Doux Reviews... The Marvel Cinematic Universe

Do you need more Marvel? Most of us Doux too. We voted for the best and boldest, and came up with a list that might enthuse both new viewers and audiences of old. Check out the rankings of the Agents of Doux, and share your own favorites, with a gentle click to enter The Fold....

Readers, two weeks ago I started watching Avengers: Endgame for the fifth time while struggling with a sinus infection. I enjoyed it – the film, not the sinus infection – but wondered if I was getting stale and would benefit from something New. With this in foggy mind I fired up Disney+ and checked out the Marvel section. And there in my Disney+ menu were like 1,500 Marvel films and TV series I hadn't yet watched. We don't need to mention the Star Wars section... It can be overwhelming. How was I to choose my views? I was desperate for a guide to walk me through the morass.

I navigated to what used to be a highly-regarded film review site, to a page stating it had identified the 35 best Marvel films in order. The article turned out to be really bad AI slop. In this case, while the title said the article was reviewing 35 films, they only reviewed 20. When they got to 21, they started over from the first movie, so 15 films were reviewed twice. Like, bleargh, nobody even checked the slop, which is the sloppiest slop can get.

More importantly for Sneezy Me, it was completely useless in terms of helping me figure out what to watch. There weren't any personal comments. The film name, a summary, and a ranking. But what is the point in reading that? Without their opinions, would you keep your friends? And if a film is number 35 and number 20 in the rankings, does that make it number 55 or number 15? The truth must be out there.

This led me to resolve: Doux Reviews shall host A Completely Human-Written Ranking of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I wanted to help readers actually find films worth watching. I asked our writing team to help, if they could, and rank their top TV shows and top films in the MCU. If they wanted to, I'd also love to hear why.

The votes began to pour in. My mysterious formula for calculating rankings is mysterious and formulaic. Be impressed. Below you will see the final results – with some commentary from me, and occasionally from other Doux folks who sprinkled their voting with their perspectives. THANK YOU to all of the writers who participated and supported this!

The Top Ten MCU Films, According to Doux Reviews

Honorable Mentions: Guardians of the Galaxy 3, The Eternals, Avengers - Age of Ultron, Spiderman - Brand New Day.

10. Captain America: Civil War I

Some say this is a movie that should have been an Avengers film – I think only Thor and Hulk failed to make an appearance. At its heart, however, this is a Captain America story, and about what happens when the most die-hard of the red, white and blue does when he feels that freedom is threatened – and a story in a way about friendship, and maybe its limits. Captain America goes darker than ever in this movie, and it works –  for the audience and for Doux.

9. Thunderbolts: The New Avengers

This film was surprisingly fun for me. A team of slightly darker characters than we saw in the original Avengers comes together to deal with the mysterious Project Sentry – which turns into a danger that nearly overpowers them. I have a soft spot for anything with David Harbour, and Sebastian Stan also does a great job in this film – but Florence Pugh gets the gold star for fleshing out the character of Yelena Belova. Are these truly the new Avengers? The end of the film leaves some questions, but the final fight left me cheering.

8. Guardians of the Galaxy

Peter Quill begins to figure out who he is, Thanos makes his first appearance in the MCU, and I am Groot. A comedy and an action film rolled into one, with Zoe Saldana and Dave Bautista. Many say this was the best of the Guardians of the Galaxy series, or at least when it was at its freshest.

7. Iron Man

Did you know that the Library of Congress has deemed the first Iron Man film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant"? And who could be surprised with an incredible performance from Robert Downey, Jr., who kept the character realistic and true to the spirit of Tony Stark, not only in this movie but in all the others he appeared in? Not to mention the acting chops of Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeff Bridges, who brings in the menacing evil. Terrence Howard was new to me at the time of this film, but a fantastic addition –  and a direct lead in to our next winner:

6. The Avengers

Mothra: This is a sentimental favorite, because it was the first MCU film that I saw. It also came out back when we could enjoy Joss Whedon's work guilt-free, and I enjoyed the very Whedony gags and dialogue. Sigh.

This film is one I've watched again and again. Why? Well, the inspired casting – switching the character of the hulk to Mark Ruffalo led to me falling in love with Mark Ruffalo, and Scarlet Johansson was just incredible throughout working with Jeremy Renner. The witty banter also brought it.

5. Black Panther

Having lived through the excitement before, during, and after the release of Black Panther –  a cinematic success in its own right, led by the incredible Chadwick Boseman, and also a modern door into Afrofuturism –  I can't think of a world in the multiverse where this film isn't on the list.

4. Guardians of the Galaxy 2

One of my personal favorites in terms of music selection, this film goes into Peter Quill's background, is on-brand Guardian hilarious and irreverent, and just a great show to watch; it won a nomination for best visual effects in the Academy Awards.

3. Thor: Ragnarok

This film came across as far more irreverent than the other Thor films, which I loved, and who could NOT love Cate Blanchett as the goddess Hela? Thor goes all the way across the Universe, makes a bunch of friends and generally has a damned good time. This is also a Hulk movie, with a storyline directly ripped from Planet Hulk in the comics. There's some loss and a lot of witty (and sometimes witless) repartee. I've watched it three or four times, and feel an itch to watch it again.

2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

An Honest Fangirl: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

This wasn't one of my votes, but I do have things to say about it. Underneath all the flashiness of a beautifully-filmed piece you can find a story about brotherhood with an incredibly timed sequence of events. From the death of Nick Fury to the rise of the HYDRA organization, and some incredible performances, this is not just a great film but a great Captain America film.

1. Avengers Infinity War/Endgame

I've watched this two-parter four or five times now, and it never fails to entertain. There's a moment in the beginning with Vision trying to explain to Wanda that he thinks she's the bee's knees and wants to shack up with her and where she is equally awkwardly agreeing. It's cute, it's wonderful, it's a payoff built on previous films and moments have been dropped here and there. And right away that moment is elevated to far higher stakes as Proxima Midnight and Corvus Glaive immediately come in on a high level attack, and Vision nearly dies. This type of resonance between the personal and the mission is repeated throughout the film for most of our main characters. And the special effects of the Snap never fail to freak me out. This is space and superhero opera done very, very right.

Mothra: Starting with The Avengers, I saw most of the MCU films in the theater with my then-partner and his then-teenage son. It took me a while to warm up to the current generation of superhero films, because so many of them lost me whenever they'd get to a twenty minute, CGI action sequence. So I learned to appreciate the films that were more character- and dialogue-driven. For a film that could have been forgiven for grand finale-level action sequences, Endgame was more interested in the emotional finales. I loved its pacing and every quiet scene, which somehow made it feel even more epic than any amount of CGI could have.

The Top Ten MCU Shows, According to Doux:

Honorable Mentions: Agents of SHIELD, Runaways

10. Cloak and Dagger

This brief but bright series never got the attention it deserved. The story of Tandy, Tyrone and Roxxon lived on the edge of the Marvel universe and dealt with two young teenagers linked by their powers – which also gave them access to different dimensions. Troubled, but goodhearted, Tandy and Tyrone tried to help others on their journey to becoming heroes. That journey just completes with the two seasons offered, but felt unsatisfying –  their later appearance on Runaways gave a glimpse into what they could be as adults.

9. Moon Knight

An adaptation of the comics which kept many familiar features –  the god Khonshu, the character's mental illness and instability, and more. A lesser actor would be overwhelmed by this, but Oscar Isaac is probably the reason I've watched this series twice so far.

8. Jessica Jones

I still think Jessica Jones was one of the best characterized heroes in the MCU and remains so today. In stark contrast she has very few space opera style narratives. She's like the superhero version of Fiona Gallagher, used to dealing with a ton of shit, with a sprinkling of the sarcasm Max Black from Two Broke Girls. And I absolutely loved Trish Walker. I'm still waiting for a fourth season on this one.

7. What If...?

I had some qualms about including this because it's got a lot of one offs, but every one off is typically worked into a larger narrative in a very clever way, so I decided to go ahead. The animation team did a stellar job throughout and there's a lot of shining moments in the one offs – from Captain Carter to Evil Dr. Strange, and even Agatha gets her alternative! This show really brought home the power of storytelling inside the multiverse. Oh, and who else loves Party Thor?

6. Punisher

An Honest Fangirl: Violent, bloody, amazing performances from everyone involved, the only season of a Marvel show that I regularly rewatch.

5. Hawkeye

The story of Clint and Kate comes across as low key compared to some of the high-powered entries in this list, but maybe this just underscores how much the chemistry between the two title characters drives the plot here.

4. Daredevil/Born Again

The newest in the Daredevil saga resurrects the Netflix series and brings back Charlie Cox, Vincent D'Onofrio and most if not all of the major players from the earlier version. That, in itself, is amazing, as it's rare for a series to come back –  but to come back as good, if not better than, the original? Now that's magic. I haven't actually watched this one, and one of the fun things about doing this review was getting recommendations from the Doux team in the process: this is now next on my watchlist.

3. Agatha All Along

A series focused on Agatha Harkness and the boy who would be Wiccan. Too many people loved the wisecracking Agatha Harkness for her to rest easy in Marvel Universe darkness. This series made it easy to love her. Down the witch's road, indeed.

An Honest Fangirl: Aubrey Plaza, need I say more?

2. Loki

An Honest Fangirl: Loki and Sylvie were a great duo, and Owen Wilson really impressed me as well. The final scenes of this series, however, are truly mythical, and well earned.

1. WandaVision

I can't – and won't – let the later Dr. Strange film dampen how much I loved every episode of this series, the powerful performances of its lead actors, even Tommy and Billy. Like Age of Ultron, there's a lot of lines here that will stick with me for ages: "In a given space, only the witch that cast the runes can use her magic" is only one of them. Vision has one of the best lines of the series which I won't repeat here but which has hit me in the face every time I've watched it, and led me to tears. When I think of the later film, in my mind, it's a different Wanda than the one who walks away at the end of this series.

So what do you think? Are our faves your faves? Did your favorite not make our list? Drop a comment below. And thanks for reading!

Our Marvel Index includes links to every Marvel movie and TV review on Doux Reviews.