All the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, ranked

The Marvel Cinematic Universe just keeps growing. It's been more than a decade since Robert Downey Jr. donned a metal suit and introduced the world to Iron Man in 2008, and since then, the MCU has become one of the biggest and most successful film franchises in history. Part of what makes the series so much fun to follow is its constant evolution: Installments range from moody character studies to gleefully zany space operas, stretching from distant worlds to the down-to-earth streets of Queens. Here, EW takes on the Hulk-sized task of ranking each entry.

Look, there's a reason why no one talks about (or really remembers) Marvel's Louis Leterrier-directed second movie, and that's because it is mostly forgettable and not great. Sure, the sequence with Edward Norton's Bruce Banner Hulk-ing out in a Brazilian factory and ripping those men to shreds in the shadows is pretty rad, but the fun ends there because the rest of the movie is a slog that lacks Marvel's trademark zippiness and spirit (to be fair, this was the second MCU movie, so they were still figuring some things out). It's frankly insane that William Hurt's Thunderbolt Ross is still around. -Chancellor Agard

The second entry in the God of Thunder's trilogy is not the worst film in the MCU for one reason, and one reason only: that bonkers third act. Yes, this film covered up Christopher Eccleston's face underneath some truly hideous Dark Elf makeup; yes, it poorly handled the dead-then-not-dead Loki's arc; and yes, Natalie Portman couldn't stand returning after this installment, but look: hijinks with the Aether! Portals to other worlds! A frost monster scampering around Earth in a mid-credits scene just because! It's the precursor to the weirdness to come, even if the film itself is, objectively, a complete mess. -Shirley Li

Whereas director Jon Favreau and star Robert Downey Jr. had some freedom in the first Iron Man movie, the same can't be said of the second, which had to not only tell a good Tony Stark story but also set up, well, the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. Naturally, the result is an overstuffed mess that includes, but is not limited to: exploring Tony's daddy issues; a half-hearted spin on the iconic "Demon in a Bottle" arc; two villains; the introduction of Black Widow; and Nick Fury, who is mostly there to talk about "problems in the southwest region." That being said, Iron Man 2 is a watchable mess, because it's clear everyone involved was having fun. -Chancellor Agard

After the zippy and quippy fun of the original Avengers: Age of Ultron feels like the crash after a sugar high. There are a few brief, shining glimpses of the chemistry and character moments that made the first movie such a joy-like the early party scene where the team tries to lift Thor's hammer-but Ultron is otherwise a slog. Director Joss Whedon has spoken before about behind-the-scenes fights with Marvel, and those creative disagreements are evident in Ultron's disjointed action scenes and messy tone. -Devan Coggan

Taika Waititi's Thor: Ragnarok charted new territory for both the MCU and Chris Hemsworth's blond, hammer-wielding himbo Norse god. The director got delightfully weird and downright hilarious in his first Marvel outing-but where was that magic the second time around? Waititi's return for Thor: Love and Thunder lacked everything that made his first film such a raging success, despite having all the components for a potential hit: Natalie Portman's return as Jane Foster! Christian Bale as the wrathful God Butcher! Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie as King of New Asgard! But the movie falls short in every regard. None of the jokes land. The first few scenes undo everything that had been set up in Avengers: Endgame, from Thor's beer belly to the promised "Asgardians of the Galaxy" team-up. Jane's transformation into Mighty Thor is skipped over completely, and her arc ultimately ends in a frustrating disappointment that makes you wonder why they even brought her back in the first place. We have no idea what Russell Crowe was attempting with his portrayal of Zeus (seriously, what was that accent?!). And don't even get us started on those screaming goats. -Sydney Bucksbaum

Sorry to Scott Lang, but now begins his uninterrupted stretch of this list. The third Ant-Man movie tried really hard to break the mold of the previous two by a) putting its shrinking hero in a sci-fi story instead of a heist caper and b) making its plot integral to future MCU storylines, rather than a distracting diversion. Fans of Rick & Morty-style sci-fi may enjoy the delightfully inhuman residents of the Quantum Realm and the timey-wimey antics of new supervillain Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors), but squeezing in all that complicated CGI world-building alongside the continued emotional development of the Lang family resulted in a misshapen movie that cratered at the box office - kick-starting a year of shaky superhero films that has everyone wondering what the future of this genre will look like on the big screen. -Christian Holub

History will remember Marvel's least flavorful spin-off as "the one without the Wasp." All the Michael Peña in the world can't rescue a bland techno-heist thriller. Corey Stoll plays a glowering boss baddie, the kind of villain even Iron Man 2 couldn't take seriously. The horrid digital-botox prologue feels like an explosion at the Unnecessary Cameo Factory. Has there ever been a recent ex-con as agelessly cute as Paul Rudd? Do we really need a "wacky" Marvel movie when even the straightest-edge Marvel movies are comedies? This is a wrong that shall never be Wrighted. -Darren Franich

Despite being a fun Ant-Man sequel with enjoyable set pieces and the addition of The Pfeiffer, the film suffers from a lack of focus. There's no real core conflict: Is the film about Scott grappling with fatherhood and heroic duty, or is it about Hope living up to her family's legacy? Is it about two people learning to work in tandem, or is it about a woman who can't stop phasing through matter? Wasp was a welcome breath of fresh Marvel air after the grim finale of Infinity War, but that's not enough to justify its entry into the top 20. -Shirley Li

Thor 1 isn't so bad, I told everyone. Let's rank it higher! Patrick Doyle wrote the MCU's most romantic orchestral score. Director Kenneth Branagh films Asgard with swoopy-silly grandeur, Peter Jackson gone to summer stock. Natalie Portman (post-Oscar) and Chris Hemsworth (pre-everything) have an old-school goofy dynamic. Here's a fish-out-of-water rom-com wedged into, um, a spy thriller about aliens in New Mexico. Why was this whole movie in the desert? Why does it take half the movie for Tom Hiddleston's Loki to fully break bad? Why is S.H.I.E.L.D. always so boring? Why, Hawkeye, why? Nevermind, No. 24 sounds right. -Darren Franich

Having perfected their formula over the course of 13 years and 25 movies, Marvel Studios decided to change things up and do their version of a DC superhero story. Ikaris (Richard Madden) certainly looks the part, from his blue spandex and heat vision to the literal Clark Kent joke that gets lobbed at him. But the concerns of Eternals are also loftier and more cosmic than Marvel's typically down-to-earth storytelling. Instead of overcoming their fatal flaw and defeating their shadow-self, the titular Eternals are reckoning with their relationship to God and the grand arc of human history. The ambition is admirable, but Eternals also bites off a bit more than it can chew. Even a two-and-a-half hour runtime isn't enough to get viewers invested in eight brand new characters. Sersi (Gemma Chan) is ostensibly the film's protagonist, but she gets totally overshadowed by the supporting cast (especially Brian Tyree Henry's Phastos) and her much-ballyhooed sex scene with Ikaris isn't much to write home about. -Christian Holub

Few MCU heroes are as arrogant or insufferable as Benedict Cumberbatch's Stephen Strange. As a result, the character has since worked far better in group settings where he can act as a foil to Thor or Iron Man. But what else would you expect from a character shaped by Steve Ditko? The influential artist never had much interest in crafting pleasant people, but he could produce mind-blowing visuals that retain their power to this day. In that regard, Doctor Strange does its creator justice, from Tilda Swinton's trippy "Intro to Magic" dream-lesson to Strange's own timey-wimey confrontation with the living dimension Dormammu. -Christian Holub

More of a backdoor pilot for future MCU installments than a coherent movie in and of itself, the weakest Captain America film showcases the limits of the Russo brothers' cinematic style. The big battle between Team Cap and Team Iron Man exudes all the fun of mashing together your favorite childhood toys, but it'd be nice to have a backdrop that was just a little more visually exciting than a drab airport. Plus, the main characters' motivations are so thinly drawn that their radical actions pretty much only make sense if you buy the popular fan theory that Cap and Bucky are in love. -Christian Holub

Was anyone really clamoring for a new Spider-Man movie? No, but director Jon Watts delivered a fresh new take on the teenage webslinger anyway. Homecoming's joyful coming-of-age story jettisons some of the old clichés (no one needed to see Uncle Ben's death again) while still maintaining the personal elements that make Spidey so moving. It never delves as deep as some of Marvel's other, better installments. But in a cinematic universe where the stakes are always end-of-the-world high, Homecoming smartly keeps things small, following Tom Holland's Peter as he figures out where he fits in this world of heroes and villains. -Devan Coggan

The MCU's long overdue solo female superhero film lifts off with an excellent cast and an inspired 1995 setting-but doesn't quite soar. There are sterling character moments between Carol Danvers and her supporting ensemble (de-aged Nick Fury! Skrull leader Talos! Maria Rambeau! That cat!), but Captain Marvel struggles to figure out its titular character. (She does spend much of the film amnesic and confused, after all.) Marvel services fans with a bevy of delightful Easter eggs, but the film works better as an extended prelude to Endgame than as its own story. In other words, there's room for Carol to go higher, further, and faster. -Shirley Li

As it turns out, Iron Man's death was the best thing that ever happened to the MCU Spider-Man. Tony Stark's shadow sure hangs heavy over Tom Holland's second solo outing as Peter Parker, but without Robert Downey Jr. himself sucking up screen time, other characters have the space to flourish-most notably Zendaya's lovably sardonic MJ, who capably figures out Peter's secret identity all on her own.

And then there's Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal). Far From Home is a perfect fit for the 2019 zeitgeist, considering that everyone in it is lying about everything all the time. Is Quentin Beck's con even half as unsettling as the deception revealed by the so-called "good guys" in the second post-credits scene? Although much of it feels like a coda to Endgame, Far From Home manages to chart out some fascinating future possibilities for the MCU. -Christian Holub

Even under the best of circumstances, following up the first Black Panther was going to be a daunting task. (Just check out its spot higher up on this list.) Unfortunately, director Ryan Coogler also had to rebuild his planned sequel around the real-life death of star Chadwick Boseman. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever thus became a story about mourning - but piling so many fictional deaths (ranging from nameless soldiers and civilians to the queen of Wakanda herself) on top of the real one becomes emotionally hard to take after a certain point. Tenoch Huerta brings Namor, Marvel Comics' most venerable antihero, to life with charisma to spare - but Namor is in the movie because of his comic-book history with T'Challa, and his dynamic with Shuri (Letitia Wright) feels lopsided in Boseman's absence. Ruth E. Carter's costume designs are as vibrant as ever, but Namor's undersea kingdom of Talokan was quickly overshadowed by Avatar: The Way of Water. -Christian Holub

Opening night of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in New York City was the night of a thousand Wandas. Droves of Maximoff fans-men included-came to theaters in full Wanda drag to kneel before the altar of the Scarlet Witch, hoping to see her go full Dark Phoenix on Benedict Cumberbatch's newly demoted Sorcerer Supreme. Everyone else in the Wanda legion was supporting their queen from afar. TikTok became flooded with meme'd footage of Elizabeth Olsen and a voiceover saying, "We support women's rights-and women's wrongs!" Thus, a new gay geek icon was forged. Multiverse of Madness was half Doctor Strange sequel, half Wanda solo movie-especially after Olsen became a fan favorite through her Disney+ series WandaVision. It didn't speak too highly of the good doctor. Was Strange not enigmatic enough to headline his own movie? Aside from a spiraling Wanda, there was also an onslaught of high-profile cameos, which almost felt like fandom wish fulfillment designed to keep us entertained when Wanda wasn't around. (RIP to the Illuminati.) Maybe the Scarlet Witch's glowing red light was just too bright to be upstaged. Either way, Wanda comes out on top, her seeming death notwithstanding. We can thank director (and noted ally of cinematic witches) Sam Raimi in part. The Evil Dead and Drag Me to Hell filmmaker put his history of wacky horror on full display-winking zombie Strange and all. Who needs 3D when we have Wanda clawing her way out of the mirror dimension and then magically stitching herself back together? -Nick Romano

On one hand, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings has, arguably, the best fight sequences in the entire MCU. Marvel understood the assignment: if you're going to tell the story of a superhero whose main ability is that he's a kick-ass martial artist, the martial arts in the movie need to be up to snuff. There were practically shot close-corner combats, acrobatics down the side of a skyscraper (even if the environment was mostly CG), and fast-paced knife fights. On the other hand, Shang-Chi becomes an explosion of CGI madness by the end of it, going from a grounded real-world story about a man fumbling with his baggage of being the son of an internationally infamous and near-immortal warlord, to a full-on fantasy epic with dragons, otherworldly soul-sucking demons, and Michelle Yeoh's magical land of enchantment. Though it was imagery the MCU had never introduced before, it was still the same VFX-heavy MCU formula rearing its head. On the other other hand, that CGI madness brought about a new fan-favorite cutie pie, Morris, a.k.a. the headless winged "chicken-pig," a.k.a. Shang-Chi's Baby Yoda. All the movie's flaws are worth it for Morris. Protect Morris at all costs. -Nick Romano

Black Widow's biggest problem is timing. This movie should've come out years ago, not in the wake of the titular super-spy's death in Avengers: Endgame. Nevertheless, there are things to enjoy in the action film. In most of Scarlett Johansson's appearances in the MCU, Natasha is the most skilled fighter on screen and never gets too badly hurt. In Black Widow-which was directed by Cate Shortland-we see Natasha get wrecked like never before, taking brutal blow after brutal blow (and landing many of her own). At times, it reminded me of how Tony's suit kept malfunctioning and falling apart in Iron Man 3. That physical vulnerability was also matched emotionally, as the film unpacked her relationship with her American-esque family-Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz), Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), and Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian (David Harbour). While Black Widow has been touted as Johansson's long-awaited vehicle, Pugh undeniably steals the show with her poignant yet often hilarious performance. If anything, Black Widow gave us a reason to be excited for Yelena's future in the MCU. -Chancellor Agard

The MCU is filled with promising debuts - but satisfying endings aren't as common. James Gunn's third and final Marvel movie is the rare finale to actually feel like a finale, an ambitious trilogy-ender that says goodbye to the galaxy's favorite space weirdos. Gunn smartly turns the spotlight on Rocket Raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper), delivering a poignant and emotional storyline about grief and reckoning with past traumas. But the film's biggest flaw is that it attempts to do too much: Not only does Gunn have to wrap up his own trilogy and juggle plotlines from Infinity War and Endgame, but he also introduces even more characters, like Will Poulter's golden-skinned himbo Adam Warlock. Still, bonus points for casting Chukwudi Iwuji as the menacing High Evolutionary, one of the oddest and most unsettling Marvel villains in recent memory. -Devan Coggan

Could Tom Holland's third solo outing be judged as both pure nostalgic fan service and a direct rip-off of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse? Sure, but that doesn't take away from the fact that Spider-Man: No Way Home is one of the best Spider-Man movies of all time. It doesn't matter if you were spoiled on every "surprise" cameo or not, because each reprised role delivers a long-awaited powerful narrative or emotional payoff that didn't even seem possible before the powers that be at Sony and Marvel made this specific corner of the multiverse happen.

The film also deftly addresses and fixes criticisms that Holland's Peter Parker was more Iron Man protégé than friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, first by giving him deeper connections to Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin and Alfred Molina's Doc Ock (the film's MVPs) and ultimately by resetting Peter's entire world. The script leaves nothing on the cutting-room floor, and it's clear from the heartbreaking final montage that Holland is only just getting started as the titular web-slinger. -Sydney Bucksbaum

Marvel's most ambitious crossover event and most ambitious disintegration of said crossover event, Infinity War delivers in both devastating and groundbreaking fashion. How many comic-book films would dare to leave their audience in a lurch, even for just a few minutes? (Thanks for the call to Carol, Nick Fury!) Anchored by a surprisingly poignant motion-capture performance from Josh Brolin, the film, for the most part, pulls off the tricky balance of delivering sensational sequences and a catharsis that grounds the unimaginable stakes. Plus, it somehow juggles dozens of characters, including new ones. (Hi there, giant Peter Dinklage!) Infinity War is super-sized, sure, but it's never overstuffed. -Shirley Li

All credit goes to James Gunn's MCU debut for reintroducing a more colorful palette back into the superhero genre. Chris Pratt's Han Solo turn is still magnetic as hell, though Star-Lord's caddishness hasn't aged super well. Parts of this movie do seem dimmer in retrospect. At the time, its playful personality and outside-the-box casting distracted everyone from the reality that it's basically a standard team movie-The Avengers in space, a particularly apt analogy during the climactic battle against (sigh) another army of nameless drones. The first Guardians made Marvel Studios feel okay with getting weird, but a more confident sequel was required to maximize the concept's strange potential. -Christian Holub

The Mandarin twist alone would've landed Iron Man 3 in the top 10, but that's just one aspect of this movie's delightful irreverence. Whereas Iron Man 2 was focused on world-building, this film's interest in the greater universe mostly begins and ends with Tony's PTSD after the events of Avengers. Instead, director Shane Black spends most of the movie taking the piss out of the entire Iron Man concept. Just look at how many times the suit fails, either because it malfunctions, falls apart, or gets blown up. Sure, Tony goes through yet another rebirth cycle, (as does every hero in their origin story film), but the film's cheekiness makes that trope feel fresh and fun once again. -Chancellor Agard

Here's an aerospace bro with big Malibu house and a stripper pole on his private jet. His existence midpoints Entourage and Blackwater and every freakish tale ever told about Silicon Valley billionaires. (He flirts with reporters, subordinates, soldiers, everyone.) But Downey, Gwyneth Paltrow, and director Jon Favreau found a screwball rhythm that was wry and fast-talking. So our hero's a delightful cad, and then his own missiles explode him toward tin-man redemption. A couple solid set-pieces, a lame evil corporate villain, a limp Act 1 origin story, and the perfect scene where Pepper performs open-heart surgery on Tony complete the picture. -Darren Franich

Here we are, as Cap and Bucky foretold all those years ago: the end of the line. Our Avengers assemble for one final face-off against Thanos, bringing some heroes' stories to a close and teasing others that are just beginning. But even with a marathon three-hour runtime and approximately 1 bazillion cameos, Endgame is remarkably light on its feet, zipping throughout time for a story that not only pays tribute to the films that came before but casts them in a new light. Sure, the Russo brothers lay on the quips and fan service a little thick, but after 11 years and 21 movies, they're allowed to indulge. The result is a closing chapter that's both goofy (Thor! Dabbing Hulk! America's ass!) and deeply moving (Cap! Nat! Tony!!!!), a fittingly epic conclusion to an epic franchise. -Devan Coggan

There's a reason Phil Coulson carries around those Captain America trading cards. Steve Rogers could easily come off as a bland or naïve Boy Scout, but Chris Evans imbues the scrawny-wimp-turned-super-soldier with an irresistible, optimistic charm-from the moment he declares that he doesn't like bullies. Sure, First Avenger hits a lot of the familiar origin story beats, but it also takes the time to explore its protagonist's war-torn psyche and investigate exactly what it means to be a hero. Plus, it introduces one of the MCU's most brilliant and capable female characters: Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell). And ugh, that ending! It's no wonder audiences everywhere decided that we'll follow Cap to the end of the line. -Devan Coggan

The decade's best film about star wars and star treks. Goldskinned eugenicists pilot drone armies from a Riefenstahlian video arcade. Bounty hunters honor their dead with a fireworks space fleet. Writer-director Gunn loves all his far-out space nuts, excavating poignance for Michael Rooker's ruminative Yondu and Karen Gillan's Frankenlimbed Nebula. Kurt Russell's Ego is a chill dudely despot, quoting '70s rock to explain why he murders girlfriends and eats his children. Oozing snake-oil charm, Russell's the closest the MCU comes to a Trump analogue-unless, Tony Stark?-and Ego's all-consuming narcissism quietly targets a nerd generation raised to believe the universe was built for them. Unexpectedly Gunn's final franchise statement, Guardians 2 is a funny-sad ensemble ramble disguised as a green-screen epic, the only Marvel movie so far that doesn't feel made by committee. -Darren Franich

Anyone who's ever picked up a Marvel comic knows that the whole fictional universe revolves around one location in particular: New York City. So what better place to fight off alien invaders in a battle that would go on to define the following decade's worth of blockbusters? The battle of New York had personality in a way that no previous MCU installment had; here you can see Thor blast Chitauri dragons with lightning from atop the real-life Chrysler building. These characters have New York in their souls, making midtown Manhattan the perfect setting to cap off a movie about people from different walks of life bickering and fighting before learning how to work and live with each other.

The MCU will never be able to replicate the feeling of seeing The Avengers for the first time, and neither will anybody else. At long last, the joy of reading comics-and following the intersecting adventures of characters who lived separate lives but could come together as needed-had been replicated on screen, thanks to director Joss Whedon's masterful storytelling and the supergroup cast's unexpectedly dynamic chemistry. No wonder every studio executive apparently walked out of The Avengers intent on creating their own interconnected fictional universe. Every attempt to replicate the magic has brought diminishing returns (R.I.P. the Dark Universe), but hey, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right? -Christian Holub

When Winter Soldier was released in 2014, it felt relevant in a way other MCU films had not: It repainted S.H.I.E.L.D. as a national security organization that used its intelligence against its own, and it told a story that, critics observed, was about the military-industrial complex and national leadership gone bad-themes that rarely appear in bombastic, colorful comic-book movies. But that's why the film works so well: It's a white-knuckle, high-octane spy story told through a superhero lens, with a deeply affecting character-driven central conflict. ("Who's Bucky?") The film feels real and contemporary, and it opened doors for the MCU to be more than just a collection of origin stories and epic team-ups. In his second solo outing, Cap teaches us that protecting what we believe in is just as important as protecting our home, whatever that may be. -Shirley Li

How in the Nine Realms did Thor-a bland, long-haired jock set to inherit his daddy's empire-become one of Marvel's most interesting and likeable heroes? Director Taika Waititi deconstructs the Norse god by putting him through Hel(l) and stripping him of his homeland, his hair, and his hammer. As a result, Chris Hemsworth's Thor feels more human than ever before-and a whole lot funnier. Waititi's nutty neon space opera is the goofiest, most delightful entry in the MCU. And if that wasn't enough, Ragnarok also boasts Tessa Thompson as the sword-swinging badass Valkyrie. And Jeff Goldblum as the preening king of a trash planet. And blatantly anti-colonialist themes that probe how a child can reckon with their parents' bloody legacy. And multiple battle scenes set to Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song." And "Get Help." And Waititi himself as a soft-spoken revolutionary rock monster!!! What more could you want!!!!!!!!!! -Devan Coggan

Ryan Coogler's stunning 2018 film raised the bar for Marvel movies. After making his debut in Captain America: Civil War, Chadwick Boseman finally took center stage as Black Panther, along with an exceptional cast of immediately compelling characters; from T'Challa's smart-alecky genius sister Shuri (Letitia Wright), to the steadfast warrior Okoye (Danai Gurira). It helped that the world of Wakanda was beautifully rendered and immediately welcoming to all audiences, too. However, the film never becomes too taken with this idealistic country and even questions its place in the world (what is its responsibility to the African diaspora?), which opens the film up to explore real and imperative issues about race, social change, and power. The movie grapples with these difficult issues and recognizes that there aren't easy answers.

Furthermore, Black Panther features Michael B. Jordan's Erik Killmonger, the franchise's best villain who runs away with the movie on the rhino. Unlike most baddies, Killmonger has a point (Hey, maybe Wakanda should use its powers to right years of racial injustice around the world?), and more importantly a profound impact on the titular hero. In the wake of Boseman's death in 2020, his legacy as T'Challa and the film's impact have only grown.

At the end of the day, though, what helped push Black Panther past Thor: Ragnarok, our other contender for the No. 1 spot, was the movie's cultural impact. It not only made tons of money, but "Wakanda Forever" took on a life of its own. And, of course, it won three Oscars for Best Costume Design, Best Score, and Best Production Design. While awards don't necessarily equal quality, it does say something that this film carried such weight that even the traditionally anti-superhero Academy couldn't ignore it. (Bonus points: There isn't a single Infinity Stone in sight.) -Chancellor Agard