Happy New Year and welcome back to yet another one of my iconic ranking lists! On this occasion I will be taking a look back at 2021’s Marvel Cinematic Universe offerings and giving my honest thoughts on each entry and why they belong where they are on my list. I can’t deny I was inspired to write this list by the Phase Zero podcast I watch/listen to, and which you should all definitely check out if you love anything Marvel related! I have decided to include Venom: Let There Be Carnage on this list as although it is not technically an MCU film, there are links to that universe in the post credits scene and it’s also quite nice to have a top 10 list rather than 9. Before I start my list I just want to say that I actually enjoyed every one of these films/series and the task of ranking them has been an incredibly challenging one. I’m not expecting you to agree with my choices and as always I encourage debate and would love to see your own rankings so let me know how you’d rank them after reading my list!
10. What If…?
Marvel Studios’ first animated series, What If…? was a bold new project and incredibly ambitious with the stories it wanted to tell, and after watching the series it’s clear to see why they went the animated route. Seeing some of our favourite heroes and villains in environments and scenarios we never expected was exciting and satisfying and the whole multiverse of it all meant the series could take risks and shock us in different ways each week. Some of the episodes were so visually and narratively exciting they really pushed the boundaries of what this series could be, ‘What If Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?’ and ‘What If Ultron Won?’ were particular highlights, going to some incredibly dark and emotional places. However, a couple of dud episodes, especially the disappointingly dull ‘What If Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark?’ brought the overall quality of the series down a few notches. For the most part, What If…? is a really fun series and if nothing else will be remembered as featuring the legendary Chadwick Boseman’s final performance as T’Challa.
9. Venom: Let There Be Carnage
The first Tom Hardy starring Venom film was a bit of a mess, but it was undeniably a very entertaining mess, due in no small part to Hardy’s commitment to the role and his unhinged performance as both Eddie Brock and Venom. The sequel, Let There Be Carnage takes what worked in the first movie and doubles down on the craziness and also silliness, and the results are a film that again is a mess but is such a fun ride along the way. Hardy again absolutely knocks it out the park and his dual performance is a real highlight in a relentless 90 minutes of action. The plot is a little thin and it’s not the ideal use of the Venom character (the 90’s animated Spider-Man series is still my definitive Venom) but getting to see him clash with a villain as iconic as Carnage on-screen was always going to be the main attraction and the symbiote fights here are a huge upgrade on that mess of black and grey CGI goo that ended the first film. The most exciting part of the film was definitely the post credits scene which introduced the potential of Venom joining Tom Holland’s Spider-Man in the MCU, but that’s not to say there’s nothing to enjoy with the rest of the film if you’re just looking for a fun popcorn movie.
8. Black Widow
Black Widow is a film that took far too long to come out and sadly ended up feeling much like an afterthought. Natasha definitely deserved her own solo film but this isn’t the film she deserved, having said that it’s still a terrific spy thriller and fills in many of the blanks in Black Widow’s backstory. The plot of the film itself is fairly standard stuff and this at times feels like a Phase 1/2 movie, but where Black Widow excels is with it’s fantastic action sequences, some great comedy and its superb supporting cast. David Harbour and Rachel Weisz are are brilliant as you’d expect but the true highlight is the introduction of Natasha’s sister Yelena (Florence Pugh) to the MCU, who is probably my favourite new Phase 4 character so far! I’m relieved that Scarlett Johansson finally got her Black Widow film, I just wish that instead of it being this, we’d had a proper prequel with her and Clint’s Budapest mission, talking about it isn’t enough, we need footage!!
7. The Falcon and The Winter Soldier
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was undeniably a much needed series, giving us more time with two popular but underutilised heroes in Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson, and Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes, as well as tackling some heavy issues such as race and discrimination in very honest and surprisingly mature ways, especially for a superhero property. The chemistry between the two title characters has always been great and having them paired together here for the majority of a six hour series made for some highly entertaining scenes and hopefully has made them both even more popular as characters to wider audiences. My personal highlight of the series is the return of Daniel Bruhl’s brilliant Baron Zemo, who hadn’t been seen since 2016’s Captain America: Civil War where he forced the Avengers to break up! There’s a few underwhelming plot threads and a disappointing main ‘villain’, but the way this series ends is thrilling and the future looks bright for both of these heroes going forward.
6. Hawkeye
So if everything ranked 10-7 was good, this is where the great content comes in, beginning with the long anticipated Hawkeye series! For some reason or another Hawkeye has always been one of my favourite Avengers, despite being well aware of the fact that the majority of people see him as a bit of a joke, so I was definitely more excited for this series releasing than most. Heavily influenced by the iconic Fraction/Aja Hawkeye series from the comics, this show has Clint meeting Hawkeye fangirl Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) for the first time and having to deal with the hilarious Tracksuit Mafia all while trying to get home to his family in time for Christmas. There’s so much to love about this series, Jeremy Renner absolutely nails the sarcastic wit of Clint, and his chemistry with Steinfeld’s Kate is the highlight of the series, going from reluctant partner to archer pals. Each episode is filled with surprises, cameos, great action, and a surprising amount of heart. The fact this all takes place at Christmas just adds to its charm and makes it a series worth re-watching each time the Holidays come around.
5. Eternals
Directed by Chloe Zhao who’d recently won Best Director at the Oscars, and with a cast of absolute superstars such as Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden, Gemma Chan and Barry Keoghan I was super excited for Eternals, especially as it was one of the first MCU films in a long time where I knew next to nothing about the characters being introduced and had no guesses about where the story was going to go. Eternals really impressed me with the way it managed to balance such a large cast of characters, with the majority given enough time and dramatic moments to stand out. Visually this is arguably one of Marvel Studios best looking films, especially in the action scenes, where Zhao was determined to film on location rather than relying on green screen. Not only does Eternals work on a smaller scale with some great and well executed character moments, the plot itself is so ambitious and vast, covering multiple time periods, as well as showing us an ever expansive Marvel universe with the introduction of ancient beings like Celestials. There’s also a couple of excellent mid and post-credit scenes to stick around for which tease some very exciting future MCU characters and stories!
4. WandaVision
It’s crazy to think that at the time of writing this, WandaVision is over a year old. It seems like only a matter of months ago I was eagerly anticipating the release of the first MCU Disney Plus series. Going in to WandaVision there was such excitement and a real sense of the unknown surrounding not just what the series would involve but also how successfully the MCU characters and stories would translate to the smaller screen. WandaVision was a sitcom, mystery, love story and superhero action movie all in one, and it kept every single one of us captivated from week to week. The theories and intense studying of tiny details in each episode (Mephisto confirmed etc.) made for fascinating viewing, and the 7 day wait for every new episode that much more painful! It might just be the last time I saw Twitter collectively losing their minds over a show in such a long time too. Paul Bettany and Elizabeth Olsen were at their absolute best showing new sides to their characters and they really made us go through all the emotions as the show went on. A great supporting cast including the fantastic Kathryn Hahn helped add to what was already a great show, a show which I must say was pretty flawless up until a really disappointing final episode which probably should have been another 30 minutes longer at least, just to tie everything together a bit neater.
3. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
The MCU has provided the strongest argument against the idea that all superhero movies are the same (something I wrote about in my incredibly well blagged dissertation), as its films have covered multiple genres such as comedy, sci-fi and fantasy. Shang-Chi is the MCU’s first attempt at a martial arts film and it was entirely successful in replicating and building on the expectations of a film from that genre. The action scenes were fantastic and newcomer Simu Liu really showed his star quality in the title role with a charismatic, funny and at times heartbreaking performance. Knowing Liu did the majority of his own stunts and how hard he worked to learn the many martial arts moves we see on-screen makes the results much more satisfying, and the action sequences are rightfully the best parts of the film. As well as the incredible action, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings has a terrific supporting cast with standout performances across the board. Awkwafina brings some of the film’s funniest moments as best friend Katy, Meng’er Zhang is fierce and intense as Shang-Chi’s sister Xialing, whilst the film’s best performance comes from Tony Leung as Wenwu, our hero’s father and main antagonist of the film. Marvel Studios has often struggled to create memorable villains, with the few exceptions including the likes of Killmonger, Thanos and the Vulture. Wenwu is not just an evil person being evil for the sake of it, he is someone who is motivated by love and acts ruthlessly on behalf of his family. The best villains see themselves as the hero and this is part of the reason why Wenwu is such a memorable character. I can’t wait to see these characters appear again in the MCU, especially with the potential of where Shang-Chi could go. He’s already one of the coolest Avengers, and I believe any character who flies a dragon in their first film is worth celebrating!
2. Loki
Since his first appearance way back in 2011, Loki has easily been one of the most popular characters in the MCU, and it’s Tom Hiddleston’s passion and commitment to the role which has made him such a beloved character. He’s been a villain, a menace, an inconvenience and a redeemed hero, as well as coming back from supposed death multiple times, you just can’t get rid of him, and as a fan I couldn’t be more thankful for that fact! The Loki series is just about the weirdest thing produced by the MCU and as a lover of the weird and wonderful that’s probably why I was such a huge fan of it. The story follows Loki (the 2012 version which went AWOL during Endgame) as he travels to different time periods, worlds and universes on a crazy journey with a great mystery at the centre of it. Meeting all the various Loki variants is an absolute joy and proves the point that more Loki is only ever a good thing. The legendary Richard E. Grant portrays the ‘Classic Loki’ and is my personal favourite Loki in his memorable performance in the series’ fifth episode, but otherwise, Sophia Di Martino is a revelation as Sylvie and another great new addition to the franchise. One unfortunate feature of the Marvel Disney Plus series is that they’ve for the most part not quite nailed the landing and the final episodes have proven to be slightly disappointing after terrific penultimate episodes. Here, I absolutely adored the finale as things slow down for a dialogue heavy but absolutely fascinating episode where we meet the man at the end of time, He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors), a variant of Kang the Conqueror who we will hopefully officially meet in next year’s Ant Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. Majors is so compelling to watch and I can’t wait to see him show up again in a more menacing role next time around. Series 2 has already been confirmed but I’m hoping Loki returns before then in one of the upcoming 2022 movies, a reunion with Thor would be nice but that’s probably wishful thinking.
1. Spider-Man: No Way Home
There was no other choice for this number one spot, No Way Home is the finest Spider-Man film and most entertaining MCU movie ever (in my opinion), I’m also incredibly biased as Spidey is my all time favourite hero! A celebration of 20 years and three different generations of Spider-Man, this is a love letter to the character and the ideas he stands for as well as a reminder of what he fights for. I believe that along with Spider-Man (PS4) and Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse, this is the most accurate depiction of Peter Parker and what a Spider-Man story should be. Even though I was 99% sure that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield were returning when I first went in, the joy of seeing them back is unmatched and their returns are more triumphant than I could have ever imagined. The best moments of the film feature the three Peter’s just talking to each other, and I could quite happily watch a 2 hour cut of them just standing around chatting, they’re just so entertaining together! This film obviously relies heavily on nostalgia and fan service but it is done with such a care for the characters and the fans that it never feels forced and everyone from Sandman, to Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox is back baby!) is here for a purpose and adds something meaningful to the film. The film is obviously full of highs but there are some incredibly hard hitting emotional moments which remind us of the tragedy of Spider-Man and the ‘Parker Luck’ which has cursed him for decades in the comics. This is such an emotionally mature film which deals with loss and sacrifice in truly heartbreaking ways and I fully support Sony’s push for recognition by the time the big awards ceremonies come round. On a technical level the film is fittingly magical, but Tom Holland gives a career best performance and a push for Best Actor wouldn’t be outside the realms of possibility. I even support the idea of Willem Dafoe being in the discussion for Supporting Actor as he effortlessly slips back in to his role from nearly 20 years ago, and is as menacing and scary as ever, reaffirming his role as Spider-Man’s greatest villain, as well as giving a sympathetic performance in the moments where the Goblin is not in control. An absolute 10/10 if there ever was one, I hope this isn’t the last time we see Holland’s Spider-Man but if it is, then what a way to send off the character!
If you’ve made it this far, then thank you for reading! I hope that even if you don’t agree with the order, then you’ll agree that it’s been a hugely successful year for Marvel Studios. There were fears that after Avengers: Endgame the MCU was headed for a loss of interest and quality and I think 2021’s entries have rightfully silenced those doubters. Spider-Man: No Way Home was my number one MCU entry of 2021, It’ll be fascinating to see what ends up top in 2022, early bets are on Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness but perhaps a Disney Plus series, potentially Moon Knight will take the top spot, who knows?!
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