The heroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) have overcome intergalactic villains, extra-planar sorceresses and whatever Christopher Eccleston’s rubber-eared baddie is supposed to be in Thor: The Dark World. But there is one force these caped champions cannot match: public apathy.
Nowhere has that indifference been more evident than in the run-up to Thunderbolts – a $200m team-up flick starring Florence Pugh, David Harbour, and Sebastian Stan as a rag-tag bag of anti-heroes– which has been met with a super-human yawn ahead of its release this week. Arriving to a non-existent fanfare, it is expected to post an underwhelming opening US box office of $70m – that’s nearly $100m less than Jack Black’s A Minecraft Movie.
You could say the backlash against the MCU began in earnest in 2019 when Martin Scorsese famously declared superhero movies “weren’t cinema”. As one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his words carried weight. They were seized upon with glee by cineastes who’d been itching to write off the superhero genre as fodder for man-babies across the galaxy (female superhero fans always being written out of the narrative).
With all due respect, slamming the MCU was Scorsese’s biggest error of judgment since convincing Cameron Diaz to try an Irish accent in Gangs of New York. What he neglected to consider is the sheer thrill and escapism of a top-rank superhero film.
In dark times – or when you need relief from the sheer crushing weight of life being a bit rubbish – the MCU is the ultimate ejector seat. Stress, worry, a new Ed Sheeran single – for many of us, these trials of daily existence melt away when the cinema lights go down and someone in bright tights swings across the screen.
With that in mind, here is a countdown of the 10 best Marvel movies – from the perspective of someone who has watched the entire MCU multiple times (with the exception of series two of the very confusing Loki on Disney +). And yes, it is all massively subjective, so please don’t get your spandex in a twist about it.
10. Spider-Man Homecoming (2017)
Marvel had already introduced us to Tom Holland’s “What if one of the Inbetweeners was a superhero?” take on Spider-Man via an extended cameo in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War. But that was just an appetite-wetter for a charming official debut that is true to the optimistic spirit of the comic books and also introduces us to the feel-good power couple of Holland and his future fiancée Zendaya (as Spidey’s crush, “MJ”).
9. Black Panther (2018)
The late Chadwick Boseman is perfect as the stoical defender of the fictional African nation of Wakanda. He conveys wisdom and patience as he faces down his rebellious countryman, Killmonger (Michael B Jordan), while tackling the forces of colonialism and Western condescension. It’s just a shame that Ryan Coogler’s contribution to the MCU is so rushed and suffers from atrocious special effects, which make the climactic Panther vs Killmonger fight look like something from a mid-tier Commodore 64 video game.
8. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
After the era-defining Avengers: Endgame and Infinity War, there were understandable doubts about whether the MCU had the energy to keep going. But it answered the critics with a nifty kick to the solar perplex via the hard-punching Shang-Chi. The film is a love letter to 70s martial arts movies; it features fantastic action pieces and gives us – in Hong Kong action legend Tony Leung’s mercurial Xu Wenwu – one of the most underrated villains of the MCU.
7. The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Overshadowed at the time by rumours that its star, Edward Norton, had been a massive pain on set, in hindsight, The Incredible Hulk stands tall as a superior superhero outing. Beginning with Norton’s Bruce Banner already irradiated and prone to destructive tantrums, it skips the standard origin story and gets straight into the action. Norton is fantastic as Banner – a sensitive soul with a big green man inside his head, and a propensity to go into a tank-destroying rage when his temper frays.
6. Iron Man (2008)
In 2008, Robert Downey Jr. was widely regarded as a washed-up former addict, and Iron Man was a C-list Marvel hero nobody had heard of. But the first-ever MCU film of the modern era combines these two unpromising elements and creates a blockbusting storm. Downey Jr. is wise-cracking charisma on a stick, while the film’s biff-pow energy stands in welcome contrast to the Christopher Nolan Batman movies – then regarded as the gold standard for superheroes. Rockets firing at full throttle, Iron Man soars and takes big screen superheroes to dizzying new heights.
5. Avengers: Endgame (2019)
The concluding chapter in the MCU’s “Infinity Saga” is such a tour de force the MCU was stumped as to what to do next and spiralled into decline afterwards.
You can see why it was such a hard act to follow. There’s a self-aware time-travel plot (including references to Hot Tub Time Machine and Back to the Future), a vast Lord of the Rings-style battle at the end, and a heartbreaking coda in which eternal boy scout Captain America finally gets his happy send-off. In other words, it’s got everything that detractors love to loathe about the MCU: tongue-in-cheek dialogue, CGI-heavy action, and shock deaths carefully calibrated to tug the heartstrings.
4. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Until James Gunn’s first foray into mainstream superhero films, the MCU had been a lot of things – but never cool. That all changed with the opening scene of Guardians of the Galaxy, as Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord fires up “Come and Get Your Love” by Redbone and boogies his way into an alien lair. Yes, this would be another typically loud and quippy Marvel foray – but imbued with Tarantino-levels of attitude and snarky charm.
3. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
Action is great, but action plus conspiratorial paranoia is, it turns out, the perfect formula for a superhero movie. In his second outing as Captain America, Chris Evans excels as a Stars ’n’ Stripes hero chucked into the viper-pit of modern Washington, with its rogue’s gallery of conniving politicians and underground fascists. Plus, he and Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow have great energy as platonic best friends – Winter Soldier is at its best when it’s as much her film as his.
2. Thor: Ragnorak (2017)
One of the funniest action films of the past decade – and also a superhero caper as mind-blowing as “Immigrant Song”, the Led Zeppelin banger that soundtracks its big action scene. Director Taika Waititi has great fun with an uproarious romp that showcases Thor actor Chris Hemsworth’s comedic talents opposite Cate Blanchett’s perfectly judged pantomime villain, Hela, the Asgardian Goddess of Death. The crucial caveat is that, amid the many chuckles, Thor: Ragnorak never seems like it is mocking superheroes. The humour comes from a place of affection – resulting in the ultimate big-screen fairground ride.
1. Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Until Endgame, there had been a never-ending debate about why Marvel couldn’t produce a villain as engaging as its many heroes. But it achieves just that with Josh Brolin’s Thanos – a bone-weary tyrant determined to erase 50 per cent of all life from the cosmos, not because he revels in destruction, but because he feels it’s the only way to ensure everyone else’s survival by saving half the universe’s resources. In giving us a villain who thinks he’s the good guy, Marvel upturned decades of blockbuster tradition and delivered a film both epic and poignant – the action powered by Brolin and by the chemistry from Downey Jr. and Holland as mentor and protégé Iron Man and Spider-Man.
Thunderbolts is in cinemas on Thursday, 1 May
