Opinion: Who Had The Best Trilogy In The MCU
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Now that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever premiered, the next entry for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is Ant-Man and Wasp: Quantumania in February of 2023. This will mark the third entry in what will become the Ant-Man trilogy, the fifth lead-character trilogy within the MCU after Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and Spider-Man (technically, Thor has four movies now, but it was a trilogy at one point).
The soon-to-be Ant-Man trilogy begs the question: which MCU trilogy is the best? While we will have to wait a few months before considering Paul Rudd's size-shifting protagonist, there is plenty of discussions to be had about the other four.
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Before getting into the ranking, it is important to define what makes an MCU trilogy good. While the quality of the three individual movies is the obvious initial benchmark, there is more to it than just averaging out the review scores of three movies. The big selling point of the MCU is the "It's all connected" mantra. Therefore, the best trilogy also needs to have an impact on the MCU while still maintaining connected themes and stories within its own movies. This ranking will not include the Avengers movies, which could be considered a trilogy if you count Infinity War and Endgame as a two-part story. Though it's not a total lock, it would be hard to argue any trilogy other than the Avengers and their huge ensemble team-ups getting that top spot. So let's only rank the trilogies built around a single protagonist.
4. Thor Trilogy: Thor, Thor: Dark World, Thor: Ragnarok (Not Including Thor: Love & Thunder)
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The original Thor was an exciting journey that took the MCU beyond Earth as we got to see Asgard and learn about the Nine Realms. Thor also had some of the most comedic moments in all of the MCU as the son of Odin needed to learn how to blend in a strange world. The climax of Thor's growth as a character felt paper thin, unearned, and predictable. While the world-building elements were solid, the pacing was rushed. It was a serviceable, albeit basic, first entry to a series, but easy to nitpick. The movie did introduce us to a fan-favorite villain in Tom Hiddleston's Loki, so it has that going for it.
Thor: Dark World was bad by most standards, but that doesn't mean it isn't fun to watch if you’re willing to turn off your brain, especially with the crazy gravity tricks. Still, the story was way too bloated, and the main villain, Malekith, was underdeveloped and underutilized as a result. We did see an Infinity Stone in this one, at least.
Thor: Ragnarok was still one the most hilarious movies in all of the MCU, and it was a pivotal setup to Avengers: Infinity War. The story with Hela, Thor's sister, certainly felt like it came out of left field based on what we had seen in the MCU prior, but she was a worthy villain. Some of us even think it’s the best MCU movie, and with good reasons. But I'm going to go against the grain a bit and say that this movie was poorly constructed. It was basically half a Thor movie and half a Hulk movie. I'm still convinced that Marvel's lack of full Hulk licensing rights is still the reason Hulk won't get his own solo project. Marvel can hide it all they want, but that felt awkward and forced in this movie, no matter how fun it was to watch him fight Thor in the arena battle.
3. Iron Man Trilogy: Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3
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The movie that started it all back in 2008 was so significant in convincing fans that this connected cinematic universe could work. The first of the now-famous Marvel post-credit scenes planted the seed of the Avengers Initiative and really made you feel like the movies in Phase 1 would build toward something incredible. Marvel then was blessed with the fantastic performance of Robert Downey Jr.'s performance as Tony Stark/Iron Man. It is hard to imagine anyone else ever playing that role again. RDJ has had some interesting moments in his career, but in Iron Man, he was witty and commanded every scene he was in. The modernized Iron Man suit is an iconic image of the MCU. We owe many of the coolest moments in the MCU to the many functions of that suit.
The follow-up movie wasn't nearly as successful. Whiplash was a fine villain, and he had some cool moments during the battle in the final act, but overall, his arc fizzled. Sam Rockwell's hidden-gem performance as Justin Hammer was fun, and hopefully, he returns someday (perhaps in Armor Wars?). The wink-and-nod moment to the audience when Don Cheadle took over as War Machine was a nice touch.
As for Iron Man 3, I personally don't believe fans were ready for Shane Black's take on the series, especially since it was the first movie after the enormous event that was Avengers. However, it was not without its shortcomings. The change to the Mandarin character was so bad that it needed to be retconned in Shang-Chi eight years later. I did love the Extremis and AIM investigation, though.
2. Spider-Man Trilogy: Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Spider-Man: No Way Home
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The addition of Spider-Man to the MCU was a breath of fresh air, but it felt like a Hail Mary that was added in the final hour. His first solo movie, though, was thoughtfully plotted, funny, and had spectacular action. But the most memorable moment of the movie was when Peter picked up his crush Liz for homecoming, only for him to learn that her father was the villain of the movie! The entire flow and feel of the movie were turned on its head the rest of the way, and the tension was so palpable from then on.
Far From Home was not great. The twist involving Mysterio was perfect for the character but took a lot of steam out of the movie, which didn't feel all that compelling, anyway. The most intense moment was the final shot of Mysterio revealing Spider-Man's true identity. The progression of MJ and Peter's relationship was satisfying, though, and is my favorite connective thread through all three movies. Tom Holland and Zendaya just make the best couple (sorry, Jane and Thor).
Then, there's No Way Home. Again, I'm going against the grain here, and I'm not sorry for it. While every Spider-Man fan's nerdiest dreams came true when Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire reprised their roles (and don't get me wrong, seeing all three of them swinging and fighting together was awesome), the rest of the movie had too many shortcomings to overlook. First of all, it was pretty short-sighted to only bring actors who were in Sony's previous Spider-Man movies when the story was basically introducing the multiverse. It was all fan service and no creativity. Secondly, Doctor Strange is one of my absolute favorite characters in the MCU and one of the most powerful, but somehow he got punked by Peter Park's lame "math" trick? Not cool, not funny. The ending was basically Marvel’s way of keeping Spider-Man’s return open-ended should Sony let Marvel continue to use him in the future while they build up their own “Sony-verse.”
1. Captain America Trilogy: Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War
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The first Captain America movie is highly underrated. It was a perfect period piece, and Chris Evans' metamorphosis from Steve Rogers into the titular character was a far more gratifying payoff of the character's early progression. The visual effects matched the movie's era to perfection. The best romantic storyline of the entire MCU began here and planted the seed for the ever-gratifying final scene in Endgame when Steve and Peggy finally got their last dance. Then, the post-credit scene absolutely started the insane hype train leading up to the first Avengers movie.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier is still my favorite film of the entire MCU. The sequel completely recontextualized the entire MCU with the greatest twist of the saga after revealing how Hydra hid in plain sight since the events of the first Captain America movie. After that came the insane twist that the Winter Soldier was none other than Bucky Barnes, Rogers' childhood best friend who was kept alive by Zola after he fell off the train in the first movie. We also get introduced to Falcon and Sharon Carter, who team up with Cap and Black Widow in action scenes that have a much more realistic, visceral feel than most other CGI-filled MCU movies. We have the Russo Brothers to thank for that. The action and cinematography reminded me of the Bourne movies, another series I absolutely love. Oh, and The Winter Soldier crossed over with the still-canon Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. more substantially than any other MCU movie.
Captain America: Civil War was basically Avengers 2.5 as we saw many major returning characters and new ones, such as Spider-Man and Black Panther, duke it out in what I'd still consider one of the top five action scenes in all the MCU. Do you remember conversations you had with your friends as kids about which superhero would win in a fight between other superheroes? This movie played out that childhood imagination on the big screen. Also, joining Team Cap or Team Iron Man became a bigger thing than Twilight's Team Edward or Team Jacob debate.
What sets the Captain America movies even further apart from the rest, however, is how they played with real-world themes. Topics such as freedom versus security and governmental checks and balances give the Captain America movies that extra layer of intelligence that a lot of superhero movies sorely lack. The next installment of Captain America is in development, and there will be plenty of real-world themes to tackle in that one, as well. But as it stands, the trilogy is impeccable.
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Source(s): Screen Rant
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