Marvel is one of my favourite things, especially the MCU films, for years for a year I watched cartoons and read comics, always hoping that some big-time decent movies were done. We had the odd film made and in general, they were great, Fantastic Four was disappointing, Blade was briefly good, the original Punisher was great but none of the others, Hulk was ok but who cared, Ghost rider – no, Electra – double no, Daredevil,

Xmen started well and went wrong (and keeps being poor)even Spiderman started well but went downhill, and I didn’t even like the Amazing Spiderman, let alone the odd B-movie version of stuff which you can investigate. However, the MCU changed all of that.

You could argue Tony started it, Iron Man was the first change and the first real one that made a difference in the MCU, and arguably turned their filming fortunes around. Avengers showed us that a grand big-budget film with lots of stories and characters entwined can work and work well. Guardians of the Galaxy showed us that more random lost love characters that know one was really bothered about in space, suddenly become a massive and well-received hit.

SO with the close of Phase 3 in the MCU, my thought process is, what has been the best films in these phases. Now in my mind, I’ve discounted Avengers Endgame, Avengers Infinity War, and Civil War as they generally have multiple characters and in reality, the two Avengers films are brilliant and the word probably takes the top 2 in 3 places for most people. As I mentioned earlier I’m looking at MCU films, not series or the previous Marvel films and other Marvel films like Spiderman and Xmen, only the Spiderman films that are part of the MCU.

5. Iron Man

I’ll be honest, the film is good, not brilliant and there possibly is others that are better like, Spiderman Far from Home, Guardians 2, Iron man 2, Doctor Strange but its the first, and as mentioned earlier it’s still the one that made me so happy it was good.

4. Captain America, Winter Soldier

I’m, not a lover of Captain America the first Avenger to be honest, and I still have issues with Civil War, but I understand in reality it was hard to do that story, only really in the Avengers scale film. But why do I put Winter Soldier in this, it’s really good in my opinion and really the first film that you see Cap being more what he evolved to, and in the story, it moves the whole overall greater MCU story along.

3. Black Panther

Much like Luke Cage, both that series and this film is done differently and shot differently, which makes them a refreshing change to the whole MCU, I’m worried about the second one but based on the past, the Marvel sequels actually tend to be good. In this one, the stories solid and we get to see a different part of the MCU, much more like a different world in Thor and Guardians etc… but we saw the culture potential advance me in technology for the upcoming MCU.

2. Guardians of the Galaxy

Speaking of which, I went into watching this at the cinemas after watching a couple of trailers and being a little underwhelmed, which I think at the time was a general feeling. As I said know one had watched it yet, and this was the first real in space adventure for MCU, and after Thor, which wasn’t a great film, especially in retrospect, we weren’t all a buzz.

However, the film for many like myself blew me away! don’t get me wrong it had the Marvel feel to the story but like what I said about Black Panther, it was shot and filmed differently, and the music was great. Only Iron man 2 had really focused music at this point and with Guardians it became synonymous with music, so much so that the second film had as much anticipation for the music as the story it seemed., since then its spawned more music in line with the other films in the MCU.

1. Thor Ragnarok

To be honest, this was a close one, and you could say that it’s got hulk in as well which helps the film, and your right, as well as it being one of the more recent films. But remember where its come from, Thor in the previous films was this posh well-spoken god, that tried to raise himself to notability in many ways, and that’s how they portrayed him.

With seen a change in his character as the MCU has continued, much for the better and arguably this film was the peak of what he becomes, (though the endgame is really clever). Much like Guardians, the music is a big part of the film, and you could argue it’s stolen it, much like it looks like Wonder Women 84 is looking to steal the feel and vibe of these two films (I said it).

But the stories are great, Odin is gone, and Loki is on form, as are the newer characters Hela and Valkrie, who are a great addition to Thor’s side of things. As is, the writer, director and funny man Taika Waititi whose visions of the film is brilliant, let alone his own character Korg. I’m a huge Jeff Goldblum fan so his appearance was the cheery on the icing, as he was brilliant, and I like Karl Urban had a big part as well. The film was funny, explosive, action-packed and generally had everything, even after the credits clip was monumental.

Overall

It’s one of those subjects where everyone will have an opinion and no one is wrong, its there choice, some will agree and some won’t. But sit back and think how far the MCU and Marvel have come in that 10-plus years. Then think to the future with the addition of Disney Plus allowing small characters a shot and linking it, yet the further back story, let alone the potential of the next phase, which at this point is wide open! who knows! there’s only Black widow round the corner, that has no effect on the future of MCU as does a lot of the Disney plus shows currently.

But the introductions of the new things like Eternals, and sequels like Doctor Strange, Guardians, Spiderman and Black panther, the hope of the future is really strong. Then add the addition to the rights of Hulk, Fantastic Four, Xmen, and Deadpool (my favourite), the next phase Top 5 will be even harder.