MCU Trilogies Ranked

MCU Trilogies Ranked 

So far in the year 2023, we’ve gotten the conclusion to TWO MCU trilogies. And now with the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 I’m going to be ranking all FIVE MCU trilogies. Let’s get started!

5. The Ant-Man Trilogy: Now to be clear, I still like this trilogy a good bit. I like all three of the Ant-Man movies. But the reason why this is in last place is because I feel like it’s the least importANT and most just there trilogy for me. None of the movies are top tier MCU, this is the only MCU trilogy where none of the movies are in my top 10 favorite MCU. All of the other four trilogies have at least one movie in the top tier MCU. And because of that this trilogy is just kind of there. Now I do appreciate that this trilogy isn’t really swinging for the fences, Quantumania I think does try swing for the fences and doesn’t quite reach it. I don’t think it's a total dud or disaster like how other people are making it out to be, but it is a flawed movie that is not as good as it should have been. I also do appreciate that this trilogy is just fun, they are some of the more entertaining and light hearted MCU movies out there. The cast in all three of the movies are great, Paul Rudd is fun and charming in all of them. Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Lawerence Fishburne provide some respectability to the films. One final positive, I do appreciate that Quantumania gives us a clear goal for where this next saga of the MCU is going. 

4. The Iron Man Trilogy: This is such a frustrating trilogy for me because there’s so much about this trilogy that I love and a lot that doesn’t fully work for me. On the positive, the original Iron Man is a fantastic movie. I love that movie and I think it really does hold up all of this time later. And it’s the film that kicked off the MCU, it started the most popular movie franchise of the last 15 years. Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, Iron Man is fantastic casting. It’s a great example of casting that is so perfect that you can’t imagine anybody else in that role. Third, looking back on this trilogy after phases 4 and 5 this trilogy has some nice charm about it. This was back before the MCU went totally crazy and so large in scale. So having two films that were before The Avengers and it started to become more of an interconnected universe it feels a bit refreshing because of that. Now on the negative side of things, Iron Man 2 is kind of a bottom tier MCU movie. I don’t hate that movie, but it’s easily one of the weakest movies. And then Iron Man 3 is a good movie, that’s an improvement over the second one. But it’s still not a great movie. So you have one fantastic movie, one meh movie, and one good movie. Also this trilogy fits kind of weird inside the larger MCU, most notably Iron Man 3. Iron Man 3 is a movie that they kind of closed out Tony Stark’s character arc incase Robert Downey Jr. didn’t return after that, well he did return after that. So the ending to this trilogy fits very weird inside the larger MCU in my mind. 

NOTE: The top 3 here are basically tied for number 1, I think all of them have at least one fantastic movie. Two trilogies have two fantastic first and third movies but one decent middle movie. One trilogy I think has all great movies in it. So I’m not really sure the order of these trilogies as of now, this order can change around so quickly depending on the day. 

3. The Spider-Man Trilogy: Now like I said these top 3 I think are all pretty great, and the fact this one is at number 3 shows many great trilogies the MCU has. And this is probably the most rewatchable trilogy with two of the most fun movies. Homecoming is both a great Spider-Man movie, high school movie, and just a great movie in general. I think that’s one of the best Star Wars movies to this day. Far From Home I think is easily the weakest of the bunch, but it’s still not a bad movie. I think it’s a decent movie that is very flawed and frustrating to me. And then of course No Way Home is a love letter to 20 years of Spider-Man fans. It’s great to see Tom Holland, Tobey Maguire, and Andrew Garfield interact and fight villains together. And No Way Home I thought did a great job of closing out Tom Holland’s Spider-Man’s arc while also delivering on some awesome fan service. I think that Tom Holland is the best Spider-Man to date, I think he balances both Spider-Man and Peter Parker really well in these movies, and just in the MCU as a whole. Now what holds this trilogy back for me is that I feel like it’s the one with the less distinct style to it. There’s a lot about the trilogy that I love, like I just mentioned. But I feel like both Guardians and Captain America have more distinct elements that make them stand out amongst other trilogies. Guardians has both a soundtrack and sense of humor unlike any other MCU franchise. Captain America has distinct action, genres, and The Russo Brothers are arguably the best comic book movie directors out there. That’s really what I think holds this trilogy back, it doesn’t make it bad. I think there’s a lot in there that makes it a great trilogy. 

2. The Guardians of the Galaxy Trilogy: Now I might put this one at number 2 due to recency bias. But as of now I think this really is a great trilogy that closed things out really well. And I think of the MCU trilogies, this is the one that closed things out the best. I do think that No Way Home and Civil War are better movies. But I feel like Vol. 3 closed things out in a way where it made me think “I don’t want to see these characters again”. I think Vol.3 did a near perfect job of closing out all of the character arcs and the journey for them as a team. Where this movie I feel like really establishes the love that they have for one another. That they would do anything to make sure everyone is ok. I think the Guardians themselves are just such fun characters, you love all of them in their own different ways. They got a great set of actors to portray all of them, Chris Pratt is always so much fun in this role. Of course the soundtrack across all three films is great, I think they got weaker as it went along. But it’s one of the things that I think makes this trilogy distinct and stand out, they have soundtracks like no other MCU franchises. And I feel like James Gunn and his sense of humor really works here, I think the Guardians have some of the funniest moments in the MCU. I will say this, I did debate putting this trilogy at number 1. Because there’s so much about this trilogy that I love. But I don’t think they’ve had a great villain, I think The High Evolutionary is the best one of the trilogy. But I don’t think he’s a great villain, I don’t think James Gunn has crafted a great MCU villain just yet. And that’s even part of the issue with The Suicide Squad a movie I absolutely loved, I don’t think it had a great villain. So I feel like that’s one of James Gunn’s weaknesses as a writer, focuses a lot on the Guardians not on crafting great villains. 

1. The Captain America Trilogy: Now this is just a pretty fantastic trilogy of movies where every single movie I think is great. The First Avenger is easily the weakest of the bunch for me, but it’s still a great movie. That movie does a great job of introducing us to Steve Rogers and giving his origin story to us. And they do a great job of continuing the arc through-out the other two movies. The First Avenger he’s this wide eyed hero that lives in a very black and white world. In that world there are very clear good guys and bad guys. And so that’s what’s so interesting about The Winter Soldier, Steve Rogers is the perfect character to drop into the movie. The Winter Soldier helps Steve realize that the world isn’t black and white anymore, there aren't clear good guys and bad guys anymore. Which leads into Civil War where he’s kind of a broken hero, he’s a hero without a place really. He’s this noble hero at first then becomes this broken hero. That’s such an interesting arc to give Captain America and I think it works through-out all three films. Of course when you move into the sequels you get The Russo Brothers, who are comic book movie legends. And they delivered some great action and complex stories that are constructed so well. Plus all three movies have fantastic scores, I love those scores especially The First Avenger, that’s a fantastic score. And just in general, Captain America is my favorite character in the MCU and Chris Evans is one of my favorite actors of all time. So for me, this is the best MCU trilogy out there. There is some strong competition from Spider-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy. But I do think the Captain America trilogy is the best MCU trilogy to this day. 

There you have it, my ranking of all 5 MCU trilogies. Which one of these trilogies is your favorite? And with the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 I’m doing a lot of MCU and Guardians content this week. Yesterday I ranked the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. Tomorrow I’m dropping a blog post talking about the main characters in the movie. And then my favorite Chris Pratt movies will be dropping soon as well. Thanks for reading!