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Edited by Mrph1 on Jul 29th 2024 at 3:09:00 PM
Iron Man 2 has some fairly strong performances that makes it better to me than Iron Man 3. Vanko had a lot of personality, whereas Killian was really bland. I haven't seen Thor 2, Ant Man or Dr. Strange yet, what I've heard Thor 2 was barely passable, Ant Man was just okay and Dr. Strange redeems itself via some good special effects and performances.
I think that the twist in Iron Man 3 is brilliant, but that the story falls apart soon after it happens (for reasons only vaguely related to it) resulting in a weak second half / last third. All in all, I'd prefer to watch Iron Man 2, though I'd say both of them aren't anywhere near as good as Iron Man 1 anyway.
I genuinely love the twist in Iron Man 3, as well as empathize a lot with Tony's struggle with PTSD and his feelings of anxiety, which make Iron Man 3 very special to me. It's a good Shane Black movie that takes place in the MCU.
Thor 2 really is very bland and forgettable; I literally just saw it the one time in theaters and have never seen it since.
None of the MCU movies are genuinely bad. At worst, they are considered "meh" or merely decent. Incredible Hulk is, as you've said, forgettable. Iron Man 2 is bogged down with lots of issues, but still manages to have Robert Downey Jr deliver a great performance. Iron Man 3 has RDJ and Shane Black and a great Mandarin twist. Thor: The Dark World is annoying at times, but it has a great performance by Tom Hiddleson and a genuinely inventive climax. Age of Ultron needed a lot more breathing room, but I still consider it a great movie. Doctor Strange is great as well, especially from a visual perspective.
edited 12th Dec '16 11:53:11 PM by alliterator
Honestly, I like Iron Man 3 more than 1. I never understand why Iron Man 1 is held up as so much better than most of the other MCU movies. It has Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark, but he's no better in the role than he is in any of the other 5 movies he has a large role in as that character. Tony in the Iron Man suit itself is just a Boring Invincible Hero until the climax, which is too short and the villain is just a hammy evil businessman. Aside from Pepper, the side characters are completely forgettable. It's a good start to the franchise, but to me, it sure as shit doesn't hold up as one of the best in the MCU.
I really like Obadiah Stane right up until he climbs into the Iron Monger suit. Then he suffers from the same problem as Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin, where I feel like he'd be more fun if he wasn't so self-consciously comic-booky about it. Iron Man 1 has a pretty solid supporting cast in general, while I can definitely see how people find Killian pretty flat in 3. But who cares? Trevor Slattery!
I haven't seen Thor 2 since it came out. I liked the Fringe-ish paranormal investigation bits, and it had some good visuals in the other Nine Realms, but the Dark Elves were just utterly wasted, and coming up with another excuse for a supervillain slapfight? Kurse is just as boring as Destroyer. You can put together a mismatched fight scene better than this, MCU. I've seen you do it.
Iron Man 1 is among the few MCU movies that is not bogged down with franchising demands. It has it's own problems, like many superhero movies he is stuck waiting for the villain to make a move in the third act, but the portrait of Tony Stark as a person is just very well crafted. RDJ made Tony have a Heel Realization without completely flipping his personality, in addition to proving just how strong and resourceful of a person he could be and taking responsibility for his actions. That's part of why "I AM Iron Man" was a great conclusion. Every MCU movie since then has regurgitated Tony screwing something up but never gave us an actual resolution to his character arc, he just kicks some ass and takes care of the most recent problem.
The thing about Hulk movies is that he ultimately comes down to one of two moods, in control or out of control. Or trying to get rid of the monster vs. harnessing the raw power of the monster. Hulk stories only have so much complexity to the character of Banner, and tend to come down to finding new and different enemies for Hulk to smash. They aren't going to actually find a cure and let Banner live a normal life, and so searching for a cure is a guaranteed failure. I don't think another Hulk standalone film is really needed, I'm not really hyped for Thor 3 because it is the weak points of the MCU, but including Hulk into the story I think is a rather clever move, as putting Thor next to someone even stronger than him has a lot of character potential.
The one thing I like about Ironman 3 is the mandarin twist. Well, that and the plane-stunt. It's everything else which is built around it, which doesn't work. Especially not the "oh the movie is over, here is a quick narration" wrap up.
I agree that Thor 2 is the weakest of the Marvel movie, though the one I like the least is The Incredible Hulk. It is more competently made with a less messy plot, but Loki is way more entertaining to watch than seeing Norton mope around for ages.
Ironman is a great movie until the finale, mostly because Stane's action don't really make a lot of sense at this point. This is exactly the reason why I think that The First Avenger is the best of the origin movies (of you don't count Got G, which I don't, because it is a team-up movie).
Anyway, if The Incredible Hulk or The Dark World or Ironman 2 is the worst you have to offer, than you have done really, really well....I actually appreciate Ironman 2 a little bit more every time I see someone else trying to do the shared universe thing. Ironman 2 has its problems, but imho nothing they couldn't have solved with a few rewrites in the script.
Oh yeah, Captain America: The First Avenger is probably the best origin movie, although that also suffers in the third act, especially when it goes into the montage of them destroying Hydra bases. I know that it's a time skip and they needed the time skip, but it seems a bit like it glosses over a lot of stuff before the climax.
But the first act of The First Avenger is definitely my favorite out of everything.
Yeah, I felt to this day that The First Avenger should be two movies, one about Steve convincing everyone that he can handle being captain America (basically the first half of the movie up to the glorious rescue, with more scenes for Bucky thrown in), and one about his missions up to his sacrifice. But while the second part is squeezed into a quick montage, making the start of the third act the weakest part of the movie, it manages to turn around just in time and deliver a truly heart-breaking finale. That makes it better than Ironman in my book.
It also happens to be one of the visually most interesting movies of the MCU, with one of the best soundtracks. All in all, it is a very underrated movie, I don't get how some people don't even have it in their top ten. In case someone is wondering...place 5 for me, due to Civil War, The Winter Soldier and Got G being even better while The Avengers just edges it out. Ironman has to accept place 6.
The first two thirds of Captain America The First Avenger are also my favorite Marvel origin movie, followed by Ant-Man. Shame about the Cosmic Deadline in the last third. Haven't seen Strange yet so I won't judge it until then.
I also agree that The Incredible Hulk is kind of forgettable, even if it was solid at the time it came out and didn't have the same problems that plagued lower-rated Marvel films like Thor 2 and Iron Man 2 did. It was just very "meh, OK" throughout its entirety.
And I'm another one of those people who really likes Iron Man 3 for some reason. I wouldn't call it one of Marvel's more mediocre films, mostly because just as I like it someone else will also despise it. It's too bipolar for that.
Iron Man 3 is by far the worst for me. Because unlike Incredible Hulk or Thor 2 it actually flirts with greatness only to then shoot greatness in the face with a shotgun and piss on its corpse.
"All you Fascists bound to lose."Yeah, that kind of fits....there is just so much wasted potential in Ironman 3, it is frustrating to watch.
Anyway, the Captain America Franchise works the best so far. I think having the same set of writers from start to finish really pays off. Hopefully Got G will follow suit.
Just the directors...or, to be precise, Johnson brought M&M on for The First Avenger as soon as the writers strike was over. (Which makes it even more impressive that the movie ended up being that good, they were working on a very tight time frame on this one). Picking him as director for The First Avenger is one of the best decision Marvel ever made, I wouldn't mind him coming back for another pulp hero....I especially can see him getting the Fantastic 4 right.

Iron Man 2 and Thor 2 are the weakest in my opinion, but I still enjoy both and sometimes watch them. Iron Man 3 is actually one of my favorites just for the finale. The Iron Legion is awesome, and even though he's kind of a bland villain personality-wise Killian puts up one hell of a spectacular fight.
Incredible Hulk is the only one I haven't actually seen, so I can't fairly rate it.
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