Robert Downey Jr. Ranked

Welcome to "Ranked", a weekly series where I rank a franchise or filmography from worst to best and hand assorted related superlatives. This week, I'm profiling the work of Robert Downey Jr.-whose latest project "Oppenheimer" releases in theaters today.

Robert Downey Jr.'s Filmography Ranked:

22.Back to School (D)

21.Avengers: Age of Ultron (D+)

20.Good Night, and Good Luck (C)

19.Iron Man 2 (C+)

18.The Judge (C+)

17.Natural Born Killers (C+)

16.Bowfinger (B-)

15.Charlie Bartlett (B-)

14.Captain America: Civil War (B)

13.Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (B)

12.Due Date (B)

11.Chef (B)

10.Zodiac (B)

9.Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (B+)

8.Spider-Man: Homecoming (B+)

7.The Avengers (B+)

6.Sherlock Holmes (B+)

5.Avengers: Endgame (A-)

4.Tropic Thunder (A-)

3.Iron Man 3 (A)

2.Iron Man (A)

1.Avengers: Infinity War (A)

Top Dog: Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

The further removed from the release of Avengers: Infinity War we get, the more impressive of an accomplishment it becomes. Its the most urgent, high-stakes and downbeat movie Marvel has ever put out and no matter what direction these films head in the future, they're going to have a hard time replicating or matching what made this a singularly great entry in the franchise.  

Bottom Feeder: Back to School (1986)

I'd never seen a movie where Rodney Dangerfield was asked to pull the comedic weight by himself until Back to School and oh boy, was this a rough look for him. Dangerfield is effectively just doing a stiffer version of his stand-up bits for 90 minutes as Thornton Melon, a hard-partying clothing store tycoon who decides to join his son (Keith Gordon) at college after he suddenly separates from his second wife (Adrienne Barbeau) after catching her cheating at their anniversary party. Its a brutally unfunny, deeply grating performance that reinforces why he should've kept his wisecracking loser schtick on a stage. 

Most Underrated: Iron Man 3 (2013)

The distance between this and the original Iron Man is miniscule. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if rewatches of both films caused the order to be switched. What Shane Black did here was take a sledgehammer to the MCU formula by making a deeply funny, emotional character study about Tony Stark finally confronting his demons and mortality after the events of The Avengers. On top of the service it does to Stark as a character, its deeply inspired approach to crafting/developing its villains (Ben Kingsley, Guy Pearce) that more than makes up for the abysmal ones that populated Iron Man 2 while also introducing a fascinating hero/villain dynamic that makes the second half of the movie particularly riveting.      

Most Overrated: Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

The man himself recently trashed Age of Ultron in an interview with The New York Times Magazine and let's just say Mr. Downey, I agree with you completely! This convoluted bore isn't just the easily the worst MCU project Downey Jr. appeared in, it remains the worst thing Kevin Feige and co. have ushered into the world thus far (although Quantumania did come damn close to topping it).