Official MCU film ranking thread--AND THE WINNER IS...

Started by bosk1, November 25, 2022, 11:53:40 PM

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Lonk

23: The Incredible Hulk
22: Thor
21: Black Panther
20: Captain Marvel
19: Iron Man 2
18: Ant Man and the Wasp
17: Captain America - First Avenger
16: Thor: The Dark World
15: Iron Man 3
14: Spiderman - Homecoming
13: Iron Man
12: Guardians of the Galaxy 2
11: Ant Man
10: Spider Man: Far from Home
9: Doctor Strange
8: Guardians of the Galaxy
7: Avengers
6: Avengers: Age of Ultron
5:Captain America - Winter Soldier
4: Thor: Ragnarok
3:
2: Captain America - Civil War
1:

Captain America - Winter Soldier #5 for me. Not much to say that hasn't been said. I went to the theater to watch this movie because I was already invested in the MCU, but Cap was still my least favorite character (and Avengers didn't do much to change that), but I came out of the movie theater with new appreciation for Chris Evan's Captain. Bucky was terrifying in this movie. Great action sequences all throughout.

Avengers: #7. Amazing movie, On a good day it makes it to my top 5. I don't have anything necessarily negative to say about this movie, I just like the others a bit more.

bosk1


The Letter M

Quote from: bosk1 on January 09, 2023, 09:16:02 AM
#2 tonight...  :caffeine:

For the sake of the countdown, I guess we should only discuss the #2 film and now what will be #1 so that we can save that discussion for when you post the #1 film?

Either way, I'm excited to see which order these two fall in, not that it matters very much to me, both are great, but I have a suspicion I know which order it will be (and it won't be the order I have it in).

-Marc.

jingle.boy

Quote from: The Letter M on January 09, 2023, 12:38:32 PM
Quote from: bosk1 on January 09, 2023, 09:16:02 AM
#2 tonight...  :caffeine:

For the sake of the countdown, I guess we should only discuss the #2 film and now what will be #1 so that we can save that discussion for when you post the #1 film?

Either way, I'm excited to see which order these two fall in, not that it matters very much to me, both are great, but I have a suspicion I know which order it will be (and it won't be the order I have it in).

-Marc.

I truly could go either way amongst.  I've got my reasons for why I ranked them the way I did, but i've no doubt a dozen other people could see it the other way around.  For me, it's definitely a case of 1a/1b.  Wouldn't it be glorious if they tied!?!?!   :omg:
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axeman90210

Avengers clocked in at seventh for me. The OG team up movie, the moment we had all been waiting for since that first post-credits scene after Iron Man. And it delivered. The interactions between all of the soon-to-be Avengers felt true to everything that had been established in their standalone movies, and (stop me if you've read this before in this thread) Tom Hiddleston absolutely killed it.

bosk1

I was already planning on starting off with what Marc mentioned above:  Let's keep discussion limited to the #2 for now so that we have something to discuss tomorrow with the #1.  That isn't to say you can't mention it, or make comparisons/contrast.  But let's try to limit a lot of substantive discussion of the #1 for now, cool?

And the second favorite MCU film is...

































Avengers:  Infinity War
Highest ranking:  #1 (bosk1, Vmadera00, faizoff, hefdaddy42, The Realm, soupytwist, jingle.boy, jammindude)
Lowest ranking:  #12 (DarkChestofWonders)
Stats:  This finished in everybody's top 3, except the lone #12 vote and a #5.  If not for that statistical outlier, this would have finished #1.  After adding up all the votes, #1 and #2 were separated by only 2 points!  Based on the trend, I suspect this would have finished #1 if we had a larger sample size of votes.

What. A. Movie.  To date, this had the biggest cast of superheroes.  It had nonstop action from start to finish.  It had locations all over the universe.  It gave us a villain that had SO much depth, character, and development.  It gave us emotion.  It tied together virtually every corner of the MCU to date.  And somehow, it not only all worked, but wildly exceeded all expectations.  Go back in your mind to Iron Man.  Or even to Avengers.  Did any of you imagine the MCU could ever pull of something so grandiose?  I didn't.  This movie somehow made The Avengers feel like child's play. 

To me, this was as perfect a superhero movie as could possibly be made.  The pacing rarely let up, but for the briefest of moments when needed to let us catch a breath, and while that was fatiguing, it was in a way that worked.  There was so much crammed into this movie, and it never felt like it was too much.  It all worked together so well.  It built so perfectly off of the prior movies and took the characters in directions that made sense, and I loved it.  The ending was simultaneously completely expected and completely unexpected.  And the realization that the original six Avengers were among the survivors was chilling.  This movie, perhaps more than any other, flawless pulled off the double duty of tying up everything that came before while creating unprecedented anticipation for what was coming next.  For that reason, despite the fact that I think the emotional impact of Endgame was somehow even bigger and more satisfying, this is my #1.

jammindude

It was an extremely ballsy move to take the most anticipated movie of the entire decade (possibly of our generation) and have everyone die at the end.

The first time I saw it, a girl in my row literally stood up and said, "THAT'S IT?!?!?!?!?!??"

I LOLed

jingle.boy

I rated this as #1 for a lot of what Bosk said.  There was just soooo much going on, and it was all stitched together perfectly.  At first I felt gypped out of seeing how Thanos annihilated Xandar to get the Power stone, but then realized that wasn't necessary - the more important stories were to be told about the other 5 stones.  The pacing was frantic, but perfect; there was no lull in the plot - honestly, the Rocket/Thor scene is one of the best of the movie - probably Hemsworth's best performance in any movie/moment.

And the number of roars that came in the theater ... "we have a Hulk"; Tony's nano-suit; Cap's silhouette behind the subway; "Congratulations kid, you're an Avenger"; Thor's arrival in Wakanda; Thanos v Strange (breathtaking).

And then the gasps and wtf expressions as everyone got dusted.

Just perfection.

P.S. Is DarkChestofWonders just trolling with their list?  Seriously.
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The Letter M

Quote from: bosk1 on January 09, 2023, 09:51:42 PM
Avengers:  Infinity War
Highest ranking:  #1 (bosk1, Vmadera00, faizoff, hefdaddy42, The Realm, soupytwist, jingle.boy, jammindude)
Lowest ranking:  #12 (DarkChestofWonders)
Stats:  This finished in everybody's top 3, except the lone #12 vote and a #5.  If not for that statistical outlier, this would have finished #1.  After adding up all the votes, #1 and #2 were separated by only 2 points!  Based on the trend, I suspect this would have finished #1 if we had a larger sample size of votes.

23. Thor: The Dark World
22. The Incredible Hulk
21. Thor
20. Iron Man 3
19. Ant-Man And The Wasp
18. Captain Marvel
17. Iron Man 2
16. Ant-Man
15. Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 1
14. Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2
13. Avengers: Age Of Ultron
12. Doctor Strange
11. Spider-Man: Far From Home
10. Spider-Man: Homecoming
09. Black Panther
08. Captain America: The First Avenger
07. Iron Man
06. Thor: Ragnarok
05. Captain America: Civil War
04. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
03. The Avengers
02. Avengers: Infinity War
01. ?

I still remember the shock and awe the ending left me and my whole theater in. I think MCU fans of all levels really connected that day. Casuals, die-hard, and all those in-between were all caught off guard, even the ones who knew the comics that were prepared for the snap would not even be ready for how it was actually executed.

This was Thanos' film. He went on The Hero's Journey, and it was his quest, his story, made even more evident as the film closes on him (not including that chilling post-credits scene). For many fans, it would seem impossible to top a film like this but I think the Russos did an excellent job. Knowing how close these two films were in the final ranking definitely proves that with our small sample size here.

-Marc.

lonestar

Quote from: bosk1 on January 09, 2023, 09:51:42 PM

Avengers:  Infinity War
Highest ranking:  #1 (bosk1, Vmadera00, faizoff, hefdaddy42, The Realm, soupytwist, jingle.boy, jammindude)


I had it at #1 as well...

23- Thor 2
22- Ant Man and the Wasp
21- Captain Marvel
20- Thor - Ragnorok
19- The Incredible Hulk
18- Guardians of the Galaxy 2
17- Iron Man 3
16- Dr. Strange
15- Iron Man 2
14- Thor
13- Black Panther
12- Spiderman- Far From Home
11- Captain America- First Avenger
10- Avengers- Age of Ultron
9- Ant Man
8- Captain America- Civil War
7- The Avengers
6- Spiderman- Homecoming
5- Iron Man
4- Guardians of the Galaxy
3- Captain America- The Winter Soldier
2-
1- Avengers- Infinity War


The line between this and Endgame for me is very, very thin.


Yup, as others said, ballsy move to kill everyone. This was such a cinematic achievement, taking all the myriad threads that were laid out in the previous 10 years of movies, and tying them together in such a brilliant fashion, just awe inspiring. To have so many lead characters, yet each having a part to play. And epic on a scale never even speculated or thought of. This was cinema at its largest.

Also, for me, it was the experience. Seeing it on opening night, in IMAX, in a theater that sold alcohol to seats, made it less a theater environment and more a rock concert. People were intensely vocal, people stood up and cheered, people were visible emotional. At the end, one dude next to me just said "they lost???". When Spidey died, all you could hear was sniffling. It was a level of theater participation I'd never seen before, and would only see once more in Endgame.


Such a tremendous acheivement all around,


Lonk

23: The Incredible Hulk
22: Thor
21: Black Panther
20: Captain Marvel
19: Iron Man 2
18: Ant Man and the Wasp
17: Captain America - First Avenger
16: Thor: The Dark World
15: Iron Man 3
14: Spiderman - Homecoming
13: Iron Man
12: Guardians of the Galaxy 2
11: Ant Man
10: Spider Man: Far from Home
9: Doctor Strange
8: Guardians of the Galaxy
7: Avengers
6: Avengers: Age of Ultron
5:Captain America - Winter Soldier
4: Thor: Ragnarok
3:
2: Captain America - Civil War
1: Avengers: Infinity War

Have to say, I am surprised at the order of the last two films.

This to me, was just the perfect movie to tie everything together. While we missed two of our heroes (Ant-man and Hawkeye), everything else tied up nicely. From the opening sequence, that we did not get a typical Marvel intro but instead we got Asgardian's call for help, I knew we were in for a treat. Those first 10 minutes of the movie gave us a glimpse of how terrifying Thanos was going to be. Seeing characters from different movies meet for the first time was done in such a graceful way as well.

And it goes without saying that the actors brought in their A game. As Jingle mentioned, that scene with Rocket and Thor  :hefdaddy, Vision and Wanda  :tup

I think I saw this movie 3 times in the theater, and one of those was in 4-D, which was one of the weirdest movie experiences I had  :lol But yeah, the crowd on opening weekend was intense.

Dream Team

Commenting on the last 2 . . . Avengers at #2, Infinity War at #3.

The Avengers was a such a huge game-changer. Probably my most-anticipated movie ever (up to that point). As others have stated, most of us comic readers never thought we'd get something on the silver screen that would do justice to the source material. Thank you Kevin Feige!! There's no way I can go into detail about how much I love this movie. Just bringing those characters together in such a realistic way (personality conflicts, different motivations, struggles over who is the Alpha) etc. You can see why projects of this size and scope burn out producers/directors.

Infinity War awesome as well of course, not much to add that hasn't been said.

jingle.boy

IIRC, I saw IW 4 times in the theater.  And as RJ said, IMAX on opening night was unparalleled (at least, until about 12 months later).

As Victor said, that opening sequence, with Thanos rather easily handling Hulk (and Maw holding back Cull to "let him have his fun") was like  :omg:  Then, him simply crushing the cosmic cube to reveal the Space Stone... wow.  It really set the stage for how powerful and dangerous he is.
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bosk1

Quote from: lonestar on January 10, 2023, 05:59:29 AM
Quote from: bosk1 on January 09, 2023, 09:51:42 PM

Avengers:  Infinity War
Highest ranking:  #1 (bosk1, Vmadera00, faizoff, hefdaddy42, The Realm, soupytwist, jingle.boy, jammindude)


I had it at #1 as well...

Yes, you certainly did!  Sorry about that.

Wanted to come back in to say a couple of other things:

The snap:  The way they executed the snap and the dusting on screen was incredible.  We had that uncomfortable feeling all film that we were "inevitably" heading toward that, and I know for me, I kept wondering how they would pull something like that off onscreen and have it look believable and have it hit home.  I had no idea.  It exceeded anything I could have expected in my wildest expectations. 

The missing Avengers:  We didn't know why Hawkeye and Ant Man were missing.  And I don't remember a ton of people strongly voicing that Ant Man should have been involved, but remember LOTS of people wondering why on earth we weren't seeing Hawkeye.  Hindsight is 20/20.  What we got from both of these in Endgame was perfect, and couldn't have had nearly the impact if those characters were crammed into Infinity War.  Just SO good!

Thanos:  Chad, I agree.  It was good that we had seen him before and knew a little about him.  But so far, we had just been told that he was powerful.  We hadn't seen it.  This film showed us in the first 10 minutes of the film.  We spent some quality minutes right up front with this character and were made to fear and dread him.  Half the Asgardians were dead.  We didn't see what happened to Xandar, but we didn't need to.  We were cleverly given the facts to fill in the blanks that they were utterly decimated.  We saw Loki and Heimdall easily killed, and Thor and Hulk easily beaten and discarded.  This guy was going to be a problem like no other and we fully believed that without any reservation 10 minutes in.

The theater experience:  I just remember the quiet at the end.  Leaving the theater, there was little talking.  And everybody's facial expressions and body language just said "wow, just WOW."  This was not a situation where I even had to ask the family as we left the theater, "So, what did you think?  Did you like it?"  It was more, "How incredible was that?"  It was clear that the vast majority of people would feel that this was an instant classic and instant "best film" of the entire MCU to date.

Adami

Had this at 2 and obviously I had the other at number 1. It's hard to discuss them separately since to me it's one big connected piece. So once the other one is revealed, I'll discuss them both in one post.
www. fanticide.bandcamp . com

ZirconBlue

Quote from: bosk1 on January 10, 2023, 07:14:47 AM

The missing Avengers:  We didn't know why Hawkeye and Ant Man were missing.  And I don't remember a ton of people strongly voicing that Ant Man should have been involved, but remember LOTS of people wondering why on earth we weren't seeing Hawkeye.  Hindsight is 20/20.  What we got from both of these in Endgame was perfect, and couldn't have had nearly the impact if those characters were crammed into Infinity War.  Just SO good!


Well, we know that they're on house arrest:



Bruce Banner: [discussing the situation] We need all hands on deck. Where's Clint?

Black Widow: After the whole Accords situation, he and Scott took a deal. It was too tough on their families. They're on house arrest.

Bruce Banner: Who's Scott?

Steve Rogers: Scott Lang. Ant-Man.

Bruce Banner: There's an Ant-Man *and* a Spider-Man?

The Letter M

Quote from: ZirconBlue on January 10, 2023, 07:43:29 AM
Quote from: bosk1 on January 10, 2023, 07:14:47 AM

The missing Avengers:  We didn't know why Hawkeye and Ant Man were missing.  And I don't remember a ton of people strongly voicing that Ant Man should have been involved, but remember LOTS of people wondering why on earth we weren't seeing Hawkeye.  Hindsight is 20/20.  What we got from both of these in Endgame was perfect, and couldn't have had nearly the impact if those characters were crammed into Infinity War.  Just SO good!


Well, we know that they're on house arrest:



Bruce Banner: [discussing the situation] We need all hands on deck. Where's Clint?

Black Widow: After the whole Accords situation, he and Scott took a deal. It was too tough on their families. They're on house arrest.

Bruce Banner: Who's Scott?

Steve Rogers: Scott Lang. Ant-Man.

Bruce Banner: There's an Ant-Man *and* a Spider-Man?


True, definitely explained where they were in the film after Civil War, even though we didn't SEE that until the second Ant-Man film and the opening of Endgame.

-Marc.

The Realm

Infinity War - my clear number 1. Kind of can't believe it isn't number 1 overall. Lots of great points already made about this movie, it really is on a completely different level to anything that came before it and set up a mammoth task for End Game to attempt to top (more on that later).

I think what I loved most though in this movie was Thanos. He really became such a flawed and realised character and ultimate badass villain. And as others have said the execution of the snap was perfect.

Lots of favourite moments but Thor arriving at the battle is hard to beat.

Dream Team

Quote from: Adami on January 10, 2023, 07:24:51 AM
Had this at 2 and obviously I had the other at number 1. It's hard to discuss them separately since to me it's one big connected piece. So once the other one is revealed, I'll discuss them both in one post.

Yes. Taken as one big piece, easily the greatest sci-fi/action/adventure ever to hit the big screen. YMMV. But of course it's not just the spectacle, it's the actors and the emotions and the relationships. One-of-a-kind achievement.

lonestar

Quote from: Dream Team on January 10, 2023, 01:54:11 PM
Quote from: Adami on January 10, 2023, 07:24:51 AM
Had this at 2 and obviously I had the other at number 1. It's hard to discuss them separately since to me it's one big connected piece. So once the other one is revealed, I'll discuss them both in one post.

Yes. Taken as one big piece, easily the greatest sci-fi/action/adventure ever to hit the big screen. YMMV. But of course it's not just the spectacle, it's the actors and the emotions and the relationships. One-of-a-kind achievement.

Yup, not even Marvel will match what they did with the Infinity Saga

The Letter M

Quote from: lonestar on January 10, 2023, 02:05:46 PM
Quote from: Dream Team on January 10, 2023, 01:54:11 PM
Quote from: Adami on January 10, 2023, 07:24:51 AM
Had this at 2 and obviously I had the other at number 1. It's hard to discuss them separately since to me it's one big connected piece. So once the other one is revealed, I'll discuss them both in one post.

Yes. Taken as one big piece, easily the greatest sci-fi/action/adventure ever to hit the big screen. YMMV. But of course it's not just the spectacle, it's the actors and the emotions and the relationships. One-of-a-kind achievement.

Yup, not even Marvel will match what they did with the Infinity Saga

Probably not, but I'm sure the next two Avengers films might come close, especially if Secret Wars goes all out with its multiversal cameos.

-Marc.

jingle.boy

I'll be impressed as hell (and pleasantly over-joyed) if the KD/SW combination captures the same kind of magic. Sadly, we know the Hemsworth version of Thor won't show up.  :-\ :sad:
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axeman90210

Infinity War was the runner up for me. What an epic start to the two-part Infinity Saga conclusion.This movie kicks into gear immediately with a beatdown of Thor and Hulk and the murder of Loki, which largely sets the tone for the next 2.5 hours. The good guys get their shots in, but then we get to the end and it's "Mr Stark, I don't feel so good". You could hear a pin drop in my theater when people started to go to dust.

TheOutlawXanadu

I've been a bit of a Negative Nancy about the MCU as of late, and there were obviously some misses even during Phases 1-3, but holy hell do they deserve credit for absolutely nailing Infinity War (and then Endgame too). I remember walking out of the theater after seeing Infinity War and being so impressed by how clever it was to kill off half the characters and leave only the most important ones in tact for Endgame. Infinity War is awesome but they were clearly starting to run into the problem of having too many characters to actually spend meaningful time with. Using the "Thanos wants to kill half the galaxy" premise to reduce the number of characters and then give the main characters more screen time in Endgame was the perfect solution. I think everyone involved deserves a ton of credit for how well the Infinity Saga ended.

Lonk


lonestar


Dream Team

Quote from: The Letter M on January 10, 2023, 02:14:22 PM
Quote from: lonestar on January 10, 2023, 02:05:46 PM
Quote from: Dream Team on January 10, 2023, 01:54:11 PM
Quote from: Adami on January 10, 2023, 07:24:51 AM
Had this at 2 and obviously I had the other at number 1. It's hard to discuss them separately since to me it's one big connected piece. So once the other one is revealed, I'll discuss them both in one post.

Yes. Taken as one big piece, easily the greatest sci-fi/action/adventure ever to hit the big screen. YMMV. But of course it's not just the spectacle, it's the actors and the emotions and the relationships. One-of-a-kind achievement.

Yup, not even Marvel will match what they did with the Infinity Saga

Probably not, but I'm sure the next two Avengers films might come close, especially if Secret Wars goes all out with its multiversal cameos.

-Marc.

I don't see how. We'd have to be thoroughly emotionally invested in all these new characters for that to work - personally, there's no way I get there. Can't recreate what I got from Downey/Evans/Hemsworth/Johansson.

Lonk

Quote from: Dream Team on January 12, 2023, 11:03:27 AM
I don't see how. We'd have to be thoroughly emotionally invested in all these new characters for that to work - personally, there's no way I get there. Can't recreate what I got from Downey/Evans/Hemsworth/Johansson.
I think is just too early to tell, but we will see.

While I also don't believe they will match phase 3, the way the story is shaping up, it might be even better than phase 3 but for different reasons. The material and story is there, I just think they have to execute it properly.

jingle.boy

Quote from: Vmadera00 on January 12, 2023, 11:09:43 AM
Quote from: Dream Team on January 12, 2023, 11:03:27 AM
I don't see how. We'd have to be thoroughly emotionally invested in all these new characters for that to work - personally, there's no way I get there. Can't recreate what I got from Downey/Evans/Hemsworth/Johansson.
I think is just too early to tell, but we will see.

While I also don't believe they will match phase 3, the way the story is shaping up, it might be even better than phase 3 but for different reasons. The material and story is there, I just think they have to execute it properly.

If MoM and L&T are any indications, they're gonna fail.  I have mildly high hopes that Quantumania and GOTG vol3 can right the good ship MCU.
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The Letter M

Quote from: jingle.boy on January 12, 2023, 12:04:38 PM
Quote from: Vmadera00 on January 12, 2023, 11:09:43 AM
Quote from: Dream Team on January 12, 2023, 11:03:27 AM
I don't see how. We'd have to be thoroughly emotionally invested in all these new characters for that to work - personally, there's no way I get there. Can't recreate what I got from Downey/Evans/Hemsworth/Johansson.
I think is just too early to tell, but we will see.

While I also don't believe they will match phase 3, the way the story is shaping up, it might be even better than phase 3 but for different reasons. The material and story is there, I just think they have to execute it properly.

If MoM and L&T are any indications, they're gonna fail.  I have mildly high hopes that Quantumania and GOTG vol3 can right the good ship MCU.

Whether by coincidence or not, it seems like every MCU franchise's third film is fairly successful. Regardless of how you feel about Iron Man 3, it was the MCU's 2nd billion-dollar maker (coming out after Avengers probably helped), and many fans seems to enjoy it now in retrospect. Civil War was very successful and is fairly loved by most fans, as is Thor: Ragnarok. Of course, Infinity War set the bar at its time of release, so there's no doubting its quality there. And of course there's 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home, which speaks for itself.

Now that we're getting the third films in the next two oldest franchises within the MCU, both of which started in Phase 2, I suspect that Quantumania and Guardians Vol. 3 will knock it out of the park. The stakes are high for each, within their own respective stories, but could also help push forward various parts of the MCU's over-all story and narrative going into Phase 5.

Also, it now occurs to me that it'll be a LONG time before we get another Threequel in the MCU, not counting Deadpool 3 (which started outside of the MCU). Doctor Strange and Black Panther will surely get third films, and Captain Marvel might, as well (depending on how The Marvels does this year), but those probably won't happen til at LEAST 2026 or 2027. Somehow those three Phase 3-started franchises just got the raw end of the stick by having their individual entries spaced out so much - Doctor Strange took 6 years between films, with Captain Marvel and Black Panther both waiting four years between films as well. The slate from 2026 and beyond will likely include sequels to Shang-Chi and the Eternals as well, so who knows when they'll fit in the next Threequel.

-Marc.

bosk1

Hey, guys.  Really sorry for the delay.  Some of you may have noticed I haven't been on the board AT ALL for several days.  Been assigned to work out of town on something that has taken a TON of time and lots of driving, and didn't have my computer with me on this last road trip.  Anyhow, excuses aside, here we go...

The winner and #1 MCU phase 1-3 film is:  Avengers:  Endgame
Highest ranking:  #1 (TheLetterM, DreamTeam, axeman90210, Adami)
Lowest ranking:  #5:  (DarkChestofWonders, jammindude)
Stats of note:  As mentioned, this finished in the top 5 on every single list.  There were 4 first place finishes, 9 second place finishes, 1 third place, 1 fourth place, and 2 fifth place.  This was clearly a favorite.  But that said, it would have finished second to Infinity War if not for the #12 vote it got. 

This was the capstone of the Infinity Saga.  We knew Marvel was going to somehow bring everyone back.  We knew Thanos would be front and center.  And we eventually learned that there would somehow be time travel involved.  Beyond that, I would say that this film subverted a lot of what most fans were expecting to happen.  And it did it oh so well.  The movie upped the ante in terms of including a huge cast.  On paper, having this many superheroes shouldn't have worked by any stretch of the imagination.  But it did.  Part of that was because we got sufficient character development for pretty much everybody in the films leading up to this one.  The other part is that they wisely kept the focus of the first three acts (and much of the third as well) on the O.G. six with a limited number of supporting characters.  The character arcs in this movie were great.  The action was great.  The pacing was great.  The writing was great.  The emotional stakes were HUGE.  And giving us a "Lord of the Rings ending" satisfyingly tied up a lot of loose ends with our characters that were exiting while setting up some things for the future.  As the climax of the Infinity Saga (with Far From Home being a nice epilogue), Endgame was just about perfect.

I had this at #2 behind Infinity War.  But really, it's more like 1A and 1B.  I loved both of these films.  What slightly tipped the scale in IW's favor for me is just that the time travel/multiverse concepts just get a little too wonky and require just a bit more suspension of belief and requires you to ultimately respond to certain things with, "Look, just don't think too hard about it."  IW didn't really have those moments.  But I mention the emotional stakes above.  IW had that too.  But Endgame just took it over the top.  We knew about Tony's monologue in space because we heard part of it in the trailers.  But hearing/seeing it in context and getting the opening chords of "Dear Mr. Fantasy" gave me legitimate chills in the theater, and I still remember that feeling every single time I watch this movie.  And Pepper's reaction when Tony dies just completely wrecks me every single time.  I'm tearing up just typing about it.  And, yeah, Peter's right before that it pretty emotional as well (Holland really nailed that).  But we get the complete gut punch of Peter's reaction, thinking it can't get any more hard-hitting than that, and then we get Pepper...  It just destroys me emotionally.  In a superhero movie.  And of course, there are other impactful moments as well.  Those are just two of my favorites. 

Zantera

I think Infinity War is a lot better than Endgame but Endgame has the most fan service out of any movie ever made so I'm not that surprised it won either. Plus it was perfectly fine also which doesn't hurt.

lonestar

23- Thor 2
22- Ant Man and the Wasp
21- Captain Marvel
20- Thor - Ragnorok
19- The Incredible Hulk
18- Guardians of the Galaxy 2
17- Iron Man 3
16- Dr. Strange
15- Iron Man 2
14- Thor
13- Black Panther
12- Spiderman- Far From Home
11- Captain America- First Avenger
10- Avengers- Age of Ultron
9- Ant Man
8- Captain America- Civil War
7- The Avengers
6- Spiderman- Homecoming
5- Iron Man
4- Guardians of the Galaxy
3- Captain America- The Winter Soldier
2- Avengers- Endgame
1- Avengers- Infinity War

Yeah, it's really hard to separate the two, even in the in theater experience aspect. I saw this in the same place on opening night, and the crowd was just as fired up. The cheering during the 'on your left' scene was deafening, as it was when Captain scored Miljonir, or when Captain Marvel blew through the ship. And again, the silence was deafening when Natasha and Tony die.

Personal favorite moments....


- Natasha and Clint on Vormir... I love how they really let their relationship take the center stage during this part of the film, and how you really didn't know which one was going to die, but you knew one was, and that anxiety was fucking brutal (mostly cause I didn't want it to be Nat lol)
- Battle royale pt1- The core members, Cap, Thor, and Tony against Thanos in a solid extended battle. Not only was it an insanely choreographed scene, but it really showed how powerful Thanos is in that he was able to take them all on without a single stone and still come out on top.
- On your left... yeah it's been analyzed and viewed to death, but damn it was just so fucking good. I always felt this scene really shows what a good score can do to a film, the crescendo they build musically in this one is just perfect.
- Wanda v Thanos... Lizzy really kicked ass in such a short scene, showed off how much trauma she'd been through at Thanos' hand, and let it all out, and probably would've beaten him if it wasn't for 'rain fire'. Also a good prelude to let us know that she was powerful enough to be capable of everything that follows in her arc.
- The final battle- From the moment Carol takes on Thanos and gets fucking clocked by the power stone, to the moment Tony snaps his fingers and wins. I think it ended perfectly, it should've come down to Tony and Thanos, anything else would've been second rate.


It's impossible to encompass what Feige and crew accomplished with the Infinity Saga, and it's something that will never be done again. To tie together such a vast array of stories into one epic saga, with such intensity and skill, is so admirably.

jingle.boy

Quote from: Jamesman42 on September 20, 2024, 12:38:03 PM
Quote from: TAC on September 19, 2024, 05:23:01 PMHow is this even possible? Are we playing or what, people??
So I just checked, and, uh, you are one of the two who haven't sent.
Quote from: Puppies_On_Acid on September 20, 2024, 12:46:33 PMTim's roulette police card is hereby revoked!

bosk1

@RJ:  Our personal favorite moments match up pretty closely.