The combination of Covid-19 "stay at home" orders and Disney+ led the family to rewatch the MCU movies in chronological (not release) order, starting with "Captain America: The First Avenger" (1940s), then "Captain Marvel" (1995), and so on. The only MCU flick we didn't watch was "The Incredible Hulk," because it's not available on Disney+ and I was too cheap to rent it.
Overall, the MCU is very impressive, and collectively, far better than the Star Wars cinematic universe. The worst MCU movie ("Iron Man 2") is nowhere as bad as "The Phantom Menace," and the best MCU movies surpass "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Rogue One" (though the last half of "Rogue One" is spectacular).
Okay, here we go:
#1 - "Thor: Ragnorak"
Before this movie, I found Thor to be a dull character. Director Taika Watiti brilliantly fuses comedy with thrills, and just about everything works perfectly here. Hela is an incredible antagonist, played with chillingly hamminess by Cate Blanchett, and wait, there's more, with Jeff Goldblum's even smarmier Grandmaster. Thor gets so many funny lines, from "that's what heroes do" (as he throws a ball against a window, only to have it bounce back and hit in the face) to how he flatters the Hulk and Banner separately, each time saying he likes the current incarnation and not the other one to "he's a friend from work!" (when he is matched against the Hulk in the arena). Oh, and how Thor keeps trying to calm Hulk down by saying "the sun's getting low," which is (I think) mockery of the lame Black Widow-Bruce Banner forced romance in "Age of Ultron." This movie was so fun it reportedly made Chris Hemsworth change his mind about being done playing Thor.
#2 - "Avengers: Infinity War"
Yes, it ends in a cliffhanger (but so too did "The Empire Strikes Back"). It starts strong with Thanos crushing the Asgardians and the Hulk, and then never lets up. Lots of funny lines too. I got chills when Thanos finally made his appearance on the Earth - walking out of a mist of purple fog.
#3 - "Captain America - The Winter Soldier"
Until the rewatch, this was number 2 on my list. Its drop reflects my greater appreciation of "Infinity War," not any discontentment with this one. I love conspiracy thrillers, and this movie is as close to "24" as the MCU gets.
That's it in terms of individual rankings. The rest are sorted into tiers:
Great
"Ant-Man" - super funny; only thing that keeps it from breaking into the top 3 is that the villain is sort of derivative of the one from "Iron Man"
"Black Panther" - great villain who's almost sympathetic (one of my boys asked, "would Killmonger be the hero if he didn't kill all those random people?"), and T'Challa is a really good lead
"Iron Man" - started it all
"Guardians of the Galaxy, vol. 1" - it's like "The Avengers," but funny
"Spider-Man: Homecoming" - that reveal of Vulture was a knock-out
Good
"Ant-Man and the Wasp" - not as good as the first, but always good to see Walton Goggins
"Avengers: Endgame" - very moving but so much didn't make sense
"Captain America: Civil War" - liked it better the first time I watched it; still, introduces T'Challa and Peter Parker
"Doctor Strange" - really weird, appropriately so
"Spider-Man: Far From Home" - best for the chemistry between Tom Holland and Zendaya
Okay
"The Avengers" - bloated
"Avengers: Age of Ultron" - how can a movie featuring James Spader's snarky tone be so blase?
"Captain America: The First Avenger" - kind of boring
"Captain Marvel" - it's fine, but nothing special except for the Flerken
"Guardians of the Galaxy, vol. 2" - I liked the addition of Mantis to the GotG, but eh
"Iron Man 2" - the worst
"Iron Man 3" - better on rewatch
"Thor" - Shakespearean tone and MCU don't mesh well
"Thor: The Dark World" - too long
