Project-Nerd Ranks The MCU

Welcome to the newest monthly article series from Project-Nerd: Ranked!

Each month, the Project-Nerd team will work together to rank a set of movies, comics, video games, characters, or something else related in order to share with the world our preference on the matter.

We’re kicking it off with the Project-Nerd ranking of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

How it Works:

Each Project-Nerd staff member is given a ballot of existing and related items and asked to rank them in order from their favorite to least favorite. After the ballots are returned, we count up the end result and put the list in order.

For the Marvel Cinematic Universe ranking, ten different Project-Nerd Staff Members voted on the twelve existing MCU movies. The results at the top were mostly as expected, but there were some tight races for certain spots in the rankings and we learned that not all Pro-Nerds think alike.

Enjoy!


12. Iron Man 3

Iron Man 3 Feature

With a new director at the helm, Iron Man 3 seemed to not even come close to what Marvel had offered with its previous movies. Even Hulk and the Thor sequel scored better in this edition of Ranked, which means a lot.

Highest Rank: 3; Lowest Rank: 12


11. Thor: The Dark World

Thor The Dark World Feature

As we’ve said on the Nerdcast, it just sometimes feels like Thor: The Dark World isn’t a well constructed movie. Although you have to go far to find many that hate any of the MCU movies, this part of the list isn’t universally loved by all.

Highest Rank: 7; Lowest Rank: 12


10. Iron Man 2

Iron Man 2 Feature

Upon initial thought, Iron Man and Iron Man 2 seemed to be much superior movies than Iron Man 3. But Iron Man 2 just didn’t do well in the Project-Nerd  ballots. With a bar set so high out of the gate, the Iron Man sequels just can’t live up to the standard.

Highest Rank: 3; Lowest Rank: 12


9. The Incredible Hulk

Incredible Hulk Feature

Yeah, one of our team members ranked this as high as number two. When you really think about it, The Incredible Hulk was mostly loved by comic fans but then Marvel continued to step its game up and made this not as memorable as we once thought.

Highest Rank: 2; Lowest Rank: 12


8. Avengers: Age of Ultron

Avengers-Age-of-Ultron-Feature

The Avengers sequel was praised, and although it didn’t do the numbers the first film did, it was a box office success. This movie seemed to create really mixed feelings, with it falling all over the place on the ballots.

Highest Rank: 1; Lowest Rank: 11


7. Ant-Man

Ant-Man Movie

The newest Marvel movie (pre-Civil War), Ant-Man saw success on the list for being in recent memory as well as changing the tone of what Marvel movies have been doing. The film was favored more than disliked, but a twelfth place finish on one ballot kept it low overall.

Highest Rank: 4; Lowest Rank: 12


6. Thor

Thor 2011 Feature

The first Thor movie introduced a character many of us were excited to see on the big screen, however didn’t deliver at the level of some of the other MCU films have. It’s good enough in our team’s eyes to make it into the top half but there was definitely a lot left to be desired with this release.

Highest Rank: 4; Lowest Rank: 10


5. Captain America: The First Avenger

The First Avenger Feature

The First Avenger is where mixed results started coming into play. The next four movies (1-4) were very prominently placed towards the top half of all the ballots, but Captain America: The First Avenger wasn’t considered a favorite by all. With a very different feel to it, The First Avenger escaped the comic book movie norm and set up MCU’s greatest box office success.

Highest Rank: 3; Lowest Rank: 12


4. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

captain-america-winter-soldier-cover

The beauty of the Captain America films is that they don’t feel like comic book movies. The ‘same old’ routine was broken here with a spy movie (of sorts) playing out and the villain not being a clear, single character. The Winter Soldier was part of an amazing 2014 for the MCU, and that shows in our list.

Highest Rank: 1; Lowest Rank: 12


3. Iron Man

Iron Man Feature

It started it all, and it gains great praise for it. Iron Man kicked off the MCU without fans ever knowing that was the case. The movie was great, with a solid cast supporting the perfect pick for Tony Stark. Robert Downey Jr. still shines, and at this time we weren’t tired of everybody in the MCU throwing one-liners our way. A top three finish isn’t bad for the first in a long line of MCU titles.

Highest Rank: 2; Lowest Rank: 6


2. Marvel’s Avengers

Avengers Feature

It smashed box office numbers and exceeded expectations upon its theatrical release. A movie that was able to marry a number of different A-list celebrities and characters worked great and the Project-Nerd team recognized that. Much like the number one movie, this was a film that finished near the top of everybody’s ballot.

Highest Rank: 1; Lowest Rank: 7


1. Guardians of the Galaxy

Guardians of the Galaxy Banner

When we had our internal vote for the Best Movies of 2014, Guardians of the Galaxy swept it away by being towards the top of every ballot. The story remains the same here with Guardians of the Galaxy being picked as a top three movie on every ballot. This being at the top is something we all are happy with.

Highest Rank: 1; Lowest Rank: 3


That is how the Marvel Cinematic Universe stacked up, according to the Project-Nerd team, heading into Captain America: Civil War. With the new film already getting great praise and outselling any other MCU movie in pre-sales, we’re certain 2016’s releases would quickly shake this list up.

Let us know how you would rank the Marvel Cinematic Universe films in the comments below.

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