Summary

TheMarvel Cinematic Universehas been a dominant force at the box office at the peak of its popularity , yet upon revisit the franchise ’s highest - gross installments , viewers may face several abrasive world . Although superhero movies had a prove – albeit inconsistent – lead record of success at both the box office and among critics , the MCU timelinetook the genre to unprecedented height at the conclusion of phase angle 1 with 2012’sThe Avengers . The movie not only made superhero adjustment a major mainstream genre , but it also popularized the sorting of shared population storytelling found in mainstream superhero strip .

All MCU movies are available for streaming on Disney+

Unsurprisingly , all four ofThe Avengersmoviesare among the top10 highest - grossing MCU pic , with the pop acculturation redefining 2012 pic insure the success of its subsequence . The develop overarch terror of Thanos andAvengers : Infinity War’sshocking ending created enough investment to make the third and fourth installments even more successful . While the MCU ’s top 10 highest - gross photographic film are , for the most part , crowd - pleaser , they also have the following issuance .

Thor, Rocket and Quill, The Asguardians of the Galaxy

The following article may have SPOILERS from your favorite MCU pic .

The Marvel movies releasing in 2024 offer up a range of film experiences - and some mix-up , due to the changed dates of several incoming installments .

10The Avengers Needed A New Lineup In Phase 4

They Dominate The Box Office

Cast

The Avengers are well one of the MCU ’s most popular and remunerative properties , with the original six members of the squad becoming house names and all four films being among the franchise ’s top - gross installments . Like the comic iteration , the MCU ’s Avengers have an ever - changing roll that has grown as the MCU itself has expanded . The original six members teamed up one last time inAvengers : Endgame , which conclude their stories , for the most part .

The Avengers as an system seems to be defunct , as humorously noted inSpider - Man : Far From home base .

With the pantheon of superheroes continue to grow in the year ( and Phases ) followingEndgame , it is surprising – and perhaps unsatisfying – that a new roster for The Avengers has not formed . In fact , The Avengers as an organisation looks like defunct , as humorously notice inSpider - Man : Far From Home . The Avengers will almost certainly tack once again by the end of Phase 6,but perhaps there should have been at least oneAvengersmovie in Phases 4 and 5 to further associate the MCU inthe Multiverse Saga .

A split image of Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, and Tony Stark in the MCU

9Infinity War Handled Thor Far Better Than Endgame

Thor Did Not Need To Be A Parody Of Himself

Thor scramble slimly in the other years of the MCU . Although the 2011 filmThorwas pretty successful , its sequel , Thor : The Dark Worldhad a tepid reception , despite a good loge office operation . Thor was far more popular inThe Avengersfilms , leave to a drastically different take on Thor ’s case and mythos in his third solo filmThor : Ragnarok . Ragnarokwas a commercial success that pleased most viewers and critics , despite being in part more of a parody of theThorfranchise rather than an earnest superhero film , and this take on Thor made its way intoThe Avengersfranchise .

WithRagnarokrefusing to take the loss of Thor ’s best friends , domicile , and worldview seriously , Avengers : Infinity Waralmost made up for it by making Thor a more sombre character , coming to terms with everything he lost . Unfortunately , Endgamedid not continueInfinity War’srepairs to Thor ’s character , instead doubling down onRagnarok’sreimagining and making Thor a lampoon of himself once again . In hindsight , while comedy is more than welcome , Endgameshould have taken Thor , his characterization , and his side of the MCU more in earnest .

Thor was very different in Avengers : Endgame - should he be back to normal for his next MCU appearance ?

Thunderbolts Members Bucky Barnes and Yelena Belova Stand Alongside Red Hulk

8Spider-Man’s Best Villain Is Not From The MCU

Spider-Man Is Too Reliant On Other Franchises

Spider - Man : No Way Homebrings back the two Spider - Man variants and their respective villain from the Sam Raimi and Marc WebbSpider - Manfranchises . Of the five returning supervillains , Willem Dafoe ’s Green Goblin impose the most ravaging , nearly break the spirit of Tom Holland ’s Peter Parker by murdering Aunt May and virtually discontinue the multiverse itself by destroying the Macchina di Kadavus with a well - rate pumpkin bomb calorimeter . Dafoe ’s Green Goblin reminded viewers that , even 19 age since his unveiling , he remain Spider - Man ’s good villain .

The only job is that his restitution and memorable public presentation reminds viewers of how reliant Tom Holland ’s Spider - Man has been on other franchises . The MCU ’s WWW - slinger is already frequently criticise for hinge too much of his word picture on Tony Stark and other MCU sub , and this issue stretch forth to his antagonists as well . While by no mean lackluster scoundrel , The Vulture and Mysterio both seemingly owe their cosmos as super crook to Tony Stark , while Dafoe ’s Green Goblin – like his comic counterpart – became a scoundrel and developed an obsession with Spider - Man on his own .

7Civil War Is A Better Avengers Sequel Than Age of Ultron

And Yet It Still Works As A Captain America Solo Movie

Captain America : Civil Warhad the daunting chore of adapting the divisiveCivil Warstoryline from Marvel ’s comic while simultaneously continuing Steve Rogers ’s MCU write up . With a monolithic ensemble dramatis personae , which included most of The Avengers , many viewers were expecting a film that was more of anAvengers 3than aCaptain America 3 . As it sprain out , Civil Warmanaged to balance its characters wonderfully , serving as an unofficialAvengersinstallment while remaining , at long last , aCaptain Americafilm .

Civil Warremains a beloved ledger entry in the MCU .

In fact , Civil War’scomfort with handling the Avengers characters , as well as its spectacular and resonant tale that concluded withThe Avengers team fracturing made it arguably a full Avengers film thanAvengers : Age of Ultron . Age of Ultronwas a massive commercial winner , but it made several dissentious and at prison term problematic choices – and as such , has not aged peculiarly well . polite Warremains a darling entry in the MCU , and it did far more to progress the overarchingAvengersstoryline thanAge of Ultron , all while stay aCaptain Americasolo film .

Split image of Spider-Man In Spider-Man Far From Home and Captain America in The Avengers looking surprised

Custom image by Zoe Miskelly

The canyon birthdays of the MCU ’s Avengers founder some brainwave into their zodiac signs , and allows for reflections on the characters .

6Thanos Was Clearly Meant To Have A Different Motivation At First

Court Death Or Mitigate Finite Resources?

Thanos became one of the MCU ’s pernicious and most compelling antagonists inInfinity WarandEndgame , but he seemingly was almost portrayed quite differently . In Marvel ’s cartoon strip , Thanos pined for the personification of expiry , look for to woo her by committing mass slaying . In the MCU , Thanos ’ need was significantly alter , with the Mad Titan now wishing to halve the universe ’s universe to conserve finite imagination , forbid other universe from suffering the fate of his home satellite .

Thanos pin for the prosopopoeia of last , seeking to woo her by committing aggregated murder

Thanos ’ newfangled need was understandably not planned ab initio , with his debut inThe Avengers’post - credit scene strongly implying that “ court last ” was still his motivating . While Thanos ’s original comical need could certainly have worked in the MCU , his reimagined goal at least match it . The MCU ’s Thanos has a less obtuse motive , however misguide it may be in pattern .

Split image of the Venom The Last Dance poster and Kraven the Hunter

5The Hulk Would Have Benefited From Another Solo Movie

To Make Smart Hulk More Satisfying

Bruce Banner made his MCU debut in 2008’sThe unbelievable Hulkand while he appeared conspicuously inThe Avengersfilms ( among other MCU property ) , he has not had any further solo movies . Notably , this is because Universal Pictures still owns the motion-picture show rights to The Hulk , making solo moving picture a complex matter while having The Hulk appear in crossover voter films – even in a lead function – is more accomplishable . Still , The Hulk would have in earnest benefited from one or two solo movies afterThe Avengers .

The obvious first shoes for another Hulk motion picture would have been sometime betweenThe AvengersandAge of Ultron , perhaps exploring how SHIELD helps Bruce Banner last out out of the clutches of General Thadeus Ross . An even more interesting place would be betweenAge of UltronandRagnarok . Not only would this allow the MCU to dive deeply into theHulkcomic mythos , but it would also make Bruce Banner ’s constitution ofthe “ Smart Hulk ” personamore live up to and less abrupt .

4The Maximoff Twins Were Mishandled From The Start

No Room For A Mutant Retcon & An Inappropriate Hydra Affiliation

Wanda and Pietro Maximoff , better known as Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver , respectively , were initially villainous mutant members of the Brotherhood of Mutants , serving Magneto before they were eventually let on to be his children . Obviously , with 20th Century Fox possess the flick right to theX - Menand the conception of Marvel mutants at the time ofAge of Ultron’sdevelopment and release , it would have been out of the question to make the twins mutants or Magneto ’s children . This change was unsatisfying , peculiarly with Marvel Studios now have the rights to theX - Men , but it is far less problematical than another variety .

The Maximoff twins are Judaic and Romani in the cartoon strip , cater the MCU with an excellent chance to diversify its pantheon of heroes , butAge of Ultronwasted it . Although Pietro is play by a Jewish actor , the twins are hush up in - universe and , even worse , made brief members of the Hydra terrorist group , which was once a branch of the nazi party . The MCU has not improved its Judaic representation , as express byMoon Knight , but it has two more chances in the material body of Sabra and Ben Grimm , who are each set to debut in upcoming MCU properties .

3Age of Ultron Ignores Tony Stark’s Iron Man 3 Characterization

Whedon Hit The Reset Button

The pic terminate with Stark destroying his legion of Iron Man armour and having the shrapnel in his breast removed

Iron Man 3was a factious entry , both for its infamous Mandarin twist and its character bow for Tony Stark . The film end with Stark put down his legion of Iron Man armour and take in the shrapnel in his chest removed . Iron Man 3seemingly closes the book on Stark ’s story , perhaps only intimate that he will continue to act upon with The Avengers without wear another Iron Man suit . eld of Ultronwould brush aside this , opening with an exciting activeness sequence that sees Stark , don his 43rd loop of the Iron Man lawsuit , combat Hydra soldiers .

years of Ultronhitting the reset clitoris on Iron Man ’s character electric discharge can certainly be criticized , but few would dispute that this was , at long last , for the best . Iron Man is one of the MCU ’s most pop and marketable superheroes by far , and there would sure enough have been more controversy surroundingIron Man 3if Stark never fall as Iron Man in theAvengerssequels . Moreover , Endgameproved to be a far more square end to Stark ’s MCU story .

Headshot Of Anthony Mackie

The MCU ’s Thunderbolts * movie may hide a large secret in its title , which might allude to the team ’s connection to Marvel Comics ' Dark Avengers .

2Iron Man 3’s Mandarin Twist Was An Odd Choice

At Least It Led To Xu Wenwu In Shang-Chi

The infamous Mandarin twist inIron humanity 3remains one of the most factious moments in the MCU , and project how dependable a serious version of The Mandarin can be inShang - Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings , the twirl now seems like an even stranger choice . In Marvel ’s comics , The Mandarin is Iron Man ’s ultimate nemesis , but unluckily , he could easily become a dated and violative character if not handled tactfully . Iron Man 3opted to simply use The Mandarin as a proxy for its real villain – Aldrich Killian – resulting in a twist few expect and many criticized .

In any shell , the MCU finally get the real Mandarin inShang - Chi , with Xu Wenwu . Within one movie show , the MCU ’s substantial Mandarin became one of the MCU ’s most complex and compelling scoundrel . For skilful or worse , however , this dear take on The Mandarin never faced off against Iron Man .

1Spider-Man Was Nothing Like The Comics

At Least Until No Way Home

Maguire and Garfield ’s iterations were also improbably precise to the amusing seed material

Tom Holland had big shoes to meet as the third unrecorded - action Spider - Man , with Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield win TV audience over in their respectiveSpider - Manmovies . Maguire and Garfield ’s iterations were also incredibly precise to the risible source material , with Maguire ’s loop flux various eras of the mainstream comics and Garfield ’s interpretation being mostly free-base on theUltimate Spider - Manseries . In an exploit to make out Holland ’s Spider - Man from his predecessors , the MCU made him an original take on the persona who , while certainly sympathetic , has far less in common with the Spider - Man of the comicsthan Maguire or Garfield ’s versions .

Holland ’s Spider - Man miss the independency that Peter Parker is known for , becoming reliant on Tony Stark and aspiring to link The Avengers ab initio . Holland ’s Spider - Man also lack the relatively low - tech costume and gadgetry of his comic counterpart and used a arm - laden Stark Industries Spider - Man costume instead . ByNo Way Home , however , Holland ’s Spider - Man finally began to more closely resemble his amusing counterpart , though he has yet to make his return in theMarvel Cinematic Universe .

Headshot Of Paul Rudd In The  ‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ Premiere

Headshot Of Robert Downey Jr. In The 10th Annual Breakthrough Prize Ceremony

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Headshot Of Josh Brolin In The ‘Dune:Part 2’ premiere

Headshot Of Zendaya In The Los Angeles Premiere Of Amazon MGM Studios' ‘Challengers’

Headshot Of Tom Holland In The 29th Annual Critics Choice Awards

Headshot Of Jamie Foxx In The European premiere of ‘Creed III’

Headshot Of Scarlett Johansson In The ‘Fly Me To The Moon’ Premiere

Headshot Of Sebastian Stan In The A Different Man at the 74th Berlin Film Festival.

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Headshot Of Mark Ruffalo In The 76th Annual DGA Awards

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Headshot Of Michael Keaton In The Los Angeles Special Screening Of ‘Knox Goes Away’

Headshot Of Marisa Tomei In The 90 Years Of Laughter + Love' Birthday Special

Marvel Cinematic Universe