10. Ant-Man (2015)
If Iron Man owes a great deal to the first Spider-Man film, then both Ant-Man and Doctor Strange owe their origin movie structure to Iron Man. While Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger were less traditional genre stories bucking secret identities and not following the classic structure of an origin film, Ant-Man has the classic structure of man gets powers (or a suit), man learns to use his powers in a series of montages, and then man applies powers to take on a supervillain with a similar power-set to himself.
Yet, Ant-Man still takes larger risks than Iron Man, pushing the superhero genre farther by pairing it with a heist film, complete with that genre’s structure and main-stays. Even more importantly, Ant-Man is damn fun, with Paul Rudd crushing it as Scott Lang, perhaps the most experienced comedic lead in the MCU. Director Peyton Reed has so much fun with the idea of shrinking and changing perspectives, throwing Ant-Man and the frustratingly similar villain, Darren Cross/Yellow Jacket (Corey Stoll), into hilarious settings like a model of a building, a briefcase, and a child’s play area complete with a carpet that acts as a sort of cornfield and Thomas the Tank Engine serving as a battle ground as if it were a real train. Best of all though, is Michael Peña as Luis, who really should run down “Previously on Marvel” at the beginning of every film, with his unique form of storytelling.
9. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
I like the funny Marvel Cinematic Universe films, I really do. But in the case of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Thor: Ragnarok, and this film, the comedy does undercut the drama and emotional pull.
Truly the most original entry in the MCU, Guardians of the Galaxy was a huge risk, that paid off better than anyone could have possibly imagined. Though all the MCU films are fairly funny (except for The Incredible Hulk and Thor: The Dark World), Guardians was a full-on comedy, utilizing the comedic chops of a newly fit Chris Pratt. New characters included a talking raccoon and tree, something that one thought could only work in the pages of a comic book, but this sort of weirdness became the film’s greatest strength.
Guardians of the Galaxy is the gold standard for an ensemble superhero team that doesn’t benefit from origin films about each major player preceding it. X-Men and Suicide Squad wish they could be this effective. And if Doctor Strange has the most unique villain showdown, Guardians certainly takes the title for second most original, with the hilarious and memorable dance-off. Guardians also became the first MCU film were music was just as much a character as our team of five heroes, something done even more effectively in the sequel.
8. Doctor Strange (2016)
This films gets a big bump past Ant-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy as Doctor Strange is definitely a highlight of Avengers: Infinity War, making his origin all the more interesting and important.
Doctor Strange could be accused of being an Iron Man clone. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is more similar to Stark than any other character when we meet him; rich, arrogant, and uncaring about anyone but himself. But, like with Guardians of the Galaxy, director Scott Derrickson isn’t afraid to make things weird and trippy, and Doctor Strange really benefits from this, making it one of the most unique entries in the MCU, comparisons to Iron Man aside.
The visuals are unlike anything from any superhero movie, and the film may just sport the MCU’s best cast — aside from Black Panther — including Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong, Mads Mikkelsen, and Tilda Swinton. The addition of actual magic (not whatever they were talking about in Thor) is just as much a game changer for the MCU as Guardians of the Galaxy’s introduction of a much bigger world than just Asgard and Earth. And the extremely clever finale bucks classic hero v villain showdown clichés, allowing for loads of destruction while avoiding the ramifications by undoing it all, in an age when we were finally tiring of the whole “city gets destroyed in the climax” battles seen in movies like The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Man of Steel, and X-Men: Apocalypse, among many others.
7. Black Panther (2018)
If the Avengers films weren’t so impressive in scope, and Spider-Man and Captain America weren’t my two favorite Marvel characters, Black Panther could have cracked my Top 5, easy. But it just misses out, though being number seven on a list of nineteen films is quite the feat!
The cast is absolutely spectacular, but I will not list them all here as I will surely forget one of the film’s countless standout performances. Director Ryan Coogler may be the best Marvel director behind the Russo Bros, as this film definitely has the strongest performances across the board from every character, from the most minor to T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) himself.
I could sing praise about Black Panther for an entire article, but I’m not here to review it fully, so let’s focus on Michael B. Jordan as Erik Killmonger. He is, without a doubt, the best and most effective villain in the entire MCU (sorry, Loki). His origin is heartbreaking, and his skills and “evil” plan make him the scariest MCU villain to date. I cry way more at the movies than any man should, but Killmonger is only the fourth villain I can think of that made me tear up (no Thanos is in that club). His plight is somewhat justified. And his anger definitely is.
6. Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Last time, Spider-Man: Homecoming moved up the list to #2, but this time it takes a beating getting eclipsed by all the Russo Brothers and other Avengers films.
Spider-Man: Homecoming is truly unique on this list as it is a smaller scale film with much lower stakes than nearly any other film in the MCU, yet it is still a powerful film. Michael Keaton absolutely steals the show as Adrian Toomes/Vulture. Though he is a very different type of villain than Loki, I would say has stolen the crown of greatest villain in the MCU… only to have it stolen again by Killmonger. That car ride to Homecoming is a killer scene, as is the movie’s biggest reveal and the conversation between Peter Parker (Tom Holland) and Toomes that follows.
And Spider-Man has never been better! While Sam Raimi’s films, the first two of which are still excellent, took a darker approach with a moodier Spider-Man, Homecoming is nothing but fun; a superhero film crossed with a John Hughes movie. It’s not the best MCU movie, but it is the most fun! Marvel literally can save any franchise!
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