Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Thor is imprisoned on the planet Sakaar, and must race against time to return to Asgard and stop Ragnarök, the destruction of his world, which is at the hands of the powerful and ruthless villain Hela. (IMDb)

Thor is released from his cheesy-golden-Viking realm (“Asgard is not a place, it’s a people”) to super fun results: Hemsworth oozes goofy charm (“No, I won. Easily”) and serves as a solid lead for the fast-paced script. An eclectic supporting cast (the amiable Kiwi Korg and goofy Grandmaster are comedy gold-blum), fun cameos, a suitably intimidating villain, and just the right amount of trope subversions (see the opening scene) amidst the serious moments (see Loki’s final catch) fill it out.

8.5/10 (Amazing)

 

RANKED: Marvel Cinematic Universe films

There are a lot of superhero films coming out these days, but that’s not to say that there aren’t, or haven’t been a lot of good ones, especially the ones put out by Marvel Studios. They’re not always super deep and they’re sometimes formulaic, but you can almost always count on them being entertaining at the very least. Props must also be given to Marvel for their intentional crafting of a multi-character (even multi-world) narrative universe that is threaded through each of their films in subtle and explicit ways. It’s cool to have such an epic scope, and it’s always fun to anticipate their trademark mid- and/or after-credits scenes that give a little teaser as to what’s coming next.

What follows are my “Worst to Best” rankings for all the MCU feature films. As always, I would love to hear your feedback on how I rank the MCU films, and what your own rankings would be! Thanks for reading!

22. Thor (2011)

My rating: 6.5/10 (Alright)

I just found everything from the story to the setting a little too cheesy to really make this anything more than an “alright” film.

Read my full review here.

21. Captain America: Civil War (2016)

My rating: 6.5/10 (Alright)

If I had bought the reason for the whole war, I certainly would have rated this much higher. But unfortunately, the writing just didn’t do it for me here. Hopefully that won’t negatively affect my perceptions of future Avengers movies to come!

Read my full review here.

20. Thor: The Dark World (2013)

My rating: 6.5/10 (Alright)

Again, just a little cheesy like the first Thor movie, and Portman’s character still adds pretty much nothing to the movie’s substance. And I hated the ending twist, but maybe I’m just a sucker for a happy ending.

Read my full review here.

19. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

My rating: 6.5/10 (Alright)

A little messy and ridiculous, plot-wise. With even more characters, it’s understandable, but at least there was a lot of good action again.

Read my full review here.

18. The Incredible Hulk (2008)

My rating: 6.5/10 (Alright)

Norton’s mature turn and the solid first couple acts following him as he seeks to get rid of his power (a unique premise) elevate this to the top of the “alright” pile here. A kind of lame ending fight and mediocre supporting characters keep it just “alright” and not “good.”

Read my full review here.

17. Doctor Strange (2016)

My rating: 7/10 (Good)

A little cliche at points, and the humour that I’ve heard a lot of people talking about didn’t really do it for me, but overall it’s a solid origin story with enough fresh elements (like the non-violent end to the conflict) to entertain.

Read my full review here.

16. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

My rating: 7/10 (Good)

I really liked the first half or so: Captain America’s origins were quite compelling and different. The latter half didn’t do as well, in large part due to the whole Hydra premise that I’ve just continued to find cheesy in movies afterwards.

Read my full review here.

15. Ant-Man (2015)

 

My rating: 7/10 (Good)

Still a lot of the same superhero-movie plot cliches, but Paul Rudd and Michael Pena as his sidekick are just a lot of fun throughout. The shrinking concept puts a cool twist on a lot of the action too.

Read my full review here.

14. Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

My rating: 7/10 (Good)

Follows up its predecessor with more of the same great humour and even more fun shrinking/growing action thanks to some great visual effects. The story has its good moments but bad ones too, much like the first Ant-Man.

Read my full review here.

13. Iron Man 2 (2010)

 

My rating: 7/10 (Good)

Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark/Iron Man continues to be what I feel is the most well-fleshed out and intriguing character of the Marvel universe, so even though this script is quite messy, there’s a lot of good parts to hold on to.

Read my full review here.

12. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

 

My rating: 7/10 (Good)

I’ve seen this at the top of a lot of other people’s lists, and there certainly are some great elements-the fight choreography for the fun duo of Evans and Johansson being the most prominent-but the character work remains too underdeveloped to make this truly “great.”

Read my full review here.

11. Black Panther (2018)

My rating: 7/10 (Good)

I didn’t think this was worthy of its 2019 Best Picture nomination–underneath its cultural importance and refreshing setting and set of characters was what turned out to be a fairly standard superhero flick–but it had enough sparks of unique greatness in its plot (Killmonger deserved a better fate both at the end and in the story as a whole) to elevate it to the top of my “Good” rated MCU flicks.

Read my full review here.

10. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

My rating: 7.5/10 (Really Good)

Pretty much equals the surprisingly good first volume. A change in pace is able to dig into the psyche of our favourite characters a little more, which enables it to walk the fine line of giving us “more of the same” good stuff while not still simply treading on the same territory as its predecessor.

Read my full review here.

9. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

My rating: 7.5/10 (Really Good)

Ultimately it turned into a pretty standard “save the world” plot, but everything else here just felt so fresh, from the quirky rag-tag group of characters, the great humour, the colourful outer space-setting, and the just as colourful 80s pop soundtrack. Lots of fun.

Read my full review here.

8. Captain Marvel (2019)

My rating: 7.5/10 (Really Good)

Had its share of hitches in the script and CGI, but I found myself very much enjoying this one. The story goes places you don’t expect, the humour is great, and of course Brie Larson’s lead character is excellent.

Read my full review here.

7. Iron Man (2008)

My rating: 7.5/10 (Really Good)

Like I said before, Tony Stark/Iron Man is by far the best character for me in the Marvel universe, so it should be no surprise for you to see that his origin story is near the top of the heap for me. I thought the way they portrayed his moral transformation while he still maintained his unabashed arrogance was brilliant.

Read my full review here.

6. The Avengers (2012)

My rating: 8/10 (Great)

Not perfect, but so entertaining. There was actually a moment during the final fight scene (which somehow so perfectly put the spotlight on each hero in turn) where I found myself just shaking my head in amazement. Just awesome, and there was enough good dramatic and comedic substance before that to make the entire film a great watch.

Read my full review here.

5. Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

My rating: 8/10 (Great)

A breath of fresh air in the MCU, and just at the right time, as it injected into a world dominated by wild superpowers and cosmic world-saving some down-to-earth high school comedy, a teenage hero, and a blue-collar villain.

Read my full review here.

4. Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

My rating: 8/10 (Great)

I don’t know how they did it, but they did–balancing their largest cast of characters yet without ever feeling disjointed or disappointing. The cross-over of characters provided lots of laughs and some great action in this simply huge movie with, at that time, the biggest stakes yet in the MCU.

Read my full review here.

3. Iron Man 3 (2013)

My rating: 8/10 (Great)

The best character work of the MCU so far was in this film, no question. Add in one of its best villains (Kingsley was sooo good), and you have one of the top films of the MCU.

Read my full review here.

2. Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

My rating: 8.5/10 (Amazing)

The funniest film in the MCU by far, as probably my previously least favourite hero, the eye-rollingly stoic Thor, gets a welcome comedic makeover within a colourful new setting. Taika Waititi and co. did wonders in rescuing the Thor storyline and character here.

Read my full review here.

1. Avengers: Endgame (2019)

My rating: 8.5/10 (Amazing)

It just feels right to have this in the number one spot, you know? Sure, it wasn’t perfect, but I really couldn’t have asked for any better of a culmination of the MCU so far. The three hours simply flew by- I was thoroughly engaged throughout. Great humour, great action, great character work.

Read my full review here. 

 

Thanks for reading! Fellow MCU fans: How do you rank them? Let me know in the comments!

And if you’re interested, my other “RANKED” lists thus far are here:

Wes Anderson
Harry Potter

Thor: The Dark World (2013)

When Dr. Jane Foster gets cursed with a powerful entity known as the Aether, Thor is heralded of the cosmic event known as the Convergence and the genocidal Dark Elves. (IMDb)

Another predictable plot with a still insufferably lame Jane in the still mostly cheesy CGI fantasy land of Asgard (the funeral scene being a beautiful exception) is iced with enough good stuff to elevate it above its predecessor. There’s better self-aware humour (see the hammer hang on the coat rack; Thor on the subway), a pretty cool–if far-fetched–final action sequence, and engaging relational development between Thor and Loki (regrettably reversed during a stupid final-seconds twist).

6.5/10 (Alright)

– #20 of 22 in my ranked list of Marvel Cinematic Universe films

 

The Avengers (2012)

After a scattered first act, the film picks up as the Avengers gather; clashing egos (along with the welcome addition of Ruffalo’s mellow Banner) and growing feelings of distrust keep the dream-team motif grounded (though the Thor-Iron Man fight with Loki watching was dumb) while a jaw-dropping final action sequence (deftly managing to give each hero their shining moments) brings it to its apex of feel-good entertainment. A tantalizing epilogue and perfect after-credits scene end things well.

8

Thor (2011)

The powerful but arrogant god Thor is cast out of Asgard to live amongst humans in Midgard (Earth), where he soon becomes one of their finest defenders. (IMDb)

It’s a little hard to get past the two wildly contrasting worlds, especially when the futuristic-space-viking one is saturated with CGI and cheesy costumes (though Elba’s gatekeeper intrigues). Story-wise, a decent arrogant-hero-humbled premise headed by the charming hunk Hemsworth (the supporting characters are largely forgettable) is weighed down by a cliche jealous brother/father’s approval sub-plot in space and a dull romance on earth (Portman’s strong scientist Jane feels cheapened here).

6.5/10 (Alright)