Every Superhero Movie This Decade Ranked - Worst To Best

8. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Captain America The Winter Soldier Black Widow Boat
Marvel Studios

The Russo brothers made their staggering MCU debut with one of the most mature and thoughtful entries into the franchise to date. Styled as an homage to classic espionage flicks from the 70s, The Winter Soldier tells a timely tale of political intrigue, accompanied by both an affecting continuation of Cap and Bucky's (Sebastian Stan) fractured friendship and all the expected superhero shenanigans.

One of the biggest leaps in quality between a solo debut and sequel, The Winter Soldier firmly established Cap as a fan favourite, while leaving Bucky as one of the franchise's most intriguing dangling threads, which would of course be paid off in the next movie, Civil War.

Character-driven and intelligent yet also unafraid to get totally silly - Zola is a supercomputer! - this was clear, early proof of the Russos' incredible skill at blending disparate tones into a coherent, satisfying whole.

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.