Every Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, ranked from worst to best

Marvel Studios/Disney

The 21st movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, "Captain Marvel," hit theaters this weekend.
Business Insider ranked all 21 movies, from worst to best.

After 11 years, 21 movies, and billions of dollars, the Marvel Cinematic Universe shows no signs of slowing down.

"Captain Marvel" hit theaters this weekend, and is breathing new life into what has been a lackluster box office so far in 2019. "Avengers: Endgame" is also projected to break records at the box office when it’s released next month, and "Spider-Man: Far From Home" comes to theaters in July.

But a lot will change for the MCU after this year.

Disney, which owns Marvel, will own the film rights to the X-Men and Fantastic Four once the Disney-Fox merger is complete. Kevin Feige has said that he expects it to happen within the first six months of this year, at which point he’ll get the green light to develop projects with those characters.

It comes at a good time, as "Endgame" marks the end of this era for the MCU, and veteran actors like Chris Evans (who plays Captain America) are expected to retire from their roles.

But before the MCU faces a big shake up, we ranked all 21 movies from worst to best, including "Captain Marvel."

Below is every Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, ranked:

21. "Iron Man 2" (2010)

Marvel Studios

Directed by Jon Favreau

After the highs of "Iron Man," it didn’t take long for the MCU to plummet to its absolute lowest. If the "2" in "Iron Man 2" meant that everything had to be doubled — the villains, the characters, the number of MCU movies Gwyneth Paltrow is in that she didn’t watch — then "Iron Man 2" succeeds. But it’s just too overstuffed for its own good in an attempt to get audiences ready for "The Avengers" two years later. The MCU has since become a well-oiled machine that knows how to balance it all. But back in 2010, it was still working on that.

20. "Thor" (2011)

Marvel Studios

Directed by Kenneth Branagh

There’s nothing particularly horrible about "Thor," but there’s nothing memorable, either. It’s impressive that the movie works at all considering that Thor, an alien God with daddy issues, was such a little-known character at the time and star Chris Hemsworth was not the superstar he is now. But James Gunn managed to turn even lesser-known and weirder characters into MCU standouts in "Guardians of the Galaxy." It would take a while for Thor to really come into his own.

19. "The Incredible Hulk" (2008)

Marvel

Directed by Louis Leterrier

We now know Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk, but in the second MCU movie, Edward Norton was in the role. Out of all of the MCU movies, "The Incredible Hulk" feels the least connected to the universe. Liv Tyler’s Betty Ross, Banner’s love interest, has never appeared again, and neither has Tim Blake Nelson, who was teased as Hulk’s archnemesis the Leader. But even with that tease, a sequel never happened, and the only character besides the Hulk to have any meaningful connection to the MCU has been General "Thunderbolt" Ross, played by William Hurt, who popped up again in 2016’s "Captain America: Civil War."

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Source: Business Insider – tclark@businessinsider.com (Travis Clark)