Worst Marvel Studio's movie so far?

[fixxxer]

All I'm saying is that for as good as it was, and for everything it did right, it did make some crucial mistakes that, at the very least, should be acknowledged, if for no other reason than the hope that they won't happen in the future.

CA:TFA certainly isn't a perfect film, but I think the mistakes are both explainable and do not derail the film. I want to list out some of the common complaints I've heard on the forum, in this thread and others...

Action Montage
Yes, they glossed over Cap's missions with the Howling Commandos in montage form and focus on only the mission that lead to Bucky's "death". This however, was forgivable IMO, since they were heading towards The Avengers, and seriously, how many action set pieces can one film have? In a perfect world, we'd have gotten two WWII-era Cap movies. However, within the constraints they were working with, they did a fine job.

Red Skull Too Cartoonish?
I thought Red Skull was characterized pretty well. He seemed all kinds of over-the-top, plenty crazy and straight up evil in equal part. Hugo Weaving could have pulled back on the camp a little and given a more gritty/grounded performance, but it's still more of a quibble than an outright denouncement. Overall, the character worked well in the context of the movie.

Bucky-Cap Relationship A Little Underdeveloped
Again, the issue was the amount of screen time available. They (correctly IMO) emphasized the Peggy-Cap relationship a little over the Bucky-Cap relationship. But in their interactions together, especially pre-super-soldier-Cap, their friendship came off to me as very strong.

Laser Guns WTF????
Two words: ARNIM ZOLA! Just like Erskine, Zola was an outlier. These two men were so far ahead of their time that their respective technologies have yet to be replicated beyond an unstable experimental stage. When you actually look at it, Banner's gamma experiments, Extremis, Centipede et al are attempts to come at the super soldier serum from a different angle. SHIELD with all their resources (Howard Stark included) have had the Tesseract in their possession for decades, and yet, attempts to harness it are merely in the experimental stage as evidenced by Coulson not really knowing what the gun does when he took a shot at Loki in The Avengers. CA:TFA tells us about Zola's technical brilliance quite explicitly. Which is why I don't understand this particular gripe. Zola was able produce "laser guns" that tapped into the Tesseract's energy. This has proved to be non-replicable by any non-Zola scientist in the MCU.

Star Spangled Man With A Plan
I'm not even going to debate this. 'Twas simply amazing.

 

[Naji Assan]

Iron Man 3 (or Lethal Weapon meets Iron Man meets Generic Action Movie #4000) hands down.

Thor The Dark World would be next. Nowhere near as bad, just lacking heart.

Then its Iron Man 2, which just felt all over the place thematically.

The Avengers was amazing, Captain America was good, Thor was good, The Incredible Hulk was good and the first Iron Man was great.

 

[Visualiza]

CA:TFA certainly isn't a perfect film, but I think the mistakes are both explainable and do not derail the film. I want to list out some of the common complaints I've heard on the forum, in this thread and others...

Is that not what I already said twice?

 

[fixxxer]

Is that not what I already said twice?

Yea, I was agreeing with you. Sorry if it looked like I was disagreeing with you by quoting your post... which is admittedly quite common on messages boards. I quoted you in order to continue and expand on your point by analyzing the most common complaints I've heard about the movie.

 

[Visualiza]

Yea, I was agreeing with you. Sorry if it looked like I was disagreeing with you by quoting your post... which is admittedly quite common on messages boards. I quoted you in order to continue and expand on your point by analyzing the most common complaints I've heard about the movie.

Ah, my mistake. Apologies

 

[metaphysician]

I couldn't agree more, and it's a travesty that so many people trivialize this aspect of the film, especially with all of the pseudo-intellectual babble that gets tossed about regarding TDK and others. One would think that people with an appreciation for the nuance and subtlety in one set of films would recognize those same qualities here, but apparently not.

All I'm saying is that for as good as it was, and for everything it did right, it did make some crucial mistakes that, at the very least, should be acknowledged, if for no other reason than the hope that they won't happen in the future.

It would be nice if the Divine Order of MoS could realize this as well.

I think those inclined to worship TDK won't acknowledge Cap 1, not because of any lack of depth, but because its too optimistic. Remember, for a certain set of fans, True Art is Angsty ( and dark, and grim, and bleak, and etc ). Ergo, because Captain America is a tale of a true blue idealistic hero, its is automatically inferior. I mean, it didn't even have him angsting over the horrible atrocities committed by his nation! How can it possibly be taken seriously!

*ahem*

 

[Ant-manic]

i don't get the fan crush on Hugo Weaving. Agent Smith was a pretty bland character. and i think Ed Harris would have made a doubly-intimidating Red Skull.

http://www.cinemotions.com/data/films/0188/78/2/History_of_violence_2004_13.jpg

 

[R_Hythlodeus]

i don't get the fan crush on Hugo Weaving. Agent Smith was a pretty bland character.

thank you. I'm saying this for years. pretty overrated as an actor but as soon as you mention that, all hell breaks lose

 

[psylockolussus]

Well, it's not a Marvel Studios flick, but I agree that it's worse than anything MS has put out. Thor 2 isn't that far behind, though.

I disagree with that!

 

[Visualiza]

I disagree with that!

Wonderful.

 

[Lantern Venom]

All of Marvel Studios' films have been great-to-outstanding. I can't select a "worst" because that would be an injustice to all of the films on that list. We would have to go back and talk about co-productions like Elektra and Man-Thing to truly talk bad Marvel films.

 

[Hulk]

It's a tie between TDW and IM 2.

 

[Loki882]

All of Marvel Studios' films have been great-to-outstanding. I can't select a "worst" because that would be an injustice to all of the films on that list. We would have to go back and talk about co-productions like Elektra and Man-Thing to truly talk bad Marvel films.

I would argue that they've all been at least decent, but I wasn't a huge fan of IM 2, IM 3, or TDW. I had serious problems with all of them.

Great:

The Avengers.
Iron Man.

Very Good:
Thor
Captain America: TFA.

Good:
The Incredible Hulk.

Ok, but disappointing:
Thor: TDW.
Iron Man 2.
Iron Man 3.

 

[Shikamaru]

I would group the MCU films in the following categories.

The Great/Outstanding Films
Iron Man and The Avengers would be in here. Both are great films that deserve the label of "masterpieces" and are held up as two of the greatest comic book movies overall. They are the films that raised the bar in many ways.

The Good Films
The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man 3 would be in here. These films are essentially pretty good and very well thought out, but they have a few flaws that stick out and prevent them from being "at the top". They just don't raise the bar or are some of the best CBM's around like the above films are.

The OK/Average/Passable Movies
These films are what I call the black sheep of the MCU. Movies that fit in here are Thor, CA:TFA, and Iron Man 2. None of these films are bad - however, there is nothing too good about them either. They barely pass the acceptable line. They're just "meh" and are mainly just Avengers promos as opposed to solid films on their own (which is something all the above films are). Still entertaining to watch but it also pains you when you just think of all the wasted potential with these films.

This is of course just my opinion. So far, I don't think there is an MCU film that can be categorized as bad. As for Thor: TDW, I feel like I have to see it again before I can form a full solid opinion on it but I'm leaning more towards it being in the Good Films category for now.

 

[GENERAL RAAM582]

Iron Man 2
Iron Man 3
Thor
Thor 2
The Incredible Hulk
Captain America
Iron Man
The Avengers

 

[kedrell]

Great(9 or higher out of 10):

Iron Man
The Avengers
Captain America: The First Avenger

Very Good(8-9/10):
Iron Man 2

Good(7.5 - 8/10):
Thor
Thor: The Dark World
Iron Man 3
The Incredible Hulk

Just Ok(scoring less than a 7.5/10):
None so far from MS. All the non-MS Marvel films I'd put in this range or lower with the lone exception of Kick-Ass1.

 

[psylockolussus]

Good- Thor, Iron Man, The Avengers, Iron Man 3
Just Ok- Incredible Hulk
Meh - Captain America, Iron Man 2, Thor 2

 

[NewYorkSpider]

Iron Man 2

I haven't seen Thor 2 yet. Gonna see that around Christmas time.

 

[Leenie]

I voted The Incredible Hulk.

It's not a bad film by any means, but I don't think it has a strong rewatchability factor. I've seen it a total of 3 times. The last time I watched it was right before Iron Man 3 hit theaters (so relatively recently). I feel that the movie drags in some places (though not as badly as the Ang Lee Hulk). I feel like it would have benefited from being a shorter movie.

I think Iron Man 2 and Captain America: The First Avenger are underrated (especially the latter one). I don't think Iron Man 2 is nearly as bad as people say it is; it's just a fun movie, no more and no less. Captain America is one of my favorite Marvel Studios movies. It has a whole lotta heart to it, and I'm surprised that there are so many people who feel "meh" about it.

 

[giveyourself12%]

Worst to best:

Iron Man 3 (Shane Black doesn't understand this character or his world)

Thor (Earth/"romance"/Natalie Portman/Kat Dennings scenes...needs no further explanation) *but it kind of ends up getting one below*

..........................................................................................................

*separates the bottom-of-the-barrel picks from the actually entertaining rest*

Captain America (The only drawback for me was the lack of demonstrations of raw physical power from the Red Skull...we got a couple...but not enough to make us feel that he was a real physical threat to Cap.)

The Incredible Hulk (Very good movie...very entertaining...I loved that the Abomination was in it)

Iron Man 2 ( I like this movie very very much, even more after seeing Iron Man 3...this movie just feels and even looks like an Iron Man movie. I would have liked a little more time spent on the effects of the palladium poisoning and a MAJOR and longer battle at the end w/Vanko.

More time spent showing Vanko's backstory as well as the particulars of Rhodey gaining access to the Mark II and suiting up other than just his image flashing onscreen when he accesses Stark's lab/armory would have been nice, but these last two are just nitpicks.

Iron Man - Perfect

The Avengers - Perfect


Honorable mentions for movies that could have been excellent -

Thor - All the Asgard/ Joutenheim scenes were top notch. I get what they were going for, but they should have lost the "I'm in love as well as a changed man and it all happened in a couple of days" angle as well as the, "I'm Jane Foster and I'm...like...just totally a scientist...tee hee...MUSCLES!!!!!!!" as well as Kat Dennings as Ms. Walking-Airhead-Pop-Culture-References.

Iron Man 3 - The "darker" tension-filled movie we should have gotten would have been amazing. The Ben Kingsley as an ex-patriot student of war with a grudge against America angle that Feige lied to us about/promised us was fascinating. I think the house and suit destruction was about keeping iconic Iron Man origin symbols associated with RDJ in case they recast, but they played it like, "Oh man...I really should spend more time with Pepper...I'll just blow all my suits up so as not to be distracted."

I'm not even mentioning the tacked on arc reactor removal which should have been HUGE instead of a two second mention.

Wow this went for longer than I intended. I guess I'm more passionate about these movies than I think I am.

 

[metaphysician]

Okay, you know what? There really should be a moratorium on the phrase "Feige lied to us!" Because it is, bluntly, false. Unless, of course, you think trailers should always spoil every twist.

 

[giveyourself12%]

Okay, you know what? There really should be a moratorium on the phrase "Feige lied to us!" Because it is, bluntly, false. Unless, of course, you think trailers should always spoil every twist.

They answer to that is "No, I don't think trailers should ALWAYS spoil EVERY twist."

People didn't get "Feige lied" from the trailer.

They got, "We didn't expect THAT...that was lame...trailer...was...better...than...movie*sniff*" " from the trailer.
People got "Feige lied" from:

FEIGE:

We got very excited about having cracked this story when we found out that we could include The Mandarin and give him a character that would be a perfect match, the ultimate Iron Man villain, but without relying too heavily on what the comic book stereotype was.

BLACK:

He studies Sun Tzu. He studies insurgency tactics. He surrounds himself with dragons and symbols of warlords and Chinese iconography because he wants to represent this sort of prototypical terrorist. We use as the example Colonel Kurtz from "Apocalypse Now," this guys who may have been an American, may have been a British National, someone who is out there doing field work, supervising atrocities for the intelligence community who went nuts in the field and became this sort of devotee of war tactics, and now has surrounded himself with a group of people over which he presides, and the only thing that unifies them is this hatred of America. So he’s the ultimate terrorist, but he’s also savvy. He’s been in the intelligence world. He knows how to use the media.

 

[metaphysician]

Because, of course, if the plot involves a character who is not who they seem, you should totally talk about their underlying nature in interviews. *rollseyes*

 

[OcStat]

Iron Man 3 is the best Marvel movie next to Avengers in my opinion. I love reading all the little reasons people give themselves to disregard the best Iron Man movie yet.

The Incredible Hulk is my least favorite. Can't call it the worst, it does have redeeming qualities.

 

[spider-neil]

Marvel Studios start out with lightning in a bottle with IM and gradually get worse with every movie they make. When I say worse I am talking relatively compared to Iron Man, which for me is in the top 4 best superhero movies ever made.

On some level I have enjoyed every Marvel movie I have watched but they are now too concerned with expanding their universe and less about simply telling a good story. Iron Man (for me) feels like a proper movie that is telling a good story about a characters who completely transforms over the course of the movie and then there is a after credits cut scene that has next to nothing to do with the movie and can be taken or left. Now every Marvel movie is preoccupied with the next Marvel movie, directors are given briefs with what to include from Whedon so it ties in with the Avengers movies instead of making the directors and writers do what made Iron Man so great, tell a good story.

I've been entertained, I wont lie but when I watch a superhero movie I want MORE, I want characters that effect me rather than simple popcorn, leave your brain at the door FLUFF.

Anyway my humble opinion of the best to worst Marvel movies (with what I look for in a movie);

Iron Man (by miles)
Thor
Avengers
Captain America
TIH
Thor: TDW
Iron Man 2
Iron Man 3

As I said it's all relative, I'd take any Marvel Studios movie over Green Lantern or Daredevil for example.