We're two films into our special-curated-I-can't-stop-thinking-about-the-order rewatching of all the Marvel films. First up was Captain America. It is still so brilliant. Full of heart and proper heroism. All the best things these films have to say are within it.

The magic is in the combination of decent values and genuine heartfelt morality, laced with clever irony, like Cap wearing his suit for propaganda purposes at home.

Captain Marvel was in the second spot. Really works here. But I still find it boring and drab. The action doesn't feel thrilling, the jokes don't land. Only thing saving it is the politics. The things it has to say on feminism and refugees are really well handled.

I really want that film to be better. But after two watches I've given up. It's just not very good. Larson is great though. A new writing team could easily turn it around.

For those asking, we're using this order, nabbed from a Reddit thread with a bit of playing around. Prioritises chronology and maintaining Asgardian/Shield/space threads over a few films at a time.

Iron Man: quite a bit worse than I remembered. Amazing how militaristic, sexist and generally AMERICA FUCK YEAH it was.

Such a strange feeling to see things you remember as quite recent look culturally dated. Treatment of female characters one major area. But it's also rare now to see military celebrated in way they do here. After-effect of Iraq, I suppose.

However, the winning formula is here: witty patter, effortlessly great special effects, commitment to comic book design, slapstick gags undercutting the heroics to make it more palatable, a decent heart underneath it all.

Also that post-credit sequence reminded me of what a mess I was in the cinema when I saw it, all those years ago before the shared universe took hold.

Fury says his name. I'm like: oh my god. Then he says 'The Avengers initiative'. I'm like: OH MY FUCKING GOD ALMIGHTY.

Little did I know they were about to make all my lovely nerd dreams come true.

Lockdown means we are now pressing on with the Great Marvel Rewatch. This watching order really stacks the shitty ones at the front end. Hulk particularly drab and awful. Iron Man 2 probably the most mean-spirited of the Marvel films.

But then Avengers. Fuck me. That film has lost none of its breakout euphoria. It is so joyous.

For the first time, it is a comic book film which really commits to action. Hulk finally smashes. Characters finally team up. But it never goes all boring smashy smashy. The action is choreographed and it contributes either to character or plot.

I wish more people would get this about action. So many directors either seem wary of it, or dumbly lowest-common-denominator committed to it. It doesn't have to be dumb. It can contribute to what's going on.