Avengers: Age of Ultron is destined to be the biggest box office hit in the history of Marvel Studios, thanks in large part to its impressive collection of famous superbeings. Yet even with its cornucopia of iconic heroes and villains, it still contains only a fraction of the comic book giant’s immense roster of characters, who’ve been popping up in films for more than half a century—and, especially, for the past 30 years. Which naturally raises the question: Which of those films is the best? While reaching a consensus among both casual and die-hard fans is likely impossible, we’ve nonetheless endeavored to lend some order to the often confusing and chaotic Marvel movie universe. Thus, with all due respect to the studio’s various animated efforts, TV movies, and imprint-based projects like Kick-Ass and Men in Black [which belong on another list], we present to you a ranking of every live-action feature to boast at least some measure of the Marvel magic—a breakdown that, as you’ll see, runs the gamut from fowl foulness to galactic greatness.
40. Howard the Duck (1986)
George Lucas’ 1986 catastrophe is Marvel’s big-screen nadir, a compendium of intolerable puns, creepy animal-human sexual tension, and off-putting special effects, all of it centered around its anthropomorphic feathered hero, who’s about as likable as a punch in the stomach.
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39. The Fantastic Four (1994)
Rumor has it that Roger Corman’s infamous—and never-released—Fantastic Four was made just so co-producer Bernd Eirchinger could retain rights to the property. Regardless, it’s a campy fiasco from start to finish, replete with unintentionally funny special effects for The Human Torch, and a rock body for The Thing that appears to be little more than a $10 rubber suit. [Watch the entire film here if you dare.]
38. Captain America (1990)
Like Corman’s Fantastic Four, this 1990 disaster never received a proper stateside release—a fitting fate, given the B-grade ridiculousness of its every element, not the least of which is Matt Salinger’s beyond-wooden lead performance as the super-patriot. [Watch the entire film here if you dare.]
37. Captain America (1944)
This 1944 black-and-white serial stands as the most expensive production in Republic Pictures’ history, and the first film to feature a Marvel character. Historical standing aside, however, it’s a clunky pulp throwaway that’s most memorable for featuring a plot about Cap (sporting some serious love handles) trying to stop a dastardly villain from acquiring an item known as “The Dynamic Vibrator.”
36. Daredevil (2003)
No modern Marvel film has achieved the sheer awfulness of 2003’s Daredevil, in which Ben Affleck’s blind vigilante “sees” everything as if it were virtual rain, and Colin Farrell goes ultra-hammy as sharp-shooting scoundrel Bullseye. The fact that it didn’t destroy Marvel’s reputation—and, in fact, managed to spawn a spin-off!—is close to miraculous.
35. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
Marc Webb’s two webslinger sagas are almost equally abysmal, rife with endless CGI, one-dimensional characters, and stories that tediously rehash their Sam Raimi predecessors while also trying to craft a pitifully unique mythology. 2014’s sequel just barely edges out 2012’s film in terms of direness, due to the intolerable cartoonishness of Jamie Foxx as Electro.
34. Elektra (2005)
The fundamental problem with Elektra is that it’s, you know, about Elektra, a dull, minor Marvel player whose ninja-assassin skills are of a decidedly ho-hum nature. Jennifer Garner works hard to sell the film’s narrative silliness, but aside from a few nifty villain-related special effects, it’s perhaps Marvel’s blandest film.
33. Man-Thing (2005)
Only good enough for a theatrical release abroad (here, it was SyFy Channel-worthy), this 2005 adaptation of Stan Lee’s swamp creature is not only a low-budget mess with lousy production values and performances, it’s also far from faithful to its source material, altering—to no appreciable end—its protagonist’s hometown, attitude, and powers.
32. The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
The do-over that nobody wanted and even fewer loved, Marc Webb’s 2012 rehash of Spidey’s origins pales in comparison to Sam Raimi’s version of the same tale, though it gets at least a few (trivial) points for leads Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone’s natural chemistry.
31. The Punisher (1989)
The first of three attempts to bring Frank Castle to the multiplex, this 1989 B-movie (which only hit theaters overseas) alters its hero’s backstory, ditches his trademark skull logo, and is headlined by none other than Dolph Lundgren—whose robotic-badass routine is in keeping with the action’s dreary, by-the-books brutality.
30. X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
Brett Ratner took over for Bryan Singer for this third entry in the X-Men franchise, and just about ruined it with a surfeit of noisy action, a dearth of compelling character drama, and a storyline (especially at its climax) that betrays the series’ allegorical heart.
29. Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Sam Raimi’s final go-round with Peter Parker has too many villains—and thus too many plot threads—to cohere into something thrilling, and its evil-Spidey dance sequence remains the low point for the director’s original trilogy.
28. The Punisher (2004)
While Thomas Jane is a modest improvement over Dolph Lundgren, this sophomore stab at The Punisher is still an uneven slog that fails to capture the character’s true hardass-vigilante spirit— and John Travolta’s turn as the evil Howard Saint is a debacle best left forgotten.
27. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)
Fox’s two Fantastic Four films are lighthearted, reasonably entertaining diversions, though the second of those efforts remains the weaker, if only because, despite the presence of the Silver Surfer (voiced by Laurence Fishburne), it imagines the world-eating titan Galactus as a giant space-cloud that looks like…well…use your perverted imagination.
26. Punisher: War Zone (2008)
The nominal cream of the Punisher-film crop, if just barely, is this grim 2008 effort produced by Marvel Studios, which features a well-cast Ray Stevenson as Frank Castle in a tiresomely ultra-violent battle against his facially scarred adversary, Jigsaw (Dominic West).
25. Thor: The Dark World (2013)
The weakest of any film in the modern Marvel Cinematic Universe—i.e. those films made since 2008’s Iron Man, and connected under one fictional umbrella—the second adventure for the Son of Asgard is a fantastical snooze, largely buoyed by the great Tom Hiddleston as Thor’s nefarious sibling Loki.
24. Fantastic Four (2005)
Jessica Alba is awkward as Sue Storm, Michael Chiklis is corny as The Thing, and Ioan Gruffudd is inert as Reed Richards—and yet with a jovial tone and a strong supporting performance by Chris Evans (Marvel’s future Captain America) as Johnny Storm, aka The Human Torch, this Fantastic Four film is a fitfully entertaining trifle.
23. Blade: Trinity (2004)
Ryan Reynolds and Jessica Biel come aboard the franchise as Blade’s back-up in this mixed-bag threequel, which benefits from Reynolds’s sarcastic wise-cracking but flounders in its portrayal of Dracula as an open-shirted steroidal male model.
22. Ghost Rider (2007)
No one is better suited to play a demonic motorcycle-riding, flaming-skulled superhero than Nicolas Cage, and he does the character justice—albeit just barely—in Mark Steven Johnson’s adaptation, which is all over the place but at least gives its star some room to flex his freaking-out muscles.
21. Thor (2011)
There’s no avoiding the fact that Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is the least interesting member of the Avengers, and that truth is reinforced by this 2011 stand-alone adventure, which is most memorable for staging its climax in a remote desert town that looks like the most flimsy cardboard-cutout set in superhero-movie history.
20. The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Marvel’s reboot of the angry green goliath ups the action but decreases the style, in the process affording a rather lifeless depiction of Bruce Banner’s (Edward Norton) efforts to control his anger, and, thus, the monster lurking within. That said, the Hulk’s final fight against gamma radiation-enhanced Abomination delivers the rage-fueled goods.
19. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
Hugh Jackman is an ideal Wolverine. His maiden solo outing, however, is hopelessly inconsistent, ranging from the inspired (his showdowns with feral half-brother Victor Creed, aka Sabretooth) to the lame (its depiction of New Orleans-born mutant Gambit) to the dreadful (the final battle against Ryan Reynolds’s misconceived Deadpool).
18. Blade (1998)
Commencing with a phenomenal dance club sequence, Stephen Norrington’s film about the half-human, half-vampire antihero is a sleek, no-nonsense dose of action-horror that’s elevated by Wesley Snipes’s cold-badass demeanor as Blade, Kris Kristofferson’s grizzled-mentor gravity as weapons-maker Abraham Whistler, and Stephen Dorff’s conniving ambition as the villainous Deacon Frost.
17. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2012)
Nic Cage’s craziness is amplified to even greater heights in this undervalued 2012 sequel by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor (the masterminds behind Crank), whose mood is both darker than its predecessor, and more maniacally unhinged as well.
16. X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
Merging the casts of the original X-Men films and those from its ’60s-set prequel X-Men: First Class, this return to the X-fold by director Bryan Singer does justice to its source material—a beloved time-travel storyline about government attempts to exterminate mutants—and only falters in its inability to give Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) something to do other than stand around listening to his less interesting comrades talk.
15. Iron Man 2 (2010)
The most narratively muddled of the three Iron Man films, this 2010 blockbuster remains a rollickingly messy sequel, with even more Robert Downey Jr. smart-assery and an entertainingly overcooked Mickey Rourke as electro-lasso-wielding Russian baddie Whiplash.
14. X-Men: First Class (2011)
Matthew Vaughn’s prequel-reboot period piece assembles a great cast—including Michael Fassbender as Magneto and Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique—and, though a tad light on truly memorable set pieces, does a solid job weaving its characters’ origin stories into a larger Cold War framework.
13. X-Men (2000)
Marvel’s big screen coming out party came courtesy of Bryan Singer’s inaugural X-Men, which faithfully nails both the specifics of its mutant heroes’ backstories, and the overarching persecuted-outcast nature of their plight—not to mention that it gets the team’s most important character, Wolverine, perfectly.
12. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
Its latter stages may be a tad too monotonous, but the opening half of Joe Johnston’s Captain America: The First Avenger is one of Marvel’s finest hours, striking a superb balance between time-capsule nostalgia, noble little-guy-makes-good fantasy, and revisionist wartime comedy.
11. Spider-Man (2002)
Opening to what was, at the time, the largest debut weekend box office haul in history, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man is a high-flying coming-of-age story that locates the nerdy, noble heart of its iconic teenage do-gooder, expertly embodied by Tobey Maguire.
10. X2: X-Men United (2003)
The preeminent entry in the X-Men franchise is this 2003 sequel, in which director Bryan Singer accomplishes the not-inconsiderable feat of providing superior mutant action and geekier mythology-building plot strands while also digging deeper into the property’s oppressed-minority themes.
9. Blade II (2002)
With Wesley Snipes continuing to affect a simultaneously formidable and funny stoic-hunter gruffness, Guillermo Del Toro’s Blade II transforms Blade into a figure of righteously dark heroism, here via a tale that allows Del Toro to truly indulge his dank subterranean-horror impulses.
8. Hulk (2003)
Ang Lee’s Hulk still stands as the most undeservedly maligned Marvel movie. Don’t believe the haters—with an energetically self-conscious style that evokes comic book panels, a tormented beast plot that harkens back to Frankenstein, and a gonzo bad-daddy turn by Nick Nolte, Lee’s film is smashing.
7. The Wolverine (2013)
For its first three-quarters, James Mangold’s The Wolverine plays like a superhero character study, charting Wolverine’s internal crisis while visiting Japan. It’s a unique approach that pays engaging dramatic dividends, and nicely sets up a finale full of the clawed mutant’s trademark hack-and-slash mayhem.
6. Iron Man (2008)
Robert Downey Jr. brings charming playboy arrogance to the role of Tony Stark in this, the film that began the modern Marvel Cinematic Universe. From the deserts of Afghanistan to the sleek offices of Stark Industries to the city streets where, as Iron Man, he battles it out against Jeff Bridges’s titanic robo-suited villain, Downey Jr. is nothing short of superb in this creation myth about Marvel’s military-grade hero.
5. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
It may take its cues from Three Days of the Condor, but what truly makes Captain America’s second feature so thrilling is Chris Evans, who personifies the out-of-time soldier—born in the ’40s, and yet resurrected in the present day—as a conflicted man struggling to maintain his bedrock values amidst a new, thorny military-industrial complex landscape.
4. Iron Man 3 (2013)
Detailing Tony Stark’s psychological turmoil in the aftermath of The Avengers, Iron Man 3 is energized by writer/director Shane Black’s signature banter-heavy dialogue and Christmastime spirit. Also boasting a pretty great Ben Kingsley turn as the not-what-he-seems Mandarin, it’s the funniest and most character-grounded of the franchise’s three installments.
3. Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Hands-down the best Marvel film not directly produced by Marvel, Sony’s Spider-Man 2 is a fantastic pop-adventure fixated on its hero’s (Tobey Maguire) struggles to maintain his secret identity, his relationship to Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst), and his sense of responsibility to New York’s inhabitants, all while fending off Alfred Molina’s scientist-turned-fiend Dr. Octopus. The train set piece is a classic.
2. The Avengers (2012)
Joss Whedon assembles Earth’s Mightiest Heroes with brash style and electric wit in The Avengers, a years-in-the-making project that ably lives up to the avalanche of post-credit stinger teases and promotional hype that preceded it. Save for its somewhat patchy opening 20 minutes, it’s thrilling, funny, and satisfyingly epic—especially with regards to its every instant-classic moment involving Mark Ruffalo’s scene-stealing Hulk.
1. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
While The Avengers may have the more famous heroes and operate on a grander scale, James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy is not only the most purely entertaining Marvel movie ever, it’s also the one with the most consistent, and precisely executed, tone and vision. From its joyous title card to its climactic dance routine, it’s an equally exciting and absurd space opera that lends itself to endless repeat viewings. As such, it stands—at least for now—as Marvel’s crowning cinematic achievement.
