All 7 MCU Franchises Ranked
The MCU is my favorite movie franchise of all time and has given us some fantastic movies. Within the big franchise, there have been 7 franchises focusing on characters or a group of characters. When I say franchise, it has to have TWO or movies in it.
7. Thor: This is easily the most inconsistent franchise on this list. The original Thor movie is in the good section of the movie but a bit forgettable, The Dark World is one of the bottom two MCU movies, and Ragnarok is one of the best of the franchise. So you have a movie that is all over the place. I’m not sure they characterized or used the Thor character to his full potential so in Thor 1 and 2 he doesn’t do anything memorable, and then in Ragnarok he doesn’t entirely feel like Thor because he's being so fun. And Infinity War I think is the only movie where we get to see Thor in his prime being a god of thunder. But, back to the franchise like the movies the villains are pretty inconsistent. Loki in Thor is great, but isn’t as good as he would become. Malekith is one of the worst and forgettable MCU characters and villains. And Hela is another great villain played by Cate Blanchett. With that, this trilogy doesn’t really have a through-line story, Thor 1 and 2 have a bit of a story that ties together, but Ragnarok feels like the big sheep of the trilogy. So a trilogy that should have been a whole lot better than it actually is.
6. Guardians of the Galaxy: This is a bit of a tricky one because like most people, I think the original Guardians movie is fantastic and one of the best MCU movies. But, the sequel is very disappointing, a big step down from the first one. The cast and the characters are some of the most lively and fun characters in the MCU. Chris Pratt’s role in Guardians of the Galaxy was the one that made him this a-list movie star of nearly seven years. And the soundtrack is fantastic in both of the movies, and introduced to my songs that I have loved ever since then. Both movies are vibrant and beautiful to look at with their visual effects. James Gunn sense of humor fits really well with this environment and set of characters. But, like I said, the second one is one of the weaker MCU movies. I don’t hate the movie, I find it entertaining. And some of the plot points and character decisions aren’t very good and those hold the movie down a little bit. But there are a number of other issues that I don’t want to talk about there. This franchise could move up or down depending how the third movie is. But this is the most frustrating franchise on the list to rank for me.
5. Ant-Man: If Guardians of the Galaxy is the most polarizing franchise on the list, the Ant-Man franchise is the franchise that is just there for me. It doesn’t have particularly high highs or particularly low lows. Both movies I really enjoy but this is the only franchise that doesn’t have a movie in my top 10 favorite MCU movies. And that’s not to say that I don’t enjoy these movies because I really do, but they aren’t top tear MCU for me. They got a really fun set of actors for these movies. Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly have a great love heat relationship that flows through-out both movies. Adding Michael Douglas in a movie like this adds some respectability to a very goofy and funny movie. Michael Pena with his stories add some of the funniest moments in the MCU. Both of these movies are some of the funniest in the MCU, with the cast and the character dynamics in this franchise. So, this is one of the most fun franchises that doesn’t have big ambitions but is just trying to be very fun. The smallest hero gets two of the smallest movies inside of the MCU, and that is part of it’s charm.
4. Iron Man: The franchise that kicked it off for the MCU, I think is a very solid one. The first Iron Man is still one of the absolute best MCU movies, and a movie that I love. It did such a great job of setting up this universe with it’s characters and tone. Iron Man 2 and 3 I think are some of the more underrated MCU movies, where people like to hate on them. And I’ve always enjoyed both of them, they are not great but they are solid pieces of MCU entertainment. I think this franchise might have the best story going all through-out the movies. Where Iron Man 1 he becomes Iron Man, and Iron Man 3 ends with Tony retiring from being Iron Man. Now, obviously that didn’t mean anything, because in Age of Ultron Tony’s back in the suit. I think they did the ending of Iron Man 3 just in case RDJ didn’t want to come back after that. Of course, Robert Downey Jr. gives one of the greatest performances in any comic book movie, was this big surprise and became the biggest movie star since that movie came out in 2008. I think all three of the movies have pretty good soundtracks and help keep the movies interesting. So this is a franchise that I think gets overlooked because the sequels aren’t the best.
3. Spider-Man: I like that Feige and the rest of Marvel made these movies feel like high school movies. So, the type of movies that they appeal to a younger audience that are in high school (like me). I think they did a great job of casting actors that really acted like high schoolers for the part. Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire don’t really feel like high schools, but Tom Holland 100% does. Peter’s friends like M.J. and Ned have great chemistry amongst the three of them, and they feel like a group of high schoolers. I know a lot of people aren’t crazy about them going so weird and different with Spider-Man, and they don’t like the fact that in each movie they are taking him to D.C., Space, and Europe. But I personally like the fact that they are doing something new and different with the character. Also, this is a very fun franchise, both movies are just these fun adventures that I like to go back and re-visit. I also enjoy that in both movies they got a veteran MCU character with Tony Stark and Nick Fury and can help pull the movie together. The score from Christopher Beck is great in both movies, it feels like Spider-Man, but also feels very different from the previous scores by Danny Elfman, James Horner, and Hans Zimmer. So put the cast, the tone, the side characters, and the score together, and you get a very solid MCU franchise.
2. Captain America: I did go back and forth on whether Captain America should be number 1, because this is a fantastic movie franchise. And this franchise does so many things really well. It tells a great arc for Steve Rogers, and all through-out these stories is Steve and Bucky. As Steve and Bucky say to one another “I’m with you to the end of the line, pal”. And the bromance and duo between Steve and Bucky is great because no matter what happens to Bucky, Steve is always there for him. And truth be told, this is the only franchise that all of the movies are in my top 10 favorite MCU movies. Like most people, The First Avenger is my least favorite but I think that is a pretty great movie, that does so many things really well. And of course you have the debate whether Winter Soldier or Civil War is the better movie. Personally, I think Civil War is a little bit better, but people have very solid arguments as to why that is their favorite MCU movie. Another thing this trilogy does so well, as while each story and tone feels very different. It never feels like three separate movies, it feels like one trilogy and one story. Chris Evans does such a fantastic job as Captain America, he can play the skinny boy and the hero and leader of the Avengers as well. And you also have that epic and awesome airport battle in Civil War, which is truly one of the greatest movie scenes ever put to screen. So, like I said I STRONGLY debated putting this trilogy at number 1.
1. The Avengers: Like I said, I debated for a little bit putting Captain America at number 1. But at the end of the day, what The Avengers franchise has done is pretty incredible. ¾ of the movies are in my top 5 favorite MCU movies. And like most people I find Age of Ultron to be the weakest one in the franchise, but if that is the weakest franchise then this is still a great set of movies because I really like Age of Ultron. And these four movies are the four biggest and most epic MCU movies of all time. The final battle of all four movies are large in scale with multiple things happening and you just feel the stakes of everything that is going on. Especially Endgame with that final hour of just being fan service after fan service. They started this franchise really well with The Avengers they come together, Age of Ultron they start to break apart, Infinity War they are divided, and Endgame they come back together and AVENGE their friends. So it has a big payoff for Steve and Tony in Endgame that feel like the end to their stories. Alan Silvestri’s score is great for all four movies. There is just something so much fun to see the Avengers come together and fight bad guys. So I was to take only one of these franchises to a desert island, I would pick the Avengers franchise.
That is my ranking of the 7 MCU franchises. How do you rank the MCU franchises? With Black Widow (hopefully) coming out in May, I will have a lot more MCU content coming!
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