The 10 Worst Marvel Cinematic Universe Movies

Chris Snellgrove is an English Professor by day and a pop culture writer by night. You can read his thoughts on celebrities over on Instanthub, thoughts on games over on Gammicks, and thoughts on everything else over on Ebaum's World.

For better or for worse, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has forever changed the Hollywood landscape. When it comes to Hollywood blockbusters, most studios end up copying the Marvel formula and hoping for the best.

And if the MCU was completely good, that might not be such a bad thing. But here’s some bad news, True Believers: the MCU has some truly terrible movies out there, and these awful films have already tarnished the shine that the MCU name once had.

Don’t believe it? Buckle in for our breakdown of the 10 worst MCU movies!

Thor: The Dark World

https://ew.com/article/2013/11/20/thor-dark-world-movie/

Thor: The Dark World was our first real indication that Thor is a tough character to write. The first movie’s “god out of water” comedy worked well by squaring Thor off directly against Tom Hiddleston’s Loki. But the sequel demotes Loki to a supporting role and has Thor fight Chris Eccleston, who is utterly unrecognizable behind that silly mask and awful, subtitled dialogue.

How bad was this movie? It actually caused Natalie Portman to walk away from the MCU…literally. She couldn’t even come back for that post-credits kiss scene with Thor (that was actually Chris Hemsworth’s actual wife), and it took both the charisma of Taika Waititi and the promise of a starring role to bring her back for the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder.

Eternals

https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/hollywood/marvels-eternals-chloe-zhao-mcu-bland-film-wastes-immense-potential-angelina-jolie-salma-hayek-7612823/

By the time Eternals came out, critics and even fans had taken notice that Marvel kept cranking out different versions of the same story. So, this 2.5 hour movie tried to move at a slower pace, create its own mythology, and introduce us to ten new characters.

Unfortunately, it fell flat on all fronts. That “slower pace” was more like “a snail’s pace,” and the mythology was as confusing as it was stupid. Also, it’s wild that we’re meant to cheer for “heroes” that stand by and do nothing for centuries, develop no real chemistry, and then deliver the most yawn-worthy fight scenes in all of Marvel. 

Avengers: Age of Ultron

https://screenrant.com/mcu-avengers-age-ultron-things-right-wrong-superhero-movie/

Even before he was outed as a weirdo sex pest who is also terrible to his actors, Age of Ultron outed Joss Whedon as something of a hack writer. In the middle of our blockbuster action movie, we have things like Thor going on stupid vision quests and Nick Fury (who was canonically on the run) showing up with a freakin’ helicarrier out of nowhere.

We also have an evil machine who wants to destroy the world (how original) after spending two seconds on the internet (on second thought, maybe that’s fair). And it’s tough not to notice how poorly this movie uses and discards Quicksilver, especially after the X-Men movies showed us the full potential of this character.

Black Widow

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/black-widow-movie-yelena-belova-florence-pugh-1234980881/

Black Widow is not a purely terrible film. In fact, it’s the kind of film that you’d get caught up watching on TV late at night when nothing else was on. But that’s part of the problem.

Marvel released this movie on streaming ostensibly due to concerns about COVID-19. But watching this film alongside other stuff on Disney+, it genuinely seems like this was “made for TV” rather than for the big screen. And even if this had major blockbuster production values, the fact that we only got a solo Black Widow movie after she died is downright idiotic.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

https://winteriscoming.net/2021/06/25/new-trailers-shang-chi-legend-ten-rings-halloween-kills-american-horror-stories/

Shang-Chi is another movie that isn’t terrible on its own. If all you wanted was a fun kung-fu flick with some charming characters, then this movie manages to deliver, even if many of the big fight scenes felt a bit derivative of other films.

But it doesn’t really feel like a Marvel movie in many ways, most notably with the hamfisted introduction of The Mandarin (but for real this time). Bringing in the Ben Kingsley Mandarin as well ended up being a confusing and painful reminder of Iron Man 3. And even if you were enjoying character drama and tight fights before then, the movie’s third act descends into the predictable CGI slurry that we’re expected to slurp up and pretend that it had any meaning or impact.

The Incredible Hulk

https://obsessiveviewer.com/2015/06/17/mcu-review-part-2-the-incredible-hulk-2008/

It may seem a little unfair to compare The Incredible Hulk to the rest of the MCU. After all, this was only the second MCU film that we got, and it was made well before Disney acquired the brand. But we’re grading on a scale here, and poor Hulk just doesn’t make the cut.

That’s because this is a love story being sold as a monster fight, and the film drops the ball on both fronts. While Norton and Liv Tyler have some nice chemistry, they don’t get enough scenes together that make the most of that chemistry. And while Hulk’s fight with Abomination at the end has its moments, watching two CGI characters wail on each other like a video game cutscene is an unsatisfying climax that served as an early warning about where these films are going.

Iron Man 2

https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/20/21029908/marvel-cinematic-universe-iron-man-2-robert-downey-jr-kevin-feige-disney

Somewhere inside Iron Man 2, there is probably a good story. Unfortunately, that good story has to fight for space alongside plenty of other crappy stories shoved in there for good measure.

For example, the core story of Tony Stark confronting and making peace with the legacy of Howard Stark is pretty good. But most of the runtime goes to things like Tony’s stupid mortality plot, two different one-note villains, and gratuitous scenes with Nick Fury and Black Widow that make the picture feel like a wannabe Avengers movie that we’d all rather forget.

Doctor Strange

To his credit, Benedict Cumberbatch plays Doctor Strange very well. He brings life to a character that often comes across as weird and lifeless in the comics. Sadly, though, his good performance is stuck inside a weird and lifeless movie.

Cumberbatch has little real chemistry with Rachel McAdams, and the excellent Tilda Swinton is wasted as she becomes little more than an exposition machine. Speaking of wasted talent, the movie turns the excellent Mads Mikkelsen into little more than a scary face surrounded by weird CGI. And Marvel knows how disappointing all these characters were…why else do you think the belated sequel film is chock full of so many multidimensional cameos from fan-favorite characters?

Iron Man 3

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/iron-man-3-2013

Iron Man 3 is something of an anomaly on this list. The film was originally made to help Robert Downey Jr. bid farewell to the Iron Man character, and it works well in doing that. But the film makes for a spectacularly terrible Marvel Cinematic Universe movie.

First, it completely squanders The Mandarin so bad that later shorts and movies had to move heaven and earth to make him seem like a threat again. And the movie closes certain doors fans would love to keep open (like Pepper Potts with genuine superpowers). Finally, the symbolic ending that involves Tony destroying all of his suits to concentrate on his relationship with Pepper is completely undone when Tony shows up again as Iron Man in Age of Ultron with literally zero explanation.

Ant-Man and the Wasp

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/07/ant-man-and-the-wasp-review/564335/

Many people have praised the Marvel Cinematic Universe for its narrative consistency. Kevin Feige and crew are clearly thinking several steps ahead with each movie and show they release. But Ant-Man and the Wasp is an example of that chess-like thinking backfiring.

Pop quiz: what do you actually remember about this movie? Michael Douglas is grumpy, Paul Rudd is funny, and Laurence Fishburne is sad. It’s safe to say that 99% of this plot is superfluous and unforgettable. So why did we get a movie? Because they had to introduce how our heroes would be going back in time in Endgame, of course!

Ultimately, when you’re producing multimillion-dollar movies simply to introduce one plot element for your next multimillion-dollar movie, it’s safe to say you’ve lost the plot entirely.