While I’ve been a casual viewer of most the MCU movies since they started coming out in 2008, up until lately, it has been just that… casual entertainment. Well, a few months ago, I decided to give the whole MCU a big chance to fully engage me and wow, it has been a fun ride ever since. What I wanted to do was to watch everything in chronological order, and by everything, I mean the movies, TV shows and even the official tie-in comics. Most of the comics are just some type of prelude to the movies. Took me a few months to pull this off. To get a good chronological order, I found this website and I followed it to a “T”, which turned out to be a great way to go:
http://www.storyhobby.com/timelines/marvel-multiverse-chronology/marvel-cinematic-universe-timeline/
Anyway, now that I’m caught-up, I thought it would be fun to rank and debate what I just watched, so feel free to rank and chime in yourself. Also, I figured it would be good to start an ongoing thread where people can post any new news items related to the MCU as they come out. So, here is my ranking of the entire MCU, minus the comics.
It is also worth noting that I haven't actually disliked anything so far, while the first half-dozen episodes of Agents of Shield Season 1 came close. But again, even that got better. Overall, I've just found entertainment and merit in all of them, which is really pretty impressive, but of course, I definitely like some more than others.
http://www.storyhobby.com/timelines/marvel-multiverse-chronology/marvel-cinematic-universe-timeline/
Anyway, now that I’m caught-up, I thought it would be fun to rank and debate what I just watched, so feel free to rank and chime in yourself. Also, I figured it would be good to start an ongoing thread where people can post any new news items related to the MCU as they come out. So, here is my ranking of the entire MCU, minus the comics.
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Thought this movie had the best drama and best action scenes of all the movies
- Marvel’s The Avengers – Iconic way to pull everything together with the best villain in the MCU
- Iron Man – Epic way to start the Universe with an unbelievable star for a headliner. Never got into the Iron Monger villain though.
- Guardians of the Galaxy – Best space epic since the original Star Wars movies. Also was probably the funniest movie of the MCU so far.
- Marvel’s Daredevil: Season 1 – Loved the street-level more-adult-themed tone of this show. Also contains probably the second best villain in the MCU. Being on Netflix is a great way to un-cuff all the normal problems of making a TV show for network viewing.
- Ant-Man - Had super-low expectations, but walked away pleasantly surprised. Yet another weak villain, but contained some great comedy with some great actors. Paul Rudd won me over when I once was really skeptical of him.
- Captain America: The First Avenger – Epic first-half of the movie with Cap’s origin story, but believe it or not, I found Red Skull a little underdeveloped. Loved the WWII time period aspect of this one.
- Iron Man 2 – Many will mock me, but I actually really enjoyed this movie and actually enjoyed it more than Iron Man 3. Make fun of me all you want, but I didn’t think Whiplash was that bad. I think this movie gets unfairly criticized.
- Avengers: Age of Ultron – Fun movie, but suffered from too much CGI action, too many characters, and too many storylines.
- Thor: The Dark World – Criticize me if you will, but I actually liked this movie and thought it got an unfair bad wrap. I didn’t find Malekith that bad and I actually liked this movie more than the original Thor.
- Iron Man 3 – Don’t know what it is, but I just never really got into this one, and it probably had something to do with the big Mandarin villain twist towards the end. Also never really liked Killian either. Again, I surprisingly like Iron Man 2 better
- Marvel’s Agents of Shield: Season 2 – Liked the less cheese and more serious tone than the first season. Also, loved the Inhuman’s storyline. Used to hate Skye, but now don’t mind her.
- Marvel’s Agent Carter – Loved the period timepiece aspect of this. Great show.
- Thor – Don’t know what it is, but I just never got into this storyline or villains as much as the others. Again, I surprisingly liked Thor: Dark World more.
- The Incredible Hulk – Good movie, but not great. Never was into Norton for the role, so was glad when the switch was made.
- Marvel’s Agents of Shield: Season 1 – Struggled hardcore in the first half-dozen episodes, but then finally picked up when Winter Soldier storyline set in and the cheese started to fade. Overall, ended up really enjoying this.
It is also worth noting that I haven't actually disliked anything so far, while the first half-dozen episodes of Agents of Shield Season 1 came close. But again, even that got better. Overall, I've just found entertainment and merit in all of them, which is really pretty impressive, but of course, I definitely like some more than others.
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