![]() ![]() Image Credit: ©Walt Disney Co./courtesy Everett / Everett Collection Worth revisiting for: The unexpected “Endgame” resonance, the Chris O’Dowd cameo, Darcy (Kat Dennings) calling Mjolnir “Mew-mew.” Good to watch if you liked: Only the Asgard parts of “Thor.” Who fights who (and for what): The Asgardians fight the Dark Elves, who want to attack the Nine Realms with the Aether (the Reality Stone) - which happens to have entered the body of one Dr. Worth revisiting for: Comparing Norton’s somber portrayal of Banner to the dorkier performance from Mark Ruffalo, appreciating its attempts to add a bit more grit to the MCU, and recognizing that the franchise’s black sheep is perfectly okay compared to some of the latter, more canon installments. Good to watch if you liked: “Halloween” sequels that have been rewritten as non-canon, Edward Norton, and Tim Roth’s appearances in “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.” Who fights who (and for what): On the run from the government after being transformed into the Hulk, Bruce Banner faces off against Russian operative Emil Blonsky, who undergoes an experimental procedure to match the monster within Banner. Image Credit: ©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection Read IndieWire’s complete review by Kate Erbland Worth revisiting for: Watch this space? “Quantumania” is recent (and bad) enough that its larger purpose has yet to be revealed…if it exists. ![]() Good to watch if you liked: Only the CGI parts of the MCU. Who fights who (and for what): Scott, Hope, Janet, and Hank join the creatures of the Quantum Realm in the fight against Kang the Conquerer (Jonathan Majors). “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” (2023) Read IndieWire’s complete review by David Ehrlich Good to watch if you liked: Trailers for this exact movie - if that. Who fights who (and for what): The Eternals, ultra-powerful beings who have apparently lived on Earth this whole time and condoned all kinds of suffering, decide to surface and fight the Deviants, their ancient enemies. Image Credit: ©Walt Disney Co./Courtesy Everett Collection With editorial contributions by Alison Foreman and Kate Erbland. Keep reading for our updating ranking of the best films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. From massive crossover events like “Avengers: Endgame” to “smaller” (an extremely relative term in this context) works from elite directors like Ryan Coogler and James Gunn, there are definitely some great Marvel movies that stand out from the crowd. Still, the cream tends to rise to the top. Not only are there a ton of them - and we’re not even going to try to wade into the Disney+ shows - the interconnected story that they tell can make it difficult to compare them as standalone films. Ranking all of the movies in the MCU is a daunting task. The fact that we can take Marvel’s consistent profits for granted is a testament to its success - the company has completed its transition from a rebellious outsider to an established institutional player. ![]() Even if Marvel’s cultural relevance has declined ever-so-slightly from the days of the biggest “Avengers” movies, Kevin Feige and his team have built a machine that’s constantly refueling with new stars and characters. On top of all that, the entire project was launched with an action movie directed by the guy from “Swingers” whose leading man had suffered quite a bit of damage to his reputation.īut you know how the rest of the story goes. Superhero movies without Batman, Superman, or Spider-Man were considered box office gambles at the time, and many entertainment industry observers doubted that audiences would continue to show up for so many interlocking films without getting fatigued. Years of billion dollar box office receipts and endless discourse about its stranglehold on the film industry make it easy to forget what a risky proposition the MCU was when it launched with “Iron Man” in 2008. That cultural dominance has allowed Marvel Studios to rope an increasingly large percentage of Hollywood’s A-list actors (and quite a few of its best directors) into its ever-expanding universe. As the internet and the streaming boom continue to divide the entertainment industry into smaller niche fragments, superhero tentpole movies are the closest thing we still have to a monoculture. Love it or hate it, nobody who wants to participate in pop culture can ignore the Marvel Cinematic Universe. ![]()
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