Thor Ragnarok and Ranking the MCU

I took my kids to Thor Ragnarok a couple weeks ago and we fell in love with the film. My daughter's favorite Marvel Cinematic Universe film is the first Guardians of the Galaxy. Although she hasn't seen Spider-man Homecoming yet, and she's a huge Spider-man fan, so the jury is still out. But like me, she thought Thor Ragnarok was the best Marvel film to date.

I could go on and on about everything I liked about it and how it was superior to the first two Thor films and how ditching the dark tone was probably a good thing since all the recent MCU films have been embracing their bright and colorful comic book origins. But that would be a bore fest for everyone. So, instead, I'm just going to the MCU films according to my favorite to least favorite.

1. Thor Ragnarok 
2. Guardians of the Galaxy
3. Spiderman Homecoming
4. Iron Man
5. Captain America The Winder Soldier
6. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
7. Doctor Strange
8. Ant Man
9. Avengers: Age of Ultron
10. Avengers
11. Captain America
12. Thor: Dark World
13. Iron Man 3
14. Thor
15. The Incredible Hulk
16. Iron Man 2
17. Captain America: Civil War

Now, I'm fairly certain Black Panther will make the top ten, but only time will tell.

As for why I rank Civil War at the very bottom it's because it is the weakest of the films narrative-wise. It also has the deficiency of being reliant on all the previous films in order to understand what's going on. Whereas, if you watch Avengers or Age of Ultron, you needn't have watched the entire MCU to know what's happening in the film. If you came into Civil War blind, however, the film simply makes no sense. And that bothered me to no end.

Also, the villain technically wins. It ends on three open ended notes with none of the conflict of the plot's premises resolved (and not likely to be). Although it has cool action scenes and stand alone moments with characters, it's all over the place in terms of story and plot and is actually a headache to watch. As a writer--those things are so glaring that I can't easily forgive the film. Also, for those that say Civil War is the best of the "Avengers" films, I strongly disagree. It's the best at being nonsensical and overstuffed with a story that fizzles out before it ends. It's just a bad film, no matter how pretty the fights are.

​Thor Ragnarok, however, hit all the beats. It's story was tight. It had excellent character development of everyone involved, even supporting cast members and new characters like Valkyrie and Korg. It had three villains but it never felt overstuffed. The Hulk was amazing. Thor showed real emotional development. Loki grew as a character as well. The jokes were nonstop without ever feeling out of place. The films joins the cosmic universe to the real world stuff. A lot is happening in this film and still...even with all of this...it never feels weighted down or confusing. It's a fun action romp with great character arcs and brimming with jokes. I highly recommend Thor Ragnarok if you haven't already seen it.