With over a decade of films in its arsenal, Marvel Studios has established itself as one of Hollywood’s most formidable cinematic forces. Ever since 2008’s Iron Man, starring Robert Downey Jr, Marvel studios has – step by step – built up a vast universe of interconnected films, all based on characters from the comic book world.
Officially known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe (or MCU), the franchise has taken audiences all the way from the depths of space to the streets of Wakanda, the fictional African city that Black Panther calls home.
Yet the key to Marvel’s success has always been the studio’s ability to experiment with its own style. For Doctor Strange, horror director Scott Derrickson went psychedelic, while Taika Waititi brought his trademark comic stylings to Thor: Ragnarok. The results have made the MCU the highest-grossing franchise of all time, earning over $17.5bn at the global box office.
2019 will see three more entries hit cinemas. Captain Marvel marks both the MCU’s first solo film for a female character and its first female director; Anna Boden is co-directing with Ryan Fleck. Spider-Man: Far From Home will see Tom Holland’s take on the web slinger return to screens, while Avengers: Endgame will offer a final, epic conclusion to the narrative first introduced in 2012’s Avengers.
Ahead of these new offerings, we’ve ranked every MCU entry so far from worst to best.
For more on Avengers: Endgame, read our “everything we know so far” piece here.
