Special Movie Debate: Marvel Cinematic Universe

[nrslam | 477]

I've seen them all, and picked Spiderman No Way Home as my favorite, mainly because I loved the reappearance of previous Spidermen and thier villians. On a different day, I could have picked any one of several others. Overall, having grown up reading the Silver Age comics, the Phase I movies resonate the best with me.

It's funny you didn't even mention Antman Quantumania, even with the 30 movie limit, as its easily the worst MCU movie.

[Andy_Bogomil | 818]

I watched 6 of the first 7 and 5 of the last 23... they got old fast.

[AstralSoul | 513]

I've seen almost all of them, just missing like the last 4 or so movies that came out, I just can't keep up with them. It's almost impossible to pick a favorite, but I went with Spider-Man Far From Home just because Mysterio is one of my favorite Spidey villains. And Spider-Man is my favorite Marvel superhero. Runner ups would probably be Thor Ragnarok, Spiderman Homecoming, Spiderman No Way Home, Ant Man, Captain America, and Civil War. I have to be honest I just don't get the love for Iron Man and Guardians. I mean I liked them. But seems like everyone always puts them so much higher than most other Marvel movies. 

[AstralSoul | 513]

On 8/11/2023 at 8:17 PM, Andy_Bogomil said:

I watched 6 of the first 7 and 5 of the last 23... they got old fast.

Agreed. Took me forever to even watch as many as I did, 26 out of 30. I had to force myself to watch a few I didn't really care for like Captain Marvel. 

[CT | 109]

I've seen the first Iron Man and that's it.  I am not a fan of these movies, they seem derivative and it's hard for me to tell the difference between any of them. And sadly the "star" is the comic book character, not the actor playing them.

But just my opinion! I'm just not a big movie fan overall. Although the last movie I liked was Triangle Of Sadness.

[wongojack | 236]

For something different, I decided a few years ago to rank the movies on a curve.  Meaning, I put half the movies in the middle and then ranked the other half around them.  For every movie that gets an "A" (top out of 5) another movie falls to an "F" (worst out of 5).  This is how that looked (they are listed alphabetically):
 

 

Since I made this, I THINK that I've seen all the new releases, but I honestly can't remember if I've seen the new Dr Strange or Ant Man movies - meh.  I don't think any of the movies released after Endgame would move above the "C" tier for me.  It is possible some would drop to "D," but I don't think there are any "Fs" in there either - maybe Black Widow, but I barely even remember watching it.

Edited August 16, 2023 by wongojack

[wongojack | 236]

On 8/7/2023 at 1:07 AM, Sumez said:

Here's my ranking of all the movies I've seen (which happen to be all the movies in the poll aside from the new Black Panther)

I imagine it probably reflects popular opinion to some extent, with the exception of Winter Soldier which seems to be very well liked for some reason. For me, that movie hit right the point where fatigue really started setting in for me, and it falls into the generic "MCU blob" for me with no identity of its own. It's not terrible like many of the other movies, but also doesn't stand out. Ultron, by comparison, is also a generic and often messy movie, but it also has some of the best individual character moments of the series IMO, I really enjoyed that whole part at the farm house.

It's kind of funny, with the exception of maybe Guardians of the Galaxy, my appreciation for these movies seem to be directly tied to how little they rely on action scenes. Infinity War has a bunch, but really stands out for its character scenes, and Endgame has almost no action until that mess at the end. I guess they were contractually obligated to end it that way, but everything that happened before that what was made the movie good to me.

1. Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
2. Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
3. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
4. Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
5. Avengers: Endgame (2019)
6. Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
7. The Avengers (2012)
8. Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
9. Iron Man (2008)
10. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
11. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
12. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
13. Ant-Man (2015)
14. Doctor Strange (2016)
15. Captain America: Civil War (2016)
16. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
17. Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness (2022)
18. Iron Man 3 (2013)
19. Iron Man 2 (2010)
20. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Five Rings (2021)
21. Black Panther (2018)
22. Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)
23. Eternals (2021)
24. Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
25. The Incredible Hulk (2008)
26. Thor (2011)
27. Thor: The Dark World (2013)
28. Captain Marvel (2019)
29. Black Widow (2021)
     

Love your list!  I found it tedious to try and rank EVERY movie even after I watched them again during the Pandemic, but I've now found myself referencing your ranking "I wonder where he ranked XZY?"

[Link | 2,819]

10 hours ago, AstralSoul said:

I have to be honest I just don't get the love for Iron Man and Guardians. I mean I liked them. But seems like everyone always puts them so much higher than most other Marvel movies. 

It's just a matter of taste I guess. I would say they are more accessible than most. Avengers flicks seem to generate the most excitement of all, outside of this poll. For me, Iron Man and Guardians are simply the most fun. I would put Deadpool in a similar position. And they both (Iron Man & GotG) have a music thing going on, which may appeal to my personality.

Spider-Man was always my favorite in the comics too but I haven't seen any of the MCU movies - much more a matter of timing than desire.

[DefaultGen | 5,572]

I'm going to go ahead and be the only vote for Shang Chi because I've only seen 2 MCU movies and at least Shang Chi had a pretty cool scaffolding fight scene. Just not my genre.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,684]

3 minutes ago, DefaultGen said:

because I've only seen 2 MCU movies

I'm trying to do the math here.

I feel like everyone has seen at least 3 by accident at this point 

[DefaultGen | 5,572]

3 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:

I'm trying to do the math here.

I feel like everyone has seen at least 3 by accident at this point 

I got taken by friends to The Avengers because it was a huge deal when it came out. Just a big dumb superhero movie with an over the top CG dragon fight at the end. Then my wife watches them and wanted to see Shang Chi. Just a big dumb superhero movie with an over the top CG dragon fight at the end.

I rode the Guardians of the Galaxy roller coaster at Disney World. That was pretty rad. I'm going to change my vote to that.