Devin Baker analyses each Marvel movies in order of release as we take a look at the tale of MCU past.
The Marvel cinematic universe has reached worldwide recognition and praise at a level that is arguably unparalleled.
It is the highest grossing film franchise of all time, and in years to come will only continue to grow upon that already momentous accomplishment.
In a rather odd year for movie theaters and movie studios, 2020 will mark the first year since 2009 that Marvel Studios has not released an MCU film.
That being said, we thought it’d be a great opportunity to look at the studios past and examine the films in order of their release date while at the same time take a look at how each film expanded the Marvel universe and built upon the last.
Enjoy!
Iron Man (2008)
Before the MCU was the absolute juggernaut and superhero authority in the film world it was just a studio with zero real film credits looking to make just one good film to start.
Without the X-Men or Spider-Man, many were unsure what Marvel Studios had to offer, as Iron Man was a relatively unknown character in comparison to Wolverine or Peter Parker.
In their first outing Marvel proved that they were serious, and that their efforts to make their own movies was going to be one that was genuine and up to par with the other studios of the time.
Iron Man was a great origin film to a character not many were familiar with, and established the world of the MCU with little easter eggs and hints that would come into play later down the road.
Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow gelled immediately on screen and Jeff Bridges provided a rather solid and believable first villain to the franchise.
The rest is history as the film exceeded box office and critics expectations alike.
Biggest Contribution: Establishing the Marvel Universe.
The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Usually forgotten when mentioning the movies of the MCU, the Hulk is an anomaly in the Marvel Universe.
This is the only film in which the main actor did not reprise his role going forward, but at the time of its release the Incredible Hulk was simply the second movie in the Marvel release order and didn’t have all those casting issues just yet.
The film introduced Bruce Banner into the world as the Incredible Hulk and made allusions to Captain America and the larger marvel universe to be, as well.
The film explored the darker side of Bruce Banner, a man who can’t control himself when he gets angry and is always seemingly on the run from the government who sees him as more of a potential weapon and threat then anything else.
He’s no hero in this film, and much like Iron Man has to find something within himself in order to emerge into the hero we will later recognize him as.
Biggest Contribution:Introducing Hulk, Thunderbolt Ross, and bridging the first two films together.
Iron Man 2 (2010)
Having two films under their belt now, Marvel looked to build upon the success of their pioneering film and character in Iron Man. With a much bigger budget and a little less of the underdog label, Marvel looked to expand their universe and set up their future films with direct references and allusions to future franchises.
Bringing Nick Fury into a much larger role than just the cameo he had at the end of the last Iron Man, and bringing in Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, gave the film a rather overlooked importance as it established the assembler of the Avengers as well as another member and integral piece of the team.
The film gets a bad wrap for having no real direction and a subpar villain in Mickey Rourke’s Whiplash.
However the film was an invaluable piece, and took more of the world building role, then the character and story building role of the first Iron Man.
Biggest Contribution: Introducing Black Widow and the Avengers Initiative.
Thor (2010)
Not the best movie to follow up a not so positively received previous one, Thor was an ambitious effort by Marvel Studios to expand into the world of mythology and “magic” for lack of a better word.
The film was very flawed and was certainly not the most memorable film either, but it did its job in introducing characters that would play key roles in films to come.
Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston proved to be great castings as Thor and Loki, as well as Anthony Hopkins as Odin and Idris Elba as Heimdall.
When looking at the future and current direction, however, Natalie Portman as Jane Foster might’ve been the best casting decision, something we’ll be more sure of in the near future.
Biggest Contribution: Introducing Thor, Loki, Jane foster, and worlds beyond Earth.
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
Shaking things up by taking audiences to the past, The First Avenger, introduced us to the first superhero and Avenger in Steve Rogers, better known as Captain America. Focusing on the origins of the World War 1 era hero, Captain America introduced viewers to the founding member of SHIELD and gave us a look at the original Stark, Howard Stark, and all his Tony esque qualities.
Chris Evans being casted as Captain America couldn’t be any better, as he genuinely feels like how Captain America would look and behave in a real world sort of setting.
The film wasn’t the biggest hit with critics, but it wasn’t really negatively received either, it kind of fell somewhere in the middle.
The film was definitely a pivotal one for the franchise as it introduced audiences to the tesseract, Bucky Barnes, and Agent Carter, as well as setting up future events for Cap and the timeline.
Biggest Contributions: Introducing Stever Rogers, Bucky Barnes, Peggy Carter, and the tesseract.
The Avengers (2012)
After a culmination of solo movies, character introductions, and massive world building, Marvel finished off phase 1 on as strong a note as possible with the box office blockbuster that was The Avengers.
The film was a culmination of everything the solo movies had been building up to and setting in motion, with all the cameos and teases of the first phase coming full circle to create cinematic masterpiece of a film that balances its many different characters and builds upon their solo outings as well.
Joss Whedon did an excellent job of making these personalities clash and eventually mix into a well functioning team capable of preventing the world’s demise, and in doing so he set the standard for what a collective effort of character development and universe building could possibly translate to, as well as telling the world that Marvel was here to stay and dominate the box office.
Biggest Contribution: Introducing Thanos, Hawkeye, and bringing a satisfying end to phase 1.
Iron Man 3 (2013)
After bringing the Avengers together for the first time, Marvel looked to go back to the franchise that started it all, giving Tony Stark his third film.
Iron Man 3 is a weird film in the sense that it doesn’t really do a ton to progress the universe, but does provide a ton of insight into the mind of Tony Stark and his relationship with Pepper Potts.
The film centers around Tony Stark dealing with the aftermath of the Avengers and being a publicly known superhero as well, something that hadn’t really been touched upon in the other films.
The movie was solid and successful in telling the story it intended to and set up the origins behind Ultron and Tony’s burden of saving the world.
Biggest Contribution: Loosely setting up Age of Ultron
Thor: Dark World (2013)
Arguably the worst movie of the MCU, Thor: Dark World was not a joy to watch for most audiences and doesn’t stand up well to the other movies on the list.
Making an effort to build upon the last Thor film and how the events of the Avengers affected his and Loki’s life, Dark World was great for the character building of the two sons of Odin, and showed Loki as less of a villain then he had been portrayed as in the Avengers.
The film also introduced what would later become one of the six infinity stones in the Aether and brought about the death of Thor’s mother, bringing more sorrow and loss to the story of Odin’s son, something that is explored in later films.
Biggest Contribution: Introducing Aether.
Captain America: Winter Soldier (2014)
The Russo brothers left a massive mark on the MCU and carried it into the stratosphere with the latest two Avengers movies, but before that they tackled the man out of time and delivered one of the more fascinating and gritty movies the MCU has to offer.
Following the Captain after the world changing events of the first Avengers movie, this conspiracy themed film radiates cold war spy movie vibes and makes for a thrilling and all encompassing story about who Captain America really is and what he stands for.
The Russo’s had the tough task of telling one of the best Captain America comic book story arcs and delivered in satisfactory fashion, building upon what already made Cap great and showcasing the great chemistry that Chris Evans and Scarlett Johnasson have as well.
This movie did a lot for the universe, introducing Falcon to the universe, reuniting Cap with Peggy, disbanding SHIELD, and reintroducing Bucky Barnes as the Winter soldier.
One of the better movies to come out of the MCU, this film proved that the Marvel Movies could flip the switch and produce more serious movies as well as fun ones.
Biggest Contribution: Introducing Falcon, disbanding SHIELD, and reintroducing Bucky Barnes.
Guardian of the Galaxy (2014)
After the Avengers rocked audiences and box offices around the world, Marvel had proven that it was not only a powerhouse studio but one that was willing to take big risks as well.
Guardians was the first MCU film that wasn’t part of the trilogy of Cap, Tony, and Thor (not counting Hulk), and had a story that at least at that time had nothing to do with those characters and because of that it was a relatively huge risk for a franchise that was building upon their already established characters from phase one.
James Gunn took this challenge and ran with it, giving us arguably the most fun movie of the entire franchise and adding subtle world building elements that would come back full circle later down the line.
This film brought the MCU to outer space and introduced us to a glorious band of misfits that save worlds in their own way, completely different from the Avengers way of doing so.
Biggest Contribution: Introduced Guardians of the Galaxy, established infinity stones.
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
The second Avengers movie did not bring in as much critical acclaim as its predecessor and felt like much more of a setup movie for the next Captain America film.
Bringing the team back together for the first on-screen time since the last Avengers, this time around saw the team slowly start to break apart and the differences that were overlooked or washed over in the past were now at the front and center again.
Ultron saw our heroes turn on each other at times, and they got their first hint that something bigger was awry, as Tony sensed a galactic threat might threaten the safety of the world and Thor realized that more and more infinity stones were being moved around and brought to light.
What Ultron may lack in a compelling villain, it makes up for in it’s down the road storytelling, storytelling that would have to wait for later entries for the film to make good on.
Biggest Contribution: Start of Avengers split, introduced Vision and Wanda Maximoff.
Ant-Man (2015)
Marvel took a step away from its normal storytelling with the Paul Rudd lead Ant-Man, which played off as more of a comedy heist than say the traditional Marvel movies of the past.
Introducing a new character into the universe always has the potential to be tricky and bring about problems of inclusion and continuity, but Ant-Man did a great job of introducing two new heroes and a great ensemble cast of characters to go alongside them.
Also diving into the history of SHIELD with Hank Pym, and older Peggy Carter and Howard Stark could provide more content down the road as it seems that a scene in Endgame tied into the SHIELD scene present in this film.
Biggest Contribution: Introducing Ant-Man, the Wasp, Pym particles, and Hank Pym.
Captain America: Civil War (2016)
Essentially Avengers 2.5, Civil War was a real turning point for the MCU and marked the debut of two new characters that would later receive their own films, in Spider-Man and Black Panther.
The film is the third and the final one of the Captain America trilogy and is arguably its finest as well, as the film manages to tell many stories at once while still centering around the friendship that Cap and Bucky have, all the while shifting the dynamics of the Marvel universe.
Civil War marked the beginning of the end for the Avengers team that we had come to know and love and left the superhero squad in a broken state vulnerable for the future attacks that they would endure at the hands of Thanos.
An important story that built upon the relationship between Bucky and Cap as well as Cap and Tony Stark, this trilogy capping film is some of the MCU’s finest work and it showcased that a thrilling character building story could still be told and enjoyed even in a movie that has so much else going on in it.
Biggest Contribution: Introduced Black Panther and Spiderman, broke apart the Avengers.
Doctor Strange (2016)
Doctor Strange followed the same sort of pattern of the first Guardians of the Galaxy in the way that it introduced us to a new realm of the MCU without focusing on the adventures of the already established Avengers.
The film offered viewers a glimpse into the world of magic and the unknown and featured a brilliant performance by Benedict Cumberbatch as a surgeon whose hands now fail him after a life changing car accident.
An intriguing origin story for a character that looks now to be involved with reshaping the MCU and who would have a pivotal role in the next two Avengers films.
Biggest Contributions: Introducing Doctor Strange.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
After taking us out into an expansive, colorful, and rather dangerous universe, James Gunn built upon his highly successful first Guardians film by introducing us to Starlord’s father.
The movie built upon the relationships within the team and saw Gamora and Starlord become a lot closer and more romantic.
Outside of settling some daddy issues and establishing Starlord as a sort of demigod, the movie didn’t do too much in terms of progressing the universe, but it was another terrific Marvel outing nonetheless.
Biggest Contribution: More Guardians character building.
Spider-Man Homecoming (2017)
After stealing the show in Captain America: Civil War (2016), Tom Holland got his chance to showcase his take on the web slinger just a year later and did not disappoint.
Following the adventures of Peter Parker as a freshman in high school, Homecoming does a really good job of telling its own story apart from the MCU while still making obvious connections to it.
At its core, the film is about a teenage kid who wants nothing more than to just be treated like an adult, but it becomes quite obvious that Peter is not ready for that just yet.
This is not an origin story, but more of a coming of age story that is told with great humour and attention to detail in terms of the larger universe that the film exists in.
The film ushered Tony Stark into a mentor and father figure role, and touched upon the effect that the Avengers had in the world but more specifically Tony Stark.
Biggest Contribution: Telling Spider-Mans story and building upon Tony Stark.
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
If you watched the first two Thor movies, then you probably didn’t have the highest hopes for the third. Thankfully the third entry in the series is nothing like the others, and quite frankly nothing like most of the MCU movies out there in general.
Takia Watiti does a fantastic job of adding humor and world building elements to a series of movies that really needed something new, and the pairing of Hulk and Thor served as a fantastic journey and great character development for two of the more underdeveloped and one sided characters in the Marvel universe.
The relationship between Loki and Thor continues to grow in all sorts of ways and we got to see Thor do away with trying to be just like Oden and allow Asgard to be destroyed as well.
But most importantly who can forget about the introduction of Valkyrie, who fit right into the film and seems to have a rather bright future going forward. Bringing answers to questions about the whereabouts of two avengers that went unseen in Civil War (2016), the movie also set up bigger moments in the universe and leads right into the next Avengers movie.
Biggest Contribution: Checking up on Thor and Hulk, and introducing Valkyrie.
Black Panther (2018)
Black Panther broke history for all the right reasons when it blew up box offices around the world just two years ago, and because of the unfortunate passing of its star and a real life hero in Chadwick Boseman, the film will always be in a league of its own.
Black Panther is way more than just a movie about another Avenger, it’s a breakthrough for Africans and people of color alike, to see themselves represented on the biggest stage and to see someone who embodies hope and strength that looks like them.
As an African-American male, it meant more than words can describe to see a movie in which the superhero shared the same tone of skin as I do and to have a full cast of others who do the same.
The film introduced Wakanda in its entirety to the Marvel universe and established it as the most advanced nation in the world and touch heavily upon its seemingly infinite supply of vibranium, and unknowingly introduced the next Black Panther in T’challa’s sister, Shuri.
Biggest Contribution: Showcasing Wakanda and introducing Shuri.
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
The MCU had been teasing the arrival of Thanos since The Avengers debuted in 2012, and although we got to see him in cameos like Guardians of the Galaxy, we never got to really see him in action until Infinity War and he did not disappoint.
A culmination of everything that had occurred in the MCU up to that point, Infinity War showed us a broken Avengers team uniting to stand against the Mad Titan who didn’t seem so mad when he finally heard his motive for his plans of random genocide.
Infinity War marked the first time we got to see the Guardians of the Galaxy and Doctor Strange meet and interact with members of Avengers as well as the first time the Avengers had seen Thor and Bruce Banner in years.
It’s those details in the storytelling that make this movie special not just its amazing combat scenes, it’s the characters and who they’ve become at this point and how they are able to put their differences aside for the fate of the universe.
Biggest Contribution: Bringing together the heroes of the universe, and Thanos’s snap.
Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
After the conclusion of the first Avengers, many were wondering where in the world Ant-Man was and why he wasn’t involved in arguably the greatest and most important fight in the universe.
Naturally, Marvel answered all of those questions in Ant-Man’s second film, introducing Hope Van Dyne as the Wasp and bringing Hank Pym back into the fold in an effort to bring back his lost love from the quantum realm.
The film takes place before the events of Infinity War, and mostly focuses on the solo story of the characters and not too much about the broader happenings of the universe, however its end credits scene was a perfect setup for the next avengers film and the whole quantum realm traveling and science that the film explores is pivotal to Endgame.
Biggest Contribution: The quantum realm.
Captain Marvel (2019)
Coming off the heels of the timely post credit scene at the end of Avengers: Infinity War, Captain Marvel took audiences away from the present day to deliver another origin story for a new hero in Carol Danvers.
Pairing Carol Danvers up with a younger Nick Fury allowed the movie to serve as an origin story almost for both characters, and the introduction of Skrulls into the universe will certainly lead to some new and intriguing stories in the future as well as some big plot twists perhaps.
Captain Marvel also marked a more important milestone for Marvel, as it was the first of their films to have a woman as the lead role and protagonist.
Biggest Contribution: Introduced Captain Marvel and Skrulls.
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
The ultimate fan service movie of all time, Endgame saw the culmination of everything that Marvel had worked on since their debut with Iron Man way back in 2008.
Following the events of Infinity War, Endgame picked up a little after where it left off and showed the broken heroes seeking vengeance and a way to bring back their foes who had vanished, and after a time jump of five years they got just that.
Of course nothing is ever that simple when it comes to time travel, and the journey through past events in the MCU leads us all back to the Mad Titan once again.
This masterpiece put a capper on the infinity saga that MCU fans had been following for over a decade and for something that is that meaningful for fans this had to deliver something special and memorable as well as be the end of the line for some of the characters we followed.
After watching an Avengers movie in which the heroes we rooted for loss despite all their efforts, we got to end the saga on a note that was sad and heroic at the same time.
Biggest Contribution: Putting an end to the Infinity Saga and reshaping the Marvel Universe.
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2019)
The final movie of phase 3 and technically the last of the infinity saga, Spider-Man’s second solo film was a much more feel good film then Endgame was and was probably better suited to bring a close to the saga.
The film focused on how Peter and frankly the world have adapted to the multiple snaps that occurred and mainly focused on how Peter has come to terms with the death of his hero and mentor in Tony Stark.
The film is essentially another coming of age film, this time however he doesn’t have Tony to guide him or give him a pep talk, he has to dig deep and find himself and start to become his own man so to speak.
The film didn’t do much for progressing the universe, but it did leave on a rather huge plot twist, one that will certainly lead to some interesting storylines.
Biggest Contribution: Revealing Peter’s identity to the world.
Marvel movies in order of release article by Devin Baker
