Board 8 > Board 8 Ranks: The Marvel Cinematic Universe (PHASE TWO!)

(+) Yeah! (+)

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 TWO" 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. This is already topic two, and if you want to read topic one, the write-ups are here for as long as the topic avoids the purge: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/79272506

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
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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THE MCU:

Iron Man (2008)
23rd. The Incredible Hulk (2008)
21st. Iron Man 2 (2010)
20th. Thor (2011)
16th. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
Marvel's The Avengers (2012)
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Iron Man 3 (2013)
22nd. Thor: The Dark World (2013)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
18th. 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)
17th. Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
19th. 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 (Captain America: The First Avenger)
513 (Ant-Man and the Wasp)
533 (Avengers: Age of Ultron)
533 (Captain Marvel)
569 (Thor)
593 (Iron Man 2)
653 (Thor: The Dark World)
669 (The Incredible Hulk)

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15. Iron Man 3
Total Score: 471

ScepterOfLove 5
Snake5555555555 5
Paratroopa1 - 7
VengefulKaelee - 8
Jesse Custer 9
TomNook - 9
Inviso 11
XIII Rocks - 11
Mega Mana 12
CoolCly - 13
Eddv - 13
MetalDK 13
NBIceman 13
Raka Putra - 13
Whiskey Nick 14
GavsEvans123 15
HanOfTheNekos 15
MetalmindStats 15
Illuminatusbubu - 16
StifledSilence - 16
ZenOfThunder 16
Mr Crispy - 17
Corrik7 18
Sheep007 - 18
Anagram 19
Cybat - 20
Johnbobb 21
Lopen 21
Red13n - 21
PrinceKaro 22
Maniac64 22
BetrayedTangy - 23

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ScepterOfLove
(No write-up.)

Snake5555555555
A terrific character action film that is the absolute crux of Tony Starks character. The film deftly analyzes how the suit makes the man and vice-versa, all wrapped with tons of little bows that show off Starks genius, frailty, snark, and above all, humanity, all of which make Stark the compelling hero he is to watch. This is Downeys highest point in the MCU, but Iron Man 3 also has one of the most hilarious villain adaptations ever in the Mandarin, which can not be discredited. And sure, maybe Killian is not exactly the right villain this film needed, but what IM3 does with its mainstay hero, important themes and thrilling action is something Im more than willing to celebrate.

Paratroopa1
I'll never understand for the life of me why people don't consider Iron Man 3 one of the classic MCU movies. I wasn't expecting to like this one as much as I did, given that I was sort of lukewarm about the first two Iron Mans and I expected them to be tired by now, but this one really resonated with me for some reason. I think, as someone who's had a few anxiety attacks in their life, the idea of Tony Stark having them as a result of PTSD felt really real, a really unusually human thing to deal with for a superhero, and it made Tony feel relatable in a way he never had before - even when he was dying in Iron Man 2 it felt kind of silly and contrived, but the idea that someone having to battle space aliens would actually be seriously fucked up by the experience was a really interesting choice. I love how this movie, even more than the first two, is really a movie about Tony Stark and not about Iron Man - some of the most clever, exciting, and emotional stuff comes when Tony Stark doesn't have the suit. This is a much darker movie than the first two Iron Mans, but that serves to make the stakes feel a lot higher, and the final confrontation more deserved. The way they use the multiple Iron Man suits at the end is great, and Pepper Potts getting the killing blow fills me with glee. And I dunno, I kinda love that Mandarin ended up being some dumbass actor? That's hilarious. I guess people were mad about that because he's a real villain in the comics, but I dunno the comics, so I have no expectations and couldn't have cared less about this so it worked for me. I dunno, I think everything about this movie's great and I wish I could have ranked it higher.

VengefulKaelee
Far and away the best of the Iron Man trilogy. This is basically the one time in the MCU I found Tony Stark truly compelling as a character. The ending is just more typical MCU big action scene nonsense, but even so, Shane Black's vision for Iron Man proves a hell of a lot more engaging and nuanced than Jon Favreau's ever was, injecting Stark with more humanity than he had before or since. And no, having not read any Marvel comics at any point I don't give a shit about the whole Mandarin controversy, I thought the twist was funny.

Jesse Custer
Im fairly confident I will be the person who ranks this movie the highest. Im well aware of its flaws, of which there are plenty, but I also feel its a misunderstood film, and it resonated with me in a way few movies of this genre have. In contrast to the typical action movie, we get a hero who is psychologically damaged, experiencing anxiety attacks and insomnia. This is actually very believable when you consider the effect it would have on ones mental state to go through so many near death experiences and have people trying to kill you over and over again. And I dont think Tony has ever seemed this sympathetic as a character, without his usual self-assured smugness. The movie breaks him down to nearly nothing so it can build him back up again, showing that he is more than just a guy in a super-powerful suit (this message especially comes across when he pulls a MacGyver with a bunch of stuff he buys from the store).

Probably the biggest criticism I see of this movie is with the twist involving The Mandarin. But Trevor Slattery added some much needed levity to the otherwise dark tone of the movie, and I personally didnt care if I got to see another generic mustache-twirling villain. Anyway, Im sure most people see it otherwise, but Iron Man 3 is a top 10 MCU movie for me.

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TomNook
The sequel that Iron Man deserved. Tony Stark is always charismatic, and the plot here is fun. I love the multi suit scenes.

Inviso
Its interesting just how many of Iron Mans villains seem to be the result of self-inflicted revenge as a result of Tonys actions. But yeah, as far as the Iron Man trilogy goes, I feel like Iron Man 3 did a great job of wrapping up Tonys story, even though obviously he still has a solid sixteen movies left before the end of phase 3. Its hard to talk about Iron Man 3 out of context, but its an interesting movie in terms of Tonys development over the course of the franchise. Right from the start, we see him in the past as a complete womanizer, but we cut almost immediately to his relationship with Pepper, and the struggles of dealing with PTSD in the wake of the Avengers alien invasion. Really, once Tony gets the suit, his vulnerability comes largely from human issues (palladium poisoning and now PTSD), and I think those human issues are handled well here by taking away the suit entirely, for a good chunk of the movie. It just makes his eventual triumph feel that much more earned, and I thought it made for a really solid story.

XIII Rocks
So I absolutely love the Mandarin twist and because of that the movie goes a long way with me. The reason for that is simple and I guess a bit more personal. Basically I went in expecting Ben Kingsley, who I like a lot, to deliver an all-time great villain performance. I was so ready for classic menacing British villain stuff. But what I got instead, in the first act/two acts of the movie, was a fairly generic performance that left me slightly disappointed. Then the twist happened and it turned out that THAT WAS THE POINT. I was completely on board with the movie as a result because they *got* me. I thought the handling of Tony's PTSD was a little heavy-handed at times (though the "piping hot mess" scene is heartfelt and one of RDJ's best in the franchise), but the way it stripped him down and separated him from all his tricks, forcing him to rely on his other skills, was a good call. A more light-hearted - and slightly worse - The Dark Knight Rises in that regard. It also makes the best use yet of his quips and has what I would call the good kind of cheesiness. Nice job getting Shane Black to direct it, I think he is better than Favreau on the whole and elevates this. I like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang a lot. I should rewatch it.

Mega Mana
First Scene That Comes to Mind: The kid getting him to switch his focus from things out of his control to things he can do

Iron Man 3 is a lot of things. It's a film about coping with trauma. It's a look at a man who thinks he can do or buy anything to make the world better, but suddenly aliens and gods and his father's idol suddenly exist and make him feel like an utter blip. His entire world is rocked even more than the time he got blasted with his own weapons and is always almost dying if not for the electromagnet in his chest. He's a man on the edge who reacts horribly when thinking about that day's events and spends all his free time building new prototype suits just to be able to save the world if needed. That's what I take from it when I remember it. It's first and foremost about the man inside of the suit dealing with a huge paradigm shift.

I also loved the The Mandarin twist. I thought it was utterly brilliant and laughed out loud at the balls Shane Black had to do that. I loved Sir Ben Kingsley. I loved that it was a huge PR campaign using fear and the other to mask a company's explosively destructive mad science. I loved how no-nonsense the repercussions of Tony's hubris were when his home was attacked immediately after antagonizing the villain. I thoroughly enjoyed the aspect of mystery about what was happening to the soldiers and why it was happening, feeling a bit like a James Bond adventure for quite some time. There was so much to delve and dig into.

I also loved how well the humor was used throughout, and also how Harley managed to slip Tony's brain gear back into place by just reminding him of the basics. I feel like Endgame kind of does that again, with Ant-Man's return poking just the right button on Tony's brain for him to refocus and build forward. I didn't like how Age of Ultron undoes all of what Tony does in Iron Man 3 (getting rid of the suits, promising not to rabbit hole), but in retrospect, Iron Man 3 was just a band-aid for Tony to keep functioning through the likes of Age of Ultron and Civil War, but only time and family and living in failure allowed him to reset.

Aldritch Killian is the weak link with weak backstory and dull villainy, but I really liked his goon squad and, again, I thought everything with the Mandarin propaganda was brilliant. Even better that he's not the actual Mandarin and is also just usurping that title for himself because he's that kind of ass.

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CoolCly
This movie gets a lot of hate, and I think I know why, but I dont think its fully justified.
#1) The Mandarin Twist. A lot of people dont like this, because it ruins the Mandarin villain. Well. I dont care about that. The twist was awesome. The propaganda videos were awesome, Trevor is awesome, the whole thing with the Mandarin is awesome.
#2) The kid. Adding a kid to the movie is often cringe and bad. But. This kid was great! His chemistry with RDJ is awesome, and he doesnt outstay his welcome at all. The ending scene of opening the shed for the suit to fly off is a little cringe but they didnt push it too hard so its all good.
#3) Killian and his gang. Well, okay this is a weak part of the movie. Making his motivation being based on Tony standing him up on Y2K is kinda funny but eh. The way hes so cool and good looking now feels strange, especially with his focus on Pepper. The whole thing just feels weird, and he definitely doesnt like strong enough of a villain to be behind the Mandarin, as awesome as that part of the movie is. When his gang of dudes turn out at the climax, they feel a bit too video gamey, though the Iron Legion is pretty cool.
I didnt like how Maya was just killed off at all. Rhodie is good here in a buddy cop sort of way, but I dont think it was that noteworthy.
Overall, this movie feels like an echo of one of my favourite movies, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Both that and IM3 were directed by Shane Black and starred RDJ. In fact, that movie is what gave Marvel enough confidence to listen to Jon Favreau and cast RDJ as Tony Stark to begin with. So, as a result I love this movie.
Overall, this is a good movie. If Killian and his gang had been better, this would have been a great movie.

Eddv
Average, but fuck off RDJ

MetalDK
The twist was ok imo, and I thought the main arc for Tony was handled well. But nothing special

NBIceman
I gather folks opinions on this movie generally boil down to whether or not they like how the Mandarin was handled. Well, I do. Ben Kingsley clearly had a blast with it and it was legitimately funny. The Mandarin sucks anyway, people. Even beyond that, though, theres just so much enjoyable stuff here. Ive seen complaints here and there that Iron Man 3 is more of a Tony Stark movie than an Iron Man movie. As though thats somehow a bad thing. I love watching him take down bad guys with just quick improv thinking. I love watching him trying to cope with the fallout from Avengers. I love his interactions with the kid and Pepper. I love all the creativity in the action scenes. Even Killian was pretty good and interesting as the villain. Theres really not a whole lot that this movie misses the mark on at all. The only real important thing that happens as far as the whole franchise goes is Tony using Extremis to get the shrapnel out of his body, but who cares? Its a great ride from start to finish.

Raka Putra
Ah yes, the one where Tony Stark destroyed most Iron Man suits. Glad that one kept. Anyhow, I actually thought, at that time, it was a nice conclusion to Stark's character arc. It still kinda is. I'm not familiar with the comics so I dunno what the heck was the deal with The Mandarin but I remember it being a kinda big deal at the time.

Whiskey Nick
(No write-up.)

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GavsEvans123
This film has a more personal and intimate story than whats come before, as although there is an external villain, the real meat is Tony coping with his PTSD from going to space at the end of The Avengers. Here we see him at his lowest and most vulnerable, which is a stark (ha!) contrast to how he usually is, and on another level, its also quite different for the MCU, which tends to keep things light-hearted.

Mandarin here is a big change to how he is in the comics, but I think it works because hes so over the top when hes out of character. Its the sort of thing you couldnt have possibly seen it coming, and the unexpected nature of it makes it even funnier. I also like how, for about five years or so afterwards, every new film had someone theorising, jokingly or not, that [[character x]] wasnt really [[thing y]], but an actor pretending to be [[thing y]]. When you think about it, this is true about everyone in every film, from a certain point of view.

While the darker tone works for the character development, Im not sure if it was as successful elsewhere. While this film does want to be something more than the previous popcorn entertainment, and that is to be applauded, I think maybe having the villains be fantasy suicide bombers was a bit too much. The first Iron Man film also had terrorists as the antagonists, but there was a lightness of touch there that helped detach it from reality just enough to avoid being disturbing, yet still pose a threat.

Though it doesnt beat the original, Iron Man 3 does at least improve on Iron Man 2, since it tells its own story, as opposed to setting up the rest of the Avengers. Its still only the second-best film directed by Shane Black and starring Robert Downey Jr. though.

HanOfTheNekos
The format of the movie, being told as a story from Tony's point of view, is pretty solid, although a little weird because we haven't seen something like it before. The movies are all told from a 3rd person omniscient point of view, but this one is a 1st person omniscient... which makes it a little weird when scenes without Tony happen. But I digress. This leads to two amazing moments... one is ending the movie with the same line that the first one ends with "I am Iron Man", but with so much more meaning and completion to it. Tony's arc throughout the entire 4 movies ends really solidly here - he has his place in the world, he understands who he is, what his self and Pepper mean to him. His conclusion is really good. So of course they ruin it in Age of Ultron.

His relations with characters are great too. Well-done with connecting with Pepper, great highlighting his friendship with Rhodes, and his love for Happy is just heartwrenching.

Killian was okay. Him yelling Im the Mandarin! was unnecessary. I dont dislike them messing with the character of the Mandarin as much as other people.

Pepper totally killed a guy.

MetalmindStats
By the time Iron Man 3 came out, Tony Stark had become a thoroughly explored character, and Shane Blacks twist of partnering him with a kid in a sort of buddy-cop deal was hardly reinvigorating. I nonetheless remember Iron Man 3 more fondly than it probably deserves, perhaps because it just needed to not utterly botch Starks characterization to preserve his appeal.

Illuminatusbubu
An ok movie with a forgettable villain and a pre-teen sidekick that doesnt really need to be there unless it is to lure in more younger viewer. I dont really understand why it was as successful as it did here.

StifledSilence
This ended up being my favorite of the Tony trilogy because of RDJs emotional range shown here. Actually seeing a superhero suffer emotionally from his experiences is both jarring and beautiful. It gives a depth to Iron Man not afforded to some of the other characters. Oh and it also still has cool robot suit fights and explosions and shit so A+.

ZenOfThunder
This movie is fine. It's not great but it gets way too much hate. Hard to follow up Avengers 1. I watched this again last year to see if I liked it less and I didn't, but I was never crazy about it to begin with. No idea why people dump on it so hard.

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Mr Crispy
I like the "I am Iron Man" part at the end calling back to the end of the first film and suggesting that Tony was ready to take another step forward again instead of neurotically inventing things out of fear and a sense of insecurity. Too bad that's undermined by later films. Not much remarkable about it other than the weirdness of trying to use a racist villian without seeming too racist about it with the fake out (and then deciding to backpedal on it anyway later). Extremis is near the bottom of the villain barrel, but they put up a decent enough fight-it's just that they're not very memorable because they're just a bunch of military doofuses wearing black (but at least they aren't elves).

Corrik7
I mean, on the surface this movie is okay. However, the fake villain story AGAIN is another groan inducing option as time goes on. It took me awhile to realize why that sucked, as it seemed okay in the moment and funny. The villain is again another disgruntled jealous person of Tony. Again, RDJ carries the movie, but it is starting to get less exciting. Paltrow does decent, but Extremis itself seems kinda questionable. They don't seem to do too much with it in regards to Paltrow either. The multitudes of suits was cool. But, at this point, how overpowered is Tony anyways? Again... couldn't anyone fly a suit with all this technology and have an army of suits? Does Tony Stark specifically have to be the one doing this, besides he is rich?

Sheep007
This is my third watch of this film. The first time, I thought it was boring as hell and remembered it like that for years. The second, I thought it was an underrated film, and after the third time, Im not sure what I think other than its kinda meh. I still love Tony and this film keeps the focus on his character and continues his arc. One of my thoughts with the Iron Man movies, but particularly this one, is that it feels like almost every single character exists to challenge or develop Tony in some way not hard given hes an arrogant arse and everyone not doing exactly what he wants challenges him. I want to like Pepper, before I remember that shes basically just a walking plot device who doesnt really change through the entire MCU. I straight up dont like the kid, whose name I forget, and Im not sure if thats an unpopular opinion. I just dont find the scene funny or cute or anything. Also, while I dont think Iron Man 3 is particularly boring, the plot outside of Tonys development isnt as engaging as the other two (theres way too many villains and I dont really care about their backstories), and thats saying something considering how I dont enjoy Iron Man 2 that much. On the other hand, the dialogue is much better than before, and noticeably so to the point that its kept from being anything worse than okay.

Anagram
Its kind of telling how this is only the second worst Iron Man movie.

Cybat
For the most part, I imagine most peoples opinions on this movie will hinge on how they felt about The Twist. For me, I wasnt a big fan. Not that Im super attached to the original comic book interpretation of the character, but even just within the context of this movie, the narrative momentum completely died in Trevor Slatterys bedroom, and the rest of the plot kind of felt perfunctory. I cant be too mad about it though, because we are finally getting the real Mandarin in the Shang Chi movie this summer (maybe). And because Ben Kingsleys performance is still fantastic.
But that wasnt the only problem this movie had. The structure of the movie kind of felt off the whole time, with Tony spending so much time with a random boy and Rhodey and Pepper not really having anything to do until the end. And it being a Christmas movie despite coming out in May.

Johnbobb
This was a movie

Lopen
This movie isn't quite as bad as people will say. Like if you read the plot synopsis you see an actor playing Mandarin in a Shyamalan twist and Pepper in an Iron Man suit and you groan, but eh. It's actually fine for one watch.

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Red13n
If theres one thing you can add to make me hate a movie, its a child sidekick. And this movie just happens to have a child sidekick. There is no good reason to make Tony Stark, the dude that built the whole damn MCU in a cave, to have to rely on a child sidekick. This is a dude that is just starting to have issues with thinking the world is on the verge of potential cataclysmic alien invasion staking his fate with a 9 year old or however old he was. The whole premise just drives me crazy and absolutely hinders my enjoyment of everything else in this movie.

PrinceKaro
In the very iron-rich early days of the MCU we have this third movie where Tony finally confronts his classic comic nemesis, The Mandarin, that ancient chinese wizard with the ten magic rings and shit.
Oh hey, except it isn't that guy, this 'Mandarin' is a bad Osama Bin Laden cosplayer who makes vague threats in stereotypical terrorist videos. Before you say holy fuck how could they get an iconic character so wrong, it gets EVEN WORSE He is actually a drunken Irish stage actor! He is really just the puppet of... wait for it... an evil military industrial complex dude! Fuck off.
They supposedly didnt use the real Mandarin because he is culturally insensitive or whatever. Remember this is the same movie that has the laughably racist scene in the pakistani burka slave sweatshop.
The story weaves its way though ridiculous and convoluted shit with the writers determined to make their superhero characters as unsuper as possible. Tony does almost nothing as Iron Man in this movie. There always is some arbitrary reason he can't use the suit and it starts to get very silly. He is assisted by Rodney (who ALSO doesn't have his suit) and this annoying kid who just might be the worst character in the whole MCU holy fuck someone please drop him down a well and don't tell Lassie.
Half the time it almost feels like a rejected bond movie script they decided to stick iron man in. It honestly works better at that than a marvel one.
The story ends with the silly scene of him blowing up all his suits to focus on the more important things in his life like Pepper (well until next movie when he envisions an army of super-intelligent world-policing murderbots and nearly destroys the planet).
If there were any film that deserves to be excised from the MCU, it is this one. Literally nothing of value or continuity would be lost.

Maniac64
Probably going to be an unpopular opinion but I just did not get a lot of enjoyment out of this movie.
Turning the villain into an incredibly lame version of Fin Fang Foom was awful, as was pretty much everything to do with Extremis. I actually was fine with the Mandarin twist, legitimately caught me by surprise. Though I was also very glad when they revealed later that Mandarin did still exist.
The big scene with all the iron man suits was pretty cool but is one of those things that is much worse if you really think about it/on rewatch. Also the fact that Tony doesnt have any defenses on his house was absurd. And I found the long section of stuff with the little kid to be overall pointless. I just didnt like this movie.

BetrayedTangy
I hate this movie so much. I could literally rant about every aspect of it, but Im not. Im just going to focus on how garbage of a villain Aldrich Killian is. His motivation is stupid, the reveal of him being a villain is painfully obvious and they tried sooo freaking hard to make him look cool. Like if I wanted to see tatted up Guy Pearce Id go watch Memento. He wouldve been genuinely interesting if they just kept him a nerd and had him work behind the scenes the whole time carefully scheming and planning Tonys demise, but noooo he just had to flirt with Gwenyth Paltrow and walk around shirtless ugh. Screw this movie.

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OUTLIERS:

Eddv - 69
Johnbobb - 47
PrinceKaro - 44
BetrayedTangy - 39
VengefulKaelee - 36
Lopen - 35
Mr Crispy - 35
ScepterOfLove - 35
Snake5555555555 - 32
GavsEvans123 - 31
Paratroopa1 - 31
Illuminatusbubu - 30
Jesse Custer - 29
Whiskey Nick - 28
Inviso - 27
Raka Putra - 27
TomNook - 27
Cybat - 26
Maniac64 - 26
XIII Rocks - 26
Corrik7 - 25
MetalmindStats - 23
HanOfTheNekos - 22
StifledSilence - 22
CoolCly - 21
Red13n - 21
NBIceman - 20
Anagram - 19
Sheep007 - 18
Mega Mana - 17
MetalDK - 15
ZenOfThunder 6

More of the same this time. Zens lead extends to nearly ten points, Eddv still tops the leaderboard, and there arent any big jumps or anything like that in sight.

Spoiler for Number 14: Half the films left kicked off a franchise, so its time for one of those seven "origin" stories to say goodbye.

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good riddance

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While I would have liked to see Iron Man 3 go farther, Im actually pleasantly surprised there were others who ranked it even higher than myself. I had always thought I was the only one who really liked the movie!

Iron Man 3 is weird. I like the heavy focus on Tony and his character direction but the villains are just bad and there's a lot of better films in the MCU which I also enjoy more.

Gotta be Ant Man next? It's looking increasingly like my bottom half bar one is gonna be the bottom half of the overall ranking which is pretty unsurprising, given I think I only have two or three MCU hot takes

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This is probably Ant-Man, though that "origin" hint makes me think there's an off chance of Homecoming

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I'm guessing original Avengers next.

10. Captain Marvel
11.
12.
13. Ant-Man And The Wasp
14.
15.
16. Avengers: Age of Ultron
17. Captain America: The First Avenger
18. Thor
19.
20. Thor: The Dark World
21. Iron Man 2
22. Iron Man 3
23. The Incredible Hulk

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Oh I forgot to do this. =(

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Inviso posted...

this annoying kid who just might be the worst character in the whole MCU

I didnt care much about the kid, but I still think Id rank him higher than Whiplash.

Sheep007 posted...

Iron Man 3 is weird. I like the heavy focus on Tony and his character direction but the villains are just bad and there's a lot of better films in the MCU which I also enjoy more.

Gotta be Ant Man next? It's looking increasingly like my bottom half bar one is gonna be the bottom half of the overall ranking which is pretty unsurprising, given I think I only have two or three MCU hot takes

It's hard for me to say "the villains suck!" when the only really GOOD villain from the first two phases is Loki (though I'll give credit to HYDRA in Winter Soldier as well). Plus, Mandarin's reveal amuses me. Sure, it might not stand up to most of Phase 3 (Which is a class in and of itself, given that it has nearly the same number of films as phases 1 & 2 combined, yet has only lost two thus far), but it's still quality in context.

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Shaduln posted...

Oh I forgot to do this. =(

I was gonna ping you, but I had so many write-ups to go through as it is >_>

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I'm very pleased to see so many high marks! Iron Man 3 used to be in my top ten, but more movies came out, lol

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Inviso posted...

I was gonna ping you, but I had so many write-ups to go through as it is >_>

Nah, all good, just too much happening for me to remember.

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Mega Mana posted...

I'm very pleased to see so many high marks! Iron Man 3 used to be in my top ten, but more movies came out, lol

It used to be in Tangy's top ten too! Then Ultron came out.

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Inviso posted...

It's hard for me to say "the villains suck!" when the only really GOOD villain from the first two phases is Loki (though I'll give credit to HYDRA in Winter Soldier as well). Plus, Mandarin's reveal amuses me. Sure, it might not stand up to most of Phase 3 (Which is a class in and of itself, given that it has nearly the same number of films as phases 1 & 2 combined, yet has only lost two thus far), but it's still quality in context.

There's a reason why most of the movies with actual interesting villains are making the top half and this lot aren't! Well, there's a lot, but that's one of them. I think it especially detracts from the earlier movies because without a strong villain to develop the (currently barely characterised) protagonist, you're left with a conflict that there's no reason to care about and a less interesting or nonexistent change in the character because of them. I'd enjoy stuff like the Hulk or IM3 as much or more if the main villains just weren't there at all and the plot rewritten around that.

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Lukewarm take i basically dont remember anything about this movie

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Huh wow did not expect this one to do that well. I guess the stupidity of the plot points I mentioned were too glaring for me to remember much else to be positive about as it just felt like mindless marvel movie otherwise. I'd probably have been in eddv's boat had I not seen Iron Man 3 for the first time a year ago while Iron Man 2 (the only other movie I remembered nothing from on the list) was nearly 7.

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Also just for the record I hadn't been spoiled about Iron Man 3 despite first seeing it in 2019

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Glad it's finally out. Surprisingly I'm actually kind of fine with the Mandarin twist. I just wish they actually went somewhere with it. Like they really needed to show the real Mandarin in the movie. Not just say oh Killian was the Mandarin the whole time then retcon it later. It really just makes the whole movie feel like a waste of time.

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I would expect Ant-Man next, but I'm not ruling out a surprise Strange drop instead.

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I should watch Iron Man 3 again. I think it's good, but its biggest strengths are just not carried through to the MCU canon. I'm very much reminded of Stark's PTSD post-IM3, but I don't have any glimpses of Stark's growth post-IM3.

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A couple people saying that Iron Man 3 was their favorite of the three in their write-ups. Some low Iron Man 1 rankings coming later.

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I'm surprised and a little embarrassed I'm the only person to have not submitted writeups, lol.

Anyway, to explain why I'm tied for ranking Iron Man 3 the highest, it was the movie that got me into the MCU. I saw Avengers in theaters, but that was my first time seeing an MCU movie, and I enjoyed the action but didn't know much about the characters. Iron Man 3 was what showed me that the MCU was not a typical brainless action franchise and was a character-first, action-second series, and that's been their key to success. Sure the villain and the twist sucked, but I had zero knowledge of Mandarin going in so it didn't bother me.

Next movie has got to be Ant-Man or possibly Doctor Strange.

11. Iron Man 3
12. Age of Ultron
13.
14.
15.
16. Iron Man 2
17. Captain Marvel
18. Thor
19. Captain America
20.
21. Ant-Man and the Wasp
22.Thor: The Dark World
23.The Incredible Hulk

I reckon #20 will be out next and that'd be a solid result. None of my top 10 in the bottom 10.
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Ant-Man's definitely up next

Great job so far guys. Keep it up! I would imagine Ant Man next, but maybe it's Doctor Strange? I hope not.
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I reckon the next three will be Ant-Man, Strange and GotG vol 2 in whatever order.
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i am here to defend the kid

the kid is great

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the kid is the biggest abomination in the MCU.

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11. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
12. ???
13. ???
14. ???
15. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
16. ???
17. Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
18. Iron Man 2 (2010)
19. Thor (2011)
20. Captain Marvel (2019)
21. Iron Man 3 (2013)
22. The Incredible Hulk (2008)
23. Thor: The Dark World (2013)

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Iron Man 3 gave me huge childhood flashbacks to why I stopped watching Power Rangers at Turbo.

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11.Captain America: The First Avenger
12.Ant-Man and the Wasp
13.???
14.Thor
15.Iron Man 3
16.The Incredible Hulk
17.???
18.???
19.???
20.Iron Man 2
21.Captain Marvel
22.Avengers: Age of Ultron
23.Thor: The Dark World

Clue: 17 and 19 are my MCU hot takes, but I'm starting to think 18 may be one as well.

Obviously it's never going to happen, but what if Shang Chi has a twist that the Real Mandarin ends up being another impostor, and it turns out that a returning Trevor Slattery was the Really Real Mandarin the whole time?

GavsEvans123 posted...

Obviously it's never going to happen, but what if Shang Chi has a twist that the Real Mandarin ends up being another impostor, and it turns out that a returning Trevor Slattery was the Really Real Mandarin the whole time?

Spoiler if you havent watched the MCU short All Hail the King yet:

Trevor is absolutely not the real Mandarin. He is Trevor.

I am a firm and impassioned hater of almost all kid characters that have ever been created.

Harley the IM3 kid is perfectly fine.

Also I'm pretty sure Abomination is the biggest abomination in the MCU hyuck hyuck hyuck

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Tagging again.

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NBIceman posted...

I am a firm and impassioned hater of almost all kid characters that have ever been created.

Harley the IM3 kid is perfectly fine.

Also I'm pretty sure Abomination is the biggest abomination in the MCU hyuck hyuck hyuck

Whats your take on Newt? (Aliens)

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Newt is great. And as someone who is easily annoyed by most child characters in films, IM3 kid was fine. He was far worse in Jurassic World.

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Jesse_Custer posted...

While I would have liked to see Iron Man 3 go farther, Im actually pleasantly surprised there were others who ranked it even higher than myself. I had always thought I was the only one who really liked the movie!

I'd just like to point out that it was hilarious, assembling the rankings, and seeing comments like "I'm sure I'll be the highest for this movie", and then you end up fifth or something.

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Hmm...should probably get to a new page before starting to post the next write-up.

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Yeah, it's probably Ant-Man next. Dr. Strange should be a few spots higher still. Unless some people really hate GotG.

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Yes, the next page

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I think people forget that IM3 may have been polarising but that also means that a lot of people loved it!

Next will be Ant-Man, then GOTG2, the Doctor Strange, though I would prefer Iron Man 1 to go before it.

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