The Big Picture: Ranking the Marvel Movies

[theApoc]

Iron Man 3 your 4th really? the worst Marvel film is your 4th "facepalm"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3r4FklA4gI


C'mon everyone do your own lists

Captain America: The First Avenger
Iron Man 2
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Marvel's The Avengers
Iron Man
Thor
Thor: The Dark World
The Incredible Hulk
Iron Man 3

Yeah, I have to agree. Iron Man 3 was not a good movie, let alone a good Marvel movie.

Winter Soldier
Avengers
Dark World
Iron Man
First Avenger
Iron Man 2/Thor/Hulk(All kind of ok but not great)
Iron Man 3

 

[Count_A'ight]

I've begun to notice an inconsistency in tone in the Marvel films. Iron Man 2 says that drones are bad as the bad guy uses drones to fight Iron Man. Iron Man 3 says drones are good as Iron Man uses a bunch of homemade drones to fight the Killian and his goons. In the Avengers, Captain America didn't seem to have a problem with SHIELD hacking every phone and webcam on Earth from the deck of an invisible helicarrier, yet in Winter Soldier "this isn't freedom. this is fear" line comes out when he sees three new helicarriers that are decked out with guns but do not turn invisible(that we know).

 

[Gunnyboy]

Iron Man - white military industrial complex villain
Iron Man - white military industrial complex villain
Iron Man 3 - white military industrial complex villain

Winter Soldier - white military industrial complex villain
The Incredible Hulk - white military industrial complex villain



Phase 2 has been a complete failure, and most Marvel movies lack rewatch value. These movies are just chips, one to be devoured after the next. They're not even trying to make self-contained movies anymore, with the last two having MAJOR cliffhangers to them.

 

[walsfeo]

Sorry IM3 completely fails in third act, it's a great movie up to that point but it just fails. They've been setting up all movie that Tony is suffering from some form of post-traumatic stress and it's directly linked to his worry that something will happen to Pepper. Which is handled brilliantly until the point he thinks he's lost Pepper you'd expect some level of crisis of confidence or the stress to inflict him during the final battle which he then overcomes however there's zero hint of that within the film he just acts his normal self and 'saves the day'.

Also added into the fact the final act special effect's montage with tons of different suits has very few individual suit moments and just is a bunch of blur's hitting one another. Great set up very poorly executed.

Yeah, IM3 had the same problem that IM had, the third act starts to fall short. However it's made even worse because they should know better by now. The whole Killian arc was weak-sauce, his henchmen were poorly presented, and the big battle scene at the end lacked impact. Really, Stark resorts to the drone idea he mocked in the second movie to save the day in the third? I'm alright with what they did with The Mandarin, it was a hoot, but AIM was pretty bad.

Enjoyable re-watch preference

The Avengers
Iron Man
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Captain America: The First Avenger
Iron Man 3
Iron Man 2
Thor: The Dark World (I think I fell asleep when watching it the first time, I'd like to see the whole thing)
The Incredible Hulk
Thor

Some movies are great, but I just don't have a serious desire to re watch them. Yeah, the beats worked the first time through, but that doesn't mean FUN FUN FUN!

Quality of movie
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
The Avengers
Iron Man
Thor
Captain America: The First Avenger
Iron Man 3
Thor: The Dark World
Iron Man 2
The Incredible Hulk

The big flaw of all of the Marvel Movies is the villain arc. Frequently you don't care about them, or their whole plan makes not sense. Why did Loki allow himself to get captured? Killian, seriously? Let's put the most important fire control servers for our giant flying fortress helicariers on the bottom in big glass bubbles. Perhaps Stark's competition can be an incompetent arms dealing version of Bill Gates with a feral monkey-mechanic as an ace-in-the hole.

Fortunately the heroes are interesting, and the action has substance, but some times I have to shake my head in wonder.

 

[Remus]

Here's my list, of course:
1. The Avengers - This was the culmination, the defining moment that Marvel was waiting for and it...was...good.
2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier - A Bourne movie wrapped in Marvel spandex, that literally altered perceptions of every character currently in the MCU.
3. Thor: The Dark World - a better Thor movie than the original because the character building was done. It was also just a bit grittier, bringing a touch of realism to the whole fantastical theme behind the "aliens masquerading as gods".
4. Iron Man 2 - I gotta give this movie credit for all the world-building involved, leading it into Avengers, introducing Black Widow and giving Nick Fury more airtime with references to...
5. Thor - this one seemed a bit of a risk. It was big, bombastic, flashy, but it worked in the end by humbling the main character and showing that sometimes the oldest stories are still the best.
6. Iron Man - Who knew RDJ could play an alcoholic billionaire with such pinache? He was made for the role. The third act was forgettable, true, but this is still a good watch.
7. The Incredible Hulk - This is the hulk movie that we wanted when Ang Lee's version originally came out. The effects still weren't quite there yet but every scene looked ripped right out of an Alex Ross sketchbook.
8. Captain America: The First Avenger - Almost the literal definition of a golden age comic book as presented to a modern audience. Sci fi comicalities abound and stuffed full of cheese. A few scenes made me groan but if given the opportunity I'd watch this back to back with all of the above, in chronological order of course.
9. Iron Man 3 - It's Die Hard With A Lethal Weapon, in Iron Man armor. I want to see Tony flying around knocking choppers out of the sky, not going down with his house, going on a stealth mission, then playing buddy cop, cracking wise with Rhodes while in a cover-fire shootout. That's not Iron-Man, that's Martin Riggs. I would have loved this movie back in the 90s, but it just doesn't seem fit for modern consumption.

 

[Mr_Terrific]

I'd like to see a "those other Marvel movies'" list but I suspecting it will go something like...

1.Spider-man 2
2.spider-man
3.Xmen 1st class
4.Blade
5.Xmen
6.Blade 2
7.The rest of them are terrible.

I'd also disagree with Bob here. Both Thor's were painfully mediocre and the first seemed to do nothing but prep us for the Avengers.

Iron Man 3 was long and painful to watch and technically should have begun with the House Party. That bit at the end was a slap in the face and a bit of a cop out.

 

[Gorrath]

Winter Soldier - white military industrial complex villain

That issue certainly presents itself in the IM series and in the Hulk, but the villains in Winter Soldier were Hydra, not the amorphous "military industrial complex". None of the villains presented in Winter Soldier worked in the military industrial field. I've made the exact same criticism you are but I don't think it fits with Winter Soldier.

 

[Darth_Payn]

IMO, Iron Man 2 ranks higher than Incredible Hulk. Iron Man 3 ranks a little lower, but it wasn't horrible (unlike what SOME people on this thread say). I am satisfied with where Cap's movies are.

 

[Pescetarian]

The Avengers - It's not a flawless movie, but the single flaw (that every single piece of action feels hopelessly contrived) can be very easily forgiven and overlooked.

Iron Man 3 - I had never seen an MCU movie (I had seen part of Thor on a plane trip, and paid no attention to IM1 at a friends house, but that doesn't really count) before a hot day last summer when I decided to see this, I absolutely loved it, and it turned me on to the entire superhero comic genre thanks to the strength of both it and The Avengers. I can definitely relate to anyone who didn't like the Mandarin thing (ask me how I feel about Star Trek Into Darkness), but the action and comedy worked well with the story.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier - I felt Star Trek Into Darkness had the potential for a great action movie that was stifled by Damon Lindelof. Captain America is that great action movie - it has pretty much the exact same plot, except for the baffling addition of the wisecracking black guy, and it's really fun to watch.

Iron Man - Despite what Bob said, I feel Jeff Bridges added a lot to the movie, and actually succeeded in making it something other than RDJ The Motion Picture. He really propelled the movie into the annals of pop culture, though.

Captain America: The First Avenger - Yeah, I guess I kinda liked it.

Thor: The Dark World - I appear to be one of the few people who didn't mind how little screen time Malekith got. Yeah, we don't get much about him, but the movie is so crammed full of pretty entertaining weird crap that more would have been unnecessary.

Iron Man 2 - While I was saying that I had never seen an MCU movie before Iron Man 3, I remembered that - this is not a joke - I had taken some friends to see Iron Man 2, in the theater. I didn't remember a single second of the movie, and even now I can only remember something about the World's Fairgrounds from Men in Black.

Thor - Just the worst movie that I've seen so far. Loki's fine, and Chris Hemsworth is okay, but Natalie Portman is just boring, Asgard is badly designed and so much of the movie is just long stretches of nothing's going on.

The Incredible Hulk - Gets the bottom spot because I never felt the need to see it.

 

[Edguy]

I liked Iron Man 1 more than 3 and Thor 2 more than 1, but other than that I agree with most of Bob's viewpoints.

 

[Gunnyboy]

Winter Soldier - white military industrial complex villain

That issue certainly presents itself in the IM series and in the Hulk, but the villains in Winter Soldier were Hydra, not the amorphous "military industrial complex". None of the villains presented in Winter Soldier worked in the military industrial field. I've made the exact same criticism you are but I don't think it fits with Winter Soldier.

Cap's entire arc is about SHIELD's covert ops, and their new weapons program designed to kill threats before they happen. The HYDRA aspect undercuts that point, but he was intent on stopping it before he even knew SHIELD wasnt what it was.

 

[mrhumble1]

Yup, I think I am done with Bob. I've been watching his vids for years but this is the last straw.

IM3 is a complete and unabashed insult to comic book fans, and since this is a movie about comic book characters there is absolutely no excuse for it. I will simply say that it is disgusting for the movie to advertise a classic IM villain (who is badass and interesting) and then make a f'n joke of this villain by making him the focus of a "twist".

There is no way in any universe this is ok. It is like taking Lex Luthor (classic Superman villain) and making him a truck driver who is only in the movie to deliver a package. Ha ha?? No, not funny, it's INSULTING to those who have been fans for decades.

I want to see this guy in a movie:

https://marvel.com/universe/Mandarin

This just proves that any of you who approve of this are not comic book fans, and certainly not IM fans. Bob, you lose all crebibility when you say IM3 "works" or is entertaining. It is a colossal failure.

Looks like I am gonna have to find somewhere else to get movie reviews.

 

[daibakuha]

Yup, I think I am done with Bob. I've been watching his vids for years but this is the last straw.

IM3 is a complete and unabashed insult to comic book fans, and since this is a movie about comic book characters there is absolutely no excuse for it. I will simply say that it is disgusting for the movie to advertise a classic IM villain (who is badass and interesting) and then make a f'n joke of this villain by making him the focus of a "twist".

There is no way in any universe this is ok. It is like taking Lex Luthor (classic Superman villain) and making him a truck driver who is only in the movie to deliver a package. Ha ha?? No, not funny, it's INSULTING to those who have been fans for decades.

I want to see this guy in a movie:

https://marvel.com/universe/Mandarin

This just proves that any of you who approve of this are not comic book fans, and certainly not IM fans. Bob, you lose all crebibility when you say IM3 "works" or is entertaining. It is a colossal failure.

Looks like I am gonna have to find somewhere else to get movie reviews.

You should probably watch the marvel short on the Thor 2 dvd.

Also take a deep breath and think about fucking racist a villain the Mandarin is.

 

[Altorin]

for me, having not seen the second captain america I will be ranking the 8 I have seen

Iron Man 3
Avengers
Thor 2 (yeah, I really really liked it, I enjoyed it much more then the first one)
Captain America
Iron Man
Incredible Hulk
Iron Man 2
Thor

I also place Ang Lee's Hulk on the same spectrum, although it's not "technically" part of the movieverse, the incredible hulk takes off basically where Hulk ended, so I consider it a sequel. It would rank just below Thor.

I found Thor 1 on the whole to be an absolute bore, although the characters of Thor, Loki and Odin were very good, I loved the movieverse's interpretation of Asgard and the entire mythos.. I was just bored through almost the entire thing. Thor 2 didn't need to spend any time explaining the basics and could get right down to brass tax. It could have been better but compared to Thor 1, it was a breath of fresh air.

Iron Man 2, I don't think I'd be as harsh on it as Bob seemed to be. I loved it. The fact that it's #7 on my list is just because the other movies it's competing with are amazing for various reasons.

also if we're counting Agents of SHIELD, it's pretty much smack dab in the middle, although I'd rate its best moments right up there at the top (the fight scene around the gravity artifact was cinematic gold dynamite, especially for television - sure it wasn't as good as Inception's use of the same basic gag, but it was brilliant.)

 

[mrhumble1]

You should probably watch the marvel short on the Thor 2 dvd.

Also take a deep breath and think about fucking racist a villain the Mandarin is.

Please explain how he is racist. He's an evil man and wants to rule the world. These types of villains exist in every nation and are every color. Just because he is from China and hates westerners doesn't mean he is any different from Lex Luthor (hates poor people/everyone), Dr. Doom (also hates everyone), or William Striker (hates mutants).

EDIT: Wait, scratch that request. I have no desire to hijack this thread. Nevermind.

 

[Rect Pola]

You've said you've been "too kind to" earlier stuff a number of times. Is there anything that you were too mean to or at least less positive than it deserved upon hindsight? Admittedly, it is a lot more likely to find yourself trying to like something than the opposite, and easier to recognize something you dislike (especially with your level of exposure), but you yourself pointed out that the role of a critic and their opinions cannot and should not be considered existing in a vacuum. You even went so far as to suggest how something could physically or emotionally put you in a poor temperament to be fair.

 

[Yojoo]

I don't really consider The Incredible Hulk to be part of the MCU any more. Nothing from that movie has been acknowledged in any way I'm aware of by any of the other films. And Tony Stark's cameo in the post-credits scene is clearly anachronistic, since Stark wasn't part of the Avenger program at all until the Avengers film. If Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner calls up Liv Tyler for a chat in an upcoming film, I will be extremely surprised.

Hate to be "that guy" but the events of the Hulk movie are mentioned in The Avengers when Black Widow is trying to recruit Bruce to the team. Specifically, they talk about the destruction of Manhattan. Still, I'd rather forget that awful film too and just roll with Mark "Best Hulk Evar" Ruffalo. As for IM3 hate, check my post above this reply. I honestly don't think it was the comedy that made it so mediocre, it was the rehash of the same ideas we got in IM1-2.

I actually remembered that conversation between Black Widow and Banner. I don't really consider it a reference to the Hulk movie so much as simply a reference to Hulk as a character. I mean, Hulk necessarily has destroyed stuff in his background, nobody is pretending that Avengers was Banner's first adventure.

The Incredible Hulk ends with Tim Roth as the Abomination getting thrown in some hole, likely one controlled by SHIELD. Obviously the Tesseract was a more important item for Fury to devote study time to, but surely a monster that could match the Hulk punch-for-punch was worth examining? After all, Tim Roth's character started his path to becoming the Abomination by taking serum that was originally intended to replicate the Captain America juice. If such studies were being conducted, why were they abandoned? It makes no sense within the continuity, which is part of the reason why I no longer consider it as such.

 

[Yojoo]

Yup, I think I am done with Bob. I've been watching his vids for years but this is the last straw.

IM3 is a complete and unabashed insult to comic book fans, and since this is a movie about comic book characters there is absolutely no excuse for it. I will simply say that it is disgusting for the movie to advertise a classic IM villain (who is badass and interesting) and then make a f'n joke of this villain by making him the focus of a "twist".

There is no way in any universe this is ok. It is like taking Lex Luthor (classic Superman villain) and making him a truck driver who is only in the movie to deliver a package. Ha ha?? No, not funny, it's INSULTING to those who have been fans for decades.

I want to see this guy in a movie:

https://marvel.com/universe/Mandarin

This just proves that any of you who approve of this are not comic book fans, and certainly not IM fans. Bob, you lose all crebibility when you say IM3 "works" or is entertaining. It is a colossal failure.

Looks like I am gonna have to find somewhere else to get movie reviews.

You realize adaptations don't always follow the source material to the letter, right? I agree with Bob in this instance: the film version of the Mandarin worked infinitely better than a magical walking hate crime would.

I mean, if you're a Star Wars fan, I sincerely hope you aren't pining for the Extended Universe to be transcribed on screen for the upcoming sequels. Do you have to turn off the TV every time Game of Thrones deviates from the Song of Ice and Fire novels?

 

[K12]

For me, it's:

1) Winter Soldier
2) The Avengers
3) Iron Man 3 (seriously, we are only judging movies as if they where movies, and it's a great one)
4) The first Avenger
5) Iron Man
6) Thor The Dark World
7) Thor
8) The Incredible Hulk
9) Iron Man 2

Seconded except I haven't actually seen the Winter Soldier yet.

 

[Gunnyboy]

Yup, I think I am done with Bob. I've been watching his vids for years but this is the last straw.

IM3 is a complete and unabashed insult to comic book fans, and since this is a movie about comic book characters there is absolutely no excuse for it. I will simply say that it is disgusting for the movie to advertise a classic IM villain (who is badass and interesting) and then make a f'n joke of this villain by making him the focus of a "twist".

There is no way in any universe this is ok. It is like taking Lex Luthor (classic Superman villain) and making him a truck driver who is only in the movie to deliver a package. Ha ha?? No, not funny, it's INSULTING to those who have been fans for decades.

I want to see this guy in a movie:

https://marvel.com/universe/Mandarin

This just proves that any of you who approve of this are not comic book fans, and certainly not IM fans. Bob, you lose all crebibility when you say IM3 "works" or is entertaining. It is a colossal failure.

Looks like I am gonna have to find somewhere else to get movie reviews.

You should probably watch the marvel short on the Thor 2 dvd.

Also take a deep breath and think about fucking racist a villain the Mandarin is.

So racist.


It's not the character's fault people's perception of him is rooted in Golden Age nonsense. There are a plethora of ways they could've updated the character, but Disney does not want a Chinese bad guy. They want that China money
http://kotaku.com/why-many-in-china-hate-iron-man-3s-chinese-version-486840429


And even with all this, The Mandarin in the movie is a legitimately interesting villain, until it's revealed he isn't. Because how could "terrorists" ever have a legitimate gripe. It's all the fault of rich white guys!