From Iron Man to The Avengers, Phase One of the Marvel Cinematic Universe was a home run. It turned B-tier Marvel Comics characters like Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor into universally recognized icons and managed to bring them all together under the same marquee in the most ambitious crossover in blockbuster history. But the true test of the MCU’s longevity was Phase Two, which followed up The Avengers’ ambitious crossover event with a couple of solo sequels, a couple of new sub-franchises, and Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’ second big-screen team-up.
Phase Two brought some of the MCU’s most beloved movies, like the original Ant-Man, and some of its most controversial entries, like Iron Man 3. Seven years on from the end of Phase Two, some of its movies, like Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, have held up to more rewatches than others, like Thor: The Dark World and Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Thor: The Dark World (2013)
When it comes to naming the worst movie in the MCU, Thor: The Dark World is often one of the first titles that will come up. Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston continue to bring their A-game to the Gods of Thunder and Mischief, respectively, but The Dark World is the MCU’s most generic movie.
There are some fun medieval fantasy visuals along the way, but Thor’s second solo outing has cookie-cutter plotting and a one-dimensional villain who speaks in soundbites. Fortunately, Taika Waititi came along to save the franchise with healthy doses of heart and humor in Ragnarok four years later.
Avengers: Age Of Ultron (2015)
After ensuring the MCU’s long-term success with his groundbreaking first Avengers movie, Joss Whedon stumbled with the second one, Age of Ultron. Ultron is a truly terrifying villain – a global A.I. with the ability to hack into any computer on the planet – but the movie doesn’t make full use of his power. He’s just another all-powerful supervillain who needs to be taken out with a barrage of brute force.
Still, there are some awesome sequences that deserve revisiting in Age of Ultron, like the opening Hydra raid, and a couple of uncharacteristically action-free dialogue scenes that develop the characters’ relationships, like the afterparty at Avengers Tower and the detour to Hawkeye’s farm.
Iron Man 3 (2013)
Among diehard Marvel fans, Iron Man 3 is wildly controversial for its Mandarin twist. In the comics, the Mandarin is Tony Stark’s arch-nemesis, with whom he’s locked in an intense game of cat-and-mouse. In the third Iron Man movie, after foolishly giving his home address to the terrorist leader who wants him dead, Tony learns that the Mandarin is just a fictional character being played by a buffoonish, soccer-loving English actor named Trevor Slattery. What’s worse is that the villain who takes the Mandarin’s place, Aldrich Killian, is one of the MCU’s most generic baddies.
Still, there are plenty of saving graces that make Iron Man 3 more rewatchable than its controversies would suggest. It’s interesting to see Tony fend for himself without the use of his suit. The Iron Man threequel has all the hallmarks of a Shane Black movie, from its offbeat Christmas setting to its mind-blowing action scenes (particularly the Barrel of Monkeys sequence). Plus, Black gave Robert Downey, Jr. some of his greatest Stark one-liners in Iron Man 3.
Ant-Man (2015)
While it’s not as rewatchable as it undoubtedly would’ve been with original director Edgar Wright at the helm, Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man is a fun, lighthearted comedy that holds up to many viewings. The story is refreshingly small-scale (no pun intended). The world isn’t a stake; it’s a heist movie.
Paul Rudd is endlessly watchable as Scott Lang, and Evangeline Lilly and Michaels Peña and Douglas all make great comedic foils. Ant-Man hits all the familiar beats of a formulaic Marvel origin story, but there’s an added twist in the titular superhero being trained by the superhero who held his moniker before him.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
With his goody-two-shoes characterization, Steve Rogers was introduced as one of the least interesting Avengers – especially opposite deeply conflicted characters like Tony Stark and Bruce Banner – but the Russos turned him into one of the MCU’s most compelling heroes in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The movie draws on paranoid political thrillers and has visceral action scenes to back up its government conspiracy storyline.
The franchise’s “villain problem” complaint points to the lack of a tangible personal connection between the MCU’s heroes and the majority of its villains. The titular Hydra assassin in Cap’s second solo outing is a terrific exception; he’s Steve’s brainwashed best friend, long presumed dead.
Guardians Of The Galaxy (2014)
James Gunn’s jukebox musical space opera Guardians of the Galaxy was a game-changer for the MCU. Guardians reshaped the tone and ensured the long-term success of the franchise. Skeptics didn’t think a movie with a talking tree could work, but Gunn took the characters and their relationships seriously and turned that tree and his friends into universally beloved icons.
The original Guardians movie is an airtight sci-fi adventure that never gets old. In addition to being one of the funniest MCU movies, it’s also one of the most emotionally engaging. There’s none of Marvel Studios’ standard bathos; the dramatic moments are played dramatically. Scenes like Groot’s death and Quill flying out into space to save Gamora hit audiences in the feels on every viewing.