Marvel Movie Madness

[yovargas]

In preparation for the giant cinematic mega-event that is Infinity Wars, I have been gradually rewatching all 17 (!) of the previous Marvel movies to date. Because I know how deeply everyone is interested in my opinions on such things, I present to you now my super duper official rankings of all of these movies, listed from my personal favorite to least favorite.

Captain America: Civil War (THE BEST)
The Avengers
Thor: Ragnarok
Iron Man
Spider-Man: Homecoming
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Guardians of the Galaxy
Doctor Strange
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Black Panther
Thor: The Dark World
Captain America: The First Avenger
Thor
Ant-Man
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Iron Man 3
Iron Man 2 (THE WORST)


And now - bring on Infinity Wars!!

[Primula Baggins]

I notice you don't list Wonder Woman? Why not, yov?

That aside, I've only seen about half of these, but I would definitely rate Black Panther near if not at the top. So gorgeous, so funny, so groundbreaking. Yes, a superlong fight (yawn)—but there was enough wit, humor, and gorgeous visuals in the rest to keep me pulled in.

Maybe near, because Civil War is awesome. I have yet to see Spider-Man: Homecoming, but I thoroughly expect to like it; I love Spider-Man (he irons his costume!), and what I've read about this film is that it has a real sweetness to it. Rare in superhero movies.

And Iron Man (I) was great. Haven't seen the rest. I get worn out by superhero movies; the giant battle sequences do very little for me, whereas a quiet, well-written scene where we see inside these characters brings a film straight to the top for me. I'm much more interested in what possessing unimaginable power does to a person than in which one of a particular pair would win a bash-fest.

I guess I like flawed characters. Yet I still love Captain America . . . because his perfection is his flaw.

Oh, and Wonder Woman would definitely be near the top for me as well.

[Alatar]

Wonder Woman is part of the DC Universe Prim!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I haven't seen a single movie on that list! (Though I do want to see Black Panther at some point.)

[yovargas]

Prim lost some serious nerd cred points with that WW comment.

(But if you are curious, I would probably put Wonder Woman maybe one or two notches above the first Captain America. While I loved Gal Gadot and Chris Pine's characters and their wonderful chemistry, everything else about the movie was fairly average/ordinary to me.)

[Primula Baggins]

Ooops! As penance, I shall immediately go to the Closet of Shame and kneel on beans.

(Does show what a far weaker movie list DC has.)

And, nerd cred? I was reading Wonder Woman comics when I was five. However, by the time I was seven I had already decided Marvel was better—they had more humor in them, and the superheroes seemed more like people.

Also, just pointing out that as a published science fiction author my nerd credit limit is about as high as it can get, thank you. *tilt* *sniff* *flounce*

[Inanna]

*Wafts in the wind left by Prim’s flounce*

[yovargas]

Silly me, how could I ever doubt your nerd credentials!
All hail the queen!


Now I'm off to see some people get Avenged!

[yovargas]

My initial review of Infinity War:

[Frelga]

No spoilers!!!

[Primula Baggins]

*Wafts in the wind left by Prim’s flounce*

And give us some spoilers, yov!

[Frelga]

[yovargas]

SPOILER ALERT - Thanos teams up with Voldemort to finally kill C3PO!!!!

[Frelga]

I know you are joking, yov, because Disney doesn't own Voldemort.

I don't think I could rank all the MCU movies...

#1 The Winter Soldier. In MCU!Steve Rogers, Marvel has created possibly the most tragic hero of all time who nevertheless stands for hope. Plus, Redford is magnificent and so is Jackson.

Black Panther is a very close second, and I wouldn't fight anyone who said it was better, although they would be wrong.

#3 was a tough call but I had to go with Agent Carter. It's TV, sure, but it's peak TV and peak Marvel.

#4 GOTG2. Baby Groot! That opening fight!

#5 Ragnarok

#6 Iron Man. It's a bit dated in the way every character's life just revolves around Tony. Later movies make supporting character come to life. But Tony Stark is an excellent character, someone who comes to being a hero from the opposite direction than Steve Rogers.

#7 Avengers. My biggest complaint about the MCU is the instant antagonism between Cap and the Iron Man that was never really resolved. We got robbed of one of the most iconic, complicated friendships in the comics, and that in turn robbed the Civil War from much of its emotional impact.

#8 The First Avenger There's a lot to like here, but I'm glad I saw The Winter Soldier first.

#9 Spiderman. Michael Keaton's Vulture was a top-notch villain, up there with Pierce, Loki and Killmonger.

#10 Civil War

After that, I find it hard to rank these movies because I love something about each, even the weaker ones. Ant Man has the Three Wombats, the tank keychain, and Thomas the Tank Engine. IM2 introduces the Black Widow who gets the best action sequence. Thor has Loki and Darcy Lewis. Age of Ultron has Steve Rogers tearing logs apart with his bare hands against his abs, and I'd happily buy a ticket and watch just that for two hours.

[yovargas]

I really, really wish I had like the Black Panther more but I found so much of it to look and feel surprisingly bad. That waterfall set where they have these two important, dramatic scenes is incredibly fake looking, looking so very, very obviously like they're on a badly lit movie set. And the action scenes are by far the worst filmed and choreographed of any of the Marvel movies. And so much of the special effects are way off, far worse than almost any other Marvel movie. That train fight scene just looks so terrible. That kind of stuff is very distracting to me and consistently pulls me out of the moment.

[mild black panther spoilers]

And then there's how the movie's plot doesn't really start until Killmonger shows up at the border of Wakanda halfway through the movie and you could cut the majority of what came before that with minimal impact to the story. And that, I'm sorry, I just have a very hard time buying into the idea that an extremely advanced nation like Wakanda would honor a transition of power happening the way it does in the movie. It makes the Wakanda people look very stupid, IMO, which is the exact opposite of what they're going for.

[mild black panther spoilers]

Great premise with a great cast but to me, the execution of that premise was rather poor.

IM2 introduces the Black Widow who gets the best action sequence.

Thank you for reminding me that there are more than zero scenes I enjoyed in Iron Man 2.

*********

So when are you going to get around to seeing Infinity Wars?

[Frelga]

A couple weeks, probably. If there's still any point by then, because people who think they are cryptic with their spoilers really aren't. *pouts* (it did take more than one person being cryptic but please don't spoil it more)

Black Panther - the train scene was a disappointment, more so because they set it up so well. But the honoring tradition thing I don't see as a problem. It is an important theme that Wakanda achieved technological miracles while remaining true to cultural roots, and there is a price for that, too.

That's what sets the MCU apart from most action movies, IMO. There is a price for everything, and it's heavy and real, and the heroes choose to go on anyway. No one gets to brood in angst, and then kiss the next girl and ride into the sunset.

IM2 is stupid. It took someone pointing it out to me, but the arc reactor is just a battery, there's no reason why it had to stay inside Tony's chest to power the magnet or whatever it's supposed to be doing. But Hammer and Vanko are both fun to watch. Natasha is ye olde action babe at first glance, but she is redeemed by how absolutely brutal she is. She's a trope-aware character, IMO.

[yovargas]

But the honoring tradition thing I don't see as a problem. It is an important theme that Wakanda achieved technological miracles while remaining true to cultural roots, and there is a price for that, too.

Honoring tradition in general, sure. But that particular tradition is so ridiculous how it is portrayed in the movie, that clearly any society that tried to honor it would be in a constant state of upheaval and chaos. Which, hey, look at that, is exactly what happens.

But Hammer and Vanko are both fun to watch.

Oh God, Hammer might be the only character in the MCU that I find even more annoying than Ultron.
But that Black widow fight scene is one of the very best of all the movies. So freaking cool.

[yovargas]

But Hammer and Vanko are both fun to watch.

Oh God, Hammer might be the only character in the MCU that I find even more annoying than Ultron.
But that black widow fight scene is one of the very best of all the movies. So freaking cool.

[Frelga]

That's exactly how monarchy works, though.

Eta: I mean, by a new ruler either being born to a previous monarch or taking over by force. Not by the Black Widow taking out a dozen goons while Happy is having a much more realistic fight with one.

[yovargas]

That's exactly how monarchy works, though.

Eta: I mean, by a new ruler either being born to a previous monarch or taking over by force. Not by the Black Widow taking out a dozen goons while Happy is having a much more realistic fight with one.

I prefer the latter method.