Even if you take everything on the small screen out of the equation, the scale of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is utterly massive. Growing since 2008, there are now 34 total feature films in the canon, which is a figure that can really only be matched by the Godzilla franchise – but each title has both introduced its own special flavor into the continuity in addition to expanding the bigger picture. As fans will note watching all of the Marvel movies in order, it also goes without saying that not all of the titles are viewed in as high esteem as others, as fans have witnessed some of the best blockbusters of all time alongside a few duds.
How does one separate the wheat from the chaff? With a ranking, of course! Not limiting ourselves to just a Top 10 or a Top 15, we’ve put together this ranking of every Marvel Cinematic Universe movie to date, from Jon Favreau’s Iron Man to Shawn Levy’s Deadpool & Wolverine. Read on, from worst to first, and discover all of the movies that will eventually be a part of this feature with our Upcoming Marvel Movies guide.
34. Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania
Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania is a significant swing-and-miss. As the first film of Phase 5, the blockbuster was released in a position to get audiences excited and amped for the terror of Kang The Conqueror in the coming years as the new Thanos-level big bad, but the movie itself is terribly underwhelming. With poor stakes, zero character development, a lot of telling instead of showing, and muddy visual effects, it’s the worst Marvel Cinematic Universe movie to date.
33. Thor: The Dark World
If Marvel Studios has had any one consistent issue with their films, it’s that the villains for the most part have been small-time and forgettable. Perhaps the best example of this is featured in Alan Taylor’s Thor: The Dark World, as Christopher Eccleston’s Malekith never manages to get interesting, and it’s a shame because the entire plot is dictated by his actions. The movie definitely has a solid, spectacle-driven third act, which helps elevate it out of last place, but the movie still can’t really be called one of Marvel’s best.
32. The Incredible Hulk
While it didn’t hit the bottom of our rankings, there definitely is a degree to which The Incredible Hulk is the forgotten sibling in the Marvel Cinematic Universe family. For years, the only actor from the movie to actually reprise their role in a second film was Robert Downey Jr. On beyond that, though, the 2008 movie is really the only title in the catalogue that doesn’t have the trademark tongue-in-cheek humor and sense of fun that has made Marvel so popular. It’s not a bad movie, but the franchise would go on to do much better work.
31. Black Widow
Cate Shortland’s Black Widow is a film hurt by multiple factors. Being released in the wake of Avengers: Endgame and the in-canon death of Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff, and featuring events that take place a good half decade before it, the film not only feels late to the punch, but has a difficult time establishing stakes. It’s also hurt by the fact that it doesn’t possess much of its own style, as it instead seems fine with echoing what worked in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. At the very least it does provide some excitement for the future with the introduction of a number of key characters, including Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova.
30. Iron Man 2
When looked at from the macro perspective, Jon Favreau’s Iron Man 2 serves as a key piece of the puzzle in building the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it has some great things going for it (the Monaco Historic Grand Prix sequence in particular is memorable and cool). All by its lonesome, however, it is a mess. It’s plot is jumbled
as a result of the movie trying to do way too much, it has a poor villain in Mickey Rourke’s Whiplash, and all of the different elements never properly fit together.
29. Thor
Given its origins in Norse mythology and a fantasy-esque element not really seen before it in comic book movies, Kenneth Branagh’s Thor was one of the first big risks that Marvel Studios took. That being said, it wound up paying off in a great way, and established both Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston as bona fide stars. It strikes the perfect Marvel tone, and introduces some great new ideas to the canon. It has flaws (the pacing is too fast and there’s not enough exploration of Asgard), it ultimately holds up.
28. Eternals
Chloé Zhao’s Eternals is a Marvel blockbuster that bites off a bit more than it can chew with an ensemble cast of 10 brand new heroes, but the film is one of the most beautiful chapters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and features some impressive themes about faith and purpose. It introduces an exciting cast of characters who have great potential to further expand the cosmic side of the franchise, and even delivers an extra bonus by kicking off the journey of Dane Whitman a.k.a. Black Knight (Kit Harrington).
27. The Marvels
It’s hard not to ignore that part of The Marvels’ legacy is that it was the first box office disappointment from Marvel Studios, but it’s far from the franchise’s worst film. In fact, it’s actually pretty fun. There is a well-balanced triumvirate between Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers, Iman Vellani’s Ms. Marvel, and Teyonah Parris’ Monica Rambeau (with Vellani being the MVP), and both the swapping battle and the Flerkin attack count among some of the MCU’s most inventive set pieces. There are holes and lackings (focus on three heroes results in an antagonist lacking real substance), but the positives outweigh the negatives.
26. Ant-Man
Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man works on a much smaller scale than many of the other titles in Phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and is a bit more straight-forward than you want it to be – but boy, is it a hell of a lot of fun. The 2015 movie succeeds by featuring a handful of fantastically entertaining performances and characters, with the most important piece of the puzzle being Paul Rudd, who has kept MCU fans greatly entertained in the years since.
25. Doctor Strange
From a visual standpoint, director Scott Derrickson’s Doctor Strange is unlike anything audiences have ever seen. Interdimensional travel and magic create some absolutely gorgeous and bombastic set pieces that audiences will remember for a very long time, and the triumvirate of Benedict Cumberbatch (Dr. Strange), Tilda Swinton (The Ancient One), and Chiwetel Ejiofor (Mordo) is fantastic. Unfortunately it’s all weighed down by a standard origin story and an underdeveloped villain, but it’s definitely an exciting introduction for the future Sorcerer Supreme.
24. The Avengers: Age Of Ultron
Joss Whedon carried some incredible weight bringing The Avengers: Age of Ultron to the big screen, working under immense pressure and scrutiny. While the final product isn’t as good as its predecessor, it’s still an impressive, epic blockbuster that honestly feels like a major Marvel Comics event brought to life. The stakes are big, some great new characters are introduced, and it sets an interesting table for the events that transpire in Phase Three.
23. Captain Marvel
With Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s Captain Marvel, audiences everywhere have the chance to meet one of the most powerful heroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it’s definitely one of the most exciting debuts we’ve seen thus far in this franchise. It is a bit dragged down by the familiar aspects of its origin story, but it also has a number of unexpected twists, and provides fans with is plenty of exciting new looks at the expanded continuity – such as events from the MCU in the 1990s, the Kree-Skrull War, and even a bit more of the Tesseract. Of course, at the center of it all is also a badass new protagonist who has tremendous potential for awesome cosmic and Earthbound stories in the future.
22. Thor: Love And Thunder
Taika Waititi gave himself quite a high bar to reach for with his sophomore Marvel Cinematic Universe effort, having made such a phenomenal splash with his first entry into the franchise. Thor: Love And Thunder isn’t as strong as its predecessor in the Thor series, but its an adventure that delivers plenty of big laughs and pushes the titular God of Thunder into terrific new territory. Christian Bale is brilliant as Gorr The God Butcher, and Russell Crowe’s Zeus is an undeniable scene-stealer.
21. Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2
As will be discussed later, James Gunn totally changed the Marvel game with 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy, but in doing so set the most ridiculous of high bars for its sequel to reach. The bad news is thatGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 isn’t quite as good as its predecessor, but the great news is that it’s an incredibly fun intergalactic romp. It smartly sacrifices scope in favor of character, and it’s a legitimate cinematic treat to see Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket and Groot back up on the big screen.
20. Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings
Destin Daniel Cretton’s Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings is a movie that gets a bit tripped up when it tries to go too big – bringing characters into a mystical dimension full of beautiful and monstrous creatures – but it’s really something else when it is focused on being small. The characters are absolutely wonderful, as Simu Liu instantly proves his star appeal in the lead role, and Awkwafina emerges as an amazing new sidekick in the MCU canon. What the film will always stand out for, however, is its action, as there are some stunning choreographed sequences in the movie that stand out as some of the best we’ve seen in the franchise.
19. Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness
Truth be told, Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness doesn’t fully live up to its title (in the sense that there really isn’t a whole lot of multiverse madness), but it’s a terrific ride. Benedict Cumberbatch continues his stellar run as the master of the mystic arts, and Xochitl Gomez is a sparkplug as newcomer America Chavez, but the real showstopper is Elizabeth Olsen, who delivers an amazing villainous turn in the wake of the events that transpired in the Disney+ series WandaVision.
18. Deadpool & Wolverine
Shawn Levy’s Deadpool & Wolverine is a landmark movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for multiple reasons, as it is not just the first film in the canon to center on X-Men-related characters, but it’s also the first to sport an R-rating. The movie puts both two spectacular work, with Ryan Reynolds delivering huge laughs reprising his role as the titular Merc With The Mouth and Hugh Jackman delivering incredible gravitas returning to his most iconic role. The script is a bit of a mess and calling the plot thin would be generous, but most of its lacking is made up for with excellent surprises and a stellar jokes-per-minute rate.
17. Iron Man 3
Shane Black’s Iron Man 3 is unquestionably the most underrated Marvel movie. While some audiences complained about the Mandarin twist and lack of Iron Man screentime, the other way to look at those two things is the power of the movie’s ability to defy expectation, and the way in which it enriches Tony Stark as a character outside of his armor. It’s a fun piece of noir storytelling, and a great comeback after the mediocre Iron Man 2.
16. Ant-Man And The Wasp
There is an argument to be made that first sequels in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have a specific advantage over their predecessors. After all, origin stories are essentially fixed expositional vehicles used to establish key characters; but once those introductions are made, what’s left is the purely creative opportunity to craft a wholly original, specific story natural to those heroes. Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man And The Wasp is a perfect example of this. The movie beautifully capitalizes on everything we loved about the first Ant-Man (Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly are genuinely perfect together), putting its wonderful ensemble through an expertly-molded comedic thrill ride in the vein of After Hours and Midnight Run – coming together as a romp that is hilarious from beginning to end.
15. Spider-Man: Far From Home
Being the first Marvel Studios film released in the wake of Avengers: Endgame, Jon Watts’ Spider-Man: Far From Home ironically found itself in a position of great responsibility within the franchise, but it succeeds both in being high-flying fun and impressive superhero storytelling. The villain twist isn’t all that great (every comic book fan saw the heel turn from Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio coming), but the way in which they brought the master of illusion to the big screen is remarkable, and the third act showdown is blockbuster gold. It also needs to be said that the movie features arguably the most exciting credit scenes since the first Iron Man.
14. Captain America: The First Avenger
Landing right in the heart of this list is Joe Johnston’s Captain America: The First Avenger: another origin story, but one that takes the audience back in time to the days of World War II. There is a rightful complaint in that the third act of the film doesn’t have quite the punch of Marvel’s better titles, but it’s also one of the studio’s best introductory tales, and features some perfect performances from both Chris Evans and Hayley Atwell (performances that would completely change their individual careers).
13. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Ryan Coogler was given a staggering and unfair challenge in the making of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The loss of Chadwick Boseman was a devastating emotional blow to the filmmakers and co-stars who worked with him, and Coogler had to change all of his plans for the blockbuster – and make it a movie that would honor the memory of his friend. The result is simultaneously a somber tribute and an action epic, and it features both brilliant performances from returning stars Letitia Wright, Angela Bassett, Danai Guirira, and Lupita Nyong’o as well as a brilliant introduction to the Marvel Cinematic Universe for Tenoch Huerta’s Namor.
12. Thor: Ragnarok
The Thor movies have never been one of Marvel’s strongest series – as evidenced by their rankings on this list. That’s why Marvel had director Taika Waititi rebrand the whole thing with Thor: Ragnarok, and the results are fantastic. The tone is not only much lighter than its predecessors, resulting in one of the funniest titles in the franchise to date, but the character work is just phenomenal. It’s the most compelling arc we’ve seen for Chris Hemsworth’s God of Thunder, Mark Ruffalo is phenomenal as a Hulk who can finally have a conversation, and their thrust together in one of Marvel’s most vibrant and fun adventures.
11. Spider-Man: Homecoming
As a big screen character, Spider-Man was at big risk of reboot fatigue going into Jon Watts’ Spider-Man: Homecoming, but nothing dissipates audience apprehension quite like quality – and boy, did this one bring it. In his second Marvel Cinematic Universe appearance, Tom Holland perfects both being Peter Parker and the wall-crawler, and the film succeeds by actively differentiating itself from anything that’s come before, skipping the overdone origin story and fully embracing the new movie’s position in MCU continuity with a strong supporting role for Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark. It’s a crazy fun adventure, full of youthful energy that gets us excited for the web-slinger’s franchise future.
10. Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3
James Gunn has never been shy about expressing his love for Rocket as a character, and with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, he developed a powerful, emotional, beautiful and fun blockbuster that has the diminutive hero as its center. Endings are always difficult in fiction, but Vol. 3 is a conclusion that is both wholly original and best utilizes everything that is great about the MCU series. It doesn’t quite reach the mile-high bar set by the first Guardians of the Galaxy, but it’s both a worthy sequel and among Marvel’s best sequels to date.
9. Iron Man
Jon Favreau’s Iron Man, of course, was the film that kicked off the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but while that’s a significant feat, it’s only part of the larger reason why we have it ranked so high. It’s also the film that brought the amazing Robert Downey Jr. back to us, the actor doing his part to create what has become a truly iconic character, and the movie in and of itself is a fantastic story of redemption and facing down demons. It’s a superhero blockbuster that will go down in history – which makes it actually kind of impressive on Marvel’s part that it’s only number five on our list.
8. The Avengers
Marvel’s Phase One films are, on the whole, enjoyable pieces of entertainment, but Joss Whedon’s The Avengers was when the Marvel Cinematic Universe truly became the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Not only one of the greatest event movies of all time, it also beautifully, dazzlingly,, and unexpectedly delivers on a four year long promise of bringing some of comics’ greatest heroes together on the big screen for the first time ever. For the longest time the whole thing just seemed like an impossible dream, but Whedon and Marvel delivered in the biggest way imaginable, and it’s a finished product that can be rewatched endlessly with enjoyment
7. Black Panther
After 10 years of establishing the expansive roster of heroes in the franchise, you’d think that Marvel Studios would have started struggling together effective introductory solo films by 2018. The truth, however, is that they’ll keep being successful so long as they continue to hire filmmakers with vision, and that’s exactly what they did bringing in writer/director Ryan Coogler to make Black Panther. The movie is not only a remarkable exercise in world-building – introducing audiences to the remarkable land of Wakanda – but it also very much has something important to say, and it says it compellingly. The narrative regarding the African nation’s relationship with the rest of the planet is impressively sophisticated in a blockbuster package, and Michael B. Jordan’s Erik Killmonger, equipped with understandable and powerful ideology, is arguably Marvel’s greatest villain to date.
6. Spider-Man: No Way Home
One of the consistently phenomenal things about the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the franchise’s capacity to regularly go the extra mile and accomplish things on the big screen that fans only previously dreamed were possible. It’s in this respect that Jon Watts’ Spider-Man: No Way Home feels more like a fantasy than a hit blockbuster, as it features everything that a fan of the titular wall-crawler could want. It unfolds a spectacular adventure that does a head-first dive into the multiverse, and ultimately proves to be an amazing capstone for an MCU trilogy that serves as an expansive origin story for Tom Holland’s Peter Parker.
5. Avengers: Infinity War
To paraphrase Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, Joe and Anthony Russo’s Avengers: Infinity War was built on the idea of it being the capstone for every Marvel Cinematic Universe film that preceded it. A full decade was spent watching Infinity Stones be revealed, and Thanos being teased, and it seemed like there was just far too much pressure on the blockbuster for it to actually be any good. Boy, did they prove us wrong. Finally getting his chance in the spotlight, the Mad Titan proves to be an absolutely terrifying force of nature, and the film is filled with too many shocking, disturbing and amazing moments to count. Its in every way the movie fans were promised.
4. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
For Phase Two, Marvel Studios made a point of not just making superhero movies, but making complex genre films that happen to feature superheroes. For Captain America: The Winter Soldier, directors Joe and Anthony Russo infused the blockbuster with the structure and spirit of a 1970s conspiracy thriller, and the result is absolutely stunning. No other feature in the Marvel Cinematic Universe features fight choreography that is as visceral, and the character dynamics between Cap, Black Widow, and Falcon are thoughtful, unique, and fun.
3. Guardians Of The Galaxy
James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy is a legitimately special movie. Only tangentially part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the film is unlike any comic book feature we’ve seen – even in the modern era – and has everything a person could want from a summer blockbuster. It’s hilarious, with not just star Chris Pratt getting fantastic laugh-out-loud lines; it’s action-packed, with a third-act spectacle that will boggle the mind; and it’s even emotional, creating amazing bonds between characters. It stood as Marvel’s best work for a couple years… but then 2016 rolled around.
2. Captain America: Civil War
As ridiculously huge as the first two Avengers blockbusers were, directors Joe and Anthony Russo somehow managed to up the ante even further with Captain America: Civil War. The third Captain America movie is shockingly emotional (particularly in the showdown between Cap and Iron Man), stunningly action packed (the Leipzig Halle Airport fight is among the best we’ve ever seen), and gives us some amazing new characters in Spider-Man and Black Panther. It’s spectacularly crafted storytelling with a real gut-punch ending, and to date the best film in the MCU.
1. Avengers: Endgame
Joe and Anthony Russo’s Avengers: Endgame is a film that really shouldn’t be as phenomenal as it is. It should be impossible to make a blockbuster that is able to perfectly capitalize on the 21 blockbuster in the series that preceded it. And yet that’s exactly what this movie does. It starts with the fallout from Avengers: Infinity War, with the surviving heroes picking up the pieces of their lives following their battle with Thanos and massive defeat, but where it goes from there coalesces as one of the most bombastic, jaw-dropping, and remarkable big screen experiences we’ve ever seen. It may not technically be the end of Phase Three, but it’s still the perfect ending for the first three phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Thirty-four movies is a lot, but there are always more on the way – with the next title set for release being Julius Onah’ Captain America: Brave New World. Be on the lookout for any and all updates about the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe here on CinemaBlend.