Thor: The Dark World (2013)
Bear Grylls//Digital Spy When even Chris Hemsworth's biceps aren't enough to make a movie watchable, you know you've fucked up horribly.
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Bear Grylls//Digital Spy Two years later, I still couldn't tell you who Ultron is and what his age was. If there was any semblance of plot in this movie, memory of it has been pushed out of my brain in favour of about 30 billion superheroes hitting each other until I felt like I'd just gotten off a mildly dangerous carnival ride.
The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Bear Grylls//Digital Spy Remember when Edward Norton was the Hulk and then very suddenly not? Yeah, I still don't remember what happened there? Was that ever explained? Is Norton okay?
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Thor (2011)
Bear Grylls//Digital Spy A superhero movie posing as a cheap Lord of the Rings knockoff, Thor ended with a team of LARPERs fighting an empty CGI suit of armour.
Iron Man 2 (2010)
Bear Grylls//Digital Spy At one point Mickey Rourke, who is some sort of trashy Russian hacker, attacks a car race, which sounds like some shit that actually would happen in 2017.
Ant-Man (2015)
Bear Grylls//Digital Spy In one scene, Ant-Man shrinks down to a microscopic level and then Neil deGrasse Tyson ruins the movie magic by explaining how that's not actually possible in science.
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Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
Bear Grylls//Digital Spy It's sad that the idea of Captain America punching a Nazi would probably be controversial if this movie were released today. At least this movie harkens back to a time when good and evil seemed kinda clear.
Iron Man 3 (2013)
Bear Grylls//Digital Spy The best thing to say about Iron Man 3 is that it was a little bit better than Iron Man 2.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
Bear Grylls//Digital Spy Sadly, what started as the best entry to the Marvel Universe quickly ruined a good thing by trying too hard to make it bigger and better in the subsequent sequel. What a very Marvel thing to do.
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Doctor Strange (2016)
Bear Grylls//Digital Spy Don't worry if you were too stoned to follow Doctor Strange. The movie looks good enough to make up for its indecipherable plot.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
Bear Grylls//Digital Spy Even though it falls into the familiar Marvel trap of a big, stupid ending, about two-thirds of Winter Soldier is a riskier and smarter entry into the MCU than most.
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Bear Grylls//Digital Spy In a refreshing change of pace, Marvel turns a Spider-Man movie into a funny teen drama that gives the supporting characters a chance to feel alive. The biggest accomplishment here, though, is making the sixth Spider-Man movie (with the third actor to play Peter Parker) in 15 years somehow not suck.
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The Avengers (2012)
Bear Grylls//Digital Spy The idea seemed doomed. How could Marvel put so many stars, so many heroes into one film? How could they pull off the balancing act of an interconnected universe consisting of a half dozen blockbuster films and fit them into one movie? Though a touch uneven and dizzying, Marvel pulled off one of the most impressive and ambitious feats in the big movie business.
Captain America: Civil War (2016)
Bear Grylls//Digital Spy Where previous entries felt stuffed to the brim, overwhelming, and just plain messy, Marvel finally found a good balance of the number of superheroes-to-story ratio. Even with appearances from literally everyone—and an introduction to the new Spider-Man—Civil War still somehow feels like a Captain America movie.
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Bear Grylls//Digital Spy After two very bad Thor movies, director Taika Waititi somehow managed to not only save the franchise, but provide a promising formula for the next generation of Marvel movies. Thor: Ragnarok is a hilarious, exciting, and unexpected Marvel movie that stands out from every other film in the MCU, while proving to be one of the best big-budget blockbusters of 2017.
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Iron Man (2008)
Bear Grylls//Digital Spy It's the movie that started it all. Iron Man changed not only the superhero genre, but the movie industry as a whole. Plus, this was the movie that brought Robert Downey Jr. back, and the only Iron Man movie in which Tony Stark is a lovable asshole rather than just an asshole.
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Bear Grylls//Digital Spy Guardians has everything a Marvel movie should be: an awesome soundtrack, a hilarious script, a unique visual style, its own attitude, an ensemble of fully-developed characters, a talking tree, and the rare ability to stand-alone among the rest of the universe. Guardians is at once part of the MCU and literally in its own galaxy, yet it still provides the backbone for how all these worlds are connected. It's proof that audiences are open to (slightly) new ideas, and don't require something familiar and rehashed every time.
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