What Marvel films are worth seeing?

[Vger23]

Guys, don't feed the troll.

Branching this out from the MCU, pretty much everything in the X-Men Cinematic Universe - not counting Deadpool - is worth watching, as is the entire Sam Raimi Spider-Man Trilogy.

It's not trolling to give my opinion. I've been on this board a long time, just like many of you. And I've been on positive and negative sides of arguments about genre shows or movies many many many times here. I've never been banned, never suspended, and I've never even had "comments to PM" from a mod for being an idiot temporarily.

I'm truly sorry if I've interrupted your completely homogeneous wank fest about MU films. I don't care for them, and I don't understand why so many do (although I accept that they do and I am clearly in a minority). But that doesn't mean I can't attempt to debate it. It's not like I'm in every thread our here, mercilessly pounding on every mention of Thor and Spider-Man or whatever (see the Star Trek Discovery or Enterprise forums, for example where it literally happens daily from the same 3-4 people). Not even CLOSE. I came into one thread to state an opinion and see if I could engage in some debate. Instead, everyone reacted with intense defensiveness and indignity like I had kicked their dog in the nuggets. I suppose this is what I should have expected (honestly, I don't mean that as an insult).

So I apologize that some dissection has interrupted the harmony and yay fest y'all enjoy having. Seriously, though, I should have known better, and I didn't leave a lot of room for discussion to begin with admittedly. I'll eat that.

Since what I was looking for is clearly not going to materialize, I'll drop out. No biggie.

 

[FPAlpha]

Watched Thor 2 for the first time last night. NOT worth watching. Will have to watch Ragnarock again as a palate clenser

I always wondered why people like Thor 3 so much. Thor movies are, for me, the weakest, in the entire MCU and it's a mystery why because they have such awesome caharacters as Thor, Loki and Odin (with A list actors playing them).

I always felt they were using the Thor movies, especially 2, as stepping stones in the grander MCU when Norse mythology is so damned cool and could have provided a unique breakout to the general MCU movies much like Dr. Strange did.

Thor 3 was the absolute worst.. a comedy wrapped around a pretty dark event actually which made it a mockery for me. I really like the humor in the MCU and Guardians was the closest to an actual full on comedy but in their case it fit the mood and style of the movie whereas in my belief it doesn't in Thor.

As to OP's original question:

Basically covered the most important ones you have alreay seen but here are my additions:

Iron Man 1 - the movie that started it all
Avengers 1 + 2 - tentpole movies that advance the major story on the road to Infinity War the most (and have influenced all subsequent movies)
Black Panther - very well done action and storywise, something different to see amongst all the caucasian white male dominated MCU movies

Recommendations:
Captain America movies - 1 has a brilliantly done origin story and establishes the human qualities of Steve Rogers before he became superhuman, 2 is a biting commentary on social issues wrapped in awesome fights and topped off with a monumental change in the MCU, 3 posts the question about who actually legitimized superhero actions and what happens if they get out of control (and another major MCU story shift)

Guardians 2 - not as brilliant as the first one but still very enjoyable and funny

Ant Man - the sleeper hit, Paul Rudd is a fantastic comedic actor and makes the character of Scott Lang/Ant Man, great chemistry around the entire cast and i want to see a solo movie about Ant Man's criminal/dumbo crew

Doctor Strange - Magic (or is it still science but on a very high level), the weirdest movie but Cumberbatch and Inception level SFX make the movie

Spider Man Homecoming: Peter Holland as Peter Parker is a revelation, i really liked Tobey Maguire in his Spidey run (apart from the 3rd movie) but Holland takes over and owns the role, all around awesome writing and brilliant casting

 

[Sophie74656]

I always wondered why people like Thor 3 so much. Thor movies are, for me, the weakest, in the entire MCU and it's a mystery why because they have such awesome caharacters as Thor, Loki and Odin (with A list actors playing them).

I always felt they were using the Thor movies, especially 2, as stepping stones in the grander MCU when Norse mythology is so damned cool and could have provided a unique breakout to the general MCU movies much like Dr. Strange did.

Thor 3 was the absolute worst.. a comedy wrapped around a pretty dark event actually which made it a mockery for me. I really like the humor in the MCU and Guardians was the closest to an actual full on comedy but in their case it fit the mood and style of the movie whereas in my belief it doesn't in Thor.

As to OP's original question:

Basically covered the most important ones you have alreay seen but here are my additions:

Iron Man 1 - the movie that started it all
Avengers 1 + 2 - tentpole movies that advance the major story on the road to Infinity War the most (and have influenced all subsequent movies)
Black Panther - very well done action and storywise, something different to see amongst all the caucasian white male dominated MCU movies

Recommendations:
Captain America movies - 1 has a brilliantly done origin story and establishes the human qualities of Steve Rogers before he became superhuman, 2 is a biting commentary on social issues wrapped in awesome fights and topped off with a monumental change in the MCU, 3 posts the question about who actually legitimized superhero actions and what happens if they get out of control (and another major MCU story shift)

Guardians 2 - not as brilliant as the first one but still very enjoyable and funny

Ant Man - the sleeper hit, Paul Rudd is a fantastic comedic actor and makes the character of Scott Lang/Ant Man, great chemistry around the entire cast and i want to see a solo movie about Ant Man's criminal/dumbo crew

Doctor Strange - Magic (or is it still science but on a very high level), the weirdest movie but Cumberbatch and Inception level SFX make the movie

Spider Man Homecoming: Peter Holland as Peter Parker is a revelation, i really liked Tobey Maguire in his Spidey run (apart from the 3rd movie) but Holland takes over and owns the role, all around awesome writing and brilliant casting

For me personally I'm not into comic books and don't follow the universe in depth so i LOVED the fact that it was so funny.

 

[FPAlpha]

For me personally I'm not into comic books and don't follow the universe in depth so i LOVED the fact that it was so funny.

Even then it was a jarring portrayal of Thor.. on the one side the God of Thunder who can thunder even without Mjolnir (the one really cool to come out of this movie) and in the rest of the movie there's slapstick and a bumbling Thor at times.

Either you go all in and really make a comedy or you use the MCU mix of 1/3 humor, 1/3 story and 1/3 huge CGI battles that worked so well for the other movies.

I just "mourn" the fact that Marvel didn't consider true Norse mythology.. how awesome would it have been if Thor actually had to fight the Midgard Serpent Jormungandr or that Fenrir swallows Odin in the cataclysmic Ragnarok battle. For me a wasted opportunity but it's really a minor gripe since we have so many other good and entertaining MCU movies.

 

[Grendelsbayne]

Guys, don't feed the troll.

Branching this out from the MCU, pretty much everything in the X-Men Cinematic Universe - not counting Deadpool - is worth watching, as is the entire Sam Raimi Spider-Man Trilogy.

For the record, most of the X-men stuff as at least good, some great, but Wolverine Origins is one of the biggest travesties in the history of the genre. It's actually almost bizarre how massive the quality gap is between the first Wolverine movie and the last one. I'm not sure there's another trilogy in existence that takes that big of a leap.

 

[DigificWriter]

For the record, most of the X-men stuff as at least good, some great, but Wolverine Origins is one of the biggest travesties in the history of the genre. It's actually almost bizarre how massive the quality gap is between the first Wolverine movie and the last one. I'm not sure there's another trilogy in existence that takes that big of a leap.

I disagree with you about Origins: Wolverine.

I'm also willing to make the controversial statement that, narratively, it's worlds better than both Captain America Civil War and Spider-Man Homecoming.

 

[Grendelsbayne]

I disagree with you about Origins: Wolverine.

I'm also willing to make the controversial statement that, narratively, it's worlds better than both Captain America Civil War and Spider-Man Homecoming.

And I'm willing to make that controversial statement that, narratively, Kick-Ass is worlds better than the entire Raimi trilogy put together and half the X-Men films. But I know most people really get something out of those movies regardless of my opinion, just like I know most people don't really get that much out of Kick-Ass. And just like I know most people don't get much out of Wolverine origins, either. It's certainly not a movie to recommend to someone who isn't 100% on board with the superhero genre regardless of quality (no more than I would recommend Thor 2, the Iron Man sequels, the F4 movies, etc).

 

[Timby]

Branching this out from the MCU, pretty much everything in the X-Men Cinematic Universe - not counting Deadpool - is worth watching

Okay, now I'm going to call bullshit, as I just re-watched the original X-Men trilogy. The first movie holds up relatively well narratively, but its pacing is all over the place and holy shit is it ugly. The second is wildly overrated because of the initial Nightcrawler scene--which is indeed excellent--and again suffers from terrible pacing. The Last Stand is a mess in every way.

I have a soft spot for The Wolverine, probably because I'm a James Mangold fanboy, but Origins is a disaster. First Class is fun when it's being Magneto Origins: Nazi Hunter but never really feels cohesive. And holy holy holy shit Apocalypse was a special kind of awful.

So of the entire X-Men series, the good ones are ... X2, Logan, Days of Future Past?

 

[Kor]

I preferred Thor 2 over Thor 3. Thor 3 just felt like a parody to me.

And here I thought I was the only one.

Kor

 

[Marynator]

Even then it was a jarring portrayal of Thor.. on the one side the God of Thunder who can thunder even without Mjolnir (the one really cool to come out of this movie) and in the rest of the movie there's slapstick and a bumbling Thor at times.

Either you go all in and really make a comedy or you use the MCU mix of 1/3 humor, 1/3 story and 1/3 huge CGI battles that worked so well for the other movies.

I just "mourn" the fact that Marvel didn't consider true Norse mythology.. how awesome would it have been if Thor actually had to fight the Midgard Serpent Jormungandr or that Fenrir swallows Odin in the cataclysmic Ragnarok battle. For me a wasted opportunity but it's really a minor gripe since we have so many other good and entertaining MCU movies.

I rather enjoyed Ragnarok, I don't feel it's really a comedy, I just feel it's a funny movie? Like I think there's a serious plot, where his sister is trying to take over his people and start a new war on the galaxy, and he doesn't really know what to do about that and has his whole exile/imprisonment story, and finding new allies? I mean I feel that's a pretty serious story isn't it? And he realizes his only chance to save everything is to sacrifice everything that he always thought was important? I don't know, I guess I just feel that's sort of deep and not parody material? And I felt those fights were just amazing, it was my favorite from all the marvel movies for the action, I just love when Thor becomes his full potential and lets out his lightning!

I do sort of see what you're saying, like you could change their names and it'd be like any powerful space kingdom right? I don't know if like specifics were needed, but they did have like Fenrir didn't they? I did like how Odin died but I also didn't feel they're particularly Norse especially, just powerful aliens, if I'm making any sense?

 

[FPAlpha]

I do sort of see what you're saying, like you could change their names and it'd be like any powerful space kingdom right? I don't know if like specifics were needed, but they did have like Fenrir didn't they? I did like how Odin died but I also didn't feel they're particularly Norse especially, just powerful aliens, if I'm making any sense?

That's about it, i think Marvel has missed a great opportunity by not using the actual mythology (maybe adapted a little to exclude the really strange stuff like Loki shapeshifting into a mare, getting impregnated and giving birth to Sleipnir, the six legged horse that Odin rides.

Just making them powerful aliens who have influenced ancient human cultures is kind of lazy but then again thge comics also didn't delve that deeply into it but cherry picked bits and pieces.

I just had a completely different expectation and hope for the Thor movies and was disappointed at their blandness and unimportance as opposed to the Captain America that repeatedly were central to the entire MCU storyline leading up to Infinity War.

 

[Tallguy]

Having just watched all of them I'll say... All of them.

Really, the worst movie is The Incredible Hulk and it's not awful. (But I would totally understand if you skipped it.) I used to dismiss Iron Man 2 but when you watch it in the context of the entire MCU it does some neat stuff.

I'll go on record as saying that if you haven't seen Guardians of the Galaxy (at least 1, which you've seen) then Infinity War makes no sense. I will grudgingly say the same about Thor: Ragnarok.

Thor: The Dark World gets a lot of grief, but it's one of my absolute favorites. It diminished my enjoyment of Ragnarok because of how much contempt it held Dark World in. But T:R was certainly an entertaining film.

Spider-Man: Homecoming is terrific. Another great example of how Marvel doesn't keep making the same superhero movie over and over again.

As I think someone said earlier: The Cap movies are the best.

 

[Marynator]

Well I do feel like Captain America and Thor are totally different heroes and each serves a different purpose? Like Captain America is your relatable hero who fights injustice, right? But like Thor's your cosmic hero dealing with galactic space threats and "gods" things, isn't he?

 

[Anwar]

I'm truly sorry if I've interrupted your completely homogeneous wank fest about MU films. I don't care for them, and I don't understand why so many do

No big secret, we just like unpretentious unashamed things. After putting with a decade of pretentious Comic Book Movies (WB and FOX).

 

[Refuge]

I just love everything about Steve Rogers.

Steve to me represents the kind of hero that is human (all be it with some tweaking here and there and that shield). (I love my super powered up freaks that fly and catch bullets in their teeth too. I expect them to be all but perfect). However the Steves and even the Rockets you can relate to. Same with Black Widow, she has saved the day more than once with her smarts and skills.

 

[Refuge]

Well I do feel like Captain America and Thor are totally different heroes and each serves a different purpose? Like Captain America is your relatable hero who fights injustice, right? But like Thor's your cosmic hero dealing with galactic space threats and "gods" things, isn't he?

Duh. I should have read this first before my reply above. You get it

 

[Grendelsbayne]

I rather enjoyed Ragnarok, I don't feel it's really a comedy, I just feel it's a funny movie? Like I think there's a serious plot, where his sister is trying to take over his people and start a new war on the galaxy, and he doesn't really know what to do about that and has his whole exile/imprisonment story, and finding new allies? I mean I feel that's a pretty serious story isn't it? And he realizes his only chance to save everything is to sacrifice everything that he always thought was important? I don't know, I guess I just feel that's sort of deep and not parody material? And I felt those fights were just amazing, it was my favorite from all the marvel movies for the action, I just love when Thor becomes his full potential and lets out his lightning!

I do sort of see what you're saying, like you could change their names and it'd be like any powerful space kingdom right? I don't know if like specifics were needed, but they did have like Fenrir didn't they? I did like how Odin died but I also didn't feel they're particularly Norse especially, just powerful aliens, if I'm making any sense?

The combination of the funny and the serious is kind of the issue with Ragnarok. The plot is so dark and disturbing that it really shouldn't be funny (maybe a bit of gallows humor, but not the constant jokiness that Waititi brought). It comes across like Thor is robbed of the depth that should've been there in a story where he loses his father, his eye, his hammer and is even forced to destroy his home to save his people.

Having said that, it's still a very entertaining movie and one of the best looking in the MCU. But the way the comedy overpowers the story is the reason why its a low b grade for me instead of an a.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

MU films are the worst kind of repetitive, unoriginal popcorn tripe. Not well written, not original, not inspired in any way. Video games on the big screen. Flimsy ovies built around set pieces filled with cliche, one-liners, and mind-numbing CGI throughout. Made to service the summer blockbuster droolers and rake in cash hand-over-fist with empty gimmickry.

The MU stuff in general is like the fucking herpes of the entertainment world.

That's certainly...an original take on the MCU, but I would not put it that way. While a lot of the MCU is the victim of an often repeated formula, that should have been expected (from the MCU diehards), as that eventually hits many a long running franchise, such as the James Bond movies. Even cinema's original shared universe--Universal's horror movies of the 30s & 40s--eventually all ended pretty much the same, only for a couple of the lead monsters to be miraculously preserved / revived in the next installment.

Studios have never been willing to break formulas when they're still making money from the productions, but that only sets in motion a series eventually becoming so stale and predictable that you know the entire plot before paying for the ticket.

So...to answer the original poster's question...I'd say none of them are likely worth watching. Just my humble opinion, which is what was openly solicited here.

I still say the Captain America movies are the jewels in the crown of the MCU, as the characterization of the lead is as close to the Silver and Bronze Age comics as you're likely to see on film (if you are familiar with the comics). That, and Cap's three films are appealing because of his human approach/response to events, instead of the films being about spectacle first, and characters being pulled along for that ride. Ant Man as a character (rather than the film) has the potential to be another retaining his humanity (even surrounded by the fantastic environments) but the sequel will be the real test in that regard.

 

[suarezguy]

Though it's probably pretty love it or hate it , with how different it is from the others, IMO the best Marvel studios film by quite a lot is The Incredible Hulk, not perfect but about as good a Hulk film as probably can be made, and to me it's pretty sad how much it represents a road not further taken.

 

[Greg Cox]

That's certainly...an original take on the MCU, but I would not put it that way. While a lot of the MCU is the victim of an often repeated formula, that should have been expected (from the MCU diehards), as that eventually hits many a long running franchise, such as the James Bond movies. Even cinema's original shared universe--Universal's horror movies of the 30s & 40s--eventually all ended pretty much the same, only for a couple of the lead monsters to be miraculously preserved / revived in the next installment.
.

And God bless you for pointing out that Universal invented the whole shared-universes thing back in the forties, when their monsters started crossing over into each others' films. One can also count the Toho monster universe which Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, and that gang routinely run into each other.

For what it's worth, I can intellectually concede that the Cap movies are probably the best of the modern Marvel stuff, but, honestly, the Thor movies are my favorite. Something about their whole colorful sci-fi fantasy-mythology vibe just pushes my buttons. Even the much-derided THE DARK WORLD is a whole lot of fun.

You just have to remember that these films are not actually based on Norse mythology; they're based on the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby crazy comic-book version of Thor and Asgard, which is its own thing.

As a lifelong comic book fan, I'm thoroughly enjoying the Golden Age of Marvel Movies, which are so much better than the old TV stuff from the Seventies, which always kinda disappointed me. The new movies have generally done a great job of transferring these the characters to the screen without losing any of the wild, outrageous nature of the original comics.

(Psst. ANT-MEN and the GUARDIANS movies probably come in second after THOR. As a rule, I prefer my comic-book movies to be fun and fantastic instead of "realistic." See also DR. STRANGE, who has been one of my favorite Marvel characters since the days of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.)