Weakest MCU film?

[InCali]

The Incredible Hulk came out a month and a half after Iron Man did.

Really......wow. That's.....Incredible.

 

[Appfanincaaland]

The weakest MCU content (excluding Netflix) is Loki (sadly, I had high hopes), but since the thread title says "film" my vote is for Captain Marvel. It is just mind-numbingly dull. TIH would probably be my second choice, since I have only seen it once and that was 10 years ago and cant remember much. Black Widow was pretty bad too, it had one really good scene, the family dinner extending to when the soldiers show up with some really interesting story that unfortunately went nowhere, but the rest of the film (especially the boring action) is ridiculous. IM2 at least had some simple charm to it. As for Thor TDW, while not great by any stretch, I kind of like it ok. It has a few very interesting or fun moments and story beats. It's also one of the better looking MCU films from cinematography standpoint IMO, and has a good musical score. And I think I may be more fond of Darcy than the average MCU fan.

 

[John Piretra]

The weakest MCU content (excluding Netflix) is Loki (sadly, I had high hopes), but since the thread title says "film" my vote is for Captain Marvel. It is just mind-numbingly dull. TIH would probably be my second choice, since I have only seen it once and that was 10 years ago and cant remember much. Black Widow was pretty bad too, it had one really good scene, the family dinner extending to when the soldiers show up with some really interesting story that unfortunately went nowhere, but the rest of the film (especially the boring action) is ridiculous. IM2 at least had some simple charm to it. As for Thor TDW, while not great by any stretch, I kind of like it ok. It has a few very interesting or fun moments and story beats. It's also one of the better looking MCU films from cinematography standpoint IMO, and has a good musical score. And I think I may be more fond of Darcy than the average MCU fan.

Agreed on Captain Marvel. It's the MCU's biggest misfire. They ruined Mar-Vell, wasted Ben Mendelsohn, Jackson was half asleep the whole movie and they made Carol very dislikable.

 

[BobJM]

I very much enjoy Captain Marvel, though I do think there were story beats that could have been improved upon for the final cut. Would have loved to see more development for the Kree, and Ronan especially, for example.

Worst for me is probably Ant-Man and the Wasp. Such a nothing movie. All the action beats were laid out in the trailer. And the stuff with Janet seemed half-baked. That’s a waste of Michelle Pfeiffer (in a weird gray wig).

 

[psylockolussus]

Still Thor the Dark World for me. I've seen Eternals, and a lot of the character moments are too surface level, a lot of them needed more development and better writing and the eXposition can be a bit overwhelming and confusing. But I didn't find the film cringey compare to Thor the Dark World.

But I think in terms of critical reception, I would be surprised if we get a badly reviewed movie as Eternals so soon. Looking at the mcu's rotten tomatoes page, Eternals stands out like a sore thumb with that rotten rating.

 

[TheVileOne]

Eternals.

 

[metaphysician]

Tangential to everything, I think Carol's brief appearance in the Shang-Chi stinger had more life and personality than her prior movie appearances combined. Which just goes to show what a difference script/directing can make for a character.

 

[Erzengel]

While I have Iron Man 2, Dark World towards the bottom of my MCU list. Eternals, has some beautiful scenes and probably even better action sequences than them but I just didn't get as invested.

 

[EnDz0n3]

Capt Marvel. Still haven't seen Eternals

 

[John Piretra]

Capt Marvel. Still haven't seen Eternals

Captain Marvel bothered me. I left the theater annoyed. Trash movie.

 

[BobJM]

I still like Captain Marvel. What was it that left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth? Was it Larson as the character, or the writing of Danvers herself?

The Skrulls bait-and-switch was jarring at first, but doesn’t cut off the chance for future Skrull storylines, as we see for Secret Invasion.

Then again, I don’t mind IM2 nor The Incredible Hulk either so maybe I’m the outlier. Certainly not the strongest, but not terrible movies IMO.

 

[John Piretra]

I still like Captain Marvel. What was it that left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth? Was it Larson as the character, or the writing of Danvers herself?

The Skrulls bait-and-switch was jarring at first, but doesn’t cut off the chance for future Skrull storylines, as we see for Secret Invasion.

Then again, I don’t mind IM2 nor The Incredible Hulk either so maybe I’m the outlier. Certainly not the strongest, but not terrible movies IMO.

The whole movie felt like a major compromise. No chances were taken. Safe popcorn starring a VERY miscast Brie Larson. The movie could have been the next Guardians. They had great actors and a ton of great cosmic Marvel lore to adapt. The directors destroyed Mar-Vell "just because it was easier to have Lawson be a woman." Talos then gets turned into a surprise good guy because Skrulls need a sympathetic depiction too, right? Yeah, no. Mendelsohn should have been a ferocious villain. Then there's Jackson. It was ASTOUNDING to me how uninterested he is throughout the whole movie. Talk about checking out dramatically. Guy's on cruise control the whole time. Jude Law wasted. Lee Pace wasted. Clark Gregg wasted.

The whole movie was trash. Insulting to Marvel comics IMO and just awful as a CBM.

Both of Tim Story's formulaic Fantastic Four movies are miles better than Captain Marvel. Depressing to say that.

 

[metaphysician]

*cough* I would say the issue with Captain Marvel is that it had two plots smashed together. They had the material for both "The Origin of Captain Marvel" and "Captain Marvel, Champion of the Kree", and either of them could have worked as a movie. Instead of picking, they did both, and not only did this mean there was too much plot to fit in one movie, but the underlying themes and demands of those plots were incompatible. Thus you get weird structural problems like "The main plot requires audience sympathy and understanding of the heroine to work, but sticks all the origin storytelling that would provide such into second act flashbacks, thus forcing the entire first act to hinge on some very vague assumed empathy and character shortcuts". Like, sure, you can guess that the Kree are not the good guys based on genre savviness or recollections of GOTG, but even that leaves you adrift for a good third of the movie on "So, if I assume the Kree are the villains, why should I care about this particular Kree soldier, who doesn't especially stand out from the rest?"

Pretty much everything that doesn't work in the movie arises from this original sin. They should have just bitten the bullet and told a conventional origin story, then saved a Kree brainwashing tale for the sequel.

 

[John Piretra]

*cough* I would say the issue with Captain Marvel is that it had two plots smashed together. They had the material for both "The Origin of Captain Marvel" and "Captain Marvel, Champion of the Kree", and either of them could have worked as a movie. Instead of picking, they did both, and not only did this mean there was too much plot to fit in one movie, but the underlying themes and demands of those plots were incompatible. Thus you get weird structural problems like "The main plot requires audience sympathy and understanding of the heroine to work, but sticks all the origin storytelling that would provide such into second act flashbacks, thus forcing the entire first act to hinge on some very vague assumed empathy and character shortcuts". Like, sure, you can guess that the Kree are not the good guys based on genre savviness or recollections of GOTG, but even that leaves you adrift for a good third of the movie on "So, if I assume the Kree are the villains, why should I care about this particular Kree soldier, who doesn't especially stand out from the rest?"

Pretty much everything that doesn't work in the movie arises from this original sin. They should have just bitten the bullet and told a conventional origin story, then saved a Kree brainwashing tale for the sequel.

Here's a better movie I came up with in 5 minutes just by being a fan of the material:

First movie should have been about the legendary Mar-Vell "Captain Marvel" being sought out by Ronan on Earth. Mar-Vell went messing years ago and the Kree want him back to try him for "crimes against the Empire." We see in a flashback that he betrayed the Kree. That the cosmic entities gave him the Power Cosmic and made him the first "Guardian of the Galaxy". That he fought and drove Thanos away many years ago. Carol discovers him and falls for him. She helps him when Ronan comes for him. A fight breaks out between Mar-Vell and Ronan's crew and in exchange for Earth's safety he turns himself in and is taken Han Solo style. Carol inherits his powers and takes up the Captain Marvel role here on Earth hoping to one day find and free him from the Kree.

That's a Captain Marvel movie. Not that garbage they served up.

 

[Zarex]

I quite liked CM and I was pleasantly surprised it was so faithful to the comics. Based on behind the scenes photos of Brie alongside the Kree Starforce I figured they were going to give Mar-Vell's back story to Carol and call it a day. Instead we got air force employee Carol Danver working alongside and mentored by scientist Dr. Lawson. But Carol is unaware that the doctor was actually Mar-Vell, a Kree soldier operating undercover. Branded a traitor by the Kree, Ron Yogg's assassination attempt of Mar-Vell leads to Carol being bathed in the rays of an extraordinarily powerful machine which give her amazing powers. The explosion also gives Carol amnesia, which both restricts her ability to fully control her powers and makes it so she no longer knows whether she is of Kree or human origin. That's all lifted directly from the comics.

Weakest MCU film was probably TDW. Biggest disappointment was AOU.

 

[John Piretra]

I quite liked CM and I was pleasantly surprised it was so faithful to the comics. Based on behind the scenes photos of Brie alongside the Kree Starforce I figured they were going to give Mar-Vell's back story to Carol and call it a day. Instead we got air force employee Carol Danver working alongside and mentored by scientist Dr. Lawson. But Carol is unaware that the doctor was actually Mar-Vell, a Kree soldier operating undercover. Branded a traitor by the Kree, Ron Yogg's assassination attempt of Mar-Vell leads to Carol being bathed in the rays of an extraordinarily powerful machine which give her amazing powers. The explosion also gives Carol amnesia, which both restricts her ability to fully control her powers and makes it so she no longer knows whether she is of Kree or human origin. That's all lifted directly from the comics.

It wasn't faithful to the comics at all. It butchered Mar-Vell, repositioned Talos thus undermining the Sinister presence of the Skrulls, and worst of all made Carol a Tesseract-powered mutant. Ridiculous. All nonsense.

I'm just glad Gunn is doing Adam Warlock and the Russos handled Thanos wonderfully. Boden and Fleck destroyed the Captain Marvel mythos and made it's star the most dislikable Avenger yet.

 

[Bayne]

It wasn't faithful to the comics at all. It butchered Mar-Vell, repositioned Talos thus undermining the Sinister presence of the Skrulls, and worst of all made Carol a Tesseract-powered mutant. Ridiculous. All nonsense.

I'm just glad Gunn is doing Adam Warlock and the Russos handled Thanos wonderfully. Boden and Fleck destroyed the Captain Marvel mythos and made it's star the most dislikable Avenger yet.

Mutant? You sound like you're just seeing things that aren't there at this point.

 

[Zarex]

It wasn't faithful to the comics at all. It butchered Mar-Vell, repositioned Talos thus undermining the Sinister presence of the Skrulls, and worst of all made Carol a Tesseract-powered mutant. Ridiculous. All nonsense.

I'm just glad Gunn is doing Adam Warlock and the Russos handled Thanos wonderfully. Boden and Fleck destroyed the Captain Marvel mythos and made it's star the most dislikable Avenger yet.

If you were looking for a Mar-Vell movie, and it looks like you were with your "better" movie idea, then it's no wonder you were disappointed. The movie we got was about Carol Danver/Ms. Marvel/Binary/Captain Marvel and that one was a major box office success.

Those of us who are ACTUAL fans of the material get that the Light Speed Engine in CM isn't all that far off from the Psyche-Magnitron. That Skrulls are not all bad and have long been the victims of Kree brutality. And Carol ain't a mutant.

The amnesia angle - taken right from the comics! - made it difficult to bond with Carol in the movie. So while I appreciate Boden and Fleck not giving us another straight forward Phase 1 style origin movie, there is room for us to know Carol more personally in the follow up. Though certain types, who clutched their respective pearls over Ms. Larsen promoting diversity in journalism, will likely always have a problem with this extremely talented actress.

 

[John Piretra]

Mutant? You sound like you're just seeing things that aren't there at this point.

Carol was never "Tesseract-powered" in the comics. That reveal was laughable. Biden and Fleck don't have a clue. Hearing interviews with them on how they took creative licenses to make the story more Carol-centric was like listening to Josh Trank explain his idiotic reasons for adapting FF the way he did (body horror from being morbidly obese as a teen).

Fleck and Biden had no business directing Captain Marvel. Should have been Gunn or Whedon. Someone who actually likes and understands these characters.

 

[Bayne]

Carol was never "Tesseract-powered" in the comics. That reveal was laughable. Biden and Fleck don't have a clue. Hearing interviews with them on how they took creative licenses to make the story more Carol-centric was like listening to Josh Trank explain his idiotic reasons for adapting FF the way he did (body horror from being morbidly obese as a teen).

Fleck and Biden had no business directing Captain Marvel. Should have been Gunn or Whedon. Someone who actually likes and understands these characters.

Carol's powers and their source have been changed and retconned repeatedly in the comics, so I really don't give a **** about the movies doing it again. It's the character that matters and she works perfectly for me. And being tesseract powered still doesn't make her a mutant of any kind. It's a magic space rock, so granting superpowers isn't exactly an inconceiveable trait for it to have.

 

[halo10]

Incredible Hulk is the worst imo. It's not that it has big story flaws so much as it doesn't bring that much awesomeness to the table. And if you don't have the latter, what's even the point?

Iron Man 2 has an overstuffed plot, but scene to scene it's still really enjoyable imo. Dark World also has a lot of enjoyable scenes, mostly because of some neat visuals and fun characters.

I'd also put The First Avenger near the bottom as well, for the same reason as Incredible Hulk.

- i've only watched CA-first Avenger just twice because it was so slow pace, non-appealing, in fact it set up low expectations for Winter Soldier for me, ..until i was sso surprisingly Wowed by Winter Soldier.

- i actually thought Incredible hulk was a vast improvement over Ang Lee's The Hulk.(which i called an angry Shrek...lol)
Though i preferred Sam Elliott's psycho General Thunderbolt Ross over William Hurt.
And i'd take Tim Roth villain over a Nick Nolte any day of the week.

- Iron Man 2 was too slow paced to me, and really came down to 3 big scenes in the entire movie and too much unneccessary dialogue and slowness in between the action scenes .. i cannot believe so many preferred IM 2 over Shane Black's Iron man 3 ...

 

[halo10]

Ranking the Weakest of MCU films. ..my list

1 Captain Marvel
2 Thor Dark World
3 Guardians of the Galaxy 2
4 Captain America: First Avenger
5 Iron Man 2

 

[halo10]

I still like Captain Marvel. What was it that left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth? Was it Larson as the character, or the writing of Danvers herself?

The Skrulls bait-and-switch was jarring at first, but doesn’t cut off the chance for future Skrull storylines, as we see for Secret Invasion.

Then again, I don’t mind IM2 nor The Incredible Hulk either so maybe I’m the outlier. Certainly not the strongest, but not terrible movies IMO.

i still cannot believe the Capt. marvel director/writers sought to tell how Nick Fury lost his eye to a mere cat scratch ..!! Unbelievable !!

 

[John Piretra]

Ranking the Weakest of MCU films. ..my list

1 Captain Marvel
2 Thor Dark World
3 Guardians of the Galaxy 2
4 Captain America: First Avenger
5 Iron Man 2

Similar list to mine:

1. Captain Marvel
2. Iron Man 3
3. Thor: The Dark World (2013 was a rough year for the MCU)
4. Ant-Man And The Wasp
5. Spider-Man: Homecoming
6. Iron Man 2
7. Spider-Man: Far From Home
8. Ant-Man
9. Doctor Strange
10. Black Widow

Captain Marvel annoyed me the most. Everything else had it's moments despite not being an overall good movie. I found no redeeming qualities in Captain Marvel AT ALL. Just a total misfire.

 

[halo10]

Similar list to mine:

1. Captain Marvel
2. Iron Man 3
3. Thor: The Dark World (2013 was a rough year for the MCU)
4. Ant-Man And The Wasp
5. Spider-Man: Homecoming
6. Iron Man 2
7. Spider-Man: Far From Home
8. Ant-Man
9. Doctor Strange
10. Black Widow

Captain Marvel annoyed me the most. Everything else had it's moments despite not being an overall good movie. I found no redeeming qualities in Captain Marvel AT ALL. Just a total misfire.

- Capt. Marvel i agree 110% ... not at all looking forward the rumored sequel
so much plot blundered up, and miscast and i still believe it received box office success based off it's connected related to upcoming, vastly highly anticipated End Game

- only problem i had with Dr. Strange is the Dormammu character was so very watered down and diminished. Basically making the villain more about Baron Mordo than Dormammu. it made me feel like Tim Story's Galatus mud cloud in his disasterous Rise of Silver Surfer .. i felt cheated.
otherwise i had no qualms with build up origin and training session.

- it's interesting to see several complains about Iron Man 3 - Shane Black's film.
despite how fast paced, splendid flow and tactics and final climatic battle, and the display
of multiple IM armor suits.

- Thus far their disappointments apparently have been the Mandarin's goofy Ben Kinglsey's character , the lack of power rings per comic foe. Though i admit that Mandarin was a surprise
- the 8 monkey connections to collect survivors blown from the damaged Air Force plan .
. the Mandarin invasion of Stark palace,
- .the bar fight with the female Extremis, .
- the Stark invasion of Mandarin's palace,..
- and climatic battle as well as Stark overcoming his anxiety.. were all too good to knock it for me if not for origin of 1st IM, i would even pick IM 3 as the best IM movie of the three.
Only blemish was not clearly explaining fiery Extremis figures, imo.