5. Thor

Alright, cards on the table. The biggest reason I put this over Captain America 1 is because I like Chris Hemsworth’s acting more than Chris Evans. Both films did a great job of surrounding their lead with a strong supporting cast. Lady Sif and the Warriors felt like actual badasses instead of sidekicks. Darcy and Dr. Selvig were great backups, and even Natalie Portman did well in her role. (Especially compared to the sequel.)

Besides RDJ as Tony Stark, Chris Hemsworth as Thor was the best casting for a hero. He just owns the cocky god’s persona in full. He knows he’s powerful enough to do whatever the fuck he wants, and he does just that. Even when he has no powers he’s able to kick everybody’s ass. Thor and Jane’s romance was passable enough, but the expanding of the Marvel universe, and Loki’s fantastic villainy was superb.

4. Captain America: Civil War

Woah boy. Leaving this one out of the top three was a tough choice, but the truth is that it missed it by that much. The action in this movie was all so. Damn. Good. Every fight was just pure baddassery on full display. And unlike so many of the hardcore fans bitching about not going along with the source material just remember. Civil War comic book style would have taken about three six hour movies. There was so much going on that they couldn’t just copy and paste the comic to the movies.

The fact that you could see both sides of the fight made everything so much more engrossing. Yes Zemo is the bad guy and tears the team apart at the seems. But when it comes down to it, Team Iron Man or Team Captain America have good points. Every fight has somebody you want to root for on both sides.

This film took Age of Ultron’s strengths and ran with it here. It kept the pace fast and the action boisterous. Instead of trying to ground itself, Civil War decided that it would go the extra mile. It wanted to remind viewers that these giants among men were fighting on even ground. It reveled in its grandeur while still telling a coherent story. Great job Russo Brothers. Great job.

3. Guardians of the Galaxy

Oh boy. Top three time. Truth be told the only way I could rank these three was how much I go back and watch it again. I loved all three of these movies in their entirety, and I couldn’t think of any way to rank them other than what I watch the most. And that being said, Guardians of the Galaxy might find itself higher on the list as time goes on.

This movie just gets it. It knows that it’s a comedy-adventure-sci-fi and it nails it with every scene. Every character is over the top and doesn’t let up the entire movie. Starlord, Rocket, Drax, Gamora and the Tree guy were all a pleasure to watch. (You think the tree guy would have said his name at some point.) And Ronan man, he might have been shown as Thanos’ toady but he was still so good as the bad guy. The first scene he appears in he just smashes some poor bastard in with a hammer to show he is not to be fucked with.

The comedy in the film was well timed, but what surprised me most was the ability to tell an emotional story. They might have been criminals, assassins, and modified mammals, but they were still people. Seeing them all evolve and change helped establish them all as a group by the end. Overall, GoG is a great movie and so much fun.

2. The Avengers

If I could describe this movie in one word, that would be epic. The first time the heroes get together? Epic. The Chitauri coming through the space tear to destroy NYC? Epic. Iron Man vs. Thor with Special Referee Captain America? Epic. EVERY THING ABOUT THIS MOVIE!? Epic.

This movie ticks every box on the sheet. It’s a great coming together story that sets up everything to follow. The characters all have their moments to shine in their own way. We get to see full on badassery from everybody, and the seeds for future relationship features are planted. Tony and Captain fighting for the top seat? Check. Loki trying to destroy literally everything? Check. Thanos making his first appearance? Big. Purple. Check.

Every character has at least one moment that makes you say “Wow! That was awesome.” Thor shooting lighting to bug zap Chitauri from the sky. Captain America going 1 vs 5 with Chitauri to let a Brooklyn cop know just who he is. Iron man blowing up a Chitauri tank monster from the inside. The Hulk showing Loki is just a “puny god”. Hulk punching Thor off the screen. Hulk punching a Chitauri tank monster down in one blow… Pretty much every hulk scene.

1. Iron Man

Man, sometimes you just can’t beat the original. Robert Downey Junior just owned this role so much that today he is seen AS Tony Stark. From the first flight in the Mark 2, to the tank missle scene that still tops the list of most badass scenes in the Marvel movie series Iron Man is on fire the whole movie. Despite being the lead actor in the movie, RDJ still manages to steal every moment he’s on screen.

Every fight is extremely entertaining and tense. Watching Tony tear through the Ten Ring cronies when he starts his march to atone for his sins is a great thing to see. And Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane was a great performance. Not only was he pulling strings the whole way, but he sets the standard for what a villain needs to be in every following movie. Charismatic, Vicious, and on equal footing with the hero. Stane wasn’t just as strong as Tony, he was important to Tony. Helped raise him. Just as Loki’s relationship with Thor was important, so to was Stane’s with Tony Stark.

There was so much riding on this movie when it first came out. If it fell apart and crashed, Marvel would have taken one step forward, two steps back yet again. Before Iron Man the Marvel related films had released a string of duds, and this movie may very well have been the make or break moment. And it delivered on every level. From the first shot, Tony Stark’s origin laid the groundwork for every Marvel film after it while setting the gold standard. And while many films have come close, I still don’t believe anything has reached the heights that Iron Man 1 set up.

And that wraps things up for my top ten list! I’ll freely admit that this list is 100% subjective, and you are all free to disagree and explain how much of an idiot I am. Some movies came down to personal taste more than actual film critique, but at the end of the day, we’ve all got our own opinions.