Ranking Marvel's "Avengers" Films

This Friday marks the North American release of Marvel’s The Avengers, one of the most anticipated films of the year, and one of the most ambitious undertakings in Hollywood history. With a build-up of over four years, Marvel crossed over five films and four franchises, all coming together to lead into one tremendous film. In anticipation for the film’s May 4th release, we look back and rank the films Marvel Studios made to bring it all together.

5. Iron Man 2 (2010)

If Iron Man 2 proves one thing, it’s that the Marvel Universe films work better as self-contained stories, with the universe building and Avengers teases best left delegated to post-credits scenes. While Iron Man 2 is far from a bad film, the interweaving of cross-film continuity and Avengers hints into the main storyline detracts from the main arcs of the story – Tony Stark’s personal relationships and the conflict against Mickey Rourke’s Whiplash. Speaking of Whiplash, he’s so incredibly tangential to the story, offering nothing to the script except for a bad guy for Iron Man and War Machine to fight at the end. Don Cheadle’s War Machine, despite being an improvement over Terrence Howard’s, is played too straight and serious for his friendship with Tony Stark to be believable, resulting in awkward chemistry. None of the characters really seem like they’re relating to each other at all, especially compared to the first Iron Man. Ultimately, since Iron Man 2 is so far the only “sequel” in Marvel’s Avengers series, the film just feels less fresh and new compared to the others on this list, making it the biggest chore to sit through.

4. The Incredible Hulk (2008)

In strictly dramatic terms, 2008′s The Incredible Hulk is actually a far worse film than Iron Man 2. Its characters are flat and lifeless, the story goes nowhere, Edward Norton’s interpretation Bruce Banner is boring, and Liv Tyler is – yeesh. However, this one gets the edge over Iron Man 2 for a couple reasons. One, the final Hulk-vs-Abomination battle is probably the most exciting climax – in terms of action sequences – in the current Marvel Universe film canon. Two, it’s the first film that established the fact that these movies were actually crossing over with each other. We all expected Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America to have big reveals and teasers, but it was absolutely mind-blowing when Robert Downey Jr. walked into that bar as Tony Stark at the end of Incredible Hulk. Iron Man‘s promise was no longer just a tease – it was becoming reality. The second Marvel Universe film has the weakest narrative of the lot, but it still has a lot going for it.

3. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

As the last film released to build up towards The Avengers, Captain America had a lot riding on its success. Had it been underwhelming, hype for Avengers would have taken a huge blow, and likely would not have recovered. Luckily, Captain America: The First Avenger delivered. Chris Evans defied the odds with his sympathetic portrayal of Steve Rogers, Hugo Weaving was absolutely menacing as the Red Skull, and director Joe Johnston’s thematic and stylistic callbacks to Raiders of the Lost Ark were great fun. Also, Tommy Lee Jones. ‘Nuff said. Only a few flaws hold Captain America back from being one spot higher – namely, the sometimes awkward CGI used to make Chris Evans seem smaller in the first part of the film, and its need to make references to other Marvel Universe films when momentum starts to slow (though not as bad as Iron Man 2‘s use of this). These setbacks are minor, however, and Captain America proves to be a worthy inclusion to the Avengers canon.

2. Thor (2011)

Marvel’s biggest risk also turned out to be one of its biggest payoffs. While Iron Man established a universe (relatively) grounded in realism, Thor tasked Marvel Studios with making the Norse God of Thunder feel believable. Thankfully, they achieved this with Chris Hemsworth’s perfect casting (If one thing can be said about Marvel’s film history, it’s that they have some awesome casting directors), and Kenneth Branagh’s direction. With his history in Shakespearean drama, Branagh brings these gods to life by humanizing them. Anthony Hopkins brings major gravitas to the film as Odin, and Thor’s scenes on Earth with Natalie Portman’s and Stellar Skaarsgard’s characters keep the film moving when the action slows down. Thor also nails the balance that Iron Man 2 failed to achieve, making references to other Marvel films here and there, but never to the expense of the story. Plus, Thor is arguably the most important pre-Avengers film, both with setting up the main villain, Loki, and opening up the universe of the films to more fantastical and extra-terrestrial elements.

1. Iron Man (2008)

The first entry in this crazy experiment, and has yet to be topped. The reason why the original Iron Man works so well, besides the now famous post-credits reveal, is ironically because of how well the film stands on its own. Its story isn’t bogged down by a need to build up to a massive team-up movie, or make fanboy pleasing references to other films; it works on its own merits. This was a superhero film we hadn’t seen before. Previous superhero films were either serious, dark, and brooding, or self-referential, campy, fish-out-of-water stories. Heroes were either born with their powers, or gained them through accidental means. Iron Man is one of the only cinematic superheroes whose actions are driven by his character, not by external factors. Tony Stark is a flawed human being, and we are emotionally invested in his arc. To top it all off, it reintroduced the masses to Robert Downey Jr., in his breakthrough, comeback performance. Iron Man‘s critical and commercial success kicked off this huge undertaking, and The Avengers wouldn’t be anywhere near as anticipated without it.