Movie/TV Ranking: The Marvel Cinematic Universe

Things have been crazy this whole year, but particularly these last two months. It feels like someone challenged 2016 to get crappier and it was like, "You sure, bud? Okay, I'll be unleashing hell over the time we have left together."

So, I want to write and think about something lighter. Enter the MCU ranking I talked about last time!

I'll start with TV shows because it was a little easier to rank. Slight spoilers!

9. Agents of SHIELD S1

*condescending John Oliver voice* ... cool.

IDK, the start of this series was just too slow for me. It's a good thing the MCU was all the hype when this came out, because that and some of the more interesting characters present were what made me plod through this and actually go on and watch S2 and S3.

8. Agent Carter S2

Was this still from Season 2? I don't remember lol

Maybe it's how rushed this was since it wasn't getting renewed, but it just didn't have the same life that Season 1 gave me. No Angie is a big downer, as well.

7. Daredevil S2

~triumvirate~

I liked the concept of this - Elektra, The Hand, the clash of ideologies between Matt and the Punisher, but in the end it just seemed to drag on and on. Part of it was that I was finding Matt incredibly dull, preachy, and annoying toward the end. The way he treated other characters, especially Foggy, just rubbed me the wrong way. #TeamAnyoneButMattTBH

6-5. Agents of SHIELD S2/S3

HOW DO I LOVE MOST OF THESE CHARACTERS

I'd put this higher on the list if only the Netflix shows weren't that good. Tbh, I regularly recommend AOS to Marvel fans because these seasons are SO GOOD. It's everything everyone wanted it to be and more - a spy thriller, lots of action, lots of comic book things, tie-ins with the MCU. I was always on the edge of my seat, always hungry for the next episode. I haven't been able to catch up with the latest season yet, but I hope I'll have time soon. As it is though, these are some really solid seasons and I definitely recommend them.

4. Daredevil S1

6 reasons to watch Daredevil ;) HAHA

This changed everything! The gore, the grit, the everything - and all from this baby ickle Mattie, with the big brown eyes and fluffy hair. How does Charlie Cox manage to be adorable and frightening at the same time?! What I loved most about this series was the balance between Matt's Daredevil adventures of repeatedly punching a dude to death, and somehow being able to work within the law as well, and joke around with Foggy etc. The lack of this balance was what made Season 2 kinda meh for me.

3. Agent Carter S1

ANGIIIIIIE

PEGGY. I was so freaking thirsty for this show, and it didn't disappoint. It was everything. From Mr. Jarvis to Mrs. Jarvis to Dominic Cooper coming back as young!Howard Stark. Angie! Peggy beating people up to the tune of a Captain America radio drama! Shoving misogyny where the sun don't shine ♥ This show is everything, and I wanted more. Needed to see Peggy interact with a young Tony Stark, training a young Nick Fury. Oh my god. So much potential, wasted.

2. Jessica Jones

THIS WHOLE EPISODE TBH

This show killed me. I had to take month-long breaks between episodes 1 and 2, and 2 and 3, just to psych myself up for it. It wasn't even a horror show, really, it just dealt with themes I personally found incredibly disturbing. I had to calm my mind down before going to the next one because I was getting paranoid about what I was watching. But to have that kind of effect on a viewer is a great thing, especially since they go on to get so many great scenes and themes and messages in there in the end. So great.

1. Luke Cage

/sobs into handkerchief with holes

I literally watched this series twice in one go, because my dad watched first episode and got hooked, and demanded we watch it regularly even if I had just finished it. Haha. No regrets though, it even got better the second time around. The plot! How they dealt with race and racism! A bulletproof black superhero! I mean, this is the prime freaking time for this show. Not to mention the solid musical performances in every episode. An incredibly strong villain in the form of Cottonmouth (he was so good, Diamondback turned out to be a bit of a letdown, tbh), as well as Mariah Dillard. ACK. And Misty!! And my smol bean Shades!

Shoutout to Long Live the Chief, which I was OBSESSED with after episode 5! Go watch it!



Movies now! This was a bit trickier.

My method for this originally was to think about the movies chronologically and then rank them as I go along. So I judged the next chronological movie against the movie that preceded it, and so on and so forth. But that failed when I couldn't choose one over the other, so I started an Excel grading sheet based on the following criteria: Storytelling/Plot, Character/Development, Relevance in MCU/Overall Memorableness, and Emotions Elicited. I agree with the final results, so here we go! In Ascending Order!

14. The Incredible Hulk

😱😱😱

I tried watching this several times but it just never stuck. I don't know. Maybe I'm missing something, or maybe it's because I watched it post-Ruffalo. Either way, this is 14th! If I could rank Terrence Howard down here, I would do that too. (WHOMP, there it issss.)

13. Thor: The Dark World

IA, Jane.

I don't rank any of the Thor movies very highly. I love Chris Hemsworth as Thor, but the character just seems vaguely two-dimensional to me. Fun to have around as comic relief, but without much depth. In this movie specifically, I don't even really remember much except for the Aether and Dark Elves. It plays an important role in the MCU overall, but in the absence of that, this was just... not an interesting movie on its own. Just didn't stick!

12. Iron Man 2

U DID TONY

This was actually an okay movie (FIGHT ME ON THIS), but it just ranks low overall. Sequels tend to rank lower because they don't have the novelty that the original/first movie possesses, but the whole arc reactor and new element story arc was actually an enjoyable one for me. (Or maybe I'm just Tony-biased, lol. (But it's in 12th place so I'm not THAT biased.))

11. Dr. Strange

For a good part of the movie, I thought his name was Mordor and people were just saying it with a British accent. LMAO.

Again, an objectively good movie that happened to rank low after I tallied the scores. I stand by this though, mostly because I didn't connect too strongly with the character himself. Stephen's character is basically a rehash of things Marvel's done before, and better, ~magic aside (read: Tony Stark). Not taking the comics into consideration, the movie just read like Stephen being quippy and detached and eventually taking on responsibility, which is nice and stuff, but ... eh. If I had to write a fic about him, for example, I wouldn't know where to begin or how he would speak. Good visuals though - blew my mind when I watched it, so it ranks a bit higher for that.

10. Thor

;)

I actually mostly enjoyed Thor. Tom Hiddleston was at his prime (and I didn't yet have a fandom-based reason to hate Loki), Jane as a scientist was fun and new, and it was easy enough to follow and get into. I liked the sincerity Chris Hemsworth brought to the character - he somehow grounded a literally larger than life character. That's really what made the movie work. Still, it lacked overall emotional attachment for me so it ranks 10.

9. Iron Man 3

TONY

This was a little better than Iron Man 2 for me for the same reason it's worse for other people: it focused more on the Man part of Iron Man. I could watch and re-watch that whole montage of Tony doing science via grocery store items for days. This was the first step in trying to add depth to Tony's character by focusing on his PTSD (which was ignored eventually by everyone else THANKS FOR THAT FANDOM smh) and his personal issues and strengths, and I really enjoyed watching that! Still, it lacked a bit of heart overall, with Tony's emotions just going right to that painful edge, but lacking any sort of resolution or follow through. The Mandarin fake-out didn't annoy me though, just for the record.

8. Avengers: Age of Ultron

If this is always the end result, I see why Tony wanted to fight Steve more.

I don't think this movie is nearly as bad as (Tumblr) fandom makes it out to be. Sure, Bruce/Nat kind of blindsided us after all the Clint/Nat hints, but it wasn't like that was all there was to it. We got the Party Scene (best scene and will continue to fuel my headcanons for years to come), The Barton Farmhouse and of course Steve and Tony doing the wood chopping scene, and a whole new Avengers lineup at the end. Exciting times! In the end though, it still lacked the breathing room to have the characters' relationships develop naturally (e.g., Steve and Tony fighting instead of showing they're actually getting along on the same team SMH), so it ranks 8th.

7. Guardians of the Galaxy

everything is right with the world

Top half! Guardians probably ranks higher in most other peoples' lists, but this felt somewhat abstract for me when I first watched it. I liked the humor and the songs and Chris Pratt's abs, but I felt disconnected from the movie just because of its scope. So many new creatures, planetary names, etc. Still, it was a solid, fun movie, and a breath of fresh air to have an ensemble movie as the beginning of a new title. I am Groot!

6. Ant-Man

Always hilarious.

This remains for me as one of the most watchable movies in the MCU for people who aren't MCU fans. It's funny, it's charming, it has a supersuit, and it has Paul Rudd. You don't really need much more than that. Ant-Man was probably the movie I was least excited for, given its premise and the whole Director controversy surrounding it, but it turned out to be one of the better movies in the MCU. And Luis's narration parts never get old.

5. Captain America: Civil War

-me

OKAAAAY. I was going to put this lower, but it ranked very highly on all my criteria. I realized I probably only wanted to rank it lowly because of how they treated Tony - but the thing is, this is the Tony movie incarnation I've been looking for. Struggling mentally but still trying to do good by the world, having his issues poked and prodded and being able to see below his armors - the one that's even more potent than his literal Iron Man armor. I liked how this pit the characters against each other, though I don't think the conflict was all that conflicting in the end, LOL. I'm going to stop talking about it now, because I always just end up being salty over it.

4. Captain America: The First Avenger

/sobs at pureness

I was going to rank this lower, but it just scored so high. The more I thought about the movie, the more I remembered how much it grew on me even if I only watched it on DVD (and I mean actual DVD - my sister bought all the phase 1 DVDs when she saw how crazy I was over the Avengers movie). The scene where Steve throws himself over the grenade will ALWAYS be one of his defining moments, and it will probably always make me cry. That, with his love for Peggy, his friendship with Bucky and the Commandos, and the heartbreak he faces in the end... this is a weirdly good movie. It's not SUPER memorable, but it's one of the better ones while you're watching it. Also: Chris Evans. In any form. YES.

3. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

/expires

I'm on Team Iron Man, but I can't deny the beauty of the Captain America trilogy. What a stark (heh) contrast between how I ranked IM2 and 3, lol. CATWS blew my freaking brains out. I remember openly gaping when I watched the Zola scene for the first time like... Wait, is this actually happening? It was fiction but it felt surreal even for me as a viewer. The whole movie was like Steve Rogers Reacts To... because it was basically just him being himself and reacting to crazy external conflicts (so what's new? RME jk I shall strikethrough this salt). He always knew where he stood, even in the face of Bucky, and that's what makes him such a great character. Of course, add to this the heartache of seeing Bucky again, of getting a piece of his life back... Sigh. Poor Stevie. And he'd moved on at the end of AOU too! Was everything you told Tony a lie?!

2. Iron Man

THE LIP LICKING THE EYE MOVEMENT THE ALMOST 4TH WALL BREAK everything about this PERFECT omg

Boy, did this movie change me. I wasn't one for superhero movies before this came along. I still remember sitting through the end credits. I didn't know about the post-credits scene, I was just in shock over how good the movie was. I wasn't a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist but I related to Tony's struggle so personally even back then, I wanted to write odes to him, haha. His character was just unlike anything I'd ever seen before, and RDJ of course just plays him so perfectly. It was all just a match made in heaven.

1. The Avengers

♥♥

Because what else could it be? Iron Man got me interested, but it was The Avengers that got me hooked. I watched this movie six times in the cinema, and I wasn't even a Marvel fan then. I screamed every time the Hulk jumped off the building to leap at the Chitauri in mid-air, I wept inside during the money shot of the six of them together, I was just... blown away. It's hard to think of the world pre-Avengers movie, when shared universes were unheard of in the context of movies that could stand alone (barring Harry Potter, which is based on a single book series with one overarching plot, so I mean). I loved absolutely everything about this movie. The dialogue, characterizations, the plot. I can recite it to you right now. The Tesseract has awakened. It is on a little world, a human world...

... Sorry, Steeb.

Yuri On Ice review coming next week when the series finishes!