Ranking the MCU

[Tank 3,341]

I think I’ve decided Iron Man 3 is the worst of all of them. Even Dark World.

[Darth Krawlie 5,508]

It's the only one that I've watched only one time. You might be onto something.

[Fozzie 6,498]

I still say Dark World is the worst. IM3 at least has some (brief) good moments. Dark World has nothing redeeming. 
 

Look at it this way: Dark World was so bad that they realized they had to fundamentally change the character for the next solo outing.

[Jedigoat 366]

IM3 isn't even the worst IM.    The ending sucks so that probably takes it down a lot and I don't hate the Mandarin in the film as much as the rest of the world. 

[Fozzie 6,498]

Just now, Jedigoat said:

IM3 isn't even the worst IM.    The ending sucks so that probably takes it down a lot and I don't hate the Mandarin in the film as much as the rest of the world. 

Which is the worst IM? 
 

IM1?

IM2?

IM3?

Avengers?

Age of Ultron?

Civil War?

[Zathras 498]

Iron Man 1 is by far the best of the three Iron Man movies.  Iron Man 3 is by far the worst MCU film ever, save for Dark World.   Dark World a close second to IM 3, in terms of wretchedness. 

 

My personal philosophy is that all you need is the first of each of the superhero stand alones (EG Ironman 1, Thor 1, Hulk 1, GOTG1 Antman 1, etc), except maybe Captain America.  It seems like the sequels to each superhero stand alones just fall flat relative to their first movie. 

[Jedigoat 366]

No way.   As a standalone film, it's good, IMO.  Granted, I haven't seen it in 3 or 4 years.  I have no complaints, other than the ending. 

But I don't like the marvel formula.   I like the idea of a shared universe but damn near all of them are too cookie cutter.  One of the best things IM3 has going for it, which I always appreciate, is being out of the formula. 

Thor 2 is boring, unengaging.  Bad dialogue, bad story, bad characters. 

[Zathras 498]

Personal taste I suppose, but I cannot stand IM3.  Terrible as both MCU, and a movie in general.  

Dark World is a close second to IM3 in terms of bad films. 

[Jacen123 1,746]

On our recent rewatch of almost all of the MCU movies (other than some of the most recent ones that my wife remembered much more), I was actually pleasantly surprised by The Dark World.  It's still at the bottom end of the movies for me, definitely, but it wasn't as hard to watch as I remembered.

Both Iron Man 2 and 3 are far behind the first, but I like 3 better than 2.  Like Goat, I enjoyed it for being a fundamentally different type of movie than the first two.  The ending was definitely the biggest problem to me since it was clear, even at that time, that Tony wouldn't stop being Iron Man completely.

[Tank 3,341]

I think my problem with 3 is that it doesn't feel like a part of the MCU at all. It's post Avengers and you're telling my they get Rhodey to bodyguard the president with his armor painted like Captain America instead of it just being Captain America?

Once they team up, these solo movies have to move fast and be isolated to explain why the whole team wouldn't show up. Like Iron Man DID show up in Homecoming. Tony is missing for days upon days after his house is blown up and no one comes to help?

This is also where the Iron Man tech started being magic, which I know the later movies all followed suit, but I never liked that. But it is also inconsistent. Tony tells Rhodey all his magic suits are coded to him so James can't use one. And yet they throw the President in one, AND in IM 2 James takes the MK2.

Then you have Tony running around half the movie with a gun. I liked not-Mandarin, but overall it did not feel like a post-Avengers MCU.

Dark World at least tied into the overall plan to build up to Infinity War. I'm not here to defend it, it's still bottom of the barrel-- I just think IM3 is worse.

I have to admit too that Black Panther was a little less re-watchable as some of the others. I still like it, but there were stretches that had me a little bored. That said, Killmonger is the best villain in the MCU after Thanos. There's rumors that they are bringing him back to be Black Panther in the sequel since Boseman died. I'd accept that, Michael B Jordan carried the first one, and almost stole the show. THAT said, I think that Okoye would be just as suitable of a replacement.

That concludes my great MCU rewatch, save for the Spider-Man movies which are not on Disney+ because Sony.

[Jacen123 1,746]

That is a completely reasonable assessment.  I definitely agree that it doesn't feel so tied into the other MCU movies.

[Jedigoat 366]

I do remember thinking in IM3, 'Where is fuck is everybody?'  Worldwide news headline, Tony's house blows up, and nobody shows up.  That's a problem and you'd think that the braintrust would have stepped in and said something.  I put it on them not necessarily on the shoulders of the actual film, since the productions are crafted that way.  

Outside of that, I loved that it had nothing to do with the MCU.  

[Tank 3,341]

I didn’t hate it just because it was outside of the MCU over-arching story. I don’t have a huge issue with that— just contextualize it and don’t do things so over the top that logic would say SHIELD or The Avengers would show up.

Ant-Man did a great job of this. Scott even says at one point “We need to call the Avengers.” And Pym said “No, here’s why...”

And in Ant-Man and Wasp, Scott was on house arrest due to his actions in Civil War. Neither of those movies were explicitly part of the Infinity War build up, but they were at least contextually in line.

[Jedigoat 366]

6 minutes ago, Tank said:

I didn’t hate it just because it was outside of the MCU over-arching story. I don’t have a huge issue with that— just contextualize it and don’t do things so over the top that logic would say SHIELD or The Avengers would show up.

Ant-Man did a great job of this. Scott even says at one point “We need to call the Avengers.” And Pym said “No, here’s why...”

And in Ant-Man and Wasp, Scott was on house arrest due to his actions in Civil War. Neither of those movies were explicitly part of the Infinity War build up, but they were at least contextually in line.

Right.  I know what you meant there, lol.