Ranking Every MCU Film From Worst To Best

Who would have thought that any idea as bold and lurid as Kevin Feige's unified Marvel universe would ever get anywhere near old age? Most franchises that get anywhere near their twelfth addition have usually jumped and rejumped the shark several times, or at least had the dignity to retreat to the safer haven of straight to DVD releases and C-Movie casting alternatives. But not so of the MCU.

The series that was built on the surprisingly broad shoulders of Tony Stark has survived more than one release that could well have put paid to lesser projects, while shrugging off accusations of a lack of sexual and racial diversity to broaden out into a many limbed monster that will (in theory) exist long after the first stars are too old to continue.

And with Phase 2 now over, this is the perfect opportunity to look back at what has gone before - including the curiously tagged on Ant-Man - before the MCU rips itself apart with Civil War and goes somewhere entirely unprecedented with Doctor Strange. This is very definitely a cross-roads, and hopefully Feige will draw more from the films at the top of this ranking than those languishing in its darkest depths.

So where does the ant-house that Edgar Wright almost built actually figure in the new ranking?

Given Marvel's track record and Pixar-like agenda to making hit after hit after hit, the chances of them ever making a film as bad as Thor: The Dark World are hopefully slim. 

Despite some good ideas - Loki as Hannibal Lecter, the death of Frigga and the appearance of the Infinity Stone/Aether - the best elements are painfully undercooked and it takes way too long to develop to the point where it's actually entertaining. 

There's just about enough in there for Loki fans to get excited about, thanks mostly to Tom Hiddleston's inevitably scene-stealing performance and Chris Hemsworth still fills the armour well. But for the first time with Thor, the fact that his solo world is a little silly showed: perhaps because Alan Taylor didn't quite embrace the theatricality that Kenneth Branagh had brought to the first film. And it wasn't like the film could fall back on the culture clash element that works so well for Thor's position in the wider MCU, where there's pleasure to be had in his clashes with the "normal world".

Dropped back into his own world with dark elves (another wasted idea), Thor just isn't as interesting on his own. Hopefully, the third film - with its promise of greater stakes and closer ties to the rest of the MCU - will do better.