When people talk about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, they are mostly talking about the movies in the MCU. From Iron Man to Ant-Man & The Wasp, and everything in between, Marvel has made some of the greatest superhero movies in history. Outside of that, there is the Fox output of mostly X-Men movies, Sony and its Spider-Man world, and the televised worlds of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Netflix street level heroes. For Marvel comic book fans, there might not be a better time than now to see beloved heroes in some of the best television and movie adventures of all-time. However, there is also a less talked about Marvel world and that is the realm of the animated movies.

When Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse comes out this Christmas, it will remind fans that there is an entirely new world of comic book movies that exists outside of the mainstream MCU. It isn't the first theatrical animated Marvel movie -- that would be Big Hero 6, which was a huge success when Disney released it. The rest of the Marvel animated movies are either home video releases or made-for-TV movies, and they all range from fantastic entertainment to disappointing efforts at adapting the beloved stories from the source comic books.

With so many to choose from, here is a look at the 20 best Marvel animated movies, ranked from worst to first.

20 MARVEL SUPER HERO ADVENTURES: FROST FIGHT!

Released in 2015, Marvel Super Hero Adventures: Frost Fight was a Christmas-themed Marvel movie that debuted online and then hit Netflix in 2016. The plot of the movie saw Loki setting out to steal Santa Claus' powers and the Avengers had to show up to protect Santa so that they could save Christmas for kids all over the world. The movie was a spin-off of the Avengers Assemble television series that lasted for four seasons on Disney XD.

The TV series was a reboot of the franchise on Disney television to line it up more with the world of the MCU Avengers. The movie was geared towards younger audiences and the action is a huge step below other Marvel animated movies. It also has a lot of silly humor and the message of Christmas thrown in. This is solely meant for little kids.

19 IRON MAN & HULK: HEROES UNITED

Marvel animated movies started a new line of films called Heroes United in 2013 with plans for a full series. It ended up with just two films, due mostly to poor reviews. The first movie, Iron Man & Hulk: Heroes United was the worst reviewed and that had to be disappointing since this was the first movie that was made from the Marvel Animation studio with no outside partners.

The movie saw Hulk wanting to be left alone in a small town he now called home. Two rogue Hydra scientists sent Abomination to help capture the Hulk and then used both of them to build a version of Tony Stark's arc reactor. That brought Iron Man in to help. The two heroes then had to fight Abomination, Zzzax, a Wendigo, Mandroids, and stop the two Hydra scientists.

18 IRON MAN: RISE OF TECHNOVORE

Iron Man: Rise of the Technovore follows the lineage of the Marvel Anime shows that featured Iron Man, X-Men, Wolverine and Blade. The anime series was released in 2011 with 12 episodes. The movie featured Ezekiel Stane, the son of Obadiah, as a villain who was working with A.I.M. to bring down Iron Man. Also appearing in this film were The Punisher, War Machine, Hawkeye and Black Widow.

The movie kept the look of the Marvel Anime movies, which was polarizing at best for many fans and critics. The movie was created in Japan by Sony in a partnership with Marvel and Madhouse and told a fun story, but the level of entertainment depends on whether a person wanted a fun comic book story or a fun anime -- the latter of which some critics felt it struggled to maintain.

17 THOR: TALES OF ASGARD

Released after the world got to know Thor thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a Marvel animated film about a teenage Thor and Loki was released titled Thor: Tales of Asgard. At this time, Thor did not have Mjolnir and he and Loki were still close brothers who went on an adventure together. The movie borrows slightly from the Japanese anime style, but it looks better than the Marvel Anime films.

The movie is a decent story but a little shallow, checking in at a short 77 minutes. It does have some great voices in the cast, including the wonderful Clancy Brown as a Frost Giant. It isn't a movie a person will want to revisit many times, but it is an interesting story of Thor in action before he became worthy.

16 LEGO MARVEL SUPER HEROES: AVENGERS REASSEMBLED

The second movie in the LEGO Marvel animated series was LEGO Marvel Super Heroes: Avengers Reassembled. The movie premiered on Disney XD and LEGO also offered it to watch on their website. Unlike the first movie in the LEGO Marvel series (Maximum Overload), this movie relied a little too much on being silly and was not as smart.

The Avengers were planning a party but that was spoiled when Ultron controlled Iron Man's armor, caused him to attack the Avengers and then flew it to a Hydra castle in New York. They ended up fighting Baron Von Strucker and then Spider-Man showed up to help. The entire goal was to stop Ultron so the Avengers could have their party. LEGO has always prided itself on being silly, but that overshadowed the story in this one.

15 LEGO MARVEL SUPER HEROES - GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY: THE THANOS THREAT

The third effort in the LEGO Marvel animated movie series was LEGO Marvel Super Heroes - Guardians of the Galaxy: The Thanos Threat. Released in 2017, this movie played off the already popular Guardians of the Galaxy, a series that already had two live-action movies, and it was released before fans met Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War.

The movie had Baby Groot, so it followed the first Guardians movie, but it had Ronan and Nebula still working for Thanos, so it obviously took place out of continuity. The movie kept the humor that LEGO fans expect, as the two sides were fighting over the Build Stone, but there is little here outside of some funny jokes and a few sight gags.

14 HULK: WHERE MONSTERS DWELL

Despite the lack of success of Marvel Super Hero Adventures: Frost Fight, Marvel Animation decided to give it another try one year later -- moving the holiday celebrated from Christmas to Halloween, and what resulted was Hulk: Where Monsters Dwell. The movie got much better reviews, as the story chose to eliminate much of the silly-factor and dealt more with some fan-favorite Marvel monsters in action.

Joining Hulk in this movie was the Howling Commandos of Man-Thing, Vampire by Night, Warwolf, Minotaur and Jasper Sitwell as a zombie. Doctor Strange gathered them all together to battle Nightmare, all while Hulk maintained he was not a monster anymore. It also had a very interesting story of Hulk and Bruce Banner battling in their subconscious due to the influence of Nightmare.

13 IRON MAN & CAPTAIN AMERICA: HEROES UNITED

While Iron Man & Hulk: Heroes United was met with terrible reviews, Marvel Animation moved on to create a second movie in the series. This time, Iron Man teamed up with Captain America to battle The Red Skull, Hydra and Taskmaster. This movie was better received by critics and fans, but was not successful enough to warrant a third movie.

The 2-D wrap animation style looked very different than any other Marvel animated film, which caused distractions at points where it seemed a little jerky when it comes to character movements. At the best, it was action packed with a ton of fights and a great look at the underutilized Taskmaster -- someone who has still yet to show up in a live-action MCU movie.

12 AVENGERS CONFIDENTIAL: BLACK WIDOW & PUNISHER

One year after Iron Man: Rise of the Technovore arrived, receiving bad reviews, Marvel Anime tried again one year later with Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher. This second effort was delivered to much greater critical acclaim and success. The movie saw The Punisher arrested and convinced to help S.H.I.E.L.D. bring down an organization called Leviathan.

There were a number of other heroes in the movie, including Hawkeye, Hulk, Iron Man and Amadeus Cho, but the movie was mostly about Punisher and Black Widow working together. It also featured a nice ending with the two coming to an agreement to ensure Punisher's escape after he helped save the world. Unlike other Marvel animated movies, this one has a much more complex and interesting plot driving it on top of some fantastically rendered fight scenes.

11 LEGO MARVEL SUPER HEROES – BLACK PANTHER: TROUBLE IN WAKANDA

The most recent LEGO Marvel animated movie comes on the heels of the most successful Marvel Cinematic Universe movie domestically in Black Panther. This movie had a strange mishmash of villains as Thanos teamed up with Killmonger and Ulysses Klaue to try to steal the Vibranium from Wakanda to help Thanos gain more power.

There were lots of cameos from heroes like Hulk, Iron Man and Doctor Strange, but this was mostly a movie about Black Panther trying to stop the villains from stealing the Vibranium from his country. This short movie premiered on Disney XD and was both silly and fun while delivering some great jokes for anyone familiar with the characters and movies they are based on.

10 HULK VERSUS

After the fantastic Doctor Strange: The Sorcerer Supreme and the creative New Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow, Marvel Studios saw sales dipping and canceled what sounded like a great Ultimate War-Thor crossover film. Instead, it decided to go to what it knew casual fans wanted to see and made a Hulk two-part movie where he fought Wolverine in one and Thor in the next.

Hulk Versus is two different movies and shows two different versions of Hulk. Hulk vs. Wolverine was the first fight that the X-Men member ever had in Marvel Comics. The Wolverine story saw the two fight before ending up in a battle with Sabretooth and Deadpool. The Thor story saw Loki controlling Hulk in an attack on Asgard. The fights were fun but both shorts seem lacking when it comes to a cohesive story.

9 ULTIMATE AVENGERS: THE MOVIE

In 2006, Marvel Studios started a new animated movie franchise and Ultimate Avengers was the film that started the new line. It was based, as the title indicates, on the Avengers team from Mark Millar's run in the Ultimate Marvel Universe. It opened with Captain America stopping a Nazi threat in 1945 before getting frozen in ice and then thawed and recruited to lead a new team by Nick Fury.

The movie sees the Avengers trying to learn to work together as a team before they end up fighting invading aliens. If that sounds familiar, that is because it is almost the same exact plot from the live-action Avengers movie that arrived six years later. This doesn't hold a candle to that movie, but it does have an impressive sequence where the Avengers have to battle Hulk after he helps them save the world by going into a full uncontrollable rage.

8 MARVEL RISING: SECRET WARRIORS

In 2018, Disney HD introduced a new group of superheroes -- one that added some nice diversity to the Marvel animated movie universe. This was in Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors. The movie had one established hero in Captain Marvel put together a team of younger lesser-known heroes in an effort to bring positive role models to younger audiences.

These included cult favorite Squirrel Girl, Kamala Khan, America Chavez, Patriot, Inferno and Quake (voiced by Chloe Bennet, the same person who plays her in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.). What resulted was arguably the best attempt at creating a show for younger audiences that never insulted the intelligence of older kids and adults and presented a superhero team that was exactly what the world needed.

7 NEXT AVENGERS: HEROES OF TOMORROW

Following four movies that introduced major characters in The Avengers, Iron Man and Doctor Strange, the fifth movie in Marvel Studios animation series went in a very different direction in 2008 by introducing some new characters in a post-apocalyptic future. These heroes were led by an elderly Iron Man and were the children of the original Avengers.

The sons of Black Panther, Captain America, and Wasp/Giant Man join the daughter of Thor in hiding from a world conquered by Ultron. When attacked, they went on the run, found Hawkeye's son and ended up searching out the original Hulk to help them fight Ultron. It was a fun movie, with good moments for kids, and some fantastic fight scenes.

6 ULTIMATE AVENGERS 2: RISE OF THE PANTHER

Starting almost immediately after Ultimate Avengers ended, the sequel had the team all trying to continue to work together as a unit (except for Hulk, who was captured and locked away after raging out). Introduced here was Black Panther, who had just taken on the role after he lost his father to a mysterious Nazi, who Captain America battled in the first movie -- in 1945.

This second effort from Marvel Studios new animation department came out the same year as the first movie but was much better in many areas. It had a stronger story, better character building, and more believable personality clashes between the heroes. It does what sequels are supposed to do -- build on the promise from the first movie while adding to the tension and action.

5 LEGO MARVEL SUPER HEROES: MAXIMUM OVERLOAD

LEGO and Marvel Entertainment have a great relationship and have worked together for some fantastic properties. The LEGO Marvel video games are arguably the best LEGO games on the market and they have worked together for a number of movies as well. The first of these appeared in 2013 with LEGO Marvel Super Heroes: Maximum Overload.

It is the first in the series -- and it is also the best. This movie was basically a series of fights -- much like the video games present. Loki had the Norn Frost and used it to "overload" villains, who the heroes had to face and defeat one by one. Just about every Marvel hero you want to see is here, and the movie is full of the exact type of humor LEGO Marvel fans have come to expect.

4 THE INVINCIBLE IRON MAN

In 2004, Marvel Studios teamed with LionsGate to release a series of films, starting with Ultimate Avengers. The third film in the series was The Invincible Iron Man. While these were all in the same production slate, this movie was not in the same shared universe as the Ultimate Avengers movie and instead was in the mainstream Marvel Universe.

Invincible Iron Man saw Tony Stark heading to a lost Chinese city where he accidentally unleashed an ancient evil. This came out before the MCU Iron Man movie but was largely forgotten when that Jon Favreau movie was a monster success. That is disappointing, as this was the best Marvel animated film released at that time. For fans who are still mad that The Mandarin was a red herring in Iron Man 3, he is here in his full glory.

3 PLANET HULK

After releasing six movies in their new animated series, Marvel Studios took one of its most popular comic book storylines and turned it into a movie. That movie was Planet Hulk and it was one of the most faithful adaptations that Marvel has ever made into a movie.

It started with the Illuminati sending Hulk to Sakaar and then moved on to him meeting his new companions, being thrown into a gladiator battle and then fighting to free the people of Sakaar. While Thor: Ragnarok delivered a version of the story, this Marvel animated movie did it perfectly a decade before. The movie is darker than other Marvel animated films and is one of the best for adults and older kids alike.

2 DOCTOR STRANGE: THE SORCERER SUPREME

After releasing the Marvel animated movies based on the Ultimate Avengers and The Invincible Iron Man, Marvel's animation studio turned its attention to Doctor Strange -- someone comic book fans knew all about but mainstream fans might have been unfamiliar with at the time. What resulted was a huge drop in sales but a movie that actually received some awards consideration.

Doctor Strange: The Sorcerer Supreme was a great movie -- with a good script, great visual animation effects, and strong voice actors. The battles were top-notch and everything about the movie showed a marked improvement as Marvel continued to feel more comfortable in their own skin. Sadly, the sales were low and it marked the end of this level of excellence.

1 BIG HERO 6

Before Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the first Marvel animated movie that was released into theaters came from Disney with Big Hero 6. It seemed like an interesting choice as this was not a familiar team with mainstream audiences. As it was a Disney Animation effort, that didn't really matter and it was a success both critically and commercially, a big win for Marvel and Disney Animation both.

It ranks as 89-percent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and is the fourth-highest-grossing Disney animated movie since 2007, domestically. The movie has a ton of heart, created some fantastic characters that carried the story, with the team avenging the passing of Hiro's older brother and even the villain was nuanced and sympathetic. It was arguably the best superhero movie of 2015 -- animated or live-action.