My rating for some Marvel movies

(Originally posted on Tuesday, 3 August 2021; updated most recently on 8 August 2021)

In the most recent update I added my rating for the movie Spider-Man: Far From Home.


Recently I have been watching lots of Marvel movies and most of them are great, but one of them really pissed me off. When I was watching the movie Captain America: Civil War I was devastated by its illogical plot. Most of the characters act totally out of character, their motives are either strange or “artificial” and the plan of the main villain is so coincidental and generally so unbelievable (especially in retrospect) that it's laughable! Yet most Internet sites rate this movie as one of the best Marvel movies ever! What a joke!

It made me create my own rating for Marvel movies that I have watched so far. I have seen them in a very strange order, but fortunately they are rather self-contained (except for the last two Avengers movies), so it was not really a big problem. HOWEVER in Marvel movies there are some post-credits scenes that are connected with the following movies, so it's generally better to watch them in the order they were made.

I have to point out that it all started because of my daughter – she won a recitation contest and got a small financial award (in a form of a gift card) that she spent on the movie Iron Man – the very first Marvel movie. It was better than I expected (except for some things in the beginning, which were very annoying to me), so I decided to buy some other Marvel movies. Most of them were very good, so I kept buying new ones.

So far I have watched 11 Marvel movies plus the original Spider-Man trilogy. The original Spider-Man movies are officially not Marvel movies, even though they are based on Marvel Comics publications and this is why I made a separate section for them at the end of this post.

Please notice that not a single Marvel movie got a maximum rating from me, for TWO different reasons. The first reason is that the “superhero” characters are so strong and so durable that at some points its almost laughable, yet in some other scenes they are suddenly very vulnerable and/or very hurt. The second reason for non-perfect ratings is that the main plot of such movies is always somewhat illogical on its own. In some cases some small illogicalities are not really important and a movie is great nevertheless (I deducted only symbolic half a point then), but in some other cases (like in the movie Captain America: Civil War) they are so strong and/or so numerous that they ruin the movie (at least to me).


My favourite Marvel movies:


1. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (9.5/10)

I LOVE this movie! It's not perfect, but it's extremely enjoyable and fun, yet still thought-provoking and emotional. The “double ending” for Yondu is simply awesome and the song Father and Son that is played at the end of the movie fits there perfectly! In general the whole soundtrack fits the story perfectly! I even bought the soundtrack CD and it's simply awesome! There is only 1 song that is “only” good and the rest is either great or at least VERY good!

Baby Groot is fantastic because it acts erratically and/or keeps doing silly mistakes, exactly like a little child. I enjoyed the little Groot so much probably because I am a father myself and have two children (so far). Sometimes when I talk to my children I really feel like explaining to Baby Groot how to arm a bomb without instantly blowing everybody up. And by watching this movie my children realised that I am not the only father who is sometimes annoyed by his own children. What a great movie!


2. Marvel's The Avengers (9.5/10)

Several superheroes in one movie with awesome story and memorable villain! The movie is also very funny (at some moments) and overall it really feels like a comic book! Almost perfect superhero movie!


3. Thor: Ragnarok (9.5/10)

I bought this movie because many reviewers claimed this it's almost a comedy. Well, it is very funny, but it's also somewhat creepy, especially the goddess of death Hela, the look of Thor after he gets wounded towards the end of the movie and the main music track. Another plus is the fact that the characters and the settings are extremely memorable and varied. What a movie!


4. Avengers: Endgame (9.0/10)

I was VERY disappointed with Avengers: Infinity War (that was rated very high by most Internet sites), so this part was actually a pleasant surprise. The time-travel aspect is awesome in several different ways. Captain America and Black Widow are back to look normally (I hated the way they looked in Avengers: Infinity War). The “new Hulk” and “new Thor” are hilarious, but at the same time they are though-provoking. Overall there is lots of humour that I liked very much.

I didn't like the “reverse snap” becasue just like the “original snap” it was a silly concept – it was like “snap the fingers and everything is suddenly possible”. I also didn't like the final fight because it was too much “over the top”.

My rating is still very high just because the problems I mentioned are only at the end of the movie and everything before that is simply awesome!


5. Guardians of the Galaxy (9.0/10)

This movie is very important to understand the second part (vol. 2) and on its own is almost as good. Actually some people strongly prefer this part over vol. 2, both for the plot and for the soundtrack, but I am not one of them. The plot in BOTH movies is not perfect, but very good nevertheless. In my opinion the plot vol. 2 is more thought-provoking and emotional.

The soundtrack is very good, but not as great as some reviewers claim, at least to me.


6. Avengers: Age of Ultron (8.5/10)

This movie still feels like a comic book, but the story is more intimate, which is a double-edge sword. I must admit that the first time I watched it I expected something very similar to the first Avengers and I was kind of disappointed, but on its own Avengers: Age of Ultron is very good and its re-watching value is actually very high. It has lots of good humour, there are lots of superheroes, all the characters have more depth, the villain is unique and the scenes about Thor's hammer are simply awesome!

This movie is underrated as shit! Cap: Language!


7. Captain Marvel (8.0/10)

This movie is mostly very good, but the end fight is extremely uneven – the “final version” of Captain Marvel on one hand can destroy a whole spaceship, but a “standard” enemy gives her some real trouble in close combat. Moreover her powers are too extreme, especially considering how she “obtained” them.

The best thing about this movie is the Marvel character herself – she keeps learning more and more about her past and there are some interesting plot twists. I really like the way Brie Larson played her role, especially the fact that Captain Marvel hardly ever smiles broadly. I also liked the fact that in this movie there are shapeshifters, lots of good humour and lots of Nick Fury.

The main character and the shapeshifters remind me of some great Glen Cook novels, which is a very BIG compliment to the movie!


8. Avengers: Infinity War (7.5/10)

What a disappointment! This movie is ranked almost at the top of most Internet lists of best Marvel movies, but I have no idea why.

The first half of the movie is actually very good and fun, but the second half is a downhill. There are so many illogical and/or annoying things, especially in the second half of the movie that I will list only the most striking ones, but I still have to list them separately:
1) The idea to destroy half of all life in the universe just because at SOME places there are too many “people” is moronic – it means that half of all life in places with very few “people” would be destroyed just for the sake of it.
2) Destroying half of all life even in places with lots of “people” doesn't really change anything because the life would “regenerate” over time and would reach the same numbers later! Moronic idea, but it is almost “endorsed” by the movie – Thanos is portrayed in such a way that some people in their reviews claim that Thanos is not all that bad and consider him more as a “tragic” character! What's worse some claims made by Thanos are taken at face value without any counterarguments by the good characters! What a fucking manipulation!
3) Thanos is able to collect all the Infinity Stones in a very short time, which seems VERY improbable!
4) Some “magicians” serving Thanos seem more powerful than Thanos himself.
5) It turns out that Thor's hammer was made not in Asgard, but by some “space dwarves”, which is almost laughable!
6) To make another weapon for Thor they “activate” a burnt-out star, which is totally ridiculous!
7) Thor survives a direct blast from the star, which even more ridiculous!
8) The handle for the new Thor's hammer is made out of “substance” that is ridiculous for this purpose.
9) It turns out that Thanos gauntlet itself was also made by the “space dwarves” which is laughable too! It means that Thanos on his own would not be able to achieve his goal even if he obtained all the Infinity Stones!
10) At one point Peter Quill's behaviour is simply moronic and his feelings do NOT explain it!
11) Vision is right, but everybody ignores his idea, which results in the ultimate failure.
12) Lots of lives are sacrificed ONLY because the main characters want to save ONE (Vision's) life! But the only reason to try to save Vision was that “every life counts”! What a moronic sequence!
13) The battle of Wakanda for some reason brought me memories of the battle of Naboo from the movie Phantom Menace, which is definitely not a good sign.
14) The Wakanda place is strange – apparently it's technologically very advanced but its people dress (and sometimes even behave) in a similar way to some very primitive tribes from our world. I haven't watched the movie Black Panther, but on the Internet there are numerous articles that point out that that movie was actually racist BOTH ways! There must be something to it because the way the people of Wakanda are portrayed in Avengers: Infinity War is very controversial on its own.
15) I hate the way Captain America and Black Widow look in this movie.
16) Bruce Banner is unable to transform into Hulk and he fights in a powered armor suit!? Oh, man.

My rating would be even lower, but the movie was “enhanced” by great roles of the Spider-Man and the Guardians of the Galaxy (except for Quill's moronic behaviour at the crucial moment).


9. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (7.5/10)

This movie is quite good with lots of mystery and plot twists, but it feels more like a “normal” action thriller rather than a comic book. The tone is more serious, so there is not so much humour, which is a double-edge sword to me. Towards the end of the movie the action gets too improbable even for a superhero movie – there are only 3 superheroes, none of them has “magic abilities” and only Captain America is “magically buffed up”, yet they manage to overcome LOTS of enemies! Finally the character of Winter Soldier seems more like a side-plot rather than the main villain, which a very strange idea! The re-watching value of this movie is quite low (I don't feel like doing it at all) and this is why my rating is rather low.


10. Iron Man (7.5/10)

I was annoyed by several things: the electromagnet in the Tony Stark's chest was made by a fellow captive in a place that was very primitive. Tony Stark built his first powered armor suit in the very same place, which was even more unbelievable. Finally in the same place the bad guys built a powered armor suit by reverse engineering from the wreckage of the original suit, which was a total nonsense to me.

My daughter remembers that at some point during the movie I told her something like this: “Don't ever buy other superhero movies, because they are so illogical that it's very hard to handle.” However some very interesting and/or fun scenes from the America and some plot twists made this movie better and better and at the end I was actually impressed by the fact that this movie was actually quite good overall.


11. Spider-Man: Far From Home (7.0/10)

The biggest gripe for me was the fact that this movie is rather a teenage movie. We (me and my children) literally cringed at some awkward scenes that were either silly or that could be easily avoided. Moreover I didn't like the fact that there are “normal” people who know who the spider-man really is. The main plot idea is actually quite good and thought-provoking and the movie is overall very funny, but it's not enough for me to rate this movie any higher.


12. Captain America: Civil War (6.0/10)

When I finished watching Captain America: Civil War I was totally pissed off. The only other movie that pissed me off so much was The Last Jedi. Both these movies take some well established characters and transform them into totally different people! Pathetic and unacceptable!

The plot in Captain America: Civil War on its own is terrible, especially when you know how the movie ends. The main villain turns out to be a kind of person who wouldn't be able to do all the things that he had done during the whole movie. The final fight between superheroes was possible ONLY because they were both present at the same spot at the same time, but the main villain couldn't plan it in advance! It was so coincidental that it's laughable. To me the whole movie is like a fucking joke at the cost of the audience!


I already own one more Marvel movie: Iron Man 3 and I will rate it after I watch it.


The original Spider-Man trilogy.

I write this section as a warning to other people. On some Internet I found people rating Spider-Man 2 close to the top of superhero movies, but I was so pissed of by two things in this movie that I STOPPED watching it and I doubt if I will ever watch it till the end!

I will describe the movies in chronological order.


The FIRST movie is quit interesting. It was fun when Spider-Man was learning his new abilities, trying figure out what he should do with them in the future. However the re-watching value of this movie is quite low (at least to me), so I would rate it only as a solid 7.0/10.


The first thing that pissed me off in the SECOND movie was a love side-plot that was actually dominant in the first half of the movie. What's worse this love side-plot was in TOTAL opposition to the end of the first movie! The first movie ended the way it ended (I won't describe it in detail not to spoil anything) and it felt kind of cool, but the second movie ignored this ending completely!

The second thing that pissed me off in the second movie was the main villain himself, especially his “birth” which was totally ridiculous. The final straw was the scene at the bank when the main villain threw at Spider-Man bags full of money. Oh, man.

I will not rate the second movie overall, but its first half is simply terrible!


I haven't watched the third movie as a whole, but I have seen numerous parts of it “by the way”, when my children were watching it. To me the scenes were nothing special and the dark side of spider-man was annoying. I will not rate the third movie overall, but it felt like some well established character was transformed into a totally different person. I HATE such ideas! Making mistakes and/or having bad days is one thing but becoming a totally different person is another thing! Oh, yeah: the plot element that “explained” this transformation was lame!