#37. Every MCU Movie RANKED
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This subscriber-only bonus episode skips the usual film-review format entirely: Sonny, JVL, and Vic spend the whole hour ranking all 24 MCU movies, from Iron Man through Black Widow, working chronologically by release date and debating, film by film, where each should slot in relative to the last. Agreement comes fast at both extremes — The Avengers is crowned the unanimous number one, with JVL praising Joss Whedon's "perfectly structured" script, while Thor: The Dark World gets dumped straight to the bottom (Vic votes it there sight unseen) and Captain Marvel ends up almost as low, with Vic calling it "very disappointing." The middle produces real fights: Black Panther splits the group hardest, with JVL ranking it four full slots above Sonny and Vic, who both single out the film's unusually bad CGI, while Guardians of the Galaxy bounces up and down the board before settling into the upper-middle tier. Sonny makes the case for Iron Man Three as a top-tier entry on the strength of Shane Black's subversive Mandarin twist, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier gets extra love from Vic for its paranoid-thriller vibe and for shooting scenes in the actual Free Beacon offices. There's no extended opening banter this time — Vic's intro rolls straight into Sonny laying out the format — and the episode closes with Sonny reading the completed ranking top to bottom before JVL floats a future bonus-episode idea: doing a full live commentary track over an old movie.
From the show notes
So, uh ... if you wanted to hear us jabber about every MCU movie for 36 minutes, have I got a treat for you! This will be a Patreon exclusive forever and ever, so if you want to listen you have to sign up.
Full transcript
Vic00:00:00Hello and welcome to a bonus edition of the Sub-Beacon. I'm Victor Matus along with Jonathan V. Last and Sonny Bunch. Just a reminder, the Sub-Beacon is now available through Patreon. Go to subbeacon.com. You'll easily find us. Please subscribe, tell your friends, and don't forget about that Sub-Beacon merchandise store at tpublic.com bonus episode. Sonny, what's going on here?
Sonny00:00:35So I mentioned this, uh, at the end of our Black Widow episode, but I thought it would be fun to do a ranking of the MCU movies, uh, that, uh, is not, it's not like we each come up with our own 20 some movie ranking, we decide internally. We vote on this. So the format of this is going to be, we're going to go, we're going to, we're going to start listing the films, uh, chronologically by release date, not by place in the, you know, in the universe. I have the, I have the. A Wikipedia list of Marvel cinematic universe movies pulled up right here. So we'll, uh, we'll go through it that way, but what we're going to do is we're going to, we're going to name a movie. So we'll start with iron man, uh, JVL. Are you going to keep track of this? Which, what goes, where are you going to be doing?
Vic00:01:17I will, I will do the typing chronologically based on release
Sonny00:01:21chronological based on release date. So we'll say iron man. So iron man, because it's the only one that'll be number one. Correct.
Vic00:01:26So I thought we're not. We're not starting with, uh, Spider-Man with Tobey Maguire.
Sonny00:01:31No, we're not starting with, uh, the captain America movie and punisher. We're not doing a Dolph Lundgren.
Vic00:01:39No, really? Okay.
Sonny00:01:42That would obviously be number four blade blade blade Trinity. Come on. X-Men, uh, the Bryan singer X-Men.
Vic00:01:53Okay.
Sonny00:01:53All right. So obviously, right. You know, so we've got iron man, right? Iron man is on the board. Iron man is on the board. So the next, the next one, the next one is the incredible Hulk, which I think we would
Vic00:02:03all agree is worse than the first iron man, which was, I saw one of them and it wasn't the one him.
Sonny00:02:09It was not the one with Eric Banner, not the Eric Banner one.
Vic00:02:12That was not technically a Marvel movie.
Sonny00:02:14Uh, the one with Eric Banner, it was, it was not a, it was not a Marvel cinematic universe movie. It was, it was a movie, but not a, I feel bad for Eric Banner. I'm sure Eric Banner is fine.
Vic00:02:25Okay.
Sonny00:02:26I'm sure Eric Banner. Banner is fine with us. So we, so we have iron man, then incredible Hulk, right? So the next one is iron man too, which I think is a, it's a, something we should debate is iron man too better than incredible Hulk JBL.
JVL00:02:41No. Vic. Saw neither.
Sonny00:02:45This you're not, you got, you got to say, what do you got?
JVL00:02:49Iron man too, is an insulting movie.
Sonny00:02:51Iron man is not. Yeah. Iron man too.
Vic00:02:53This is Scarlett Johansson in that one though, right? She makes her appearance. So is Elon Musk.
Sonny00:02:57That's her, that's her first, that's her first experience. It's not good. It's, it's a, it's a bit of a mess. So I'll say, I'll say worse than the incredible Hulk, which is really not a very good movie either. Okay. So, so, so right now the list is, so right now the list is iron man. Number one, incredible Hulk. Number two, uh, number three is iron man.
Vic00:03:16This was the Mickey Rourke comeback post the wrestler, wasn't it?
Sonny00:03:19Yeah. Yeah. And he's fine. And I don't know. It's got individual things that work in it. I like Jon Favreau in it. I like Mickey Rourke in it. I like Scarlett. I like Joe Johansson in it. Uh, but it just, the whole thing is trying to do too many things, which is a problem.
JVL00:03:32Okay.
Sonny00:03:32It does. It does have a great Gary Shandling cameo.
JVL00:03:37Are you guys able to see the list as I'm typing it?
Sonny00:03:39Yes. Okay. I can see the list. So number, uh, the next one is Thor, the first Thor movie, which I would say is not as good as iron man, but better than incredible Hulk.
JVL00:03:50I would rank it above iron man.
Sonny00:03:54All right. So we're definitely, so we, we say it's definitely better. Incredible Hulk. Uh, Vic, do you think the original Thor is better or worse than the original iron man? You have to pick one. You can't just say, I haven't seen him.
Vic00:04:06I did see, I did see Thor. Uh, I still think iron man's better than Thor.
Sonny00:04:11All right.
Vic00:04:12So iron man, then Thor, except for the one scene where Thor grant near the end, he grabs Natalie Portman to take her up on the rainbow bridge. And, and she has this reaction, uh, to it. And that was hot. Okay. Oh boy.
Sonny00:04:27All right. Okay. Oh boy. It was careful.
JVL00:04:31Care.
Sonny00:04:31Uh, the next movie, captain America, the first Avenger, I would argue is clearly better than the incredible Hulk. Not better than Thor though. I would put it under Thor.
Vic00:04:43I agree. All right. Well, I guess I get outvoted cause I think it's better.
Sonny00:04:48You think it's better than, I think it's iron man and captain America.
Vic00:04:51I clear up. That's too bad.
Sonny00:04:53You lose.
Vic00:04:54That's a good American movie.
Sonny00:04:56There we go. I like this. We're tearing right through this.
Vic00:05:00It's give me my money back. All right. Good. That's what the listeners are saying. You're going too fast.
Sonny00:05:06Well, I mean, I, I, uh, I, the thing about captain America, the first Avenger is that it is a perfectly competent movie. Um, that does everything. It does everything. Does everything it has to do. And like, I, I, I don't dislike it. It just is fine. It's fine.
JVL00:05:23I, I, I, I like it quite a lot. I just like Thor. Thor quite a lot. Oh, do you remember for me, Thor would have been above Iron Man. Yes. So it's true.
Sonny00:05:34This is going to throw, this is going to, it's already throwing a wrench into our rankings. Uh, okay. Uh, next is the, the first Avengers Marvel, the Avengers. It's a, it's a seminal movie. It's the first, you know, real crossover events, uh, kind of set the stage for the whole, for everything.
Vic00:05:51This is where the aliens attack New York.
Sonny00:05:54Yes. This is the one where the aliens attack New York. This is where Loki, Loki shows up and he's trying to lead the attack on.
Vic00:06:00And the guy from guardians of the galaxy.
Sonny00:06:03No, no. Uh, well, this is the best of all the movies.
JVL00:06:07This is absolutely the number one.
Sonny00:06:10This is, uh, it is better than all of these movies. I think for sure. It's the, I think it's actually the only MCU movie that I've seen more than once.
Vic00:06:18Oh yeah. So, I mean, that's all the way through. That's the one with the whole cast. That's all the superheroes together. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that was pretty early on that they got that first Avengers movie.
JVL00:06:26Yep. Sure was. And it changed everything. I mean, you have to remember that thing played all summer long. It made a billion dollars.
Vic00:06:33Did they, did they add new superheroes to that Avengers that we hadn't seen before? Or was it everybody we'd seen altogether? We, we knew no new people.
Sonny00:06:41They introduced, they introduced Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk. Oh, they replaced Edward New Hulk.
Vic00:06:46Why, why, why, what happened to Ed Norton?
Sonny00:06:49And this is the first Thanos. This is the first appearance of Thanos. Yes, at the very end, at the very end. In this, in this movie. So, very important moment. And also, it just has all the, it, it, like Joss Whedon, say what you will about Joss Whedon, noted great destroyer, destroyer of Justice League. But he, he, he can, he can write, he can write a scene of superheroes bantering. That's a thing he can do.
JVL00:07:12Well, more than that, though, he, he can write structure. And Avengers is a, a perfectly structured movie. There was, and the degree of difficulty in that was unbelievably high. There's only one way to write that movie. It's a perfect movie and he found his way to do it. It's great.
Vic00:07:30Agreed.
Sonny00:07:31All right. So that's at the top. That's, that's number one for now.
Vic00:07:35And enjoyable, enjoyable.
Sonny00:07:36We'll see. All right. So then we get into phase two, Iron Man three directed by Shane Black. This is the, this is the Christmas, the great Christmas Shane Black Iron Man movie.
Vic00:07:47Speaking of speaking of lethal weapon, you know, we mentioned that in the last episode.
Sonny00:07:51That's it's the only, it's the only MCU movie to start with a dead naked woman in a car getting, getting blown up.
Vic00:07:58That's in Iron Man two. I mean, I'm sorry. I'm not Iron Man.
Sonny00:08:06It's, it's, it's a Shane Black joke. Wow.
JVL00:08:09I, I would put this below Avengers, but above Iron Man. I love the crap out of this movie. I love everything about it. Yeah. I love everything about it. I love, I love the, the subversive messaging. I love the, I mean, don't forget this is the first Marvel movie post dark night and the world is still grappling with Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker and like, what are superhero movies supposed to do? Right. And so the Mandarin,
Sonny00:08:40this movie came out five years after the dark night. This movie came out at one year after the dark night rises. This movie came out in 2013. The dark night came out in 2008 dark night, dark night and Iron Man came out the same year. It,
JVL00:08:54but what I'm saying is that we, we solve for the moment, the Ben Kingsley portrayal of, and the writing of the Mandarin in this way, let's us deflate the idea of the super terrifying. Right. Soup villain without it looking to relative derivative so that people can do that sort of thing again.
Vic00:09:16And it was very, yeah, that's right. And it was Ben Kingsley was very funny.
JVL00:09:21The whole movie is funny.
Vic00:09:22The reveal is great. The, the, he makes a bathroom, some joke. That's, you know,
Sonny00:09:27one of, one of, one of the worst things that the MCU did though, was they undercut that in a, in a bonus, you know, short video thing. They had a, they had like a, oh, they had an actor whose name I can't remember. It's Scoot McNary plays this bit part where he shows up to interview Ben Kingsley, but it turns out he's from the real Mandarin who's angry that the, the Mandarin has been used in this way, which was very, which was, which was kind of a sticker. And it was like, it was like a bonus video. It was like,
JVL00:09:59it was like one of the Marvel shorts.
Sonny00:10:01Um, I would say, ah, God, I don't know. I don't know that. I guess it's probably a better movie than Iron Man. I guess I would put it between Avengers and Iron Man, but it's,
Vic00:10:12I was going to put it below Captain America.
Sonny00:10:14Wow.
Vic00:10:16You didn't like it. I liked it. I liked it fine, but I really like Captain America. Okay.
JVL00:10:21So that would mean it would also be below Thor.
Vic00:10:24Yeah. I didn't, I thought Thor was just, okay, I like Thor, but you know, no, no, but I'm saying,
JVL00:10:28so the way this works is we go to the list as it is. Yeah. So on the list, we go below Avengers. Yes. We average it. Right. Is it then, cause we got, again, we're making all these decisions as if the canon is established as it is now. So you can't say, you know, we move down from the top to the bottom. So because you and I pick,
Sonny00:10:49put it above Iron Man, it goes in between Avengers and Iron Man JBL.
JVL00:10:54Okay.
Sonny00:10:55It's my, my understanding of how this works. I made the rules.
JVL00:10:57I think that's true. Sorry, Vic.
Sonny00:11:02All right. Next time.
JVL00:11:03Number one, by the way, is widows.
Sonny00:11:06The one,
JVL00:11:06the one movie.
Vic00:11:08If I want it at the bottom and you want it at the top, it doesn't end up in the middle. It ends up at the top.
JVL00:11:12Is that how it works? No, the way it does is we start at the top and we go down the list one movie at a time. This is like me in the middle in the snake draft.
Vic00:11:22I kept on feeling like I got screwed. I'll take two, one. I'll take two, one. How does that work out for me?
Sonny00:11:28We could, we could, we could, we could start this where we each, we each pick like an opening gambit where an opening bit where it's like, okay, so for instance, I'll go, I'll go next with Thor dark world. I would put Thor dark world at the bottom of this.
JVL00:11:42Yes. Agree. Agree. Agree.
Vic00:11:44And I didn't even see it.
?00:11:46Agree. Okay.
Sonny00:11:48Okay. Number eight. The next one is Captain America, the winter soldier, which is a very interesting.
Vic00:11:55Oh, oh yeah. That's a good one. Yeah. Plus it features, it features the free beacon offices.
Sonny00:12:02It does exactly see my office. You, you, it's your opening gambit. What would you put it above?
Vic00:12:10You're going to hate me for that. I put it above. Oh, I'd put it above. Oh man. Well, if you, if Iron Man three is number two, I'm putting it above Iron Man three.
Sonny00:12:19Okay. Yeah,
Vic00:12:20I agree.
Sonny00:12:22Plus,
Vic00:12:23plus, what's his name? Um, Robert Redford. Yeah, I would put it at that spot as well.
Sonny00:12:29I think, I think that's basically right. I mean, I, I think that this is, this is, uh, I, it has all sorts of third act problems. Like the whole Arnim Zola thing doesn't work for me. Um, but the action sequences on the boat, uh, and the car chase, uh, and the, the actual winter soldier character is just, it's just,
Vic00:12:51isn't that the famous elevator fight scene?
Sonny00:12:54And it has a great, I mean, this is the one that is, this is the one that is nominally a paranoid thriller type. Yeah. It's like a 70s,
JVL00:13:0170s paranoid thriller. Um, and it's got all that great stuff with, with Natasha Romanoff and Steve doing their like road trip together.
Vic00:13:09And I can't feed her up on the dashboard and she's just kind of like playing with it. You could cut it with a knife. Sorry.
JVL00:13:18That, that's not where I was going with it. I was just saying, I really liked it together.
Vic00:13:21Frank Grillo is in this movie. He is in the movie. Yes.
Sonny00:13:25It's crossbones. Was he playing crossbones in this? Yes. Uh,
JVL00:13:31all right. So next up is guardians of the galaxy.
Sonny00:13:34Who's, who's bit is it? Is it, are we doing this JBL? Is it you? What would you put it above?
JVL00:13:39I would put it above incredible Hulk. Um,
Sonny00:13:42but I know that America first Avenger.
JVL00:13:45Yeah. But, but I know you guys like this movie a lot. I did. I did. I like this movie.
Sonny00:13:51Well, just what's your, what's your, you, so you put it above a credit, incredible Hulk.
JVL00:13:54Yes.
Sonny00:13:55But, but below first, all right, I, it's better than captain America first Avenger. Would you agree? Vic?
Vic00:13:59I would, I would put it between Thor and captain America first Avenger.
Sonny00:14:03So you would say it's not better than Thor.
JVL00:14:05I would have thought you guys would put it higher than that.
Sonny00:14:07I would put it higher than this. I would put it probably below Avengers.
JVL00:14:11Better than winter soldier. What?
Sonny00:14:13No. I think it's better than winter soldier. I mean,
JVL00:14:14I'll look, I could live with it, but above first Avenger between, I could, I could even live with it, I guess between Iron Man three and Iron Man, agreed. I can do that. Chris, Pat's really good in this. Was that so? So between Iron Man three and Iron Man,
Sonny00:14:35I think, yeah. Okay.
JVL00:14:36Could you guys live with that?
Sonny00:14:38I think, yes. I mean, sure. Well, if that's what we, if, if you guys don't think it's better than Iron Man three,
JVL00:14:42no, no way. Is it better than Iron Man three? No.
Sonny00:14:48All right. Next up is Avengers age of Ultron.
JVL00:14:55You're, you're, you're opening bed, Sonny.
Sonny00:14:57Ooh. Um, I would put it between Thor and Captain America. First of all,
JVL00:15:03just about to say that exact position. Really? Wow. Okay. Well, that's where it goes. Uh, I personally would have put it one slot down. I would have put it between Captain America, first Avenger and incredible Hulk.
Sonny00:15:15Yeah. I could see it being there too. Do we think, I mean, do you, what do you, do you think it's a better, I wait, let's, let's wait before we, before we lock this in, what do you think is better? Vic? Uh, Captain America, first Avenger or Avengers age of Ultron.
Vic00:15:29This is like the life cereal commercial. Let's ask Mikey. We'll eat anything. Uh, so it's, do I think which is better?
Sonny00:15:37Do you think Avengers age of Ultron, the James Spader, uh, Avengers villain movie that introduces Scarlet, which quick solar and Bill and vision, uh, and it has the hammer lifting scene.
Vic00:15:51I remember that really funny.
Sonny00:15:52Do you think that's, uh, do you think that's, that is better than Captain America? First Avenger.
Vic00:15:59Slightly below it.
Sonny00:16:01So you would put it below that. You'd put it in between incredible Hulk and Captain America. First Avenger. Yeah. All right, let's move it down one. Move it down a slot. This is, this is the content you pay for.
Vic00:16:11Listeners. I want you to tell your friends who don't subscribe how hot this episode is, man. You know, you're not going to find this anywhere for a good reason.
Sonny00:16:21All right. Uh, next up is Ant-Man Vic. Where would you put Ant-Man?
Vic00:16:24I, I really liked Ant-Man. And the funny thing is, uh, I wasn't expecting to like Ant-Man because it's not like a superhero. I was very familiar with. And the idea of him being very tiny. Okay. I get it. You know? Okay. What can he do? Uh, and, and people talk about how Paul Rudd is a great secondary actor, not so much a lead leading man, but I thought he did really great in this role and Michael Pena. And actually everybody in this movie, I thought was very well cast. Michael Douglas, obviously, uh, and of course the villain is Sonny Bunch. I mean, Birch. No,
Sonny00:16:59no, that's the second one. We'll get to that one. We'll get to that. Nevertheless,
Vic00:17:04uh, I liked Ant-Man, uh, a lot more than I thought I was going to like it. So that, that, that has some resonance. I would put it, uh, gosh, call me crazy. I'd put it between guardians of the galaxy and iron man.
Sonny00:17:20Oh,
Vic00:17:21wow. It's just unexpectedly good. And, and the music is good too. Everything. It's good.
JVL00:17:27Yeah. You know, I like it. I would, I put it close there. I'd put it between Thor and Captain America. First Avenger, which looks like it is middle of the pack now. Yeah. But when we finish filling this out with all 22, I think it'll be above the middle of the pack, but that's all. Let's just say I'm in the same basic region as you are. Vic. Yeah. Sonny.
Sonny00:17:47I'd go between Thor and Captain America. That's fine. Let's do that.
?00:17:51Yeah. All right.
Sonny00:17:55All right. Next up is Captain America. Civil War. JBL.
JVL00:18:04Yeah, I didn't. I didn't love it. In fact, I there's a lot I didn't like about it. I'd probably put it between First Avenger and Age of Ultron, to be honest.
Sonny00:18:17Hmm. I would go higher than that because I it's actually an Iron Man movie, and that's the thing I like about it. That it is not.
JVL00:18:25It's movies.
Sonny00:18:26It's it's not really a Captain America movie. It is the all of the internal like struggle in this movie is Tony Stark coming to grips with, you know, his parents being killed and trying to figure out how to make that right. And like also like coming to grips with the fact that he's got an insane superpowered army that is under nobody's control is ridiculous.
Vic00:18:51Yeah,
JVL00:18:51I would go higher than that. I would go. Where would you put it? I'd put it between.
Sonny00:18:55I would go between Guardians and Iron Man.
JVL00:19:01I that doesn't sound crazy to me. Victorino, what do you think? Above Iron Man three. I really like this movie.
Vic00:19:10It had everybody there. It's basically an Avengers movie. They're all there fighting each other, but I thought it was great.
Sonny00:19:16So you think it's better than Iron Man three? Oh, yeah.
Vic00:19:18Yeah. I mean, Iron Man three was fine, but you know, there was too many Iron Men flying around the Iron Man army flying around.
Sonny00:19:25I think it's better. I would, I would put it above Iron Man three, two as well. I would put it above Iron Man three as well.
Vic00:19:32Plus you have a, you have a big battle, I believe at Frankfurt airport.
Sonny00:19:36Well, that big battle is the like kind of hokiest looking thing. Cause it's just like,
Vic00:19:40I liked it.
Sonny00:19:41So obviously on a green screen, it's like, we got a bunch of empty space here. They're just flying around. Are you telling me they didn't actually, this is also the first appearance of the MCU Spider-Man. Yes.
Vic00:19:52And I thought it worked.
Sonny00:19:53Who I think is very good. Okay. All right. Next up is Dr. Strange. November 4th, 2016. Boy, that was a weird week. Dr. Strange. Is it my turn? Am I, am I gambit? Yeah. I would put it between age of Ultron and incredible Hulk.
JVL00:20:20Yes, I'm, I'm in the same, but I was going to put it, I was going to put it just above it. Age of Ultron. I was going to say, you know, right now,
Vic00:20:27actually, there's a lot. I put it, I'd put it above age of Ultron as well.
Sonny00:20:32All right. Between first Avenger and age of Ultron. That's right.
Vic00:20:34You know what? Benedict Cumberbatch really pulls through because otherwise I thought the movie kind of might have been easily just weak. And I didn't, you know, I'm not into a lot of the stuff that goes on in the movie, but he's really good. There's a lot to like in that movie.
Sonny00:20:49There are two things that are great about this movie. And when it does have, it has an actual unique visual aesthetic to it, which a lot of these, these movies don't.
JVL00:20:56Sure.
Sonny00:20:56And, and the second thing it has is it, it has, it has a satisfying conclusion with the conclusion of which is like Dr. Strange devises a way to get killed over and over and over again to trap. Oh yeah. But here, I can't even remember who the villain was. I mean,
Vic00:21:12that's a giant God.
Sonny00:21:14He was a giant thing. He was, what was he?
Vic00:21:17I will crush you. I don't know if that's exactly what he said,
Sonny00:21:20but it was, but it was a clever, it was a clever way to figure out the superhero battle problem.
Vic00:21:25Which is to die over and over again and trap time manipulation, trap the villain in it.
Sonny00:21:29All right. Guardians two guardians of the galaxy volume two.
Vic00:21:33What happens in guardians?
Sonny00:21:34That's the one with Kurt Russell as ego. Right, right, right.
Vic00:21:38That was, yeah, that was really kind of dark in a way. Surprisingly dark. He kills the, why it was really dark.
JVL00:21:45Oh,
Vic00:21:45is it me?
JVL00:21:46Or is it JVL? If it's me, I put it below Dr. Strange in above age of Ultron.
Sonny00:21:53I could live with that.
JVL00:21:54Yes. Yeah. Yes. I am surprised at how much we agree on. Yeah, it's disturbing. Go. All right. Okay. What do we got next?
Sonny00:22:05Next up is Spider-Man Homecoming.
Vic00:22:07Oh yeah.
Sonny00:22:09First full length MCU Spider-Man movie. with Michael Keaton as the vulture. I'm going to put this one high because I think Michael Keaton is actually the best villain in the MCU. I think, I think his whole like, I am angry that Tony Stark gypped me out of the movie. I am angry that Tony Stark robbed me of my, my business and stole it from me.
Vic00:22:30A legitimate defense of.
Sonny00:22:32I think, I think like, I think, I think he is the best villain. I think Marissa Tomei as hot Aunt May is great.
Vic00:22:40Yes.
Sonny00:22:41And I, and I, and I really, really like Tom Holland. I think he is, I think he's a good, I think he's a great Spider-Man.
Vic00:22:47I always feel bad for the other English actor, Tom Hollander. People always confuse him a lot. He's very good. Tom Hollander is also good.
Sonny00:22:54Yeah, he is. He is. I would put this below Winter Soldier. I would put it between Winter Soldier and Civil War.
JVL00:23:01Victorino?
Vic00:23:03Sorry. You know, it's,
?00:23:05it's,
Vic00:23:05I'm having a, okay, we're talking about Spider-Man. I can't remember all these. I can't remember. I said, what movie were we just talking about? Oh, Spider-Man Homecoming. Between Civil War and Iron Man 3 is what you said?
Sonny00:23:15I said between, no, between Winter Soldier and Civil War, but I could go between Civil War and Iron Man 3. I could live with that.
?00:23:20Wow.
Vic00:23:21Yeah. Yeah. That's what I would put it in. I mean, it's really good. So it's really good. Also, they, they found a solution to the ridiculous outfit that the vulture has in the comic books.
Sonny00:23:34Yeah. I mean, I like, and Jon Favreau was great in this is happy. And like, no,
Vic00:23:39there's a great little thing in it. So that, that works for me.
JVL00:23:42You know,
Vic00:23:42I, I would have,
JVL00:23:43I would have moved it one slot further down or further down. No, just, just one slot below Iron Man 3, but I can absolutely live with it. I love the crap out of that movie. Yeah. It's so beautifully written. All right, go ahead.
Sonny00:23:55Thor Ragnarok. Oh, that's a good one. This is the Taika Waititi Thor.
Vic00:24:01Of the three Thors, of the three Thors. This is the one I like the best.
Sonny00:24:06Okay.
JVL00:24:08So where do you put it? Where do you put it? Goodbye,
Vic00:24:10Doug. Same old dog. Okay. Where would I put? And, and, and, and Jeff Goldblum's in it and it works. Cause I think he plays himself. Okay. In every movie. Um, so where would I put it? Uh, so to speak, uh, let's see here. Uh, Thor Ragnarok. I would have between Spider-Man homecoming and Iron Man three. Wow. The music is good.
JVL00:24:42Wow. I would not, I would not go that high.
Vic00:24:45It resonates. I like it better than Iron Man three. That's right.
JVL00:24:48I put it between Thor and Ant-Man.
Vic00:24:52Where is that? I can't even have to scroll all the way down. How many movies did they make?
Sonny00:24:58Uh, I would even go, I'd put it between, I'd put it between Ant-Man and Captain America. First Avenger. Yeah,
JVL00:25:06I could live with that. I could live with that.
Sonny00:25:10Yeah, I got it. I got it. I got it. Um, I, my problem with that movie is that I don't like it as much as the first Thor because it, it doesn't take Thor seriously enough. Weirdly. I like, I understand.
Vic00:25:21Do you think it's like, it jumped the shark and Thor humor and like, yeah,
Sonny00:25:25I just like, I just think it's silly though.
JVL00:25:28You know why though? It's because this is purely Chris Hemsworth's fault. They discovered how funny he was right after him with a, with a guy who is comic chops that good. You feel like you have to use them.
Sonny00:25:40Yeah, no, it's true. It's true, but it's, you know, I agree.
JVL00:25:44I agree. I don't like it as much as I liked the first Thor. You guys realize we're down to five movies. We only have five left.
Sonny00:25:50Okay, good. We're finally good.
JVL00:25:52Go ahead.
Sonny00:25:55All right. Black Panther. Who's picking JVL?
JVL00:26:01I would put it between Iron Man three and guardians of the galaxy and maybe one slot higher.
Sonny00:26:07I would put it. I would actually put it one slot lower. I'd put it between guardians and Iron Man.
JVL00:26:14Victorino.
Vic00:26:16I was going to, I was going to put it between Captain America. First adventure. Dr. Strange love.
JVL00:26:23Wow. Okay. But I didn't do it. We got a range on this one. This is a wide divergence of opinion. I did. You guys not. Did you not like it? Victorino? I really,
Vic00:26:34really liked it. I like most of these movies. I like, so this is not to say that to put it between those two movies means that it's bad because I like those movies too. Sure.
Sonny00:26:42There are things I like a lot about it. I think Killmonger is great. Oh, Killmonger is great. I like it. Killmonger is probably my favorite villain.
Vic00:26:50I got a funny story about it, but I have to save it for after the show. Okay.
Sonny00:26:53Oh boy. I love, Michael B. Jordan in this movie. My problem with this movie is that it, even for a Marvel movie, it has especially bad CGI. That's what I was going to say. Actually bad.
Vic00:27:03That's what I was going to say.
Sonny00:27:04Like the action sequences don't work. Yes. They're because they're, they're, they're almost too much,
Vic00:27:09comprehensively bad too much now. That's exactly how I felt. I mean, you know, I've been on this thing for a while, so.
Sonny00:27:15So what do we think?
Vic00:27:16Well, you know where I am.
JVL00:27:18Let's go. Let's go around the horn again. So Victorino, you put it where?
Sonny00:27:24Between, between Thor Ragnarok and Captain America.
Vic00:27:26That's right. Between. So between our current number 10 and 11.
Sonny00:27:30I like it more than Thor Ragnarok. I would, I would vote Black Panther before above Thor Ragnarok, which I assume you would as well.
JVL00:27:38Below Ant-Man.
Sonny00:27:40Below, but I would probably put it below Ant-Man.
Vic00:27:42Okay. Well, close enough then. Look at that.
JVL00:27:44All right. Well, that's where you guys want it. I liked it better than you guys did. Okay. How high would you have had it up?
Sonny00:27:52Yeah, you had it pretty high. I would have had it between, was it Civil War and Homecoming?
JVL00:27:56No, I had it between Iron Man 3 and Guardians. So it would have been a six slot. So I would have moved up one, two, three, four slots from where you guys are. Oh yeah,
Sonny00:28:05sure.
JVL00:28:06Okay.
Sonny00:28:07All right. Next up is Avengers Infinity War. The beginning of the end of the Marvel Universe as we know it.
JVL00:28:20Who's, who's opening bit is it?
Sonny00:28:21JBL, you go, you go. It's JBL.
JVL00:28:23I give that a, I give that a between Iron Man 3 and Guardians. That's where I would put it above Guardians below Iron Man 3.
Sonny00:28:36I'd go one down from there. I'd go between Guardians and Iron Man.
JVL00:28:40Same general part of the part of the world. Victorino, what do you think? I was going to go a little bit higher.
Vic00:28:45I mean, it's such a big production. And so, you know, I mean, in the ending, it's like, oh my gosh,
Sonny00:28:49all right, we want to, it's a between Homecoming and Iron Man 3. Yeah. Is that? Yeah.
JVL00:28:54Yeah. Yes.
Sonny00:28:55Yeah. Or between Civil War and Homecoming. What do you think, JBL?
JVL00:28:58No, I don't like it that better than any of those movies. Oh, really? Where do you have it? He had a little between Iron Man and Guardian. I'm in the middle of you too.
Vic00:29:06Oh,
JVL00:29:07so we're, we're, we are looking at three, three consecutive slots. So I, Victorino would have it in the number five. Overall, I would have it in the number six. Overall, you would have it in the number seven. Overall. Okay.
Sonny00:29:21Well, let's make it six then. Let's split the difference.
?00:29:24Okay.
Sonny00:29:28We're at the 30 minute mark here. We're going a little longer than I thought.
JVL00:29:31Only, only three movies left.
Vic00:29:32You said 45, man. Okay, go ahead.
Sonny00:29:35Infinity War, Ant-Man and the Wasp. Oh. Ant-Man and the Wasp.
JVL00:29:38It's very enjoyable. I like it a lot. I, I'd put it, well, it's, it's your bid, Victor, Sonny, not mine.
Sonny00:29:47Oh, I'd put it, I'd put it between Iron Man 3 and Infinity War.
Vic00:29:53Yes. All right. I saw this movie, for me, it's a sentimental special. I saw it with my whole family and my parents' 50th wedding anniversary on the Disney cruise. And it was like, it was the last night and said,
JVL00:30:07we got a special treat for you
Vic00:30:08because I knew it was coming out that weekend. But how did they get it on the ship? How did they get it on the ship? Bring the reels over.
Sonny00:30:15It's got, the villain, or really the hero, his, his name is Sonny Burch. I thought that was going to, I thought that was going to be a real problem for me on the, on, you know, myself Googling. But it turns out nobody made that mistake. So.
JVL00:30:27All right. Two movies left.
Sonny00:30:29Captain Marvel. I'll go first. Below Age of Ultron.
Vic00:30:38Oh, yeah.
JVL00:30:40Below Thor Dark World.
Vic00:30:42Oh,
Sonny00:30:43last.
Vic00:30:44I agree. I agree. I think it goes at the bottom. It's a very disappointing in many ways.
Sonny00:30:52It's not a good movie. I mean, I think it is better. I think it's better than Iron Man 2.
Vic00:30:58And I love the Brit actor who played. I love that guy. Ben Mendelsohn, Australian, actually.
Sonny00:31:03Yeah, he's great. Avengers Endgame.
?00:31:06Oh,
Sonny00:31:07Death of Thanos. What do we think here? It's Victorino. You go. Oh,
JVL00:31:13yeah. Okay. I would put it below Black Panther above Thor Ragnarok. I really disliked it.
Vic00:31:21You really disliked it. I was going to say higher. I would say. I think you both liked it better than I did. I liked it.
Sonny00:31:28I liked it more than that. I liked it more than Infinity War.
Vic00:31:32Yeah, me too. I think I was going to have it between Homecoming and Iron Man 3.
Sonny00:31:37Wow.
Vic00:31:37Wow. It was a big thing. It was a big thing.
Sonny00:31:42Sonny. Sure. I can live with that. I can. I can. Yeah, I can live with that between Homecoming and Iron Man 3. My goodness.
Vic00:31:53I thought this was the craziest idea. Sonny.
Sonny00:31:55And it's look at how much fun we're having.
Vic00:31:58Slightly more fun than slightly less painful than I thought it was going to be.
Sonny00:32:02All right. Spider-Man Far From Home. Oh,
Vic00:32:06came out two years ago. Came out two years ago. Jake Gyllenhaal Mysterio.
Sonny00:32:11Yeah, I'll go. I, I will. Oh, wait, is it my turn? Whose turn is it?
JVL00:32:20Yeah, you should go.
Sonny00:32:23I'm going to put it between Homecoming and Iron Man 3. Between Iron Man and Guardians of the Galaxy. I like it a little more than Iron Man. I don't like it as much as Gardens of the Galaxy. Between the eight and nine right now. Yeah, between now, between the nine and ten.
Vic00:32:34Oh, nine. Oh, oh, OK. Victorino. What are we talking about? Far from. I can't keep up with this. Oh, boy, let me think about that. Yeah, yeah, that sounds about right. That sounds about right.
JVL00:32:54OK,
Vic00:32:54well, Jake Gyllenhaal, there's another villain, isn't there? It was Jake Gyllenhaal. And then there was another villain involved as well, because there's like a man. Oh, wait a minute. You know what? I could have done a little bit higher than that,
JVL00:33:06but I would have gone lower. OK, all right.
Vic00:33:09OK, I'll split the difference and give it to Sonny. Yeah.
Sonny00:33:12All right. Last one, Black Widow.
Vic00:33:15I can't keep. I can't imagine that this counts because in my mind, it's still we're part of the streaming post pandemic streaming thing. But that you're right. This is a legitimate movie. This is a Marvel movie.
JVL00:33:27Victorino, Vic, you go.
Vic00:33:29Oh, man, I don't know, man. OK. Oh, boy. I'd say. Just above Captain Marvel.
Sonny00:33:41Oh,
JVL00:33:41I'd go higher than that. I'd put it between Guardians 2 and Age of Ultron.
Sonny00:33:48I'm fine with Guardians 2 and Age of Ultron. I just don't want to have the two lady movies. Oh, right. We're going to get in trouble for that one.
Vic00:33:54I forgot. Political correctness for me. I meant I meant above Avengers. Sorry. Oh, yeah, that's right.
Sonny00:34:01Avengers. Crap compared to this.
Vic00:34:03No, you're right. You know, it's still fresh in my mind.
Sonny00:34:06OK, 24 movies. Good Lord. There's so many. What are we?
JVL00:34:10It is interesting to me that we have very, very clear agreement on the top four. I think all four of us totally agree on the top four. And we all agree on the bottom five. Yeah, the bottom six, right? I mean, the gradients here between the top level of Marvel stuff in the bottom are really clear.
Vic00:34:33Yeah.
JVL00:34:33And then, you know, you have a muddle in the middle. But in general, the average level of quality for these movies is really high. It is. I mean, if I had told you that we could have a franchise with 24 entries. Right. In that there would only be four of them that are total. You know, we have three. Three of them that are total stinkers and everything else is some level of like, you know, C plus to A plus.
Sonny00:35:03Let's let's just I'm going to read them down from from 24 to one. So at the starting from the bottom up, Captain Marvel, then Thor Dark World, then Iron Man two, then Incredible Hulk, then Avengers Age of Ultron, then Black Widow, then Guardians of the Galaxy Volume two, then Doctor Strange, then Captain America. First Avenger, then Thor Ragnarok, then Black Panther might be a little bit underrated here. I'm regretting that one slightly. I might bump it up a bit. Sure. Ant-Man after that, then Thor, which actually may be a little overrated. Iron Man, Spider-Man Far From Home, Guardians of the Galaxy, Infinity War, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Iron Man three, Avengers Endgame, Spider-Man Homecoming, Captain America Civil War, Captain America Winter Soldier, and then the first Avengers topping the list, which I think is about right. That that's right. That feels.
JVL00:35:58Yeah, that's right. Feels right.
Sonny00:36:00So I hope you I hope everybody enjoyed this crazy idea that I had and is not wanting to blow their brains out. Just hearing us talk about these these dumb movies for, you know,
JVL00:36:08and the next one of these we want to do is I want to figure out a way for us to do a movie commentary track.
Sonny00:36:13Yeah, well, I don't know that. I mean, that's like you want to do hours. That's like we're going to find out. We're going to find an 80 minute movie. I don't know.
Vic00:36:19I mean, we like it would have to be constantly talking throughout.
JVL00:36:21I don't know. What if we picked a PG movie from the 80s, Vic? Oh, that would be great. Sixteen Candle. We could work on that.
Vic00:36:29I'm sure it's fine.
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