favorites. I love that they decided to make his origin story a period piece and stick with it all the way to the end. They got the guy who directed ‘The Rocketeer’ to direct this and it works very well. The glossy slightly exaggerated imagery wouldn’t have worked in a modern setting but in an alternate version of World War II where there are super soldiers running around and Nazi’s with Red Skull’s for heads it makes sense. Steve Rogers is a plucky patriotic try hard who wants nothing more than to fight for the US but hes so scrawny that the only way he can get involved is to volunteer for some experiments. Its interesting to see how someone would act when all of a sudden given such power. Its also interesting to see how the government would put a ‘super soldier’ to use for morale and propaganda. The love interest is the endearing Agent Carter, her and the villain are good secondary characters in a movie filled with them. The ending where he wakes up in the modern day after being on ice for 60+ years is a great tease as a lead in to ‘The Avengers’.

  1. Avengers: Age of Ultron

The second Avengers film wasn’t as good as the first one but it was still a lot of fun. Opening up with an action sequence in the snow with our heroes immediately picking up where they left off the last time we saw them all together was an inspired choice, it hooks you in right away. The chemistry and interactions between everyone is the highlight, the novelty of that hasn’t worn off yet. New characters are introduced to mild success. Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and the Vision aren’t standouts the way Black Panther and Spider-Man are in ‘Civil War’ but they’re not duds either. They each play an important role in the third act and have a nice moment at some point. Where the movie runs into problems is in the way it feels like it needs to be bigger than the first Avengers which leads to some big, fun action sequences but its lacking the gravitas and investment that you had the first time around. While I complemented the way they balanced the big cast in Captain America 3, they hadn’t quite figured out that formula yet here. Ultron as a villain could’ve been so much better. His presence looms large early on but he gets lost in the shuffle as the movie goes on and becomes kind of generic in the end. Ultimately the movie feels bloated and inconsistent as they tried to fit too many things into the run time but its still a highly enjoyable viewing experience.

  1. Iron Man 3

The first movie following ‘The Avengers’ was going to have a tough time coming off of that high but ‘Iron Man 3’ was able to keep the good times rolling. A smaller story with just one Avenger could lead to the audience rolling their eyes and saying “why doesn’t he just call his Avenger buddies” when the protagonist finds themselves in a precarious position. Director Shane Black was able to avoid that by making the story more of an internal conflict that leads to revenge. Tony Stark has to watch his home destroyed and his love interest, Pepper Potts, placed in danger as a repercussion to being so open to who he is as Iron Man. As heavy as the plot sounds Black is able to wring out as much humor as possible. There is a twist with the iconic villain Mandarin that got some mixed responses but I thought was handled perfectly and hilariously. The movie has a great pace and is any easy one to re-watch when you’re flipping channels and land on it on cable. The down side to the villain twist is that what remains is yet another uninteresting antagonist. But coming off of ‘Iron Man 2’ I thought this was a very pleasant surprise. There is even a precocious kid involved that isn’t incredibly annoying!

  1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Most people are higher on this one than I am but I still like it quite a bit. Picking up after ‘The Avengers’ it continues the storyline of Steve Rogers adapting to modern society after being ‘Encino Man’d’ for several decades. There is some funny stuff that comes out of that but the real highlight of the film is the close quarters action and hand to hand combat that new directors Joe and Anthony Russo bring to the table. There is a fight in an elevator that makes great use of the confined space and a few other standouts including a cameo from UFC fighter Georges St. Pierre in the form of Batroc the Leaper. Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow gets a bigger role here and Falcon is introduced as Captain America’s sidekick. Anthony Mackie does a great job in the role and that has continued throughout all his appearances in the MCU. The movie is Marvel’s attempt at a political thriller which is where I think it fails a bit. Robert Redford is pretty good behind the scenes but the titular ‘Winter Soldier’ is a completely uninteresting characters despite what you learn about him. I couldn’t get super invested in Steve’s search for answers. I also think the look of the film is pretty dull with a lot of grays and an overcast vibe.

  1. Ant-Man

If ‘Winter Soldier’ is Marvel’s attempt at a political thriller then ‘Ant-Man’ is their attempt at a heist movie. Again I don’t think it completely succeeds in that mission but I like that they are always trying to mix it up a bit. Despite all the drama behind the scenes with Edgar Wright dropping out as director and Peyton Reed stepping in late in the game the movie turned out to be a success. Paul Rudd is great in the lead as a bumbling guy who stumbles into super-heroism. Michael Pena is hilarious as his friend, Michael Douglas is great casting as Hank Pym, and Evangeline Lilly is a badass who I can’t wait to see more of in the sequel. Its a slight movie but fun to watch between the comedy and incredible visuals. If you thought ‘Honey, I Shrunk the Kids’ did a good job of capturing what it would be like to shrink down to insect size then this should blow your mind. The final showdown with the admittedly bland (again) villain is great with the creative way they use the surroundings and cut back and forth in perspective. More than anything Ant-Man is just a great character to have in the mix as a side character as we saw in ‘Civil War’.

  1. The Incredible Hulk

If you ask someone to name all the movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe this is the film that is most likely to be forgotten, yet it was the second one in the series and the first one to mix characters (even if it was only a brief scene at the end). It makes sense. Edward Norton was replaced by Mark Ruffalo and the CGI for the Hulk got a major upgrade in ‘The Avengers’. Also it wasn’t until ‘Civil War’ that any of the actors/characters outside of the Hulk from this were used in any of the next installments. But still, I like the movie. I think its underrated. Norton is good in the role even if I do believe that Ruffalo is a better fit. Tim Roth was good as the villain and the CGI was good for the time. There are hints of horror in the beginning when we first see Banner as the Hulk and those are effective. Liv Tyler as the love interest is a little flat (her performance, come on people…) and most of the movie runs along standard action movie tropes but its certainly better than Ang Lee’s ‘Hulk’ from 2003.

  1. Thor: The Dark World

It took eleven movies into this list but we finally get to the ones that I didn’t particularly care for. When it comes to Thor hes a character that I enjoy quite a bit in the Avengers movies. I think he plays well against the other members of the team and is an interesting character in his own right but something about the world surrounding him doesn’t really intrigue me. It feels like a half measure in the Thor movies that they move the action to Earth at some point. Unlike ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ where they built a unique world and let the story play out there, it feels too safe to have everything end up on our planet. These movies are also the only ones that look a little cheap to me. Especially in ‘The Dark World’ it looks like an early episode of ‘Game of Thrones’ in the non-action scenes. I don’t hate the movie, I like it slightly more than the original, but its not something I’m interested in going back to for anything other than the relationship between Thor and Loki.

  1. Thor

Similar story in the original ‘Thor’ as to ‘The Dark World’ except I thought the stuff that took place on earth was even more egregious. Not much worked for me as far as the human characters are concerned. Natalie Portman and her whole team just didn’t feel authentic. There was supposed to be comedy coming from them too but I don’t remember laughing much. The stuff that takes place in Asgard is pretty good especially the battle with the ice giants early on. The back and forth between Thor and Loki started here and it was very good from the beginning. The one thing I did like on earth was the Hawkeye cameo and the whole scene with Thor trying to get his hammer in the rain. As much as I haven’t been fond of these movies to date I am excited for ‘Thor: Ragnorak’. The fact that it sounds like it takes place entirely in the Asgardian realm and is basically a buddy road trip movie with Thor and Hulk is interesting enough but its also being directed by a guy known mostly for New Zealand dry comedy. I’m in.

  1. Iron Man 2

The worst MCU movie was the third one they released and the first sequel. Looking back it makes sense. They were still figuring out how to have a quality standalone story and also set things into motion that would have an impact in future movies. There are some good ideas here. The Mickey Rourke character is interesting and the action scene at the race track is probably the best in the film. Black Widow is introduced as a badass and Don Cheadle takes over as the better version of War Machine (even if they still don’t flesh out that character enough). I love Sam Rockwell but I have to include him in the bland villain list. There is just too much going on here and it seems like everything that happens is just an excuse for an exposition dump. The pacing feels off and the final action set piece is anticlimactic. I haven’t re-watched it since around the time it came out so maybe it plays better now in hindsight but I remember being extremely disappointed coming out of ‘Iron Man 2’.

I’d love to see where people differ in their own lists so please let me know!

Bob Phelan
Bob Phelan

BSL Analyst

Bob is a co-host of ‘On the Verge’ an Orioles podcast focused on the O’s farm system here on BSL. He used to run the baseball blog ‘The Oriole Report’ before transitioning to podcasting about movies, TV, Video Games, and MMA. ‘The Redbox Report’ movie podcast was started in 2013 followed by ‘The Redbelt Report’ MMA podcast in 2016. Bob has also written for Konsume.com and BaltimoreSportsReport.com and delivers mail for a living in Baltimore County. Follow him on Twitter @TheOrioleReport.

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