11 years. 21 movies. One dancing Groot.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has pulled off what no Hollywood studio or series of films has ever done before: Connect individual installments of separate franchises into one massive, interconnected universe of serialized storytelling. It’s bingewatching on the big screen, spread out every few years. Many sequels were part of this rollout, some hits (Winter Soldier, Ragnarok) and some best left mostly forgotten (The Dark World).
Starting with 2010’s Iron Man 2 and culminating with this April’s Avengers: Endgame, we’re ranking every Marvel Studios sequel, from “meh” to a-mah-zing.
11. ‘Thor: The Dark World’ (2013)
This is the Thor sequel most like to pretend didn’t happen. Both overlong and lacking much emotional or narrative urgency, The Dark World suffers from the MCU’s weakest villain, Malekith, who spends most of the movie dropping exposition in Dark Elf language (subtitled, of course) as he tries to get his hands on the Aether (a.k.a the Reality Stone).
Banking on this non-threat of a baddie and the undercooked, chemistry-deficient romance between Thor and Jane (Natalie Portman), The Dark World is Marvel’s first truly non-essential movie. Its best moments involve Thor and Loki’s banter, that Joss Whedon-scripted Loki-as-Captain-America scene, and that exceptional third act climax pitting Thor against Malekith as they battle each other across and through various realms.
10. ‘Iron Man 2’ (2010)
Coming off the oversized hit that was the first Iron Man, expectations reached Dark Knight-levels for this sequel — Marvel Studios’ first. And their first true disappointment. In retrospect, those expectations were ill-founded — unless you really believed Mickey Rourke’s Whiplash and his bird were really gonna move the needle.
Infamous for shooting without a script (and it shows), the uneven Iron Man 2 gets bogged down in a “daddy issues” storyline involving Tony and his estranged father — which lacks the proper setup to warrant the run time invested in it. This is also the movie that ends with War Machine and Iron Man taking out Whiplash by high-fiving repulsor rays. Despite its clunky construction, Iron Man 2 coasts on the charisma of Robert Downey Jr.’s performance — has a character ever before stepped onto the screen so fully formed as RDJ’s Tony Stark? This sequel also scores points for introducing us to Black Widow and Don Cheadle’s version of Rhodey — definitely upgrades, even if the sequel itself wasn’t.
9. ‘Ant-Man And The Wasp’ (2018)
A serviceable sequel to a largely disposable first film, Ant-Man and the Wasp lays some Endgame groundwork with its deeper dive into the Quantum Realm as Scott Lang (a very entertaining Paul Rudd), Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), and Hope Pym (Evangeline Lilly) go looking for Hope’s mom — Michelle Pfeiffer.
After kicking off with a fun and retro Cold War-set mission featuring Hank and his wife in their respective shrinking suits, Ant-Man and the Wasp wastes no time giving audiences what they want: Hope in all her Wasp-y glory. She and Lilly’s performance all but steal the movie, which wisely spends most of its time further developing the dynamic between her and Scott. The villain this time around, Ghost, is given a near-tragic backstory that actor Hannah John-Kamen executes perfectly, giving the MCU one of its better villains.
8. ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’ (2017)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 feels like a louder, bigger version of all the things fans fell in love with in the first movie. But, “bigger” does not always equate to “better” in this case.
Bloated and saddled with a Star-Lord who spends most of the second act reacting to or listening to lots of speeches from his dad, Ego the Planet (Kurt Russell), this sequel lacks the urgency and drive of Guardians Vol. 1. It also lacks the nuance and freshness of the superior first film — even the needle drops here fall short or feel like they are too obvious or trying a bit too hard. (And Drax’s deadpan, literal-minded sense of humor, while charming in the first film here, comes off as cruel and arguably misogynistic, especially during his interactions with Mantis.)
Yondu’s tearful sacrifice, and the epic Gamora-Nebula fight, are among the film’s emotional highlights — with the former being one of the MCU’s most memorable scenes. The final showdown inside Ego is nothing more than CG punching more CG, resulting in a numbing effect that leaves one missing the heart and soul of the first film even more.
7. ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ (2015)
Joss Whedon’s sequel to his massively successful first Avengers movie is a noble misfire. It is caught in a narrative tug of war between setting up future conflicts in other films and negotiating the dramatic stakes of its own.
The end result is one of the funniest Marvel movies ever, but one with a plot whose reach over-exceeds its grasp. Introducing Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver is a mixed bag; we lack the care space the movie thinks it has earned when Quicksilver dies. What the movie gets right, however, are truly some of the best characters (James Spader’s snarky and engaging Ultron) and best scenes (Hawkeye’s farm house, Ultron vs. Klaw) in the MCU.
6. ‘Captain America: Civil War’ (2016)
Cap’s third movie is Avengers 2.5, an action-packed, morally complex affair that hits more times than it misses but ultimately falls short of its lofty aims. The Russo Brothers prove that their exceptional attention to character-driven action in Captain America: The Winter Soldier was not a fluke — they are more than up for the task of pitting the Avengers against each other while throwing two new characters into the mix: Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and the MCU’s take on Spider-Man (Tom Holland).
Again, Civil War finds Tony saddled with an almost forced sense of parental guilt — this time concerning both his father and mother and their assassination (which was NEVER a thing before this movie existed, not even hinted to) at the hands of the Winter Soldier. Cap’s struggle to hunt Bucky down merges with the film’s primary storyline, which finds the Avengers divided in light of the events of Ultron forcing a Superhero Registration Act upon Earth’s Mightiest Heroes that leave them under regulatory control. Tony is pro-Sokovia Accords, Cap is firmly against — lots of fisticuffs ensue. Their conflict culminates in an airport tarmac battle between heroes that is a splash page come to life.
Civil War is an ambitious feat, the biggest movie Marvel ever tackled prior to Infinity War. Full of inventive action scenes, like Cap and Bucky’s stairwell escape, and a villain, Zemo, that audiences can sympathize with, Civil War is a necessary but uneven stepping stone on the road to Thanos’ Snap.
5. ‘Iron Man 3’ (2013)
Director and co-writer Shane Black’s deconstructive take on Tony Stark puts the Iron Man franchise back on track with its hilarious dialogue and edge-of-your-seat set pieces.
Iron Man 3 has Tony Stark poke fun in a meta way at his own daddy issues from the second movie as he tries to figure out who he really is both outside and within his armored suits. The themes of identity and self are the tentpoles that hold up much of the film’s scary-good set pieces — the Mandarin’s aerial assault on Tony’s home and Tony’s mid-air rescue of passengers tossed out of Air Force One being the standouts. RDJ has never been better as Tony Stark, and Black makes sure the actor is given the perfect balance of pathos and comedy to pull off the performance. While some fans thought the story’s handling of the Mandarin was controversial, we applaud Sir Ben Kingsley’s scene-stealing work.
4. ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ (2017)
Unlike most franchises, where the third movie is usually the weakest, Marvel has proven the exception to that rule — especially in regard to Thor: Ragnarok.
The best of the Thor movies, director Taika Waititi makes an air-brushed van mural come to life with a visual aesthetic that is a mix of Flash Gordon and ‘80s album covers. Chris Hemsworth loses the God of Thunder’s golden locks and gets plenty of chances to show off his exceptional comedic chops as Thor must battle with Hulk in the Gamemaster’s arena before returning to save Asgard from Hera (Cate Blanchett), Thor’s sister who has end times-level plans for her former homeworld.
Ragnarok blesses fans with not one, but two new characters that became instant fan-favorites: Valkyrie (a stan-worthy Tessa Thompson) and Korg (voiced by Waititi). Of course, fan favorite Tom Hiddleston returns as Loki and his snark and deadpan delivery are never better. If there are ever to be future Thor movies, we pray to Odin that Waititi returns to direct all of them.
3. ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ (2018)
Infinity War is the epic first half of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first decade of blockbusters and it does not disappoint. The Russo Brothers, working from a script by Civil War and Winter Soldier scribes Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, make juggling the 20-plus ensemble cast effortlessly as Thanos (Josh Brolin) hunts down the last of the Infinity Stones he needs to restore balance to the universe.
Brolin delivers a fully fleshed-out performance behind layers of motion capture, as the cost of Thanos’ life mission has consequences that impact every one of our major characters. Sure, we know that The Snap doesn’t really kill our favorite heroes, but that doesn’t prevent Infinity War from succeeded at tugging on our heartstrings while keeping us at the edge of our seats.
2. ‘Avengers: Endgame’ (2018)
At three hours, Avengers: Endgame feels like Marvel has packed in an entire season’s worth of story and character into one summer blockbuster. The end result is a drama hiding out in a comic book movie about gods and talking, machine gun-toting raccoons. It’s a movie about grief and loss — about how the two work to help us pick up the pieces just in time to remember what it takes to be a hero, or — in these heroes’ case — what it means to be human.
All of the Marvel hallmarks are there: Comedic beats so funny, you’re laughing into the next scene; exceptional special effects grounded on the backs of relatable characters and great actors; and a generous and earned subversion of expectation. You’ve never seen a comic book movie — or summer movie — like this before, as directors Joe and Anthony Russo and screenwriters Stephen McFeely and Christopher Marcus literally reach back through the Marvel Cinematic Universe to tie up over a decade’s worth of stories and characters while also setting up Marvel’s future. Nothing is left on the table, and everyone gets the exact amount of whatever bit of business they need to deliver a satisfying — and heartstring-tugging — conclusion to this part of the MCU. Scarlett Johansson, Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, and Chris Hemsworth deliver some of their best work in the series — especially MVP Johansson. At the end of the movie, fans will only be disappointed that they can’t immediately rewatch it.
1. ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ (2014)
“On your left.”
It’s hard to imagine that this is the Russo Bros’ first action movie or first Marvel movie; they pull off Winter Soldier with such a deft and effortless handling of the material that it feels like they’ve spent a career doing this.
Winter Soldier is Marvel’s riff on Three Days of the Condor, a spy movie/conspiracy thriller that finds Steve Rogers on the run from the very government he has vowed to serve. With SHIELD revealed to have long been infiltrated by HYDRA at key levels of power, the only people Cap can trust are Black Widow and Falcon (Anthony Mackie), as the three embark on an action-packed road trip to get answers, stop the bad guys, and save the world. Along the way, Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) resurfaces to complicate the hell out of Cap’s efforts to prevent three Helicarriers from wiping out potential threats (sort of like Marvel’s version of pre-crime).
From Nick Fury outrunning and outgunning a HYDRA kill squad during a high-speed car chase, to Cap’s iconic elevator fight, Winter Soldier’s set pieces are exceptional. Some of the best the genre has ever produced. Arguably, Marvel has yet to top them.
