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Which Phase Has Been the Best of the MCU So Far?

posted 3 years ago by FilmBuff (7234)
8 replies | jump to latest

Every time a new MCU film is released, an inevitable "Rank All the MCU Films" thread surfaces. We'll probably the do the same this time around; maybe I'll even start such a thread. But as I was pondering where "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" ranks among the 28 MCU films so far (I have it 11th) I started wondering how I'd rank each of the four phases.

I find his to be a lot more challenging to do.

My favorite film is from Phase 2, but then, so is my least favorite. More of my top 10 come from Phase 3, but then, Phase 3 had 11 films, and Phases 1 and 2 had but 6 each, and there have been only 5 Phase 4 films so far.

Also compounding the difficulty is that there hasn't been a bad MCU film yet. I'm fairly hard to please when it comes to action and superhero films, and I don't typically enjoy this sort of film, but so far Marvel has made clever and original films. If there had been a couple turkeys in the bunch, I could at least penalize the phase in which they were released, but that isn't an option.

Maybe the real answer is that they're all about equal, and the phases can't be ranked, but after much thought I came up with this:

Phase 3
Phase 4
Phase 2
Phase 1

And though Phase 1 is my lowest-ranked of the four, in truth there is but a hair's breadth separating it from Phase 3, my top-ranked phase.

[–] Cristianos (298) 3 years ago

Phase 3, no doubt.

[–] AP (5288) 3 years ago

Phase 3 seemed like the one with the biggest change-ups and conclusions, making it more satisfactory.

[–] Reaperscout (605) 3 years ago

I'd say Phase 2 since that is where my top favorite MCU movies happen/are set/released during. Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians Of The Galaxy 1, and Ant-Man (takes place after Age Of Ultron, but is considered the epilogue of Phase 2).

Phase 1 just seemed liked the movies were all slapped together to give us the basics on the characters and was focusing too much on getting to the first Avengers movie. If I were to pick Phase 1, it would probably be for nostalgia reasons, but I don't find that a good enough reason to pick it as my favorite phase.

Pretty much ALL of Phase 3 frustrated me because all the movies REALLY started shoehorning Guardians Of The Galaxy's humor into them. I hate that when something is successful, Hollywood gets carried away and starts overusing it. So Disney/Marvel had to overuse humor and boost the humor in the MCU movies because it worked for Guardians Of The Galaxy. I like to laugh when watching superhero movies, but god dang they took the humor too far post-Guardians Of The Galaxy 1. That's why I love Captain America: The Winter Soldier. PERFECT balance of humor and seriousness. Also, Phase 3 was focusing WAY too much on future building than the "now." Everything was just building to Infinity War and Endgame.

Civil War just seemed off and something was missing when watching it since they were too busy building to Infinity War and Endgame instead of focusing on the "now". Then Phase 3 pulls a Phase 1 by doing a lot of time killer movies or movies that give the basics on characters. Like Doctor Strange and Captain Marvel. Also, Black Panther is another overrated movie. It's pretty much The Lion King, although everyone says it brings something new to the MCU. Also, all of Black Panther's moments were in the marketing. The actual movie focuses more on Okoye, Shuri, and Nakia. Black Panther had a better story arc in Civil War than his actual movie.

Phase 4 just keeps doing what I dislike about Phase 3. So I'm not picking that.

[–] wickerman1271 (946) 3 years ago

there's no point in rating phase 4 now , it's not complete and there are many movies left that my change my opinion which so far is very disappointing , all movies have been very poor so far (with the exception of Black Widow) and can't compare to the first 3 phases , even The Incredible Hulk is a masterpiece compared to any movie in phase 4

[–] GingerbreadPimp (1767) 3 years ago

Phase 3

[–] MartyDeniro (4171) 3 years ago

Fairly hard to please? You gave more than a third of these films an A+ in your other post, including Eternals. And 19 of 28 an A- or better. I don't know any hard to please person who hands out A+'s like that, for any movie, let alone a subgenre. What's an A+? 97/100 or better? Incredibly high scores for a tough grader who doesn't typically enjoy this sort of film. With B- as your floor (for only 3 of 28), you don't get to average, never mind bad.

[–] FilmBuff (7234) 3 years ago

It's a testimony to the quality of the films the MCU has released. I also give A+ grades to nearly every film Preston Sturges directed. That doesn't mean I hand them out like candy, it just means we're discussing some great films.

In contrast, I can't think of many non-MCU superhero films that earn better than a C. There are exceptions, but most of that genre of films is unwatchable garbage.

Also, note that the grades shown are the films grades within the genre itself. An A+ superhero film may not be an A+ in comparison to all films, ever.

[–] MartyDeniro (4171) 3 years ago

I was just trying to reconcile the hard to please with A+'s, that's all. I know people who give 10/10 or 5/5 or nearly perfect to perfect, like A+, to many of their favorites, but they never claim to be that tough to win over at the same time. Those that do make the claim, rarely, if ever, give an A+, if they acknowledge such a grade at all, b/c of the implication that the film would have to be nearly flawless, if not flawless.