Where Does ‘Eternals’ Rank Amongst ALL the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

We’re big fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe here at AllEars — especially the movies.

Eternals Billboard in Disney’s Hollywood Studios

And now that a new phase has started, we’re rewatching and rethinking how we would rank some of our favorite — and not so favorite — Marvel films.

We decided that with the release of The Eternals, we’d figure out how the new movie ranks against the rest of the MCU.

Keep in mind that this ranking is not scientific AT ALL, but based on how our team ranks each movie in the MCU.

1. Avengers: Endgame

We’re starting with what we think is the best of the best because Avengers: Endgame was a movie a decade in the making. Every MCU movie led to this final film, where the Avengers finally got to beat Thanos and bring back everyone he snapped out of existence.

Yes, Endgame broke our hearts with the deaths of some of our favorite heroes, but it was because of all the emotions we felt that we rank this movie so highly.

2. Avengers: Infinity War

Likewise, the movie that came before Endgame, Infinity War set up the events that would follow in a way that had us counting down the days until the story was complete. This movie left us devastated in so many ways, but we knew that the story would be resolved.

Infinity War kept us on the edge of our seats and had us leaving theaters in a completely different state of mind than when we arrived.

3. Captain America: Winter Soldier

Our team is a big fan of Bucky Barnes when he first appeared in Captain America: First Avenger, and we cheered when we saw him return in Captain America: Winter Soldier, although he’d lost all memory of who he’d been before Winter Soldier.

Getting that reunion between Steve and Bucky was everything we needed, which is why we ranked this one so highly. Also, the budding friendship between Natasha and Steve was awesome.

4. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

We’ll admit that Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings exceeded any and all of our expectations when it introduced the next superhero in the MCU. And the movie had a little bit of everything — amazing actors, fantastical beasts, magic, and martial arts.

Simu Liu stole our hearts as the Shang-Chi, and we loved Awkwafina as his best friend and sidekick. Also, Michelle Yeoh as Shang-Chi’s aunt was GOALS.

5. Black Panther

Another movie that blew our expectations out of the water was Black Panther, which peeled back the curtain of Wakanda and gave us more backstory on T’Challah, beautifully portrayed by Chadwick Boseman.

We’re still sad that we won’t get to see any more of Boseman’s work in live-action as T’Challah because of the gravity he brought to that role.

6. Thor: Ragnarok

So, we didn’t like Thor: The Dark World (and we’ll get to that MUCH later), but Thor: Ragnarok redeemed the Thor franchise. Thor was imprisoned on the other side of the universe, which led to some interesting storylines, but we also got to see a lot more of Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk. Also, two words — Jeff Goldblum.

7. Iron Man

Iron Man is still a solid movie, even 13 years after its release. We got the full story of how Tony Stark, a self-absorbed billionaire, came to be Iron Man, a bonafide superhero. And it even served as the beginning of the romance story between Tony and Pepper.

Seriously, what’s not to love about the film? It’s all about Tony finally starting to come into his own.

8. Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 1

Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 1 introduced us to the misfits that eventually become, well, the Guardians of the Galaxy. This is the movie that brought Star Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket, and Groot all together.

Also, this movie has a banging soundtrack of 70s hits.

9. Captain Marvel

We are all about movies that see superheroines finding their worth, and that’s what Captain Marvel is all about. Carol Danvers doesn’t even know she’s human, but she finds her home and her roots and discovers who she is.

This movie also gave us a young Phil Coulsen, as well as a young Nick Fury — and we finally learned how he lost his eye.

10. Spider-Man: Homecoming

Tom Holland might have made his first appearance as Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War, but he got his first official outing as Spider-Man in Spider-Man: Homecoming, which reintroduced his character to the world, along with his BFF, Ned, and the girl he loves, MJ.

We liked Holland as Spider-Man before, but after Homecoming, he pretty much became our favorite.

11. The Avengers

It seemed highly unlikely that a movie featuring not just one, but many superheroes could ever be good, but The Avengers laid the groundwork for every MCU film that came after it.

And it gave us even more Loki (always a good thing).

12. Captain America: Civil War

Captain America: Civil War was stressful, but that’s what we liked about it. The Avengers were split down the middle when it came to agreeing over the Sokovia Accords, which would regulate super-powered individuals.

And it was WILD seeing Captain America vs. Iron Man, which gave us one of the best action sequences in MCU history.

13. Captain America: First Avenger

So who didn’t fall in love with Steve Rogers before he was Captain America in Captain America: First Avenger, and Chris Evans’ portrayal of the character both before and after his transformation is what makes this film shine.

Plus, Peggy Carter and that dance that will forever be owed…gets us every time.

14. Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2

Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 was almost as much fun of a ride as the first movie in the franchise, although this one felt a little more convoluted. However, we did finally learn the truth about Star Lord’s dad.

Also, we’re still saying, “I’m Mary Poppins, y’all” thanks to Yondu (may he RIP).

15. Spider-Man: Far From Home

Spider-Man: Far From Home was a good movie, but not our favorite, but maybe we’re still angry about how it ended — with Peter Parker being outed as Spider-Man. We did like Jake Gyllenhaal’s turn as Mysterio, who totally had us fooled thinking he was a good guy.

However, it’s still a solid movie for Spider-Man fans, especially those who love Tom Holland.

16. Black Widow

It was a little weird to finally get a Black Widow solo movie after she had already died in the MCU, but this film didn’t disappoint. We got to learn a lot more about Natasha and her family as she finally deals with her haunted past.

We also loved Yelena’s teasing about the posing, and Red Guardian offered up a lot of fun comic relief.

17. Doctor Strange

Doctor Strange always felt a little weird because it was the first MCU movie to embrace the idea of magic in a way we hadn’t seen before. And although Benedict Cumberbatch was awesome in the title role, this one ranks a little lower on our list because we weren’t always sold on that magic.

Don’t get us wrong — we still enjoyed the film, but it’s not a favorite.

18. Ant-Man

So we adore Paul Rudd as Scott Lang (who doesn’t?), but we don’t think that the Ant-Man MCU origin story is one of its best. But hey, at least we got one of our favorite side characters in Luis.

However, Ant-Man does have its share of fun and funny moments.

19. The Eternals

So here’s where we would rank The Eternals — it’s not necessarily the best movie in the MCU, but it’s also not the worst. The movie revolves around the concept of love and deals with some important questions about how to protect those things you love.

This movie does have a large cast and it’s hard to get to know everyone in so little time, but we can still solidly say that we liked it.

20. Ant-Man and the Wasp

The plot of Ant-Man and the Wasp felt like it was all over the place to us, although we liked the idea of rescuing Hope’s mother from the quantum realm. We loved seeing more of Hope, though, as the Wasp.

But the villain, Ghost, just wasn’t that convincing as a villain.

21. Avengers: Age of Ultron

Okay, so we’re now down to the movies that we don’t care if we ever watch again, and that includes Avengers: Age of Ultron. We’re still salty about how easily Quicksilver, Wanda’s brother, was killed (we never even got to know him), but at least this movie did give us Wanda and Vision.

But yeah, we won’t be pulling this up on Disney+ again anytime soon.

22. Iron Man 2

Iron Man 2 is forgettable to us — like, we’ve already forgotten a lot about it. Mickey Rourke’s Ivan Vanko villain felt weak, and although Sam Rockwell was awesome as Justin Hammer, this movie just didn’t ever really find its legs.

This movie lacked a lot of the bravado of the first Iron Man movie, but it was nice to see Iron Man and Rhodey, aka War Patriot, team up.

23. Iron Man 3

And that leads us to Iron Man 3 which literally seemed to think that Marvel fans would be okay with that Mandarin fake-out (although we are grateful for the introduction of Trevor Slattery because of his appearance in Shang-Chi).

And let’s face it — the rest of the movie, especially without the REAL Mandarin, just wasn’t all that great.

24. Thor: The Dark World

What can we say? Thor: The Dark World was another one of those movies that seemed to lose its plot early on. And it kinda’ bugs us that Thor didn’t seem to have any kind of character growth during this movie (at least he did during Ragnarok).

Also, Natalie Portman’s Jane was so under-used in this movie that it might have been better if she’d been left out.

25. The Incredible Hulk

Okay, so we know that some don’t even consider The Incredible Hulk, which starred Edward Norton as Bruce Banner, as a movie in the MCU, but it is, so we’re rating it. And we’re rating it low because it didn’t even feel like an MCU movie (and Norton was okay in the role, but we prefer Ruffalo).

But this is the origin story that follows the Hulk before he becomes one of the Avengers, so it counts. But it counts as low as our list goes. #notourhulk