Every Year In The MCU Ranked Worst To Best

After a somewhat disappointing end to Phase Two the year before, 2016 and the establishment of the MCU’s Phase Three brought the promise of a new and better age in the franchise. This started with Civil War, the Avengers movie that wasn’t an Avengers movie that was still a better Avengers movie than Age of Ultron.

Based off the fan favourite arc from the source material, the third Captain America movie finished off Chris Evans’ trilogy with an absolute bang. It certainly wasn’t perfect, and many actually preferred The Winter Soldier, but for all out action, there aren’t many movies in the MCU that can match it. The airport scene alone put this particular movie above many of its fellow MCU outings.

While this year saw the end of one Marvel Studios franchise, it also saw the beginning of a new one, and the introduction of one of the finest actors, and most important characters the MCU can boast today. Benedict Cumberbatch made his debut as Doctor Strange in one the most weird and wonderful comic book movies to date.

There were also debuts for the likes of Scott Derrickson, Mads Mikkelsen, and Chiwetel Ejiofor, though it wasted the talents of the latter two names, as it earned itself an Oscar nomination for its unrivalled visual effects. Even after all these years, the franchise could still spring surprises with one of the most unique movies yet, and while the two 2016 releases couldn’t have been more different, they came together for an incredibly strong year.