All Marvel Movies In The MCU Phase Three, Officially Ranked

It’s probably no surprise that 2019’s Captain Marvel is so low on this list, coming in with one of the MCU’s lowest Rotten Tomato scores at 79%. And while it’s far from the lowest-rated MCU film, Captain Marvel is the standout underperformer in a long stream of hits. The reality is the film was beset before it even released, with droves of sexist fans review bombing the film. It also didn’t help that for many Marvel fans, Carol Danvers was more of an overpowered cannon than a character. The film still has more fans than it does haters, but it doesn’t change it’s sad standing in the greater MCU Phase Three. 

2017 was a wild year for the MCU, with two of its three releases being spacefaring adventures. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 was easily the most anticipated of all of them, thanks to the success of the first film, both in theaters and on home video. While Guardians Vol. 2 is well-regarded by fans, it does suffer a bit as the middle child of the trilogy. It released at a time when the MCU’s ongoing narrative was white-hot, so this story about parental figures set far, far away from the core narrative just didn’t click, leaving it with an 85% on Rotten Tomatoes. 

The debate of which of The Avengers duology is the better film will probably rage on until the heat death of the universe, but from a strictly numbers perspective, Avengers: Infinity War is the weaker of the two with an 85% Rotten Tomatoes score. It’s not much of a surprise. As beloved as the film is, it’s easy to forget that it is positively stuffed to the gills. There’s a lot of characters running around in this movie, so not everyone gets ample time to shine. The cliffhanger is arguably the thing Infinity War is more remembered for; otherwise, it ranks as a fairly standard Avengers outing. 

It may not seem like the 87% Rotten Tomatoes score that Ant-Man and the Wasp holds is a big deal, but for many in the audience, it was something of a breath of fresh air. Remember, this was the film immediately after Infinity War’s jarring cliffhanger ending, after all. Set immediately prior to the events of Infinity War, the film is remembered fondly for incredibly performances from Laurence Fishburne, Hannah John-Kamen and Walton Goggins, but many fans were disappointed that the film’s biggest surprises were either in the trailers (like the cavalcade of embiggened every day objects) or had already been used in other movies (like Giant-Man). 

Arguably the most important piece of Phase Three, Doctor Strange is the foundational block not just of the phase’s finale, but of the Multiverse Saga that followed it. The 89% Rotten Tomatoes score tells you all you need to know about how fans felt about the film, too, as its a strong but not perfect entry in Phase Three. Doctor Strange is a pretty by-the-numbers MCU film, largely amounting to being Iron Man but magic. It’s saved not just by a killer cast with incredible performances, but by the mind-bending effects for the various spells and the incredible mirror dimension utilized throughout the film. 

Make no mistake about it, the Captain America branding is misleading—Captain America: Civil War is really an Avengers sequel. Bringing back William Hurt as “Thunderbolt” Ross from The Incredible Hulk, Civil War begins the arduous process of exploring the rifts between the MCU’s most iconic heroes, all while introducing legendary characters such as Black Panther and Spider-Man to the MCU for the first time. There’s a lot of the same tone and narrative problems here that the comic book arc of the same name suffered from, but Captain America: Civil War still stands out to fans as an important and exciting film in the MCU’s grander narrative, netting it an impressive 90% Rotten Tomatoes score. 

As arguably the most popular Marvel character to ever exist not named Wolverine, Spider-Man got the pleasure of wrapping up Phase Three with 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home. And what a film it is. Sending Spidey and his friends on a European vacation, the film aptly dealt with Iron Man’s death, the apparent dissolution of The Avengers, and the ramifications of the five-year time skip. With a 91% score on Rotten Tomatoes, the relatively light-hearted adventure proved a favorite with fans, but it didn’t help that it continued the tradition of Spider-Man being saddled with what amounted to Iron Man villains. 

After a failed effort to bring Andrew Garfield into The Avengers as the MCU’s canon Spider-Man, a joint agreement between Marvel Studios and Sony allowed Spidey to join the MCU proper in Civil War. Following that success came his first MCU solo outing, Spider-Man: Homecoming. Sitting at a 92% Rotten Tomatoes score, Homecoming pays homage to ‘80s teen comedies with its tongue firmly planted in cheek as Spidey must cope with being abandoned by his mentor, all while his would-be-girlfriend’s dad tries to kill him. The focus on Spider-Man as a street level hero and responsibility made this one a hit, and many argue it’s still the best Spider-Man film to date. 

With the soft reception to Thor and the disaster of Thor: The Dark World, it’s no understatement to say fans were underwhelmed about the prospect of Thor returning. The character would need a hard course correction if he was going to succeed. Enter Taika Waititi, who immediately gave Thor the sense of humor he was missing in his original films. Thor: Ragnarok might be the hardest 180 an MCU film has ever done, ranking as one of the best with a 93% Rotten Tomatoes score. The film is praised for its humor and action, but also in how it handles developing characters such as Loki and Hulk in the wake of their previous appearances. 

It really cannot be stressed just how special Avengers: Endgame was as a moment. For many, it was one of the last films seen in theaters with a huge crowd before world events changed everything. And what a film it was to see with a crowd. The thrilling time heist, the dramatic fallout from the blip, and the emotional return of the fallen Avengers made seeing this in a packed theater a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Avengers: Endgame is sitting pretty at a 94% Rotten Tomatoes score. For most fans, the only failing is that it doesn’t really deliver on what it promised: a definitive ending, as the MCU immediately kept chugging along after.