The Big Picture: Ranking the Marvel Movies

[Gunnyboy]

People are aware of the existence of Marvel's One-Shots, right? Those short clips of tie-in scenes released on the Blurays of the respective movies. Most of them are pretty insignificant, plot-wise, but the one-shot accompanying Iron Man 3 ("All Hail the King") actually reveals the existence of the real Mandarin in the MCU.

Anyway, I've liked all the MCU movies so far, but mostly just as action flicks. Very good action flicks, but still just action flicks. The only two the really stood out for me were Iron Man 1 (Tony Stark is undeniably the biggest personality on the Avengers) and The Avengers for its outside-the-box witty dialogue and screenplay.

All Hail The King is a complete joke,and pure fan bait after the backlash online. It's rubbish, and no amount of retcon will change that.

snip

You're right, because relegating asian roles to bad guys is such a good thing. He's a "yellow menace" villain. The might as well have a villain called Captain Communism and have him speak with a Russian accent while espousing the views of his communist homeland.

These films sell to an international audience and sometimes when you adapt the source material you have to change it to not fucking piss off all the people in a country you want to see the film.

Captcha: Can't have nice things. Sounds fitting.

So now Asians can't be villains? How isn't THAT racist? This is just corporate nonsense to appease a market. It's safe filmmaking, something the original Iron Man really wasnt'.


There's no reason you can't have a villain trying to end the West's imperialism, military intervention, financial dominance. He could have been like Lau from The Dark Knight, but with the rings and physical threat.

Usually when the MIC is referenced, it's referring to someone creating the products for sale to a government. As you say, this is in every IM movie, as we get Obidiah Stane, Justin Hammer and Aldrich Killian, all of whom directly work for/own companies that make weapons. Hydra/Shield doesn't make those weapons, and while you could make an argument that the customers of weapons contracts count as part of the MIC, then we are left labeling any villain who works for the government as a MIC villain. I think Hydra is a big enough departure from the Iron Man trio to not count as MIC villains. MIght be splitting hairs though.

SHIELD was the one building those weapons though. They got the tech from Stark, to fix their Helicarriers. It's their weapons, and they were trying to sell the council on making them active.

 

[vid87]

I feel like being immersed in the shop-talk and rumor mill about these movies, especially about how many movies so-and-so has left in their contract, is starting to actually affect my enjoyment of them - Cap 2 offered some nice cameos and curveballs, but most of them were hinted at or suggested at some point and I just couldn't feel as surprised as I'd like to be, which sucks because rumor mongering is fun. I think that's why I wasn't able to realize/admit right away that Cap 2, on a thematic and meaningful level, has a lot more going for it than Avengers.

As for Winter Soldier himself, I think it's actually a smart move not to dwell on him too long - 90% of audiences already knew who he was and dragging that out would've been cheap and made us miss the bigger game-changing picture (even if, again, it wasn't that surprising).

 

[Gorrath]

I feel like being immersed in the shop-talk and rumor mill about these movies, especially about how many movies so-and-so has left in their contract, is starting to actually affect my enjoyment of them - Cap 2 offered some nice cameos and curveballs, but most of them were hinted at or suggested at some point and I just couldn't feel as surprised as I'd like to be, which sucks because rumor mongering is fun. I think that's why I wasn't able to realize/admit right away that Cap 2, on a thematic and meaningful level, has a lot more going for it than Avengers.

As for Winter Soldier himself, I think it's actually a smart move not to dwell on him too long - 90% of audiences already knew who he was and dragging that out would've been cheap and made us miss the bigger game-changing picture (even if, again, it wasn't that surprising).

I agree completely. The Winter Soldier had plenty enough screen time to come off as a credible menace, but there was no need to bang on about him. His character arc followed the path it needed to, especially with his actions at the end. He may not have played the biggest role he could have in the film, but that made way for the interesting spy-plot and the relevant themes regarding Old School Cap vs the modern world. A three hour punch-up between Steve and Bucky would have grown tired quickly.

 

[Gorrath]

SHIELD was the one building those weapons though. They got the tech from Stark, to fix their Helicarriers. It's their weapons, and they were trying to sell the council on making them active.

What makes you think SHIELD actually manufactured those Helicarriers? We do see them in dry-dock beneath SHIELD headquarters, but it makes no sense at all for SHIELD to have licensed tech from Stark and then built the systems themselves. But let's say for a second SHIELD was responsible for the actual manufacture of the carriers. In that scenario, they wouldn't be part of the military industrial complex at all, as the MIC is defined by being a joint venture between government, military and private companies. Without the corrupt interplay between government and private contractors, I hardly see how this is an allusion to the MIC. The IM villains were private citizens trying to control weapons manufacturing and war for profit, which is the essence of MIC. The winter soldier villains were all government people engaged in espionage and a power coup for world domination. I just don't see the thematic connection to "war for profit". Hell, one of Hydra's stated goals is to end all war.

 

[thetenet]

Iron Man 3 the best of that series, it is a terrible movie, fill with an unconvincing PTSD to justify Stark's having some half thought conflict, most of the movie the Iron Man suits doesn't appear, and the final battle is unexciting. It seems the Iron Man suit is the least used thing is its own movies,

 

[Lyvric]

I agree with most of movie bob points but some of the tops I'd change.

1) The avengers was a difficult concept that was finally done right and fun. They included characters that weren't filmed like hawkeye and black widow and the hulk got a bit of justification. Cheesy one liners and action helped make any mistakes feel organic and it was a good movie to just relax to.

2) Iron man 3: It's a side that shows that hey people, Tony is still human. Some super heroes day to day can be relatable yet still can get it together to save the day. The mandarin decoy was hilarious and mistakes characters made led up to later scenes being more interesting. It's about not being perfect and it amazingly works.

3) Captain America: winter soldier: I might rank this higher once I see where it goes. I think many people hold it high as it's still fresh. Don't get me wrong, It's a good movie but there's a few things that bug me. It's disappointing when the main name of the movie is a bad guy who kind of gets the shaft and it does leave a massive cliff-hanger for other movies. Otherwise is a nice, dark take full of great action and leaves people wanting to know more about lesser known marvel heroes.

 

[truckspond]

My list would be more along the lines of

1) The Avengers (It just works and Loki utterly OWNS the picture!)

2) Captain America: Winter Soldier (In typical Marvel fashion the trailers and sneak peeks show everything while giving nothing away. Seriously: You NEED to watch this movie!)

3) Iron Man 3 (Again, the trailers and sneak peeks showed everything but gave nothing away. When I saw it at the cinema I was honestly not expecting the key plot twist!)

4) Iron Man (The original movie that really got the whole Avengers thing going.)

5) Thor (Good action and semi-decent plot but not much purpose aside from establishing the character and the gatekeeper manages to wipe the floor with the other characters in every scene he is in)

6) Captain America: The First Avenger (It's cheesiness wears off REALLY fast!)

7) Iron Man 2 (Awesome action but with plotconviniance-um having a psychological and physical effect on the main character you can't really suspend your disbelief to last the whole film)

8) Thor 2 (While still a decent action movie it just does not work in terms of the plot.)

9) The Incredible Hulk (A movie is NOT supposed to be shot like a comic book is framed. Let's just leave it at that!)

 

[Flunk]

Did anyone notice at about 1:25 there is a clip of the incredible Hulk running through want is supposed to be New York City at the Apollo theater but looks nothing at all like it? I recognized the location right away, it's Yonge Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The huge sign for the Zanzibar Strip club is a dead give-away and if you're familiar with the area all the other stores line up too. That is except for the fake Apollo marquee.

Hollywood is so cheap and lazy these days. I haven't seen all these movies so I'll just rank the ones I have. I rate all the others as not being worth seeing, because I only have so much time.

Iron Man 3
The Avengers
Iron Man 1
Iron Man 2

I might go see The Winter Soldier. It looks ok and it tyes into that Agents of Shield show I've been trying to watch.

 

[endtherapture]

1. Cap 2
2. Cap 1
3. Iron Man
4. Avengers
5. Iron Man 2
6. Thor

I haven't seen the rest.

 

[MegaSuperUberMe]

Iron Man 3 is way too high, it should be number 9. It is badly written all around, riddled with plotholes the size of Bermuda triangle, sub-plots come and go as they please without any real resolution, the action is weak, the Big Bad is even weaker, characters make many idiotic dissensions, Tony acted like a complete idiot throughout the whole movie, his PTSD is resolved in a completely retarded way and it's too damn cheesy even next to other Marvel movies. It is an objectively bad movie

 

[Lightknight]

I almost entirely agree with Bob's list here but the only thing I disagree with is significant. His number 1 should be be far lower on the list.

He says we didn't notice that the Winter Soldier wasn't in the movie, but I did. It was glaringly apparent as a complete side plot of the story. Then you have the first half of the movie where the Capt mopes around town driving by his old dives ancient acquaintances with a tear in his eye. It was boring and went on far too long.

Spoiler

Anyone want to tell me why the villain didn't just kill the black widow and use the diplomats as hostages? Horribly stupid main villains is certainly a negative for me but I guess they wanted to pull a "magic spy disquise" move here for... reasons? The movie didn't get interesting until the falcon showed up and that was far too late in the movie.

Likewise, is there any reason why Captain America can jump out of a plane and survive but has trouble fighting a random pirate one on one? Does that pirate also have super powers or soldier serum?

Also:

Spoiler

You're not going to arrest me for my crimes because you need us? Black widow is just a very good spy but she's guilty of huge crimes from what I recall. I'm not sure why America needs another spy at the cost of forsaking law when they also have superheroes.

I did enjoy the three heroes of the movie though. Falcon, Black Widow, and Captain America have a nice dynamic going. But I think history will show this movie dropping several notches on Bob's list. So far the Avengers movie is the undisputed king of the avengers movie. Or should I compare Bob's avengers movie to the winter soldier movie for comparison? I think since we're fans of comics we've given this one a huge free pass at the moment that's going to have to rectified in hindsight when our fan-eyes wear off.

 

[VondeVon]

Thor ranked higher than Iron man? Rubbish. That love 'story' was so shallow you couldn't drown in it if you tried and the best stuff with Thor and Loki was left on the cutting floor.

 

[KikReask]

I love lists:

9) The Incredible Hulk - Honestly the reason it's the lowest on the list is... I've only seen it once. ... It was an okay movie, fun, but kinda shallow from what I remember. I'll see it again soon, it wasn't boring like the other film.

8) Thor: The Dark World - This was fun again, it was fun and enjoyable but I don't feel as if there was much story or character progression here, and the cliffhanger was just too much teasing. Also I feel as if this movie was a test run to see what the special effects would be like when Disney makes Star Wars Episode IIV.

7) Thor - I loved it the first time round, but the second time, it was really cheesy, loud and hammy throughout most of it, but still had it's moments.

6) Iron Man 2 - Honestly, I love this movie, it's just mindless fun despite having a very simple plot and a one dimensional villain, but it was able to show Tony Stark when he's both likable and unlikable, and the fight scene were just beautiful if brief.

5) Iron Man - What I love most is how big of a gamble this movie was and we forget about that sometimes. Iron Man wasn't even a particularly popular character until this movie came out. It was clever, it was down to earth, the concept was original to non comic book fans, it was likable, it, kinda lacked in the action but still managed to keep your interest.

4) Iron Man 3 - I liked this movie when I first saw it, but the more I thought about it the more I started to hate it. I just gave it a second watch a few weeks back annnnnnnd... I love it! It's funny, it's mostly just jokes so you can sit there doing something else and still enjoy it while it's casually playing in the background, and the Mandarin, honestly, it was really damn funny how they pulled that twist.

3) Captain America: The First Avenger - I haven't seen this in quite sometime but honestly I was surprised that they actually made Captain America, believable. Red Skull was awesome, the story and pacing were spot on, the end scene with the big ship was outstanding, and it was the right movie to get us hyped for:

2) The Avengers - Fun! That's all I'm saying.

1) Captain America: The Winter Soldier - As much as I loved the first Captain America and The Avengers, this is the Captain America movie I have wanted to see for so long, without even knowing it. This is just a classic film in ever regard.

0) Guardians of the Galaxy - Never heard of these guys before, but I'm really hyped for one simple reason. I saw the trailer, and it just looked so original and fresh. At least it's better than the trailers for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 which give away the entire movie in 2 minutes free of charge. Not seeing that movie anytime soon. (Although give me X-Men over Spider-Man anyday)

 

[impocalyptic]

The one big thing that I don't agree with is Thor being responsible for Loki being so popular. While he is very good in Thor, I still think that Avengers is what really cemented him as a force to be reckoned with.

 

[karamazovnew]

1. Cap 2 (duh)
2. Cap 1 (ditto)
3. ???
8. Thor
9. Thor the Dark World

Unlike others, I'll take a chance and call number 9 a truly stupid movie.