Every MCU Movie - Ranked From Worst To Best

3. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Who would ever have thought that an MCU movie that so consciously channelled 1970s political intrigue movies would emerge as one of the most beloved in the entire franchise?

For many, The Winter Soldier is the benchmark for MCU quality: and were it not for what came next, it wouldn't be an unreasonable claim. It is entertaining, thrilling and packs an emotional punch that set up Civil War (and beyond) in a beautifully balanced manner.

Strengths

The script is genius, advancing Cap's story and adding major stakes without opening the film up to questions of why all the other Avengers aren't around to help out. Despite world-ending connotations and gigantic sky machines, The Winter Soldier burns with personal conflict and is deeply claustrophobic thanks to its political thriller element. And the introduction of Robert Redford as a new type of villain was a great breath of fresh air.

More than anything it proved that a film can be about toxic politics and not end up being as distractingly boring as The Phantom Menace.

Weaknesses

If anything, there's not really a lot of risks taken here, and the accusations of this being a mid-franchise narrative stepping stone aren't entirely off-base. But then it's a shared universe, so it's a little hard to consider that a true criticism.

Scarlet Johansson's unnecessary sexualisation on the poster was pretty unforgivable though.