Unquestionably Ranking The MCU Media - The 2022 Update

Yes that's right, I'm giving my final, official, unquestionable opinion on the Marvel films and TV Shows. I think this one should be pretty straightforward, no big lead in required. I like superheroes, I like movies, I like superhero movies.

I have a lot of opinions on this universe, and I guarantee you aren't going to like some of them, but I think the objectively great Marvel films won't come as a surprise anyone. I'll be ranking all of the media separately on a scale of 1-10, 10 being an ideal comic book to film experience. Oh, and the top 10 will all contain a gif that I think shows off something that them awesome.

Of course, a full spoiler warning is in effect.

Here we go!

33. Black Widow

Man I'm sorry but this one just didn't do it for me. I have nothing against Black Widow as a character (in fact, I rather like her actually getting some time to shine in this movie), but unfortunately the movie built around her is just not engaging. Uninspired action sequences, poor pacing, a wasted villain (Taskmaster is a personal favorite of mine), and, we have to say it, straight up bad CGI. So much of this movie plays like a comedy; considering Black Widow doesn't have any superpowers, why did they put her in so many situations where you would require super powers to survive? I swear she survives no less than 3 deadly car crashes in this film. Black Widow, as a character, deserved better. If I had to pick a Marvel film to never watch again, it would be this one.

2.5/10, at least this movie gave us Yelena.

32. Eternals

Eternals just wasn't all that great. I don't know if I would call anything about it strictly bad, it was just kinda...uninteresting (something I think all of the lesser Marvel films suffer from). None of the characters really resonated with me, none of the beats were particularly surprising or engaging, and very little of the action made me feel much of anything. It's a shame that I view this one as skippable considering the implications it has for the larger Marvel Universe, but it just feels out of place.

3/10, a few entertaining moments just can't save it.

31. Thor: The Dark World

Thor 2 is dark, drab, and not really very much fun despite some nice moments between Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston. Containing easily the most forgettable villain in the entire MCU, the most forgettable plot, and some of the most forgettable action, I guess you could sum this movie up as...forgettable. Not even the inclusion of the second on-screen infinity stone can help spice this one up. I've now seen this one a few times and I honestly cannot recount the plot for you.

3/10, don't particularly care if I see this one ever again.

30. Thor

This movie is a bit conflicting for me. The nucleus of an interesting movie is certainly there, and it holds my attention well enough for most of its run time, but at the end of the day, much of Thor is just kind of...boring. Most of the scenes taking place on Earth feel inconsequential, and characters who aren't Thor, Loki, or Jane feel like window dressing. Nonetheless, this is definitely a more entertaining movie than its sequel, and it fits perfectly well as an introduction to this character and his world. Chris Hemsworth is great as a more immature, thrill seeking Thor, and Tom Hiddleston chews scenery as the conniving, dramatic trickster, Loki.

4/10, inoffensive, and sets up a lot of the better MCU movies, just wish it was more fun to watch.

29. The Incredible Hulk

Still in the category of "MCU films that people don't really seem to care about all that much", Hulk pulls just slightly ahead of the Thor movies by having some pretty entertaining action scenes and a villain who's at least slightly memorable, despite having vague and questionable motivations. While he was eventually (or immediately) replaced, Edward Norton does a fine job as a Bruce Banner who still truly fears the monster inside him, although every other character in the film gets short changed (remember Betty? Neither does the MCU).

4.5/10, fun, strange, overall just doesn't feel that important. Someone give Hulk some water, he looks dehydrated.

28. Ant-Man and the Wasp

Whoops, turns out there's two Marvel movies I've only seen once, I just legitimately forgot about this one until I started writing about it. This movie pulls ahead of those below it almost by default: Being much farther along in Marvels' universe, this movie is at least put together in an entertaining, if formulaic, fashion, hitting all the beats we expect. Paul Rudd's Scott Lang remains one of the most entertaining characters to watch in the MCU, even when the movie around him isn't all that exciting, with a plot full of conveniences and a lot of wasted potential in its villain character, Ghost.

5/10, decent fun for sure, and Paul Rudd still kills it, but I honestly could take or leave this one on a Marvel movie marathon.

27. Captain America: The First Avenger

Alright, we're finally leaving the realm of forgettable Marvel movies, moving on to the ones that I think are...mostly good? I say mostly good here because the first two acts of this movie are actually kind of a blast to watch. It's a shame that the third act devolves into one big dumb, boring fight that loses my attention every single time. Despite this, the movie has a lot going for it. Red Skull is a lot of fun as the bad guy, and Chris Evans is instantly iconic as Steve Rogers, who is brought to life wonderfully on-screen as the man who wants to always do what's right. The fight scenes, up until the third act, also manage to be a good bit of fun, and none of the characters in the film feel quite as secondary as they do in previous entries on the list.

5/10, this movie is kind of my "baseline quality" for Marvel movies.

26. Avengers: Age of Ultron

I've talked at length about how bad this poster, specifically, is, but man it still gets to me every time I look at it.

Anyway...

This film, like Ant Man and the Wasp, is far enough along in the Marvel Universe that the formula is working in its favor. Certainly not boring, what really trips this movie up is that something about it just feels...off. The characters are a bit too quippy, not a lot of personality is allowed to shine through from anyone in particular (except, oddly enough, Hawkeye). The love story between Natasha and Bruce feels strange and unfounded, and contains some incredibly cringe-worthy (and possibly sexist?) dialogue. Ultron, while a generally great villain in most senses (with James Spader absolutely slaying the voice acting), feels under-powered, relying on a disposable army of cgi drones to do his fighting as opposed to feeling like a legitimate, imposing presence in combat. Despite these gripes, and a few others I haven't mentioned, the action scenes are a lot of fun and our favorite characters are still pretty enjoyable despite being relegated to a lot of one-liners instead of character defining moments like in the first Avengers.

Now, before I give my rating, I do have to cover my biggest, certified nerd complaint with this movie, and that is: Quicksilver. His death is dumb. It's just really, really stupid. On top of the setup for it not making any sense (Ultron, having lost the battle with the Avengers, elects to just abandon his plans and fly around shooting at people using a plane? What?), his powers should explicitly not have allowed him to die. You see, he moves and thinks so fast, that he's constantly waiting for the world to catch up to him (see X-men, Days of Future Past for a good example of this), and yet he's brought down by bullets????? I'm sorry, they really dropped the ball on this one.

5/10, I was gonna give it a 6 but I got aggravated while I was typing about Quicksilver.

25. Ant-Man

I'm actually a little torn about my placement of this one, and I hope people will let me know what they think. Generally, I really enjoy this movie; It's kind of stupid, goofy, not too serious and not too important in the grand scheme of things, but it all works as a fun, standalone character introduction. Really, the only thing that holds it back from being higher on the list is that, while it does everything more or less right, I think the rest of the movies on the list just do it better. Still, I don't have anything specifically negative to say about this one. Paul Rudd is great, the fight scenes are unique and fun, and the movie doesn't overstay its welcome.

6/10, the fight scene on the toy train set almost nets it a 7 for being an absolute riot.

24. Avengers: Endgame

Alright, here comes the first big controversy. I'll try and keep things brief here: Endgame is a generally good movie. The action scenes are stellar, the jokes, while feeling out of place, still manage to be mostly funny, the visual effects are some of the best around, and it's a good sendoff to...well, really just Tony. Here's the thing(s) though...

- The tone is wildly inconsistent. This does not feel like its coming after Infinity War. The entire second act just feels totally wrong. I get that it's a big greatest hits, fans servicy blowout, but it feels like there's no stakes. The fan service stuff was a fun send off on my first viewing but on repeated viewings, it just makes the film feel less important.

- Thor's great character arc from previous films is totally dropped here so that they can turn his obvious ptsd into a running joke instead of a serious character beat (but hey, "lol he's fat" never gets old, right?).

- Do I even need to tell you how bad Natasha's death is? Put a different soundtrack over the scene and it plays like a bad SNL sketch. Even more insulting is the fact that she was finally getting some character in this film.

- Why does Nebula not tell anyone about the risks of Vormir or Morag? Imagine if she had explained to the team, who were all about "not trading lives" in Infinity War, that they would have to sacrifice someone to get the Soul Stone. What a powerful narrative moment that could have been. But no, she just withholds this very important information.

- Professor Hulk doesn't work for me. Sorry, its weird.

- Steve Rogers journey to return the stones and his subsequent new life makes absolutely no sense if you think about it for a few seconds. At the very least it raises far too many questions for the nice, clean ending it gets.

- That awful, transparent attempt by Marvel to have a cool scene with its female characters where all the women, and only the women, somehow end up on the same part of the battlefield despite being all over the place a few moments before. I'm all for having a scene with powerful female characters being awesome (like Infinity War) but come on, this made me groan out loud in the theater.

- How strong is Captain Marvel? Strong enough to fight Thanos, but only sometimes? Wouldn't she have then been strong enough to just put on the gauntlet and end the whole battle early? And then return the stones no problem once everything had settled down? I feel like they had trouble balancing out how strong she is with how they wanted this narrative to play out, and it shows.

I know I just said a lot of bad stuff but, at the end of the day, it's still an Avengers film, and it's still fun to watch.

6/10, fun but full of inconsistencies and odd choices that I simply cannot ignore. Ending still made me cry, so nice work.

23. Iron Man 2

This is a tough one to rate for me because despite the fact that this whole movie is kind of dumb and doesn't make a whole lot of sense objectively (Tony just creates a new element?), I also have a lot of fun while I watch it. I cannot deny that the dynamic between Tony and Rhodes is probably enough on its own to keep me entertained. Pair that with some great action scenes and, I'm just gonna say it, a villain who's a lot of fun to watch (Justin Hammer, brought to life as a perfect, slimy, entitled corporate douche by Sam Rockwell), and the movie ends up being pretty fun in my book. Not really much else to say about this one.

6.5/10, we're starting to get up to the really good ones now.

22. Captain Marvel

But first we have to get through the last Marvel film that I just consider to be "OK". Now, I heard a lot of rough things about this movie before I saw it, which may be painting my perception a bit, but despite the INCREDIBLY heavy-handed, feminism-by-committee vibe of the whole film, I find this one to still be a lot of fun. The action is great, the soundtrack is pretty good, and despite some inconsistencies in her personality, I still find Carol to be a very like-able character here.

6.5/10, now on to the pretty damn good stuff.

21. Hawkeye

Hawkeye was pretty good. That just about sums it up really. It's a fun showcase for Clint (Renner looks like he's having a lot of fun being the MCU's John McClane), Kate Bishop is a great addition to the roster, and Yelena continues to be probably the best new character from phase 4. While the ending does get a bit silly, the overall show worked perfectly fine for me.

6.5/10, one show down and four to go.

20. Black Panther

Black Panther is...pretty effing cool. I know I'll probably get some flack for not putting this even higher on the list, but hey, I have certain things that really click with me, and this just doesn't have those specific things. The only truly negative thing I can say here is that there are some spotty VFX in parts of the film. Aside from that, we have great action beats, good acting all around, a stellar soundtrack, and, you already know it, one of Marvels absolute best villains to date. Micheal B. Jordan's Killmonger is out of this world, as threatening as he is charismatic, a villain who's motivations are not only downright understandable, but in certain lights may almost seem right (even if his methods are wrong).

One of the things holding this movie back from greatness is that, like some of the other standalone films, it feels a little less important in the grand scheme of the Marvel Universe. For example, at the end of the film, Wakanda joins the larger world, but I have yet to see this matter significantly in the following MCU movies. I should also mention that the character arc for T'Challa in this film is somehow less interesting to me than his minor arc in Civil War, which left me feeling a little less invested in the film, though I understand how it was an important one for his character.

7/10, a really solid entry in the universe, and seriously, Killmonger is great.

19. Falcon and the Winter Soldier

This one actually took me by surprise. Sam has never been what you would call my favorite MCU sidekick, so imagine my surprise when he wound up having one of my favorite character arcs from any of the shows so far. His struggle, grappling with the weight of being "the new Captain America" and trying to reconcile that with being a black man in America was a little on-the-nose at times, but that made it no less poignant. Zemo and John Walker shine as our new "grey area" characters, and the show is packed to the brim with timely social commentary and excellent action scenes. Also it was nice for Bucky to actually get some screen time.

7/10, a pleasant surprise that helped to elevate some of the less popular characters.

18. Doctor Strange

Right, those specific things that really click with me that I mentioned a minute ago? This movie has those. I love the weirder Marvel films, and this one is, get ready...strange. It throws you right into a world where earth-based wizards can bend reality and walk through dimensions, and it doesn't hold back on the visual end (the vfx in this movie being some of my favorites in the entire MCU). Aside from the visuals, the action is serviceable and the characters are all decent fun, with Benedict Cumberbatch bringing a great charisma to Strange, and Wong being one of my favorite side characters. Parts of the movie drag a bit, but the first and third acts are both a lot of fun.

7/10, did they introduce Benjamin Bratt's character on a basketball court on purpose as a Catwoman reference? Rude.

17. Spiderman: Homecoming

This is a pretty big one for me, and I'm a little biased, because I. Love. Spiderman. He's my absolute favorite superhero, and I think Tom Holland brings him to life wonderfully. The Spider-suit here is pretty cool looking, the idea of him being a protege for Tony is an interesting take, and Micheal Keaton's Vulture is a great villain for him to have to deal with. On top of this, the movies focus on Peter Parker, and not just Spiderman, is a great move (something the Raimi movies did wonderfully as well) that really establishes Peter as an on-the-ground, very human superhero. All of that said, the movie does stumble just a bit on a few things I usually expect from a Spiderman film, having some rather flat action scenes and not having the high-flying spectacle that usually comes with the web-slinging hero, but these things didn't sour my experience enough to dislike it.

7/10, the scene where he lifts the rubble is a CLASSIC Spiderman moment, great, great stuff.

16. Captain America: Civil War

And now a movie that I know is pretty divisive in the Marvel universe. Let's start with the good stuff in the movie: The action scenes are faaaaaaantastic, probably some of the best in the series, with the three-man chase scene and the final bout being the standouts. The character beats also build off of the previous films in ways that make a lot of sense and have payoffs that really caught me off guard, especially in the third act. The introduction of Black Panther and Spiderman are some of the best moments in the entire film, and the film gets bonus points for bringing two of my favorites into the MCU. I know that's only a few things, but those are the things this particular movie really needed to get right.

Now, to talk about the things in the movie I think aren't so great, I have to mention first that I am team Iron Man, as this choice and my problems with the film go hand in hand:

- Steve, as a character, is a mess here, making a lot of decisions that just don't make sense in the context of the film. His 0 to 100 approach to defying the accords just seems way too drastic of a thing for him to do given the circumstances, and his blind, reckless defiance is what leads to the films villain "succeeding", but for some reason he's still played as the hero of the piece. It's very confusing.

- The secondary villain plot here seems superfluous and convoluted. There had to be a more interesting and less complicated way for the film to reveal to Tony that Bucky killed his parents, especially considering, again, that the villains plan relies on Cap being...kinda stupid and unreasonable.

Again, I know that probably sounded like a lot of complaining, but don't let it distract from the fact that this movie is still really good, and the emotional blowout in the third act is worth the watch alone (as is Spiderman).

7/10, Team Iron Man all the way.

15. Loki

Loki was pretty dang cool. Aside from being a great showcase for one of the more charismatic actors and characters in the MCU, I love how weird this show gets. The Marvel Universe is pretty far into its deeper lore now, and the inclusion of entities like the TVA and characters like Kang got me really excited about what's to come (especially if it means we get Doctor Doom in the near future...). An excellent character piece with some of my favorite Marvel TV moments, filled with humor, sadness, and some genuinely heartfelt moments.

7.5/10, let's see more of Classic Loki.

14. Spiderman: Far From Home

This movie has fallen on my list just a bit, not because it isn't good, I still love it, but just because phase 4 has been so generally strong for Marvel. Mysterio is still awesome, his VFX sequences are still incredibly cool, and I still really love the black and red Spider Suit.

7.5/10, just great.

13. Shang-Chi

This movie is just so damn cool. Aside from the fact that Shang-Chi is instantly likeable (Simu Liu is charismatic as hell), we have some incredibly well choreographed martial arts sequences, one of the more memorable one-off villains in the Mandarin, and a big final blowout Kaiju battle that I was not at all expecting (but was very pleased with). This movie feels like what I imagine a good live-action anime adaptation should be, with the final battle essentially being a live-action Dragonball fight.

8/10, this one was so close to top ten for me.

12. WandaVision

If you like your Marvel content to come with a heaping helping of meta humor, emotional gut-punches, and a little bit of cosmic horror, WandaVision is for you...or for me, whatever. The short version is that we all know how good this was. This show singlehandedly took Wanda from "sometimes emotionally interesting side character" to "one of the best characters currently in the MCU", with Elizabeth Olsen selling every second of Wanda's pain (and more on that to come).

8/10, Marvel really lead off strong with this series.

11. Moon Knight

Alright my bias is gonna show here because it wasn't the most amazing show ever, but I just really like Moon Knight. I think I honestly might prefer MCU Moon Knight to his comic book counter part, and it definitely has to do with Oscar Isaac absolutely killing it as both Marc Spector and Steven Grant, switching between the two personalities seamlessly. The costume is great, the action was awesome, the Egyptian god stuff was cool, and Oscar Isaac plays two incredibly likeable characters in a single show.

8/10, in the immortal words of the Gothsicles, Moon Knight is cool.

10. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

This movie ticks a lot of my boxes. Multiple Doctor Strange's doing really cool magic stuff? Check. Sam Raimi doing Sam Raimi stuff? Check. Surprise cameos from a bunch of characters that Marvel has finally recovered from Fox? Check. Scarlet Witch being a straight up horror movie villain? Strong check. This movie definitely isn't for everyone, but it was definitely for Sam Raimi fans like me. While this movie may not have been the multiverse shattering, thread connecting monstrosity that a lot of people expected, I was enjoying myself for pretty much every minute of the film, and I can't wait to see even more of Stephen Strange.

8/10, please let Sam Raimi direct every Doctor Strange movie.

9. Iron Man

I'm not sure I even need to say that much about this one. It's the OG. It's awesome. Robert Downey Jr. is Tony Stark, he was born for the role. The action kicks ass. The Iron Man suit looks awesome. The characters are all great, with one exception (Jeff Bridges isn't really given a whole lot to do here, and his villain is probably the weakest part of the film).

8/10, always fun to watch, and only beat out as the films from here enter "truly great" territory.

8. Iron Man 3

I love this movie. To have a movie come along and remind us of how awesome Tony Stark is without his Iron Man suit was such a welcome change of pace at this point in the franchise. The idea of him dealing with PTSD following his near death in outer space in the first Avengers film is a great character beat that makes a lot of sense, and a story where he has to deal with the fallout of his past behavior sets the stage perfectly for his character arc for the remainder of the series. I'm not sure I have anything negative to say about this one, except that Killian is a bit forgettable as a villain. The action is a blast, the characters, as usual in the Iron Man films, bring so much life to the piece, and Shane Blacks signature dialogue fits Stark's character like a glove.

8/10, best of the Iron Man trilogy by a nose

7. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

I have to be honest, after the first Captain America, I didn't exactly expect to like this one, and I especially didn't expect for it to land near my best of the best Marvel films, but damn. This movie is a blast. It's tense, the action was, at the time of its release, quite possibly the best in the entire Marvel Universe, and Steve Rogers character is at an all time high for like-ability here, being contrasted against the corrupt shield. This is also the only movie where Falcon is cool (sorry not sorry). Having a relatively grounded spy film be Captain America's follow-up to his first outing, as well as the Avengers, was a great change of pace. Not really a whole lot of consistent negatives here, outside of a few scenes that require a little suspension of disbelief. We're in the realm of Marvel films that I consider really great now.

8/10, top tier thrill ride.

6. Thor: Ragnarok

I knew this was one of the best immediately after watching it. Who would've thought that indie comedy director Taika Waititi had the sensibilities to make Thor an interesting character. Waititi forgoes the Shakespearean vibes of the previous films to turn Thor into a more of a comedic character, a good choice considering the inherent strangeness of Thor's universe. Pair that with gorgeous cinematography, entertaining new characters like Valkyrie and The Grandmaster (played hilariously by Tessa Thompson and Jeff Goldblum), a story that perfectly sets the stage for Thor's arc in the upcoming films (not Endgame), and you have a real winner.

8.5/10, bit of a slow start but becomes an absolute blast in the second act.

4-5. Guardians of the Galaxy 1 and 2

Too tough to call here, both of these movies are phenomenal. The 2nd might pull ahead just slightly for making me cry at the end, but both of these are top quality. The characters are a blast to watch all around, no one is relegated to the sidelines, the bigger Marvel Universe is never not fun to see, the soundtrack is absolutely killer, and the action is always a riot. No negatives here, I love both of these films.

9/10, just short of perfection.

3. Spiderman: No Way Home

There's really no denying how awesome this movie is. Aside from the fact that it makes our other favorite Spidermen (and their villains) officially MCU canon, it gives Peter his best arc to date, and gives us some of the best action in the MCU. To have them tone down the CGI and make Peter's fights against Defoe's Green Goblin purely practical all-out superhero brawls gives so much weight to the action scenes, and allows the emotions driving the characters to show through. The fact that this entire trilogy ended up being the origin story for a more comic-accurate Peter is nothing short of brilliant. A hard hitting, emotional, multiverse blowout.

9.5/10, it was so nice to see Garfield's Spiderman in a better-written film. Also, the new Spidersuit has such awesome classic vibes.

2. Avengers

The fact that this movie even existed, let alone how awesome it was, is still baffling to me. I can't even remember a time now where the idea of a multi-hero team up film seemed like a gamble. Everything here just....worked. The character arcs from previous films are utilized perfectly. The action is over the top, campy fun. Every character is given at least one big moment, and everyone gets decent screen time (except poor Hawkeye).

9.5/10, set the bar for superhero films and is only topped by one movie..

1. Avengers Infinity War

This is the Marvel team-up formula at its best. Take everything great about the first Avengers film, but add a dozen more characters, the best action in the entire series, and the best villain in any Marvel film to date. It's been a long time since I've seen a fully CGI character realized as well as Thanos is in this film. Not only is he brought to life visually so well that there were a couple shots I thought might be practical, but his characterization as the "hero" of the piece (at least in terms of his arc) is a stroke of absolute genius. Oh, and that gut punch of an ending. Damn. Marvel can keep making movies, but I don't know that they'll ever top this one. Frankly it's baffling that they followed this up with Endgame.

10/10, killer.