My MCU Phase 4 film rankings.
I've cooled on some and warmed up to others since I first saw them.
Last week, I had a great time ranking the Marvel Disney+ shows to date. And since we don’t have any new Marvel or Star Wars shows on Disney+ this week, I thought I’d fill the content void with a ranking of the Marvel films we’ve gotten in Phase 4 so far. I’m reverting back to a “proper” listicle format, counting backwards to build up anticipation for my top picks. #1 shouldn’t be much of a surprise, though.
The grading student papers analogy may sound a bit patronizing, and I in no way intend it as such. I respect all of these creators and are in awe of the work they do. But, for the sake of the exercise, thinking of how I would provide helpful feedback on a student essay does help me rank these six films.
There were some tough calls and some no-brainers. How would you rank them? And how do you feel about Phase 4 of the MCU so far? Please share your thoughts in the comments! I’ve also included links to my original reviews of each film in the headings if you want a longer take.
Image Credit: Twitter
[I’ve tried to keep this list SPOILER-FREE since it’s less likely that everyone has had a chance to see all of these films. The only exception may be Spider-Man: No Way Home, but I feel like most of us have had the bigger reveals in that film spoiled by the Internet at this point. But if you, by some miracle, don’t know who’s in No Way Home, approach that entry with caution. Very mild spoiler for Ms. Marvel Episode 2 as well.]
6. Eternals (streaming on Disney+)
Image Credit: Screen Rant
I initially liked this more than most critics, but my impression of it has not improved with age. Most notably, I’m not sure I could explain the plot to someone else particularly well without consulting a written recap. I can remember new characters and actors I loved, such as Kumail Nanjiani’s Kingo, Angelina Jolie’s Thena, and Gemma Chan’s Sersi. But who were those sinewy monsters again? And wasn’t there a baby Celestial popping out of the Earth? I admired Chloe Zhao’s ambition, but all the new characters, character conflicts, and cosmic concepts didn’t cogently coalesce. (Would you believe me if I told you that most of that alliteration was unintentional?) If I were giving feedback on this as a teacher, I would have said that this is a dissertation’s worth of material, encouraging the writer to rethink the scope and scale. Narrow the focus; say more about less. The silver lining is that there’s a lot in here to hone in on and excavate for future films or shows. For example, now that we know that Kamala Khan is aware of Kingo’s Bollywood alter ego, how fun would it be for him to show up in Ms. Marvel or some other team-up story so that Kamala can make the realization that the actor her mom has a crush on is actually a super-powered cosmic being…created by the Celestials…or cloned….or designed artificial intelligence… Marvel, let me know if any of that backstory will matter going forward. Then I’ll put in the effort to get it sorted in my brain.
5. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (streaming on Disney+)
Image Credit: Wired
I’m pretty disheartened that this film appears so far down my list, as it was one of my more highly anticipated releases of the year. On paper, it sounds like a film I would love. I’ve enjoyed Sam Raimi’s other work. Traveling between dimensions in a surreal, Gothic horror adventure? Yes x 3000. I’m a big fan of Benedict Cumberbatch and Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange. The prospect of him sharing the screen with Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff made me giddy. But, even months later, I still can’t get over how this film portrays Wanda Maximoff. Making her such an over-the-top villain, for me, undermined the amazing work my second favorite Marvel Disney+ series, WandaVision, did with her character. The other cameos in the film were a wild thrill, and I did enjoy the horror-influenced savagery. If Multiverse of Madness were a student paper, I would say that conceptually it has a lot of potential, but the writer needs to consider the implications of their argument more. How will what they’re saying here affect the larger discourse? I’m honestly not sure how the MCU can use Wanda in the future without awkwardly walking back the events of this film. On the other hand, they can very easily bring back America Chavez, a new MCU character I enjoyed. Let’s add her to the dream team of young blood I mentioned in my Ms. Marvel finale review. I’m ready for the age of female superheroes becoming friends and passing the Bechdel test with flying colors.
4. Black Widow (streaming on Disney+)
Image Credit: Buzzfeed
Unlike Eternals, Black Widow has held steadfastly onto my good graces as time passes. It’s a pretty stock spy thriller action movie, but guess what? I love those. And to me, predictable and not particularly nuanced plotting was really the only crime this film committed, and I’m not the kind of critic that considers that a crime at all if a big blockbuster can deliver fun characters, great one-liners, and big, splashy, action scenes. This one did, with an above-average cast. If this were a student’s draft, I would encourage the writer to challenge themselves, to try to push past their initial ideas so that they might reach even higher heights. But I’m not going to penalize them too heavily for executing well on a less ambitious vision. Plus, if we factor in the precious gift that this film gave us — Florence Pugh — I think Black Widow very quickly climbs the rankings for how it has positively contributed to Phase 4. (Considering how Pugh stole the show, I can’t say the same for ScarJo’s career.) If we never get a standalone Yelena Belova movie, then I may have to rethink this rationale. I’ll also just be really sad because I love her and she proved in Hawkeye that the deadly yet loveable bit doesn’t get old. I really enjoyed David Harbour as the bombastic, narcissistic Red Guardian as well. I sincerely hope that after filming Black Widow and the latest season of Stranger Things Season 4 (which I’ve almost finished!), he took a long vacation on a tropical island.
3. Thor: Love and Thunder (in theaters only for now, probably streaming on Disney+ in late August/early September)
Image Credit: Slate
Taikia Waititi’s second run at everyone’s favorite pirate angel baby, Thor, did not live up to the success of its predecessor, Thor: Ragnarok, but I still had a great time watching it because I enjoy Waititi’s humor. This student’s paper might need some targeted editing to streamline select paragraphs; just because you wrote something that is in of itself good — or, in this case, just because a joke is funny — doesn’t mean you should keep it in there with all the other ones. Sometimes more is just more. Just as Black Widow gifted us Flo Pugh, Love and Thunder blessed us with Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher and Natalie Portman as The Mighty Thor. And Tessa Thompson as King Valkyrie. And screaming goats. There is very little for me to complain about, considering all that. I don’t think this can be much higher on the list for me, though, because the stakes just aren’t as epic as my #1 and the the genre homages don’t speak to me as personally as those in my #2. The ColbyCast recently discussed how they would have loved to see Loki in this film. I’m not sure he would have fit, and I’m not sure the MCU is ready to pull him from his multiverse-shattering crisis in the Disney+ series, Loki, yet. But now all I can think about is how satisfying it would be to see the Thor from this film and the Loki from that series in a scene together, hilariously playing off each other and — after much soul searching and healing — reestablishing their brotherhood as less antagonistic.
2. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (streaming on Disney+)
Image Credit: CinemaBlend
I imagine this may be my most controversial ranking for some readers because Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is far from a perfect film, especially in the third act, which devolved into a murky, frenzied battle. But, for me personally, this film was so special because it brought the history of martial arts movies, the Asian American experience, and creatures from Chinese mythology into the MCU. The bus fight scene remains one of my favorite fight scenes from any superhero film because the choreography captures that Jackie Chan playfulness and wit. Introducing an entirely new character involves a higher degree of difficulty than returning to characters we already love (like Thor and Black Widow, and Doctor Strange), and I thought Destin Daniel Cretton and his team met that challenge extremely well. By the time the film finished, I had zero reservations about Shang-Chi as a hero capable of joining the next iteration of the Avengers. And his appearance in a team-up or crossover film would work so well because his backstory runs so deep here. I found the tragedy of his father, masterfully played by cinematic legend Tony Leung, so very human despite he and his wife’s supernatural status. Leung’s empathetic, charismatic, and multi-layered performance rivals and, the more I think about it, surpasses even Christian Bale’s Gorr. Oh, and let’s not forget that this film bravely brought back Ben Kingsley as Trevor Slattery, actively working to repair damage his introduction had done in Iron Man 3. He had a surprisingly charming comedic effect in the midst of the grand and serious Ta Lo that worked for me. His relationship with Morris and his comment about Planet of the Apes easily competes with any of the jokes in Thor: Love and Thunder.
1. Spider-Man: No Way Home (streaming on Starz and available to rent or buy on demand on other platforms)
Image Credit: Forbes
This high risk collision between the coming-of-age Tom Holland Spider-Man films and the legacy of the Infinity Saga via Doctor Strange should not have worked. I remember getting very nervous when the trailer teased the return of iconic Spider-man villains from past non-MCU films. Following suit, fans (and Andrew Garfield, who is a terrible liar) stirred the rumor mill that perhaps other Spideys from these other film series might pop in to hang as well. Six villains and three Spider-men? That sounds like the worst kind of fan service: a barrage of cameos with no time or care to tell a real story. And yet, I distinctly remember shouting “They did it!” as I left the theater opening weekend. I couldn’t believe it. In retrospect, the key to No Way Home’s success was its use of the Spider-Man pointing meme to tell a much larger story about Peter Parker’s identity and help all three versions of the character grow and develop. I struggle to name another franchise film that can balance meta-text, subtext, nostalgia, and action so deftly. Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi is the other that comes to mind, but that’s a much weightier attempt to process Star Wars history. No Way Home’s substantive breeziness puts it in a class of its own, especially in the context of these other Phase 4 entries. No matter how enjoyable a lot of these other films are individually, only No Way Home classifies as an MCU event.
We haven’t gotten an event like it since, though. And there’s no hint as to what event-level film will be next. I’m contented with this batch, despite the lack of explicit direction. Some standout performances from beloved actors. New characters that show a lot of promise. A cinematic universe of possibility lies ahead, and I think that’s pretty exciting.