I figured, with Phase 2 now done, and Civil War not that far off, I'd do a poll to see what this boards favorite MCU movie is. I'm including The Incredible Hulk, since it's part of the MCU according to everything I can find. It also has Tony Stark in it, references to the SuperSoldier serum, a deleted scene is refered to in Avengers, and General Ross will appear in Civil War. Personally, I'm voting for The Winter Soldier. It's just such an awesome movie, funny, dramatic, action, suspense. Solid performances by the cast, good directing. I was considering Iron Man, the one that started it all. Basicly, everything I said about Winter Soldier applies to Iron Man as well, but I really just prefer Winter Soldier a tad more.....
Definitely Captain America: The Winter Soldier. It's arguably the most relevant movie in the series, in terms of how it relates to what we're actually dealing with in the real world. It feels like the only MCU film with an actual message that it's trying to tell. Aside from that, the cinematography is above average for an MCU movie and the action/choreography is fantastic. I can't wait to see how the Russos follow it up with Captain America: Civil War.
I'd be surprised if you found anything that said it wasn't part of the MCU. It absolutely, no questions asked, is an MCU movie. As for my vote, I can't decide between the two awesomes of 2014, Winter Soldier and Guardians.
There were several cadidates for the number one slot - all rather different films. Iron Man, Ant Man, Guardians were all great. The first Avengers movie nearly took it, but The Winter Soldier is fantastic.
The Winter Soldier is my fave. I've enjoyed them all to some degree but I don't find the urge to re-watch many of them. Avengers has really gone down in my estimation on subsequent watches, and Age of Ultron had its problems. Iron Man 1 & 3 are fun movies but I've never been drawn to that hero as much as Cap. The Thor movies so far have been okay, The First Avenger I enjoyed a lot as with Guardians, and I liked Ant-Man last year. The Incredible Hulk is okay as well but seems to have been swept away a little bit. But The Winter Soldier took it to a new level.
While The Winter Soldier is probably the best MCU movie, my favorite would have to be The Avengers. I loved everything about that movie. It successfully tied all the Phase One movies together and proved that the MCU actually worked in a way that many doubted could be achieved.
Mine are 12. Iron Man 3 11. Ant-Man 10. Iron Man 2 9. Captain America The First Avenger 8. The Incredible Hulk 7. Thor 6. Avengers Age of Ultron 5. Thor The Dark World 4. Guardians of the Galaxy 3. The Avengers 2. Captain America The Winter Soldier 1. Iron Man My top 5 are the MCU films I rewatch the most. I'm surprised I haven't gotten titred of them yet.
My top five, in no particular order, are Iron Man, Avengers, Winter Soldier, Ant Man, and Guardians. In the end, I voted for Avengers because of the sheer child-like joy I experienced while watching. Winter Soldier may be the better movie, but Avengers has a bigger place in my heart.
Out of the lot my top 3 would be Avengers, Winter Soldier and Guardians. I voted for The Avengers because seniority.
I've enjoyed all of them so far (some to a higher degree than others) but I've got to go with Winter Soldier. Some of the others would be very close behind but I enjoyed this one the most.
CA:TWS (A+) Avengers (A+) GOTG (A) Ant-Man (A) Iron Man (A) AoU (A) CA:TFA (A-) Thor (B+) Iron Man 3 (B+) Thor: TDW (B) Incredible Hulk (B-) Iron Man 2 (C+)
By far The Incredible Hulk with definitely the best characterizations, plot and action. After that, The Avengers, Ant-Man and Thor: The Dark World. I like that the films generally don't require having seen the other films in the universe but they do feel a little too much like they're to be seen as part of their own series rather than standing alone. Edit: I also think the movies try a little too hard to make the characters light and loveable (especially the Hulk aside from his own film, also with Stark's dark side being only pretty minor in IM2 and Age of Ultron) although that could change with Civil War.
Hard to pick, but I gotta go with GUARDIANS, which was the only one I ever saw twice in the theater. I also have a soft spot for the THOR movies, which I have probably rewatched more than the others.
Not having Netflix anymore so I haven't seen Jessica Jones or Daredevil my MCU list would be: 1. Captain America The Winter Soldier 2. Ant- Man 3. The Avengers 4. Guardians of the Galaxy If I had a two or three hour block of time there are a couple of mini arcs from the Agents of SHIELD that I would slot in here. I can't think of any just two hours of Agent Carter, I would want to go all 8 or 10 hours as a whole. 6. Iron Man 7. Avengers Age of Ultron 8. The Incredible Hulk 9. Captain America The First Avenger 10.. Iron Man 3 11. Iron Man 2 12 Thor 13. Thor The Dark World About the only ones that I wouldn't stop on should they randomly turn up on TV are the two Thor's
I maintain a ranking of all of them on my Letterboxd account: http://letterboxd.com/avbaur/list/marvel-movies-ranked/ 1. Guardians of the Galaxy 2. Avengers 3. Captain America: The Winter Soldier 4. Ant-Man 5. Avengers: Age of Ultron 6. Thor: The Dark World 7. Iron Man 3 8. Iron Man 9. Thor 10. Captain America 11. Iron Man 2 12. The Incredible Hulk The last two are the only ones I don't really like. I've only seen each of the Phase 2 movies once, so my ranking may well change when I watch them again (as I plan on doing before Civil War comes out).
I love most of the movies, and even the weaker ones (like Iron Man 2 or Thor 2) are still really good in my opinion. Still, I voted for the first Avengers. Such a great film, and the build up to it was perfect.
I liked Iron Man 2 when I saw it because it really introduced us to the expanded MCU for the first time. I didn't mind that it meandered a bit, and I still don't. I think the only movie that didn't really appeal to me was Thor 2.
I seem to recall that a while back, there was some debate about that. So I figured I'd make it clear.