In anticipation of Infinity War, I present to you the MCU movies RANKED

Let me paint a picture for you. On one side of my screen I've got this window open and I'm writing this blog post. On the other side of my screen I've got the MCU Wikipedia page open and we're gonna go through it.

Settle in.

I'm a big fan of the Marvel movies and I think it's crazy where the MCU is now. Back in 2007, Iron Man was definitely one of the most important Marvel characters, definitely not undoubtedly THE most important Marvel character, and certainly not the sort of character off of which a small movie studio (soon to be acquired by Disney) could launch a ten year, twenty movie, over $12 billion franchise.

But now, the Marvel movies kind of dominate the world of entertainment, rightfully so, and we're all just so lucky that this even happened. So to celebrate this craziness, here's my list of the Marvel movies from worst to best.

Behold! The ugliest Hulk ever!

The Incredible Hulk - Unequivocally the worst MCU movie. It's bad all on its own and while most MCU films weave together to form a cinematic tapestry the likes of which has never been created in ANY medium, The Incredible Hulk's minuscule contributions to the greater MCU story can be counted on basically one hand and they all suck.

A poster that's better than the movie! And not even a great poster...

Thor: The Dark World - To put into perspective how bad Thor: The Dark World is, the director of the movie, Alan Taylor, went on to direct Terminator Genisys. This movie is a pain to watch, and it really doesn't make any sense. The world ending scale of the events in the plot do not match up with the scale of the action that actually goes down (small) or the level of investment the audience feels with anything happening on screen (none).

Why did I choose this picture? That goofy-ass face.

Thor - To put into perspective how GOOD the MCU is in general, with just two movies out of the way, we're into the movies that are good. Thor is good. I really like the Frost Giant stuff  is really neat, and Thor's interactions with Odin and Loki are really great. Notable Shakespearean actor/director, Kenneth Branagh, directed this one and I think it really shows in the scenes that are, well Shakespearean (those ones where Thor, Loki, and Odin are hamming it up).

I was really looking forward to this one...

Black Panther - So, there was a version of this blurb that went into a lot more detail on this one. Instead, in my opinion, it's an overrated entry whose reviews were really skewed by social factors that had nothing to do with the actual film. It's got a lot of plot problems, at least to the same degree as Thor: The Dark World. What Dark World doesn't have though is a crazy social meta-narrative like the one with Black Panther, and that honestly does add a lot to the film as a whole. Taken as a film on just its own merits though, while it's good, It's not as good as Iron Man 2, for example.

It was really cool to see so many Iron Man suits at the time.

Iron Man 2 - Often cited as one of the worst MCU films, Iron Man 2 is in fact one of the worst MCU films. Might seem like I wrote that sentence wrong, but I didn't. Iron Man 2 is technically one of the worst MCU films, but only because there are so many others that are really good. The part where people are wrong is in implying that Iron Man 2 is a bad film in general. It's actually another really fun entry in the universe and it sets up a lot of neat stuff, like Black Widow, War Machine, more Avengers stuff, and it even has a cameo from everyone's favorite messiah, Elon Musk.

Not as good as you remember.

Guardians of the Galaxy - This one is usually ranked a lot higher on other people's lists. I've rewatched Guardians of the Galaxy recently though and it doesn't really hold up to the "OH MY GOD THIS IS AMAZING" levels of hype it debuted to. I do like the color and tone of the film though. It's easy to take it for granted now that there have been at least five other films like it, all bright, saturated, and funny, but that all really got kicked off by Guardians. I think the movie is at its best when Star Lord is doing his thing, it could really just be a Star Lord movie, because a lot of the other characters kind of drag it down, at least compared to Star Lord.

Pictured: dirt, and Ant-Man.

Ant-Man - I really liked Ant-Man, what can I say? It was definitely the funniest MCU movie until Ragnarok came out and blew everything else away. Now? Well now it's just a fun self-contained story that fits in really well with the rest of the entire MCU as filler, more or less, but really good filler.

Better than you remember.

Captain America: The First Avenger - This one is often cited as the most underrated MCU film. If it's said to be underrated that often though, is it really that underrated? I'll say that it's just pretty damn good. Captain America: The First Avenger stands apart from the rest of the MCU films in a lot of ways. It isn't like the other Captain America films. It isn't at all like the Thor, Guardians, or Iron Man films. It's unique, and in a good way.

I always thought Black widow looked ridiculous in this poster. I mean she looks good, but damn.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier - This one's overrated, BUT it's also really good. That right there is a tough concept with no good word or phrase in English; overrated, but actually good. Like Interstellar, but not like The Dark Knight, which is overrated, but even BETTER than people think it is. Anyways, The Winter Soldier was a much needed grounding of the MCU. It's pretty well paced, and yet it manages to tell a whole lot of small character stories and drop a MASSIVE MCU story twist in the middle of what should just be a side story. It's a good example of an MCU film that tells its own story while really enhancing the rest of the universe.

Asgardians of the Galaxy...

Thor: Ragnarok - I have no idea where to put this one, that's why I slapped it between The Winter Soldier and Homecoming. It belongs around here on the list, but several good cases could be made that it deserves to be in a couple different spots up or down from here. What can in arguably be stated about Ragnarok is that it's hilarious. Is the plot any good? It's good, but only okay good. Really the humor and general flawless presentation of Ragnarok buoys it up to this section of the list. It's not director Taika Waititi's best work (that'd be Hunt for the Wilderpeople), but it is the best Thor movie.

I couldn't think of anything for this caption so here's a link to this old BAD Spider-Man intro.

Spider-Man: Homecoming - I'm not really sure if Spider-Man: Homecoming is better than the Winter Soldier; it probably isn't, to be honest. However, I really enjoyed it and I think it tells a great story. It's the third first Spider-Man movie, and yet it tells a story where you really can't go ahead and know from ten minutes in where everything is headed. Of course, that's probably because it has SIX different writers, but that's probably because Marvel is probably trying very hard to set up Spider-Man to lead the MCU going into the future, probably. Heck, I'm on board!

This is an action figure! Or is it a figurine? Is there a difference? Is it just a model?

Doctor Strange - I've got this ranked this high because of the Dormammu I've come to bargain scene. Everyone loves that scene. What everyone forgets is that the rest of the movie is really good too, in fact it's REALLY good. Doctor Strange does what Ant-Man does just slightly better I think, that being the self-contained Marvel story within the MCU. I'm really excited to see what else is done with Doctor Strange in the MCU. This is definitely one of the films I've placed in the wrong location on the list, but heck, some of these have to be controversial!

I remember being so hyped for all the pieces of this poster to be revealed at Comic-Con

Avengers: Age of Ultron - Oh no, not this controversial! (Lets be honest though, placing Black Panther essentially on the bottom was the most controversial thing I did) Age of Ultron gets a bad rap. Sure, it isn't as good as Avengers 1, but it's still a really fun Avengers movie. All your favorite characters are in it doing their things and while the plot may be a bit all over the place, the nature of the movie kind of allows that to be forgiven. We already know all the characters, we already know they're flying all over the world, we already expect that they'll argue a bit but come together in the end to defeat the bad guy. This is a good movie and a GREAT MCU film.

A good background, but I'm pretty sure you don't see anything like this in the movie

Iron Man 3 - Here's yet another one people routinely underrate. Maybe I should have just listed these all in the generally accepted order and then just made my case for whether they are over or underrated instead of writing these blurbs. Anyways, Shane Black's Iron Man 3 has some of the best character work in the MCU. Tony Stark is great in it, and so are all the other characters (except the kid, keep the kids of the screen please). There's a lot to say about Iron Man 3, but I think the most important thing to say is just go see it again, you probably haven't in a while, and I think you'd like it.

TANK MISSILE!

Iron Man - Do I need to justify having this here, near the top of the list? Not at all. Iron Man is a modern classic. Nuff said.

Definitely one of the best posters ever made.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 - Here's one that's really grown on me. Sequels in the MCU are kind of hit or miss (guess that's why they've really backed off making straight sequels) but this is undoubtedly a home run. Everything you love from Guardians of the Galaxy is back, but better, and there's a whole slew of side stories and new or greatly expanded characters that make this one of the greatest comic book movies ever made, and just great time in general.

Just a great movie!

Marvel's The Avengers - This one's legendary. Beyond that, it's fantastic (oh god, I just remembered Fan4stic, let's just move on!). When I left the theater after first seeing Avengers, I thought to myself, "If I could have known, before seeing this movie, how jazzed I would be about having seen it, as I am now that I have seen it, I would have gladly paid 100 bucks to see it." (now there's a grammatically complex sentence!) In other words, it was a movie-watching experience worth ten times the price of admission. Today, not so much, only because I've seen it so many times since. But every time I catch a piece of it on TV I end up watching a big ol' chunk, same goes for those clips you can find on YouTube. I find myself watching most of the good parts of this dang movie in pieces on YouTube every few months because it's just that good.

A REALLY great movie!

Captain America: Civil War - The best MCU film. There is no other choice. No other film has a villain as great, a plot as cool, characters as deep. The Russo brothers really knocked this one out of the park and I CANNOT WAIT for Infinity War because if it's half as good as Civil War, it'll at least be as good as The Winter Soldier. Civil War isn't just the best MCU film though, it's a great film all on it's own. I hesitate to say that it's the best film on it's own of all the MCU films, that might be Iron Man or Guardians 2, but it's absolutely the best the MCU has to offer, if that makes any sense.

Well that's it for the MCU films as of  March, 2018. Did you agree with the list? Do you think I really am just a secret racist for not jerking off Black Panther? What about Doctor Strange? I put that one above Winter Soldier, how could that be right? Well there is no right or wrong here, just opinions. Leave your opinion in the comments below and here's a trailer for Infinity War to get you pumped for the future of the MCU (if you're reading this after Infinity War, or even later, I'm jealous).