The movies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have been praised for their strong sense of humor, even driving audiences away from actual comedies. So, one of the requirements of the franchise’s directors is the ability to get a laugh.
From directors who specialize in comedy, like Taika Waititi, to genre directors whose movies are noted for their comic sensibility, like James Gunn, a bunch of Marvel’s filmmakers have graced audiences with hysterical comedies in the past. These laugh-out-loud gems were helmed by the directors of beloved MCU movies.
Chef (Jon Favreau, 2014)
Jon Favreau is the filmmaker that started it all. If Iron Man wasn’t the groundbreaking hit it was, the MCU might never have come to fruition. Favreau got his start working on small-scale comedies like Swingers and Made before graduating to big-budget action blockbusters. After helming two Iron Man movies, Favreau went back to his roots with a relatively low-budget comedy.
Chef has interesting parallels with Favreau’s own situation, as his celebrity chef character Carl leaves behind high-end restaurants where he has no creative control and scales back with a food truck business so he can choose his own menu. The movie’s emotional core, which elevates Chef above a standard road trip comedy, is Carl reconnecting with his estranged son as they drive the food truck across America.
Super (James Gunn, 2010)
Before Marvel Studios hired him to spearhead the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, James Gunn had already contributed to the superhero genre. 2010’s Super is a decidedly dark take on superhero lore, but it also has plenty of Gunn’s signature humor.
Rainn Wilson stars as Frank D’Arbo, a fry cook who snaps after his wife leaves him for a drug dealer, starts dressing up as the vigilante “The Crimson Bolt,” and goes around beating people up with a wrench. The jokes are just as brutal as the wrench beatings.
Honey, I Shrunk The Kids (Joe Johnston, 1989)
It’s interesting that Marvel hired the director of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids to direct a movie that wasn’t Ant-Man. After getting his start in the VFX departments of various blockbusters, Captain America: The First Avenger director Joe Johnston made his directorial debut with Disney’s classic human-shrinking comedy.
Rick Moranis stars as a down-on-his-luck scientist whose latest invention shrinks his children. While Ant-Man is now the most famous movie about human shrinking, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids is a close second.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Shane Black, 2005)
Shane Black has been one of Hollywood’s most prominent and revered screenwriters since he created the Lethal Weapon franchise in the ‘80s, but he didn’t make his directorial debut until 2005 with the darkly comic neo-noir Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.
Eight years before Black would direct Robert Downey, Jr. in the controversial Iron Man 3, the two collaborated on Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Downey plays a clueless actor who gets involved in a criminal conspiracy that pairs him up with a hard-boiled private eye, played by Val Kilmer.
Bring It On (Peyton Reed, 2000)
If Ant-Man had been directed by Edgar Wright, then there could be five of his movies on this list: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Baby Driver, and all three Cornetto movies. But it wasn’t meant to be, Wright’s vision didn’t gel with Marvel, and Peyton Reed was brought aboard. Reed has his own back catalogue of comedies, from The Break-Up to Yes Man.
Arguably Reed’s funniest movie is 2000’s Bring It On, starring Kirsten Dunst, Eliza Dushku, and Gabrielle Union. It’s a hysterical portrait of the cutthroat world of competitive cheerleading.
Evil Dead II (Sam Raimi, 1987)
Sam Raimi technically hasn’t directed a movie for the MCU yet, but he’s currently hard at work on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, so it’s only a matter of time (and he already put his stamp on the Marvel Comics universe with his groundbreaking Spider-Man trilogy).
Raimi first broke out with his low-budget independent debut feature, The Evil Dead, which proved to be popular enough to earn a sequel. 1987’s Evil Dead II is one of the wildest, greatest horror sequels ever made. It essentially remakes the first movie’s story of Ash Williams being tormented by demonic spirits, but with a wackier comedic bent.
Jumanji (Joe Johnston, 1995)
Joe Johnston’s first two follow-ups to Honey, I Shrunk the Kids – 1991’s The Rocketeer and 1994’s The Pagemaster – both fell flat. Thankfully, he got his career back on track with the escapist 1995 hit Jumanji.
In the opening scene, the titular supernatural board game traps a young boy named Alan Parrish in its jungle-themed world. Years later, the game is unwittingly reactivated by two kids, unleashing a now-adult Alan, played by Robin Williams, as well as stampeding herds of dangerous animals who promptly run rampant across suburbia.
The Nice Guys (Shane Black, 2016)
After irritating Marvel fans across the world with the Mandarin fake-out in Iron Man 3, Shane Black came back with one of his greatest movies. 2016’s criminally underrated The Nice Guys marked a return to the “buddy cop” genre for Black, but the familiar premise has a twist.
It’s about a pair of mismatched investigators, but they’re not cops; they’re private eyes following up on a case within the adult film industry in ‘70s Los Angeles. Thanks to the perfectly matched Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe in the lead roles, The Nice Guys is one of the most hilarious comedies in recent memory.
What We Do In The Shadows (Taika Waititi, 2014)
Based on the zany comic sensibility of Thor: Ragnarok, it should come as no surprise that director Taika Waititi’s background is in comedy. Even the director’s more dramatic work, like Boy and Hunt for the Wilderpeople, has a healthy dose of humor.
Waititi’s funniest movie is easily 2014’s What We Do in the Shadows, which he co-directed with Flight of the Conchords’ Jemaine Clement. A mockumentary following the lives of some vampires in the suburbs of New Zealand, What We Do in the Shadows hilariously blends familiar facets of vampiric lore with mundane everyday situations.
Elf (Jon Favreau, 2003)
Chef isn’t the only great comedy to Jon Favreau’s name. His sophomore feature Elf has gone on to become one of the most beloved Christmas movies of all time, and one of the early hits that solidified Will Ferrell as an A-list star.
Ferrell stars as Buddy, an orphan who was raised as one of Santa’s elves, grows up to realize he’s a human being, and travels to New York to meet his biological father. Every gag in this movie lands and the story carries a heartwarming message about holiday spirit and being there for each other.