The Marvel Cinematic Universe is facing more setbacks than many fans thought were possible after the franchise seemingly peaked in 2019 with the release of Avengers: Endgame, a film that grossed over $2 billion at the global box office and still stands as the second highest-grossing film of all-time. However, in the last few years, thanks to the introduction of the Multiverse Saga, the overabundance of content has made it difficult for fans to catch up. Things had gotten so out of control that it appears that Marvel Studios will be scaling back in order to focus on quality, and not the quantity of shows they can release on Disney+ and movies they release in theaters.
It’s always interesting to see how fans rank and review each installment in the franchise. While there are acknowledged classics like Iron Man and Captain America: Civil War, there are also widely acknowledged disappointments such as Iron Man 2 and Thor: Love and Thunder. However, some films in the MCU have aged better than others, and expectations play a big part in how fans should judge these films’ legacies. Here are the top five most overrated and underrated MCU movies.
Underrated: Avengers: Age of Ultron
Avengers: Age of Ultron is far more ambitious than most would give it credit for; writer/director Joss Whedon examined a world that didn’t feel like it needed the Avengers anymore and got in on the discussion about the misuse of artificial intelligence, which has only grown more relevant recently. Age of Ultron is messy, but it is also a thematically richer Avengers film than the rest of the franchise.
Overrated: Spider-Man: Far From Home
Spider-Man: Far From Home is the weakest chapter in Jon Watts’ trilogy of Spider-Man movies, as it lacks the coming-of-age charms of Spider-Man: Homecoming or the fulfillment of Peter Parker’s (Tom Holland) journey in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Instead, it felt like an extended goodbye to Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) with a twist about Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) that any comic book lover likely saw coming from a mile away.
Underrated: Thor
Thor gets a bad reputation in comparison to the lighter, breezier version of the character that Taika Waititi introduced in Thor: Ragnarok, but seeing a more grim introduction to the God of Thunder actually worked out in his favor thanks to the terrific, Shakespearean direction of Sir Kenneth Branagh. Thor now seems like one of the better uses of the character.
Overrated: Thor: Ragnarok
Thor: Ragnarok is an interesting one. It was a breath of fresh air at the time of its release and set the Thor franchise back on track, and while it was highly beloved, it also drew criticism from a fair amount of fans for making it too overtly comedic. This is what makes the reaction to Thor: Love and Thunder so interesting as it was more of the same, but whereas in Ragnarok, it was seen as new and fresh for the sequel, it was seen as too much. Ragnarok has a lot of creativity in it, but also some really bland scenes in terms of composition and lighting that show the limits of the MCU’s aesthetic start to interfere with projects.
Underrated: The Incredible Hulk
The Incredible Hulk did a very good job at setting up a version of Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) that simply didn’t continue; its tonal differences from the rest of the MCU but a darker entry in the franchise that feels more like a monster movie than a traditional superhero film. In fact, the opening chase in the favelas may be one of the best-crafted action sequences that the MCU has ever had.
Overrated: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever earned a Producer’s Guild nomination for Best Picture, similar to its predecessor. While the sequel is good, it certainly does not live up to the expectations of its predecessor. Some of that is beyond the film’s control as it was forced to deal with the real-life tragedy of the passing of star Chadwick Boseman. However, the film’s decision to cram many subplots makes the film feels its runtime.
Underrated: Eternals
Eternals is ambitious, and for that alone, it’s distinct among Marvel’s most recent output. While Nomadland director Chloe Zhao’s vision isn’t perfect, the concept of gods forced to deal with human affairs is more philosophically interesting than a majority of what the MCU has become. It also features some incredible action sequences and arguably has better super-speed action than DC’s The Flash.
Overrated: Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Certainly a hot take, but Captain America: The Winter Soldier has both aged and not aged well with time. The themes of once-thought-defeated fascist enemies returning certainly felt more true to audiences after 2016. However, Captain America: The Winter Soldier‘s decision to make HYDRA the secret villain also robs the film of some of the moral greyness the film had been hyping itself up as. Captain America is not thrown into a morally complex world, it is the same clear villain he fought in his previous film. Also, the film’s production design of grey office buildings set a sad template for the bland color pallet in other MCU films.
Unrated: Ant-Man and the Wasp
Ant-Man and the Wasp, for some reason, has been treated as some big crime by many Marvel fans, despite it being rather harmless. Maybe it was because it was the movie following Avengers: Infinity War, but the film was a light, breezy, fun family adventure that improved on the first Ant-Man. It honestly might be the best in the Ant-Man franchise, as it doesn’t have the production issues of the first film or the baggage of setting up future films that Ant-Man: Quantumania had.
Overrated: Captain Marvel
Captain Marvel is overrated, but not in the way someone might think. Captain Marvel is not overtly praised but instead overtly hated. Its hatred is overrated. It was an MCU film that is fine, the same as many of the other origin films, but for some reason is treated as a bigger crime than so many other films in the franchise. While the film has issues in terms of the pacing and the decision to tell the origin story in flashbacks, most of the hatred for the movie came from people who were upset about Brie Larson prior to the film’s release. Is Captain Marvel really any worse than Doctor Strange or Ant-Man as far as middle-of-the-road origin movies? No, but it was treated like it was this great misfire for the MCU.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
