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The Big Picture Taken as a whole, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is an undeniable achievement in cinema. It began with a simple idea, thrown in after the credits of the first, risky movie: “You've become part of a bigger universe. You just don't know it yet.” That idea blossomed into movies that crossed over with each other, sometimes with incredible results and other times with diminishing returns.
The Avengers stuff could be forgiven if the A-plot worked a little better, but like just about every Marvel movie, it suffers from a weak villain with lousy motivation. While Mickey Rourke definitely had some clout coming off The Wrestler, director Jon Favreau just got a campy performance out of the actor, who clearly thinks the material is beneath him, as opposed to Darren Aronofsky, who got the best performance of Rourke’s career.
Release Date May 7, 2010 Director Jon Favreau Cast Robert Downey Jr. , gwyneth paltrow , Don Cheadle , Scarlett Johansson , Sam Rockwell , Mickey Rourke Runtime 124 minutes Watch on Disney+ Thor: The Dark World PG-13SuperheroActionAdventureFantasy When the Dark Elves attempt to plunge the universe into darkness, Thor must embark on a perilous and personal journey that will reunite him with doctor Jane Foster.
The Incredible Hulk is too early in the MCU to take advantage of this kind of dynamic, so it’s adrift, and as a result lacks the proper tone, voice, and attitude to quality as a proper Marvel Cinematic Universe movie. Until William Hurt pops up in Civil War, it's the only movie where its actors don’t appear in other Marvel movies. Edward Norton is acceptable as Banner, but Mark Ruffalo is so much better in a well-rounded version of the character.
31 Doctor Strange Directed by Scott Derrickson Doctor Strange is a weird beast. It feels cobbled together in a way that it goes by the familiar beats of previous Marvel movies--notably Iron Man and Guardians of the Galaxy--but it also feels rote and uninteresting despite the trappings of putting its protagonist into a magical world.
Doctor Strange PG-13AdventureActionFantasySuperhero While on a journey of physical and spiritual healing, a brilliant neurosurgeon is drawn into the world of the mystic arts. On top of all of this, Stephen Strange is all snark and sarcasm, and while this might have played well early in the MCU, after meeting so many snarky characters, Strange comes off more as an asshole than anything else. He doesn't inspire heroics and instead it's more up to his supporting characters like Wong and America Chavez to pick up the slack. For what it's worth, both Wong and Gomez are enjoyable and we appreciate the introduction of Bruce Campbell as Pizza Poppa.
It meets the genre requirements, but it meets them in such a simplistic way that it feels like the greatest achievement is so that Kevin Feige can point to Ant-Man as an example of saying “We don’t make superhero movies; we make heist movies,” and then compares Captain America: The Winter Soldier to a 70s political thriller even though it’s only like those movies in the loosest sense of the genre possible.
Release Date July 17, 2015 Director Peyton Reed Cast Paul Rudd , Michael Douglas , Evangeline Lilly , Corey Stoll , Bobby Cannavale , Judy Greer Runtime 117 minutes Watch on Disney+ Release Date July 6, 2018 Director Peyton Reed Cast Paul Rudd , Evangeline Lilly , Michael Pena , Walton Goggins , Bobby Cannavale , Judy Greer Runtime 118 minutes Watch on Disney+
Release Date February 17, 2023 Director Peyton Reed Cast Kathryn Newton , Evangeline Lilly , Michelle Pfeiffer , Paul Rudd , Michael Douglas , Jonathan Majors Runtime 125 minutes Watch on Disney+ Release Date November 10, 2023 Director Nia DaCosta Cast Brie Larson , Samuel L. Jackson , Zawe Ashton , Iman Vellani Runtime 105 minutes 25 Black Widow Directed by Cate Shortland I really wish this one was better. We waited so long for Black Widow to get her own movie, and it was too little, too late. The central problem is that because the movie arrived so late in the MCU that Natasha had already died in Avengers: Endgame, so a prequel story was already drained of stakes.
Release Date July 9, 2021 Director Cate Shortland Cast Scarlett Johansson , Florence Pugh , Robert Downey Jr. , Rachel Weisz , David Harbour , William Hurt Runtime 134 minutes Watch on Disney+ Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings SuperheroActionAdventureFantasy Shang-Chi, the master of weaponry-based Kung Fu, is forced to confront his past after being drawn into the Ten Rings organization.
And yet I'm glad that Eternals at least tried to do something more than your typical Marvel fare. It doesn't always work and the story desperately needs more time to breathe, but it's a Marvel film that at least stayed in my mind after watching it rather than quickly evaporating. If Marvel is going to be the biggest kid on the blockbuster block, then it should take chances like this one even if the end result is deeply flawed.
Thor’s lesson of humility in the Land of Enchantment is at least tempered by the fact that director Kenneth Branagh, despite having the incredibly poor idea to constantly use canted angles when filming, was dead on when it came to casting, especially Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston. So much of the MCU’s greater success rests on these two actors that if you messed up this part, other films would suffer.
Release Date May 6, 2011 Director Kenneth Branagh Cast Chris Hemsworth , Natalie Portman , Tom Hiddleston , Stellan Skarsgård , Kat Dennings , Idris Elba , Anthony Hopkins Runtime 115 minutes Watch on Disney+ Captain Marvel PG-13SuperheroActionAdventure Sci-Fi Carol Danvers becomes one of the universe's most powerful heroes when Earth is caught in the middle of a galactic war between two alien races.
Where the film struggles is in its pacing and giving him killer drones. By taking Peter and his pals on a European vacation that then becomes a spy thriller of sorts, it loses the tightness and focus of Homecoming, a movie that knew its touchstones and had a true North in showing Peter Parker as a high schooler.
But the film’s greatest strength—putting most of its characters into one movie—also ends up being its greatest weakness. Because it’s trying to get around to everyone, it ends up getting around to no one. Everyone is pretty much the same character they were at the start of the movie. There’s been no catharsis, no realization, no growth. It’s fun to watch the characters bounce off each other, but unlike other Marvel movies, Infinity War isn’t really about anything.
18 Thor: Love and Thunder Directed by Taika Waititi While it's not perfect, Thor: Love and Thunder proves that the god of thunder and his stories are the most sustainable and entertaining stories in the MCU. It's clear that Taika Waititi had a mammoth task ahead of him when creating Love and Thunder. He had to offer something new while also trying to recapture the lightning in the bottle success of Thor: Ragnarok.
Release Date July 8, 2022 Director Taika Waititi Cast Taika Waititi , Christian Bale , Natalie Portman , Tessa Thompson , Chris Hemsworth , Chris Pratt2 , Karen Gillan , Russell Crowe Runtime 118 Minutes Watch on Disney+ And despite being a largely plot-free picture, it never loses sight of its thematic core, which is to further the theme of family, specifically how we're raised, which was introduced in the first movie. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is really the full package; the question comes down to whether or not this is a package MCU fans want. — Matt Goldberg
Shane Black is a filmmaker who likes messing with conventions, so in that sense, perhaps he wasn’t the best choice to tackle the first post-Avengers film. And yet if you support filmmaker-driven cinema, he’s one of Marvel’s most inspired choices, and he gives Iron Man 3 a personality that’s completely unique to the MCU rather than having a film that could have just as easily blended in and faded away. Iron Man 3 is a terrific litmus test even if its plot is a bit scattershot and overstuffed.
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