Every fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has their own personal favorite film or films depending on things like their favorite characters or favored aesthetics. However, if there are two films that are viewed by critics as the most influential and well-made of the franchise, it’s Black Panther and Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Both of these films were influential because they changed the course and tone of the MCU in their own ways and because they both handled real-world political issues. Here are the reasons why each movie could be considered the best.
Black Panther: The costume design was the best of any Marvel movie
There are many aspects involved in making a blockbuster film. While all of the MCU movies have huge budgets, things like costumes and sets are elaborate and detailed, nothing quite compares to Black Panther.
The costumes were created by Ruth E. Carter, who won an Oscar for this job, and she drew upon many different African cultures and countries to create beautiful, important costumes for each character.
The Winter Soldier: It set a more serious, realistic tone for the MCU
One reason why The Winter Soldier was loved by many fans and critics alike is because it’s one of the main Marvel movies with a more serious tone.
While many of the other films also deal with intense or serious issues, they often rely too much on humor and quips. This film showed that the MCU could take more action, political tone and do well with this material.
Black Panther: The world-building is incredible
While there are Marvel movies set in space, especially Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Panther is where unique world-building really shines.
Wakanda is a fictional afro-futuristic society, and everyone involved with bringing it to life on the bring screen clearly put a lot of effort into getting things right. While Wakanda might not be real, the world-building was done so well it’s easy to feel immersed.
The Winter Soldier: The relationship between Steve and Bucky
While there are many things that make a Marvel movie good, one thing that fans really connect to is the complex characters and interesting relationships. Many have argued that the Steve and Bucky relationship is one of the best built-up of any in the franchise.
While it might not have been taken in a romantic direction, the bond between these two was the driving force in The Winter Soldier that made it a deeply personal and watchable film.
Black Panther: It’s much more diverse
The MCU has struggled over the years to include diversity in its movies much to the franchises’ detriment. While it did take them way too long to feature a person of color as a lead in a movie, Black Panther at least handled diversity in a great way.
By having Ryan Coogler direct the film, the diversity didn’t feel tokenized or stereotyped and instead was progressive and important.
The Winter Soldier: The political issues were important for Captain America
Given Captain America’s comic book roots as a character created to fight back against Germany and the Nazis, having a film that deals with him discovering the ways that SHIELD became infiltrated and corrupt was very poignant.
Not only was this important for the character himself, but it also had many parallels to real-world history.
Black Panther: All of the characters feel well-rounded and unique
Given that T’Challa is the only main character in Black Panther who had been introduced in another Marvel film ahead of time, it’s quite impressive how well-done the other characters were. This film showed how good storytelling could make audiences fall in love with new characters and shape them in ways that were complex, dynamic, and unique.
All of the new characters such as Shuri, Nakia, Okoye, W’Kabi, and Kilmonger felt like actual people in a way that other Marvel characters don’t.
The Winter Soldier: The characters are more established in the world
While Black Panther did a great job of setting up these new characters and making fans love them, The Winter Soldier did have already established characters in the world.
As the middle movie in the Captain America trilogy, it did a great job of continuing the story from The First Avenger and connecting the character to other MCU films.
Black Panther: It’s a much more progressive show with gender
Just like with diverse racial representation, the MCU has also struggled, especially in the early years, with gender representation.
In the first few Marvel films, women weren’t very complex and were often sexualized. And, it wasn’t until Captain Marvel that there was a female-led film. However, Black Panther, while not having a female lead, did have a lot of individual, varied, and interesting female characters.
Black Panther: It is extremely relevant to the real-world
Black Panther is without a doubt the most important MCU film to date because of its place in the pop culture lexicon. It was extremely inspiring and essential to see a film with an almost entirely Black cast where these characters were the heroes of the story.
While Marvel and Disney don’t deserve props for taking so long to make this film, the people involved in creating it did a wonderful job of making such a landmark, iconic movie that meant so much to many underrepresented people.