33) Thor: The Dark World (2013)
MarvelWhen even Chris Hemsworth’s biceps aren’t enough to make a movie watchable, you know you’ve messed up horribly.
32) The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Remember when Edward Norton was the Hulk and then very suddenly not? Yeah, I still don’t remember what happened there? Was that ever explained? Is Norton okay?
31) Iron Man 2 (2010)
MarvelAt one point Mickey Rourke, who is some sort of trashy Russian hacker, attacks a car race. Not that far-fetched, I guess, but also not that enjoyable, either.
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30) Iron Man 3 (2013)
MarvelThe best thing to say about Iron Man 3 is that it was a little bit better than Iron Man 2.
29) Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
MarvelYears later, I still couldn’t tell you who Ultron is and what his age was. If there was any semblance of plot in this movie, memory of it has been pushed out of my brain in favor of about 30 billion superheroes hitting each other until I felt like I’d just gotten off a mildly dangerous carnival ride.
28) The Eternals (2021)
The Eternals is decidedly a non-Marvel Marvel movie. At times moody, triumphant, funny, and burdened with existential crises, you have to commend the great Chloé Zhao for managing to break through the happy-go-luckiness of the Marvel formula. Unfortunately, the end result is a bit unwieldy, with too many characters—and an astoundingly large amount of superhero space jargon—to let us truly fall in love with its story.
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27) Thor (2011)
MarvelA superhero movie posing as a cheap Lord of the Rings knockoff, Thor ended with a team of LARPERs fighting an empty CGI suit of armor.
26) Doctor Strange (2016)
MarvelDon't worry if you were too stoned to follow Doctor Strange. The movie looks good enough to make up for its indecipherable plot.
25) Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)
Giving Ant-Man the keys to Pandora's box is a big lift for such a tiny hero—and most of this trilogy-ending entry just breezes through he action, like hurdles in a race to the obvious finish. The ant family is charming, but we barely spend any quality, non-chaotic time with them in the Star Wars-like Quantum Realm.
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24) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
Sadly, what started as the best entry to the Marvel Universe was quickly ruined by trying too hard to make it bigger and better in the subsequent sequel. What a very Marvel thing to do.
23) Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)
We knew the Marvel Singularity would come eventually—the moment when all the callbacks, cameos, teases, and interconnected superheroing of it all would simply sink an MCU entry. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is it. Despite a brilliant, Sam Raimified third act, the overwhelming majority of Multiverse of Madness dumbs down its main players (save for one great America Chavez) into action figure levels, bickering in an empty-feeling CGI landscape.
22) Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
Marvel StudiosI hope you like hearing the term "quantum." Ant-Man's second entry has so much nonsensical techno-babble that it makes Star Trek sound like Steinbeck. Compared to Avengers: Infinity War, which came out a month earlier, Ant-Man and the Wasp is a breezy, inconsequential entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe that's a refreshing comedic detour in the franchise.
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21) Captain Marvel (2019)
MarvelBrie Larson’s Captain Marvel deserved a better movie. Although, this film managed to rewrite 50 years of comic book history to give the character the place she deserved, Captain Marvel is too focused on finding its place in the MCU films before and after it to really shine as a stand-alone movie.
20) Black Widow (2021)
Even though the pandemic zapped some of the hype away from Black Widow, the espionage thriller is a more than fitting sendoff to Scarlett Johannson's Natasha Romanoff. Plus, we want Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova in every single Marvel property going forward, please and thank you.
19) Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
MarvelIt's sad that the idea of Captain America punching a Nazi would probably be controversial if this movie were released today. At least this movie harkens back to a time when good and evil seemed clear.
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18) The Marvels (2023)
It's a bit of a bummer that you can't just walk into a Marvel movie anymore without doing your homework, because the action and on-screen chemistry in The Marvels is incredibly fun. Acting as a quasi-sequel to Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, and WandaVision, this promising all-female superhero team-up spends so much time wrapping up and teasing other story arcs that it can barely focus on its own.
17) Ant-Man (2015)
In one scene, Ant-Man shrinks down to a microscopic level and then Neil deGrasse Tyson ruins the movie magic by explaining how that’s not actually possible in science. If you close your eyes for that scene, it's a fun heist film about a guy who is the size of a bug.
16) Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)
Taika Waititi gets it. He just does! Few MCU directors have understood the assignment quite like the Ragnarok and Love and Thunder director, who knows that superhero movies should be fun. Case in point: Love and Thunder managing to wring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, and even Waititi (as our favorite rock humanoid, Korg) for every hilarious bit they're worth. The movie is the summer blockbuster of our dreams, blending the zingers with hammers and axes and lighting bolts and anything else worthy of a god's grasp. Somewhere along the way—when you least expect it, actually—Love and Thunder will smack you with an emotional blow you might not see coming. But you'll be happy it did.
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15) Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is the ultimate movie-theater movie. The action is especially sweat-inducing—which is saying a lot in the MCU. Simu Liu is an instant star. It doesn’t hurt to have the always-great Awkwafina in the mix, either. In Wenwu, Tony Leung brings to life a terrifying, yet somehow still big-hearted villain who stands amidst the greatest antagonists we’ve ever seen in a comic-book film.
14) Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
After impressively rebooting the character (again!) with Homecoming, Far From Home establishes Spider-Man as a worthy successor to Tony Stark and a capable new character to anchor this franchise after the conclusion of Iron Man and Captain America's storylines. With an impressive cast consisting of Tom Holland and Zendaya, Spider-Man's future in the MCU is bright. And he's only in high school!
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