If you asked 100 Marvel fans to rank their top ten Marvel movies, you’d probably receive 100 different answers. Asking geeks like us to agree on a ranking: like the strongest Marvel heroes or strongest Marvel villains, is an excellent way to start years-long Twitter beef or end up putting on the Incredible Hulk Hands to punch it out in the company parking lot.
Ranking the Marvel movies is more dangerous than using the Mind Stone to build yourself a robot boyfriend. But here at CultureFly, we live on the edge! Here are our Top 10 Best Marvel Movies to geek out over.
#11. Iron Man
It’s hard to imagine that in 2008 when Iron Man came out, no one was sure that this massive, interconnected comic book franchise would work. But then one billionaire playboy philanthropist known as Tony Stark, played brilliantly by Robert Downey Jr., made himself a super suit, became one of the most popular Avengers Marvel characters, and the whole world changed.
#10. Thor: Ragnarok
Thor: Ragnarok is probably the most fun of all the movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with no shade to Dark World or Love and Thunder. The third solo Thor movie is just an absolute blast from start to finish. If we could only list our favorite parts…What’s that? It’s our blog and we can do whatever we want! It’s time for some rankings within the rankings!
Our favorite parts of Thor: Ragnarok:
- The Incredible Hulk doing a header onto the bridge in the climactic fight.
- Cate Blanchett’s epic deadly goddess headdress.
- Chris Hemsworth referring to Hulk as a “friend from work.”
- …then getting beaten up by Mark Ruffalo while Tom Hiddleston cheers.
- When Led Zeppelin hits.
#9. Logan
Spoiler alert: not every entry on our list is from the flagship MCU.
Logan brings to life the Old Man Logan limited series from the Marvel comics, in which an aged Wolverine traverses a post-apocalyptic landscape where mutants have been all but wiped out. It’s brutal and violent, just like Wolverine, but also has a big heart, just like Wolverine.
Plus, tiny feral super-powered children paired with a grumpy father figure will always make for excellent storytelling and some of the best Marvel movies. (We see you, Laura. And we love you).
We’re still dying for that post-credits sequence that will finally introduce Wolverine to the proper of Marvel films.
#8. Guardians of the Galaxy
The best soundtrack in any Marvel movie? Check.
Vin Diesel doing a voiceover job where he only gets to say one thing? Check.
Drax explaining how nothing goes over his head because his reflexes are too fast, and he would catch it? Check.
Guardians of the Galaxy rocks, but we had to dock it a few points because of Peter Quill. We still can’t look at him without thinking about how he’s responsible for the death (albeit temporary) of half the living creatures in the universe (see the next section of this list).
#7. Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers: Infinity War is incredible… if you like ugly crying.
Yeah, we have a lot of feelings about this film, which makes it so incredible. Some excruciatingly beautiful (spoiler alert) highlights include:
- Half of everyone turns to dust, and it’s Peter Quill’s fault! We will never get over this!
- Loki’s murder
- Wanda is forced to kill Vision…only for it to mean nothing.
Okay, we…we need a minute now.
#6. Captain America: Civil War
The airport fight here recreates one of our favorite tropes from Marvel studios—those giant double splash-page brawls when a bunch of heroes find themselves at odds for reasons they should talk through but instead decide to punch out.
Later movies might have given us bigger and wilder spectacle fight scenes, but we still go nuts for Chris Evans and Spider-Man webbing up Steve Rogers’ shield.
#5. Captain Marvel
Three words:
“What’s a cat?”
Captain Marvel is the intergalactic buddy-cop action comedy we didn’t know we needed. The film follows the mystery of Vers as she uncovers who she truly is with Nick Fury by her side. So many scenes wrench our heartstrings and make us want to jump off the couch and cheer for the mighty and always marvelous Carol Danvers.
#4. Spider-Man: No Way Home
The best movie of Phase Four and box office hit, leaves us no choice but to rank the various actors who have strapped on (or grown) the web shooters in these Marvel films.
#4 – Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker
#3 – Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker
#2 – Tom Holland as Peter Parker
Wait, so who’s the best Spider-Man?
#1 – Miles Morales
#3. Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse
Apologies to Tom and Zendaya and their voyage through the multiverse with Benedict Cumberbatch, but our guy Miles Morales did it better. The animation, the music, the style, and joy—Into the Spiderverse is everything.
Also? Spider-Ham. Nuff said.
#2. Black Panther
If you based your best-Marvel-movie rankings on Rotten Tomatoes, then Black Panther would be at the top. The film has a 96% Fresh rating, the highest of any MCU film, and was the first comic book movie to be nominated for an Oscar (RIP Chadwick Boseman.)
Black Panther is everything that a superhero movie should be. An imaginative setting, a cast that opens doors for who can be a superhero, thrilling action, and the kind of gray-area villain we cannot help but root for.
#1. Avengers: Endgame
The culmination of 15 years of Marvel movies edges out Black Panther for our top spot because it pays off nearly a decade of storytelling and gives everyone (and we mean everyone) a moment to shine. Watching the climax with live audience reactions still gives Marvel fans chills.
Avengers… assemble.
Put CultureFly’s Collectors Boxes at the Top of Your List
Ranking the movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is tough! Between the flagship MCU movies on Disney Plus and the TV show versions of the mutants/monsters at FOX, one list of ten doesn’t seem big enough. There’s just too much cool stuff to get in, which is how we feel about our CultureFly Collectors Boxes.
When we aren’t ranking our favorite superhero movies, we pick out the sweetest licensed merchandise to fill up our upcoming Black Panther and Marvel Avengers Collectors Boxes. Each Nerd Box is jammed with curated Marvel studios swag you won’t find anywhere else. Don’t miss out —these Collectors Boxes will be gone in a snap!
(Too soon?)
Sources:
- The Guardian. Iron Man. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/may/02/sciencefictionandfantasy.actionandadventure
- Rotten Tomatoes. All 29 Marvel Movies, Ranked by Tomatometer. https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/guide/all-marvel-cinematic-universe-movies-ranked/