1. Infinity War (2018)
Thanos. The Snap. Stormbreaker.
This movie had everything: scintillating CGI-infused action scenes, hilarious dialogue, and even a little bit of emotion and heart.
But what really make this film stand out to me are:
- The return of Captain America, whom we hadn’t seen on screen in two years—since Civil War (2016).
- The second battle for New York when the trio of Doctor Strange/Wong, Iron Man and Spider-Man duke it out with Thanos’s murderous Black Order.
- The Battle of Wakanda where Thor, accompanied by Groot and Rocket Raccoon, provide major reinforcements to the partial Avengers team who were getting their asses kicked by the Black Order and its herd of Outriders.
2. The Avengers (2012)
Before Infinity War, this was my favorite Avengers movie. It had everything.
- It was the first blockbuster that was the culmination of stand-alone (5) superhero movies reaching their climax.
- It was the quintessential comic book movie — where the special effects had finally caught up to the point where aliens and superheroes looked hella-real interacting on the big screen.
- It established the MCU as the standard for interconnected films on a grand scale. The rest is cinematic history.
Avengers: Endgame
It’s probably the best film thematically and in terms of storyline compared to the other three. And although it’s an excellent film, it doesn’t give me the goosebumps that the aforementioned two Avengers movie gave me.
Except for the moment when Captain America let out his primal yell of, “AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!!” Alas, all was well in the Marvel Cinematic Universe after I heard that, and witnessed the visual delights of the Steve and his buddies finally “snapping away” Thanos and his minions.
4. Avengers: Age of Ultron
Although it’s the ugly duckling of the four Avengers films, it is still not an unattractive film. The VFX are on point (i.e. Ultron), the verbal sparring among the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is funny as hell, and most importantly, it laid Easter eggs that laid the groundwork for Black Panther, Thor: Ragnarok, Captain America: Civil War and WandaVision.
There is no shame in finishing fourth on this list. Number four has never looked so good. And for my money, the Age of Ultron trailer may be the best that the MCU has had to offer.
