{"id":1222,"date":"2016-05-05T12:00:26","date_gmt":"2016-05-05T16:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.avengingforce.com\/?p=1222"},"modified":"2016-05-05T14:37:15","modified_gmt":"2016-05-05T18:37:15","slug":"our-definitive-ranking-of-the-marvel-cinematic-universe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.avengingforce.com\/?p=1222","title":{"rendered":"Our Definitive Ranking of the Marvel Cinematic Universe"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Marvel Cinematic Universe, which blasted its way onto the film scene back in 2008 with <\/span>Iron Man <\/span><\/i>and is adding its latest installment this weekend with <\/span>Captain America: Civil War<\/span><\/i>, has grown over the last eight years into a sprawling juggernaut of a franchise, with twelve films and four TV series already released and many more announced. A universe of this scale is unprecedented in film, and for many fans, it might be a little daunting. It\u2019s a tall order to sit through a dozen movies and hours upon hours of TV before hitting the theaters. But how does one know which movies and shows are necessary to understand what\u2019s going on in the broader story, and which ones are more peripheral? And — perhaps most importantly — which ones are simply the <\/span>best? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Well, fear not, for we have watched them all (some of them many, many times) and are here today to give you our ranking of every movie and show in the MCU, along with our thoughts on why they\u2019re worth watching (or not) and what they add (or don\u2019t) to the greater continuity. <\/span><\/p>\n

17. The Incredible Hulk<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"incrediblehulk\"<\/p>\n

While <\/span>The Incredible Hulk<\/span><\/i> was miles and away an improvement over the very mediocre <\/span>Hulk<\/span><\/i> from just a few years earlier, the movie still falls short of every other entry in the MCU. The Hulk is a hard character to get right and on film he\u2019s best when he\u2019s working in tandem with other heroes, so any origin story tends to fall flat no matter how talented the actors are.<\/span><\/p>\n

While Edward Norton was a perfectly adequate Bruce Banner, Mark Ruffalo\u2019s take in The Avengers<\/em> left us saying, \u201cEd who?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

16. Iron Man 2<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"ironman2\"<\/p>\n

Far from the strongest of the MCU movies, Iron Man 2\u2019s largest contribution to the shared universe is inarguably the introduction of Scarlett Johansson as the Black Widow and the rise of Pepper Potts as CEO of Stark Industries. The connection between Tony and Vanko feels weak and it relies more on their fathers\u2019 feud than any personal vendettas or issues between the two men. The movie focuses too much on setting up other movies (in particular <\/span>The Avengers<\/span><\/i>) and forgot what made the first movie so damn likeable: Tony Stark being Tony Stark.<\/span><\/p>\n

15. Avengers: Age of Ultron<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"avengersaou\"<\/p>\n

Age of Ultron<\/span><\/i> had the potential to be such a great movie, but fell short of living up to the high expectations set by the great films that preceded it in Phase 2 of the MCU. While it was fun to see that the team had managed to overcome their differences and actually work together, it wasn\u2019t enough to make up for the hectic, chaotic clash of setup for future movies and the required action\/adventure of an ensemble film. This movie ignored previously established storylines and character development, crammed in exposition to set up for <\/span>Thor: Ragnarok<\/span><\/i> and the Infinity Wars, and was so choppily edited that it rivals <\/span>Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire<\/span><\/i> for pacing problems. While we appreciate the introduction of Vision, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver to the MCU, and finally getting to see the real Clint Barton, <\/span>Age of Ultron<\/span><\/i> left us wanting more (at least a director\u2019s cut).<\/span><\/p>\n

14. Thor<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"thorposter\"<\/p>\n

While incredibly important for Thor himself in terms of character development, this movie is otherwise entirely skippable as far as the rest of the MCU is concerned. Nothing in the plot of the film informs the other movies, or carries over — unless you count Loki, who featured prominently in <\/span>The Avengers. <\/span><\/i>We\u2019re happy Thor isn\u2019t the egotistical, entitled jock he started out as in the beginning of this film, at least.<\/span><\/p>\n

13. Marvel\u2019s Agents of\u00a0SHIELD<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"agos\"<\/p>\n

Agents of SHIELD had a very slow start and a bit of a rocky first season, and though\u00a0it started to find the right footing after the events of The Winter Soldier<\/em> finally unfolded, it wasn\u2019t until season 2 that it really gained its sea legs. While the original cast is amazing (with the exception of Ward, with whom we\u2019ve had issues for a long time), the addition of characters like Mack, Hunter, and of course Bobbi, added more depth to the show and they were able to experiment with more storylines. While heavily impacted by the events of the MCU, Agents of SHIELD<\/em> has taken steps toward standing on its own and developing its own storylines to draw the viewer in. However, as its third season draws to a close, it\u2019s started to feel a little penned-in by the boundaries set by the rest of the MCU, and could really use an infusion of fresh storytelling that doesn\u2019t revolve around Hydra. <\/span><\/p>\n

12. Thor: The Dark World<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"thor2\"<\/p>\n

Thor: The Dark World<\/span><\/i> introduced one of the Infinity Stones as the Aether, and featured Christopher Eccleston, who is always welcome in our viewing experiences. It was nice to see more of Jane Foster and Darcy Lewis\u2019 friendship and also give Jane some actual screen time with her romantic interest. But overall, this movie was essentially a buddy comedy. The film is a light-hearted adventure involving multiple planets that showcases the comedy skills of the people of Asgard. While fun, it\u2019s not very\u00a0memorable nor does it have any lasting impact on other parts of the MCU.<\/span><\/p>\n

11. Captain America: The First Avenger<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"captainamerica\"<\/p>\n

Another origin story, but this one has a unique factor that makes it stand out from the rest of this list:\u00a0it takes place almost entirely in the past. We first meet Steve Rogers as a scrawny little kid from Brooklyn whose best friend, Bucky Barnes, has to pull him out of numerous fights he can’t win. This movie is what really started us on the journey that will end tomorrow with Civil War\u00a0<\/em>as we see Steve standing up for what is right and good, and defending his friends no matter how high\u00a0the cost. It also\u00a0introduced us to Hayley Atwell’s Peggy Carter and a younger version of Howard Stark, both of whom would go on to charm us beyond measure in Agent Carter<\/em>.<\/p>\n

10.\u00a0Daredevil (Season 2)<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"Daredevil_Season_2_Trio_Poster\"<\/p>\n

We went round and round on where on this list to put <\/span>Daredevil<\/span><\/i>, the first of four Netflix shows set in the MCU that will culminate in <\/span>The Defenders<\/span><\/i> sometime in 2017. Ultimately, we decided the best move was to list its two seasons separately, as the nature of Netflix lends itself to making each season far more self-contained than your typical prime time show (which is why we did <\/span>not <\/span><\/i>split up Agents of SHIELD<\/em> or Agent Carter<\/em> in the same manner). <\/span><\/p>\n

Daredevi<\/span><\/i>l<\/em> season 2 was so up and down. We loved (LOVED) Jon Bernthal\u2019s Frank Castle, but the second season of Marvel\u2019s flagship Netflix series\u00a0left us unimpressed with Matt Murdock, exhausted with the repetitive friendship issues between Foggy and Matt, and thoroughly bored by the phoned-in storylines revolving around Elektra and the Hand. Overall, the ups (Punisher, who was <\/span>so <\/span><\/i>good that <\/span>Marvel\/Netflix has since decided to give him his own series<\/span><\/a>) weren\u2019t enough to make up for the downs, dragging it further down the list than it may have sat otherwise.<\/span><\/p>\n

9. Iron Man 3<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"Iron-Man-3-IMAX-poster\"<\/p>\n

The first of the Phase 2 movies, the third Iron Man<\/em>\u00a0focused on exploring\u00a0more of Tony the person rather than Tony as Iron Man.\u00a0Iron Man 3<\/em> tied directly into the storyline of <\/span>The Avengers<\/span><\/i> by showing how Tony was\u00a0suffering from the effects of PTSD, and that he dealt with this by building\u00a0an army of Iron Man suits in order to make himself feel safe. It was difficult to watch at times and it only got worse when he carried all of the guilt on his shoulders after Pepper was kidnapped and injected with Extremis. This conclusion to the\u00a0Iron Man\u00a0<\/em>trilogy\u00a0was well balanced, coupling its\u00a0heavy emotional subject matter with the more lighthearted banter between Tony and the kid, as well as Tony and his best friend Rhodey. If this was the final solo Iron Man outing, it went out on a high note.<\/span><\/p>\n

The only major downside to the movie was how wishy-washy Tony’s retirement from the game felt, especially when he reappeared alongside the team in <\/span>Age of Ultron<\/span><\/i> with no explanation.<\/span><\/p>\n

8. Ant-Man<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"antman\"<\/p>\n

When Marvel announced that <\/span>Ant-Man <\/span><\/i>was going to be part of its Phase 2 lineup, we were… underwhelmed. Not only was Ant-Man pretty far down our list of favorite superheroes, but the main character wasn\u2019t even going to be Hank Pym, the original Ant-Man from the comics, but his p<\/span>rot\u00e9g\u00e9<\/span>, Scott Lang. However, once we saw it, we were pleasantly surprised by <\/span>Ant-Man<\/span><\/i>\u2019s humor-filled spin on a classic heist movie. <\/span>Ant-Man <\/span><\/i>never takes itself too seriously, which makes its somewhat ridiculous premise work, and is a delightful romp filled with fantastic characters. As far as its impact on the greater MCU, there isn\u2019t much, other than the introduction of Scott Lang, who will be joining the Avengers in <\/span>Civil War<\/span><\/i> (and the setup for Hope van Dyne to later become Wasp), but when a movie is this much fun, we don\u2019t really care.<\/span><\/p>\n

7. Iron Man<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"M<\/p>\n

The movie that started it all, Iron Man was a surprise hit thanks to the combined genius of Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. While Iron Man<\/em> is a straight up origin story, it felt fresh and different as this was a character most movie audiences hadn\u2019t been introduced to before. From the moment Tony busted out of the cave in the Iron Man prototype to the moment where he stood in front of a group of reporters and said, \u201cI am Iron Man\u201d the movie held your attention and forced you to acknowledge that this former B-Level superhero had finally hit the big time.<\/span><\/p>\n

6. Agent Carter<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"agent-carter\"<\/p>\n

Hayley Atwell\u2019s Peggy Carter damn near ran away with the show in Captain America: The First Avenger<\/em>, and giving her a TV show in which to really blossom and show her stuff was a great choice. The glimpse into the past not only let us enjoy Peggy for two seasons, but also introduced us to Edwin Jarvis, showed us more of Howard Stark, and gave us a good bit of SSR adventures to enjoy. We also got a glimpse of the Red Room, thanks to the introduction of Dottie. While the show\u2019s viewing audience is small, it\u2019s vocal and incredibly loyal — for good reason. The show is solid, well-acted, and incredibly entertaining.<\/span><\/p>\n

5. Jessica Jones (Season 1)<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"jessicajones\"<\/p>\n

The Netflix follow-up to <\/span>Daredevil <\/span><\/i>was <\/span>Jessica Jones<\/span><\/i>, about a woman with superpowers who decided to hang up her spandex and become a private eye. If <\/span>Daredevil <\/span><\/i>opened the door for darkness in the MCU, <\/span>Jessica Jones <\/span><\/i>leaped through it and sprinted headlong down its twisty, disturbing path. Not only did it have the MCU\u2019s most frightening villain to date in Kilgrave, a psychopathic killer with mind-control powers, but it also had its most reluctant hero in Jessica. The first season of <\/span>Jessica Jones <\/span><\/i>was a bizarre labyrinth of twisted mind games and shocking turns, and we loved every minute of it. Much like <\/span>Daredevil<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Jessica Jones <\/span><\/i>doesn\u2019t have a huge impact on the larger MCU, but within the smaller Netflix sphere, it was pretty significant, not only setting up Jessica just a few blocks away from where Matt Murdock is defending Hell\u2019s Kitchen, but also introducing us to the character of Luke Cage, who will soon be getting his own show leading into <\/span>The Defenders<\/span><\/i>. The series format also allowed Marvel to explore in-depth the psychological side of a universe full of superpowered people, something movies don’t have the time to truly dig into, making\u00a0Jessica Jones<\/em> a unique addition to the MCU.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

4. Daredevil (Season 1)<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"Daredevil-poster\"<\/p>\n

Daredevil\u2019s <\/span><\/i>phenomenal first season established the MCU\u2019s Netflix presence as something entirely different from anything we\u2019d seen so far on the big screen. Matt Murdock\u2019s Hell\u2019s Kitchen was a darker, grittier, and far more violent picture of superheroes in New York than Tony Stark\u2019s Manhattan or Steve Rogers\u2019s Brooklyn, and Kingpin\u2019s quiet-yet-explosive menace made every other Marvel villain to-date seem almost cartoonish. The 13 episodes of <\/span>Daredevil\u2019s <\/span><\/i>inaugural season were a tense, tightly-plotted, and thoroughly compelling contribution to the MCU canon that we couldn\u2019t help but binge-watch, full of brilliant acting and breathtaking fight choreography. This first season worked not only to illustrate the aftermath of the events of <\/span>The Avengers <\/span><\/i>and lay some groundwork for the other shows leading into <\/span>Defenders<\/span><\/i>, but showed us that the MCU was capable of balancing both its lighter and darker properties admirably. <\/span><\/p>\n

3. Marvel’s The Avengers<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"newavengersposter\"<\/p>\n

The Avengers<\/span><\/i> completed Phase One of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which had been building since the release of <\/span>Iron Man<\/span><\/i> in 2008, and it did so in such a satisfying way. It was hard to contain the excitement we felt at seeing all of these heroes come together on the big screen to form a team\u00a0we\u2019d been reading about in comics for years. A team that should not have worked together due to a myriad of differences, personality clashes, and super egos, came together over a shared goal and managed to kick some serious ass.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Guardians of the Galaxy<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"gotg\"<\/p>\n

For pure entertainment value, <\/span>Guardians of the Galaxy <\/span><\/i>wins hands-down. Many superhero fans weren\u2019t sure what to think when Marvel announced they were adapting <\/span>Guardians<\/span><\/i>, one of their weirder, lesser-known properties, for the big screen. After all, how compelling could a movie starring a talking racoon and a walking tree with a three-word vocabulary actually be? Turns out, <\/span>very<\/span><\/i>. While <\/span>Guardians <\/span><\/i>hasn\u2019t really had much of an effect on the larger MCU so far — its one and only contribution seems to be fleshing out Thanos\u2019 story, and explaining what he wants with the Infinity stones — what it lacks in overarching significance, it more than makes up for in charisma. Packed with zany characters and more humor than any other Marvel movie, <\/span>Guardians <\/span><\/i>may be off in its own strange little world for now, but it paves the way for the MCU to ultimately expand far beyond our little corner of the galaxy. <\/span><\/p>\n

1.\u00a0Captain America: The Winter Soldier<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"capainamericatws\"<\/p>\n

While there was a lot of debate between whether <\/span>The Winter Solider<\/span><\/i> or <\/span>Guardians of the Galaxy <\/span><\/i>deserved the top spot, Cap eventually won out based on sheer impact to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole. <\/span>The Winter Soldier<\/span><\/i> moved away from the traditional \u201csuperhero genre\u201d to instead give us a spy movie\/political thriller that just happened to star superheros. Steve was far more developed in this movie, and partnering him with Natasha gave him an interesting foil and gave her a chance to really shine on her own. Furthermore, the addition of Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson\/Falcon added some much needed lightheartedness.<\/span><\/p>\n

To date, this movie has had the largest impact on the MCU, with Hydra coming to light and the subsequent fall of SHIELD. This revelation upended Agents of SHIELD<\/em>, sending their world into a tailspin, and lead neatly into Age of Ultron<\/span><\/i>. While all of the MCU movies have felt connected, with common threads weaving between them, you can draw a straight line from <\/span>Captain America: The First Avenger<\/span><\/i> through <\/span>The Avengers<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>The Winter Soldie<\/span><\/i>r,<\/em> and<\/span> Age of Ultro<\/span><\/i>n, right up to <\/span>Civil War<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Marvel Cinematic Universe, which blasted its way onto the film scene back in 2008 with Iron Man and is adding its latest installment this weekend with Captain America: Civil War, has grown over the last eight years into a sprawling juggernaut of a franchise, with twelve films and four TV series already released and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1229,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"We've put together Our Definitive Ranking of the MCU, so come see where we ranked your favorite! http:\/\/wp.me\/p4Vfwz-jI","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[20,264],"class_list":["post-1222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movies","tag-marvel","tag-mcu"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.avengingforce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/MCU2-e1460729522969.jpg?fit=1000%2C370","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Vfwz-jI","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.avengingforce.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.avengingforce.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.avengingforce.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.avengingforce.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.avengingforce.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1222"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.avengingforce.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1456,"href":"http:\/\/www.avengingforce.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1222\/revisions\/1456"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.avengingforce.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.avengingforce.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.avengingforce.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.avengingforce.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}