My Thoughts on the Entire Marvel Cinematic Universe

As a self-proclaimed Marvel "fanboy", I set a challenge for myself to watch every movie in order. I wanted to appreciate the timeline from start to finish. After a month, I completed my goal, and I gained a new appreciation for the universe.

I'm not going to talk about every movie in this blog post. Nobody needs to hear how amazing Endgame is or how mediocre Captain Marvel is for the 1000th time. What I do want to talk about are movies that stood out to me. Either because they pleasantly surprised me on the second viewing or because they didn't live up to my expectations. I'm also gonna talk about some of my favourites, because they're awesome.

If you scroll to the bottom there's a numbered ranking of all the movies, if that's what you're interested in.

Pleasantly Surprising

Iron Man

The OG. I always loved Iron Man. I loved him the first time I watched it and he consistently stole scenes anytime he appeared in another movie. But I didn't expect the first movie in the MCU to slap so hard, especially with nothing to build off of. Certain Marvel films feel like their entertainment comes from the shoulders of movies before it. But in Iron Man, just like how Tony Stark made his suit in a cave from a box of scraps, it stands on its own shoulders.

You can't talk about Iron Man without praising Robert Downey Junior. RDJ is a class act, this man alone is the reason why the MCU exists (ok, probably Kevin Feige as well). The entire second act of Tony being in the cave with Ho Yinsen is a contender for the most compelling sequence in the MCU. The worst aspect is Obediah. Early Marvel wasn't sure how to handle their villains and Obediah is neither threatening nor interesting.

Thor: The Dark World

I dreaded watching this movie. I was fully prepared to waste two hours sleeping on a couch. The community has no restraint when it comes to its bashing, even I remembered walking out of the theatres with mixed feelings. But honestly, Thor: The Dark World is solid. It sets the precedent for Thor and Loki's amazing chemistry, the action is as good as ever, and the kingdom of Asgard is beautiful. The fast pacing made any scene with Jane Foster more bearable because it quickly moved onto a more interesting scene.

That being said, this movie is still a stinker when compared to the rest of the MCU. Malekith is the most generic, Costco brand villain in any Marvel movie. The guy is just an elf that is evil because he's evil. The only justification given is some vague exposition about a war thousands of years prior. And overall it's just, dark. The tone is off and it never gets turned on. But I was expecting it to be the worst, and it wasn't, so that's something.

Ant-Man

Ant-Man was one of the movies I had never seen before. When it released in theatres it seemed very generic and unremarkable, I felt like I could skip it without missing much. But I've come to realize that is exactly why this movie works. In an age of galactic level bad guys that threaten to end all existence, we get a quaint heist movie helmed by comedic legends like Paul Rudd and Michael Peña.

It's hard to complain about Ant-Man. It wasn't trying to be the next Shawshank or even the next Iron Man. But everything it aims to do, it does exceptionally.

Disappointing Letdowns

The Avengers

In 2012 The Avengers was a huge achievement for cinema. In hindsight, now that we've seen where the MCU has gone, The Avengers does not age well. The films original appeal was seeing heroes from entirely different movies team up. Unfortunately, that concept isn't exactly a novelty anymore. There are at least five MCU movies that are better executions of this concept.

And without the initial hype, we are left with a confusing plot, stilted dialogue and mind controlled Hawkeye. Seriously, the movie spends way too much of its runtime trying to make us care about Hawkeye.

Captain America: Civil War

I remember loving this movie and I was expecting to love it all over again. But this movie is a sandwich of three fantastic scenes with a ton of snooze inducing ones in between. Before watching, I remembered Bucky breaking out of the government compound, I remembered the airport battle and I remembered the final duel between Cap and Tony. The reason I remembered these so vividly is because they were the only memorable scenes in the entire movie.

I think Marvel really wanted the airport scene to happen, they knew it would draw in audiences, and so they created a movie that justified its inclusion. And of course it worked, I love that fight. I love how they tied spider-man into it. I also really enjoy Zemo, it's refreshing to have a villain who's main asset is his brain. But for some reason this movie bored me, which was uncommon with the other ones.

Personal Favourites

Guardians of the Galaxy 1 & 2

James Gunn is a pretty smart guy. He made us sympathize with a raccoon, root for a mumbling tree and got Chris Pratt to get absolutely shredded. Drax is the funniest character in the MCU, every line from Dave Bautista hits different. And these movies are just fun. They subvert everything Marvel previously taught us. The good guys are a little bad, they often have selfish motives, and they are just as much looking for fun as they are trying to help people.

Also the soundtracks are practically copy-pastes of my personal playlist.

Thor: Ragnarok

Similar to Guardians, Ragnarok subverts what we have come to expect from a Thor movie by making it actually good. The influence that Taika Waititi had while directing is almost tangible. Thor gets reinvented as a character worth cheering for and Chris Hemsworth reveals some real comedic chops out of nowhere. After the initial fight scene, it starts off slow, and Hela is a little lame, but everything on Sakaar between Thor, Loki and Hulk is top tier.

The resolution of the final battle is genius. Thor realizes that Hela can't be beat as long as Asgard stands, and so he summons Surtur to destroy it. Creative problem solving is always appreciated, especially because most MCU movies opt for the "finding power within" approach.

My Full Ranking

1. Avengers: Endgame
2. Avengers: Infinity War
3. The Guardians of the Galaxy
4. Iron Man
5. Thor: Ragnarok
6. The Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2
7. Doctor Strange
8. Black Panther
9. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
10. Spider-Man: Far From Home
11. Ant-Man
12. Avengers: Age of Ultron
13. Spider-Man: Homecoming
14. Captain America: The First Avenger
15. Captain Marvel
16. Captain America: Civil War
17. Ant-Man and The Wasp
18. The Avengers
19. Thor
20. Thor: The Dark World
21. Iron Man 2
22. Iron Man 3