I just got done with 'Phase 1' of the MCU, so sure. I'll start that thread on this rewatch now. I know I said a few things about the movies yesterday, but there was more stuff I could say.

So I'm going by release order just because it makes a little more sense that chronological and also because only a few movies deviate from the release=chronological. This is also going to end with me ranking the movies from most liked to least because I LOVE LISTS!

I started with Iron Man obviously and it's still just as enjoyable as when it came out in 2008. Fun cast, fun characters, and honestly still REALLY high up there of the movies I like in the MCU. "TONY STARK BUILT THIS IN A CAVE!!! WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!!!"

Honestly, villains like Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane makes me really sad that the MCU kills off a lot of their villains. I sorta understand why. But fuck, man. They're comic book movies. Who cares about realism. We're here for weird and wacky shit.

I skipped The Incredible Hulk for obvious reasons. Mainly the fact that it's just alright. And it doesn't have much bearing on the other movies. It's just pretty eh and I didn't see much reason to include it when I had 22 other films to watch in the first place.

Iron Man 2 was up next and let me tell you. It's not as bad as everyone likes to say. But the reason it's not all that great either is because it's a movie that doesn't need to exist. A lot of the movie is set up for pay offs later down the line in the series.

Like no significant character development happens here. And what this movie does others do better down the line. You could literally skip this movie and not really miss ANYTHING. Like I don't think they ever reference anything this movie does besides Tony's mistrust of Fury.

Also Iron Man 2 had the villain die in the same cheap way Stane did. If Whiplash had just kept his fucking helmet on, he'd be alive and our heroes would be dead. lmao But Whiplash was kind of cool. Sam Rockwell was really fun. It's an alright watch for those rare kind of moods.

Thor is a fun movie. Kind of a goofy Shakespearian love story type deal. Love the main theme of the movie. Haerrrrgh! Most of the casting choices were awesome for this one. It will never not be funny when Loki yells at Odin and Odin goes, "Alright, Imma sleep."

Captain America: The First Avenger is also pretty decent. Back in 2011, I never actually expected to like Captain America, but man, they really did it. And a lot of his later appearances would cement him as a strong favorite in the series.

This movie has kind of the same thing going like with Iron Man where I hadn't really seen either movie in a long while. And I was just astounded at how far their characters had gone in the series. Tony' characterization throughout the MCU has been awesome. And so has Steve's.

Although, I still chafe at the ending for Endgame. I'm not quite sure that's a Steve Rogers thing to do, but whatever. The First Avenger was real neat. Maybe not an absolute favorite, but it's decent enough and I didn't mind rewatching it at all.

So now I get to the big fish. I just finished The Avengers tonight and boy, I still love this movie. Granted over time, I've grown more and more ehhhhh about the Whedonisms in this film, but it's still a great movie despite it all.

I could probably make an entire thread about my thoughts on Avengers alone, mostly having to do with said Whedonisms, but I'll try and condense it. Black Widow's treatment's pretty bleh as is the characterization for Cap and Thor. You could really tell who Whedon liked and didn't

Like, you could tell he thought Iron Man was the *hottest* shit, Bruce Banner was the nerd he wants to be, and Black Widow is his weird gross crush. And then Cap was just some old fashioned flag waver good ol' boy, Thor was just a dumb Shakespeare guy, and Hawkeye has a bow.

But the action's great, some of the character works are great, the movie's quotable, and it's still a fun time to watch 8 years later. Also, hey, remember how he got away with basically having Loki call Black Widow a cunt??? I completely forgot about that!

Anyway, I'll gladly elaborate more on each movie if people are interested and I'll try to keep this thread more up to date for when I finish a movie. Think I might sit back and watch Iron Man 3 now because I'm not doing much else.

Man, I judged Iron Man 3 far too harshly when it first came out. I was too taken in by the trailers and kind of mad that the movie we got wasn't the one advertised in the trailers. But that's a good thing. For the most part, the movie does a great job of subverting expecations.

But man, Iron Man 3 is what Iron Man 2 WANTED to be. This movie LEAPED Tony's character developments. I'd say this movie was like...the biggest attitude shift for the character since after the cave in the first Iron Man. But really, what a great movie to follow the Avengers.

I also forgot how *funny* this movie was. Like there's real genuine good bits of humor. And I gotta say, watching this movie this time has catapulted it to the top of my list so far. There's a lot to like about this movie and I'd recommend giving it a second chance.

I'm still torn as to whether I'm more mad that they used Ben Kingsley like they did or if I applaud the clever subversion. Cos man, Ben Kingsley would have played a GREAT VILLAIN!! But everyone knows that. So I mean. What a twist!

I was excited because I thought Winter Soldier was next on the watchlist, but it's Thor: The Dark World. Not sure if I'm going to end up changing my mind on this movie. But I'll give it a shot.

Yeah, Thor: The Dark World still isn't that great. I don't know exactly what it is about this movie that irks me. But there's a ton of it that just doesn't click with me. The story and villain just isn't great. There's maybe 2 jokes that don't fall flat.

The whole Selvig is crazy thing isn't awesome either. It's hard to find things that I like about the movie. Like it's neat that it's Thor. And I guess the bits with Loki and Thor were decent enough. But the rest of the movie is really bland.

After a few days break, I finally got to The Winter Soldier. Still my favorite MCU movie so far. And I'm not sure I can even explain why. This movie is just really awesome to me and I love it to pieces.

I meant to add on this earlier, but I love how tense The Winter Soldier ends up being as a movie. There's a lot of really great and tense action sequences. The Fury car chase, the freeway fight, the KNIFE fight, the whole final bit of the movie.

And like the music is real great too and just ADDS to it all. Like I genuinely find myself listening to the soundtrack a ton from the movie. And the character work is awesome in the film too. Like this movie was where I really started to like Captain America as a character.

But tonight, I watched Avengers: Age of Ultron. I think I like it more every time I watch it. But it's still my least favorite Avengers movie and I find myself eye rolling at the Whedonisms is this one.

I've mentioned it before, but I feel like there's a decent movie hiding in Age of Ultron, it just requires some smart edits and you could turn it around. Banner and Natasha's cringey romance, Steve's whole "language" thing, Natasha equating sterility with being a monster, etc.

Also fuck this movie for killing Quicksilver. Like I get that Whedon wanted to kill someone because "lol the stakes", but you kinda revealed your cowardice with that idea by killing a completely new and just introduced character. I dunno, it felt lazy and kind of a half measure.

HOLY SHIT I FORGOT THAT I WATCHED GUARDIANS BEFORE AGE OF ULTRON AND DIDN'T TALK ABOUT IT! So Dorks in Space is still an awesome movie. I love a lot about this movie. It's a lot of fun and I liked how far removed it was from the rest of the MCU at the moment.

I'm always going to be a sucker for found family and misfits working together though, so that's probably a lot of why I love the movie.

Man, Ant-Man had absolutely no business being as good as it was. Especially after my disappointment that Edgar Wright dropped off the project. But honestly? Ant-Man is a fun time. And I'm a sucker for heists, what can I say? lol

I know that they frame Captain America as the main character in Civil War which is why the movie is branded as such, but honestly, it really might as well be an Avengers movie. And it's a good one. Change my mind.

The slow and yet quick break down of Steve and Tony's friendship, Black Panther having the best arc of the film, a movie that portrays some consequences to the Avengers' actions, the hero fights, the villainous plan, the knockdown drag out fight at the end? Chef kiss.

It's just a really good movie and I know it's not people's favorite. Which eh, happens. But it's pretty high up there in terms of good MCU movies. As the start of Phase 3, it starts off really strong. And I mean, Phase 3 was just a strong line up in general.

Dormammu, I've come to bargain! So Doctor Strange. Yet another movie that I was surprised was as good as it was. But it is admittedly a very mid tier Marvel movie. Like it's still really good. But I don't have many strong feelings about it either way.

I enjoy the movie because it's magic and the movie is almost entirely saved by the trippy visuals. But it's definitely one of those movies that only feels like it's there to introduce an Infinity Stone. Was fun to rewatch it, but I probably won't see it again for a long while.

Okay, so watching the first Guardians, I was like, "Wow. Ya know, I think this is my favorite Guardians film." And then I watched Volume 2 and now I know that I am wrong. Like the first Guardians is very good and probably the tighter film of the two.

But Vol. 2 is so fucking funny. I forgot how much funnier Vol. 2 is over the first movie. And like these are all jokes I've seen/heard several times. (My dad put this on a lot when it was on Netflix and we were all bored) But I laughed at most of them again.

I'm just a big fan of this action comedy of a space adventure. There's so much to like about this movie. I mean come on, Rocket and Yondu's escape while Come a Little Bit Closer plays? That's the shit. It's so damn good. I just really keep coming back to how funny this movie is.

But the even more explicit found family trope in this movie also seals the deal. The Guardians realizing for real that they are a family is great time. Honestly, I would kill to write something like this. lmao

Ah man, Spider-Man Homecoming is still so good. The humor, the action. It's a fun one. I mention it every time, but the tension in the scene between Vulture and Spidey in the car is the BEST. And probably really high on my favorite scenes in the MCU.

But yeah, it's just really nice to have a Spider-Man movie that knows it can skip the origin story, but is still early enough in his hero days to be one of those formative stories. And oh man, Michael Keaton as the Vulture was awesome. And I loved the character so much.

I'm biased because, ya know, favorite hero. But this movie is definitely real high on the list. And honestly, I think I'm in a long streak of good movies now if I'm remembering right. Thor Ragnarok is next up on the watch list and we all know how good that one is. lmao

Asgard is not a place. It's a people. God, Ragnarok is such a good movie. And so much fun! Still getting laughs out of me a few years later. This movie was to Thor what Iron Man 3 was to Tony Stark. It was a transformative arc that the characters really needed.

I'd say more needed in Thor's case since his characterization has been ALL over the place since 2011 when his first solo film came out, but I was glad of this movie for doing something fun and interesting with him. It's just too bad that Infinity War and Endgame killed it.

Like those 2 movies do some interesting things with Thor, but taking away his eye and his hammer was symbolic and meaningful. And then the writers went, "lol give him a robot eye and a bigger hammer." But anyway, I'm supposed to be talking about Ragnarok.

There's so much to love about this movie. Might be the first where I really believe that Loki and Thor are brothers. Loki turning Asgard into a hedonistic place of celebrating his own accomplishments was hilarious. Doctor Strange is better than in ANY of his MCU appearances.

What they did with Hulk was pretty grand. Valkyrie is such a strong character. It's just a fun adventure all around. You could tell that everyone involved had a lot of fun just making the movie and honestly, I think that's a lot of what makes the movie.

Also, I know I'm on the good movie streak right now. But you know that superhero fatigue thing everyone's talking about? YEAH, I'M FEELING IT RIGHT NOW. THIS MARATHON IS A MISTAKE.

Okay, so I knocked Black Panther out today too. And of course, still a great movie. Awesome cast, awesome characters, awesome protag, awesome antagonist. Wakanda is very cool aesthetically. It's pretty high on the list of favorites.

Enough to where I'm having trouble placing movies on the list now. I suppose it's a good problem to have though? I'm getting close to finishing the marathon now and looking at Letterboxd, I'm realizing I started this marathon almost a month ago. lmao

Here nearing the end of this thread, I'm having trouble mustering thoughts for Infinity War. Still love the movie. But I feel like I'm tiring of this thread. Maybe I'll say more about it later, but right now I'm not feeling like screaming into the void about things.