As a comic fan, I have strong opinions about the movie adaptations. Now, Marvel has a very good track record with movies, unlike their competitor, DC Comics. However, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) does have a slew of flaws I’d like to talk about. I’m not going to discuss every project on this list because that would take forever. I’m just going to talk about the ones I have something to say about.

S Tier

Black Panther: This movie is regarded as one of the best superhero movies of all time and for good reason. This movie is beautiful and heartfelt. It contains amazing social commentary on issues like oppression and isolationism. Black Panther is a great breath of fresh air when compared to other MCU projects. It feels much more unique and interesting than a lot of the others.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: While Wakanda Forever isn’t as good as the first Black Panther; it’s still an amazing, beautiful movie. Shuri is an extremely compelling and interesting character, and you can really feel her anger and grief. Namor is a very threatening, yet, still sympathetic villain. I love the parallels between Shuri and T’Challa. Her eventual decision to not continue the cycle of violence is intentionally reminiscent of T’Challa. Speaking of T’Challa, this movie did an amazing job of memorializing the late Chadwick Boseman. I love the choice to kill T’Challa off instead of recasting him. This movie made me cry multiple times. it was just so emotional and excellent.

Thor: Ragnarok: I absolutely adore this movie. It’s hilarious, fun, and such a wonderful deviation from the typical MCU formula. Taika Waititi is an amazing director, and although his second Thor movie is a total letdown, I still adore his work. He has such a distinct, funny style, and it worked perfectly in this movie. This movie never fails to entertain me and make me laugh. 

Avengers: Infinity War & Endgame: I don’t think I need to elaborate because these movies are nearly universally regarded as amazing cinema.

Guardians of the Galaxy: This movie is absolutely hilarious. The direction and acting in this movie are simply phenomenal. The only real downside to this movie is Chris Pratt (I HATE CHRIS PRATT). My good friend Rodney had something to add, saying “Guardians of the Galaxy is so GOATED!!!”

A Tier

WandaVision: I don’t like Wanda in the MCU because they got rid of the fact that she was a mutant, they cast a white woman to portray her despite her being Romani, and they continue to mischaracterize her. However, I absolutely adore this series. I can look past the flaws of Wanda in the MCU because they really nail her here. This show kept me completely entertained the whole way through. I didn’t put it in S tier, though because of the way the MCU has treated Wanda. 

Loki: I absolutely love Loki. He is one of my favorite characters, and this show is absolutely phenomenal. It’s phenomenal except for Sylvie. Sylvie is a female variant of Loki. I hate her with every inch of my being. She is the worst character in the entire show and in most of the franchise. For some reason, they decided to have Sylvie and Loki kiss. This disgusted me and upset me so much that I cannot physically put this in S tier.

Ms. Marvel: I don’t have much to say about this series besides that it was fresh and interesting. It brought new stuff to the table and finally introduced mutants. The main problem I have with this show is how they handled her powers. In the comics, Ms. Marvel initially was shifted into a younger Captain Marvel, her idol. Her character development was realizing she needs to be herself, and, unfortunately, that’s not present in the series until the very end credits scene. Also, I don’t like that they made her a mutant instead of an inhuman. It’s still a good show though. 

B Tier

Spider-Man: No Way Home: This is the only movie I really have to comment on. I know, a lot of people probably think this should be higher, but I hate to break the news that this movie was really not that good. It was only made to hype people up because of the other two movie universes colliding. It is an interesting concept, and I did enjoy the movie; it just wasn’t as good as people said it was.

C Tier

Thor: Love and Thunder: This movie was very disappointing. I love Taika Waititi, so I got my hopes up and I was disappointed. I do like this movie; it entertained me and was pretty funny at times, but it just really wasn’t that good. It was just okay.

D Tier

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law: I tried to enjoy this show. I tried so hard to like this show. It was absolutely painful. I am so disappointed with how dirty they treated She-Hulk. The last episode was cool when she went out of her show and walked through Disney+, but the rest of the show was just so mid. They even completely ruined her superhero outfit. She’s a HULK, and they made her just a tall green slightly muscular woman. This is a problem in comics too, but it’s just so frustrating in the show’s case because they were GOING to make her super buff. However, Disney made them cut back on how buff the effects artists could make her. I absolutely adore She-Hulk in the comics, so this was extremely disappointing.

WORST MOVIE EVER

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: This movie makes me so incredibly angry. They completely butchered Wanda’s character. Any shred of positive feeling I had towards MCU Wanda completely melted away once I watched this movie. This movie is so bland. It’s a multiverse movie, and they spend 99.99% of the movie in three bland universes. Any shred of power scaling the MCU had was completely demolished when Wanda crushed Captain Marvel with a statue. It would most certainly take more than a piece of stone to take down a powerful superhuman like Captain Marvel. Also, Blackbolt would not try to make a sound even if she got rid of his mouth.  He barely ever speaks and has an insane amount of self-control. All of the horror aspects they attempted with Wanda were bland and not scary. The trailers were also very misleading. They made it seem like Dr. Strange was going to cause the mess that needs to be fixed when in actuality it was Wanda. Also, Wanda’s character arc fromWandaVision was completely ruined. She seemed to understand what she did was wrong, and it really seemed like she wanted to become a better person. All of that was just thrown out the window. I really hate this movie. Rodney also agreed with me here, when he said, “Though I love Doctor Strange, Multiverse of Madness SUCKED!”

Overall, the MCU has really good movies, but there are a handful of stinkers. I think to fix the MCU they need to step away from the tired, old formula they keep sticking to. Whenever they go outside of the box, it creates some of the best pieces of cinema ever created, like Thor: Ragnarok. I have hope for the MCU. I really think, although the more recent movies have tended to be less than great, the MCU can still tell interesting and compelling stories.