Ranking the MCU (2008-2019)

The MCU, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (or the Avengers cycle, as I tend to think of it), has reached a climax in 2019.  Having begun in 2008 with Iron Man and seen that particular superhero meet his end in 2019 with Avengers: Endgame, it's as good a time as any to rank the twenty-three films released during this span.  To that end, worst to first:

23. The Incredible Hulk (2008)
I think fans of the MCU in 2019 forget that this was even part of the sequence, produced before Disney acquired Marvel Studios and the rights to Hulk movies subsequently left the character in solo film limbo.  But this was the second entry, a light reboot of the unrelated 2003 Hulk, saddling Edward Norton with the thankless task of playing second-fiddle to a story that loses most of the character work of the Eric Bana version for even more mindless CGI destruction. 

22. Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
I think this is the MCU descended into outright parody, and no manner of fan acclaim or interest in director Taika Waititi will change that opinion.

21. Iron Man (2008)
The first film of the sequence is terrible.  Unrecognizable, by later standards (sensing a pattern yet?), salvaged only by the Iron Man suit itself and the effortless charm of Robert Downey, Jr.  I seriously wonder how many fans have bothered to revisit it in the past decade.  That's essentially the problem the whole MCU is going to face in years hence: whether it will be worth savoring as much in hindsight as it was getting caught up in it.

20. Thor: The Dark World (2013)
Other than following up on Loki, this is a consensus dud by all accounts, the definition of going through the motions.

19. Doctor Strange (2016)
Essential only in the sense that if you want more of what looks really cool in Avengers: Infinity War, but aren't yet prepared to discover it doesn't look as cool in its own movie, despite every effort to make the visual effects pretty much the whole movie.

18. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
James Spader is an inspired choice to voice Ultron, but this is essentially an excuse to spend time with the Avengers without really accomplishing anything but nudging the narrative along, delaying the relevant Thanos material for...reasons.

17. Black Panther (2018)
This one became almost an entirely separate phenomenon by leaning into (whether deliberately or not) Black Lives Matter by somewhat inadvertently buying into the racist myth that black people belong in Africa.

16. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
I was a bigger fan of this one in 2011 than I am today, in part because its nominal sequences are infinitely better.

15. Iron Man 3 (2013)
I actually think this is otherwise a huge wasted opportunity, but think the big twist concerning Ben Kingsley's Mandarin is inspired storytelling, and uses Kingsley himself brilliantly, a wicked commentary on the terrorists in the first one.

14. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
I think this follow-up to the breakthrough first volume is a letdown, but redeemed significantly by the famous "Mary Poppins" take on Yondu, who ends up stealing the show.

13. Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
I'm a big fan of the Mar Webb Spider-Man movies.  I like them more than the Raimi trilogy, and more than the MCU Spider-Man, which tries so hard to be socially relevant it's borderline painful.  I just watched this one for the first time.  Redeemed mostly by Zendaya, who's actually mostly wasted.  A minimalist turn worked better the first time.

12. Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Everyone is calling this one of the best movies of the year.  Yeah, no.  It's as slapdash a conclusion to the Thanos saga as they could've conceived.

11. Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
A version of Spider-Man that tries so hard to get it right that it's almost an amazing backfire, with the worst casting of Peter Parker in a movie to date (yeah) but with at least one great sequence (Peter finding out Michael Keaton is the bad guy).

10. Captain America: Civil War (2016)
In which the Avengers steal Cap's thunder.  But it's also the third best Avengers team experience!

9. Ant-Man (2015)
Paul Rudd takes what might have otherwise been a fairly generic MCU movie and makes it his own.

8. Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
I think Thanos in his big spotlight is nearly botched, but all the superheroes in their dramatic assembling around him is rousing, with the highlight being Captain America's dramatic return, with one of the few great scoring moments of the MCU.

7. Thor (2011)
What makes this one compelling is proving instantly that Loki is the early breakout star of the MCU.

6. The Avengers (2012)
Classic original assembling of the original team, the narrative template for the rest of the cycle.

5. Captain Marvel (2019)
I actually think the lead character is the weakest aspect of the movie, but everything happening around her (except for the inexplicable ability to give Nick Fury a believable hairline) is gold.

4. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
Pitting Cap against Hydra, which was posing as his own country, was narrative genius, and produced the best action sequence of the MCU when he realizes what's happening inside a crowded elevator, and he's entirely on his own in the fight that follows.

3. Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
Even if it leads to the wobbly logic that resolves the Thanos saga in Endgame, this is the perfect handling of solo mythology in the MCU.

2. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
This is what it looks like when Avengers is recalibrated with entirely new characters.  And the results are brilliant.

1. Iron Man 2 (2010)
I know this goes against nearly all prevailing MCU logic, but without Iron Man 2, the entire thing crumbles.  This is the movie that humanizes Tony Stark.  It's the brilliant introduction (and arguably best use) of Black Widow, and the best villain(s) in the whole cycle, with logical motivation and flawless execution, knowing exactly what to play off of and expand from what has come before.  Nothing that came after it even comes close.  And despite what fans like to say, it's going to be the easiest single movie to revisit in the years ahead to explain the whole phenomenon.