Over 15 years and 33 films, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has thrown countless seemingly insurmountable obstacles and more than a few apocalyptic events at their line-up of superheroes trying to save the world, the universe and reality itself. Their villains are at the head of all of this; crazed scientists, treacherous government agents, brutal alien warlords, amoral industrialists, gods and monsters and everything in between, an MCU villain can be so many things. Some were unfortunately the weakest elements in the movies they appeared in, being either generic, poorly served by the script or misjudged in their performances, while others ended up being memorable highlights even above the title costumed characters. 

There are often multiple antagonists in these superhero stories so we’ve tried to stick to one villain per MCU film. This is except where it’s the same antagonist carried over into a sequel film, and in cases where there’s more than one threat to our heroes. In these instances, we’ve focussed on the most active baddies or the masterminds of the various diabolical plots.

This ranking will be based on the level of threat the various bad guys pose to our supremely skilled and miraculously superpowered heroes, the diabolical creativity of their respective master plans and the sheer evilness of their actions. Spoilers ahead!

Follow @thefilmagazine on Twitter.

31. Malekith – Thor: The Dark World (2013)

“Look upon my legacy, Algrim. I can barely remember a time before the light.” 

A dark elf conqueror with a vendetta against Asgard for a defeat in ancient times, Malekith is reawakened and plots to snuff out the light across the universe (because his kind really like the darkness of the void).

A hugely distinct and memorable villain from the comics became one of the most boring to ever antagonise a superhero movie. Whatever Christopher Eccleston was trying to do with his performance after undergoing many uncomfortable hours in the makeup chair was lost in a brutally hacked film edit and an all-round po-faced determination to live up to the “dark” of the title.

Note: dark is not the same as interesting. 

30. Ivan Vanko/Whiplash – Iron Man 2 (2010)

“You come from a family of thieves and butchers, and like all guilty men, you try to rewrite your history.”

Whiplash is a Stark-hating, parrot-loving nuclear physicist/inventor with arc reactor-powered whips and an army of drones to carry out his revenge.

Mickey Rourke got a lot of jobs in quick succession as various shades of tough guy in this period. The Wrestler this is not, and he doesn’t exactly stretch himself as Ivan, offering a barely passable Russian accent and playing with a toothpick as a poor substitute for a more intricate characterisation as he plots vaguely defined Cold War-fuelled vengeance on Tony Stark and the American Military Industrial Complex.

29. Emil Blonsky/Abomination – The Incredible Hulk (2008)

“If I took what I had now, and put it in a body that I had ten years ago, that would be someone I wouldn’t want to fight.”

Abomination is an unstable British Black Ops asset who volunteers for a series of dangerous experimental super soldier treatments in order to capture the Hulk.

The Incredible Hulk worked best when it was Marvel’s answer to a Universal Monster movie, but one of its weakest elements was having Blonsky as its villain. Roth is fine, but he just wasn’t all that threatening, the character thinly sketched as a violent jerk with a superiority complex. When he finally transforms into his bony green alter ego Abomination for a CG smashathon in Harlem, it becomes almost impossible to care.

Recommended for you: Once More with Feeling – 10 More of the Best Remakes

28. Dar-Benn – The Marvels (2023)

“I always come back.”

Continuing what Ronan the Accuser started, Kree warrior Dar-Benn seeks to unite the two powerful Cosmic Bands in order to open portals across the galaxy to pillage resources from countless worlds to restore her dying planet of Hala and reassert her species’ dominance in the galaxy.

The problem with Dar-Benn is not her evil-for-the-right-reasons master plan or her relative threat level to our heroes (which is considerable considering that with space-magical enhancement she can hold her own against three formidable supes at once), it’s that there’s nothing else to her.

We needed more time for layers to come though Zawe Ashton’s broad, pantomimey performance and she too often feels like a retread of the kinds of villains we’ve seen in the MCU many times before, just a means to an end.

27. Ava Starr/Ghost – Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

“It hurts. It always hurts.”

The Marvels Review

A scientist’s daughter with an unnatural condition that causes her to painfully phase in and out of the physical realm, Ghost resorts to stealing Pymtech to survive.

Ghost is an admirable attempt to make something interesting out of a gimmicky physics-based villain. The character is let down not by Hannah John-Kamen’s engaging and tortured performance but by her essential irrelevance to the film’s main plot and lack of enough meaningful screen time. It’s almost like they only decided late in the day that Ant-Man and the Wasp should have an antagonist at all, and that may have been the wrong decision for this particular movie. 

26. Ronan – Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

“I don’t recall killing your family. I doubt I’ll remember killing you either.”

Ronan is a Kree fanatic who courts war and is gathering enough power to wipe the planet Xandar from the galaxy.

Ronan, with his war paint, samurai helmet and big hammer has a strong look, and thanks to Lee Pace he is given an imposing presence and a rumbling voice. But you’d struggle to claim he had much in the way of depth as a character. He wants a weapon to destroy a planet because because he’s from a war-like race and that’s about it, though Pace’s affronted expression and confused “what are you doing?” as Star-Lord dances in front of him as he’s trying to trigger an apocalypse is pretty memorable.

25. Darren Cross/Yellowjacket – Ant-Man (2015)

“Did you think you could stop the future with a heist?”

Ant-Man Review

Hank Pym’s protégé, ouster and successor at his company, Yellowjacket seeks to weaponise and sell Pym’s shrinking technology to the highest bidder.

Marvel has a lot of evil CEOs in its rogues gallery and Corey Stoll brings plenty of punchable arrogance to his performance as Darren Cross. He murders rivals and exterminates animal test subjects without second thought, seemingly motivated by Pym not trusting him with the secrets of his technology (though really it’s because he enjoys doing it). 

Cross does have probably the most gruesome villain death in the MCU so far, and it’s no more than he deserves.

“There was an idea…”

Said idea was different to almost every version of the big screen superhero seen previously. Rather than each costumed hero existing in their own sealed-off vivariums, what if they could all share one interconnected universe containing a single ever-evolving and expansive story?

Once the idea gained traction, billions of dollars, and many “phases” of franchise continuity, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) became the envy of every studio with a lucrative intellectual property to siphon and thus many attempts were made to replicate the success of the “Marvel Formula”.

Much like the James Bond series in the decades before it, the MCU is primarily a producer-led franchise, the ultimate mastermind behind the project being Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, though distinct directors like Jon Favreau, Joss Whedon and Taika Waititi have certainly left their mark on their respective entries in the ongoing series.

What keeps us (and wider box office audiences) coming back, aside from the ever-increasing levels of superhero spectacle and long-form storytelling borrowing liberally from 80-plus years of comic books, is the time you’re afforded to grow to love the characters and their relationships with each other, especially in the ambitious team-up Avengers movies.

In this edition of Ranked we at The Film Magazine are assessing every entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and because fans have very different opinions on the best, the worst and everything in between regarding this series, we’ve attempted to find a balance between average critical consensus and general audience reception, as well as genre innovation and the lasting impact on popular culture, to order all of them definitively from worst to best.

Ladies and gentlemen, for your consideration… Every MCU Marvel Cinematic Universe Movie Ranked.

Follow @thefilmagazine on X (Twitter).

33. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)

“A guy dressed like a bee tried to kill me when I was six. I’ve never had a normal life.”

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Review

The Ant-Man films are probably the most inconstant sub-series in the MCU, quality wise, but because the final chapter of their trilogy tries to go both big and small, it well and truly overreaches itself.

Pitting the Lang/Van Dyne family against Kang the Conqueror in the Quantum Realm, force of nature Jonathan Majors playing a fascinating villain isn’t quite enough to save Peyton Reed’s threequel from being just an eye-catching jumble of mismatched, tonally confusing ideas.

For Kang’s first, less maniacal appearance and the start of this whole Multiverse Saga, make sure to watch Season 1 of ‘Loki’.

32. Eternals (2021)

“We have loved these people since the day we arrived. When you love something, you protect it.”

Eternals Review

Chloé Zhao (Nomadland) is a great director, no doubt, but she was just not a good fit for the MCU in this story of space gods guiding humanity’s progress. Considering the usually grounded and singular vision of her work, this was a particularly crushing disappointment for most audiences.

The ambition and epic millennia-spanning scope of Eternals sadly did not pay off in this jarring, misjudged slog of a final product that couldn’t even be saved by a stellar and diverse cast. 

31. The Marvels (2023)

“Listen to me, you are chosen for a greater purpose. So you must go. But I will never let you go.”

The Marvels Review

The Marvels smartly builds a lot of its appeal around its central team-up of Carol Danvers, Monica Rambeau and Kamala Khan as their power usage causes them to swap places across the universe, but their found family warmth and oodles of charisma can’t overcome all the film’s flaws.

This needed more purposeful storytelling, a villain that doesn’t feel like a retread of what came before and more direct confrontation of the darker implications of the story. The musical elements will likely make an already decisive movie more so, but the MCU overall could do with some more audacious imagery like what Nia DaCosta does with alien cats.

Watching ‘Wandavision’ and ‘Ms Marvel’ through beforehand will certainly help you connect with two of the three leads that bit quicker.

30. Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)

“Whosoever holds these weapons, and believes in getting home, if they be true of heart is therefore worthy, and shall possess… for limited time only, the power… of Thor!”

Thor: Love and Thunder Review

Taika Waititi is the kind of distinct voice that gave the MCU a jolt in the arm when it was most needed, and he was vital in reinvigorating the Thor series, but the tonal balance and technical polish certainly felt off in 2022 release Thor: Love and Thunder.

Good performances from Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman and Christian Bale, and some memorable set pieces aside, Thor’s latest adventure battling a god-killer with his now superpowered ex-girlfriend Jane Foster at his side feels like too many mismatched stories smashed together.

Recommended for you: Taika Waititi Films Ranked

29. Thor: The Dark World (2013)

“One son who wanted the throne too much, and other who will not take it. Is this my legacy?”

The God of Thunder’s third film appearance tries to live up to its title with a story of dark elves trying to snuff out all light in the universe. Sadly, a late change in director – Alan Taylor taking over from would-be Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins – and extensive Loki-centric reshoots didn’t help an already disjointed film feel any less so.

Thor’s dynamic with his Earthbound friends is still funny and more Loki (shoehorned in or not) is always a good thing with Tom Hiddleston in the role, but the storytelling is inconsistent at best and Christopher Eccleston under heavy prosthetics as Malekith may be the most boring villain in the MCU so far.

28. Iron Man 2 (2010)

“The suit and I are one. To turn over the Iron Man suit would be to turn over myself, which is tantamount to indentured servitude or prostitution, depending on what state you’re in.”

The MCU’s first direct sequel went bigger and darker with Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark fighting a vengeful Russian inventor, a rival industrialist and potentially fatal health problems. Unfortunately, this ended up being a much less focussed, overblown and not all that compelling movie.

Scarlet Johansson makes her debut as Black Widow here, though she’s just a generic sexy spy at this point and not yet given the dimensions other writers would later bestow. The action is decent enough, but you wouldn’t lose out on much of you skipped over Iron Man 2 on your next MCU rewatch.

27. The Incredible Hulk (2008)

“You know, I know a few techniques that could help you manage that anger effectively.”

Lacking the clear intentions and boldness of many subsequent MCU movies, The Incredible Hulk is stylistically old-fashioned but works slightly better if you view this as a big-budget tribute to sympathetic monster movies (this one was made by Universal, after all).

A movie filled with false starts and one-off appearances (most obviously Edward Norton’s Bruce Banner would be recast with Mark Ruffalo for The Avengers in 2012), very little was carried over to the wider franchise right up until Tim Roth’s reappearance in ‘She-Hulk’ fourteen years later.

This is generally uninspiring stuff, with its most interesting man-on-the-run elements cribbed from the 1970s ‘Incredible Hulk’ TV show.

Recommended for you: Where to Start with Universal Classic Monsters

On the screen, Marvel Studios’ trusted output has been received positively by critics and audiences alike, the majority of its thirty feature releases being well received and worthy of their hype, even their so-called “calculated risks” being more often refreshing to their already established formula than detrimental to their overall output.

Cinema has been forever changed by the dawn of Marvel’s big screen dominance and old-school serial approach to storytelling, Disney’s newly ordained crown jewel inspiring every rival studio and aspirational production company to gobble up trusted IPs and set forth plans for so-called Movie Universes based around everything from fellow superheroes to famous board games, reinvented children’s cartoons to horror characters.

In this edition of Ranked, we at The Film Magazine are putting the world’s most influential film franchise under the microscope to compare every feature length Marvel release with one another to determine which MCU films are the best and which are the worst, judging each on artistic merit and cultural impact.

Follow @thefilmagazine on Twitter. 

30. The Incredible Hulk (2008)

To this day, Louis Leterrier’s 2008 MCU contribution The Incredible Hulk is the forgotten member of the family. And, while this isn’t necessarily this distinctly average film’s fault and is actually more to do with Edward Norton refusing to return to his role as the Hulk following strained relationships with both director and studio, as well as how the rights to the Hulk character are locked in a contract that limits Marvel Studios from telling a standalone story with Mark Ruffalo, a lot can still be said for how dated this film is – The Incredible Hulk playing a lot more like Spider-Man 3, Fantastic Four and X-Men: Origins – Wolverine than the later and much more tasteful Marvel Studios offerings to come in this list.

Recommended for you: Every X-Men Movie Ranked

29. Thor: The Dark World (2013)

The worst of a bad bunch of uninspired sequels, Alan Taylor’s Thor: The Dark World not only seemed absent of the comedy and much of the mythology of the original Thor film but it also hit at precisely the wrong time – that being between the much more highly anticipated Iron Man 3 and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and the year after the original The Avengers.

Thor 2 was generic in a Suicide Squad “angry swirl of evil descending from the sky for no reason” kind of way; a movie so uninspired Chris Hemsworth has openly spoken about how he almost quit the role because of it; a perfectly serviceable sequel (especially at the time), but one of little consequence or imagination that few get excited to rewatch – an MCU entry that time hasn’t been very kind to.

28. Iron Man 2 (2010)

The first Iron Man was such a huge success creatively, artistically, critically and financially for Marvel Studios that a quick-turnaround 2nd movie was demanded to bolster Phase One’s launch – a period in the history of the MCU that was a lot more rocky than many are willing to admit.

Iron Man 2 was a failure in all of the ways Iron Man was a success, apart from financially, offering bland and sometimes barely comprehensible moments of action, dialogue and character. As a result, Iron Man 2 fits right in alongside the likes of The Amazing Spider-Man as a very particular brand of cheesy and uninspired comic book movie that was made more to earn a quick buck than it was to fulfil any creative or artistic need. It has its moments – which movie starring Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man doesn’t? – but thankfully the MCU has proven itself to be better than this in its other phases since.

27. Ant-Man and The Wasp (2018)

Coming between Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame – ie, post-snap – Ant-Man and The Wasp was put in an awful position to succeed, the creative minds behind the film having to choose between embracing the actions of Infinity War or ignoring them altogether. They chose the latter (at least until the film’s final moments), but what fans wanted was something of an indicator as to what was to come in Endgame, or at least a taste of post-Infinity War’s MCU landscape, and the comedy-centred light-heartedness of an Ant-Man movie was an example of Marvel Studios not taking a minute to read the room.

More than that, Ant-Man and The Wasp felt scaled down from the original, its outlandish creative ideas brought into line with the wider MCU look and feel of things, making what seemed like a promising sequel to a moving and hilarious comedy one of the studio’s most formulaic and typically “superhero movie” releases to date – the “formula” not being necessarily bad, but certainly overplayed.

26. Eternals (2021)

Eternals Review

Eternals came with a lot of hope and expectation given the nature of the original material it was being adapted from and how it was the first MCU entry to be directed by an Oscar-winning director (Chloé Zhao). Ultimately, it proved too much of a mix of the trusted Marvel formula and director Zhao’s trademark directorial style, the clashes between action and existentialism forcing a disjointed rhythm in the filmmaking that made Eternals feel way longer than it was (which was one of the longest MCU films in history) and hit home way less effectively than anyone would have hoped.

As a product of the world’s largest production arm, Eternals was hopefully diverse from cast to crew, but ultimately this release had two authorial presences that seemed to clash on screen, this already troubling combination being amplified by its position in the MCU as a part of the studio’s fourth phase and thus responsible for a number of story elements and character introductions barely relevant to its standalone narrative.

25. Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)

Thor: Love and Thunder Review

Despite featuring one of the most empathetic and exceptionally-performed villains in Marvel Cinematic Universe history, Thor: Love and Thunder was a messy fourth instalment in the God of Thunder’s individual franchise, a film that flipped between tones as if at a loss at how to create both meaningful drama and laugh-out-loud comedy.

In comparison to post-2012 Marvel releases, the action was relatively poor too. Gone were the exceptionally choreographed sequences of the mainstream Avengers films or the differing styles of Black Widow, Doctor Strange and Shang-Chi, and in its place were bland and almost inconsequential battles repeated, a few moments of awe failing to rectify for a movie’s worth of oversights.

Thor: Love and Thunder is an enjoyable time at the movies. It will make you laugh and it does have some interesting moments, but these pros are simply too few and far between to make for a strong (or even meaningful) MCU entry.

24. Iron Man 3 (2013)

Adored by some and maligned by others, Iron Man 3 simply came about much too early, screenwriter-director Shane Black’s offerings of genre and trope deconstructions – most notably the choice to twist a genuinely fascinating villain into a trope-ridden stereotypical bad guy as a form of commentary – being things usually reserved for the dying days of a genre, not for one of its peaks.

This film was the follow up to The Avengers where Tony Stark had almost died, so Black’s smarts didn’t hit as they could have much later in the studio’s line-up – people wanted emotion and stakes, as well as suitable conclusions to character arcs, and Black’s work was seen to undermine that, the very strong work in several aspects of this film ultimately shunned to the background of a film dominated by a creator’s singular intention seemingly forced into the canon at the wrong time.

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One of the most popular franchises within the Marvel Cinematic Universe has long been Guardians of the Galaxy. Helmed by James Gunn, these operatic space adventures have been box office hits (totalling over $1.6billion worldwide) and fan favourites (an average of 89.5% on RottenTomatoes). Now however, the director is suggesting that this ragtag group’s third outing will be their last.

Speaking on Deadline’s Hero Nation podcast, Gunn stated:

“This is the end for us, the last time people will see this team of Guardians.”

While this doesn’t rule out future Guardians film, it does heavily imply that the team audiences are familiar with will likely come to an end.

“I want to give people the wrap up that they deserve for this story,” Gunn added, having directed and written the first two instalments in 2014 and 2017.

No story elements are currently known, but Gunn assures that the film will be a grand finale.

“It’s big; it’s so, so big and dark, and different from what people might be expecting it to be.”

The story will likely see the team deal with the consequences of Avengers: Endgame, which resurrected original member Gamora. Will Poulter (Midsommar; The Revenant) joins the cast as Adam Warlock, an artificial being created to destroy the Guardians.

Dave Bautista (Blade Runner 2049), who stars as Drax the Destroyer, has also opened up about the third film being the finale. Speaking to Marvel-centric podcast, Phase Zero, he says: “It’s our third film, we’re gonna wrap it up. And it’s been a hell of a journey with a few bumps. So, I’m looking forward to this, man. My cast and obviously the director, James Gunn, they’re like family to me.”

The Guardians films brought a lot of attention to Bautista from non-wrestling fans, and Drax allowed him to explore his comedic side as an actor. He adds, “This is kind of where my journey started. It’s come full circle and I’m looking forward to wrapping it up. And it’s bittersweet. I mean, I’ve been doing Guardians since 2013. When this comes out, it’ll be in 2023, so that’s a 10-year journey. All things must end. “I’m looking forward to kind of wrapping this up with my friends and family.”

Meanwhile in 2021 James Gunn directed The Suicide Squad for rival studio Warner Bros., based on characters from the DC universe. A spinoff series, following John Cena‘s character Peacemaker has recently began airing on HBO Max, created by Gunn. Warner Bros. executive Walter Hamada has confirmed that Gunn will return to DC for future projects.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is schedule to release on 5th May 2023, but fans can see the beloved team even earlier with this year’s ‘The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special’, set to debut on Disney+ in December.

Making his name primarily as a screenwriter, and a screenwriter of comedy no less, Gunn’s earliest big feature film break was working as a screenwriter on the live-action Scooby-Doo movie in 2002. Though far from a critical success, the film gained a degree of mainstream appeal and opened a number of doors for Gunn, the filmmaker returning for the movie’s sequel and landing a screenwriter credit on Zack Snyder’s 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake somewhere in-between. There, Gunn would work alongside horror icon George A. Romero to get the story of the new adaptation in line with the original, setting the foundations for his directorial feature debut Slither, a horror of his own released just 2 years later.

Now the veteran of many a directorial gig, most of which have been on television, Gunn is a highly sought after creator of unique and marketable content in Hollywood despite his relatively small feature directorial experience. In this edition of Ranked, we at The Film Magazine will be analysing each of the five entries from James Gunn’s particularly influential list of directed feature films in terms of artistic achievement, critical response and popular consensus. Someone call Michael Rooker because these are the James Gunn Directed Movies Ranked.

Have an opinion? Make sure to let us know about it in the comments or tweet us!

5. Super (2010)

An early indicator as to what James Gunn could offer superhero films and cinema as a whole, 2010 comedy Super illustrated the director’s keen eye for an effective comic book story and is, at least from what we know of the man, the most Gunn movie to date.

The adult themes of this at times outlandish, dark and borderline offensive comedy are used in service of its intelligent and well intentioned deconstruction of the genre Gunn clearly knows and loves, its place at number 5 in this list illustrating that there are no bad movies in this director’s filmography, and that even with the reins well and truly off (outside of the studio system and working from his own script), James Gunn can deliver to a very high standard.

With an all-star cast led by Rainn Wilson (‘The Office’), it’s clear that fellow filmmakers believed in this unique and on-the-surface hard-to-sell project from the get-go, speaking to the quality of what must have been included in Gunn’s initial script.

Though more divisive than his later comic book-inspired work, Super remains an interesting vision into a filmmaker and his philosophies, as well as how much comedy and superhero cinema have changed in the decade since.

4. Slither (2006)

2006 James Gunn horror-comedy, Slither, was a directorial debut that mixed the talents Gunn had showcased in his short screenwriting career to offer a modern horror B-movie that is now considered to be something of a cult classic.

Starring Nathan Fillion and would-be Charlie’s Angels director Elizabeth Banks, Gunn assembled a strong tribute to the alien-invasion horrors of decades past in a movie that would probably have done better critically and financially with today’s more horror-aware and nostalgic audiences.

Slither was a film that leant into the absurdity of its premise and the genre it boastfully belongs to, ensuring that while it would never become an award-winning critical darling like a number of horrors in the 15 years to follow, it would be one of the most ideal sleepover watches of the era and as unique of a springboard to a career as we’ve had in decades.

With Slither, Gunn had arrived.

“There was an idea to bring together a group of remarkable people to see if we could become something more. So when they needed us, we could fight the battles that they never could.”

Marvel Studios have been the standard bearer for all superhero films for the past 10 years, presenting 20 movies to increasing audiences the world over and earning around $17.3billion at the worldwide box office. The studio has created 10 separate franchises since its debut film Iron Man in 2008, digging into the once exclusive comic book properties of the likes of “Ant-Man” and “Guardians of the Galaxy” to present fresh and always entertaining takes on a genre that they have come to master above even their most intimate of contemporaries. In this edition of Ranked, we have judged each of the 20 Marvel Studios Avengers-related movies from worst to best based on their quality and historical importance. As always, we encourage you to share your thoughts on social media and in the comments below, but for now it’s on with the list…

20. The Incredible Hulk (2008)

Director: Louis Leterrier
Starring: Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, William Hurt, Ty Burrell, Tim Blake Nelson, Lou Ferigno

When The Incredible Hulk went into production, the characters of Bruce Banner and his gamma radiated alter ego were perhaps the biggest pop culture icons left at the behest of Marvel Studios after auctioning off their X-Men, Fantastic Four and Spider-Man to other companies. The duality of Banner’s character therefore seemed like the perfect choice for an audience-grabbing introductory film; one which would feature more fun and chaos than the Ang Lee presentation from 2003. If audiences didn’t see Iron Man earlier in the year, then they’d surely see this. History would have it that audiences did turn up to see Iron Man, and as such the lack of quality on offer in The Incredible Hulk was more obvious than it may have otherwise been. The movie was up and down, offering some half-decent fan service in amongst the rage and chaos but failing to deliver in terms of an interesting story or reason to care. In the aftermath of the release, it became clear that Leterrier was never entirely confident in directing the picture and had only taken the job after being rejected for his passion project Iron Man, and star Edward Norton threw the whole production under the bus by claiming he had ‘basically written the movie’. The Incredible Hulk now stands far afoot the bottom of the Avengers list in terms of quality, and can be considered as perhaps the only severe misstep of the studio’s entire universe. The film remains canon, with William Hurt’s continued presence being evidence of this, but having switched out Norton for Ruffalo it’s clear that this is the one film on this list Marvel are trying to forget about.

19. Iron Man 2 (2010)

Director: Jon Favreau
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Mickey Rourke, Sam Rockwell, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Paul Bettany, Jon Favreau

Iron Man 2 felt like a big deal back in 2010. It was the third movie of the would-be Avengers universe and had cast the recently reconciled Mickey Rourke hot off the back of his triumphant return to prominence in The Wrestler. Underneath the hype there were grumblings of malcontent however, with Don Cheadle being substituted in for Terrence Howard following a pay dispute in which Marvel reportedly refused to offer Howard the same money for the 2nd movie as they had offered Downey Jr., and the story of Edward Norton’s future within the universe seemingly putting an end to early plans to have Iron Man and the rest of the Avengers team-up to take down a rebellious Hulk (as hinted towards in the post-credit scene in The Incredible Hulk). Ultimately, this landed Iron Man 2 in the zone of “safe sequel”; a film which delivers on all of the original movie’s promises but did little to exceed expectations. Still useful in how it was offering an appropriately colourful take on a superhero genre in the midst of Nolan’s darker Dark Knight trilogy, this Jon Favreau follow-up is perhaps less well remembered now than it was way back when, and we can all see Marvel’s biggest faults – presenting believable threats to their heroes – poking their ugly heads, but this is by no means a bad movie in the same sense that The Incredible Hulk was; just more of a forgettable one.

18. Thor: The Dark World (2013)

Director: Alan Taylor
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Christopher Eccleston, Idris Elba, Stellan Skarsgård, Kat Dennings

Speaking of forgettable; is there a movie on this list that has as few special moments as Thor: The Dark World?

For the 2nd instalment of the Thor standalone franchise, and coming in the aftermath of The Avengers in 2012, The Dark World felt safe in many of the ways that Iron Man 2 did, though it also shared The Incredible Hulk’s unique trait of being a universe instalment that Marvel would look to move on from, resetting many of the lingering story threads in the first few minutes of its follow up Ragnarok in 2017. The Dark World did its job, presenting fans with more of the beloved relationship between Thor and Loki, and worked to introduce more of the unique planets and beings from the comic books, but it was lacking in anything beyond the typical faceless villain stereotype as a threat, and the film suffered significantly as a result of this. Thor 2 was very much the Iron Man 2 of the Thor franchise, only the relationship between Thor & Loki as well as the presence of a few characters that have since been forgotten about – as played by Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgård and Kat Dennings – were just enough to pip the Iron Man sequel in this list.

17. Iron Man 3 (2013)

Director: Shane Black
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Ben Kingsley, Jon Favreau, Rebecca Hall

Iron Man 3 is one of the more controversial entries into Marvel’s Avengers universe of films, and the entirety of the reason as to why is the film’s twist. Warning, there are spoilers ahead…

Screenwriter-director Shane Black had previously worked with Downey Jr. on Kiss Kiss Bang Bang in 2005 and therefore seemed like an easy, creative alternative to the Iron Man franchise’s exiting Jon Favreau. The issue was that Black was noteworthy for tackling genre conventions and therefore sought to deviate from the typical ‘rise of an ultimate villain’ character arc, seeing it as too much of an obvious path for Iron Man 3 to walk down. As such, the movie developed a believable, identifiable threat in the form of Ben Kingsley’s Mandarin, only for Tony Stark/Iron Man to discover that the character was simply an actor relaying lines on behalf of another villain, a villain who turned out to be much less identifiable and interesting, and much more like the lacklustre villains that had populated the universe to this point. In 2013 audiences had grown tired of under-developed villains with little to identify with, so Iron Man 3’s tease of a great villain proved too much for many. It was a moment which overshadowed the film and became the topic of discussion regarding the movie itself, which other than this moment was actually quite fun though somewhat forgettable.

Content Warning: the tweets concerned reference abuse in various forms.

#WalkAway pic.twitter.com/cI8BdWxedu

— Jack Posobiec🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) July 20, 2018

The filmmaker, whose other credits include being the director of Slither (2006) and Super (2010) and screenwriter on the likes of Scooby Doo (2002), Dawn of the Dead (2004), The Belko Experiment (2016) and the upcoming ‘Starsky & Hutch’ TV reboot, was the lead creative mind behind Guardians of the Galaxy from the tone of the movies to the characterisations, casting and so on.

On the surface a vocal advocate for humanitarian efforts and animal welfare as well as having a reputation for being one of the more accessible hollywood filmmakers on Twitter, Gunn reportedly began to delete the disrespectful and distasteful tweets as early as Thursday 19th July 2018. Once revelations regarding his history had been made public, Gunn released the following statement to The Wrap.

“My words of nearly a decade ago were, at the time, totally failed and unfortunate efforts to be provocative. I have regretted them for many years since — not just because they were stupid, not at all funny, wildly insensitive, and certainly not provocative like I had hoped, but also because they don’t reflect the person I am today or have been for some time.

Regardless of how much time has passed, I understand and accept the business decisions taken today. Even these many years later, I take full responsibility for the way I conducted myself then. All I can do now, beyond offering my sincere and heartfelt regret, is to be the best human being I can be: accepting, understanding, committed to equality, and far more thoughtful about my public statements and my obligations to our public discourse. To everyone inside my industry and beyond, I again offer my deepest apologies. Love to all.”

The filmmaker followed his official statement with a series of tweets, which are as follows:

1. Many people who have followed my career know when I started, I viewed myself as a provocateur, making movies and telling jokes that were outrageous and taboo. As I have discussed publicly many times, as I’ve developed as a person, so has my work and my humor.

— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) July 20, 2018

2. It’s not to say I’m better, but I am very, very different than I was a few years ago; today I try to root my work in love and connection and less in anger. My days saying something just because it’s shocking and trying to get a reaction are over.

— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) July 20, 2018

3. In the past, I have apologized for humor of mine that hurt people. I truly felt sorry and meant every word of my apologies.

— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) July 20, 2018

4. For the record, when I made these shocking jokes, I wasn’t living them out. I know this is a weird statement to make, and seems obvious, but, still, here I am, saying it.

— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) July 20, 2018

5. Anyway, that’s the completely honest truth: I used to make a lot of offensive jokes. I don’t anymore. I don’t blame my past self for this, but I like myself more and feel like a more full human being and creator today. Love you to you all.

— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) July 20, 2018

Having overseen the direction of many a burgeoning Hollywood career via his Marvel Studios franchise in the 4 years since the release of the first Guardians of the Galaxy film, and given the current atmosphere around Hollywood regarding highly influential creators and performers remaining in work despite claims of sexual abuse and assault, Gunn has received a lot of support from followers and fellow creatives via social media platforms, many of whom feel the sentence far outweighs the crime given the current climate.

Dave Bautista, the actor behind the character of Drax the Destroyer in Gunn’s comic book movie franchise, tweeted the following regarding the news that Gunn had been removed from his creative role as a result of the tweets:

I will have more to say but for right now all I will say is this..@JamesGunn is one of the most loving,caring,good natured people I have ever met. He’s gentle and kind and cares deeply for people and animals. He’s made mistakes. We all have. Im NOT ok with what’s happening to him

— Dave Bautista (@DaveBautista) July 21, 2018

It must be noted that Bautista is currently the only Guardians star to come out in support of Gunn since Disney revealed the news via a statement from Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn, which read:

“The offensive attitudes and statements discovered on James’ Twitter feed are indefensible and inconsistent with our studio’s values, and we have severed our business relationship with him.”

Details on where the Guardians franchise will head following this news has yet to be revealed and no statement has been made regarding the future of Gunn’s involvement on the ‘Starsky & Hutch’ TV show.

The final figure is up 3.6% from 2016’s total of £1.33billion ($1.8billion) and makes 2017’s annual box office total the highest in the history of the region. Star Wars: The Last Jedi has been confirmed as the highest-grossing movie of the calendar year despite receiving a wide release only 3 weeks removed from the start of 2018, with its total overcoming that of Disney live-action remake Beauty and the Beast at the last hurdle to accumulate approximately £68,263,774, around 5% of the annual total.

Here are the official top 5 highest-grossing movies in the UK in 2017:

Disney were the most prominent studio in the region, earning 19.2% of the total market – approximately £265million ($359million) – from 16 releases, with Warner Bros earning 16.2% from 31 releases and Universal earning 15.6% from 30 releases to make up the top three. Notably, Disney’s percentage of the overall box office in the UK for 2017 was down from the 21.88% the company earned in 2016, though when analysed in conjunction with the company’s purchase of Fox, Disney would own a remarkable 34.3% share of the UK box office receipts in 2017.

In terms of British films, Christopher Nolan’s Warner Bros release Dunkirk was the highest grosser, earning £55.8million. The 2nd highest-grossing British film in the region was Studiocanal’s long-awaited family movie sequel Paddington 2 which earned £37.5million (making it the 6th highest-grossing film of the year).

Of the 5 highest-grossing titles released under North American banners, Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Guardians of the Galaxy are said to have had a lot of British involvement behind the scenes, particularly with regard to visual effects. Meanwhile, Beauty and the Beast was headlined by two British stars.

Sources: THR and Screen Daily

With a combined total of $5.1billion earned at the worldwide box office and a whole bunch of awards season buzz for Wonder Woman and Logan, it’s fair to conclude that the quality of 2017’s superhero releases has generally been very high. That’s why we at The Film Magazine have taken it upon ourselves to rank each of them from worst to best in this 2017 superhero edition of Ranked. This is… Every 2017 Comic Book Movie Ranked.

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8. Justice League

Budget: $300million
Worldwide Box Office: $637million
Starring: Gal Gadot, Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller, Ray Fisher, Amy Adams, J.K. Simmons, Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Jeremy Irons, Connie Nielsen, Diane Lane, Billy Crudup, Ciaran Hinds

Described in our review as “one of the largest blends of bad ideas put to screen in 2017”, the first-time-ever big screen team-up of the iconic Justice League was perhaps the most disappointing of any large scale superhero movie ever released. The story flip-flopped, the graphics were comparable to 2nd generation video games, there were 35 minutes of character introductions and the villain was another garbage swirling alien of little threat or importance. The term “garbage fire” comes to mind.

7. Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie

Budget: $38million
Worldwide Box Office: $125million
Starring: Kevin Hart, Ed Helms, Nick Kroll, Jordan Peele, Kristen Schaal

Does anyone even remember this film being released? It was the latest in Dreamworks’ up and down spate of latest titles, this time being based on popular comic strip “Captain Underpants”. It hit a relatively mediocre 23rd spot in our Dreamworks Animation edition of Ranked, so it’s by no means bad, more “unremarkable”.

6. The Lego Batman Movie

Budget: $80million
Worldwide Box Office: $312million
Starring: Will Arnett, Mariah Carey, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, Ralph Fiennes, Zach Galifianakis

The Lego Batman Movie starred the same grumpy, brooding Batman that stole the show in The Lego Movie, and was bullet-pointed by an excellent iteration of the Batman versus Joker story that has long been a screen and comic book favourite. More so, it was a laugh a minute. It took some of the best aspects of its animated predecessor and channelled them towards a more niche subject matter and in doing so was perhaps better enjoyed by those ‘in the know’ regarding DC Comics and general Batman lore but was certainly an accessible and fun movie for everyone else.

The Lego Batman Movie is good; perhaps the first truly good film thus far. It sits so low on our list for only one reason: the superbly high quality of the films to come…

5. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Budget: $200million
Worldwide Box Office: $864million
Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Karen Gillan, Elizabeth Debicki, Kurt Russell, Sylvester Stallone

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 took all that made the original film successful and did it all over again, this time with larger Marvel Universe consequences, the most beautiful use of CG in any superhero film of 2017 and even more 80s references. Honestly, the only reason we can give for this film ranking lower than the rest of the top 5 is because it felt the least fresh, new and/or important. In terms of enjoyment it was right up there.

4. Spider-Man: Homecoming

Budget: $175million
Worldwide Box Office: $880million
Starring: Tom Holland, Marisa Tomei, Robert Downey Jr., Tony Revolori, Donald Glover, Michael Keaton, Zendaya, Jon Favreau

“It’s fair to say that Marvel Studios learned the lessons that predecessors seemed hesitant to heed” read our review of Homecoming back in July, and with an $880million take at the worldwide box office, it seems that audiences were more than ready to receive this new and more comedic take on the famous superhero too. This version of Spider-Man felt new and fresh because the film was based in a high school, presented as a high school comedy with legitimate action set pieces, and the character was played by an actor young enough to be believable as a high schooler for the first time since the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man had hit the big screen. So, while it didn’t hurt having the draw of Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man and the iconic Michael Keaton performing a wonderful villainous role, Homecoming was able to stand on its own two feet as a legitimate Spidey film that felt like the burgeoning of a new era within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

3. Thor: Ragnarok

Budget: $180million
Worldwide Box Office: $843million
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Cate Blanchett, Jeff Goldblum, Tessa Thompson, Karl Urban, Anthony Hopkins, Tom Hiddleston, Idris Elba, Benedict Cumberbatch

Taika Waititi’s take on the Thor franchise could have been just another middling MCU entry that had moments of inspiration but generally stuck very close to the template Marvel Studios had laid out for most of its films to this point, but the New Zealand born filmmaker whose roots were planted in comedy had other plans, instead making one of the funniest, most enjoyable and certainly one of the most self-conscious superhero films that Marvel have ever released. It was, in every sense, “an innocent, loving comedy you’re bound to fall in love with” [Review] and breathed new life into Thor the character, the Thor franchise, and even maybe the Avengers franchise too. In many ways, Ragnarok confirmed Marvel’s new direction towards stand-alone, genre-jumping releases, the first evidence of which was Homecoming just a few months earlier.

2. Wonder Woman

Budget: $149million
Worldwide Box Office: $822million
Starring: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Connie Nielsen, Robin Wright, Danny Huston, David Thewlis, Ewen Bremner

Wonder Woman was perhaps the most culturally significant superhero film of the modern era, and was certainly the most significant of 2017. The long awaited silver screen debut of DC Comics’ amazonian princess was met with the highest opening weekend box office of all time for a female director, and Patty Jenkins’ film went on to break the all-time worldwide box office record for a female filmmaker before all was said and done. The movie itself was also very good, with our review describing it as “the best DC film since The Dark Knight Rises“, and it seems that Warner Bros agree, as the studio has since dedicated millions of dollars towards an Oscars campaign for a Best Picture nomination as well as a strong push for Patty Jenkins in the Best Director category. If the campaign is successful, Wonder Woman will go down in history again, this time by becoming the first superhero film to ever receive nominations in said categories.

1. Logan

Budget: $97million
Worldwide Box Office: $617million
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Boyd Holbrook, Richard E. Grant, Stephen Merchant

It was a 17 year long road to Logan but man was it worth it. For the first time, Wolverine was able to brutalise like only he can, and the choice to go r-rated wasn’t a move designed to promote a gimmick, but was instead used as a story device to comment on the mental tole such brutality can put upon a person as gifted (or cursed) as Wolverine, himself stripped to Logan to present the humanity of the film which itself was more of a Western than your typical superhero fare. “From start to finish it explores that which we have yet to see in the titular character’s cinematic universe and does so with such class that almost every emotional twist and turn elevates the film to such heights that even its disjointed conclusion can’t tarnish just how great this movie is.” [Review] This was a superhero film so well put together, and one that made total sense against the odds of its fantastical roots, that it is being talked about as an awards season contender with Hugh Jackman already being nominated for an AACTA International Award for his performance. Logan was every bit as much of an exploration of a superhero movie as it was a presentation of one, and its genre-bending and ultimately earthed approach were proven to be of the highest quality and utmost importance for the future of superhero films, hence why it is our number 1 superhero movie of 2017.

With 2018 lining up Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Deadpool, The New Mutants and X-Men: Dark Phoenix at Disney (courtesy of their buyout of Fox in 2017) and a new look DC cinematic universe on the horizon courtesy of a reshuffling of high ranking executives at Warner Bros’ DC division, it seems we could be in for just as much of a promising superhero year in 2018 as we have been in 2017. Who knows, maybe one of these films can even top the accomplishments set in 2017? We’ll be sure to cover each and every release, so make sure to bookmark our home page and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Star-Lord and crew are back for the most anticipated Marvel sequel in years, and with a few notable stars added to the mix, and a host of 70s and 80s pop gems providing the musical backdrop, James Gunn and company have managed to capture a lot of the original’s magic in a funny and colourful romp that didn’t quite manage to spark lightning in a bottle for a second time but was still mountains of fun.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is, first and foremost, evidence of the sort of summer blockbuster tentpole movie that we, as audiences, deserve and have come to demand. Typically, such movies are modes of escapism filled with oceans of beautifully constructed CGI, so many high profile names that the movies barely know what to do with them, a rocking soundtrack and the oh-so-important comic relief at times of high stress; and Guardians 2 is all of these things. Where James Gunn’s movie separates itself from the lesser appreciated members of its genre, like Suicide Squad, X-Men: Apocalypse, Ben-Hur and Independence Day: Resurgence, is in the filmmaker’s loyalty and admiration for the characters at the heart of his movie and the ways by which he trusts the audience to work some things out on their own. Guardians 2, much like its predecessor, is more than its genre’s simple constructional parts, it is a character driven spectacle movie that successfully combines awe with empathy and vitally doesn’t let marketing interfere with story. As is the case with any film of its ilk, there are moments of forced connection where a rising score works to try and create a sense of empathy where there isn’t one, but Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 seems to hit the emotional beats nine times out of ten, and nine out of ten ain’t bad.

Guardians 2 is, despite this, quite a stretch from being as great as the first movie. The ways in which it seems to falter the most are due to a number of developments that have occurred between the two films. Firstly, the Guardians’ huge critical and financial success in 2014, and their confirmed involvement in Avengers: Infinity War, have placed different demands on the filmmaking process that have seemingly restricted Gunn to a sensibility much more like the film’s Marvel Cinematic Universe brethren than the original movie ever came close to being. What was once a standalone product with self-referential and almost meta humour (including, remember, a dance-off as the epic final show-down between good and evil), has filtered much more into the typical Marvel way of doing things, with much less of the convention busting jokes and therefore just a little bit less heart and originality than Guardians 1 so marvellously contained – pun intended. Second of all, it seems that the success of the movie’s original gifted Gunn the sort of budget that the filmmaker didn’t really know what to do with and thus was freely done away with in scene after scene of ‘cool CG’ battle shots, aircraft boarding, etc. that left the earlier parts of the movie feeling heavy and slow in comparison to the picture’s quicker and much more satisfying second half. Along the same lines came a seemingly more typical presentation of the story too, with countless establishing scenes for the movie’s many characters precursing a huge universe-saving battle – revolving around an entire planet – which was the centrepiece of the movie (much like every Avengers film ever). We’ve seen it all countless times before and, despite providing a relatively high-stakes version of the trope courtesy of a well developed villain – somewhat of a rarity in Marvel movies – and a much more convincing threat to our heroes than in the original or much of the MCU, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 still couldn’t quite overcome how over-used its formula was.

This did, however, create the spectacle that Guardians 2 needed as an excuse to present its outstanding visuals, the likes of which are without comparison in the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Each scene was filled with a vibrancy unlike much of the ‘clear as day’ cinematographic techniques in the rest of Marvel’s central Avengers franchise, separating it from the pack in terms of visual appeal. As referenced above, the CGI was also hugely impressive and leaps beyond much of the work done in The Avengers or Avengers: Age of Ultron. There were a few sequences in which the camera worked against the wonderful work of the CG to create an effect whereby the film felt like more of a top-end video game than a cinematic work of art, but these were small missteps in an otherwise fantastic piece of visual artistry.

Crucially, the camera was also pointed at the right people. The Guardians were their usual fantastically individual and different (for action comic book movies, at least) selves, only with improved individuality for Gamora (Saldana) and Nebula (Gillan), two characters of whom much of the original’s criticism was dealt courtesy of being underdeveloped. The building of each of the core group’s members was as cleverly constructed and well performed as in the original only with the benefits of not having to introduce them anymore, with this movie tending to lean towards more typically emotional fare than much of what occurred in Guardians 1, something that helped to grow the characters of Rocket (Cooper) and Yondu (Rooker) substantially and brought out some of the best work from its cast. The crucial addition of Kurt Russell was a welcomed one too, with an immersible performance to boot, but Sylvester Stallone and Elizabeth Debicki who played Ogord and Ayesha respectively, seemed more like bonus features by the film’s end than any meaningful casting choice or character addition, with each performer bringing very little to their roles. It was, however, the Guardians as a collective upon which the film hinged, and in the writing of their group dynamic and the strong comedic performances by much of its cast (particularly Dave Bautista as Drax), the same sense of comrardery between them felt as real and present as ever, with a closer family dynamic seeming to occur naturally as the result of their actions in Guardians 1.

The group was, of course, brought together by music, a theme that is highlighted throughout much of the franchise and is present from the very opening sequence in Guardians 2. The promotional material for the film paid the music a great deal of attention and the film delivered on its promise of using it as creatively as in the original. The soundtrack was a symphony of classic hits with some of the titles being highlighted by the characters themselves as being useful metaphors for the situations they were going through or had been through in the past. Usefully, this brought about a more conscious attention as to the meaning of the songs being used in the film and thus utilised them as a source for emotional input for characters who were holding emotions back at certain points, therefore enhancing them as heroes worth routing for without the need for expository dialogue or out-of-character declarations.

Where Guardians 2 most prominently succeeds is in the presentation of the family of outcasts that it brought together in the original, and the ways in which they’ve grown to appreciate each other despite each of their less likeable qualities. Much like the franchise originally was to Marvel, the group are different to everyone else, and James Gunn’s presentation of the ways in which their differences make them the only people capable of defending the good of the galaxy is one of the more drawing aspects of the franchise as a whole, and particularly this second movie. The Guardians of the Galaxy franchise is much like the misfit toy we all played with as children or that many of us felt like at certain points in our lives, and that is what is truly identifiable about it and particularly the group of heroes. It is this connection that fuels the success of everything in this movie and does the most difficult job of making you care.

Conclusively, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 may not be quite as good as the original, but through the passion of its screenwriter-director and the world class work of its cast and crew, creates an identifiable group of characters on a romp of an adventure that could be the blockbuster of the year and is certainly worth your ten bucks.

18/24

Author’s note: if you haven’t seen this yet, be warned that there are five post-credit scenes.