What is the best and worst Marvel film of all time? Well, I’m sure we all have our opinions on that subject, but I wanted to know what the consensus was. To figure that out I gathered data from three major websites for rating movies and calculated the results. I gathered the average user ratings from IMDB, Letterboxd, and Rotten Tomatoes, along with the critics rating from the latter. I used those values to create an average score (a percentage) and ranked the movies. The films are ranked first by their average score and then by release date (newest to oldest). Average scores for this list are not weighted based on number of reviews, and the formula is modified in the case of missing ratings (generally critic scores on Rotten Tomatoes). While this list will include my own personal thoughts and opinions on each entry along with sections highly plagiarized from Wikipedia, the ranking is based entirely on the average score.
Before I did that, I had another question though: what movies? For this list I gathered all the live action feature length films using Marvel properties as the protagonists or antagonist (legally or not, this is important for one entry). This is not the MCU only or only theatrical releases. If you notice any movie missing, please let us know and we will update the list.
The list is up to date as of Thor: Love and Thunder as I did not want to include any films not readily available to a large audience (on Disney+ for at least a month). With that in mind, supplemental addendums may be published listing where future releases fall in this list. Edit: I’ve been writing this piece for so long that I’ve added in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever as an addendum, and by the time this is published Ant-Man and Wasp Quantumania will have been on Disney for a month. But I think I’m done with Wakanda Forever.
50 – Spider-Man (1977) – 54% – This was the pilot for the 70s series of the same name and was released in theaters outside of North America. This film, like its two sequels, stars Nicholas Hammond as Peter Parker / Spider-Man. Unlike the other two films, David White (Brewster’s Millions) stars as J. Jonah Jameson. This film also stars Hilly Hicks as Robbie Robertson and Jean Marie “Jeff” Donnell as May Parker. This movie is about a hypnotist who hypnotizes people to rob banks and later in the film hypnotizes ten people to kill themselves. One of those people is Peter Parker. Will he survive his encounter with the devious hypnotist? Probably. This movie was written by Alvin Boretz and directed by E. W. Swackhamer.
49 – X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) – 58% – Directed by Bryan Singer (Jack the Giant Slayer, Bohemian Rhapsody, Superman Returns, and courtroom near you!) and written by Simon Kinberg (XXX: State of the Union and The 355) this movie is considered a middling and sadly boring entry in the X-Men franchise. Starring much of the same cast from the previous entries in this franchise, the film added Oscar Isaac (Drive, Dune, Ex Machina, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) as the titular Apocalypse, Olivia Munn (Iron Man 2 and Attack of the Show) as Psylocke, Kodi Smit-McPhee (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and Power of the Dog) as Nightcrawler, Ben Hardy (Bohemian Rhapsody) as Angel, and Lana Condor (Alita: Battle Angel) as Jubilee. The film notoriously had promotion stills leaked which made the Apocalypse character look like Ivan Ooze from the Mighty Morphin Power Ranger. There was also a controversy surrounding a promotional poster of this movie showing Apocalypse choking Mystique. I guess even the two-thousand-year-old bad guys in our movies should at least have modern feminist standards. At least it wasn’t as bad as its sequel. This is too high on the list in my opinion.
48 – Spider-Man 3 (2007) – 59% – The third film in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, this is a tough film to watch especially following what I consider to be one of the best superhero movies of all time with Spider-Man 2. This movie was written by Alvin Sargent (the previous two Spider-Man films and Academy Award winner for Julia and Ordinary People), Ivan Raimi (Darkman, Army of Darkness, and Drag Me to Hell), and the director Sam Raimi. This film starred Tobey Maguire as the titular character, Kirsten Dunst, James France, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rosemary Harris, and J. K. Simmons. While it was the third highest grossing film of the trilogy, it is also generally considered to be the worst of the trilogy. It does not deserve to be below The Amazing Spider-Man 2 on this list though. This movie tried to cram too many villains into one story, a sin many comic book films have still not learned including The Amazing Spider-Man 2. While not a bad actor, Topher Grace was underwhelming as Eddie Brock/Venom especially in terms of his stature, and James Franco’s turn as the Green Goblin was an awkward design that looked specifically made to sell toys. This film also has one of the cringiest scenes where it turns out that the symbiote makes Peter Parker not only into a jerk but also an even bigger dork. But what would younger people do without all of those memes? The highlight of this movie is Thomas Haden Church who did an amazing job along with the CGI developed specifically to show Sandman’s powers.
47 – Venom (2018) – 59% – Directed by Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland and Uncharted) and written by Jeff Pinker (The Amazing Spider-Man 2), Scott Rosenberg (Kangaroo Jack and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle), and Kelly Marcel (Cruella and Fifty Shades of Grey) this movie showed a large divide between the critics and the audience (some of the audience). This movie stars Tom Hardy (Mad Max: Fury Road, The Revenant, The Dark Knight Rises, Star Trek: Nemesis) as the titular character along with Michelle Williams (Dawson’s Creek), Riz Ahmed (The Sound of Metal), Scott Haze (Thank You for Your Service), and Reid Scott (Veep). This movie is awkward in its placement in continuity both existing as part of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, but also not actually being part of the MCU which Sony’s Spider-Man is part. The film is fine, has some great stunt work, and Tom Hardy is enjoyable to watch as usual. But with a bombastic third act involving two webs of goo incoherently fighting on a launch pad in the dark, this is also a movie that makes me feel like an old man as it gives me a headache. I’m fairly sure I took a nap during the second act of this movie and have never bothered to rewatch it.
46 – X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) – 59% – This third movie in the original X-Men film franchise, it was directed by Brett Ratner (Rush Hour, Hercules, and probably nothing else ever again) and written by Simon Kinberg and Zak Penn who have both written movies previously on this list and movies to come. This movie has much of the same cast as the previous films with the introduction of Ben Foster (Hell or High Water and Pandorum) as Angel, Vinnie Jones (Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) as Juggernaut (who was a mutant?), Kelsey Grammar (Frasier) as Beast, Dania Ramirez (Quarantine) as Callisto, Eric Dane (Grey’s Anatomy) as Multiple Man. This movie, for all of its flaws, is slightly fun for the amount of cameo appearances by various mutants. To be far, most of them are only recognizable due to their IMDB credits (see: Kid Omega who is just a pufferfish mutant played by Ken Leung who would play Karnak in the Inhuman’s series). This movie is also fun in the way that a bad movie can be where at points it’s so stupid and ridiculous you can’t really help but have a good time with it. It does completely ignore all continuity to the comics (why is Phoenix working with Magneto?). Also, Halle Berry completely stopped trying to do any sort of African accent in this film. It isn’t good and is probably too high on this list.
45 – The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) – 59% – This is what we get when studios don’t learn their lesson on why previous movies didn’t work. Written by Jeff Pinker (Spider-Man 3), Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (The Mummy and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), I’m not sure they could’ve found a worse group of writers. This was directed by Marc Webb who returned after directing the not as nearly bad first installment. This movie stars Andrew Garfield as the titular character, Emma Stone (Zombieland and Birdman), Jamie Foxx (Django Unchained and Collateral), Dane Dehaan (Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets), Paul Giamatti (American Splendor and John Adams), Felicity Jones (Rogue One and The Theory of Everything), and Sally Field (The Flying Nun and 80 for Brady). While unlike Spider-Man 3 in that the three villains aren’t part of the big third act battle, this movie does also have three villains and doesn’t properly develop all of them just like Spider-Man 3. While I understand why they changed the Rhino to a guy in a mech-suit, the movie ends with him just as what was the best scene in the film starts. The inclusion of Electro was fine, but these movies need to stop trying to tell the audience how important the Osborns are. This movie does such a bad job that the audience is required to have seen an entirely different trilogy of movies to understand why these characters are important. The post credit scene teasing of a Sinister Six movie are also annoying now as that was probably the most interesting and promising aspect of this film: “Ok, I sat through this garbage, but at least I get a Sinister Six movie next time.” Nope.
44 – Eternals (2021) – 63% – This is the first movie on this list that based on the average scores would be considered “Fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes. While I think an argument could be made that other movies below this film are better, I do agree that this is an alright film. 63% feels right. This was directed and co-written by Chloé Zhao (writer and director of Nomadland) and co-written by Patrick Burleigh, Ryan Firpo, and Kaz Firpo. The cast included Gemma Chan (Captain Marvel), Richard Madden (Game of Thrones), Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick), Angelina Jolie (Director of Unbroken), Salma Hayek (Desperado), Kit Harington (Game of Thrones), Barry Keoghan (The Banshees of Inisherin), Brian Tyree Henry (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse), Don Lee (Train to Busan), and Laruen Ridloff (The Walking Dead). This was a true ensemble cast, which was a bold and daring move that maybe didn’t work given a lot of the criticisms of the film. The large cast didn’t entirely allow for proper character development apart from the two main characters of the film (Gemma Chan and Richard Madden). But apart from that and some pacing issues, this is one of the better looking of the MCU movies, very likely due to cinematographer Ben Davis (4 other MCU films and The Banshees of Inisherin). While most MCU films seem to copy-and-paste the same structure and beats from each other, this movie does feel elevated by the visuals (not CGI) and has moments that I still remember due to how beautifully they were shot.
43 – Three Giant Men (1973) – 63% – This is the Turkish film also known as 3 Dev Adam. This movie is about Captain America, Santo (a luchador), and Captain America’s girlfriend Jullia infiltrating the violent criminal organization run by the infamous Spider-Man. Sure, this is not an official release condoned by Marvel, so you might say it doesn’t belong on this list. Well, shut up and make your own list. This entry only gained this high of a prominence due to the opposite of “review bombing” on Rotten Tomatoes. Only one person has reviewed this movie on Rotten Tomatoes and gave it a 4.5 out of 5, and so this has a 100% audience score on that website. Should I have maybe normalized this score by removing it altogether? Maybe. But then maybe I’m the one person who reviewed this film on that site. Hmmm. Statistics are great because I can make the numbers say whatever I want them to say. This also goes to show this entire list is pointless and it’s okay for you to like whatever you like.
42 – Captain Marvel (2019) – 63% – Written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan K. Fleck, this is a divisive movie to say the least. Starring Brie Larson (the star of countless YouTube videos of bearded white guys talking about how much they hate her because she said doesn’t care about their opinions) as the titular character, Samuel L. Jackson (all those other MCU movies), Ben Mendelsohn (Rogue One and Spider-Man: Far From Home), Djimon Hounsou (Guardians of the Galaxy, Amistad, and Gladiator), Lee Pace (Guardians of the Galaxy), Lashana Lynch (No Time to Die), Gemma Chan (Eternals, but a different character), Annette Bening (The Great Outdoors), Clark Gregg (all those other MCU movies and shows), and Jude Law (Road to Perdition and A.I. Artificial Intelligence). This movie is rather notorious due to some comments the star made (see above) and acting like a superhero movie with big explosions and a CGI cat is of some sort of cultural and cinematic importance. It was review bombed on its opening day by people who probably never saw it, and for such a mediocre outing of a film garnered a lot of praise from critics. Visually the movie was dull. The action scenes were dull. The music queues were eye-rollingly on the noise and annoying. But it also isn’t the worst comic book movie to come out that year by far (see X-Men: Dark Phoenix, the Hellboy reboot, and MIB: International). This is another comic book film that doesn’t deserve neither the hate nor the praise and should (will probably) be forgotten as time goes by.
41 – The Incredible Hulk (2008) – 63% – Directed by Louis Leterrier (Transporter 2 and Now You See Me) and written by Zak Penn (we’ve seen him before on this list), this was a MCU movie made in conjunction with Universal Pictures which owned the movie distribution rights to the character (still own as of March 2023 along with Namor). While Universal owned the movie distribution rights to a Hulk solo film, they didn’t own all of the rights which is why we got the Hulk in other movies and television shows but never his own movie after this film. The movie starred Edward Norton (Fight Club) as Bruce Banner and apparently “punched up” the script at least for his character and rumor has it was worse than the Hulk when it came time to edit the film. The movie also starred Liv Tyler (nepo baby), Tim Roth (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, and The Hateful Eight), William Hurt (Kiss of the Spider Woman and The Big Chill), and Tim Blake Nelson (Watchmen, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and Old Henry). Lou Ferrigno also provided the vocal performance for the Hulk. This isn’t a bad movie, but also isn’t great. The action scenes are fun, but it does drag outside of those. It is obviously set up for multiple sequels we never got with Tim Roth’s character not dying (we see him later in the MCU) and Tim Blake Nelson’s character getting partially transformed into The Leader on screen. William Hurt also showed back up in the MCU as his character, but after the actor’s untimely death he is being replaced by Harrison Ford. Martin Starr also has a cameo type role in this movie, which was later confirmed as the same character he would play in the Spider-Man films. This was the second movie of the MCU and the post credit scene with Robert Downey Jr both confirmed this and set the geek world on fire back in the day.
