Every MCU Director Ranked Worst To Best

Which bring the comics onto the screen the best?

Thor Ragnarok Taika Waititi
Marvel Studios

In the ever-growing MCU franchise, there have been 14 directors of its feature films to date. They will soon be joined by the directing duo of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, who are directing Captain Marvel together, but how do the other directors to date stack up?

They are a highly interesting and varied bunch, with TV-show creators, famous screenwriters, indie filmmakers and even a horror maestro in there, making this maybe the most diverse franchise director line-ups of them all. The MCU films have been criticized for their 'flat' visuals and their director is praised less than other elements, but is this criticism deserved? Not at all.

The criticisms of the MCU's direction aren't actually particularly fair, since most of these directors have done a fine job at bringing these adventures to life. There are a few notable exceptions, but for the most part the MCU has proven to be very well-directed and in recent times, with more and more interesting choices being brought on-board, the directing line-up is only getting better and better.

But who are the MCU directors to beat? It's time to find out...

14. Peyton Reed

Thor Ragnarok Taika Waititi
© Ferdaus Shamim/ZUMA Press/Corbis

Directed:

Ant-Man (2015) and Ant-Man and the Wasp.

Edgar Wright's much-publicized departure from Ant-Man was a huge disappointment; had he stayed, a list like this would rank him highly. Unfortunately, he departed and we got... Peyton Reed instead.

It's a bit of mystery that Marvel thought the best way to replace a comedy auteur was with a random director of mediocre studio comedies, but they went ahead and did it anyway.

Ant-Man has some nice shots in the miniaturized scenes, but visually it's definitely one of the least-interesting Marvel films. If one wanted to argue the MCU has a problem with flat visuals, this would be a good example to use. Reed's direction isn't awful, but it really isn't very interesting and considering how much fun the film ultimately is, it's the shame the film is so disappointing on a directing level.

To be honest, it feels like a bit of a shame they couldn't have brought in someone else in for Ant-Man and the Wasp.

Contributor

Film Studies graduate, aspiring screenwriter and all-around nerd who, despite being a pretentious cinephile who loves art-house movies, also loves modern blockbusters and would rather watch superhero movies than classic Hollywood films. Once met Tommy Wiseau.