Best of the MCU - Part 2

 After the monster that was The Avengers raking in over 1.5 billion dollars, Phase 2 was kicked off advancing the characters and moving them towards the next team up flick of Avengers 2.

Each of the main 3 got a new film in their trilogies and then the universe got bigger with the Guardians being introduced.  Then to round out the trilogy Ant-Man was brought into the MCU.

Iron Man 3

Thor : The Dark World

Captain America : The Winter Soldier

Guardians of the Galaxy

Avengers : Age of Ultron 

Ant-Man

Best Movie

Arguably the best movie of them all 18 MCU films, Captain America : The Winter Soldier is the best of these 6 films.  Take away the super heroes and its a great spy thriller.  Sebastian Shaw as Winter Soldier is a great antagonist for Capt.  Add in the Hydra angle, and Robert Redford, this film is re-watchable many times and could even stand on its on.  

Best Hero

As fun as Chris Pratt's Star Lord is in Guardians, the other Chris takes the cake in Phase 2.  Chris Evans IS and will always be Captain America as RDJ is Iron Man and Heath Ledger is The Joker.  He just embodies what is it that makes Capt, Capt.  And it comes out more in his struggles with fighting Bucky at the climax of the Winter Soldier.  Add in Ultron, he takes on the leadership role of the Avengers more so.  Also this is the best Capt costume he's had in any flick.

Best Villain 

Sticking with the theme of Phase 2, the Winter Soldier / Bucky Barnes is the best villain.  He takes out Nick Fury and helps Alexander Pierce to take out SHIELD form the inside.  He pushes Capt to diff level too though Capt doesn't wanna fight him.  In the end you get to see him turn though.  

Best Moment

Before we get started....does anyone want to get out?  The elevator fight scene at the Triskelion with Capt and a bunch of SHIELD/Hydra Agents.

Worst Movie

This Phase has some flicks that could have used some more work, IMO.  Thor : The Dark World feels like a need to push the Jane Foster relationship more.  It also has the worst villain in the arguably the MCU in Malekith.  It also feels like in this phase a lot of the films are forced to also include infinity stones to build up toward Thanos and this is one of them too.  As a positive, this does give us the introduction to the Collector.

Worst Hero

You could argue Thor again as his film is probably more memorable for Loki, again.  And again his appearance in Age of Ultron is kind of ugh too outside of the Party scene in the first 20 minutes.  Also there is War Machine/Iron Patriot in Iron Man 3. But I think the worst hero though is Hulk.  I didn't care for the whole relationship with Black Widow at all, again it feels forced.  And what about Betty Ross?  Is that forgotten now?  His fight with the Hulkbuster is his best part of Hulk's phase 2.  

Worst Villain

This Phase struggles with a lot of bad villains.  Iron Man 3 messed up the the Mandarin, Ultron I was disappointed it, the Yellow Jacket is another of the hinge guy in a suit (see Iron Man and Iron Man 2) and what is Ronan without the Power Stone?  But the worst is Malekith in Thor the Dark World.  Along with GotG this is forced to introduce another infinity stone that Malekith is going after.  He just seems bland and nothing to write home about. 

The Avengers

Friday afternoon I took a half day and went to go see the Avengers!  I've been pumped for this movie since Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America came out.  How they would tie them all in and their worlds together.  Iron Man was created in more of a real world...Captain America kind of but with a little stretch of a fantasy and then Thor is mythical and being tied into all of this.  Then add in Loki, Hawkeye, the Black Widow and Nick Fury, on and the HULK.

The whole thing was amazing from start to finish, and past the credits.  It was fun watching the 4 main characters grow a little bit more and also try to grow as a team and the pains that came with it.  In my opinion Robert Downey Jr and the Hulk stole the show.  Not saying that the Chris's weren't great because they were but I think Downey Jr's Iron Man is more established and the Hulk also needed to be reintroduced.  There was also the addition of Hawkeye in here and Black Widow and more Nick Fury.  Tom Hiddleston was great too as Loki.  

The credits scene sets up an Avengers 2.  I can't wait for that, and Thor 2, Iron Man 3 and Captain America 2 and may end up going to see this one again in the theaters!  That'd be a first in a long time seeing a movie twice in the theater.  Right now its a clear leader in the club house too for my 2012 Summer Movie Awards and Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spider-Man have a big hill to climb.

4.5 / 5 Stars