Board 8 > Board 8 Ranks: The Marvel Cinematic Universe (Phase III!)

(+) Yeah! (+)

NBIceman posted...

I always laugh a little when folks talk about how much they enjoy that Cap and Widow were never pushed as romantic partners at all, because up until Endgame's ending I was always very disappointed by that. I absolutely love the chemistry they have in Winter Soldier and I'm quite sure the Russos were definitely teasing it at points in the movie as something that could be pursued in the future.

What we got was a million times better, but in a different universe where the end of the Infinity Saga doesn't include time travel, I do think it would've made for an interesting relationship for both of their characters.

Anyway, my predictions throughout this ranking have been a little dodgy, but at least I had the top two pegged from the beginning. Have to chuckle now at my GOTG writeup where I said I figured it'd be fighting neck and neck with Winter Soldier as the best Phase 2 movie - crazy they actually ended up tied.

They were clearly making Black Widow a seductress. She was flirting with nearly everyone early on.

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XIII_rocks posted...

Ultron seems to get trashed way more now than it did upon release. I wonder if it's something to do with IW and Endgame being so obviously better, or like how much of a joke Thanos makes Ultron look, that kind of thing. I don't mind AoU at all, but AoU vs. Infinity War and Endgame is a really bad comparison for it.

It's probably mostly due to it being a bad movie.

OST-wise, Ragnarok and Doctor Strange are the best.

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Right, but it was a "bad movie" upon release too, and it didn't face this much criticism when it came out
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Maybe less people saw it? I didn't see it for years.

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HanOfTheNekos posted...

Maybe less people saw it? I didn't see it for years.

it grossed 1.4 billion dollars surely some people saw it

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i agree that the amount of age of ultron hate has increased a lot over the years. when it was released, most people were like "it's not as good as the first one but oh well, it's still fun." now a lot of people are like "THIS MOVIE IS GARBAGE."

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Mr Lasastryke posted...

i agree that the amount of age of ultron hate has increased a lot over the years. when it was released, most people were like "it's not as good as the first one but oh well, it's still fun." now a lot of people are like "THIS MOVIE IS GARBAGE."

I mean that makes a lot of sense when you think about all the great movies that have come after it. At the time, it WAS "Eh, it's alright" because it was middle of the pack of the first dozen movies. A dozen better movies later, it's now much nearer the bottom of the list.

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I disagree with Ultram not getting hate at release, everyone i saw it with hated it. My girlfriend checked out of the MCU because it was so bad and hasn't seen any of the entries other than Guardians 2 since, and both the movie and comic book boards on this site were full of people dumping on it

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Yeah I remember a feeling of mild disappointment by Ultron. At the time I thought it was more "well this wasn't as good as Avengers" but as time passes it's clearly a lot more than that, and as I said it's more glaring with rewatches

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For what it's worth TV Tropes claims Age of Ultron has been "vindicated by history" due to containing setups for payoffs in later MCU films.

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LinkMarioSamus posted...

For what it's worth TV Tropes claims Age of Ultron has been "vindicated by history" due to containing setups for payoffs in later MCU films.

Thats not even what vindicated by history is supposed to mean but ok

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Seanchan posted...

I mean that makes a lot of sense when you think about all the great movies that have come after it. At the time, it WAS "Eh, it's alright" because it was middle of the pack of the first dozen movies. A dozen better movies later, it's now much nearer the bottom of the list.

On top of this, I think a big thing is time dilation. Since MCU movies come out every year or so, it's kinda easy to forget the overall continuity. Being able to bingewatch all of it in a few weeks, you begin to see 1) how AOU really stacks to the rest of the series and 2) how many storylines AOU drops.

When AOU first came out, I was like "ugh that was annoying" but it's only upon rewatching multiple movies that I realize it was bad.

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Well it was more that later films like Endgame contain payoffs to setups from Age of Ultron. Which is itself kinda annoying since AoU was so heavily criticized at the time for prioritizing setting up future movies over its own story, and so now people are rewarding that?

You know what franchise I'm going to blame for this.

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LinkMarioSamus posted...

Well it was more that later films like Endgame contain payoffs to setups from Age of Ultron. Which is itself kinda annoying since AoU was so heavily criticized at the time for prioritizing setting up future movies over its own story, and so now people are rewarding that?

You know what franchise I'm going to blame for this.

No one is rewarding it for this. Because payoffs in future movies doesnt make AoU itself more enjoyable to watch.

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Yeah you reward Endgame for that if anything. Hey continuity awesome

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1. Avengers: Infinity War
Total Score: 114

BetrayedTangy - 1
Corrik7 1
Cybat - 1
GavsEvans123 1
HanOfTheNekos 1
Raka Putra - 1
ScepterOfLove 1
Sheep007 - 1
Snake5555555555 1
CoolCly - 2
Illuminatusbubu - 2
Jesse Custer 2
TomNook - 2
Whiskey Nick 2
XIII Rocks 2
Anagram - 3
Mega Mana 3
NBIceman - 3
PrinceKaro - 3
StifledSilence - 3
ZenOfThunder 3
Mr Crispy - 4
Johnbobb - 5
MetalDK 5
Paratroopa1 - 5
Eddv 6
Lopen - 6
Maniac64 6
Red13n - 6
Inviso 7
VengefulKaelee - 11
MetalmindStats 14

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BetrayedTangy
Its a pretty obvious number one, but honestly theres so much to love. I think the key to how much I love this movie really lies in the tension. Its the first time in these movies you really dont know whats going to happen at the end. Even people familiar with the comic were still left guessing as to who would survive and who wouldnt. In addition to that its the first time we really got a movie about the villain and his personal journey. Sure his character is very obviously flawed, but Brolin is so charismatic in this role that you end up liking him anyway. I also want to give a huge shoutout to Chris Hemsworth here too. This is easily the most interesting weve seen Thor, hes lost absolutely everything and has just become a sheer force of will; making it that much more tragic when they fail. Id say he was even better in Endgame, but they play his depression up for laughs and it just ends up being kinda cringy for me. Anyway Infinity War is phenomenal and is easily my favorite of the bunch.

Corrik7
This movie quite simply was the real culmination of the entire universe. Moreso than Endgame. It didn't rely on a ton of gimmicks. Had a ton of emotional weight that the follow up undoes, which does cheaper it, but it still was what you mostly wanted to see in a movie. I mean, at some point we have to expect someone is just unbeatable. The weakest points of course were the army of Thanos. They basically were worthless. The bubbles / use of the reality stone were a bit baffling usage also.

Cybat
I dont know how the Russos did it. Of the many, many aspects of this movie that that statement could apply to, my first thought was about the tone. Despite this movie having some of the funniest moments in the entire MCU (my favorite being the Footloose exchange on Titan), you still constantly feel a sense of dread and foreboding that Thanos is just one step away from completing his next objective. So it does still feel like youre watching an MCU movie, but, something is different this time. That difference between him and every other MCU villain is staggering, and makes this movie feel really important even without the obvious massive team-up going on.
On that note, I also dont know how they did the team-up so well. I wish there were more scenes of various heroes interacting with each other, for sure, but so many of the ones we did get were memorable and revealed a lot about all of the characters involved. The way it kept switching between multiple perspectives made the pacing perfect; no scene felt wasted or out of place.
I could go on forever about this movie and its sequel, but one last thing I want to highlight about this movie is how they brought back the Avengers theme into peoples consciousness. It was composed for The Avengers but was pretty underutilized in it and its sequel, and I know there were people criticizing the unmemorable scores in the MCU. Well, I dont think people are saying that now. While not quite on John Williams level, the theme was used beautifully in these movies and helped to make Thors arrival in Wakanda an unforgettable moment.

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GavsEvans123
After his previous minor appearances, there were jokes that Thanos was incompetent because he gave Infinity Stones to his underlings who went on to lose them or refuse to give them back, while he sat in his chair all day. Infinity War killed those jokes stone dead. Thanos carries this film as the closest thing Marvel have had to a villain protagonist to date. Make no mistake, this is his story. The well-intentioned extremist is a well-worn trope, and these characters can often feel like theyre in denial about their true monstrous nature, trying to justify their actions so they have an excuse to kill people and generally do bad things. Thanos doesnt give me that impression. He makes for a compelling antagonist, who sees his quest as a necessary evil, a burden he takes upon himself because he doesnt believe anyone else is willing to make the sacrifice required. As he says himself, the hardest choices require the strongest wills. Even at the end, when he has achieved his goal, he doesnt celebrate. In fact, during the final shot, he barely even smiles. My interpretation is that in this moment, hes thinking to himself, after everything hes lost, was it really worth it? Somehow, Marvel made me care about, and even root for, a genocidal madman who wants to erase half of all life. Okay, fine, hes also highly quotable, to the point that almost every single line of dialogue he has is a meme. There were multiple occasions of me saying Thanos lines before he did. I think I may have watched this film too many times.

While there are plenty of jokes here, they dont overwhelm the film or undercut the serious moments. When theyre used sparingly like this, its easier to get invested in the stakes. For all the criticism Marvel get for being too jokey, a criticism Ive made myself at times, I commend them for committing to the darker tone for this film. Of course, no Infinity War write-up would be complete without mentioning the snap. How about that ending, huh? Obviously, we as adults are savvy enough to know that there was no way in hell that the snap was going to stick and it would be undone in part 2, but you try telling that to a generation of traumatised children who just watched Spider-Man die! Originally, the film was going to end with Thanos acquiring all six stones, with the snap coming at the start of Endgame, but it was decided to move the snap to the end of Infinity War. This was absolutely the right call, as its a massive cliffhanger that guaranteed discussion for the year between Infinity War and Endgame. Since its a downer cliffhanger that ends with the villain victorious and the heroes at their lowest point, Ive seen Infinity War described as this generations equivalent of The Empire Strikes Back. That comparison is appropriate not only for their respective endings, but also for being among the best of their respective series, if not the best. Im due another rewatch of Star Wars, so I wont comment on that, but for the MCU, Infinity War is a well-deserved number 1 in my book. My only criticism (and its the nittiest of nitpicks, really) is that they missed the opportunity to reference Marvel VS Capcom by having Spider-Man say Maximum Spider! during the part where hes warping through portals and attacking Thanos.

I also have two unanswered questions that I desperately need answers to:
1. Did Wong go to Tony and Peppers wedding? Given that half of all life was erased, which presumably includes half of all evildoers, and Dormammu promised to play nice at the end of Doctor Strange, surely Wong could have left the sanctum unguarded for an hour or two to attend the wedding?
2. Is there sustenance on Vormir? I assume there is, since Red Skulls been stranded there for over 70 years and he would have long since died of thirst and starvation otherwise. If there is none, does that mean Captain America doesnt need to eat? We see him eating a couple of times, but does he only do it out of habit because everyone else is eating and hes used to it? Its canon that he cant get drunk, after all. Im fixating on this, but not how Red Skull can float now. He needed a hobby to pass the time, and learning how to float is as good as any.

Has anyone else visited www.didthanoskill.me? I did, and I got snapped.

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HanOfTheNekos
It feels really tough to place this at the top instead of my number 2. I could switch them on any given day. I think recency bias will usually decide which one wins, or at least Ill have to watch them both in the same day to determine for sure.

Infinity War did what Civil War couldnt. Civil War gave every character a moment to shine but not a moment to be important. Who wasnt important in Infinity War? Thats right, one person, the one who always gets shafted (theres your hint ;) ). They brought in everyone. But, of course, there had to be stakes.

So Thanos fucks up the Asgardians and kills Loki right away.

This HURT because Loki FINALLY figured his shit out and he did his best for Thor. Hopefully he knows his sacrifice was worth it?

Thanos just this is his movie. We had a whole bunch of Phases to set up this and Endgame, and we were rewarded with one last story - the story of Thanos. It ended in this movie. Doesnt matter what he did in Endgame, how little or much there was. This is a madman going beyond what anyone should to enact his plans. This is a guy so full of himself, so convinced he was right, that he has to prove it by wiping out half of everybody. And he has the strength to back it up. Weve seen hints of him along the way, being built up but they werent good enough. This film did it right - the film gave us Thanos, made you consider his point of view, made you get him, AND, like every other film focused on someone - it made him win.

A cursory consideration of the snap told you things would be undone. But man, what a hit. Somehow, SOMEHOW I stayed free from spoilers for months after the film came out, and Im glad I did, because that ending sequence had an effect on me. I can only imagine being a child young enough to not get that things could be fixed and seeing everyone fade to dust. That HAD to be an experience.

This film also gave us teamups and character combos that were unexpected and delightful. For someone who DID watch all the movies, every little bit was a reward. Including getting both Sherlock Holmes in the same ship.

Everything Endgame sought to do with concluding it all would have been impossible without this movie. This one was a real stroke of genius, the quality of which will not be able to be matched.

That said, my number two is probably a better movie, and a better standalone film, but I cant NOT give Infinity War the credit it deserves. The MCU built towards it. Even if Endgame was technically the end, this didnt require a time heist out of nowhere to make it.

I know its hypocritical of me to not blame this movie for depending on others the way I said for Endgame, but I dont care. A movie like this only comes around once in a lifetime, and I dont believe the MCU can reach the zeitgeist that is this film ever again.

Raka Putra
This movie was exciting. We all knew that the Thanos snap would be undone but man it was such a morbid curiousity seeing the characters turn to dust. That fight in Wakanda was also quite hype and Thanos and his lackeys hunting the stones was great and IMO flowed better than the counterpart in Endgame. So, although it had a downer ending, it should feel so good, Mr. Stark.

ScepterOfLove
(No write-up.)

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Sheep007
Everyone knows how much of an impact this movie had. The internet went absolutely crazy after it, and rightfully so. To build up a massive sci-fi franchise over nearly 20 movies, and then kill off half the characters right at the end of what was supposed to be the climax? Tom Hollands death was genuinely heartbreaking and I cant think of many other cinematic deaths that shocked me so much when youre watching it for the first time, you dont know which characters are going next, you dont know if or when itll stop, you dont know that theyll come back, regardless of if they do when you look at it a few hours later. I dont want to make this comparison because I think Empire is the better film, but it gave me a hint of what it would have been like to live when The Empire Strikes Back was released. It was clearly inspired by it, and pulled off the heroes losing remarkably well. Its not just the ending, though, the movie is quality throughout. Loki dies, in the first couple of minutes, and its barely given a few minutes for you to process it. Loki! Youre just dumped straight into it all, and the movie is non-stop. Whats even more impressive is that its no worse for it. So many characters, locations, and so much happening. The speculation about just what the fuck happened was nuts, the memes and references to it just wouldnt stop, and all of the satisfying moments, the scale, and the stakes were earned through a ridiculous amount of planning from the studio. Thanos is an intimidating and strong villain, who has a reasonable sounding motivation but is just batshit crazy and murderous when you think about it. And hes made all the better by the fact that he curbstomps almost everyone up to this point, supported by a phenomenal performance from Josh Brolin. The infinity gauntlet is designed brilliantly, the settings are all made visually distinct to avoid confusion, and theres so many teamups that are fascinating. Thats exactly what I became invested in the franchise for and the payoff was so large, with the promise of even more to come. Oh, and Thor. Thor in Infinity War is badass as hell and when he arrives in Wakanda you think everything is gonna work out. His entrance is so perfectly hype-inducing and satisfying, and everything plays out as you expect. And then the snap. Im not going to claim this is a cinematographic masterpiece, or an incredibly deep and sophisticated work of art, but its so much fun, well paced, incredibly tense, creates so much hype, and built the scale up so well, before subverting everything you expected from it perfectly. I dont think it could have been done any better, and for something with such a high level of expectations, thats incredibly high praise.

Snake5555555555
Thanos is the star here. For a character who has only made a living on brief cameos and smiling menacingly at the camera while making one-liners, Thanos is unbelievably great. Josh Brolin infuses him with this terrific pathos of a noble warriorman cross-bred with the Joker, waxing philosophical all while his goals threaten the living universe and he kicks the asses of every Avenger in the film. The Avengers are not united, theyre splintered and broken apart, and the film might seem like an exercise in pointless misery at times, but it makes sense. Its the MCUs darkest chapter by far, and jokes are kept to a minimum. It signals a lot to the viewer when mood and atmsophere take over, and tells us that this is a very different film from what came before, that we should take Thanos seriously. Some might say the MCU in general is devoid of true directorial talent or personal touches, but here I see a real eye for color, world-building, and cinematic beauty from the Russos; just the way the snap sequence (now perhaps the most iconic scene in a superhero film ever) is filmed alone deserves a nod, perfectly paced and gut-wrenchingly close. Despite the films inherent darkness, it is however nothing short of a thrill-ride, a true comic-book to screen adaptation that takes what the universe has built and runs far past the goal-post with it, and I think its simply one of the best superhero films of all time.

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CoolCly
The movies below this have been divided into four tiers. Mediocre Tier. Good Tier. Great Tier. And You must be this high to be Great Tier (Iron Man 1). These last two movies have transcended cinema into a tier of their own. THANOS TIER.
This movie should be called Thanos Quest, because this is his story. Hes practically the main character, which is great. We know these heroes. Theyve all had their own movies, theyve had crossovers, we broke them apart in Civil War, weve seen them. But weve only seen glimpses of Thanos the man that is going to need everybody put together to stop. So Marvel thought they needed to put some real effort into developing him, and it pays off spectacularly.
Thanos is most definitely a bad guy. Hes ruthless and he kills people whenever he needs to. Hes even rather sadistic at times, like with how he treats Nebula. But in most cases, they back up what he does with some twisted sense of nobleness. Thanos believes life is expanding faster than can be sustained, and presumably lost something dear to him in the past because of it, and was unable to prevent that loss. So he has an enduring will to see his solution come to fruition, and he takes everything he needs to do it, and gives everything he has, as he is required to do.
People argue on the internet a lot about how his plan is stupid just snap unlimited resources or something! But thats a pretty dumb take IMO. Thanoss plan fits within his worldview and the issues he believes are at hand, and is accomplishable if he can get the Infinity Stones. These nitpicks are nothing more than that baseless. Yeah, you dont have to *agree* with Thanoss plan. Its a mad plan. But its a rock solid motivation for him, and everything that he does.
Thanos quotes have also fuelled memes to last a generation.
Overall, this movie is beautiful. Theres three ongoing plots outside of Thanos. The Tony/Guardians team, Thors team, and Caps team, they drive forward at a pace where theres always something cool happening till they all meet up at the end. Its phenomenal that so many characters, well beyond the scope of The Avengers and even Civil War, can fit in the movie so well together, and so many have chances to shine. Theres really not much breathing room where we get to sit with characters and many characters dont get more than a moment to shine, but its still great.
One thing I looooooooove is how the infinity stones are used by Thanos. They dont even really explain the things he does, but a stone in the glove will glow, and something will happen. The best one is the reality stone changing stuff, like blaster shots into bubbles. This will get demonstrated a couple of times and then he just does it all the time, and the viewer is expected to get it. I absolutely love it when a movie doesnt hold the viewers hand on stuff like this; it just does a great job showing it in action and establishing it for the viewer, and then the logic is internally consistent going forward so that the viewer never questions what they are seeing. Its brilliant. Brandon Sanderson would be proud. (and almost certainly is)
Nobody has ever agreed with me on this but Proxima Midnight sounds like the Queen of Blades to me and I absolutely love it.
As everyone knows the snap was a hauntingly beautiful way to end the movie. It astounds me how fluid the dusting actually is.
Overall, this is a phenomenal THANOS TIER movie. Truly, a grand achievement in the movie industry.

Illuminatusbubu
It contains the clich trope that I enjoy so much: both sides competing to collect stuffs whether if they are 7 dragon balls or 4 crystals. Perfectly ties all the previous movies together in an epic war. A very impactful conclusion. Even a non-fan knows about the snap.

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Jesse Custer
Its tough to think of another blockbuster movie that was willing to take this many chances, let alone to end the way it did (making even the ending of The Empire Strikes Back seem like no big deal by comparison). And Infinity War did a great job setting the tone from the start of the film, where we see Thanos has already easily slaughtered the survivors of Asgard, and how easily he takes down Thor and Hulk. From that point on, it seemed like just about anything could happen, and its tough not to be on the edge of your seat the whole way through.

Infinity War is filled with big moments, hardly ever letting up for even a brief moment of levity. But with excellent pacing, the movie still manages to constantly ratchet up the tension. And its a remarkable accomplishment of writing and direction how seamlessly the film shifts the perspective between events happening in vastly different locations. That buildup helps set up one of the best moments in the history of the MCU when Thor arrives in Wakanda. The film also had a lot of great fight sequences, such as the Battle of Titan (in particular, the visually stunning fight between Dr. Strange and Thanos).

While a lot of people prefer Endgame, Id say this is the definitive MCU crossover movie. It was no easy task to bring the worlds of characters like Spider-Man and the Guardians of the Galaxy together, but Infinity War made it seem effortless, while still preserving the essence of each of the individual franchises. So you could feel like youre simultaneously watching an Iron Man movie and a Dr. Strange movie all at once.

Infinity War is very close to my favorite MCU movie, but not quite number one.

TomNook
The ultimate Avengers movie. It was nice seeing bad guys actually win for once in a world where we know that never happens. And while we knew it wouldn't be permanent, seeing it actually play out for a full feature film was very exciting. Thanos of course is the one who steals the show. He's the reason this movie is as great as it is. Prior to this film, he seemed like a generic bad dude, but in this movie, we get huge development for the villain, unlike in any of the other MCU films. The memes and buzz around this movie following the SNAP were fun as well. Seeing this in theaters and hearing crying coming from many parts of the theater audience was something unexpected and memorable.

Whiskey Nick
(No write-up.)

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XIII Rocks
I marginally prefer Endgame because it's so satisfying, but I think Infinity War was made with a far higher degree of difficulty, so for it to be even close to an equal to Endgame is a considerable feat. While Endgame had fewer characters to deal with and an overall smaller scale until the third act, Infinity War spans galaxies, bouncing from one disparate storyline to the next as it manages to bring almost all the main MCU characters together into one extravaganza, yet one that still somehow has a shorter runtime than Endgame.

There are a couple of times where narrative shortcuts have to be taken - I'm not a big fan at all of the way Gamora says "if Thanos gets me, kill me" to Pratt and then like two scenes later it happens exactly as she said it would, but I also understand sacrifices sometimes have to be made when you're dealing with a movie on this near-unprecedented scale. All the new character interactions are a delight - Thor's scenes with the Guardians are a particular highlight, and in a movie that seems to almost never stop Thor's quiet, sombre scene with Rocket where he talks through his losses is a very well-acted moment of stillness. One of my favourite scenes in the MCU in the way it exposes Thor's vulnerability, and in many ways sets up his state of mind in Endgame.

But then you get to the action, of which there was a... fucking LOT. The ones I come back to in particular are Strange and then Iron Man vs. Thanos - though both very brief, they're colourful and feel so intense. The visuals of it are eye-popping, particularly when Thanos throws a literal black hole at Strange and when Strange goes Hindu god. Iron Man's scene, where you know the situation is hopeless but still briefly have your hopes raised when he makes Thanos bleed, is equally great - I was genuinely convinced Iron Man would die there, because the movie had successfully convinced me of its stakes and of the fact there would be genuine consequences (something previous MCU movies lacked; even War Machine's injury in Civil War ultimately becomes a non-event).

The ending was described as "Empire Strikes Back on steroids" and that's about right. We knew there'd be a 4th, we knew the heroes would find a way to undo what had been done, but that doesn't make Thanos actually winning, and killing trillions of people, any less of a dark, brutal ending. The fake-out of Thor being cast as the true hero of the story, playing key roles in the ending and the beginning, and the way it seemed he would be the ultimate saviour, only for Thanos to tank being stabbed right through the chest, was a particularly smart move and a good way of doing it.

It would be remiss of me not to mention Josh Brolin, who helps make Thanos a villain for the ages; callous and brutal, behaving in ways he considers merciful or human but that actually appear monstrous to everyone else, the way he can appear so intelligent and in-control and yet be so blind, driven only by zeal and determination to prove himself "right" after Titan shunned him. I'm glad they went with this motivation as opposed to the one in the comics, as it manages to be understandable while also having greater economy in the story - no need to introduce Death, for instance.

Then of course you come to the big moments. The first for me is Cap's arrival, mostly because it uses the full Avengers theme - I'm a sucker for that intro, thus why I love the credits of Avengers 1 - but the most famous and most unabashedly euphoric is "BRING ME THANOS!" and that whole scene of Thor arriving in Wakanda. Theatre reactions around the world tell you how successful that scene was; a nice job by the directors of creating three distinct colour schemes for the three climaxes (Thor on Nidavellir making Stormbreaker, and the battles on Titan and Wakanda) to create a clear sense of scale and difference between the three storylines - so when one transfers over to the other, it's both completely clear what is happening (take notes, DCU) and a moment that gets all the adrenaline flowing.

Yes, Endgame is more satisfying, but Infinity War pulls off a trickier balancing act. It's a miracle that this movie was made so well. Like with the Endgame writeup, I can't possibly cover every little thing I like about this movie - there's far too much.

Anagram
Yes, okay, you can poke a million holes in Thanos stupid plan, but other than that, this is the best Avengers movie. Thanos has a depth to him that the rest of the villains really do not, and the decision to end the movie in failure was a great one. And of course, everyone loves the meme of characters turning to dust. The movie also has lots of really good, emotional moments, the main one to me being Gamoras death. Endgame doesnt deliver quite as hard, but that doesnt take away from Infinity Wars successes.

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Mega Mana
First Moment That Comes to Mind: "Should've aimed for the head."

The Thanos movie. Thanos is our main character and all our Avengers' friends are reactionary to what Thanos does. This is his quest, his drive, his machine in motion, and the Avengers are a galaxy-spread obstacle aiming to prevent his conquest and disruption of natural order. The Avengers was the MCU movie that showed how it could juggle multiple voices, characters, and franchises into a cohesive unit and make it work spectacularly. Infinity War is maximum difficulty, moreso than Endgame. Endgame is the immediate succession of Infinity War, the cliffhanger of Ant-Man and the Wasp, and resolutions to the original Avengers' storylines that started a decade ago, capping off with nearly every character ever in a giant fight.

Infinity War starts with the end of Thor: Ragnarok, instantly brings in Thanos from his teases throughout since Avengers, involves obtaining the Infinity Stones which were focused on in Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain America: The First Avenger, Thor: The Dark World, Doctor Strange, and the first two Avengers movies. Banner then returns to Earth for the first time since Age of Ultron, roping in Doctor Strange, Civil War plots, and Spider-Man to go off into space to meet with the Guardians of the Galaxy (who just met Thor and sent two of their number with him to make a new weapon which is another tie to Ragnarok's happenings). Wanda and Vision is a thread from Age of Ultron, and bearded Cap and blonde Widow come from Civil War fallout, moving events soon to Wakanda tying in Black Panther and supporting characters/settings introduced two months prior. The Guardians fight with Thanos and deal with GotG/GotG2 fallout, but then Thanos takes Gamora to a new place that somehow connects back to The First Avenger. The Guardians meet up with IronStrangeSpider for a Thanos fight while CapBannerPantherSoldierFalconMachineWakandaForever fight to keep Thanos forces from Vision using Black Panther and Age of Ultron and Civil War for the story majority. Then there's all the coming action where everybody shines and the highest conflict and danger coming to fruition after ten years' worth of movies, and then we somehow cap off with a tease to Captain Marvel and it's just like every single movie (besides Ant-Man) is woven seamlessly together into a beautiful tapestry. That ends in complete and utter tragedy.

Like... it's mindblowing.

NBIceman
I saw this movie multiple times over its opening weekend because I had various friends and family members that all went at different times, and Ill never forget walking out of those theaters after it ended. It was packed every time, and every time, people left in almost total stunned silence. Ive seen other films that have had that effect on viewers, obviously, but its not the kind of thing I ever expected out of Marvel Studios, which essentially designs its productions around the idea that fans will glide out of the theater talking excitedly to their buddies about all of the awesome moments in what they just saw. And yeah, theres plenty of those awesome moments in IW as well (Ive got the Funko recreation of Cap holding back Thanoss fist on my shelf as we speak), along with great performances and a really well-written villain and some of the funniest lines in the franchise. Theres a ton to love about the movie. But Im sure others will cover all that better than I could, and its more important, enduring legacy is always going to be that willingness to get a little risky in leaving the Avengers in total defeat at the end and immediately making audiences wish it was Spring 2019 already.

PrinceKaro
I dont think any MCU film has worked its way into pop culture the way Infinity War has. The snap. Perfectly balanced. I don't feel so good.
It is a grand spectacle that kicks off the storyline everyone had been waiting for: the big purple guy finally comes to earth to kick ass and take gems.
Thanos himself is a far cry from his comic version, who was basically Donald Trump with face paint and necrophilia. Here, he is a character who is both deeply disturbing and deeply compelling, someone who does not seek his own self aggrandization, but works his villainy for 'the good of all'. One could almost say that he is the main character of the movie. His presence is what elevates this above the other 'spectacle' movies in the MCU, as does the real consequence of what transpires here. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

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StifledSilence
I found this big team up film to be the best one of the bunch. The action is excellent. The villains put up an impressive fight against the heroes. Thanos crew features some pretty powerful lackeys, which adds higher stakes to the already frantic pace the Avengers find themselves in. Not to mention all of the little groups the heroes split off into have fun chemistry, with Peter, Tony, and the Guardians being my favorite. The Thanos snap is still the MCUs top scene and I dont see anything ever besting it.

ZenOfThunder
Never have I been so excited for a film and have it meet my expectations. Easily one of the greatest endings in cinema. A kid in front of me cried.

Mr Crispy
Infinity War does an excellent job continuing building up the hype as it reintroduces the characters, throws them off balance, and put them together in new combinations. The fights against the Black Order and Thanos are all pretty exciting. Despite the number of characters and action scenes, it doesn't quite feel overstuffed either... at least up til near the end. I don't like the battle at Wakanda, since it seems something more out of Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones with a kamikaze attack from a horde of mindless drones on foot in a big grassy field than what I would expect from a superhero/scifi movie with aliens that have space ships and a super advanced civilization that might as well have space ships.

My other major gripe is along the same lines - Xandar, which probably had the highest defenses for their Infinity Stone, was defeated first. (And off camera!). Is it too much to ask for even a little space battle scene in the biggest movie in the MCU? (Actually, going into Infinity War I was expecting something more along the lines of the Guardians having to break into the vault on Xandar to get the Power Stone out before Thanos could attack the planet.) Those two things and knowing that it was going to end on a cliffhanger just barely knocked Infinity War out of the top 3 for me.

(I don't really have to say anything about Thanos being the best MCU villain, even if his goal doesn't make any sense because people would just have more babies and everything would be back to where they started in a few years.)

Johnbobb
ok seriously how fucking dumb is it that Vision and Scarlet Witch, THE TWO MOST POWERFUL PEOPLE IN THE GODDAMN AVENGERS, needed to be saved by literally Captain America and Black Widow. Now I had a lot of issues with how in Age of Ultron Hulk gets KO'd by an Iron Man punch because that's some ridiculous Hulk disrespect on the part of the filmmakers, but this HAS to be the worst underrepresentation of a character's abilities (especially seeing as later this movie we see Scarlet Witch just WRECKING shit when she actually gets the chance to).. Anyway it's a good movie.

MetalDK
I liked the villain being the focus for a change

Paratroopa1
Infinity War (and its sequel) will probably go down as one of the greatest cultural phenomenons of our era and for good reason - it is a singularly impressive feat of superhero movie-making, an epic blockbuster 10 years in the making, and it executes it flawelssly - there's barely a single thing I'd change. Guardians was the movie that served as my entry point to the MCU but Infinity War was the first non-Guardians movie I watched, solely because what I heard about it made it sound too interesting not to see, and from that moment on I was hooked. Honestly, I don't think I'd ever really liked a superhero film that much before, and I didn't really think they were "for me", and Infinity War changed my mind about how awesome it was possible for a blockbuster superhero film to be. The only reason it doesn't rank higher is that the four films above it have greater emotional resonance for me - Infinity War is just a perfectly crafted series of fights between unlikely groups of heroes and bad guys, culminating in a damn good twist at the end. I almost ranked it #1 - there isn't much I can say about it that won't already be said, it's a near-perfect movie. It's a testament to how good some of these movies are that I could only put it at #5.

Eddv
Hey gotta give credit where it's due, the snap is one of the most iconic cinematic moments and it took guts to make it happen. It's a pity endgame's follow up doesn't do any justice to the set up .

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Lopen
This is the lowest ranked marvel movie I'd call great rather than good. The fight scenes in this are incredible (Iron Man Spidey and the GotG vs Thanos is probably the best fight scene in the MCU) and interplay between all the personalities and whatnot is just great. Lots of jokes really hit here. And then of course THE SNAP what an amazing and heavy ending-- literally had kids crying in droves at the theater I saw it at. You know that's effective.

So the only thing holding this movie back from greatness is that there's perhaps TOO much going on. I feel like we never get a chance to breathe it's just a constant barrage of stuff and things. This is partially roster bloat I think and trying to have everyone do something

Maniac64
This movie came in with a lot of hype and expectations, and boy did it live up to them. Some of the different pairings were great, Tony and Strange, Thor and the Guardians. Just so much good character stuff here. And of course Thanos comes off as the smart powerful mega threat he was built up to be. THe decision to end the movie with Thanos winning was brilliant and shocking. This movie is great and actually managed to pull off a massive crossover that I was worried would be impossible.

Red13n
Thanos attempts to save the universe, universe is ungrateful. But really, this is in part a Thanos movie, he is the focus of the film. While we get some awesome team ups, some great moments, this movie strives to make sure we don't suffer from one of the MCU's great weaknesses by giving the villain a bit of depth. Alongside that, we get some cool teamups, we get the earth people and the space people mixing up. The battle of Wakanda ends up being one of the coolest scenes in the whole MCU, and of course, we get an ending that would leave one of the biggest marks in pop culture despite being something everyone should have seen coming. Or at least seen coming like 20 minutes into the film. The snap was executed really well though, doing a really good job in a short time of seeing how hard the loss would hit some of the characters.

Inviso
Its really tough to rank Infinity War, because its a REALLY good movie that defies the generally upbeat standards set by previous films in the franchise. The franchise spent so long building Thanos up as a threat, after the Infinity Stones, but they never really gave us more to his motivations than generic bad guy looking for power. But in this movie, when its basically HIS movie (without any new Avengers to add to the mix), he shines. Thanos is the best part of this movie, because hes a villain who believes hes a hero, and hes allowed to be emotional about his role in the story. But at the same time, you also have the massive cast split across multiple settings, and each one gets to showcase their abilities. You have the big battle in Wakanda, the intricate capture plan on Thanos home planet, the fight in New York, Thors new axe, and all of them add just a little bit of characterization and interaction between characters you wouldnt expect. However, there are a few flaws that keep it out of my top tier. The size of the cast does make the overarching plot just a little bit muddled, and it probably wouldve connected more if there werent so many simultaneous scenes all happening at once. Its still really good despite this though. Definitely a top tier film in the franchise.

VengefulKaelee
The ending alone propels this to just outside my overall Top 10. Like its successor, Endgame, it suffers from too many ongoing storylines and characters, but despite there being twice as many of them, y'know, around in this one as there are in Endgame post-Snap, the first half of this two-part finale, so to speak, ends up being the half that feels the least strained when all is said and done.

MetalmindStats
The snap is the single most impactful individual moment of the MCU, of course. Before that, though, I feel so much of Infinity War falls flat on the failure of Thanos as a compelling villain. Its sure not an atypical pitfall for an MCU movie to fall into, but it stings harder here because Thanos is so central to his film. That being said, its certainly more important for a superhero movie of this ilk to have engaging heroes, and so Ill remember Infinity War most for its unprecedented stakes and tribulations for its protagonists instead.

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OUTLIERS:

Eddv - 150
PrinceKaro - 118
Johnbobb - 116
VengefulKaelee - 116
BetrayedTangy - 114
Jesse Custer - 112
TomNook - 104
Lopen - 92
ScepterOfLove - 92
MetalmindStats - 90
Raka Putra - 90
GavsEvans123 - 88
Paratroopa1 - 88
Inviso - 84
Mr Crispy - 84
Illuminatusbubu - 82
Maniac64 - 80
StifledSilence - 78
HanOfTheNekos - 74
XIII Rocks - 74
Cybat - 72
Snake5555555555 - 72
Whiskey Nick - 70
CoolCly - 66
Corrik7 - 64
Mega Mana - 62
MetalDK - 62
Red13n - 62
Anagram - 56
NBIceman - 56
Sheep007 - 56
ZenOfThunder 42

With five points off, Eddv JUST barely manages to hit the 150 mark as he claims first place in the outlier competition. After a close battle for second, Karo ekes out a silver medal with 118, and Johnbobb ties with Kaelee for bronze, halting Tangys late-game push for outlier success. At the other end of the list, Zen finishes with the gold medal of basic-ness at 42 points, but then we have a three-way tie for second between NBIceman, Sheep, and a late-surging Anagram. Thank everyone for participating, and if anyone wants to add their list to the ranking and see how that affects things, just post it and Ill update my charts.

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Didn't read em all yet but some good writeups here

More than deserving winner, what a fucking brilliant movie
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Great topic, Inviso, thanks for running it.

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Zen only won because mcflubbin didn't submit a list btw

Anagaram posted...

Great topic, Inviso, thanks for running it.

Also yes absolutely this, good project and fun to go through it
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Good winner. Thanks for running this, Inviso.

THE SCORES:

114 (Avengers: Infinity War)
183 (Captain America: The Winter Soldier
183 (Guardians of the Galaxy)
197 (Avengers: Endgame)
233 (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2)
256 (Thor: Ragnarok)
258 (Marvel's The Avengers)
297 (Captain America: Civil War)
306 (Black Panther)
312 (Spider-Man: Homecoming)
313 (Spider-Man: Far From Home)
335 (Iron Man)
392 (Doctor Strange)
424 (Ant-Man)
471 (Iron Man 3)
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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Cheers Inviso! Really interesting to read these writeups, and a great list in the end (easy for me to say, I know).

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Well I like the write-ups even if I disagree with the placement, and I do like that a movie within the "great movie, not just good" line managed to win, even if it was the last such movie on my list.

Like I can't really disagree with any of the beaming praise, and those who are a little negative on it seem to have the same issues with it as I do (the film being a bit bloated in terms of stuff going on) so yeah. I think I was just a bit more irked on the bad of the movie or a bit less positive on the good, but can't fundamentally disagree with the bad and the good pointed out.

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Big thanks to Inviso for running this and putting it all together. I was very close to not submitting anything for this and I'm glad I decided to squeeze out the time in the end.

High-fives to Anagram and Sheep for having equally normie opinions to me! I definitely didn't expect to be tied for second-lowest on the outlier rank when I sent my ranking in considering I knew I'd lose a lot of ground with my AoU and Black Panther placements.

My full list:

1. Avengers: Endgame
2. Captain America: Winter Soldier
3. Avengers: Infinity War
4. The Avengers
5. Guardians of the Galaxy
6. Captain America: Civil War
7. Thor: Ragnarok
8. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
9. Avengers 2: Age of Ultron
10. Captain America: The First Avenger
11. Iron Man
12. Spider-Man: Homecoming
13. Iron Man 3
14. Doctor Strange
15. Spider-Man: Far From Home
16. Ant-Man
17. Captain Marvel
18. Ant-Man and the Wasp
19. Black Panther
20. Thor
21. Iron Man 2
22. Thor 2: The Dark World
23. The Incredible Hulk

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1. Avengers: Infinity War
2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
3. Captain America: Civil War
4. Spider-Man: Homecoming
5. Black Panther
6. Avengers: Endgame
7. Spider-Man: Far From Home
8. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
9. Doctor Strange
10. Captain Marvel
11. Marvel's The Avengers
12. Guardians of the Galaxy
13. Ant-Man And The Wasp
14. Thor: Ragnarok
15. Ant-Man
16. Avengers: Age of Ultron
17. Captain America: The First Avenger
18. Thor
19. Iron Man
20. Thor: The Dark World
21. Iron Man 2
22. Iron Man 3
23. The Incredible Hulk

Don't know if I would have done much other than break ties if I bothered to submit. Good list!

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Both ties would be broken, but only Captain Marvel would benefit.

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Yeah this was a really fun topic, glad you took the time to put it together!

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So if I'd submitted a list this is what I came up with in about 2 minutes

1. Thor: Ragnarok
2. Guardians of the Galaxy
3. Avengers: Infinity War
4. Avengers: Endgame
5. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
6. Ant-Man
7. Black Panther
8. Ant-Man and the Wasp
9. Spider-Man: Far From Home
10. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
11. Marvel's The Avengers
12. Doctor Strange
13. Iron Man
14. Captain America: Civil War
15. Avengers: Age of Ultron
16. Iron Man 2
17. Captain Marvel
18. Spider-Man: Homecoming
19. Iron Man 3
20. Thor: The Dark World
21. Captain America: The First Avenger
22. Thor
23. Hulk

Feel pretty good about the top and bottom but a lot of the stuff in the middle could shift upon rewatch (a lot of these I've only seen once and as I alluded to GotG2 boosted a bit the second time around).

EDIT: Echoing everyone else that this was a fun topic to follow.

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Thank you Inviso for running this topic! I'm sure it was a lot of work

See you all at the end of phase 6!!

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Still think the Avengers movies are low 8/10 at best.

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I am the champion

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Great ranking everyone!

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Hard to beat a guy who hates what hes ranking

Inviso posted...

if anyone wants to add their list to the ranking and see how that affects things, just post it and Ill update my charts.

1 (Avengers: Infinity War)
2 (Guardians of the Galaxy)
3 (Spider-Man: Homecoming)
4 (Thor: Ragnarok)
5 (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2)
6 (Marvel's The Avengers)
7 (Doctor Strange)
8 (Captain America: Civil War)
9 (Spider-Man: Far From Home)
10 (Avengers: Endgame)
11 (Iron Man)
12 (Ant-Man)
13 (Black Panther)
14 (Ant-Man and the Wasp)
15 (Captain America: The Winter Soldier)
16 (Iron Man 2)
17 (Captain America: The First Avenger)
18 (Thor)
19 (Captain Marvel)
20 (Avengers: Age of Ultron)
21 (Iron Man 3)
22 (The Incredible Hulk)
23 (Thor: The Dark World)

Actually, yeah, out of curiosity, what changes if you take out Ed's ranking entirely?

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NBIceman posted...

Actually, yeah, out of curiosity, what changes if you take out Ed's ranking entirely?

Guardians 1 takes the sole second place, Endgame moves up into third, beating Winter Soldier by a single point, and Far From Home moves up to ninth, leapfrogging Black Panther and Homecoming.

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I made mine last page

Willing to write/defend any opinion I have.

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My #1 won and yet I still finished top 10 in the outlier, which was a hope of mine, so its a very satisfying ending for me! Thanks for running this, it was fun.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!

The next project in this series will be Westerns and I will be the host! If you enjoyed this project, please continue along with us in all of our future lists. I will be posting the westerns sign up topic in the next day or so. Be on the look out!
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