It's honestly kind of hard to believe that Marvel's "Infinity Saga" is now over. Clearly the MCU isn't going anywhere, but we've reached the end of a vastly impactful era for the superhero giant and it's only natural to want to reflect on the massive body of work they've produced over the past 11 years. I took the past few weeks after seeing Endgame to reflect on what were the best and worst things to come out of this mega franchise's opening act as well as update the definitive ranking of all 22 films now that everything's been wrapped up. Below you'll find 10 superlatives that cover everything from villains to what character I'd most like to see integrated into the MCU's next phase along with the aforementioned rankings featuring write-ups on all of the post-Black Panther titles. Hope you enjoy.
Best Action Sequence: "Airport Fight", Captain America: Civil War
This should be the blueprint for every superhero action sequence. The scale is epic without being overwhelming, there's too many badass moments to put in a concise list and it also provides great introductions to characters (Tom Holland's Spider-Man, Chadwick Boseman's Black Panther) that went onto play pivotal roles in the success of the recent MCU entries.
Worst Action Sequence: "Spider-Man vs. Vulture", Spider-Man: Homecoming
Jon Watts did a comically poor job with all of the massive action setpieces in Spider-Man: Homecoming, but the finale was easily the most cringeworthy lowlight. This shaky "two flying objects repeatedly ramming into each other while the camera sits 5,000 miles away" garbage is eerily reminiscent of the DCU disaster Man of Steel. Fingers crossed Watts addresses these woes on Far From Home because everything else about this current iteration of the friendly neighborhood webslinger is pretty damn great.
Best Villain: Loki (Tom Hiddleston, Thor, The Avengers, Thor: The Dark World, Thor: Ragnarok)
To be fair, Loki has a distinct advantage in this category because he's the only recurring villain outside of Thanos in the entire MCU thus far. That being said, it's a testament to Hiddleston's tremendous performance that the character never managed to get stale. His balance of charisma, wit and menace made him a consistently formidable villain that made every scene he appeared in riveting.
Worst Villain: Red Skull (Hugo Weaving, Captain America: The First Avenger)
Looking back on this wave of the MCU, there's no shortage of villains that flat-out stunk. Ultron, Ronan the Accuser, Yellowjacket and every single member of the cornucopia of antagonists from Iron Man 2 were all anonymous benchwarmers that contributed absolutely nothing to this championship team. If I were to anoint a leader from this group of worthless footnotes, it would be good ol' Red Skull. Outside of Weaving's grating overacting, there's literally nothing memorable about the character. Dude basically just shows up, adds a whole lot of cheesy garbage to the handful of scenes he appears then (thankfully) gets sucked into a wormhole to never be heard from again*.
*(I know Red Skull returned as the keeper of the Soul Stone in Infinity War, but he's had about 90 seconds of screentime since making his comeback and is not played by Weaving, so he might as well be dead).
Most Underrated Movie: Iron Man 3 (2013)
Iron Man 3 swung for the fences with some ballsy creative decisions (the twist surrounding The Mandarin, having Tony Stark's struggle with PTSD following the events of The Avengers play such a prominent role in the subplot) that were bound to be polarizing and I believe they paid off tremendously. There's a level of unpredictability, emotional resonance and a masterful comedy/tragedy juxtaposition here that is going to be difficult for any future film in this series to match.
Most Overrated Movie: Captain America: The Winter Solider (2014)
While the creative team (directors Anthony and Joe Russo, writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely) behind this project ended up being responsible for the immensely satisfying Infinity War/Endgame climax, their MCU debut wasn't exactly graceful. Outside of some great action scenes and a much more assured performance from Chris Evans as Captain America, this is a slow, wildly convoluted movie that is far more frustrating than it is entertaining.
Best Film: Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
I have a tendency to gravitate towards shit that is off the beaten path in the world of cinema and Thor: Ragnarok is definitely the closest thing Marvel Studios has to one. Taika Waititi brings his signature goofball style to a Thor universe that was in need of some creative juice after losing some momentum with 2013's The Dark World and it results in a delightfully odd little movie that is trippy, exciting and extremely funny.
Worst Film: Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Newly-minted MCU directors Cate Shortland (Black Widow), Chloe Zhao (The Eternals) and Destin Daniel Cretton (Shang-Chi) will naturally be facing a ton of pressure to live up to the quality standard Marvel has established on their collective inaugural voyages as blockbuster filmmakers. The good news for this trio is that it's going to be borderline impossible for any of them to make a project that even flirts with the level of suck Age of Ultron achieves. I don't know if Joss Whedon didn't know how to handle the addition of more characters or just simply wanted nothing to do with this franchise anymore, but this movie is a headache-inducing mess that is as overstuffed, dull and confusing as a superhero movie can possibly be.
Character I Most Want to See Incorporated into the Next Wave of Movies: Blade
There's almost no chance this happens because Blade has no ties to any current character and is rumored to be getting a series on Hulu like seemingly every other character Disney doesn't feel comfortable putting onto the big screen, but the half human/half vampire warrior is a charismatic badass that would allow Kevin Feige and co. to tap into a gritty, horror-laced underworld that is unlike anything they've explored thus far.
Dream Casting Choices: O'Shea Jackson Jr., Y'lan Noel, Lakeith Stanfield, Jovan Adepo, Trevor Jackson
Updated MCU Rankings: (pre-Infinity War rankings with full write-ups can be found here: http://maitlandsmadness.blogspot.com/2018/04/mcu-ranked.html)
22.Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Grade: D+
21.Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
Grade: C+
20.Iron Man 2 (2010)
Grade: C+
19.Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 (2017)
Grade: B-
18.Captain America: The Winter Solider (2014)
Grade: B-
17.Thor: The Dark World (2013)
Grade: B
16.Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018):
As a goofy reprieve following the doom and gloom of Infinity War, it's a triumph. As a standalone project, Ant-Man and the Wasp is merely a pretty good superhero flick that's biggest accomplishment is somehow managing to have even lower stakes than its predecessor.
Grade: B
15.Ant-Man (2015)
Grade: B
14.The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Grade: B
13.Captain America: Civil War (2016)
Grade: B
12.Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Grade: B+
11.Captain Marvel (2019):
After a questionable, ambiguous start in the depths of outer space, Captain Marvel finds its footing once the action shifts to Earth and it turns into a buddy road trip movie (think of it as the less quirky cousin of Thor: Ragnarok) driven by a solid script that has a couple of nice twists along the way, manic fight scenes and the strong, smartass rapport between Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson. With the growing pains out of the way, Carol Danvers now has a good chance of being a pillar in the next wave of movies.
Grade: B+
10.Thor (2011)
Grade: B+
9.Doctor Strange (2016)
Grade: B+
8.The Avengers (2012)
Grade: A-
7.Avengers: Endgame (2019):
I'm well aware that putting this outside the top 5 is a hot take, but hear me out. While Endgame is an excellent conclusion to this 11 year, 22 movie saga filled with huge laughs, rewarding emotional payoffs and breathtaking moments that should prove to be unforgettable as time goes on, the inevitably busy narrative and undoing of the apocalyptic damage Thanos did made it a slightly weaker movie than Infinity War.
Grade: A-
6.Iron Man 3 (2013):
Grade: A
5.Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Grade: A
4.Iron Man (2008)
Grade: A
3.Avengers: Infinity War (2018):
Infinity War truly was as harrowing as a mainstream blockbuster can possibly be. It represents a rare instance where the superheroes were legitimately overmatched throughout and that feeling of impending doom that runs through every frame of this film made it a unique, enthralling genre standout.
Grade: A
2.Black Panther (2018)
Grade: A
1.Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Grade: A
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