MCU confessions quickly make it clear that undercooked Marvel movies have existed long before Phase 5

There are now a whopping 32 MCU movies. So far, Marvel Studios has never put out an objectively terrible box office bomb, though it’s safe to say there are entries that fans dread revisiting when doing a watchathon. But each and every MCU movie, no matter how poor the critical reception, has its fans.

r/MarvelStudios is currently picking through these, with fans revealing what their MCU “guilty pleasure” is. The top candidate seems to be Chloe Zhao’s 2021 Eternals, which sputtered at the box office, received some of the worst reviews of any MCU movie, and has yet to spawn any sequel plans. This is a butt-numbing two-and-a-half hours of philosophical superhero action which bored many in theaters, though its reputation has slowly improved after the home release. Replies dub Eternals as “underrated”, praise the overall aesthetic, and love the cinematography.

Another top reply is 2013’s Iron Man 3. Its boosters say that it’s a rare instance of Stark showing some true vulnerability as he grapples with the events of The Avengers, there’s some love for the Ben Kingsley Mandarin fake-out, and others correctly identify it as a Christmas movie.

There is even some rare praise for Black Widow. This is probably our least favorite MCU movie, but we’ll grudgingly go along with the poster that says the opening credits are indeed very fun. But even that film’s defenders admit that the third act completely falls apart, likely because it was rushed together during the first COVID lockdown. It’s also noted that any drama was undercut by Endgame featuring Natasha’s death years earlier, which lowers the stakes as we know exactly what’s coming down the line for her.

The one notable absence from the list is Thor: The Dark World, which is still considered one of the very worst Marvel movies. Also absent is Age of Ultron, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, all of which regularly appear on the lower tiers of MCU rankings. Even so, we’re sure that these movies, like the ones mentioned above, all have their passionate fans.