With Avengers End Game coming out this week I decided to look back through the nearly two dozen movies comprising the Marvel Cinematic Universe and rank them. I’ll release a few everyday between today and Friday. I know you can see End Game as early as Thursday night but I don’t know what else to tell ya – we’re doing a Monday through Friday deal. It’ll be fine. 

21. Dr. Strange

Most people don’t have Dr. Strange at the bottom of their lists but I think it’s warranted. Obviously Stephen Strange isn’t a character the audience is supposed to fall in love with but for a comic book movie to be worth its salt, you need to at least root for the protagonist in some way.

Wes Mantooth gets it. Overall I found characters uninteresting, the story bland, and the villain generic. I just didn’t care what was happening or why. 

One last note – origin stories typically see the protagonist struggle with their newfound power but ultimately achieve some level of mastery by the end. Stephen Strange struggled from start to finish. He wins in the end not by mastering his powers but essentially by a loophole which I found disappointing.

20. The Incredible Hulk

I’ll be totally honest: I don’t remember this movie at all so I went back to the trailer to try and jog my memory.

Nope. Still nothing.  The only reason why I have it slightly ahead of Dr. Strange is because of the entertainment value. Put it this way, if I saw Dr. Strange was on FX on a random Sunday, I’d pass right by it. With the Incredible Hulk, I might check it out until the next commercial break.

19. Thor 1

This is all you need to know

18. Thor 2

I like Thor 2 slightly more than Thor 1. It has a more cohesive story that introduces us to an infinity stone. Also, when I rewatched this last year I noticed the hilarious fact that the villain, an elf who’s driving force in life is to make the world dark (yep), needs subtitles since he speaks in some elvish language for the first half of the movie but then switches exclusively to English for the second half. This is never explained. Everyone just accepts his linguistic prowess and moves on.

So there you have it – 18 through 21. As always, if you have some thoughts on the matter let me know in the comments. Also, come back tomorrow where I’ll reveal 16 – 18!