I love The Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it is one of the most popular and long-running franchises of all time. Which is very valid, for the most part. Avengers: Endgame grossed over $1 billion for a reason. People love these films, and that’s because they bring some of the most iconic superheroes to the big screen in ways they never have, and tell stories that really connect to people (mostly).
Audiences—comic book fans and general audiences alike—have become extremely invested in the Marvel heroes and villains, which has led to the ongoing success. Even when it’s had its lows, mostly as of recently, the franchise has never had a series-killing movie. Which ones are the best of the best, though? It’s hard to say objectively, but I can tell you mine. There may be some hot takes in here, which I understand, but I’d like to think I know good and bad movies when I see them, for the most part.
37
‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ (2022)
Image Courtesy of Disney
I could be crazy for this, but I think Thor: Love and Thunder is one of the worst Marvel movies ever made. There is so much here that was absolutely fumbled, especially as a sequel to Thor: Ragnarok. It feels like after the success of the third Thor film, director Taika Waititi may have gotten a bit too much directorial freedom (which, yes, is possible), and nobody telling him no allowed for some of the worse ideas in this flick to get through.
Whether it be the horrible visual effects work (to no fault of the artists themselves, but Marvel Studios for rushing them), the rough script, the underuse of Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher, or the butchering of Jane Foster’s (Natalie Portman) cancer plot line, there is little to love about this movie. The cancer plot really affected me. As someone who has a parent who’s had cancer twice, I think this plot did such a disservice to Jane’s story and wasn’t handled with any seriousness or grace. It might have worked for some, which is totally valid, but it left me, personally, with a bad taste in my mouth.
36
‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ (2023)
M.O.D.O.K., played by Corey Stoll, bursts through an energy shield in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.Image via Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Of all the projects to be not too far above Thor: Love and Thunder in quality, no one would have expected the one that was supposed to set up the next Thanos (Josh Brolin)-level big bad. With Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania being the first real big introduction to the villain variant of Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors), you’d think there’d be a lot more effort placed into this one.
The previous Ant-Man movie struggled, but no one could have expected the quality in which this movie would come out. Like Thor: Love and Thunder, the visual effects are terrible in this one. Marvel Studios’ tendency to overwork and rush their visual effects artists really screwed this movie over. The plot was so half-baked that it’s a chore to attempt to get through. The only real upside to this movie is Jonathan Majors’ performance.
35
‘Thor: The Dark World’ (2013)
Christopher Eccleston’s Malekith in Thor: The Dark WorldImage via Walt Disney Pictures
Clearly, the Thor franchise has always struggled a bit in the MCU. After a first film that was extremely underrated (more on that later), the sequel was one of Marvel’s first true disasters. Before this, there were some stinkers, but Thor: The Dark World really made headlines for being a true punch in the face to the franchise.
There is little-to-no color grade, the writing is boring, the villain is a joke, and, like their fourth movie, they totally underused the villain actor, the legendary Christopher Eccleston. It represents all the negative stereotypes that people have regarding the Thor (Chris Hemsworth) character. This truly was the knife in the heart of the serious tone direction for the Thor movies.
34
‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ (2018)
Paul Rudd as Ant-Man and Evangeline Lilly as The Wasp in Ant-Man & The Wasp.Image via Marvel Studios
After the awesome first Ant-Man movie, the quality of Ant-Man and the Wasp proved something many already (including me) thought: the greatest parts of Ant-Man were born of Edgar Wright‘s previous drafts of the film before Peyton Reed came in and helmed the movie. In Ant-Man, it is very clear which scenes were taken from which director’s vision.
While there is some cool stuff in Ant-Man and the Wasp that takes inspiration from the better parts of the first film, it loses pretty much all of its charm. Sure, it’s funny at times, but that doesn’t save it from being an all-around useless feeling movie. It also had the major setback of being released after Avengers: Infinity War.
33
‘Black Widow (2021)
Natasha (Scarlett Johansson) and Yelena (Florence Pugh) touch foreheads with emotion in Black Widow.Image via Marvel Studios
I think everyone can agree that Black Widow is a movie that needed to be made far before it actually came out. Aside from the fact that this movie has all-around bland writing outside of the sisters’ bond, the character arc for Natasha Romanoff falls a bit flat, because she’s already canonically dead by the time Black Widow came out.
As I stated, though, the relationship between Natasha and her sister, Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), is written well and instantly made Yelena a beloved character in the MCU. She now exists as one of the best characters in the universe, and that all began here with Black Widow. Had this movie come out earlier, and had some more effort been placed into it.
32
‘Captain America: Brave New World’ (2025)
The Red Hulk catches Captain America’s shield in ‘Captain America: Brave New World.”Image via Marvel Studios
Look, I am not afraid to say that I can say with utmost certainty that I believe that Bob Chapek being given the position of Disney CEO is what led to the MCU’s “downfall” (it wasn’t as big of one as people say, though). His “quantity over quality” mindset led to pretty much all of the company’s issues post-Avengers: Endgame. Thankfully, Captain America: Brave New World was the last project made under Chapek’s reign, but that also means it struggled from the same issues all of the other Chapek-era projects did.
Captain America: Brave New World is a very mid-tier MCU film. It isn’t horrifically bad by any means, and even has some really great moments, but that doesn’t get rid of the bad parts of it. However, when the movie is good, it’s very good. I mean, who can say they didn’t grin like wild when Captain America (Anthony Mackie) literally surfed on a missile? Not to mention, the big Red Hulk reveal/twist would have actually been way more effective had the marketing not spoiled almost every moment of the sequence. The extensive reshoots also didn’t do them much good either, as it’s very obvious that this is three-fourths of a film.
31
‘Eternals’ (2021)
Eternals MCU MovieImage via Disney+
There has not been an MCU movie with the mass amount of potential as Eternals had. Directed by the genuinely amazing director, Chloé Zhao, Eternals has all the building blocks of being an astounding film. With a cast unlike any other, eye-bulging visuals, and awesome visual effects, this project could have been so much more.
Aside from all of this, though, Eternals struggles in multiple areas that drive a knife through its chest. The pacing is pretty all over the place, with the movie hopping through time at rates that don’t allow the viewers to sit in moments with characters where they feel they should. So much happens across the canonical history of this movie that it could have been split into three. They simply tried to do too much in too little time. Chloé Zhao deserved so much better.
30
‘Captain Marvel’ (2019)
Image via Marvel Studios
I won’t lie, I really don’t like putting this one here. Not only do I not want to give validity to haters who hate Captain Marvel for all the wrong reasons, but there are a lot of good aspects of this movie. It struggles more than it strives, though, unfortunately. Maybe it is because this was Marvel Studios’ first foray in making a female-led superhero movie, or because they simply didn’t care enough. Regardless of why, Captain Marvel struggled critically.
Like I said, Brie Larson‘s debut MCU project has haters (she herself does, too) who hate on it for the dumbest reasons. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t valid reasons for this movie to have rougher sides. They seemed to be so scared to incorrectly write Captain Marvel that they made her have pretty much no arc or character flaws. A character needs to have inherent flaws to have a good arc, but they dropped the ball on that here.
29
‘The Marvels’ (2023)
Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani), Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), and Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) looking up in The Marvels.Image via Marvel Studios
Guys, I truly am sick of the amount of hate this movie gets. Yes, it’s not amazing, and there is some hate that is fully warranted, but the same haters who hated Captain Marvel for all the wrong reasons were back in full force when it released and gave it a rough reputation right off the bat. It’s not a truly terrible film. At the end of the day, it’s not even near perfect, but The Marvels is so much fun and improves upon what was lacking in Captain Marvel.
Carol Danvers has a genuine character arc here, and it’s written pretty well. The dynamic between the three protagonists is very cute and fun. These three, thanks to the conflict they face with their powers, also bring some of the most unique action choreography in the entire MCU. I would dare to say that The Marvels could even be considered a little underrated.
28
‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ (2022)
Actor Elizabeth Olsen as the Scarlet Witch, grimacing while performing magic in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of MadnessImage via Marvel Studios
I know the Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) stans may have my head for this one, but I’m trying not to write with bias, especially because one of my favorite directors sat in the director’s chair for this movie. I’m willing to bet that the quality of the project isn’t majorly Sam Raimi‘s fault, though, as Marvel Studios’ forceful creative hand is felt all over the film. Regardless, Raimi’s directorial style is still massively present in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and it’s the biggest redeeming quality for me. It has some of the most tangible style in post-Avengers: Endgame MCU, and that sets it apart from the rest.
This movie is a great example, though, of all my issues with MCU storytelling (when it’s rough), with Wanda especially. I personally think the iconic witch has had some of the most half-baked character development in the entire MCU. Marvel Studios refuses to show how she gets to these major points in her life, and it’s even more present here. We end WandaVision with her being, well, remorseful for her terrible actions, but pick up Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness with her being a full-fledged villain. Another example I commonly note is Wanda and Vision (Paul Bettany) going from being close with romantic tension in Captain America: Civil War, to full-on lovers on the run from the government in Avengers: Infinity War. This second Sorcerer Supreme film suffers from this, and just has really rough pacing as a whole.