The Marvel Cinematic Universe

[Nine of Four]

**MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS***

I recently saw Thor: The Dark World, and that got me thinking about what you guys thought about the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

This includes Iron Man; The Incredible Hulk; Iron Man 2; Thor;Captain America: The First Avenger; The Avengers; Iron Man 3; Thor: The Dark World; Captain America: The Winter Soldier; Guardians of the Galaxy; The Avengers: Age of Ultron; Agents of Shield; Ant-Man; and Dr. Strange. Daredevil, Punisher, and the X-Men, Spider-Man, Ghost Rider, and Fantastic Four movies are not considered part of the Universe.

Rate the whole Universe as a whole.

 

[The Old Mixer]

This includes
...
Captain America: The Winter Soldier; Guardians of the Galaxy; The Avengers: Age of Ultron
...
Ant-Man; and Dr. Strange.

It's hard to rate it based on installments that haven't been released yet. And has it been established that Ant-Man will officially be part of the MCU continuity?

I might be reaching here, but I'm giving it a solid A+. The whole in this case is definitely greater than the sum of its not-always-perfect parts. The very fact that they've taken the concept of a shared movie universe this far, and that the first team movie was such an incredible box office success, is a stunning and more or less unprecedented achievement.

 

[JarodRussell]

I love it. I like each individual film so far, and I love the way they are all connected. I love the continuity. I haven't seen anything like that before (except for maybe Star Trek at the time of First Contact). I wish Trek would have gone that route. Give each crew a film, and then do a big crossover movie. Then make more standalone fioms, and then another crossover.

 

[Mr Light]

I feel like 13 grading options are not enough... could we have 26? Or 52?

 

[od0_ital]

This includes
...
Captain America: The Winter Soldier; Guardians of the Galaxy; The Avengers: Age of Ultron
...
Ant-Man; and Dr. Strange.

It's hard to rate it based on installments that haven't been released yet. And has it been established that Ant-Man will officially be part of the MCU continuity?

Why wouldn't it be? The copyright is held by Marvel, and all their other live action films tie-in together. And Ant-Man was part of Marvel's presentation at San Diego Comic Con tease either last year or the year before, wasn't it?

Considerin' that the Marvel universe is an ongoing thing, with more movies & television series in production / planned, I don't think its fair to grade it.

For what they've put out so far, maybe an A-...Iron Man 2 wasn't that good, and I'm disappointed they didn't try harder to keep Edward Norton for the Hulk in Avengers.

 

[kirk55555]

I gave it an A+. I've liked all the movies ( haven't seen Thor 2 yet, but I doubt it would change my rating). I even thought that Iron Man 2 was an enjoyable movie, although its villain was pretty lame.

 

[kitik]

I'm disappointed they didn't try harder to keep Edward Norton for the Hulk in Avengers.

More Norton would have been nice, but Ruffalo was great! He nailed it in Avengers and he nailed it in the IM3 scene too.

**MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS***

I recently saw Thor: The Dark World, and that got me thinking about what you guys thought about the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

This includes Iron Man; The Incredible Hulk; Iron Man 2; Thor;Captain America: The First Avenger; The Avengers; Iron Man 3; Thor: The Dark World; Captain America: The Winter Soldier; Guardians of the Galaxy; The Avengers: Age of Ultron; Agents of Shield; Ant-Man; and Dr. Strange.

I thought Guardians Of The Galaxy was better than Dr Strange, and I'm still surprised that I enjoyed Ant-Man more than Age Of Ultron!

 

[The Old Mixer]

^Thank you for avoiding spoilers.

 

[Turtletrekker]

I'm disappointed they didn't try harder to keep Edward Norton for the Hulk in Avengers.

More Norton would have been nice, but Ruffalo was great! He nailed it in Avengers and he nailed it in the IM3 scene too.

**MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS***

I recently saw Thor: The Dark World, and that got me thinking about what you guys thought about the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

This includes Iron Man; The Incredible Hulk; Iron Man 2; Thor;Captain America: The First Avenger; The Avengers; Iron Man 3; Thor: The Dark World; Captain America: The Winter Soldier; Guardians of the Galaxy; The Avengers: Age of Ultron; Agents of Shield; Ant-Man; and Dr. Strange.

I thought Guardians Of The Galaxy was better than Dr Strange, and I'm still surprised that I enjoyed Ant-Man more than Age Of Ultron!

Oh, I agree. Of course, the kicker was in the 3rd post-credit scene where we saw...

Spoiler: Ant-Man post-credits scene

Ha! Made you look!

Just flabbergasting!

 

[Anwar]

I've not seen something like this before, so many movies featuring different characters all set in the same universe with stories happening concurrently. It's a grand experiment that's paid off.

 

[kitik]

I've not seen something like this before, so many movies featuring different characters all set in the same universe with stories happening concurrently. It's a grand experiment that's paid off.

Without a doubt, it's unique. I've loved most of the movies (Mickey Rourke was freaking awesome), but even if you don't, you've got to respect the incredibly ambitious plan to have multiple movies per year all set in the same universe.

We've seen attempts to bring comic books to the big screen before, some of them very successful of course, but the MCU is actually bringing the idea of "monthly" comic books to the big screen. They may not actually be monthly, but they are regular. It's not a case of making a movie and then maybe we'll get a sequel in a few years if we're lucky.

The idea that we can go see a movie and then know for an absolute fact that more is on the way (and like an ongoing comic book, there is no end in sight) as we're walking out of the theater is truly amazing. Other than a few odd cases where sequels are filmed back-to-back, but even there, we knew we were getting one more movie. In the case of Marvel, we know we're getting frequent movies that will continue on for years.

It really is the idea behind comic books that has finally been brought to the big screen.

 

[Ethros]

It's strange, I love the hype for these movies. I look at sites like Digital Spy every day for the latest bits of info regarding news, casting, announcements, trailers, etc. And I always get so excited for the next installment.


But... to be honest, thinking about it... none of them are actually that great. They're not bad, not at all, but I don't think any of the 8 films so far would feature in my Top 20 movie list. Maybe Avengers, but that''s mainly for the last 40 minutes or so, the rest of it just feels so rushed and the beggining is just, tbh somewhat dull.

Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2 & 3, maybe even Captain America, they're all just a bit bland. I enjoyed the recent Thor 2, but it was just so by-the-numbers. Especially the villain.
I think that's the problem with them, they don't seem to want to take any big risks as of yet. I've got high hopes for Guardians of the Galaxy though, hoping they do something really different with that, and that Whedon gives us some, well, Whedon, in Avengers 2, ala Serenity let's say.


Even the other non-MCU Marvel films, I'd say X-Men, X-Men 2, X-Men: First Class, Spider-Man 2, and Daredevil DC would all rank higher than any of them for me (apart from Avengers.)
X2 is the King of Marvel movies IMO, but here's to DOFP rivalling even that.

 

[F. King Daniel]

The original Iron Man is by far the best of the MCU. The films are a great blend of action, humour and likeable characters, which tides one over even during the weaker entries, like Captain America or Iron Man 3. Even S.H.I.E.L.D. is growing on me (except for Skye, the most blatant Mary Sue since Wesley)

 

[trekkiebaggio]

It's strange, I love the hype for these movies. I look at sites like Digital Spy every day for the latest bits of info regarding news, casting, announcements, trailers, etc. And I always get so excited for the next installment.


But... to be honest, thinking about it... none of them are actually that great. They're not bad, not at all, but I don't think any of the 8 films so far would feature in my Top 20 movie list. Maybe Avengers, but that''s mainly for the last 40 minutes or so, the rest of it just feels so rushed and the beggining is just, tbh somewhat dull.

Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2 & 3, maybe even Captain America, they're all just a bit bland. I enjoyed the recent Thor 2, but it was just so by-the-numbers. Especially the villain.
I think that's the problem with them, they don't seem to want to take any big risks as of yet. I've got high hopes for Guardians of the Galaxy though, hoping they do something really different with that, and that Whedon gives us some, well, Whedon, in Avengers 2, ala Serenity let's say.


Even the other non-MCU Marvel films, I'd say X-Men, X-Men 2, X-Men: First Class, Spider-Man 2, and Daredevil DC would all rank higher than any of them for me (apart from Avengers.)
X2 is the King of Marvel movies IMO, but here's to DOFP rivalling even that.

Yeah, I think most of the Marvel films so far have been good, but I wouldn't call any of them great. It's just most impressive how they have managed to create this cohesive universe where the films can all have their own identity yet complement each other at the same time. It's really an incredible feat and they've kept the quality consistent throughout.

 

[Luminus]

Iron Man (2nd place) and the Avengers (1st place) are great films. I could watch them over and over again. Captain America is good, making it 3rd place and probably tied with Thor 2 (I'd have to watch Thor 2 again to be sure). But Marvel has a terrible track record with villains. Loki and maybe the Red Skull are their only villains worth watching. So I'd grade it an A- for that fact.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

I'd say a few were great (the original Iron Man and The Avengers), most are average or slightly above average. Overall, I give it a B-.

 

[Gaith]

It's strange, I love the hype for these movies. I look at sites like Digital Spy every day for the latest bits of info regarding news, casting, announcements, trailers, etc. And I always get so excited for the next installment.


But... to be honest, thinking about it... none of them are actually that great.

Fellow BBS-ers, how shall we deal with this apostate?

Great: IM1, TIH, IM2, IM3, Thor2
Good: Thor, Cap, Avengers
Meh: Agents of SHIELD (so far)

I voted A-. Room for improvement, but genuinely great so far.

 

[Set Harth]

IM2 and IM3 better than Avengers???

WHATCHU TALKIN BOUT WILLIS

 

[od0_ital]

... X2 is the King of Marvel movies IMO, but here's to DOFP rivalling even that.

Well, I don't know about that...I figured Spider-Man 2 was just a bit better than X2: X-Men United.

Aside from those two movies, and maybe the first X-Men, I wouldn't rank any of the other Marvel movies higher than the Phase 1 / Phase 2 films.

 

[Captain Craig]

I voted with an emotional A score as I do really enjoy each film in it's totality. That plus the inter connectedness keeps my grade up.

If I'd cared to leave logical wiggle room I might've voted B+ if only as noted only a few villains have really shined. But they were adequate so that keeps me from being too harsh.

We are only voting on finished product here so it's ok that OP mentions CW: WS, GotG, A-M and Avengers Age of Ultron but those are unreleased, unfinished or not yet begun so not really a factor at this point in time.

I feel CW: WS could be very, very good though. That trailer a month ago was impressive.