Lurker > Inviso

GavsEvans123
Thor is the first film to have a real focus on the heros character development and relationships. Although the previous films had some of this, this one is defined by Thors development from a hot-headed, arrogant young man to a true hero, as well as the relationships between him, Loki and Odin. You can tell that all three of them care for each other, even though they dont always get along. The fish-out-of-water aspect once Thor comes to Earth humbles him, and provides a different style of comedy to Iron Mans quips and quick wit.
Loki is also the first sympathetic villain. He wants his fathers approval, which makes it easy to root for him. Hes also the first big bad who poses more of a cerebral threat than a physical one, with his cunning and trickery instead of brute force like the previous villains. Its probably not a coincidence that he was the first villain to return for another film.

For some reason, this film has always reminded me of Disneys Hercules. I dont really know why, besides sharing the basic premise of a god living among mortals. Thats as good a reason as any for me to say: put Michael Bolton on the soundtrack of Love and Thunder, you cowards! Alternatively, adding the Michael Bolton version of I Can Go The Distance to Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory would also be acceptable. Actually, on second thought, the Kingdom Hearts thing is better, just do that.

Johnbobb
haha it was funny when he smashed his mug

Lopen
I've heard people say this movie is unnecessary to watch, boring, or whatever, but I don't really agree. The first half of this movie where you establish Asgard as being shiny and Thor is basically an idiot is hilarious and in the top tier of Marvel movies for me, and this movie's existence really helps to establish why a literal god would be inclined to meddle in mortal affairs. Yes you can just accept "Thor is here because Thor is here" and honestly this works for some of the movies like Avengers 1, but it's nice to establish his origins like this. Now that being said, why is it this low? Well the problem is that the second half after he gets a reality check (basically from when he fails to grab his hammer out of the SHIELD base or whatever) is in fact kinda boring to watch unfold. For me it feels like we're kinda just going through the flowchart of wrapping the movie up and drags a bit. Having a more gradual transition from idiot to competent and wrapping things up more swiftly when Thor gets his head in the game would do a lot for this one.

Illuminatusbubu
Thor as a movie and as a character is unremarkable in this film. If it was not for Loki, this movie will be much lower.

Maniac64
Hemsworth Thor is super fun while also having the big presence that the character needs. I really enjoyed some of the early fish out of water stuff early in the movie and of course Loki is great. But man did Destroyer end up being a disappointment. And the scientist side characters were just no where near as good as other Marvel movies. I loved the bits we saw of Asgard and wish we got more. I guess I'm just a sucker for character intro movies.

Snake5555555555
*insert other Thor movie problems here*

Anagram
Things I remember from Thor: Odin calling Thor stupid and childish, Loki pretending to fall off the bridge, and someone asking me after the movie what the deal with the archer guy was.

Cybat
I feel like this movie is kind of overlooked and lumped in with its sequel a lot of the time, and while its not dramatically better, at least based on their respective numerical rankings in this list, I do think the difference between them is not insignificant. It was arguably the funniest movie in the MCU up until Guardians of the Galaxy (depending on how you feel about Whedonisms) and the tone still fit in with the franchise at large despite being basically Shakespeare in space. At the time it came out, I was expecting it to be jarring and also not that funny since fish out of water stories are a dime a dozen, but I was pleasantly surprised on both counts. And, of course, any time we get Tom Hiddleston as Loki is a good time.

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Eddv
Thor is at his core one of the most potentially interesting MCU characters. Hemsworth still cant act for shit back in 2011 though so there is only so high I can put this one.

PrinceKaro
The introductory film of marvel's iconic god-alien with the big hammer and tiny brain.
There is an irritating attitude in the first three movies that bespeaks a fear of seeming too 'comic-y', and this movie deals away with it in big fashion as Thor the arrogant asgardian prince is banished to earth and much craziness ensues. It is hilarious to see the powerless Thor interact with the mortals of the american southwest who all think he is either crazy or high on crystal meth.
It also introduces the first real villain of the MCU in Loki, and while this is far from his best outing he was just what was needed to break from the tired storylines of 'evil military/corporate people are being evil and corporate'.
The story finally feels as big as these kind of movies should be, and it is more concerned with having fun than trying to be cool. As far as what I think, this is where the MCU actually became the MCU.

TomNook
Thor is such a cool dude. I think some characters blow their load of charm and development in their origin story, but Thor is someone who is both still great in his, and continues to deliver.

Mr Crispy
Pretty average all around, the biggest problem with it isn't really a problem but more that it just lacks ambition. It's almost more like a two part episode in a cable tv scifi show than a big budget movie. It feels like a lot more could have been done with the fight with the Destroyer, or the final confrontation with Loki. The idea of Thor and Jane as a couple is dumb, but not offensively so like Bruce and Natasha.

CoolCly
This is a good movie. Asgard is beautiful, Thor is cool, Loki is great. Odin is wise
But it has a big problem.
Its with Thors character arc, which unfortunately the entire movie rests on. The whole structure of the movie is pinned on the idea that Thor starts the movie as a brash and reckless fool who wants to kill every frost giant with his bare hands, and at the end of the movie hes grown a little wiser and realizes how not ready for the throne he is, and that hes not better than the other races. Its the opposite problem in Captain Marvel, where Danvers starts out as a brainwashed soldier of the Kree empire and ends the movie as an actualized character. The problem there was that there was good development to show this growth.. but the character performance was the same throughout the whole movie, which makes the whole thing feel weird.
Thor is the opposite I see the difference in start of movie and end of movie Thor. They actually do feel like distinctly separate characters! The success of character growth! Except I dont see what in the movie actually provoked this change. Odin casts Thor out of Asgard and curses his hammer to remove his powers, in the hopes that Thor will learn humility. This is a great start for this arc. Thor doesnt really stop to consider the implications of this he just goes about getting his hammer back. Theres a *great* scene where he breaks into the SHIELD tent compound to get his hammer and realizes how unworthy he is when he goes to take it. The moment is very powerful as he breaks down. Then theres a great follow up scene where hes heart broken, being interrogated by SHIELD, and Loki shows up and tells him about Odin, and that Thor caused this and can never come back. This all pushes Thor further down.
Then.. Thor gets drunk with Erik Selvig who tells him to back off Natalie Portman, and Thor hangs out with Natalie Portman a little and now hes ready for the climax and has learned his lesson ??????????????????????
I dont think nearly enough was done here. The human characters just dont really hold up their end of the plot and here. Presumably Thor falls in love with Natalie Portman or whatever but I just dont see it. I feel this all needed to go further before the end of the movie.
Overall, this is a good movie. But if they had delivered on this Thor character arc, it would have been a great one.

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20. Thor
Total Score: 569

Eddv - 10
PrinceKaro 10
TomNook 11
Mr Crispy 13
CoolCly - 14
GavsEvans123 - 14
Johnbobb 15
Lopen - 16
Illuminatusbubu - 17
Maniac64 - 17
Snake5555555555 - 17
Anagram 18
Cybat - 18
XIII Rocks 18
HanOfTheNekos - 19
Inviso 19
Mega Mana 19
Paratroopa1 19
Red13n - 19
VengefulKaelee - 19
Whiskey Nick - 19
Corrik7 - 20
MetalDK 20
NBIceman 20
Raka Putra - 20
ScepterOfLove 20
ZenOfThunder 20
MetalmindStats 21
Sheep007 - 21
BetrayedTangy - 22
Jesse Custer 22
StifledSilence 22

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Half our country supported a coup against our elected government because their media of choice told them the other side was made up of fraudsters and pedophiles. There is no reason to be proud of, or respect the United States of America at this point in time.

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Jesse_Custer posted...

Its kind of weird for me to see so many mentions of Justin Hammer. His character didnt make any impression on me and I had forgotten he even existed until reading all these write-ups. Thats not to criticize Rockwell, but I think he was wasted in a boring role.

I can fully agree with this. It's a shame that Rockwell was wasted so early on. In Phase 3, he could've been in a role similar to Martin Freeman's in Black Panther.

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Lightning Strikes posted...

Ooh, that sounds like Captain Marvel to me. If its Thor I get it but youre wrong, and I really hope its not Ant-Man.

Anyway, no surprises about Iron Man 2, I think everyone knew that this would be the bottom 3.

I have very little to say about this one. Its... alright. It has this paradoxical thing where it feels both like filler and trying to do far too much to set up The Avengers at the expense of its own plot. And a lot of that set up gets thrown out leaving it strangely skippable despite having a lot of important first appearances. Its not bad, but its just okay.

I wouldn't even say that. I think Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, and Incredible Hulk were at least TRYING to set up Avengers by giving backstories to the important characters. Sure, IM2 introduced Black Widow, but it feels less like a planned film and more like "Iron Man was popular. Let's make another Iron Man movie as fast as possible to capitalize on that popularity!" It's just very weird to me how frontloaded the Iron Man movies are, while Cap and Thor are spread across all three phases.

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OUTLIERS:

Eddv - 32
BetrayedTangy - 20
PrinceKaro - 15
Lopen - 13
Mr Crispy - 11
Raka Putra - 11
ScepterOfLove - 11
GavsEvans123 - 9
Snake5555555555 - 9
Inviso - 8
Johnbobb - 8
Corrik7 - 7
Illuminatusbubu - 7
Paratroopa1 - 7
HanOfTheNekos - 6
Jesse Custer - 6
Maniac64 - 6
VengefulKaelee - 6
MetalmindStats - 5
Red13n - 5
StifledSilence - 5
TomNook - 5
XIII Rocks - 5
Anagram - 4
CoolCly - 4
Mega Mana - 4
Whiskey Nick - 3
Cybat - 2
MetalDK - 2
ZenOfThunder - 2
Sheep007 - 1
NBIceman 0

Eddv maintains his lead, but Tangy makes a big jump with his solo top ten placement to take second place. Meanwhile, at the bottom of the list, NBIceman become the sole person to have a perfect score thus far. Everything else is more middling at this point, but the field is definitely starting to diversify.

Spoiler for Number 20: After eliminating three sequels (Incredible Hulk might as well be a sequel to the Ang Lee movie), we finally eliminate the first film in a franchise.

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HanOfTheNekos
Most of the MCU movies are watchable. I would say most are enjoyable, or at least neutral. I think two are actively bad. Depending on my mood, this is the worst one. Iron Man 2 suffers from doing just about everything poorly. Whiplash, the marquee villain, is a joke. Hes Russian and yells. Wow. Justin Hammer, whom some praise highly, I feel is cliche. Its even obvious hes being set up as the villain from the beginning. So much that its just like get to the point already.

The subplot with Tony dying from Palladium poisoning takes away from everything else, including itself. Tonys midlife crisis is just boring, and then suddenly he watches some videos of his father and who cares? The moment he fixes his poisoning issue, the movie DOES get better. But scarcely.

Natalie Rushmores introduction is very whatever. She acts well, but breaking into the building sequence is dumb. At least Happy takes out a guy which is cool. Oh, and they just did my boy Coulson dirty.

Best part of the movie is when Iron Man and War Machine team up to fight the robots. And its just like, silly action fun. But its the best part of the movie. Yikes.

Jesse Custer
Has there ever been a lower point for the MCU than Tony Stark pissing himself in the Iron Man suit? Whereas Tonys alcoholism was addressed seriously in the comics, its nothing but a lowbrow joke in Iron Man 2, with Tony going so far as to say you could drink the pee thanks to a filtration system. And its tough to let that moment slide when the rest of the movie has so little going for it. We get a forgettable villain who doesnt seem like a genuine threat, an awkward introduction to Black Widow that felt forced, and Tony never comes across as particularly relatable or likeable in this movie. About the only thing I liked about Iron Man 2 were the scenes involving Walt Dis uh, Howard Stark.

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TomNook
A big disappointment compared to the first movie. There is no reason to watch this. All anybody even remembers about this movie is that race track scene with Mickey Rourke using his electric whips.

VengefulKaelee
A forgettable movie that squanders a good Mickey Rourke performance on a nothing character, Iron Man 2 is in serious contention for the title of most inherently skippable movie in the MCU.

ZenOfThunder
lmao are you kidding me with this trash, I defended it a lot when I was younger but on rewatch it is comical how badly this one wants to be Iron Man 1 and just can't do it. Bring back Justin Hammer tho I would def kiss Sam Rockwell.

Anagram
Poop.

CoolCly
Iron Man 2 has the charm of RDJ is a crappy plot that goes nowhere. Whiplash just wasnt compelling in his personal vendetta against the Starks because he literally never talked. The facing mortality plot for Tony sucks by itself, but *especially* sucks considering its a major theme in IM1 after surviving the cave AND a major theme in IM3 after what he went through in the Avengers. It was done well in both those instances, which highlights how poorly it was done here. And being used here cheapens both of them.
Justin Hammer, however, is a standout performance. He works perfectly as a wannabe Tony Stark in every way, from the way he tries to play music and dance at the trade show following Tonys rock star entrance, to the way he talks shit about Tony but tries to suck up to Tony at every in person opportunity, and their general
Overall, mediocre movie!

Mega Mana
First Scene That Comes to Mind: Coulson notices the prototype Cap shield; Tony uses it as a level

Iron Man 2 is a movie I've watched several times over, but not a bit of it sticks in my brain. It's one of the very few MCU movies that my mind compares less to other MCU movies and more to pre-MCU sequels. It feels like it's on a similar level to the Raimi Spider-Man movies and the Fantastic Four movies. I like those movies well enough, especially Spider-Man 2, but Iron Man 2 feels like a sequel in that vein where it feels more franchise than world. I feel like there are Daily Bugle style newspaper splashes during Tony's trial at the beginning and I'm pretty sure my mind is just making that up, but that's just how it feels. Justin Hammer is a cornball who doesn't interest me as a villain in the least in this movie (though if Sam Rockwell ever comes back as him, it may well be a refreshing choice). Vanko has a great scene at the racetrack with the Suitcase Suit, but is barely there the rest of the film.

I remember when I first watched, I would always get to a certain point where the movie starts to really pick up, but inadvertently fell asleep .It would always be around when Tony gets inspired to go back and put things right after he and Coulson chat. I would always think, "Man, this movie's not bad. It gets a lot of undue hate." And I'd be super curious to what came next, but I would always want to catch up ten or fifteen minutes earlier because I would forget everything again a few days after.

The rest of the movie was like twenty minutes of rushed nonsense, a generic fight against generic armors, and Hammer didn't get the contract he wanted? It went from Jaws 2, where it was nowhere near as good as the original but still held on pretty well and was a decent movie in its own right, to Jaws 3, which is just awful and forgettable. There's really not much to talk about here.

Raka Putra
A contender for the lamest villain for sure. It also feels very much like an interstitial movie of little importance. Still, it was not terribly boring at least.

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GavsEvans123
This film peaks too early. The set-piece scene where Vanko attacks Tony on the race track is the films highlight, giving Vanko a great entrance, and making for an exciting and creative fight sequence, as well as the transforming suitcase. The problem is that this scene is around the 30-minute mark, and the later action scenes dont top it. Vanko doesnt live up to his hype once he gets his own suit at the end either, tossing Tony and Rhodey around for a few seconds before they punk him in one shot.

Tony Stark is as entertaining as he was first time round, yet this film also finds the time to explore his personal issues. The suggestion that he isnt happy and is putting on a show while living as recklessly as possible with the time he has left makes the character more interesting and brings a degree of emotional depth that was absent last time, since he got over being captured by terrorists fairly quickly following his escape. The only thing here that doesnt quite sit right is a drunk Tony being played for laughs, given how his other issues are portrayed.

To be honest, Vanko isnt all that interesting as a villain. He doesnt have much of a personality, and his beef with the Stark name is both one-sided and aimed more at Tonys father, rather than anything Tony himself has done. Perhaps it would have carried more weight if Tony had acknowledged the animosity a little bit, as it might have helped elevate Vanko as a bit more of a threat. Vanko is in the odd position of being a personal villain who isnt seen by his opponent as being personal. His weak showing at the climax also reflects poorly on him in this respect. This could possibly be due to scenes showing Vanko in a sympathetic light being deleted, according to Mickey Rourke. On the other hand, Justin Hammer is great as a love-to-hate smug jerk who cant go five minutes without being passive-aggressive. Hes among the least powerful villains in these films, yet hes easily among the most punchable, but in the best possible way. Can we bring him back when we eventually get a Thunderbolts film please?

Theres one character it would be remiss of me not to mention: the Boord. Boord has faced a lot of heartbreak in its life, being left behind in Moscow when Vanko left for Monaco (Luckily, Vanko Sr had died by then or it would have been sold for vodka money), stuffed in a bag by Hammers goons after being reunited with Vanko, and finally separated for good after Vankos death. I wish this was DC, so that Boord could receive a Red Lantern Ring and become an avian counterpart to Dex-Starr. If another Green Lantern film happens, I hope the other Lantern Corps are included. Maybe even build up to the Black Lanterns and a Blackest Night film? Ooh, yes please

Sheep007
I distinctly remember watching this when I was pretty young, and I think it was the first non-Spiderman Marvel movie I ever watched in the cinema (I was never much into comic books). Unfortunately, it bored the shit out of me at the time (its the only time Ive gone to pee not once but twice in one cinema trip), and good portions of the movie still do the same the action isnt great, the comedy isnt quite there, and I dont care about the villains or find them and their motivations interesting (Im sure you have and will hear that a lot through this list). I still like Tony Stark and his character arc, and I bloody well love Don Cheadle, but thats about all in this film which I appreciate and the first part is more about future movies instead of just this one.

MetalDK
The best of the worst. The commentary of the film being somewhat about what Tony would be like without his friends (Venko) was actually a decent start. But man does it fall flat.

NBIceman
Iron Man 2 has Way too much going on. Tony is dying and doing crazy stuff because of it. Pepper is made CEO and ends up stressed. The government wants Tonys suit. War Machine debuts. Ivan Vanko wants revenge for his dad and also a bird. Justin Hammer is also around. We start to get Avengers involvement as Nick Fury and especially Black Widow show up. The charm of the other two Iron Man movies is almost completely absent here because theres so many other things happening and everyone is angry all the time. RDJ still does a great job for the most part, but he really had his work cut out for him here and it doesnt quite come together.

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Inviso
While the plot feels very forced at times, (Tony suffering from palladium poisoning, a random villain showing up with ties to Tonys dad), and its definitely not a GREAT movie, the fact of the matter is that Robert Downey Jr. has enough innate charisma as Tony Stark to carry almost any plot in which he serves as the central character. I dont want to compare this too much to the original or Iron Man 3, because this is a ranking and there should be surprisesbut its definitely different in tone from the original film. Its much goofier, and a lot of that is due to the decision to cast Sam Rockwell in one of the villain roles. Dont get me wronghe and Mickey Rourke make for a fun comedic duo, but theyre definitely not as intimidating as Obediah was in the first film. Its just a difference in tone overall, but its definitely not a bad film.

MetalmindStats
Its true that Tony Starks portrayal in Iron Man 2 leans toward the unlikeable, and its also true that it almost sinks the movie altogether. However, its a place that actually makes sense to take the character after the first Iron Mans ending, and I otherwise consider its sequel another enjoyable showcase of my favorite MCU character.

Red13n
Setting up the go to villain backstory for what feels like almost every future MCU film, someone from Stark's past was wronged and now their back for vengeance. It was early on, but this is a very by the book MCU plot, and at this point it doesn't really hold any place in my heart. I don't think its a bad watch, theres not glaring flaws, it just doesn't bring a lot to the table. There is a pretty good argument to be made that the films in which Tony receives the most development are filmS not titled with "Iron Man".

ScepterOfLove
(No write-up.)

Whiskey Nick
(No write-up.)

Cybat
With Tony creating a new element based on a map design, the nonsensical action set piece in Monaco, and Mickey Rourkes bord, this turned out to be a movie that was much harder to take seriously than perhaps was intended. Thats not necessarily a bad thing for a comic book movie though. Despite all that silliness and also kind of rushing through the Demon in a Bottle storyline, its still a fun time if you let it be.
One of the maybe underappreciated things in this movie I liked was during the climax, when Tony and Rhodey are surrounded by drones and Tony uses his disposable laser thingy to take them all out. Its a neat little moment because it establishes that he is in fact pretty good at this whole Iron Man thing. Often the heroes are disadvantaged in some way during the climax, like he was against Stane in the first one, so it was just nice to see something different. And speaking of nice to see, Scarlett Johansson was also great in this, giving us a memorable introduction to the MCUs first superheroine.

Johnbobb
I liked this when I saw it in the theater! Looking back it wasn't as good as I first thought, but fuck it, I still like Whiplash showing up on the racetrack with his fancy lightning whips. Otherwise, not a ton for me here. Kind of like with Captain America, Iron Man works so much better playing off other characters than just being by himself.

Maniac64
There are a lot of serious issues with this movie. Whiplash was an awful villain choice, and the self destructive Tony Stark was not fun to watch. Yeah I know its all accurate to the character but I just didn't enjoy seeing it. That siad, I actually really enjoy the performances of Rourke and Rockwell, they did they best they could to make those villains entertaining and compelling.

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Paratroopa1
Iron Man 2 is an intensely weird film and I don't even know where to start with it. The scenes and pacing are strange, the villains are strange, the dialog and directing is strange. It makes for a pretty funny and weirdly entertaining movie, and it's probably the first MCU movie that really "feels" like an MCU movie, with more connective tissue to future movies and a tone and a vibe that feels in line with everything that comes after it. Almost nothing that happens in this movie makes sense - why does Tony Stark enter a race and why does the bad guy attack him during it? Why did Howard Stark figure out a brand new element and hide it in the most obtuse way possible? - but after the second watch I learned to just kinda roll with it as the entertaining and weird movie that it is. Downey Jr carries, as usual, but the cast is pretty good overall - Ivan Vanko is surprisingly likeable (he loves his bird!), Justin Hammer is a funny nerd, and we get an introduction to Black Widow and a proper introduction to Nick Fury. Don Cheadle is a huge upgrade as Rhodes, too (I like that his first line is just to tell the audience to get over the cast switch). I think the main way this film falters is that it's really low stakes - Tony Stark just kind of solves his life-threatening illness through science-magic and the ending confrontation never feels like that serious a threat, they feel like they're always in control, so I sort of lose interest at that point.

PrinceKaro
So what is happening now is that Tony is dying because he can't find a material to use in the memory card in his heart that won't poison him and so he decides to not only just up and create a new element, but one that is stable and non-radioactive. It's science, bitch!
The film introduces Nick Fury and Black Widow in bit parts, and it is nice to see the MCU start to take shape. For villainy they yet again they go with the evil foreigner working for the military industrial complex guy and it is not really much better this time around.
Finally we see the MCU formula finally starting to come together into the trademark action comedy that we come to know and love, though we still hadn't fully exorcised the 2000's edgelordiness by this point in time.
It never will stand among the greats, but it is still a decent movie in its own right.

XIII Rocks
The Iron Man movies aren't quite as good as RDJ's Tony Stark himself is, even the supreme first movie. A possible part of the reason for that is that he never had a villain to match his charisma. This is the worst offender of all; Whiplash is so wasted, and while Sam Rockwell does very well, as always, he just feels so inconsequential next to Stark. That's partly by design, because he's so clearly supposed to look shitty and greedy, but that becomes a problem when the other villain spends most of the movie confined to a lab building robots before a 90-second fight scene quickly won by War Machine and Iron Man. That said, RDJ himself drags every movie he's in up several notches. The sequence where he makes the new element makes almost no sense plot-wise, but RDJ's charisma sells it, and that's probably the best example of him elevating otherwise iffy material. Also Don Cheadle is better than Terrence Howard so no loss there.

Lopen
I think this one gets a lot of hate? It's completely fine, just kinda pointless action flick but not an obnoxious way like Avengers 2. I will say as the mark of shame this movie holds the distinction of being the only one I didn't remember at all until rewatching for this list aside from Mikey Rourke with energy whips. I guess a bit of a waste of Mickey Rourke but I don't hate the character he plays.

It's funny that this has a fairly similar plot to Iron Man 1 (smarmy weapons dealer wants to beat Tony Stark) but is a lot worse at it.

StifledSilence
Dude from Oceans Eleven is a much better pal than the first guy. Tony being a cocky asshole that wants to privatize world peace is wonderful. And the villain is one-note perhaps, but hes also a perfect foil to Tony. Hes a veritable brick wall that Tony cant simply wave away. It creates a new urgency for him to fight, which is welcome for character development. The Black Widow spots are also excellent.

Illuminatusbubu
It was such a letdown after the first movie. A superhero movie usually depends on the chemistry between the superhero and villain. While this movie has multiple villains, none of them are really relevant.

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BetrayedTangy
Its no secret Iron Man 2 isnt exactly a good movie, but Ill let everyone else shit on it; because I for one love this movie! Theres so many memorable scenes and characters I dont even know where to begin. I think the one thing everyone agrees on is how great Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer is. Hes a riot every time hes on screen, I would love to see him come back for a cameo someday. Then we have Mickey Rourke pretending to be a Russian scientist? Yeah its pretty awful, but hes still good for a laugh especially in the scenes he has with Hammer. Rhodey, Black Widow, Nick Fury, Happy and Gary Shandlings character (RIP) are all a lot of fun throughout too. Despite the amount of fun I have watching this movie, I really cant justify putting it any higher.

Eddv
Average, but fuck off RDJ

Mr Crispy
Iron Man 2 had a terrible reputation. But it actually improved a lot upon actually rewatching it.

I believe the main complaints (other than simply being worse than the first one) were that it was more of the same and the last fight with Whiplash was pretty disappointing after all the buildup to it. Disappointing final fights with the villains has since proven the par for the course for most of the MCU.

"More of the same" isn't necessarily a bad thing, since a lot of MCU sequels try to up the stakes or go in a different direction only to fumble hard (or end up just feeling like going through the motions doing the bare minimum to set up plot points in future films). Tony worrying about his own mortality and what sort of legacy he leaves behind (and coming to terms with his father's death) fits in pretty well with his character arc across all the movies, it just falls a little short.

In the past Tony felt like his father neglected him in favor of work and such before he died, so he tries to avoid becoming like his father by acting like Tony Stark. In Iron Man 2, Tony gets tired of acting like Tony Stark and tries to open up and be more genuine with Pepper and his other friends in order to make good use of the time he has left. But they just dismiss it as Tony being Tony Stark. So Tony feels he has to be more Tony Stark than Tony Stark (driving away more people), until the cycle gets broken by beginning to come to terms with his father. It's just not quite there to make it work all that well.

Speaking of being Tony Stark, Hammer being some dollar store knockoff of the Tony Stark brand that thinks he's more awesome than the original Tony Stark and annoys everyone because he feels the need to prove it/has to tell everyone about it is actually kind of entertaining too.

Iron Man 2 is more of a movie that's not quite good than one that's bad. (Or maybe, other MCU movies ended up having more severe flaws so it looks better by comparison)

Snake5555555555
A product of MCU growing pains, clunkily setting up the blueprint for Avengers by introducing Black Widow in some out-of-place fan-service shots, recasts Rhodey and introduces War Machine, and shoves in stuff like Caps shield and expanded SHIELD presence to help drive in this idea of an extended universe. Its not always the most organic but hell does RDJ sell it all anyway. It was a film almost doomed to fail: too many heroes, too many villains, all coming in too fast, too furious, but through it all Iron Man 2 still manages to craft some compelling action of it all, finding the jewel in the junkyard. I think this film has some really iconic shots too, like Tony in the donut or Whiplash on the racetrack, it kind of makes me nostalgic for that time again when things were a bit simpler. Im torn between liking this film and seeing its many flaws, but overall Id say its more good than bad despite some major missteps.

Corrik7
If you took RDJ out, this wouldn't be really amazing movie. The Iron Man series leans hard on RDJ to carry it throughout. The armor is cool. It gets even cooler. However, the one problem with Iron Man has always been how much is he really even a superhero? Could anyone just pilot his suit and be him? And, you do see a lot of different characters pop up with suits over the Marvel Comics. This movie is alright. It is that great though either.

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21. Iron Man 2
Total Score: 593

BetrayedTangy - 9
Eddv 14
Mr Crispy - 14
Snake5555555555 - 14
Corrik7 16
Paratroopa1 - 16
PrinceKaro 16
XIII Rocks 16
Lopen - 17
StifledSilence 17
Illuminatusbubu - 18
Inviso 18
MetalmindStats 18
Red13n - 18
ScepterOfLove - 18
Whiskey Nick 18
Cybat - 19
Johnbobb 19
Maniac64 - 19
GavsEvans123 20
Sheep007 - 20
MetalDK 21
NBIceman - 21
TomNook 21
VengefulKaelee - 21
ZenOfThunder 21
Anagram 22
CoolCly - 22
Mega Mana 22
Raka Putra - 22
HanOfTheNekos - 23
Jesse Custer 23

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I feel like Phase 1, Iron Man succeeded so the MCU was go. And that meant making big movies to introduce Thor and CapAm (I'm sure Hulk was greenlit regardless of Iron Man given their close release dates). It feels very much like Phase 1 was all about introducing the characters and seeing what worked, all in the lead-up to Avengers. But then in the aftermath, most of Phase 1 has been looked upon less favorably compared to the rest of the franchise, aside from Avengers and Iron Man.

So then you get Phase 2, where it feels like they were very much settling into a goofier, tone for the franchise. You still have an extremely serious movie like Winter Soldier, and serious themes in many of the other movies, but there is a distinct effort to be funnier and more light-hearted. It's why you get weird tonal shifts in Thor 2, because the original Thor had a very serious, Shakespearean atmosphere to it, and Thor 2 decided to throw more comedy into the mix.

Phase 3 is when I feel like Marvel really hit their stride, like someone mentioned earlier in the topic. They figured out what their bread and butter was and didn't try to force movies to be something they're not (for the most part).

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HanOfTheNekos posted...

I don't think Don Cheadle is too bad. I also don't blame him for his performance in IM2. That's like blaming RDJ for his role in IM2 being bad. Or Scarjo.

Oh, I wasn't specifically referring to his role in IM2. I meant that I just don't particularly find him to be the right fit for the role across the MCU. I know there were contract reasons why they couldn't get Terrence Howard back, but I just feel like he would've been able to carry the role a lot better is all.

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I mean, he's funny ENOUGH, but I don't know what it is. It's like when you're acting opposite Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man, you've gotta be able to hold your own. Don Cheadle just comes across as a little too...nice?

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Don Cheadle is great, but just...not so much in the MCU. Not in his current role.

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Sheep007 posted...

Iron Man 2 has Don Cheadle. Thor 1 does not. I think there's a clear and obvious winner here.

By that criteria, Thor 1?

I was gonna do lengthy write-ups for every movie, but I just ran out of time. One of the big ones I had for Iron Man 2 was that Don Cheadle just...he doesn't feel like he can hold his own against RDJ the way Terrence Howard could. There's a reason why War Machine is like, the most forgettable Avenger.

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Dark World had more last places than Hulk, but it also had a FEW more people willing to give it credit.

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OUTLIERS:

Eddv - 25
PrinceKaro - 10
Raka Putra - 10
Lopen - 9
BetrayedTangy - 8
GavsEvans123 - 8
ScepterOfLove - 8
Johnbobb - 6
VengefulKaelee - 6
Inviso - 5
TomNook - 5
HanOfTheNekos - 4
Illuminatusbubu - 4
Jesse Custer - 4
Maniac64 - 4
Mr Crispy - 4
Anagram - 3
CoolCly - 3
Mega Mana - 3
Corrik7 - 2
MetalDK - 2
MetalmindStats - 2
Paratroopa1 - 2
Red13n - 2
Snake5555555555 - 2
ZenOfThunder - 2
StifledSilence - 1
Cybat - 0
NBIceman - 0
Sheep007 - 0
Whiskey Nick - 0
XIII Rocks 0

The top of the list remains the same, given that its such a strong, early lead. But theres a lot more diversity of opinion on Dark World, so that conglomeration of 0s after Hulk has been whittled down to just five perfect scores after two rounds.

Spoiler for Number 21: Another elimination from the first two phases.

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Snake5555555555
The only MCU film I would consider outright terrible. What was the major malfunction with this motion picture? Ill tell you: most everything. It is totally devoid of any personality, I feel like almost no one besides maybe Tom Hiddleston wanted to be in this clunkily-written, colorless, poorly acted excuse of a superhero film. Natalie Portman definitely didnt want to be in this especially. There is just absolutely nothing memorable here, the villains are easily the worst of the entire MCU, I dare anybody to recite me one quote or hell even action against Thor that Malekith does in this film. The supporting cast is so misguided and underwritten, Darcy and the gang are intensely out of place in this unnecessarily miserable piece of storytelling. The stakes are way too damn high for a solo character film, it will have you forgivably begging for the entire Avengers team to assemble to battle this global catastrophe and worst of all it is cleaned up all too neatly for something this Earth-shattering. And hell, it cant even begin to make any action scenes interesting, at least give me something visually impressive to look at! It is supremely trash in all regards, and a stand-out poor decision in an otherwise nearly unblemished run of films.

ZenOfThunder
Never have I been more angry when leaving the theater. Thor hanging his hammer on the coat rack is A+ cinema though

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Mega Mana
First Scene That Comes to Mind: Loki dropping his cell illusion

One of the oddest things watching this again, fully recognizant of Christopher Eccleston as Malekith, is how much the Dark Elves' masked faces look like the Slitheen from the Ninth Doctor's season. Also, the post-credits reunion of Thor and Jane felt like any companion rushing to see the Doctor, with a thunderstorm in place of the TARDIS sound. Hell, if they didn't establish the later action as taking place in Greenwich, I would've assumed it'd be in Cardiff. There wasn't really anything Whovian about this movie, but these things hit me when I wasn't expecting them.

As to the actual movie... it still sucks. With how important the Infinity Stones become and how touching a scene is in Endgame, I was ready to give it more of a chance. But it's just... not great. Frigga has about five scenes in total; Odin's much more of a dick than the fatherly first movie; the Jane/Thor pairing works far less; the Convergence is stupid; Erik Selvig is a joke; the Dark Elves suck; Asgard goes from high fantasy realm to anti-aircraft guns and spaceship fights and dome barriers; and the portal hopping feels both silly and contrived. Hell, I keep thinking the ship slashing into Greenwich was from Star Trek Into Darkness.

For all its many faults, Hemsworth was amazing. He really nailed Thor in this movie and it felt really good whenever he was around. All the other noise with Jane, the Dark Elves, and Selvig? Meh. Thor, some Loki, and what little Frigga we get? Good. The Warriors Three, Lady Sif, Heimdall, and even Darcy are alright. Quick comment on Darcy? She and Rocket would get on famously should they ever meet. Also, I forgot Adewale Akinnouye-Agbaje was in this! Ekobisi!

MetalDK
Just a mess.

Mr Crispy
The elves are hands down the worst MCU villains. The sequel tries to up the stakes and have a more serious tone, but it just doesn't work because the elves don't feel very threatening and they just don't have anything else interesting or likable about them so they're just sort of there floating in some dull looking place detached from everything else going on. It wants you to care more about Thor and Jane but it just fails at that too. Thor and Loki having to work together and deal with the loss of their mother isn't a bad idea, but it's executed so poorly. There's almost nothing interesting or memorable here.

Paratroopa1
Probably the only MCU movie that I really get nothing out of. It's not unwatchable - it's got a few jokes, Thor's badass mom, and a kinda neat action sequence at the end - but it's one of the less funny and more melodramatic films and it just feels like kind of a dull fantasy slog involving some boring dark elves. Having two faceless armies on a big open battlefield run at each other is one of the most boring things you can do in a movie - please stop doing it. The plot of this movie largely boils down to there being a bad guy and Thor goes and stops the bad guy. Lives up to its reputation as the least interesting MCU film - it's a very 60%-on-RT kind of experience. I expect this to be one of the bottom two films, along with Hulk.

Red13n
I would wager there is a pretty good chance this movie finishes last, and it really should. This movie has always been a stain on the MCU I'd rather forget. Aside from some of the more recent titles, this was the only movie on this list I rewatched for the first time here. It was probably about as bad as I recalled. Everything on the human world is bland, kind of pointless, written cheesily and not in a funny enjoyment kind of way. Thor as a character reaches peak boring that at the time seemed completely irrecoverable. Loki is kind of here to save this movie from being a complete trashpile, but that is not near enough to save this movie from feeling like a 2 hour slog.

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GavsEvans123
Malekith is a very dull villain. He has no motivation for returning everything to darkness besides the fact that its evil, and he has no personality other than being evil. Its not even scenery-chewing hammy evil thats gloriously entertaining, hes just the bad guy who is there because there has to be a bad guy for Thor to fight. Malekith sticks out as the Marvel Cinematic Universes weakest villain, which is particularly problematic for him since hes the main antagonist and has to do all the villain work himself. At least Vanko wasnt the only villain in Iron Man 2, and the more entertaining Justin Hammer was there to alleviate some of the pressure from him. Malekith isnt so lucky in that regard. Speaking of Vanko, Malekith was apparently another case of the villains character depth being removed in editing. At least Loki is as charismatic as ever, and is back to how he was in the first Thor, instead of the over-the-top evil version from The Avengers.

Dr Selvig got done dirty. His nervous breakdown after Loki brainwashed him in The Avengers is played for laughs, and I didnt find it funny at all, which is all the more disappointing considering Tony Starks PTSD was taken seriously in Iron Man 3. In fact, I found it so unfunny that his character is ruined for me because of it. Aside from a brief cameo in Age of Ultron, he hasnt appeared again to date, and I hope it stays that way. A shame, since I didnt mind him prior to this film. In fact, I dont want to see any of Jane Fosters crew again, because Darcy is a completely pointless character who does nothing in either of the two films shes in, and Ian the intern and Janes new boyfriend are even more pointless. Darcy is like a sidekick for the sidekick, and Ian and the boyfriend are sidekicks twice removed. Apologies to the people who like those characters, but I needed to get that off my chest.

On the plus side, Frigga has a bigger role this time around, after being a glorified cameo in the first one, and does a lot to stick out as one of the films bright spots. Her death scene, funeral scene and the grief of Loki and Odin to her death is actually surprisingly effective considering that she had been such a minor character until now. Also, she wrecks Malekith sideways to the point that if he hadnt cheated and tagged in Kurse, she would have ended the movie halfway through. I bet Frigga is the most powerful being in the entire MCU, capable of snapping all life without any Infinity Stones, but she had to go so that people dont ask why she doesnt stop any and all threats immediately, turning her into the MCU equivalent of Why didnt the Fellowship fly the eagles to Mordor? or Why didnt Harry Potter use the Time Turner to go back in time and save his parents? By the way, the first one is because the eagles would have been too conspicuous, and the second is because the Time Turners were for going back a few hours, not years.

Johnbobb
Zzzzzzz

Maniac64
This is a bad movie. For more definitiely the worst MCU movie and its not close. The villain is generic as crap. The final battle was pure gimmick that went on WAY to long. The Natalie Portman stuff was bad. They wasted the setting of Asgard and the non-Loki/Thor Asgardians.

I was really excited for a movie set in Asgard as the little bit we had seen of it was very cool. I was really excited for the Heroes 3 and more Sif. And then they were barely fleshed out and mostly just background dressing for more Thor, Loki, and Natalie Portman. Even the ending with Loki taking the throne barely amounted to anything going forward. I went into this movie very excited and left if incredibly disappointed. Only worthwhile thing in this movie is that it introduces an infinity stone. Which they proceed to take off of Asgard to the much less secure location with the Collector for some dumb reason.

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Sheep007
Thats a lot of ugly CGI and designs. Jesus. I dont have much to say about this (they say, writing two hundred words). Loki is excellent, and Thor is incredibly boring again unless hes interacting with him. I think Tom Hiddlestone may give my favourite performance in the entire MCU, which is impressive given the actors within it, and without him I dont think there would be any reason to watch this movie. Yes, Chris Hemsworth is hot as hell, but if its just him the film becomes straight boring everything good about Thor 2 is due to Loki. Except for the stuff with Erik, which I forgot about and actually laughed at, which was a shock to me considering how bored I was for most of it. The villain is bad and a little confusing, they already did a bunch of the oh look hes an alien man on earth so he doesnt understand things! jokes, and Jane is another forgettable love interest who somehow got two movies. At least Natalie Portman has better directing than in Star Wars, so shes not anywhere near as bad, although absolutely tragic acting may have been more fun.

Whiskey Nick
(No write-up.)

XIII Rocks
Kind of notoriously mediocre, I think Hulk and this will be the bottom two on the list fairly comfortably. I still have a lot of time for this movie, which to me is a testament to the quality of the MCU overall; it lacks any real emotional depth, Malekith is very uninteresting, the comedy sometimes doesn't land and it spends too much time on earth with Ian (???). That said it still has, for some excellent reason, Chris O'Dowd, and Hemsworth/Loki are dynamite in every scene they're in together. Only in the brief period where they work together does the movie really sing. I do really like the ending. It manages to offer satisfying resolution to the Odin/Thor tension, but then has a great little "twist" (though they do telegraph it very heavily) at the end. It manages to have its cake and eat it too in this regard. Decent movie overall.

Anagram
Complete garbage. I know Christopher Ecclestan, who played the villain, complained that the scenes that gave him depth were all cut. This movie is also made more intolerable by Natalie Portmans terrible acting and her super annoying comic relief friend.

CoolCly
We all know what the three worst movies are. Most of us just might arrange them a bit differently. Ill start it off with The Dark World.
This movie isnt devoid of decent things. In fact, I wouldnt say any film in the MCU is a *bad* movie. They are just mediocre. Theres too many flaws stacked up to call them good.
Ill start with the good: Loki is good as usual. Being a mommas boy deep down is a real nice redeeming feature for him. I love the illusion he puts up to look composed then comes down to reveal hes gone fuckin nuts
Asgard looks cool as usual. But since it was already in Thor 1 Im not sure TDW gets much credit for that.
Kursed felt very powerful, unlike the stone giant at the beginning, so that was good. Frigga was pretty damn cool for a brief moment as well.
I actually like Kat Dennings, and dont begrudge her being in the movie at all! More Kat Dennings in the MCU, I say! WandaVision is gonna be great!
The bad: Odin is extraordinary dumb and annoying just to be dumb and annoying, both in his dickishness towards Natalie Portman, and his actions with the dark elves. Malekith has no character to speak of and doesnt ever do anything cool. The plot to help Thor escape Asgard sucked big time. Natalie Portman sucked. The final battle sucked. Thor really doesnt develop as a character. This whole movie ultimately just feels like a waste of time.
Overall, mediocre movie!

Corrik7
This movie is not good. Boring. Bland. Villain is pointless again. Portman is shoehorned in to be a big deal. The only really fun part in this movie is moreso from Loki than the rest of the cast.

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HanOfTheNekos
In the end... it wasn't bad. There was enough coherence to make it not Iron Man 2 levels of meh. But overall... it wasn't strong. A lot of things were done poorly. The setpieces were mainly dull. The characters were... varied in their worth. Darcy especially was awful. Most stuff on Earth was. Drizzt and the dark elves weren't very compelling. Too much deus ex machina. Didn't explain some things (where is Odin?).

Pacing was alright though. Plot was... ok. Seems like it was very much used as a reason to unearth another Infinity Stone.

Thor was solid himself, and the combat and action sequences were pretty exciting. Hate that Sif has to take a backseat to Natalie Portman. Music was good, though not amazing.

HOT DAMN LOKI THOUGH

Ugh every time he's in a movie I get why everyone goes gaga for Tom Hiddleston. Fuck man. What a great character. In fact, Loki specifically in this movie is one of the best villains in all of the MCU. Gotta give him credit.

Jesse Custer
It goes without saying that The Dark World was a deeply flawed movie, with a throwaway villain and Thor having about as much personality as a glass of water (to say nothing of Jane, who Ive never been able to care about in the slightest). But at the risk of affording this lackluster movie some praise, it wasnt consistently boring. The gimmick of the portals made for a visually stimulating final battle, and Tom Hiddleston stole the show as Loki whenever he appeared. But what little the movie did right wasnt nearly enough to make up for all the rest.

MetalmindStats
I think the moment that defines this thoroughly middling MCU installment is when it veers from a surprisingly well-done funeral scene straight into some thudding action. Really, that clash of tone and execution is altogether characteristic of the movie as a whole, which at least puts it a small step above the ones I found more or less boring the whole way through.

BetrayedTangy
Wanna know the real reason Thor 2 is so boring? Because the first Thor does a horrible job setting it up, When I rewatched this I actually found a lot to like! We start seeing a lot more Asgardian lore and theres some really pretty scenery that comes from it too. Thor and Janes romance thankfully got sidelined too and as a result we got to see more from all the characters. I also thought the final battle was pretty fun and creative. It might seem like Im really hyping this movie up, but dont get me wrong its still not great, I just think its a huge step up from Thor 1

StifledSilence
Think Thor 1, but with less douchiness and more fine ass Natalie Portman.

Cybat
As you would expect, the scenes with Loki in them are almost all a lot of fun, and enough to keep this out of the last spot on their own merit. Unfortunately, basically everything else here is pretty messy and forgettable. Malekith is by far the biggest nonentity villain in a franchise with an unfortunate number of nonentity villains. The exposition is rampant. And the comedy sidekick did NOT need her own comedy sidekick.
Interestingly, this was the first movie to use the actual term Infinity Stone, confirming the nature of the ongoing buildup to Thanos after the tease in Avengers. And the writers being forced to revisit this movie led to some funny and heartfelt moments in Endgame. And also, I am one of the few people in the world who actually cares about the Warriors Three and Sif. So Loki isnt the ONLY good thing in the movie. Arguably.

NBIceman
Take everything bad about the first Thor (and there was a lot) and make it worse and you get Thor: Dark World. The side characters? Still boring, and they even added another one thats even more pointless. The writing? Well, the jokes still generally dont land and Thor still doesnt really sound like a real person. Odin? Still phoning it in. Throw in the most forgettable main villain in the franchise (think of the ground that covers) and we see why this movie has the reputation it does. At least Loki gets a few good scenes here and there.

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PrinceKaro
When Thor's girlfriend arbitrarily stumbles onto an ancient superweapon, all of asgard is dragged into conflict with the Dark Elves. Yes, the Dark Elves. I guess we're just gonna go full D&D handbook here.
This movie feels at odds with the MCU as a whole, filled with overused fantasy tropes and silly mysticism rather than trying to make a smidgen of sense. It often seems that the director wanted more to make a movie about the norse mythology characters rather than the marvel ones, so many scenes feel less like viewing an advanced alien race and more like watching bad LARPing at a renaissance fair.
Thor's relationship with Loki is the highlight of the movie, much like any movie the two of them are in. It goes to show just what kind of depth you can have when you don't fucking bump off your villains automatically in their first appearance, something the MCU does way too much.
So this film... it is what it is. It is weird but still watchable.

Lopen
This one gets a lot of flak, but I will forgive a lot of its wrong as it focuses heavily on Loki and his relationship with Thor and well you can't go all that wrong with that. In non Loki things Broke Girl 1 is a highlight in this one and the end sequence with the portals is memorable insanity which also helps.

ScepterOfLove
(No write-up.)

Raka Putra
"Watched it for the first time for this project. It was not horrendous, but the villain was quite forgettable and his plot didn't really have anything to do with anything. The part with Loki's fake-betrayal was kinda brilliant though, I still got tricked even after all these movies. And his 'death'...yeah...whatever, dude. Oh and it had portals before Dr. Strange came to the picture, so that was fun.
It's kind of embarrassing, but I have to confess I actually enjoy the shenanigans of Jane Foster's crew a lot. Overall, I don't regret watching it because it had a lot of quite important moments for Thor and the Aether stuff."

VengefulKaelee
My biggest MCU hot take is that Thor: The Dark World is actually the best of the Thor movies. That's not saying too much, really, as Thor's movies are never standouts, but I enjoy the increased focus on Asgard, the interplay between Thor and Loki, and the overall dramatic story arc here enough to forgive the uninspired villain and the dull bits featuring Natalie Portman and company back on Earth.

Eddv
This is a bad movie - too much poorly done "greek" god stuff.

Inviso
Everyone always talks about how this is one of the weakest Marvel movies, if not THE weakest Marvel movie, and perhaps it still is and the MCU is just a really strong series of movies. But Thor 2 is a lot better than I originally gave it credit for being. It has its flaws; namely, Malekith is a blank slate villain who embodies the worst aspects of Marvel villains, and pretty much all of the trademark Marvel comedy comes from Erik running around like a crazy personand Kat Dennings. Its not great. That being said, the emotional aspects of the film are handled pretty well. Dont get me wrong, theres still almost no chemistry between Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman (who feels OUTRAGEOUSLY miscast as a scientist), but the role of Thors mother, her interactions with numerous characters, and her eventual death, all hit hard because of how well-handled they are. Its one of the rare early moments of mourning we see in the MCU, and seeing even LOKI struggle with it hits home how devastating her death truly is. Lokis death was great for how short it lasted, and honestly, it wouldve been better if not for that interstitial scene revealing his survival prior to the ending. So yeah, decent film overall.

TomNook
I like Thor a lot as a character. So even though this is his worst movie obviously, it's Thor. It can get away a bit more with coasting. It was disappointing that it didn't do more, but I thought it was decent enough.

Illuminatusbubu
A very forgettable movie that I feel is just there so that we will have a Thor trilogy. It even fails in that regard as the third Thor movie is so good that we will have the fourth Thor movie.

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22. Thor: The Dark World
Total Score: 653

PrinceKaro 12
Lopen - 14
ScepterOfLove 14
Raka Putra - 16
VengefulKaelee - 16
Eddv - 17
Inviso 17
TomNook - 17
Illuminatusbubu - 19
HanOfTheNekos - 20
Jesse Custer 20
MetalmindStats 20
BetrayedTangy - 21
StifledSilence 21
Cybat 22
NBIceman - 22
Sheep007 22
Whiskey Nick 22
XIII Rocks 22
Anagram 23
CoolCly - 23
Corrik7 23
GavsEvans123 - 23
Johnbobb 23
Maniac64 - 23
Mega Mana - 23
MetalDK 23
Mr Crispy 23
Paratroopa1 23
Red13n - 23
Snake5555555555 - 23
ZenOfThunder 23

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Tsu is the number 1 waifu, IMHO.

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Eddv posted...

Lopen makes me sound like an agent of chaos.

I mean...we've seen your Star Trek crew rankings. :P

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OUTLIERS:

Eddv - 20
BetrayedTangy - 7
GavsEvans123 - 7
Johnbobb - 5
Raka Putra - 4
Maniac64 - 3
Mr Crispy - 3
Anagram - 2
CoolCly - 2
HanOfTheNekos - 2
Jesse Custer - 2
Mega Mana - 2
Corrik7 - 1
Illuminatusbubu - 1
Lopen - 1
MetalDK - 1
Paratroopa1 - 1
Red13n - 1
Snake5555555555 - 1
ZenOfThunder - 1
Cybat - 0
Inviso - 0
MetalmindStats - 0
NBIceman - 0
PrinceKaro - 0
ScepterOfLove - 0
Sheep007 - 0
StifledSilence - 0
TomNook - 0
VengefulKaelee - 0
Whiskey Nick - 0
XIII Rocks - 0

Over half the entrants put Hulk down in the bottom two spots, with twelve nailing a spot-on ranking. Really, the range of scores for this movie aren't all that surprising...until you reach our current outlier leader, Eddv, who manages an impressive 20-point score on the first movie of the list.

Spoiler for Number 22: My previous hint sucks in retrospect, because EVERY film has at least one top ten placement...EXCEPT this one.

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TomNook
The dullest movie on the list. I'm not really a fan of the Hulk as a character, so a movie that centers around him is unlikely to be one that appeals to me (the same goes for that Ang Lee version). As much as I like Edward Norton as an actor, there wasn't much to salvage here. Just dull.

VengefulKaelee
If this doesn't come in last place overall, I'll be amazed. 2008's The Incredible Hulk is a failure on nearly every level. After a decent opening ten minutes that partially serves to cover the origin story that had already been adapted in Ang Lee's Hulk (a better, but still highly flawed film), this takes a complete nose dive and never recovers. Probably the worst part is the way this movie treats Liv Tyler's character her character literally only exists to fawn over Bruce and never displays any agency or personality of her own. It's probably the single most misogynistic portrayal of a female character I've ever seen in a comic book movie. Not to mention I felt really bad for her poor fianc, Ty Burrell, who seemed like a perfectly nice guy in this movie and totally didn't deserve to get completely dropped as soon as Betty laid eyes on Bruce again. As far as the villains go, Tim Roth's Abomination is pretty forgettable, and William Hurt is just kind of painful as Thunderbolt Ross. Recasting Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk was one of the smartest early behind-the-scenes decisions the MCU creatives made though, admittedly, Ed Norton is slightly more suited for the part of Hulk than Eric Bana, I'll give this movie that.

Whiskey Nick
(No write-up.)

XIII Rocks
Of all of them this is the one I have very little affection for and I'm sure I'm not the only one. There's the seeds of the wider MCU here and some good Hulk-smashing action, but it's not really that good. I like Ed Norton a lot and think he did fine. For as much as I like Ruffalo, recasting Hulk really cemented this as the black sheep of the MCU and made it seem more "separate", so it becomes completely inessential - as well as being just not that good of a movie. So I don't really have much affection for it as a result.

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Having never seen this film before watching it for the list, I now understand why its the black sheep of the MCU, and perhaps why Hulk has never gotten another standalone film. For starters, this feels like the second movie in an individual franchise, which is probably because it is. But for some reason Hulk (2003) is not part of the canon, features a different set of actors, and gives us all of the background that tends to fall into a film from the FIRST movie in a franchise. Instead, we get ALL the origin backstory in flashbacks, and it leads to the movie feeling slow and boring for the first quarter of its running time. It honestly doesnt get much better once Bruce is back in the U.S. either. The movie just takes itself SO seriously. Hulk is not comedic in this film, and no one else is being comedic either, so its just a very stoic plot all the way through, and it just drags until the eventual Hulk, but bigger and badder boss fight at the end.

MetalmindStats
Its not that I dont remember anything at all about The Incredible Hulk; all these years later, the sequence with Bruce Banner in some Brazilian factory as well as the DC-set climax come to mind. What I dont recall is any sort of reason why I should care.

NBIceman
This movie feels so different from every other MCU offering that its weird to even think about it as part of the franchise. Its not bad, necessarily. It just feels more like a pre-Iron Man movie than what we think of as a Marvel movie nowadays. Part of that is the cast - Norton didnt fit Banner at all and everyone else except for maybe Ross was just as miscast or more so - but the script is poor, the effects are bad, and the whole tone is kind of just off as well. Black sheep of the series for a reason.

PrinceKaro
This is a movie that gets a lot of hate, and well, it is absolutely warranted. How soon do things go south? Pretty much almost immediately.
Right off the bat we get the scenes of how the Hulk was created just presented as like the opening of a bad CBS procedural drama and I'm sorry but this is an origin movie and how Banner became the unjolly green giant is KIND OF FUCKING IMPORTANT and we need to see more than a dragon ball z recap.
The big guy takes forever to actually show up outside of shaky/blurry cam work, like a horror movie monster who the director tries to hide the appearance of for the benefit of the three people watching who don't know what the fucking Hulk looks like.
The whole thing feels cheap and phoned in and it is difficult to care about anything or anyone and there is nothing incredible about this except maybe incredibly boring.
This is unquestionably the giant turd sandwich of the MCU, and when the turds are green, radioactive, and larger than most toilets it is time to run for the hills.

ScepterOfLove
(No write-up.)

Sheep007
I have actually never seen this film before, and I dont think I was missing out. It adds nothing that isnt done better by later Marvel movies, doesnt spend enough time focusing on Banner for a movie with no other interesting characters, and has too many action sequences. Theres only so much you can do with Hulk action sequences theres not a ton of fun visuals or quirks to his powers, and so you should focus on the character more, which they just dont do. Betty is a forgettable love interest and not accompanied by being particularly likeable, while the CGI doesnt hold up well and most of the scenes are ugly or bland (not unusual for the less recent Marvel movies, but still a frustrating point for me). Anyone watching or rewatching the MCU can just skip this, because I dont think it adds anything you all know who the Hulk is, and if you dont youll figure it out, just like all the people who didnt watch this movie managed to do. This felt like a waste of time and I didnt have much fun watching it.

StifledSilence
This movie is trash. I like the destruction, but thats about it. I dont like Norton as Bruce. The love interest is boring. The villain is not compelling. Likecan we make a Hulk movie with Ruffalo and retcon this? Or better yet, just make a good Hulk movie? He pairs well with Thor. Hell, he could do a movie with Natalie Thorman if they go that route. Just do something please. A big green man smashing shit CAN be fun, as weve seen. They just need to make it fun as its own movie.

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Illuminatusbubu
I honestly cannot remember a thing about this movie until I did a rewatch for this project. Then after the rewatch, Im still blank about it. I think Disney also tries to forget about its existence or distances itself from this film when they cast Ruffalo as the Hulk instead of Norton.

Lopen
I'm honestly not sure you can make a movie about The Hulk compelling. Too much of what makes the character work is all about what's going on in his head, which I'm skeptical really translates to film very well even if it can in comics. That's not to say he can't work with some other characters to play off-- The Avengers and Thor Ragnarok both use him really well. But I think even if we had the better guy from the later films playing Bruce Banner (though the guy here wasn't awful) this movie was doomed for mediocrity and irrelevance, no matter what the plot was, if you're constrained by "the only hero dude in it is The Hulk" as your premise it's just not gonna work on film. Prove me wrong. But at least it's better than Hulk 2003. What a trainwreck that one was. That may be too generous-- I probably wouldn't fall asleep on a trainwreck.

MetalDK
Movie might be a tier above if it actually felt like an MCU film. Norton wasn't bad in this, and it wasn't until Civil War where another character reappeared in Ross.

Paratroopa1
A rather awkward movie, given the whole casting switch from Edward Norton to Mark Ruffalo (a good change) makes this film feel not particularly connected to the rest of the MCU - it feels outdated and weird, from a different era of films. It's not all that bad though - it's watchable. I like that they didn't do a Hulk origin story here (presumably the 2003 film already had that covered) and I like how they use Hulk as both a horror movie monster and also a superhero. I think the bottling factory was a cool place to set an action sequence. I like when the villain whose name I don't remember is just casually like 'yeah gimme that Hulk juice." Uh, that's about it, I didn't rewatch this one because it's not on Disney+ and I couldn't be assed. I expect this to be one of the bottom two films, along with Thor: The Dark World.

Red13n
I always forget the post credits scene gives this movie more MCU tie-along than I mentally give it credit for, but I'm always going to consider this to be more MCU-adjacent than a direct MCU film. While this movie mostly spares us the comic book movie trope of an origin, the plot tends to jump from point to point with little room to breathe and take much of it in. The characters inevitably all run from place to place, the plot continually takes a backseat, and stuff gets smashed. The MCU is ultimately better for recognizing that there is a Hulk while pretending this movie doesn't exist.

Snake5555555555
A weirdly disconnected and disjointed film that stands apart from the rest of the MCU. Its biggest problem in the context of MCU of how little it connects to the overall bigger picture. The thing is, I think I like Ed Norton Hulk better than Ruffalo, but this unfortunate mess of casting and ambiguity as to where it stands as a sequel does little to help a film that plays it safe just as Iron Man was proving what the next generation of superhero films were going to be like. Hulk feels like a remnant of the past, dated upon release, more akin to Spider-Man 3 and complete misses like Daredevil, failing to capture what can make the Hulk a compelling character. It is inessential and almost non-canon by this point, and it just does not stand-up to future entries.

ZenOfThunder
I barely even consider this canon, it kinda sucks. Edward Norton should stick to Wes Anderson movies.

Cybat
I will freely admit that I am a big fan of the MCU, and of Marvel (and comic book movies) in general. I do genuinely like all of the movies on this list. That said, something still has to be last, and it wasnt exactly hard to nail that decision down. This movie admittedly suffered a lot when it was released from being so close to Ang Lees earlier attempt, but even so it doesnt have a whole lot going for it other than Tim Roth having a good time. (Although it was nice to see an actual smash-filled climactic fight after whatever the hell it was that we got from Lee.) I do feel a little bad for Tim Blake Nelson who never got to come back and be the Leader, but I guess you never know with all the Disney+ stuff theyre working on.

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CoolCly
I actually kinda like this movie. I think Nortons performance is pretty good. He really feels like an exceptionally brilliant man on the run. I like Ruffalo but honestly I might have liked Norton better. I liked Blonsky a lot. His general attitude as a soldier who feels like hes reached peak performance and wants to push himself beyond to fight the Hulk is pretty cool. I like his slightly enhanced action at the campus, but. It ends really stupidly. In general, the military action really sucks. Hulk is impervious to everything they do, and they dont establish *any* tension to be concerned about during the scenes to care about the action. Maybe have the Hulk protect people or something? Theres a brief moment of this with Liv Tyler but that really just did more to make Ross seem like a bad dad.
The action with the military sucks because the Hulk is impervious to everything they do, but somehow the fight with the Abomination is even worse Maybe this is a problem with the effects, but it seems like they cant actually hurt eachother. They just push eachother around like its Man of Steel and throw eachother into things. Maybe a rematch some day will be better.
Mediocre movie!

HanOfTheNekos
It was not as terrible as people make it out to be. That said, it wasn't a good movie.

I think the general word is that it meandered. I didn't really care too much about what was going on. There was a little too much "show, don't tell", to where I was just waiting to actually be pulled in to the movie. It was pretty clear from the beginning - Ed Norton turned into Hulk. Hulk attacked his girlfriend. Hulk ran away. Ed Norton wants to not turn into Hulk. Ed Norton finds a way to stop turning into Hulk. Ed Norton banks on that not working as he plummets to death. He turns back into Hulk. Ed Norton then turns into Mark Ruffalo.

To me, its the worst of the whatever MCU films, as it came before RDJ set the tone for the whole franchise.

Jesse Custer
Well, it was a lot better than Ang Lees Hulk, but thats not saying much. Some of the action scenes were decent, particularly the final battle between Hulk and Abomination. But the character development and story were weak, and Bruce Banner doesnt feel like he has any personality beyond some dude who turns into a big green monster. It doesnt even feel like a movie set in the MCU, or anything beyond some forgettable comic book flick along the lines of Ghost Rider or any of the Fantastic Four movies. Its actually surprising the MCU hasnt taken another crack at a Hulk movie in all this time.

Mega Mana
First Moment That Comes to Mind: College campus sonic attacks

It's hard to imagine Edward Norton in the Avengers. Mark Ruffalo is just so freaking good as Bruce Banner. Edward Norton always comes off as possibly insane in nearly every movie he's in that his Bruce Banner is kind of like Jack Nicholson in The Shining. There's an ever-present unhinged element from the get-go that it never feels like Bruce and the Hulk are two separate and opposite characters sharing one body.

As far as the movie goes, eh. The cast is solid. Liv Tyler is a great Betty, Tim Roth is a fantastic mercenary, Tim Blake Nelson probably would have already come back as the Leader at some point if another superhero movie starring another green CGI hero didn't bomb fighting a different giant-headed super-smart guy. And there's a reason they've kept bringing back William Hurt's Thunderbolt Ross. It's a good enough movie, but doesn't really amount to much more than that, and has another terrible superhero third act with the horrid Abomination. I kind of want to make two separate lists where I'm ranking just the first two-thirds of MCU movies and the last third and seeing how differently those would stack up. On both lists, however, Incredible Hulk would be near the bottom. Also, I forgot Michael K. Williams was in this! Omar!

Corrik7
The end fight with Abomination is fun. The movie is okay in parts. But, to be honest, Norton doesn't seem to fit this role. I don't like to use the word miscast a lot, but he does seem to be here. Movie just doesn't fit well to this point and seems to not have much of a connection beyond easter eggs. Which is probably purposeful but still.

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Raka Putra
I watched this for the very first time for this project and I must say, I'm quite pleased. It was an enjoyable enough movie. And I actually liked the lead actor here better than Mark Ruffalo. The setting and origin story were pretty fun. Too bad they basically threw everything out of the window.

Maniac64
Its to bad everything went bad with NOrton which basically made this movie forgotten for a long time. Though I do prefer Ruffalo as Bruce, as Norton's banner sometimes comes off more like an action hero than a dorky scientist. Still this movie gets more grief than it should imo, is it great? No. Was it a worthy follow-up to Iron Man? Definitely not. But was it entertaining to watch Hulk smash in the final fight? Yes, yes it was. And thats the main thing with a hulk movie imo.

Mr Crispy
Probably the most forgettable and skippable movie in the MCU. Nothing that happens in this movie gets brought up in any meaningful way in later movies. The whole plot of Bruce trying to find a cure? Nope. Abomination, or the guy they set up to be the villain in the next movie? Nope. Betty? Marvel would rather inflict pain on the audience with Bruce and Natasha instead. General Ross? Sure he comes back later, but he doesn't interact with Bruce or seem to have any goals related to the super soldier serum and didn't mention anything else from the Incredible Hulk so it might as well have been a new character. The tag with Ross and Tony where Marvel clearly didn't have any idea what they were doing when filming it? Well, I guess they put in a minimum amount of effort to try to retcon it away. I genuinely had no idea that this was actually considered to be in continuity with the rest of the MCU (instead of being a stand alone film), and thus didn't even bother watching it until after Infinity War came out.

The whole concept of the Hulk probably works better on the side of an ensemble movie like Avengers smashing things than as a standalone movie - at least when you're talking about a big budget Hollywood blockbuster. It's hard to sustain an entire action movie on Hulk Smashing. Which isn't to say that you couldn't do something interesting with Bruce being a fugitive or his psychology, it's just an approach that would be more slow burning with more build up before the explosion and would probably work better in a more serialized format. The Incredible Hulk tries to do both approaches, in the most middle of the road way possible for what you'd expect from a typical pre-MCU '00s superhero movie.

I originally intended to have the Incredible Hulk on the bottom of the list due to being the least relevant, but it ended up bubbling up a few places with the logic that it was probably worse to have something terrible about it or fail at what it was trying to do than being 'only' mediocre and forgettable.

Anagram
Its almost impossible to believe that this movie even exists. The Ang Lee movie is also bad, but it at least is attempting to have like artistic ideas by cutting the frames like comic book panels? This movie has nothing. In fact, Ill go ahead and say its the least creative, least interesting movie in the franchise. Its not the worst, but there is nothing in this movie to care about or connect with. Hell, they never even wrapped up that whole the Leader plotline. About the only thing in this movie I remember clearly is Bruce Banner being like I dont want to give the government my magic blood because theyll use it for bad things and then just giving them the Abomination, who has the same magic blood.

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Eddv
Edward Norton's very strange and moody take on The Incredible Hulk feels like something out of the previous era of superhero movies - more in line with Superman Returns or Batman Begins than with Iron Man or Captain America. And I actually really liked it! Even the sort of left turn to make this into a Grey Hulk movie like - at least the Grey Hulk is visually interesting and driven by something human, jealousy of the power Banner wields, and the confrontation suitably epic for a super hero movie as opposed to many of the movies on this list that feel more like GM busted out a Monster Manual and picked something at random so there would be a fight.

BetrayedTangy
So I have a soft spot for this one. It was my first MCU movie and I watched it a lot, it had some really awesome action scenes for the time and was the first live action Hulk that actually looked right. Also William Hurt looks just like Thunderbolt Ross so thats pretty cool. Other than that its a mostly forgettable superhero flick from the 2000s

GavsEvans123
Here we have the red-headed stepchild of the MCU. With this one, you get the feeling that the series was still experimenting with what it wanted to be, so it feels different tonally, and feels darker and more serious than many of the other films. More than any of the other early films, this is the one that wouldnt be made in the modern MCU, and not just due to the legal issues surrounding the film rights. Having said that, there is still the odd moment of levity (Betty losing her temper at the taxi driver got a pretty big laugh out of me for how unexpected it was.)

I didnt like the 2003 Hulk film very much because I thought it took itself far too seriously (I vividly remember it being the first film I saw at the cinema that I was disappointed by, at the age of 11, and a rewatch once I was older sadly didnt make it grow on me.) The 2003 film was recent enough at the time that this one quickly recaps the origin during the opening credits and jumps straight into the new story, which is much appreciated.

This film is still pretty serious, though not oppressively so. There is plenty more Hulk smashing things this time, and his opponents actually put up a decent fight too. Balanced with that, we also get the scenes of Bruce Banners trauma from his transformations. Theyre better integrated this time round, and their relevance is clearer. The PTSD scene in the shower is the most effective in this respect.

Despite its status as the forgotten MCU movie, to the point that youd be forgiven for thinking it was non-canon until the unexpected return of General Ross in Civil War, (surely Betty should have been at least mentioned in passing in Age of Ultron?) I was pleasantly surprised by this one, maybe because it deviates from the Marvel formula as we know it today.

Side note, poor Tim Blake Nelson just cannot catch a break. First he was meant to be Leader, but he never appears again, then he was meant to be Mole Man in Fant4stic, but that didnt get a sequel either. There was a tie-in comic for The Avengers that had the Leader in it, and Black Widow shoots him in the kneecaps. Since I havent read said comic, I like to imagine that the kneecap shooting is prompted by Leader crashing Nick Fury and Black Widows afternoon tea party and being all like Look at me, Im the guy with the face, woogedy woogedy woo!

Johnbobb
I'm honestly just a little bit pissed that this is the only Hulk solo movie we got. I mean, I get it. Hulk is expensive as a character, and not quite as popular as some of the other lead characters, but goddamnit I've always loved Hulk. But after two underperforming attempts at starting a Hulk franchise, it was clearly just never going to be a thing, which is a shame because while this movie is definitely flawed (way too much of the "dudes in suits talking while walking down hallways" stuff), it's not all that bad. The big end fight was a lot of fun, Thunderbolt Ross is great, and it set up for Red Hulk only for that to never happen.

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23. The Incredible Hulk
Total Score: 669

Eddv 3
BetrayedTangy 16
GavsEvans123 - 16
Johnbobb 18
Raka Putra - 19
Maniac64 20
Mr Crispy - 20
Anagram 21
CoolCly - 21
HanOfTheNekos - 21
Jesse Custer 21
Mega Mana - 21
Corrik7 22
Illuminatusbubu 22
Lopen - 22
MetalDK 22
Paratroopa1 22
Red13n - 22
Snake5555555555 - 22
ZenOfThunder 22
Cybat - 23
Inviso 23
MetalmindStats 23
NBIceman - 23
PrinceKaro - 23
ScepterOfLove 23
Sheep007 - 23
StifledSilence 23
TomNook 23
VengefulKaelee - 23
Whiskey Nick 23
XIII Rocks 23

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Getting ready to post the ranking. Just because of how I will inevitably need to post multiple times to get everything in, please refrain from posting until the entire list is complete (you'll know because I'll have posted the outlier scores.)

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THE MCU:

Iron Man (2008)
The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Iron Man 2 (2010)
Thor (2011)
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
Marvel's The Avengers (2012)
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Iron Man 3 (2013)
Thor: The Dark World (2013)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Ant-Man (2015)
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Captain America: Civil War (2016)
Doctor Strange (2016)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Black Panther (2018)
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
Captain Marvel (2019)
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)

THE SCORES:

114
183
183
197
233
256
258
297
306
312
313
335
392
424
471
497
513
533
533
569
593
653
669

There are two ties on the list. In both cases, the tie was broken by removing each film's highest and lowest scores.

That's it for tonight. Just kicking off the list with a new topic. I'll try to post one entry a day, and I'll maintain an outlier list to see who is most (and least) in sync with the board's opinion as a whole. I hope everyone enjoyed the project so far, and continues to enjoy when they find out where their rankings fall in the grand scheme of things.

Spoiler for Number 23: This film received at least one top ten placement.

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First and foremost: a warning. There WILL be spoilers for all 23 movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in this topic (along with perhaps other Marvel properties...I can't be sure.) Again, this is a spoiler warning for the ENTIRE Marvel Cinematic Universe. Just wanted to get that out of the way.

Also, that "PHASE ONE" in the topic title doesn't mean anything like me handling the ranking by phase or anything like that. Given the size of write-ups I've received and hopefully how much interest this project might generate, I'm just expecting to need at least two, if not more topics to finish the whole list.

For the past ten months (give or take), COVID-19 has completely stalled a lot in our society, including Marvel's lengthy timeline for the premiere of their many, many superhero movies and television shows. Why, by this very date, we would be expected to have seen Black Widow, Eternals, and we'd be dealing with ads for Shang-Chi: Legend of the Ten Rings. However, those three movies did not come out in the past year. Before COVID hit, Marvel had conveniently wrapped up their first three phases (the Infinity Saga) in a neat little bow, leaving 23 movies as a part of their cinematic universe. And for the past several months, we--the Gauntlet Crew, and for the first time in a long time, the rest of Board 8--have been rewatching the Infinity Saga from Iron Man all the way up to Spider-Man: Far From Home, with the intent of ranking said movies and determining Board 8's favorite Marvel movie of them all!

Overall, we had a great deal of interest and a grand total of thirty-two participants submitted lists, ranking all twenty-three movies, complete with write-ups from almost everyone. The results have been tallied, and after a whole lot of work from all involved, we have our list set in stone.

Your Rankers:

Anagram
BetrayedTangy
CoolCly
Corrik7
Cybat
Eddv
GavsEvans123
HanOfTheNekos
Illuminatusbubu
Inviso @Inviso
Jesse Custer
Johnbobb
Lopen
Maniac64
Mega Mana
Metal DK
MetalmindStats
Mr Crispy
NBIceman
Paratroopa1
PrinceKaro
Raka Putra
Red13n
ScepterOfLove
Sheep007
Snake5555555555
StifledSilence
TomNook
VengefulKaelee
Whiskey Nick
XIII Rocks
ZenOfThunder

There's a second post coming, so don't post yet!

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I've got two lists left to fold into the rankings. Gonna take a break for now. Gotta get some steps in for the day. Then it's back to finishing off the last two lists and kicking off the topic itself.

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Gauntlet, yes. The Pokemon rankings might've been bigger.

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Alright. I have six lists I need to fold into the ranking. I'm gonna say at this point that the deadline has hit and the ranking is finalized. Hopefully I can get this squared away in the next few hours and at least get the introductory topic up today.

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Alright. I'm going to bed. This is still open until I wake up (and depending on the volume of late replies, I'll probably allow stragglers until I've finished tabulating everything. Plus tomorrow's the start of the month at work, so I'll be pretty busy most of the day.) These are the twenty-five lists I've received thus far:

Anagram
BetrayedTangy
Corrik
Cybat
Eddv
GavsEvans123
HanOfTheNekos
Illuminatusbubu
Inviso
Jesse_Custer
Johnbobb
Maniac64
Mega Mana
MetalDK
MetalmindStats
NBIceman
PrinceKaro
ScepterOfLove
Sheep007
Snake5555555555
StifledSilence
TomNook
Whiskey_Nick
XIII_Rocks
ZenOfThunder

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Working on folding your two entries into the list. Going to bed after that. Everyone else who wants to participate, you have until I wake up tomorrow to get your lists in.

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Cybat posted...

Just sent mine. Let me know if there are any problems with it. Thanks!

Got yours.

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The way I THINK it works is this:

Person A borrows stocks from Person B with the intention of selling the stocks, and then buying them back as the stock price goes lower, thus making a profit in terms of the difference between the sell price and the buy price.

Person B allows the borrowing of the stock, but requires payment in order to allow the borrowing (interest, collateral, whatever you want to call it.)

Person A's goal is to sell the stock and allow the price to fall low enough that they can buy it back and recoup the losses incurred by the interest charged by Person B.

Person B's goal is to charge enough interest that they make up the difference in price when the borrowed shares of stock decrease in value. They might even be lucky enough to have a situation like the current one, where the stock prices are inflated AND they've already received interest payments.

Can someone else verify this? Is that accurate? Because that's the only way the system makes sense to me.

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Mr Crispy posted...

I'd like to participate but I've procrastinated too long and still have a lot of writeups to do. >_>

I guess at the very least I could try to email the list by the end of the day and try to email a version with the writeups later.

That's fine. We've done that in the past. And I should point out that I've already received a couple lists without write-ups, so if you--or anyone--is feeling overwhelmed by the prospect of doing write-ups to attach to the lists, don't stress yourselves out on that front. Write-ups aren't required, they're just enjoyable to read for other peoples' opinions.

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Just folded in a few recent entries. I have lists from the following:

Anagram
BetrayedTangy
Corrik
Eddv
GavsEvans123
Inviso
Jesse_Custer
Johnbobb
Maniac64
Mega Mana
MetalDK
MetalmindStats
PriceKaro
ScepterOfLove
Sheep007
Snake5555555555
StifledSilence
Whiskey_Nick
XIII_Rocks
ZenOfThunder

If you're not on this list and have sent me a list, please contact me again.

If you haven't sent a list yet, you have until the end of the day (though let's be honest, I'll probably allow some wiggle room into Monday morning as I'm not starting this right at midnight EST).

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