MCU Rank & Review: Part Seven: Iron Man 3 (2013)

Runtime: 02:10:32

Total Runtime: 14:35:35

And so begins Phase 2. "Iron Man 3" sees the completion of the first trilogy of MCU films, It's also the best film in the trilogy. I said it. Fight me.

This is one of the most highly contested movies in the Marvel Studios franchise. The most notable reason is the film's apparent lack of a convincing villain, which, while that isn't entirely true, I do agree to some extent - but not likely in the way you think I will. 

We open with a brief narration from Tony (Robert Downey Jr.) over the images of his suits being destroyed one by one. "We create our own demons," he states and we transition to New Year's Eve 1999, where Tony is a douche to a decrepit Aldrich Killian (Guy Peirce) who pitches Tony his company, AIM (Advanced Idea Mechanics). Tony lies to him, agreeing to meet him on the roof, and leaves Killian up there hanging - choosing instead to remain with his date, Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall), whom he leaves after sleeping with her.

We now move on to the "present," it's Christmas time - it's a Shane Black film after all - and Tony is testing his Mk.42 armor. In the previous film in the MCU, "The Avengers," he was only on Mk.7. The suit up sequence here is cool, complete with superhero landing, and also serves to set up a lot of the film's future gags.

We then get our first look at the Mandarin (Ben Kingsly). Historically an arch-nemesis to Iron Man, the Mandarin was an inevitability in the MCU, unfortunately, we have yet to receive the real Mandarin, despite what this movie wishes to tell you. The real Mandarin is slated to appear in 2021's "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" on July 9, played by Tony Chiu-Wai Leung (source). Kingsly's portrayal of this Mandarin was fantastic and rather chilling - he would have made a great Mandarin, but what Marvel chose to do with this movie serves better. More on that later.

We then see that the US Government has taken the War Machine armor and rebranded it as "Iron Patriot," James Rhodes (Don Cheadle) still serving as pilot. This portrayal of the suit is very much in line with the Iron Patriot suit that Rhodes used in the Comics. The original Iron Patriot, however, was Norman Osborne, the suit he used was much more akin to Iron Man's - it didn't have the shoulder cannons. I like the suit, despite the hokey name, which the movie thankfully makes fun of consistently.

Rhodes and Tony meet up and make fun of the name. Some kids ask Tony to sign a drawing they made of him. The boy asks him about the New York attack and Tony has PTSD flashbacks, has an anxiety attack, and flees. 

Tony has been building suits since the New York attack to protect the world incessantly. He has developed thirty-five new suits in the year since the events of "The Avengers." Tony's ego has always gotten the best of him, and that is what's going on here. He always has felt like it's his sole mission to save the world, even when he was in the weapon selling business. But that weight he feels, under the threat of a greater foe, is becoming too much for him to handle.

Pepper (Gwenyth Paltrow) meets with Aldrich Killian, now fit and attractive - at least more than he used to be - thanks to AIM, and their project he calls Extremis. Killian states that Extremis is a "DNA re-coder," and can save lives, Pepper responds with its weaponizability and turns the pitch down. Happy (Jon Favreau) follows a shady guy (James Badge Dale) who was with Killian.

After Pepper catches him tinkering for the millionth time, Tony reveals his PTSD to Pepper, stating he's a mess and that "Nothing's been the same since New York."

Happy is caught in an explosion when the shady guy gives another person an injector and he's hospitalized. Kingsly's Mandarin takes credit for it and Tony calls him out, giving his home address.

Maya shows up and warns them that they may be in danger. No shit, he called out a terrorist on the news. His mansion is blown up, he saves both of them utilizing the Mk.42's “autonomous prehensile propulsion" capabilities and falls into the ocean beneath his house. The suit turns on and flies him off into the distance.

Tony crash lands in Tennessee waking up from his unconsciousness when the suit reaches below 5% power.

Tony drags the suit - now out of power - and calls Pepper on a payphone to tell her he's alive. He brings the suit to an abandoned garage, where he starts to charge it back up. He is confronted by a kid with a Potato Gun named Harley Keener (Ty Simpkins). The kid reveals that his father left him and his mother a while back and that he is bullied. Tony gives him a non-lethal stunning weapon to help deal with the bully problem. The kid tells him about the attack in Tennessee

 

Killian reveals that he is working for the Mandarin. Tony and Harley visit the site of the attack. Tony has a PTSD episode when the kid brings up New York.

Tony meets with the woman of a soldier that blew himself up in Tennessee similar to the attack that injured Happy. He tells her he didn't voluntarily blow himself up and that her son was used as a weapon. Tony is attacked by an Extremis user, he blows her up. He's attacked by the shady guy, another Extremis user, who Tony is able to defeat with the help of Harley and the stun weapon. Tony continues his search for the Mandarin and leaves Harley behind.

The third Mandarin broadcast occurs - a direct message to the President. He chooses to negotiate with a terrorist, the terrorist goes back on his word. 

Tony infiltrates a van, owned by Gary (Adam Pally) who is a Tony Stark fanboy complete with a cheap Tony Stark tattoo on his forearm. Gary lets Tony use his van so he can learn more about the Mandarin. Tony finds the Extremis trials and links Maya and Killian to the Mandarin.

Maya is revealed to be on Killian's side the whole time and lured Pepper away to kidnap her. They tell Pepper of their plan to give her Extremis and to steal the Iron Patriot armor. Tony on a call with Harley talks to Jarvis who gives the best line in the movie. Tony says he can't confront the Mandarin without the suit and stresses out cause he isn't able to protect anyone without it. Harley tells him to just build something. So he goes to a hardware store and builds stuff to go after the Mandarin.

Tony breaks into the hideout taking out a lot of guards with a suped-up nail gun. He finds the Mandarin who in the twist of all MCU twists is actually an actor named Trevor Slattery.

I get why people take umbrage with this, but I love it. It's one of the only twists in the MCU that is impossible to see coming. The main complaint about this moment is that Iron Man's main antagonist, his actual arch-nemesis is now a punchline. The movie goes on to - sort of- retroactively fix this by naming Killian as the Mandarin, but that doesn't go well because Killian is a terrible villain copy of the two previous Iron Man solo film villains. Just a smart guy scientist. The real Mandarin has magic powers in his alien-tech ten rings, and people wanted to see that fight. 

The bottom line, people felt betrayed. I didn't. I'm also very appreciative that they didn't white-wash the Mandarin, even though Killian states himself to be the Mandarin, he isn't. Marvel released a "one-shot" called "All Hail the King" it's in the special feature of "Thor: The Dark World" if you haven't seen in. In which Slattery goes to prison, is confronted by a member of the ten rings and tells him he's pissed off the real Mandarin. Who we'll see on screen in about a year. Unfortunately, though, he won't fight Iron Man.

Fast-forwarding a bit through the Plot now. Tony is captured after the reveal along with Rhodes. Killian reveals he gave Extremis to Pepper and shoots Maya. Killian can breathe fire and they steal the Iron Patriot armor. They kidnap the President. Tony and Rhodes escape, they go to save the President, and then the climax happens following the "House Party Protocol" bringing out all of Tony's suits.

The climax sees Tony fighting other Extremis users including Killian by jumping between his many suits while Rhodes frees the President. Tony tries to save Pepper but fails - the one thing he has been stressing over the entire movie happens, and he loses the fight to Killian because of it. Only the Extremis saves Pepper, and she kills Killian. Tony completes his character arc and initiates the "Clean Slate Protocol" and blows up all his suits as a Christmas gift to Pepper, finally realizing that he can't shoulder the burden he's put on himself alone.

He is able to cure Pepper of the Extremis somehow, he's smart and has done/will do crazier shit so I buy it. He built an arc reactor in a cave with a box of scraps after all; and will discover how to travel through time. He then officially has the surgery to remove the reactor and scraps of metal from his chest. Then the movie ends with him throwing away the old reactor into the waste of his old house.

Post credits reveal that the movie all happened at least a little in the past, as we are now in the present as we now see Tony finishing the narration of the story. He's having a Therapy session with Bruce who fell asleep, as he's "not that kind of doctor."

"Iron Man 3" is in my opinion the best-told story in the MCU, so far - that we've gotten to. The twist is only offensive if you let it offend you. If you don't you can rest assured that the real Mandarin is yet to come, so this was never the real Mandarin, despite all the promotion claiming as such. But hey, that's how twists work you dingleberry. They aren't going to tell you in the first five minutes that Bruce Willis was dead the whole time.

Official MCU 23 film ranking:

1. Iron Man 3 (2013)
2. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
3. The Avengers (2012)
4. Iron Man (2008)
5. Thor (2011)
6. Iron Man 2 (2010)
7. The Incredible Hulk (2008)

Next, the actual worst film in the MCU (Spoilers for the ranking): Thor: The Dark World (2013)

MCU Rank & Review: Part Six: The Avengers (2012)

Runtime: 02:22:56

Total Runtime: 12:25:03

We've made it. The first official team up-movie. It's also the smallest, in terms of members, by about a mile. Of the four Avengers movies, this one is the second-worst. Not because this one is bad, but because "Infinity War" and "Endgame" are way too good, and "Age of Ultron" is not so great.

We open with Loki (Tom Hiddleston) being handed a scepter by the Chitauri, The Other, a middle man between his master and Loki. That master sits in a chair facing away from the camera. Loki makes a deal he will retrieve the Tesseract for this master in exchange for a Chitauri army to conquer Earth so he may rule. They accept his offer.

Loki arrives on Earth after the Tesseract turns itself on. Hawkeye, Clint Barton, (Jeremy Renner) states this as being possible stating that "doors open from both sides" to Fury. Loki brainwashes both Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård)  and Hawkeye using the gifted Scepter.

The lab implodes in on itself as Loki escapes with his new minions and the Tesseract. Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), and Maria Hill (Cobie Smolders) escape narrowly avoiding the destruction.

We cut to Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) being interrogated by some Russian mafia members. One of the gangsters receives a call from Coulson, for her, who then explains the situation. She puts him on hold and takes them out. Coulson states "I have Stark. You get the big guy," to which she responds "oh joy."

Here is the first and only lead actor change in the MCU so far. Mark Ruffalo replacing Edward Norton as Bruce Banner. Ruffalo was the original choice of "The Incredible Hulk" director Louis Leterrier, and according to him, Marvel wanted Norton in the role, because "he just does smart, intellectual movies" (source). He inevitably got his way as Marvel Studios fired Norton from the role "not based on monetary factors, but instead... in the need for an actor who embodies the creativity and collaborative spirit of our other talented cast members" (source). The whole situation was a mess, with Norton stating other reasons, and his team stating that the real reasons were the opposite of those posited by Marvel. At the end of the day, however, we now have a superior Banner. 

Norton's Bruce was lacking character, he did nothing for the character to add interest to him. Utterly devoid of charisma and chemistry with his female lead. Ruffalo, on the other hand, adds a distinct vulnerability to the role that serves to the development of the character in later films. It definitely would have been interesting to see how the first film would have gone with this Bruce on screen.

Fury recruits Captain America, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), this is the scene from the end credits of "The First Avenger" only extended and has Cap make a bet with Fury that he won't be surprised by anything that happens. Tony (Robert Downey Jr) turns his new Stark Tower into a clean energy beacon, stating that it is "like Christmas, but with more [him]." Phil Coulson arrives, only "his first name is Agent," and has Tony consult for the team. On a Quinjet, Coulson fanboys over Cap telling him of his trading card collection, and mentions the suit, stating, "People might just need a little old fashioned."

Loki communes with The Other again, who asks of Loki, "You Question us? You Question him?" Loki does not. Banner arrives on a SHIELD carrier ship and meets Cap. Natasha tells them to head inside, they assume it's a submarine, with Bruce stating, "They want me in a submerged pressurized ship?" only to state "No this is worse" when it begins to fly.

Inside the Helicarrier, Cap pays Fury ten dollars from their earlier bet. Loki and Hawkeye discuss a plan to stabilize the Tesseract with Iridium to bring about the army invasion. Hawkeye needs "a distraction and an eyeball." Loki goes to Germany and gets the eyeball allowing Clint to get the Iridium. Lokie has the people of Germany kneel before him, one refuses and is saved by Cap. Iron Man comes in, and they capture Loki. 

Thor arrives and takes Loki from the jet. Tony and Steve give chase, and Thor begs Loki to return to Asgard with him and give up his foolish pursuits. Thor is tackled by Iron Man. They land in the woods and exchange banter.

Tony and Thor fight, Cap intervenes to stop it but ends up fighting too. Thor "Puts the hammer down."

Following the three-way fight, we return to the Helicarrier. They talk about what to do with Loki. Thor, wanting to take him back to Asgard, states that Loki is his brother, but that he's adopted when Loki's crimes are brought up. Tony comes in and in typical grandstanding fashion manages to use his distracting words of "That man is playing Galaga" and plants a bug. Fury states that Loki was able to turn some of his best men into "[Loki's] personal flying monkeys," a reference that Cap understood. 

Bruce and Tony work in the lab studying the scepter. Cap comes in and the two of them convince him that SHIELD is hiding something, and Tony will soon know all through his plant. Black Widow performs her same style of interrogation used on the Russians on Loki and learns his plan to unleash the Hulk. It's implied that Loki is still able to use the Scepter to manipulate the team in the lab. Everyone bickers.

Everyone calms down briefly when Banner unknowingly picks up the scepter. Loki had a backup plan, however, and Hawkeye attacks the Hellicarrier. The explosion brings out the Hulk. Hulk chases Natasha who is rescued by Thor. Tony and Cap run off to repair the engine destroyed in the attack. Natasha goes to fight Hawkeye while Thor and Hulk duke it out. Hulk can't lift the hammer and is eventually distracted by a jet which causes him to fall to the ground after destroying it. Thor goes for Loki.

Loki tricks Thor into entering his cage, which he drops with Thor inside. But first, he kills Agent Coulson using his illusions. Natasha knocks out Clint freeing him of the mind control, and Thor breaks out of the cage before it makes an impact with the ground. Loki escapes in the ship Hawkeye arrived in. Fury fakes that Coulson had Cap's trading cards on him when he died to give the team "a little push" that they probably didn't need. Cap asks Tony, "Is this the first time you've lost a soldier" to which he receives "We are not soldiers" in response.

Tony leaves and arrives at Stark tower, where Loki is waiting for the invasion to begin with Selvig working on the tesseract on the roof. Loki has an army, they have a Hulk.

Tony argues further with Loki that if "we can't protect the Earth, you can be damn well sure we'll avenge it." Loki tries to brainwash him but fails thanks to the arc reactor. Tony falls out of the building suiting up into the Mk.7 armor. There's one more person that Loki pissed off.

Selvig unleashes a sky beam and the invasion begins.

The Avengers arrive and Bruce reveals he's "always angry" and punches a big worm. This here is a point of contention with me. The end of "The Incredible Hulk" argues this exact point, that Banner has full control over transforming. But up to this point has not stated his control over it to the team, especially considering most were fearing a transformation, his lack of control was a key part of Loki's plan, and it worked. It's just poor script writing so that the moment is cooler. Nothing major, just disappointing. 

Anyway, Bruce is always angry.

The Avengers assemble in a circle and the camera pans around them giving one of the best action shots of the first phase. A shot they've tried to replicate in almost every other team-up movie, in some form or another.

Cap gives the team orders, and tells the Hulk to "smash."

The action is fairly easy to follow. There is admittedly, a lot happening, which inherently is a detriment, but you're never really confused as to what is happening at any given moment. Most of this is brief sequences of two of the avengers working together to kill some Chitauri. Eventually, Hulk punches Thor and it's hilarious.

The Council overseeing SHIELD meets with Fury they want to nuke New York, which according to Fury is a "stupid-ass decision." Which is very much is. The portal is still open. Nuking New York might not close the portal, it could destroy the device the tesseract is being focused through, but may not shut down the tesseract which has been stated countless times to have a mind of its own.

Loki catches an arrow from Hawkey which explodes and conveniently lands him back on Stark Tower. In the tower Hulk confronts Loki.

Selvig awakens from his brainwashing and tells a nearby Black Widow that the Scepter can close the portal, lucky for them it's on the Tower where Loki had just landed not long ago. The Council sends the nuke anyway and Fury warns Tony. Tony carries the nuke into the portal. It explodes against a large ship whose hive mind kills the whole army, so convenient. Nat closes the portal and Tony falls through at the last possible second betraying the laws of space physics. Hulk catches him on his way down and yells at him to stir him out of unconsciousness. After joking about one of them possibly kissing him, he asks, "You ever try Schwarma?" The team arrests Loki still in the Tower, now with only the "A" left on it.

Thor takes Loki and the Tesseract back to Asgard. Tony and Bruce ride off together and everyone else goes their separate ways. Mid credits we are back with The Other talking to the man in the chair, his master. He turns around and grins looking into the camera. It's Thanos.

Post credits the Avengers eat Shwarma. 

The original comics Avengers team was different. Much different, but the villain was the same. The first team, in 1963, consisted of Thor, Iron Man, and Hulk, but also included Ant-Man and The Wasp. Captain America joins the team in 1964 in issue #4. Former Iron Man villain, Hawkeye, joins the Avengers first in issue #16 alongside former X-Men villains Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. Black Widow doesn't join the Avengers officially until issue #111, she is considered an ally however from issue #36 on. All the while team members come and go throughout the issues, including most of the original line-up.

Loki was still the original comic team's villain and the best choice the MCU had. It would have been cool to see Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne come in as Ant-Man and The Wasp, too, but that may have been too much of an undertaking for Joss Whedon to handle considering how poorly "Age of Ultron" went with how few characters it added.

"The Avengers" when it came out in 2012 was one of my favorite movies of the year. It didn't make my top 10 movies, but it was an honorable mention. This was also 2012, and I was 20, a young boy compared to my now decrepit 28. Though that would still be the case now, my tastes have changed a lot in the past eight years.

This film is rather concise, as it needs to be with all that goes on in the narrative, so it doesn't have much breathing room once the plot picks up. The brief moments we get do relieve tension, but they are exceptionally brief, and once the climax is over the remaining five minutes feels like twenty. The action is paced exceptionally well, giving purpose to the action as each scene weaves into the next. 

All of that being said. The movie is really just more of all the characters we've come to know, with the exception of the new Hulk. There isn't much more to it than that.

Phase One complete.

 Official MCU 23 film ranking:

1. Captain America: The First Avenger
2. The Avengers
3. Iron Man
4. Thor
5. Iron Man 2
6. The Incredible Hulk

Soon to be reviewed: Iron Man 3 (2013)

MCU Rank & Review: Part Five: Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Runtime: 02:04:08

Total Runtime: 10:02:07

 

Here we are now with the first installment of the first (and only so far) consistently great trilogy of films. Also, this is the first and only period piece MCU film, unless you count the 90's as a "period," then "Captain Marvel" counts as well. Also also, the birth of America's ass.

Also also also, our movie opens with the revelation of Captain America being found in some ice. In the present day. We then go all the way back to 1941, World War II in full swing. A very skinny Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) wants to be a soldier, but can't, cause he's a skinny boy.

Though he may be small, he makes up for it with his bravery and smarts. This skinny Steve is probably my only issue with the movie. It's a well-done effect in that you can't tell it's an effect. Basically, they took Chris Evans' body and shrunk it down using computer magic.

Instead of the body double/superimposed head, the filmmakers used a “shrinking” technique and computers to basically erase portions of Evans' strong physique on screen. “We filmed over 250 shots of Chris and used digital technology to 'shrink' him down to what we called 'Skinny Steve,'” said Johnston. (Source)

Only that at points his head is way too big for his tiny body. The acting is great, the writing is great, the directing is great. But sometimes little baby Steve looks weird (to me) and it distracts from the story.

Steve tells a guy in a theater to be respectful to the military and gets beat up. he can "do this all day," but Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) shows up and shoos the bully away. In Germany, we see Nazis blow up a wall. They are led by Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving), and he has a cool Hydra pin. Hydra, for those still unaware, are a secret organization in the Marvel Universe that wants to take over the world. They steal the Tesseract from people that were safeguarding it on Earth.

It's worth pointing out that this is the first, and only, pro-military film. This is because the US military during WWII were the good guys, but now, they're just greedy people looking to make themselves rich - apparently. Moving forward, we see a young Howard Stark, played in this movie, and in the Peggy Carter series, by Dominic Cooper instead of the usual John Slattery. Stark is displaying his flying car prototype and states they're a few years away. I guess a few years is more than eighty, cause they still aren't a thing in the MCU unless you count that Wakanda tech as cars.

Steve meets with a doctor during his next attempt to join the military. Dr. Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci) offers him a chance to join the army. Rogers accepts. He goes through a series of trials with other candidates for a Super Soldier program. Here he meets Colonel Chester Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones) and Agent Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell). Back in Germany, we see Schmidt and Dr. Arnim Zola (Toby Jones) trying to harness the power of the Tesseract, they succeed.

In the tests, Steve proves to be the weakest and the smartest candidate. He's in the last place in every physical test, but, he successfully performs a task that no one has ever done before by taking the pole down to retrieve a flag, while every other person tried to climb the pole. He proves his bravery when Phillips throws a fake grenade into the group of test subjects and he willingly chooses to sacrifice himself for everyone's safety. But, "he's still skinny." 

Back in Germany again, Johann is getting his portrait taken, the red paint hinting at his true identity as Red Skull. Meanwhile, Steve is chosen as the candidate to receive the Super Soldier Serum. He comes out stronger and taller.

The pec touch by Peggy was apparently completely improvised (source) which is quite funny and greatly humanizes the character. Hydra attacks the testing facility, kills Dr. Abraham, and steals a serum vial. Steve chases the guy down, breaks him out of his escape submarine, and destroys the vial in the process. The hydra agent states that he is "the first of many. Cut off one head, two shall take its place. Hail Hydra." 

For some reason, Phillips doesn't want Steve to be a soldier, because "he's just one man" and he "wanted an army." So Steve does a propaganda tour and punches Hitler a lot.

His propaganda tour is accompanied by the reveal that Captain America comics exist in this universe, more propaganda, just like the original Captain America comic, whose cover is also shown in the movie in the hands of some kids. Complete with Hitler punching action. 

Steve hates not being a soldier, and the soldiers don't like him being a propaganda machine. Steve learns that Bucky's battalion was taken captive and he wants to go save them. Phillips says no, cause Steve is a "Chorus girl." Peggy and Howard fly Steve out to rescue the POWs. Steve frees them and finds Bucky in the process - Bucky subtly reciting code words that brainwash him into becoming the Winter Soldier. Johann Schmidt takes off his face and reveals his Red Skull.

Steve is now honored as a good soldier boy. His newfound war hero status earns him some cred with the ladies and is kissed by a girl that isn't Peggy Carter, and Peggy sees and gets mad. She shoots at his new Vibranium shield for revenge. Steve is supposed to receive the Medal of Honor, but no shows to be a better soldier boy. A montage of Steve and his Howling Commandos happens and we see Steve keeps a picture of Peggy in his compass. Red Skull is shown to be mad, Hugo Weaving's acting is deliciously over-the-top.

The Commandos eventually arrive at a mission to retrieve Dr. Zola from a train. It goes bad. bucky falls from the train, but they successfully capture Zola. Before falling from the train Bucky picks up the shield. First hints at his possible taking of the mantle, which no longer appears to be the direction we're heading. But it's a good tease for comic fans, none the less.

Zola sells out Red Skulls location. Steve makes the plan to "knock on his front door" and they infiltrate the mountain base. There's a big fight, Steve is captured, but it's a trap! Steve chases Red Skull and Peggy kisses Steve before he jumps on the plane to confront Red Skull.

Red Skull picks up the Tesseract with his bare hands, and he is sky beamed into space. Steve can't safely stop the plane, so he rainchecks his dance with Peggy "next Saturday at eight" and crashes into the arctic where he naps for 70 years.

Howard searches for him but only finds the Tesseract. He keeps searching but never finds him. Steve wakes up in 2010, only he's in a fake room masquerading as the past. SHIELD makes a mistake by playing a game from Steve's past as if it's currently happening and blows their cover - Steve bolts. he's in modern-day Time's Square and looks really confused.

Fury shows up and tells him he's "been asleep for almost seventy years." Post credits he breaks a punching bag and Fury asks him to help save the world and we get a teaser trailer for "The Avengers" - Coming next summer.

The issues I have here are the same issues I had with "Iron Man," only this movie has a better climax. The romance here, between Peggy and Steve, is the only romance more believable in the MCU than Tony and Pepper. The CGI of skinny Steve is the only "real" flaw for me, it distracts slightly removing me from the story.

Official MCU 23 film ranking:

1. Captain America: The First Avenger
2. Iron Man
3. Thor
4. Iron Man 2
5. The Incredible Hulk

Next in the line-up: "The Avengers" (2012)