How did we rank the Marvel Cinematic Universe films?
Each of The Alabama Take‘s contributors complied his or her list in secret, but now the ballots are out! Here’s where each voter ranked the films along with any additional thoughts.
(Note: each voter was asked to rank the MCU films from 18, the highest possible point total, to 1, the lowest. The scores were then calculated and the movies were ranked, which you can see here in our final rankings.)
Louisa Murray
18-Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) — The GoG films are peak Marvel, in my opinion.
17-Thor: Ragnarok (2017) — I loved what Taika Waititi did with this. Had a vintage sci-fi feel and I was IN TO IT.
16-Black Panther (2018)
15-Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 (2017)
14-Iron Man (2008)
13-Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
12-Iron Man 2 (2010)
11-Thor (2011)
10-Marvel’s The Avengers (2012)
9-Doctor Strange (2016)
8-Iron Man 3 (2013)
7-Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
6-Ant-Man (2015) — Why Ant-Man? There are so many other better Marvel characters to take to the screen. But Paul Rudd, I still care deeply for you.
5-Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) — I’d like to complain about the terrible casting of Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch, so here I am saying it.
4-Captain America: Civil War (2016)
3-Thor: The Dark World (2013) — It’s not Christopher Eccleston’s fault! Marvel still hasn’t figured out how to properly write villains. CHRISTOPHER ECCLESTON FOREVER. (But David Tennant as Killgrave on Netflix’s Jessica Jones is hella good. If they ruin Thanos… I can’t even talk about it…. I’m NERVOUS.)
2-Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) — boring
1-The Incredible Hulk (2008) — This movie is so bad. I would never have believed the franchise would do this well with this as a first film.
Corey Hannah
18-Captain America: Civil War (2016)
17-Black Panther (2018)
16-Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
15-Iron Man (2008)
14-Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
13-Marvel’s The Avengers (2012)
12-Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
11-Ant-Man (2015)
10-Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 (2017)
9-Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
8-Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
7-Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
6-Iron Man 2 (2010)
5-Thor (2011)
4-Doctor Strange (2016)
3-Iron Man 3 (2013)
2-Thor: The Dark World (2013)
1-The Incredible Hulk (2008)
T.D. Wood
Tier 1: The Greats
These, in my opinion, are the undeniable classics of the MCU. Superb overall films, both from a pure movie standpoint and a comic book standpoint.
18-Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
17-Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
16-Marvel’s The Avengers (2012)
15-Black Panther (2018)
14-Iron Man (2008)
Tier 2: A Real Good Time
All of these films are what blockbusters should be: fun-filled action, good comedy, a solid enough script to keep you hooked, in short: a real good time. Any missteps are minor enough to not take anything away from my enjoyment/opinion of the film.
13-Captain America: Civil War (2016)
12-Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
11-Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
10-Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
9-Ant-Man (2015)
Tier 3: Not a complete waste of time
These films aren’t bad by any stretch, but the rewatchability is low. They just kind of exist, either to setup another film, build a backstory or whatever.
8-Thor (2011)
7-Doctor Strange (2016)
6-Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
5-Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 (2017)
4-Iron Man 2 (2010)
Tier 4: Woof
I do not like these movies. They either made a misstep I couldn’t forgive, or are just completely forgettable.
3-The Incredible Hulk (2008)
2-Iron Man 3 (2013)
1-Thor: The Dark World (2013)
Natalie Morrow
18-Thor: Ragnarok
17-Black Panther
16-Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
15-Guardians of the Galaxy
14-Iron Man
13-Marvel’s The Avengers
12-Ant-Man
11-Captain America: The First Avenger
10-Captain America: Winter Soldier
9-Spider-Man: Homecoming
8-Captain America: Civil War
7-Doctor Strange
6-Age of Ultron
5-The Incredible Hulk
4-Iron Man 2
3-Iron Man 3
2-Thor
1-Thor: The Dark World
Blaine Duncan
18-Captain America: Civil War (2016) — seeing all the heroes in one film, the ones we’ve grown to care about the most, took care of the villain problem. There were real — and realistic — stakes with this one. It’s one I watch often.
17-Marvel’s The Avengers (2012)
16-Iron Man (2008)
15–Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
14-Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
13-Iron Man 3 (2013) — this one took chances, and I loved it for trying something new with the Iron Man character. I find it to be harder to forgive them for what they did with Mandarin, who could’ve been a Loki-like repeat villain over the course of many different heroes’ films. What a shame.
12-Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
11-Iron Man 2 (2010)
10-Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
9-Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) — This one being low on my list is not a sign of it being bad to me. I really liked it. I didn’t like the bait-and-switch of the love interest nor did I like the character of Ned, who felt too cutesy, but I loved Michael Keaton and his team of antagonists. Digging into Spider-Man’s deep roster of bad guys always makes me happy.
8-Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
7-Doctor Strange (2016) — Doctor Strange was such a visually pleasing movie. It has a nice bit of rewatchability. (It being one of these few on Netflix doesn’t hurt.) I guess the plot is a little too like plenty of other origin stories, but I didn’t see Mordo breaking bad. That sincerely took me by surprise. I had only cursory knowledge of Dr. Strange as a kid, but I’m really happy that they brought him into the MCU.
6-Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 (2017)
5-Black Panther (2018)
4-Ant-Man (2015) — Paul Rudd is an excellent idea for Ant-Man and I suppose making this one comedy/heist movie was the best move overall. Due to his villain being almost like him but with a different suit sort of hurt it, so I don’t return to it as much.
3-The Incredible Hulk (2008) — I really think this one gets a bum rap. It’s really enjoyable overall and has some nice callbacks to the 1970s show of my childhood.
2-Thor (2011) — There aren’t bad movies in the MCU in my opinion. So Thor isn’t bad at all. I like it a lot. Some of them just have to be at the bottom.
1-Thor: The Dark World (2013)
Jaimee Hannah
18-Captain America: Civil War
17-Black Panther
16-Marvel’s The Avengers
15-Iron Man
14-Guardians of the Galaxy 2
13-Guardians of the Galaxy
12-Thor: Ragnarok
11-Spider-Man: Homecoming
10-Iron Man 3
9-Thor
8-The Incredible Hulk
7-Captain America: The Winter Soldier
6-Captain America: The First Avenger
5-Doctor Strange
4-Ant-Man
3-Avengers: Age of Ultron
2-Iron Man 2
1-Thor: The Dark World
Kelly Duncan
18-Iron Man (2008)
17-Black Panther (2018)
16-Marvel’s The Avengers (2012)
15-Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
14-Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
13-Iron Man 2 (2010)
12-Thor (2011)
11-Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 (2017)
10-Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
9-Thor: The Dark World (2013)
8-Iron Man 3 (2013)
7-Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
6-Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
5-Captain America: Civil War (2016)
4-Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
3-Ant-Man (2015)
2-The Incredible Hulk (2008)
1-Doctor Strange (2016)
Kelly’s Notes:
| Hotties | Notties |
| Tony Stark (Sassy and smart. Is there a better combination?)
Erik Killmonger (Michael B…..duh) Bruce Banner: Mark Ruffalo Loki (the guy your mama says don’t date and ultimately costs you thousands of dollars and hours in therapy) Star-Lord Jeff Goldblum always |
Steve Rogers (yawn)
Stephen Strange (Sorry Benny! I still love you, boo.) Black Panther (too nice) Thor (too dumb) Scott Lang (Paul Rudd needs more dry humor.) Vision (questionable anatomy) Bruce Banner: Ed Norton Taserface |
*Why do we have 18 movies in the MCU and ScarJo doesn’t have her own movie as Black Widow? A running list of the straight-up queens who are playing second-fiddle to inferior men: Scarlett Johansson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Tessa Thompson, Cate Blanchett, Zoe Saldana, Danai Gurira, Elizabeth Olsen, Lupita Nyong’o, Angela Bassett, Letitia Wright, Natalie Portman, etc. ETC, BRO! Marvel: Perpetuating the Patriarchy. (To be fair, a Black Widow project is finally in the works but does not yet have the green light.)
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