We can all agree that Marvel has been a little touch-and-go since Endgame. There’s been a select few winners among a majority of dumpster fires (we’re looking at you, Quantumania), but overall, once Marvel got over the proverbial hill that was Endgame, they came tumbling down like the Jack and Jill of legend. It’s been consistently miss after miss for the better half of four years, and there’s not much to show for Marvel’s efforts besides one blockbuster hit and one successful Disney Plus series once in a blue moon. We’re running on empty and Marvel seems quite content to watch us starve. It hasn’t been all bad, though, as we’ve mentioned that there were some amazing entries among the most abysmal, even if they’re few and far between. Since 2019, Marvel has released eight feature-length films that follow on from Endgame — entwined with the handful of Disney Plus shows airing simultaneously — but only some of them were worthwhile. Let’s take a crack at a no-doubt controversial ranking of Marvel’s post-Endgame ventures.
8. Eternals
The first rule of Eternals club; you don’t talk about Eternals. When we’re mentioning dumpster fires, this is exactly what we’re envisioning. A star-studded cast had us believing that Eternals could be great, but a stale storyline and generally unlikable characters prevented it from even being good. When it was announced that Game of Thrones‘ Kit Harrington, One Direction alum Harry Styles, Maleficent‘s Angelina Jolie and Bodyguard‘s Richard Madden would be among the Eternals, excitement for the project undoubtedly skyrocketed. Unfortunately, Marvel must have lost that momentum somewhere down the line because the final product just didn’t deliver on all the promises it made. The experience of watching Eternals is comparable to biting into a regular old hamburger, hoping it would taste like a Big Mac, but in reality, it’s a just stale, store-bought meat. There’s a lot of Marvel fans who would no doubt agree with the bold decision to place Eternals dead-last, despite it having the most adventurous cast of all the post-Endgame films.
7. Thor: Love and Thunder
You’d think with how successful Thor, Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarok were that Taika Waititi’s fourth attempt would be finding ways to expand on the universe he established over 10 years ago. Instead, Thor: Love and Thunder happens to be the absolute weakest of the quadrilogy, mainly due to the portrayal of Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale). That isn’t to say that our resident Batman did a bad job — far from it in fact — but there’s multiple hurdles that Waititi tripped over and it ruined his momentum. In the Thor: God of Thunder comic run, Gorr is painted as a ruthless, sadistic killer, but in Love and Thunder, he’s made out to be misunderstood and merciful. In the comics, Gorr relentlessly butchers (hence the name) multiple gods left and right, but just like most other Marvel flicks, Love and Thunder shies away from the violence and turns what should have been a suspense-thriller into a family-friendly action-comedy. Maybe they should start taking a page out of DC’s book.
6. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Where do we even begin? Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few weeks, you’ll be well aware that the Marvel audience have collectively shunned Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. While the Ant-Man trilogy has always faded into the background in favor of more mainstream, face-value heroes like Captain America, Iron Man and Thor, there’s never a shortage of diehards looking to educate themselves on every project the MCU has to offer, even if their interest in the subject matter is, well… limited. Essentially, as far as the backlash that Quantumania faced; people hated the story, hated the characters, and were downright disgusted by the CGI. That doesn’t paint Paul Rudd’s third consecutive solo film in a very flattering light, now does it? Quantumania promised to be action-packed and comical, but it does a middling job of both. And it even commits the worst movie sin in history: it’s downright boring. Critics hated it, audience hated it. It’s canned.
5. Black Widow
Black Widow‘s kryptonite was Taskmaster. We all know that. However, the opening sequence promised a much darker MCU entry than we’ve become accustomed to, so when Scarlett Johansson’s solo outing as Natasha Romanoff failed to deliver, it shot itself in the foot. You’d expect Black Widow to be extremely dark, especially after we learned that Black Widows themselves have their ovaries removed upon enrolling so that they’re incapable of bearing children or becoming distracted by ‘womanly’ inconveniences. That’s seriously messed up. We’re partial to a nice, lighthearted Marvel story once in a while, but a hardened tale of deception, trauma and woe is ruined by forced comedy, when all it really needed to be was a unique and gritty retelling of Natasha’s childhood. If being boring is movie-making’s biggest sin, then being forgettable is a close second. As for Black Widow, it was both. Thankfully, it wasn’t as forgettable as some others, but it clings to the halfway point by the skin of its teeth.
4. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Scott Derrickson, the director behind 2016’s Doctor Strange, had to step down from Multiverse of Madness to pursue his Blumhouse horror flick The Black Phone, starring Ethan Hawke. It was Spider-Man‘s Sam Raimi who was appointed to helm the project, but unlike the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man trilogy, this sequel never left the starting gate. Perhaps the biggest gripe that Marvel diehards found with Multiverse of Madness is that the main antagonist — who happens to be Westview’s own Scarlet Witch — was notoriously overpowered. Doctor Strange, in comparison, was notoriously underpowered, so there’s a character imbalance there that’s hard to ignore. That being said, we’ve broken into the top four, so we can’t ignore all the good things about the Doctor Strange sequel. Strange’s character arc is magnificent, no doubt about it, and Raimi’s knowledge of horror adds elements to Multiverse of Madness that start breaking boundaries — and that’s exactly what Marvel needs. Plus, full kudos to Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olsen for always nailing their roles. Top marks.
3. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
The thing that works the most about Shang-Chi is that it’s bold and adventurous. Simu Liu, who portrays Shang-Chi, made history for becoming the first-ever Asian Marvel superhero to appear in the MCU. Furthermore, the Shang-Chi cast was almost entirely comprised of Asian-Americans, so score one for representation! Other than Liu, who see the likes of Awkwafina and Meng’er Zhang in Shang-Chi, all making a mark on Marvel in support of their Asian heritage. A lot of the film’s dialogue is in Mandarin Chinese, so you can imagine why it received some sour responses. People can’t accept what they can’t understand — remember that. Drawing from the rich history of Chinese cinema, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings dares to tread waters that no other Marvel film has dared cross. It encapsulates all the good parts of wuxia epics, which are displays of Chinese fiction featuring warriors of ancient China, capable of superhuman feats of martial arts. There’s a very human feel to Shang-Chi that sets it apart from other Marvel projects. It breaks the mold for the MCU unashamedly.
2. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
After the first Black Panther was such a resounding success, no one ever thought a sequel could amount to such greatness, but Letitia Wright’s Shuri said “hold my beer.” Following the unfortunate passing of the T’Challa actor Chadwick Boseman (who sadly died of complications from colon cancer in 2020), the race was on to find the MCU’s next Black Panther, whilst also remaining respectful to Boseman’s legacy. Many actors were rumored to be taking on the role, but in the end, Wakanda Forever formulated the most fitting piece of storytelling ever by making Shuri, T’Challa’s sister, the next Black Panther. In fact, the opening sequence even references T’Challa’s — and in turn Chadwick Boseman’s — death, which sets the scene for Shuri to take over and manages to pay tribute to Boseman’s excellent run as one of Marvel’s most culturally significant heroes. Black Panther, like Shang-Chi, was a milestone for the MCU in that it introduces an almost entirely African-American cast… and in the aftermath of the Black Lives Matter movement, no less. As far as the actual film itself, there’s notably less action scenes, but there’s major quality over quantity this time around — and it works.
1. Spider-Man: No Way Home
Was there ever any doubt? Not only did Spider-Man: No Way Home gross over $1.9 billion worldwide and become the highest-grossing Sony Pictures release, but it also beat out Avatar at the domestic box office to rank the third-highest grossing movie of all time for a short period. It was recently overtaken by Avatar: The Way of Water and the theatrical re-release of Titanic. There’s a number of elements that attribute to No Way Home‘s success, but perhaps the most powerful driving force behind the unanimous love for Tom Holland’s third Spider-outing is the nostalgia that it drills into long-time Spider-Man fans. Introducing Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s iterations of Spider-Man for an epic crossover? Genius! There’s a lot more going for No Way Home than that, though, since it also brings back Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock and Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin, who are arguably the shining stars of the flick. Outside of some exciting cameos, No Way Home tells a genuinely engaging story and manages to give every member of its ensemble cast an even amount of time in the spotlight. There’s no weak link here, and it shows.
