Ranking All The Marvel Cinematic Universe Franchises From Worst To Best
2. The Avengers
Movies: The Avengers, Avengers: Age Of Ultron
Upcoming: Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers 4
The massive undertaking that the entirety of Phase 1 was building up to and nobody believed could be done, The Avengers is nothing short of a gamechanger, showing how overarching narrative could be carefully built up over multiple movies and paid off in crowd-rousing fashion. The genius was hiring Joss Whedon, who balanced the ensemble perfectly and injected a meta-thread about the very question of if the team would actually work.
Beyond a great movie through, The Avengers movies are pivot on which the Marvel universe spins, dividing up stages of the characters' development and dominating previous film's foreshadowing. In a series made up of a series of event movies, these are the mega events that demand your attention (and a guaranteed $1 billion of our money).
However, there is a risk the series may find itself obsolete. Age Of Ultron was a bloated retread and now, with Phase 3 movies all seeing multiple heroes crossover over (heck, Civil War was basically Avengers 2.5), the central thrill seems to have abated. Of course, the next movie sees them finally pay off all that Thanos seeding, so here's hoping the boundary-pushing feeling comes back.