FromIron MantoGuardians of the Galaxy Vol.
3
TheMarvel Cinematic Universejust keeps growing.
Here, EW takes on the Hulk-sized task of ranking each entry.
Marvel
It’s frankly insane thatWilliam Hurt’s Thunderbolt Ross is still around.
A frost monster scampering around Earth in a mid-credits scenejust because!
But the movie falls short in every regard.
Universal
None of the jokes land.
And don’t even get us started on those screaming goats.
All theMichael Penain the world can’t rescue a bland techno-heist thriller.
Marvel
Corey Stoll plays a glowering boss baddie, the kind of villain evenIron Man 2couldn’t take seriously.
The horrid digital-botox prologue feels like an explosion at the Unnecessary Cameo Factory.
Has there ever been a recent ex-con as agelessly cute asPaul Rudd?
Do we really need a “wacky” Marvel movie when even the straightest-edge Marvel movies are comedies?
This is a wrong that shallnever be Wrighted.
Shirley Li
24.Thor(2011)
Thor 1isn’t so bad, I told everyone.
Let’s rank it higher!
Patrick Doyle wrote the MCU’s most romantic orchestral score.
DirectorKenneth Branaghfilms Asgard with swoopy-silly grandeur, Peter Jackson gone to summer stock.
Natalie Portman and Chris Hemsworth in ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’.Jasin Boland/Marvel Studios
Natalie Portman (post-Oscar) and Chris Hemsworth (pre-everything) have an old-school goofy dynamic.
Here’s a fish-out-of-water rom-com wedged into, um, a spy thriller about aliens in New Mexico.
Why was this whole movie in the desert?
Kathryn Newton and Paul Rudd in ‘Quantumania’.Jay Maidment/Marvel Studios
Why does it take half the movie forTom Hiddleston’s Loki to fully break bad?
Why, Hawkeye, why?
But the concerns ofEternalsare also loftier and more cosmic than Marvel’s typically down-to-earth storytelling.
Zade Rosenthal/Courtesy Everett Collection
The ambition is admirable, butEternalsalso bites off a bit more than it can chew.
Even a two-and-a-half hour runtime isn’t enough to get viewers invested in eight brand new characters.
But what else would you expect from a character shaped bySteve Ditko?
Ben Rothstein/©Marvel Studios 2018
Christian Holub
20.Spider-Man: Homecoming(2017)
Was anyone really clamoring for a new Spider-Man movie?
It never delves as deep as some of Marvel’s other, better installments.
There are sterling character moments between Carol Danvers and her supporting ensemble (de-aged Nick Fury!
Mark Fellman/Marvel
), butCaptain Marvelstruggles to figure out its titular character.
(She does spend much of the film amnesic and confused, after all.)
In other words, there’s room for Carol to go higher, further, and faster.
Ikaris (Richard Madden) and Sersi (Gemma Chan) in ‘Eternals.'.Sophie Mutevelian/Marvel Studios
(Just check out its spot higher up on this list.)
Everyone else in the Wanda legion was supporting their queen from afar.
It didn’t speak too highly of the good doctor.
Marvel Studios
Was Strange not enigmatic enough to headline his own movie?
(RIP to the Illuminati.)
Maybe the Scarlet Witch’s glowing red light was just too bright to be upstaged.
Either way, Wanda comes out on top, her seeming death notwithstanding.
We can thank director (and noted ally of cinematic witches)Sam Raimiin part.
TheEvil DeadandDrag Me to Hellfilmmaker put his history of wacky horror on full displaywinking zombie Strange and all.
Columbia Pictures
On the otherotherhand, that CGI madness brought about a new fan-favorite cutie pie, Morris, a.k.a.
the headless winged “chicken-pig,” a.k.a.Shang-Chi’s Baby Yoda.
All the movie’s flaws are worth it for Morris.
©Marvel Studios 2019
Protect Morris at all costs.
Nick Romano
14.Black Widow(2020)
Black Widow’s biggest problem is timing.
Nevertheless, there are things to enjoy in the action film.
Jay Maidment/Sony Pictures
At times, it reminded me of how Tony’s suit kept malfunctioning and falling apart inIron Man 3.
If anything,Black Widowgave us a reason to be excited for Yelena’s future in the MCU.
Chancellor Agard
13.Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.
‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’.Marvel Studios
(Thanks for the call to Carol, Nick Fury!)
Plus, it somehow juggles dozens of characters, including new ones.
(Hi there, giantPeter Dinklage!
The Sorcerer Supreme prepares for invasion in ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.'.Marvel Studios
)Infinity Waris super-sized, sure, but it’s never overstuffed.
Parts of this movie do seem dimmer in retrospect.
His existence midpointsEntourageand Blackwater and every freakish tale ever told about Silicon Valley billionaires.
Simu Liu and Awkwafina in ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.'.Marvel Studios
(He flirts with reporters, subordinates, soldiers, everyone.)
But Downey,Gwyneth Paltrow, and director Jon Favreau found a screwball rhythm that was wry and fast-talking.
So our hero’s a delightful cad, and then his own missiles explode him toward tin-man redemption.
Scarlett Johansson and Florence Pugh in ‘Black Widow’.Marvel Studios
The result is a closing chapter that’s both goofy (Thor!
America’s ass!)
and deeply moving (Cap!
Gamora (Zoe Saldaña) and Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’.Jessica Miglio/Marvel Studios
Tony!!!!
), a fittingly epic conclusion to an epic franchise.
And ugh, that ending!
Tom Holland as Peter Parker in ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’.Matt Kennedy/Columbia Pictures
It’s no wonder audiences everywhere decided that we’ll follow Cap to the end of the line.
Devan Coggan
5.Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.
2(2017)
The decade’s best film about star wars and star treks.
©Marvel Studios 2018
Goldskinned eugenicists pilot drone armies from a Riefenstahlian video arcade.
Bounty hunters honor their dead with a fireworks space fleet.
No wonder every studio executive apparently walked out ofThe Avengersintent on creating their own interconnected fictional universe.
© Marvel 2014
Every attempt to replicate the magic has brought diminishing returns (R.I.P.
the Dark Universe), but hey, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?
(“Who’s Bucky?")
Marvel
As a result, Chris Hemsworth’s Thor feels more human than ever beforeand a whole lot funnier.
Waititi’s nutty neon space opera is the goofiest, most delightful entry in the MCU.
And if that wasn’t enough,Ragnarokalso boasts Tessa Thompson as the sword-swinging badass Valkyrie.
AndJeff Goldblumas the preening king of a trash planet.
And blatantly anti-colonialist themes that probe how a child can reckon with their parents’ bloody legacy.
And multiple battle scenes set to Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song.”
©Marvel Studios 2019
And “Get Help.”
And Waititi himself as a soft-spoken revolutionary rock monster!!!
What more could you want!!!!!!!!!!
Marvel
It helped that the world of Wakanda was beautifully rendered and immediately welcoming to all audiences, too.
The movie grapples with these difficult issues and recognizes that there aren’t easy answers.
), and more importantlya profound impact on the titular hero.
Chuck Zlotnick/Marvel Studios 2017
1 spot, was the movie’s cultural impact.
(Bonus points: There isn’t a singleInfinity Stonein sight.)
Marvel
Everett Collection
Marvel Studios
© Marvel Studios
