Everyone has their own personal ranking of the superhero films that make up theMarvel Cinematic Universe.
In fact, a group of EW writers updatedour official MCU ranking.
A lot of factors go into rankings like these, from personal taste to the popularity of certain characters.
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But sometimes it’s nice to apply a semi-objective system to such things.
This is one of those Marvel products peddling self-aware detachment as a defining narrative strategy.
It feels less like a feature film than a meme somebody made about anAnt-Mantrailer."
Ben Rothstein/© Marvel Studios
sensation, the one that takes you back to the thrill of the original comics."
The new film sprawls, often with more spirit than reason.
There are five shock-and-awe action sequences when three would have sufficed.
Michael Gibson/Universal
Even the film’s rimshot-ready one-liners have the overkill desperation of a stand-up scared of bombing.
The movie is so wholesome it could almost have beenmadeduring World War II."
[Chris Hemsworth] can’t help that he looks the way he does.
Chris Hemsworth as Thor.Everett Collection
Plus, it’s hard to get a word in edgewise when Tony Stark is firing off quippy one-liners.
And on those terms and those terms only it’s a triumph."
And for the most part, this super-sized mash-up works better than you’d expect.
© Marvel 2015
Comic-book heroes, they’re just like us!“C.N.
anxious about its own feminism.
but those memories are locked away from her current Kreeward existence.
Marvel Studios
Until very late in the film, she’s a bystander to her own hero’s journey.”
“Is this real?”
and clanging third-act showdowns.
Chris Evans in ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’.Jay Maidment / Marvel Studios
(The trend really started back in 1989, whenTim Burtonturned a saucer-eyed noodge likeMichael Keatoninto Batman.)
(The film finally solves the Hulk problem: He’s a lot more fun in small doses.)
The second smartest thing they did was to allowTom Hiddlestonto let it rip as Loki.
Zade Rosenthal/Disney
Yet there’s a hell-bent vitality to its paranoia.
(We’re a long way from the blunt-force shenanigans of HYDRA here.
)Doctor Strangeis thrilling in the way a lot of other Marvel movies are.
Marvel Studios
It’s eye candyandbrain candy."
to a high one-liner shine."
At just under two and a half hours, that leaves a lot on the table.
Chris Evans in Infinity War.MarvelStudios
(There were audible sobs in the theater at an industry screening.)“L.G.
He speaks in incongruously formal King’s English (‘I need sustenance!').
(ImagineThe Dark Knight Riseswith less apocalyptic hot air.)“O.G.
Brie Larson as Captain Marvel.Chuck Zlotnick/©Marvel Studios 2019
Here, that risk pays off big-time.
The film’s a giddily subversive space opera that runs on self-aware smart-assery.”
They’re a family, sure.
Jay Maidment/Sony Pictures
But you got the sense that, like most families, they didn’t alwayslikeone another.
And[Michael B.]
Related:How the women ofBlack Pantherinspired generations with their fierce performances
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Ikaris (Richard Madden) and Sersi (Gemma Chan) in ‘Eternals.'.Sophie Mutevelian/Marvel Studios
Xochitl Gomez, Benedict Wong, and Benedict Cumberbatch in ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’.Marvel Studios
Natalie Portman and Chris Hemsworth in ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’.Jasin Boland/Marvel Studios
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Marvel Studios
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Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange.Marvel Studios
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‘Avengers: Endgame’.©Marvel Studios 2019
Scarlett Johansson in ‘Black Widow’.Marvel Studios
Simu Liu in ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’.Marvel Studios
Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Holland in ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’.Courtesy of Sony Pictures
Okoye (Danai Gurira) in the Midnight Angel armor in ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’.Marvel Studios
Tom Hiddleston as Loki and Chris Hemsworth as Thor in 2011’s ‘Thor.'.Zade Rosenthal/Marvel Studios
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‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ has begun shooting.© Marvel 2014
Marvel Studios
Matt Kennedy/Marvel Studios 2018
