But don’t worry, there is still a lot to talk about. We had the final Eternals trailer come out which showed a whole lot more. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever gets a new character added into that story. What If Episode 2 is out so we have T’Challa as Star Lord to talk about. Plus I go through my 15-12 of the MCU films. Including a couple that people might have lower than I do, though, that is expected will happen.

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10 – Avengers: Age of Ultron

This movie is very underrated, I think, when it comes to the MCU films. I think that James Spader does an amazing job as Ultron. Just his cadence and delivery as Ultron works so well. I also like that we get to see Tony Starks biggest flaw really played upon and something that pays off so well in Avengers: Endgame. He’s trying to save everything and everyone and in the end, that doesn’t really work for him in this movie. Plus, we get the best version of Quicksilver to show up in a movie, much better than the X-Men one, and we get the introduction of Wanda and Pietro. This film just builds well and I think while there are some jokes that don’t land, it also has some of the most meaningful interactions between characters. I know some people have an issue with some of that, but I think that it’s great and it plays really well throughout the movie and in the context. A few jokes land a bit flat though.

9 – Spider-Man: Homecoming

Watching this movie again it dropped a little bit on my list because I think that some of the jokes don’t hold together as well as I remember. But with that said, it is still really good. The scenes with Peter and The Vulture both knowing who each other are is a really great scene. It plays off of the awkwardness that you’d have with meeting the parents for the first time, and so to everyone else in the scene that’s what is going on. But for both Peter Parker and The Vulture it’s way more than that. Tom Holland also just does such a great job of being awkward in the films and though he isn’t a high school aged actor, he fits into that way more than any of the previous Spider-Man actors.

8 – Spider-Man: Far From Home

Back to back Spider-Man films, I give the second one a little bit of a nod. While I really like the performance of the Vulture, I think that Mysterio is a better villain in my opinion. I think how he gets close to Peter because Peter was close to Tony is interesting and works well. I know that’s an issue for some people because they want it to be more Spider-Man focused and less about Tony Stark, I think that it’s a good balance of both. I also like it for how it uses or doesn’t use Nick Fury in the film. In terms of Spider-Man himself, I think that we get to see him a bit more in action and as a bit more important to the story versus kind of getting in the way as he was in the first film, or kind of being that B-level player, now he’s an A-level Avenger having gone through and helped in Infinity War and Endgame.

7 – Guardians of the Galaxy

It’s easy to like this one, it has a good blend of humor and action, and while it might be lighter on character development than the second Guardians of the Galaxy film, it still has one. I think in terms of the Marvel movies that really use humor a lot, this one is very good and doesn’t have the jokes fall flat or not stand out as much on multiple viewings. I also like that this is a team-up film but not an Avengers team-up, and in terms of the non-Avengers titles, so Captain America films and Thor: Ragnarok, this does the team-up one of the best of those. I think what really makes this work is how well they cast the main characters in the film. Chris Pratt as Star Lord just works and Bradley Cooper as Rocket is hilarious. While I think you get to dig more into their characters later, you start to see the depth of them and how interesting they are in this film.

6 – Avengers

It’s hard to go wrong with the original Avengers film, not the earliest of the films to grace my Top 10, but definitely worth talking about. We get introduced to Black Widow and Hawkeye, we get a well done Battle of New York where each of them has a chance to shine, and we get some solid humor and solid character interactions. I think that’s the piece that works so well is that it’s very believable that those characters would butt heads repeatedly, especially when meeting. It isn’t a team that comes together because they all immediately mesh, it’s because they need to come together to save the world. And I think that makes the most sense for how you create a team like that, they need the pressure cooker to pull them apart but also bring them back together. It is also nice because this is the first time we get a good Hulk on screen.

5 – Doctor Strange

Probably the shocker of the list, though Age of Ultron might have shocked some as well, but I really like Doctor Strange. A little bit of a spoiler for the list, but I like it for a lot of the same reasons that I like the next movie on the list, Iron Man. Both of these films have a villain who isn’t really the villain. Sure, Dormammu is a bad guy and Kaecilius is a bad guy, but the movie is about Stephen Strange coming to terms with himself not being who he thought he was and not being able to be as selfish. I think one way that this differs from Iron Man is that Strange is technically doing something that is good already, he is saving lives, but he’s doing it for his own selfish reasons. He has to find a way to let go of that before he can truly understand his real calling. I also like Wong in the film and even Baron Mordo and The Ancient One. I think they all play off of each other well, and especially Mordo and Strange have some good interactions.

4 – Iron Man

As I teased, Iron Man is up next. For being the original MCU film, this really hold up well. I like that it teases something that we’re eventually going to get a payoff for with the Ten Rings in Shang-Chi, probably not intentional at that point. But I like how it’s a pretty straight forward story of Iron Man and about how he has to overcome some obstacles but one of them is coming to terms with that he and what his company have done and the fact that they are profiting off of war and death. The opening with the capture and building of the armor just works so well, as well, and while Obediah Stane is underwhelming as a villain, it’s again less about him as a villain and more about Tony Stark having to overcome his own past and overcome what is happening to him. Shows a bit of the age of the film in some of the effects and things like that, but they did a good job and holds up well for overall.

3 – Thor: Ragnarok

I’ve talked about team-ups and humor, and in terms of a non-Avengers team-up, this film does it best, and in terms of humor, this film is again probably the best. I think that the jokes just land well and the team-up works. All of that for this over the top techno colored film, it still manages to have heart to it. I think that Skurge who is currently traveling with the Asguardians of the Galaxy in the comics, has a nice arc in terms of character and Heimdall is given more to do and work with in this film, which is great because Idris Elba is great. There’s just so much that works because we have the Hulk start to realize that there are things that can hurt him, we have Banner hiding away or more so Hulk taking control and just the changing and growing dynamic of the relationship between Thor and Loki. Plus we get Valkyrie who is awesome.

2 – Avengers: Endgame

I don’t think there will be much surprise for the two that top this list, maybe just some question about the order, but for me Endgame is #2. The reason for that is that the ending doesn’t really stick with you the way that it does in Infinity War. It pulls a little bit of a Return of the King in terms of how many endings it kind of has, but it feels right still to send off all of those characters the way that they did. It also does a really good job of bringing the heroes back together again. I like how they use time travel, I like how they use Ant-Man, and I think the whole thing just makes an odd amount of sense. But really, this film is about closure and passing of the torch for Captain America, and for Iron Man, finally being able to know that he saved everyone and that he did the right thing which is what he’s been trying to do, for better or worse – it’s worse – throughout all of the films, he’s always trying to redeem himself for what started in Iron Man with him finding out that his company sold weapons to the enemy.

1 – Avengers: Infinity War

Finally, we have Infinity War as my #1 film. I think so much of this works because we get to see into Thanos brain, and we get to see how he thinks he’s doing the right thing. Now, there are massive issues with his plan, though less absurd then trying to impress Death like in the comics, but he believes in it, and he believes that what he’s doing is the right thing and a good thing. And we get to see the start of the Avengers coming back together. I like that it isn’t them fully back together in mindset, that doesn’t come until much later in Endgame, but we get to see all the main players come together to do battle again, and this film has some epic battles, which I think Endgame is lacking in some ways, as it’s more of a very entertaining heist film. Finally, I like it that they don’t win, sure, they might win in the end, but here, they don’t win and they don’t just barely lose, they lose so much and, again, we get to see the fallout from everything that was lost in this film in Endgame.

So, that’s my list, I’m sure for a lot of people films like Winter Soldier or Civil War would make the list, and probably some like Age of Ultron and Doctor Strange would be off the list. It’s okay to have your flawed opinion, but I am curious to know how other people would put their top 10, any major surprises that would make your list from how the films are generally seen?

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So let’s talk about this list. Starting at the top and going down.

1. Avengers: Endgame – It’s hard to say that this movie isn’t the best one. it wraps everything up nicely and it’s just amazing action throughout. Clearly I’ve been thinking about it and l am going to see it again. Rarely does a movie feel like it hits all the right notes like Endgame does.
2. Avengers: Infinity War – I like this movie for it’s shock value, I like it for Thanos as a villain, I like it for everything that it does. It also hits it out of the park, and we get to see the first of the team-up of Thor and the Guardians of the Galaxy which should be fun, hopefully, in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol III.
3. Thor: Ragnorak – I can watch this movie whenever. It has a blend of humor and action and is the only Thor movie to use Immigrant Song from Led Zepplin. Chris Hemsworth just plays comedy so well.
4. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol I – I think this one is so high because it showed that Marvel could do something that was primarily comedy. Yes, there is action in Guardians of the Galaxy, but really it’s more about the humor. They also were able to get heart into this one.
5. Spider-Man: Homecoming – Peter Parker is one of my favorite, if not my favorite superhero. I grew up watching the early 90’s Spider-Man cartoon, so there’s nostalgia, and the original Spider-Man movies I liked, even kind of liked the mess that the third one was. But this is by far the best Spider-Man movie, and they really nail the feeling of Peter Parker in the MCU.
6. The Avengers – Hard not to put the original team-up movie up high. The battle of New York is just great, and Loki makes such a good villain. We also get to see the good Hulk really show off in this movie. We also get to meet so many characters that are important as well, like Maria Hill, Hawkeye, and really get to know Black Widow for the first time.
7. Iron Man – The original MCU movie. This movie just hit perfectly with Robert Downey Jr. playing a great Tony Stark. It was an origin story that started Marvel’s trend of creating really human and relatable characters as you see Tony from the start, at his weakest. The main villain might be underwhelming, but Robert Downey Jr. makes that not matter.
8. Thor – Way higher than most people will have it, but I love Thor. I think that it actually does a good job being a Thor movie that feels like the comics as well. You get some team-up of Asgardians, and you get to see Thor out of place. Plus Loki is always a good thing. I don’t think Hemsworth had hit his stride with the character yet though.
9. Ant-Man – Probably a lot higher than a lot of people have it. Again, I thought the villain was underwhelming, but the family comedy feel for this movie just works. Scott Lang, played by Paul Rudd, is just great, and you get good sight gags, and action that is done in an interesting way.
10. Doctor Strange – This one is an interesting story, probably where we see the first drop off of movies that I really like to just like quite well. Benedict Cumberbatch does a good job as Strange and you get some interesting action throughout. It also didn’t have a big fight at the end against the final boss which was fun and interesting.
11. Avengers: Age of Ultron – James Spader as Ultron works great. Getting to see Vision, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver is amazing, I love adding them in. This also really doubles down on the infinity stones. I also like it, because this movie is key to Tony Stark’s character arc and sets up Thor: Ragnorak by giving us some great Hulk and Black Widow scenes.
12. Ant-Man and the Wasp – I really like Ghost, but I thought that overall this movie wasn’t quite as fun as the first Ant-Man. Michael Pena is amazing in this movie, as well as the first Ant-Man movie. I suspect I’ll like this movie more on a second viewing, only watched it once thus far.
13. Iron Man 3 – Do they do the Mandarin wrong? Yes, in some ways. Mainly I say yes, because it could have been some other random bad guy, not someone as big as Mandarin, in terms of the comics. However, I think it works for the movie, and the end fight is great and exciting.
14. Captain America: Winter Soldier – First Captain America movie on the list, and definitely the best one in my opinion. I really like the twist the SHIELD is Hydra, and I think it would be fun to see some sort of Secret War angle for Nick Fury to lead a covert SHIELD and be battle Hydra still behind the scenes. Also, we get to see Cap conflicted about Bucky and deal with that.
15. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol II. – Probably another one that I need to see again, but it feel a bit flat for me. The biggest thing was Ego that part of the story just felt weird and off to me. I don’t know how they’d have been able to pull it off differently, but it felt like there should have been a better way.
16. Black Panther – Probably a lot higher for a lot of people, but I have a major issue with this film. The writing for Black Panther, himself, was bad. It wasn’t acted very well and it just didn’t work. Then you have Michael B. Jordan stealing the show. The look and tone were great for a Black Panther movie, but when the main character and his love interest are both the most boring characters in the movie, it’s going to fall very flat.
17. Captain America: The First Avengers – I’m not a huge fan of this movie. I think out of all of the origin story movies, it feels most like an origin story. However, Red Skull is a villain that I like, and I like that they’ve been able to kind of bring him back. Captain America just doesn’t have much character development as compared to say Iron Man.
18. Captain Marvel – Probably another one that surprised a lot of people. I got one issue, and I talked about it in my spoiler review of Endgame, but Captain Marvel is too powerful for the MCU. She isn’t a character that you can use often because you have to have an Infinity Stone to slow her down I guess? Maybe they can save her character by nerfing her powers now that the infinity stones are destroyed and it would make sense? Also, Brie Larson, I like you as an actress, but you didn’t feel like a super hero in this movie.
19. Captain America: Civil War – Aka. Captain America and Iron Man fight over Bucky. Sokovia Accords, what are those? This is about Bucky, with a side of Bucky, and a little bit more Bucky after that. That is why this movie falls so flat for me, while others like it. Sure there is a bit about the Accords in there, but when you really get down to it, Captain America spends more of his time fighting Iron Man because of Bucky than the Accords.
20. Iron Man 2 – I don’t think this is a horrible movie, but it just falls flat. Whiplash as a villain isn’t all that compelling, but like the rest of the Iron Man movies, it is often more about Tony fighting himself than it is about Iron Man fighting a bad guy. Just wish the bad guy had been a bit more compelling.
21. Thor: The Dark World – Chris Hemsworth did fine in this movie that really didn’t know where it wanted to go. However, Natalie Portman who had been okay in the first movie clearly is phoning it in on this one. I also don’t think they did a great job with the Dark Elves. Loki was entertaining, but not in it enough.
22. The Incredible Hulk – Haven’t seen it. That will change this summer, but sorry Edward Norton, you don’t interest me as the Hulk. There are only two hulks, Lou Ferrigno and Mark Ruffalo.

Now, what do you think of this list? I’m sure that there are some, mainly Civil War that people will have much higher on there lists, but you’re wrong. Wait, this is a list of what I like, so you can put them where ever you want in your list and enjoy them. Let me know what your rankings are in the comments below.

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But, but, but, but this is new, it isn’t an old movie, this is a brand new movie. Well, we can still review them, and with something as nerdy as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we clearly need to do a review on it. This is going to be the spoiler free review, I’ll likely do one later that has a number more spoilers, thoughts, guesses, etc. for the future.

This is what Marvel has been building towards for 10 years, basically since Iron Man came out and we got the idea that we would eventually have an Avengers team. In the first Avengers movie we saw Loki wield the power of one of the Infinity Gems as he tried to conquer Earth. Since then we’ve run across some in The Guardians of the Galaxy, Age of Ultron,  and Thor: The Dark World. And we’ve had little bits and teases of the villain for this movie, Thanos, as he seeks to gain power. We’ve met his children Gamora and Nebula and seen him interact with Loki. Finally, Thanos is putting his plan into place to collect all of the Infinity Gems. Unfortunately, that means that he is coming to Earth to get the gem that Doctor Strange has and that is embedded in Visions head.

That’s it that I’m going to say about the plot. There is so much more going in the movie, but I don’t want to give away what else is happening and the storylines that are intertwined together. The story in Infinity War is extremely well written. When sitting through a two and a half hour movie, the time seems to fly by. You get great returns of characters, you get awesome moments of combat, you have heartfelt reunions, and humor all worked together into the perfect blend. This movie feels like what we’ve been building to for ages through all of the other stories, and while you could watch this without having seen any of the movies before and probably still enjoy it quite well, you are going to really appreciate it if you’ve seen the previous films.

There are two huge things that make this story work:

1. The villain is amazing. Thanos is scary. Thanos is evil. The main characters can’t easily beat him or get the upper hand on him. Thanos even probably knows he is evil, but he so firmly believes that what he is doing is for the right reason it makes him even scarier. He is how a villain should be written with clearly defined motives besides wanting to be a villain. Thanos has those in spades,  and if you go back to the article I wrote about good villains, even with his almost god-like powers, he is more than just a powerful villain to be beaten like Ares is in Wonder Woman.
2. It brings so many things together. If you want to see heroes team up who haven’t ever teamed up before? You’re probably going to get it. You want to see storylines that have been hinted at and teased in post credit scenes actually happen? You get those. It’s a masterfully written story that brings so many things together you really feel like every movie, even duds like Thor: The Dark World, were worth it because of this story.

Another really cool thing about this film is that you start to see some of the characters really develop into their own. This is the second time we’ve seen Doctor Strange outside of his own movie. In Thor: Ragnarok, it was a brief cameo, but we get to see Doctor Strange really interact with other characters from the MCU and we get to see him develop even more so as a character. In Spider-Man: Homecoming, we get a good idea of who Peter Parker is, but this also really lets him shine and you see him as something different than before and you see him grow through the film. As was hinted at in Captain America: Civil War, we get to see Scarlet Witch and Visions relationship grow and how it’s already grown, and as Black Panther hinted, we have the return of Bucky. These are just some of the storylines and characters that come together and really grow and take on a solid life of their own.

Avengers: Infinity War is not just a superhero film, it is that and it has it’s superhero moments, it is a story that has a ton of depth. It is a comedy at times, it is a tragedy, it is a drama. It has everything rolled into a single story and it is beautiful. It’s a story that is so well put together that you don’t even notice time passing, and it’s a story that leaves you excited and waiting for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to see what is going to be happening.

It’s a film that I’m going to highly recommend. It’s likely going to demolish box office numbers, and so I really don’t need to tell you to go see it. I will say, if you’re thinking about waiting until it comes out on Blu-Ray and Redboxing it, you can, but I do think that you’ll lose something. I already know I want to go back to the theaters and see it again, and I’ve heard that it is wonderful in 3D. Consider splurging and going to see it if you weren’t planning on going already, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. I will say this, as there are plenty of times movies are over-hyped and don’t live up to expectations, if nothing else, Avengers: Infinity War is a stellar superhero movie and can be enjoyed as such.