Summary
TheMCU’s Infinity Saga contained many of the best superhero movies ever released, but rewatching it now comes with some harsh realities. Since it commenced withIron Manin 2008,the MCU timelinehas grown into the most successful cinematic franchise in history, with most of the highest-grossing MCU movies taking place in the Infinity Saga. While the Multiverse Saga still has a way to go, it’s hard not to compare the quality between the two periods - but the Infinity Saga is far from infallible.
It is always going to be difficult to keep the shared narrative of so many composite movies airtight, but some realizations that come with a rewatch are difficult to overlook. Many of thecriticisms leveled at the MCUin its first saga concerned plot holes, comic book inaccuracies, and a formulaic structure that began to grow stale quite quickly. It is safe to say theMCU has learned a lot of lessonssince its earliest installments, which the realities of a rewatch only help to highlight.
Every Marvel Cinematic Universe Movie Ranked Worst To Best
Over 17 years and 35 movies, the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies have redefined blockbuster cinema. But how do all the films stack up?
10The Infinity Saga Should Have Set Up The New Avengers
There Has Been No Avengers Movie Since Avengers: Endgame
Avengers: Endgamebrought the Infinity Saga to a head in a spectacular fashion, finally bringing all of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes together in a visceral fight for existence. In doing so, it closed several of the MCU’s most central character arcs - with Tony Stark and Steve Rogers being the most prominent. Unfortunately, in finishing the stories of the Avengers' leaders,it failed to properly establish who would be taking their place.
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This has left the Multiverse Saga in a state of disarray. While it seems the new Captain America will finally pull the MCU’s disparate heroes together down the line, their unification cannot carry the same impact as their predecessors' three phases into the Multiverse Saga. Losing Stark and Rogers meant losing a reason to invest inthe future of the MCUfor many viewers, which is something the Infinity Saga should have curtailed with a new common cause for the new Avengers initiative - and audiences - to get behind before it was too late.
9The Hulk Was Let Down
It became increasingly apparent as the Infinity Saga progressed thatthe MCU’s version of Hulk paled in comparison to his comic book counterpart. While Hulk had his share of wow moments in the early days - such as flooring a Chitauri Leviathan with a single punch and humbling Loki in seconds - he would later be used as the punching bag through which the power levels of other characters could be displayed. The rage-fueled powerhouse would ultimately end his tenure by being summarily humiliated by Thanos in a fistfight, petering out before the Smart Hulk persona took center stage.
The Incredible Hulk was released in June 2008.
The insult to Hulk’s legacyis compounded by the fact that he still only has one solo movie to his name.The Incredible Hulkmay not have been the highest-grossing or highest-rated MCU movie, but the founding Avenger deserved more than always playing second fiddle to his colleagues. Thankfully, Smart Hulk is still in operation in the Multiverse Saga, so his redemption - and a deeper look at his character - is not yet beyond the realm of possibility.
The Incredible Hulk
Cast
The Incredible Hulk (1977): In this film, scientist David Banner suffers a gamma radiation overdose, triggering a transformation into a giant, muscular green creature whenever he becomes angry. This condition compels him to undertake a journey to understand and control his monstrous alter ego.
8The Infinity Saga’s Villain Roster Wasted A Lot Of Antagonists With Major Potential
The Infinity Saga Villains Were Often Criticized
Some of the earliest teething problems in the MCU concerned its villains. Despite starting strong with Obadiah Stane, Red Skull, and Loki,the Infinity Saga would go on to waste the potential of many iconic Marvel Comics villains.Thor: The Dark World’s Malekith,Captain Marvel’s Yon-Rogg, andGuardians of the Galaxy’s Ronan the Accuser were among the most forgettable characters in the MCU, while the titular villain ofAvengers: Age of Ultronbarely resembled the original. Asmost of these villains died in their MCU debuts, the tragedy is compounded by the prospect that they can’t be redeemed.
While the Multiverse Saga is still not immune to the same mistakes - Karli, MODOK, and Taskmaster being three examples - it is safe to say that the MCU has improved in a lot of ways since its earliest days, which arguably helped pave the way to Thanos' success. With the likes of Gorr the God Butcher beingThor: Love & Thunder’s most agreed-upon saving graces, and the High Evolutionary’s Chukwudi Iwuji delivering an Oscars-worthy performance, the MCU’s villain track record is hopefully set to continue to improve with time.
7The MCU’s New Hero Reveals Make Key Infinity War Battles Look Weirder
Where Were The Rest Of Earth’s Heroes?
As the Multiverse Saga continues to debut and develop the stories of brand-new characters,it is becoming increasingly more difficult to explain where they were when Thanos invaded. The Defenders, for instance, were nowhere to be seen when Ebony Maw descended on New York, which is even harder to explain now that Daredevil and Punisher (at least) are confirmed MCU canon. Xu Wenwu, meanwhile, with the near infinite resources and information at the disposal of his Ten Rings, didn’t see fit to intervene with this alien threat at all.
Re-watching Thanos' invasion of Earth is now difficult to do without also imagining these new heroes simply twiddling their thumbs somewhere off-screen.
Eternalsattempted to explain the absence of the titular team during Earth’s plight by stating that they were prevented from intervening in human struggles. Unfortunately, it is hard to reconcile this directive with the fact that Thanos' Snap poses a significant setback to the Celestials' plans to nourish new Celestial life with the lives of a planet’s inhabitants. Re-watching Thanos' invasion of Earth is now difficult to do without also imagining these new heroes simply twiddling their thumbs somewhere off-screen.
Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers: Infinity War brings together the Avengers and their allies to face a new threat from the cosmos, Thanos, who seeks to collect the Infinity Stones. The film, part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, unites numerous superhero characters in a battle to prevent Thanos' ambition of altering reality itself.
6The Soul Stone Was Neglected
The Soul Stone’s Purpose Was Hard To Place
Although it wasn’t fleshed out from the jump, the Infinity Saga eventuallytook shape around the Infinity Stonesand Thanos' pursuit of them in the background. This would lead to powerful items like the Tesseract, Scepter, and Aether being vessels for the Space Stone, Mind Stone, and Reality Stone respectively. The Guardians of the Galaxy and Doctor Strange then debuted with the Power Stone and Time Stone playing central roles in their respective stories. The Soul Stone, meanwhile, debuted inAvengers: Infinity Warout of nowhere.
WhileAvengers: Infinity WarandAvengers: Endgameused the Soul Stone to deliver two of theMCU’s most heart-wrenching deaths,this impact was nullified by how suddenly the Soul Stone appeared. As a result, it is the most nebulous of the collection in terms of specific powers. The fact that Adam Warlock - whose powers are tied to the stone in the comics - would debut in a post-infinity stone landscape only helps to increase the frustration behind the Soul Stone’s sidelining, especially as the character was teased inGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
5Thanos Is The Superior Arch-Villain
Two phases into the Multiverse Saga, it is becoming increasingly apparent that Thanos is difficult to beat in a contest of arch-villainy.The drama surrounding Jonathan Majorshas not helped with Kang the Conqueror’s emergence as the new big bad ostensibly intended to kick Thanos to the curb, but neither has the fact that several MCU movies have completely overlooked his presence. Furthermore, while there was only one variant of Thanos to worry about in the Infinity Saga, there is no question that he wouldn’t find himself defeated by Ant-Man and his cohorts in his cinematic debut.
Even Marvel seems resigned to the idea that Thanos is still the paragon of villainy as it continues to spotlight him in variousWhat If…?stories and feature his voice in trailers for movies he has nothing to do with. While most of these appearances admittedly feature his death at the hands of various variants,lingering over Thanos instead of spotlighting Kang only helps to make audiences pine for the erstwhile arch-villain. At this point, Thanos would probably wipe the floor with Kang - which is a notion that should change quickly.
4Wenwu’s Debut Makes Iron Man’s Worst Movies Worse
Despite being emblematic of the MCU as a whole, Iron Man had a somewhat rocky trilogy. This was thanks in part to his underwhelming rogues' gallery that comprised a series of disappointments. While Iron Man’s roster of comic book nemeses isn’t exactly the most exciting (with most reading from Obadiah Stane’s playbook), his rivalry with the Mandarin is iconic. This made the Trevor Slattery rug pull inIron Man 3a hard pill to swallow, butthat pill got significantly larger after learning the real Mandarin was in operation the entire time.
The Mandarin retconbegan with the MCU one-shot,All Hail the King, in which an imprisoned Trevor Slattery was kidnapped by a Ten Rings lackey of the clandestine terrorist he impersonated. The fact that Xu Wenwu - the real Mandarin - wouldn’t then debut until after Iron Man’s death makes watching his trilogy back frustrating, knowing that the Ten Rings debuted at the same time as Tony Stark and were never fleshed out in his movies. If Xu Wenwu made himself known to Tony after his initial Ten Rings escape, his trilogy could have been so much more iconic.
Iron Man 3
Iron Man 3 pits genius-billionaire-playboy-philanthropist Tony Stark (Iron Man) against the Mandarin, an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his world destroyed by his mysterious antagonist, he embarks on a dangerous quest to find those responsible. His journey will test his character at every turn. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him and determine whether or not the suit makes the man or if Tony himself is the hero.
3It’s Going To Be Hard To Top MCU Phase 3
Phase 3 Is The Highest-Rated MCU Phase
As it stands,MCU Phase 3 is the highest-rated phase on average. MCU Phase 5 still has 3 movies in the pipeline, and MCUPhase 4 isn’t technically as badas online discourse might suggest. Still, when comparing where the MCU was at the start of MCU Phase 3 and MCU Phase 6,it is hard to imagine how the final phase of the Multiverse Saga can deliver as many home runs in short order as MCU Phase 3 did.
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This is amplified by the fact that the MCU started ramping up release schedules in earnest with MCU Phase 3, so the current release schedule doesn’t even have the benefit of numbers to fall back on. Many of the best movies in the MCU fall within the third phase, while the best movies in the Multiverse Saga feel decidedly more scattered thus far. All that remains is that MCU Phase 6 will pull it out of the bag with anticipated installments likeThe Fantastic FourandBladein the pipeline.
2Captain America Was Selfish
But He Did Deserve It
After watchingBucky Barnes' MCU arcculminate in his redemption during the Battle of Wakanda and the Battle of Earth,it is difficult to stomach his best friend leaving him behind in favor of pursuing a life with a woman he knew for a comparatively brief period. Instead of enjoying their hard-won peace together, and helping one another move on from their experiences, Steve capitalized on his access to time travel to reunite with Peggy Carter. Instead of returning to the present to take on the next mission, he made the uncharacteristic call to think of himself.
None of that is to say, however, that Steve Rogers' ending wasn’t perfect or deserved. On the contrary, the First Avenger had every right to live out the rest of his days in peace and happiness following his victory over the biggest threat the universe has faced. Nevertheless, he wasn’t the only hero to contribute to Thanos' defeat, yet he seems to be the only one who sidestepped the aftereffects, as he finally put himself first and lived a life of contentment outside the public eye.
1The Avengers Were Never Friends
There Was Little Emotional Support
After all they have been through, it is easy to envisage the Avengers being more than just colleagues. After all, Thor’s “Friend from work” comments inThor: Ragnarok, Bruce’s impromptu therapy session with Tony, and the iconic post-credits shwarma scene inThe Avengersall suggest that the Avengers are the best of friends outside of saving the universe. Yet their actions, or lack thereof, suggest otherwise.
Wanda Maximoff, for instance, underwent one of themost tragic character arcs in theMCU. Instead of helping ensure that the traumatic loss of her family, brother, and soulmate could be properly navigated, she was left to her own devices and descended into villainy. Thor’s predictable post-Snap downward spiral was also enabled, as signified by the Avengers' shock at his appearance after five years. Then there was Tony’s lonely experience with PTSD after saving Earth inThe Avengers. If the Avengers were truly friends, it stands to reason that these mental health crises might have been handled better.
Marvel Cinematic Universe
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a multimedia superhero franchise that began in 2008 with Paramount’s Iron Man starring Robert Downey Jr. The franchise quickly grew in popularity, with Disney eventually buying out Marvel Entertainment in 2009. The MCU consists of dozens of movies and TV shows, most notably Avengers: Endgame, WandaVision, and Loki.
