Every Single MCU Film Ranked From Worst To Best

4. The Avengers

Even with Iron Man and Captain America: The First Avenger's successes, The Avengers was still a pretty big gamble for Marvel. It would require not only uncharacteristic restraint (for the genre at least) to balance all of the moving parts as well as the necessary space to build a self-contained narrative that justified the team's existence.

It would probably have been tempting to go too big too early, introducing a monstrous villain like Thanos too prematurely in order to guarantee the draw, but instead Joss Whedon - an inspired directing choice - turned to Tom Hiddleston's Loki and dialled him up beautifully. While the heroes are forced to be juggled (leading to great chemistry that continues into all new MCU films), he is given precious space to breathe and the result is a tour de force performance.

Okay, so the Chitauri were no more than cannon fodder in the end, and their invasion feels a little unearned, but the Avengers did need something to fit in the climax, so it's a worthwhile compromise on quality. Just about.