The Marvel Cinematic Universe started in 2008 with Iron Man. Outside of that movie and The Incredible Hulk, the next 21 films were all released in the last decade, from 2010-2019. What is impressive is that the quality of the movies remained high throughout the entire decade of cinematic releases.
From Iron Man and Captain America to team-up movies like Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel released movie after movie, playing in a myriad of genre playgrounds. From fantasy films to espionage movies and sci-fi epics to traditional superhero fare, Marvel has something for everyone when it comes to their output. Here is a look at the 10 best MCU movies of the decade, ranked.
10 SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME (2019)
It shows how successful Marvel has become that they feel confident releasing a film where the villain is a b-level bad guy but can still sell the role to an actor like Jake Gyllenhaal to portray him to the fullest. Spider-Man: Far From Home is the second outing for Tom Holland as the Wall-Crawler while under the umbrella of the MCU.
This was the seventh Spider-Man movie, but with Marvel's magic touch, it was the first one to break the $1 billion mark at the box office. It likely helped that this was the first movie that took place after the events of Avengers: Endgame, but it stands on its own as a great film and a fantastic way to end the decade.
9 CAPTAIN MARVEL (2019)
Captain Marvel faced an uphill battle from the start due to online trolls who tried to sabotage it at Rotten Tomatoes, leading to drastic changes implemented on that website platform. Despite all the complaints about the movie and Brie Larson's offhand comments about diversity, it was a success.
The movie introduced the world to Captain Marvel in a '90s-era prequel to the MCU. It also brought in a young Nick Fury and Agent Coulson and showed where the idea for the Avengers initiative originated. The movie made over $1 billion worldwide, proving that the trolls couldn't stop it no matter how hard they tried.
8 AVENGERS: ENDGAME (2019)
The Avengers movies have been hit-and-miss. The first was a true classic, and the second was a slight letdown as a follow-up. Avengers: Infinity War, which very good, was only half a movie and seemed almost like a film where Thanos was the hero all along. However, Avengers: Endgame was the perfect conclusion to the team's story.
This had Iron Man's perfect end, the first MCU hero going from a self-centered egomaniac to someone who sacrificed himself to save the world. It also was a perfect sendoff for Captain America and had one of the best final battles in any comic book movie, MCU or otherwise.
7 SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING (2017)
Spider-Man had a great start in the cinema world when Sam Raimi brought him to the big screen. However, after two great movies, studio interference by Sony doomed the third, and a reboot with Marc Webb suffered the same fate. Then Marvel stepped in and took over, with Sony just reaping the financial windfall.
This is easily the best version of Peter Parker seen onscreen, as Tom Holland fit the role better than Andrew Garfield and even Tobey Maguire. Homecoming included great action, an appearance by Iron Man, and a fantastically sympathetic villain in Michael Keaton's Vulture. Plus, how cool was it to have the original big-screen Batman as the villain in a Marvel movie?
6 CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR (2016)
One of the most successful comic book crossover storylines of this century was Civil War, where Iron Man and Captain America went to war with half the Marvel Universe following Cap and the other half following Iron Man. It was slightly polarizing, though, as Marvel spent a long time with superheroes fighting each other.
When it comes to the adaptation, Marvel was smart and just left it at one movie, although there were traces of it seeping into Ant-Man & The Wasp and Avengers: Infinity War. This movie introduced Spider-Man and Black Panther into the MCU and took what worked best about Civil War and took out the filler.
5 THOR: RAGNAROK (2017)
The first Thor movie was a Shakespearian tale, and the second was a disappointment with too many cooks in the kitchen. While fans loved Chris Hemsworth as Thor, it seemed his solo movies were destined to fail. Then Taiki Waititi came along, and everything changed with Thor: Ragnarok.
Not only was Ragnarok a rousing success, but it was one of the most entertaining Marvel movies in the MCU. The action was great, it was very funny, and Thor finally got to cut loose. It is the closest the MCU will come to adapting Planet Hulk and was so good that a fourth Thor movie is coming — something no other solo hero achieved.
4 GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (2014)
When Marvel hired James Gunn to direct Guardians of the Galaxy, it turned some heads. He was a fascinating choice, a man who got his start in Troma and had never helmed something of this size before. It was also based on characters that no one out of hardcore Marvel fans knew anything about.
Then, Guardians of the Galaxy hit in 2014 and was another massive success for Marvel. A giant sci-fi space opera along the lines of Star Wars or Battlestar Galactica, the movie made $772 million worldwide and a 91-percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
3 CAPTAIN AMERICA: WINTER SOLDIER (2014)
The first Captain America movie was a smaller story, set in World War II and introducing Cap to the mainstream world. It was an average movie with a smaller box office take an average Rotten Tomatoes score. Then, after he made his big return in Avengers, he got his second movie.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier, on the other hand, was an espionage movie almost more than it was a superhero movie. Black Widow and Nick Fury were along for the ride with Winter Soldier making his big debut. The selling point was HYDRA infiltrating S.H.I.E.L.D., putting the U.S. on the brink of war, and this movie did for the MCU what The Dark Knight did for DC. It was more than just a superhero flick. It was a great film, period.
2 BLACK PANTHER (2018)
Black Panther was the first Marvel movie that gained a lot of push for Oscar inclusion as a Best Picture candidate. The character was introduced in Captain America: Civil War, and this movie took place almost immediately following that film. What resulted was a fantastic film with a tremendous cast and one of the best villains the MCU has ever seen.
One of the biggest complaints about MCU movies always rested with weak villains. Outside of Loki, and later Thanos, no villain matched up to the level of the heroes he was set to face. That was not the case in Black Panther, which had one of the most sympathetic, yet evil villains in the MCU in Killmonger. With a 97% Rotten Tomatoes score and $1.3 billion at the box office, it was a monster success.
1 THE AVENGERS (2012)
The Avengers is not as great as Black Panther when it comes to critical acclaim. In fact, it's not as great as Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which is arguably a true piece of cinema. However, as a comic book adaptation, The Avengers is the best movie that successfully brought a comic book to the big screen.
The Avengers took characters fans met in solo movies and seamlessly integrated them into one giant team-up movie where the threat was bigger than any single hero. It was a huge box office blockbuster, making $1.5 billion, the most successful superhero movie in existence at that time. Its 91% combined Rotten Tomatoes scores proved that critics and fans both loved it. The film also proved that the MCU was here to stay.