My Marvel Rankings Through Phase 2
No need to grab your seats, class, this is just extra credit.
Now that Ant-Man has officially (and successfully) closed out Marvel’s Phase Two, I thought I was take a few minutes to pass along my personal rankings for everything released since Phase One. This includes both big screen and small screen. I will admit up front that there has not been anything that I flat out disliked, but I have definitely taken to some things more than others. So, without further ado, here is my list, ranking 15 through 1.
#15. Agent Carter
While I mostly enjoyed the Agent Carter run, I was by no means in love with it. It’s a decent show, but in my opinion, the weakest of the Marvel Studios products to date. That being said, I’ll still give season 2 (which I think they got) a chance.
#14. Iron Man 3
Initially, I was pretty hard on Iron Man 3. I wasn’t a big fan. It was hard for me to enjoy an Iron Man movie with, honestly, barely any Iron Man. It felt almost a little too “James Bond-y” for me. After a few repeat viewings I did find it more enjoyable, but it’s still fairly low on my list.
#13. Iron Man 2
Iron Man 2 was very similar to Iron Man 3 for me. My initial feelings weren’t so hot, but it grew on me more the more I watched it. What Mickey Rourke took away, the inclusion of War Machine and the performance of Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer added back in for me. Just didn’t add enough for me to go higher than 13.
#12. Thor
Now I honestly liked Thor. I loved the on screen portrayal of Asguard, the regal look and performance of Sir Anthony Hopkins as Odin and the job of Chris Hemsworth as Thor was a nice surprise. What took the cake for me here, however, was the arrival of Tom Hiddleston as Loki. He was flat out amazing. What took away from Thor for me was a story that might have been a bit too simple and Kat Dennings. I get that people like her, but all she did here was annoy me.
#11. Thor: The Dark World
This was pretty close for me. I went back and forth over which Thor movie to rank higher, as I enjoyed them both pretty equally. What ended up doing it for me was I felt the story for Dark World was better, and there was MUCH less Kat Dennings.
#10. Agents of SHIELD
Had thing been a ranking for the 2nd half of Season One into Season Two, this would probably be higher on the list. AoS started really, really slow, and it really wasn’t until Winter Soldier that it really kicked into gear. They almost stopped trying to make AoS it’s own entity and started writing the show to flow more with the big screen stories. That’s when the show got much better.
#9. The Incredible Hulk
I wanted to rank this a lot higher. I am one of the few people who feel this movie is well underrated. I am also one of the few who believes that Ed Norton should still be Bruce Banner and the Hulk, as I loved his portrayal. Loved it. It’s not that I don’t like Mark Ruffalo, I do, I just think Norton was better. I also liked the look of his Hulk more.
#8. Captain America: The First Avenger
The rankings of 8 through 4 are almost interchangeable, as I enjoyed them all on about the same level, but since its a ranking list, I have to choose. That leaves the Cap origin story at #8. Very much enjoyed this movie, I’m even ok that it was the origin story that most people hate to see. With this character, though, you have to have it. People coming for the first time would have no idea what “super soldier” means or what it was that made Steve Rogers who he is as a man. As far as Chris Evans goes? I can’t imagine anyone being better.
#7. Avengers: Age of Ultron
It’s weird to rank this down at #7 because I really loved this movie. The inclusion of the Vision, the creation of one of my favorite villains in Ultron. This movie had all kinds of things I had always wanted to see and for me, came through with them. However, it had to fall somewhere in the ranks, so here it lies.
#6. Ant-Man
The newest of them all. I know I initially said that Ant-Man ranked in my top 5 for Marvel products. Technically, if you go by just the movies, it does, but while including everything, it drops a slot because of my #2 choice. Ant-Man was a lot of fun and an overall excellent movie. Paul Rudd was surprisingly good as Scott Lang and Michael Douglas proved me to be wrong when I was upset about Hank Pym being an older man in the movie.
#5. The Avengers
Looking back at my ranking, it’s somewhat surprising to me to see this only at #5. That just shows what I felt about the 4 things above it. This movie was really just a pipe dream. For years people would talk about how amazing it would be to have this team on the big screen, how much fun it would be, but I don’t know that anyone thought it would really work. Enter Joss Whedon. When he was finished, we came away with the best “superhero team” movie there is. There is no fan alive who didn’t turn into a giddy 5 year old when they did the pan around shot showing the entire team, ready to a fight.
#4. Iron Man
The original. The one the launched Phase One and got the ball rolling. This movie was incredible. Yes, it was another origin, but so what. The handling of this origin was done so well, you couldn’t not love it. The first time they show the suit coming together, in full red and gold glory? Goosebumps. And as if that itself wasn’t enough, they bring in Sam Jackson as Nick Fury and talk about “the Avengers Initiative.” They had me immediately.
#3. Guardians of the Galaxy
This might be the biggest and best surprise on the entire list. I think most people, myself included, went into this one not having any clue about the Guardians. We went on Marvel’s reputation up to date and were not at all disappointed. Funny, action packed, even heartfelt at times. Guardians was an amazing movie and a fantastic experience.
#2. Daredevil
No, not THAT Daredevil, the Netflix tv show. As I write this, I’m currently on my 5th run-through. Yes, I loved the show THAT much. This is definitely the grittiest and most violent thing they have produced, and it was perfect. A complete unknown (at least to me) showed up and became Matt Murdock before my eyes. The writing was perfect, the little references here and there to things like Electra, or the Avengers? I honestly watch it over and over to see if I missed any. Vincent D’onofrio as the Kingpin, a stroke of casting genius. Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson is the surprise casting for me. He was just great. I can not wait for Season Two.
#1. Captain America: the Winter Soldier
The only thing that could top Daredevil for me was Winter Soldier. I can’t even explain how much I loved this movie. It’s even hard for me to write what parts of the movie were my favorite because I loved it all. From the cast to the story to the setups for the future. To me, this was the perfect Marvel movie. I can watch this any time it plays and usually do. I have this sneaky suspicion, however, that in a few months, Captain America: Civil War might just knock this down to #2, but we’ll have to wait and find out.
So that’s my list, my opinions. Feel free to let me know what you think, maybe even give your own rankings. I fully expect the Boss to give his opinion. That’s right. Called you out, Boss.
Until next time…
Class dismissed.
