Over 15 years and 33 films, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has thrown countless seemingly insurmountable obstacles and more than a few apocalyptic events at their line-up of superheroes trying to save the world, the universe and reality itself. Their villains are at the head of all of this; crazed scientists, treacherous government agents, brutal alien warlords, amoral industrialists, gods and monsters and everything in between, an MCU villain can be so many things. Some were unfortunately the weakest elements in the movies they appeared in, being either generic, poorly served by the script or misjudged in their performances, while others ended up being memorable highlights even above the title costumed characters. 

There are often multiple antagonists in these superhero stories so we’ve tried to stick to one villain per MCU film. This is except where it’s the same antagonist carried over into a sequel film, and in cases where there’s more than one threat to our heroes. In these instances, we’ve focussed on the most active baddies or the masterminds of the various diabolical plots.

This ranking will be based on the level of threat the various bad guys pose to our supremely skilled and miraculously superpowered heroes, the diabolical creativity of their respective master plans and the sheer evilness of their actions. Spoilers ahead!

Follow @thefilmagazine on Twitter.

31. Malekith – Thor: The Dark World (2013)

“Look upon my legacy, Algrim. I can barely remember a time before the light.” 

A dark elf conqueror with a vendetta against Asgard for a defeat in ancient times, Malekith is reawakened and plots to snuff out the light across the universe (because his kind really like the darkness of the void).

A hugely distinct and memorable villain from the comics became one of the most boring to ever antagonise a superhero movie. Whatever Christopher Eccleston was trying to do with his performance after undergoing many uncomfortable hours in the makeup chair was lost in a brutally hacked film edit and an all-round po-faced determination to live up to the “dark” of the title.

Note: dark is not the same as interesting. 

30. Ivan Vanko/Whiplash – Iron Man 2 (2010)

“You come from a family of thieves and butchers, and like all guilty men, you try to rewrite your history.”

Whiplash is a Stark-hating, parrot-loving nuclear physicist/inventor with arc reactor-powered whips and an army of drones to carry out his revenge.

Mickey Rourke got a lot of jobs in quick succession as various shades of tough guy in this period. The Wrestler this is not, and he doesn’t exactly stretch himself as Ivan, offering a barely passable Russian accent and playing with a toothpick as a poor substitute for a more intricate characterisation as he plots vaguely defined Cold War-fuelled vengeance on Tony Stark and the American Military Industrial Complex.

29. Emil Blonsky/Abomination – The Incredible Hulk (2008)

“If I took what I had now, and put it in a body that I had ten years ago, that would be someone I wouldn’t want to fight.”

Abomination is an unstable British Black Ops asset who volunteers for a series of dangerous experimental super soldier treatments in order to capture the Hulk.

The Incredible Hulk worked best when it was Marvel’s answer to a Universal Monster movie, but one of its weakest elements was having Blonsky as its villain. Roth is fine, but he just wasn’t all that threatening, the character thinly sketched as a violent jerk with a superiority complex. When he finally transforms into his bony green alter ego Abomination for a CG smashathon in Harlem, it becomes almost impossible to care.

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28. Dar-Benn – The Marvels (2023)

“I always come back.”

Continuing what Ronan the Accuser started, Kree warrior Dar-Benn seeks to unite the two powerful Cosmic Bands in order to open portals across the galaxy to pillage resources from countless worlds to restore her dying planet of Hala and reassert her species’ dominance in the galaxy.

The problem with Dar-Benn is not her evil-for-the-right-reasons master plan or her relative threat level to our heroes (which is considerable considering that with space-magical enhancement she can hold her own against three formidable supes at once), it’s that there’s nothing else to her.

We needed more time for layers to come though Zawe Ashton’s broad, pantomimey performance and she too often feels like a retread of the kinds of villains we’ve seen in the MCU many times before, just a means to an end.

27. Ava Starr/Ghost – Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

“It hurts. It always hurts.”

The Marvels Review

A scientist’s daughter with an unnatural condition that causes her to painfully phase in and out of the physical realm, Ghost resorts to stealing Pymtech to survive.

Ghost is an admirable attempt to make something interesting out of a gimmicky physics-based villain. The character is let down not by Hannah John-Kamen’s engaging and tortured performance but by her essential irrelevance to the film’s main plot and lack of enough meaningful screen time. It’s almost like they only decided late in the day that Ant-Man and the Wasp should have an antagonist at all, and that may have been the wrong decision for this particular movie. 

26. Ronan – Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

“I don’t recall killing your family. I doubt I’ll remember killing you either.”

Ronan is a Kree fanatic who courts war and is gathering enough power to wipe the planet Xandar from the galaxy.

Ronan, with his war paint, samurai helmet and big hammer has a strong look, and thanks to Lee Pace he is given an imposing presence and a rumbling voice. But you’d struggle to claim he had much in the way of depth as a character. He wants a weapon to destroy a planet because because he’s from a war-like race and that’s about it, though Pace’s affronted expression and confused “what are you doing?” as Star-Lord dances in front of him as he’s trying to trigger an apocalypse is pretty memorable.

25. Darren Cross/Yellowjacket – Ant-Man (2015)

“Did you think you could stop the future with a heist?”

Ant-Man Review

Hank Pym’s protégé, ouster and successor at his company, Yellowjacket seeks to weaponise and sell Pym’s shrinking technology to the highest bidder.

Marvel has a lot of evil CEOs in its rogues gallery and Corey Stoll brings plenty of punchable arrogance to his performance as Darren Cross. He murders rivals and exterminates animal test subjects without second thought, seemingly motivated by Pym not trusting him with the secrets of his technology (though really it’s because he enjoys doing it). 

Cross does have probably the most gruesome villain death in the MCU so far, and it’s no more than he deserves.

“There was an idea…”

Said idea was different to almost every version of the big screen superhero seen previously. Rather than each costumed hero existing in their own sealed-off vivariums, what if they could all share one interconnected universe containing a single ever-evolving and expansive story?

Once the idea gained traction, billions of dollars, and many “phases” of franchise continuity, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) became the envy of every studio with a lucrative intellectual property to siphon and thus many attempts were made to replicate the success of the “Marvel Formula”.

Much like the James Bond series in the decades before it, the MCU is primarily a producer-led franchise, the ultimate mastermind behind the project being Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, though distinct directors like Jon Favreau, Joss Whedon and Taika Waititi have certainly left their mark on their respective entries in the ongoing series.

What keeps us (and wider box office audiences) coming back, aside from the ever-increasing levels of superhero spectacle and long-form storytelling borrowing liberally from 80-plus years of comic books, is the time you’re afforded to grow to love the characters and their relationships with each other, especially in the ambitious team-up Avengers movies.

In this edition of Ranked we at The Film Magazine are assessing every entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and because fans have very different opinions on the best, the worst and everything in between regarding this series, we’ve attempted to find a balance between average critical consensus and general audience reception, as well as genre innovation and the lasting impact on popular culture, to order all of them definitively from worst to best.

Ladies and gentlemen, for your consideration… Every MCU Marvel Cinematic Universe Movie Ranked.

Follow @thefilmagazine on X (Twitter).

33. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)

“A guy dressed like a bee tried to kill me when I was six. I’ve never had a normal life.”

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Review

The Ant-Man films are probably the most inconstant sub-series in the MCU, quality wise, but because the final chapter of their trilogy tries to go both big and small, it well and truly overreaches itself.

Pitting the Lang/Van Dyne family against Kang the Conqueror in the Quantum Realm, force of nature Jonathan Majors playing a fascinating villain isn’t quite enough to save Peyton Reed’s threequel from being just an eye-catching jumble of mismatched, tonally confusing ideas.

For Kang’s first, less maniacal appearance and the start of this whole Multiverse Saga, make sure to watch Season 1 of ‘Loki’.

32. Eternals (2021)

“We have loved these people since the day we arrived. When you love something, you protect it.”

Eternals Review

Chloé Zhao (Nomadland) is a great director, no doubt, but she was just not a good fit for the MCU in this story of space gods guiding humanity’s progress. Considering the usually grounded and singular vision of her work, this was a particularly crushing disappointment for most audiences.

The ambition and epic millennia-spanning scope of Eternals sadly did not pay off in this jarring, misjudged slog of a final product that couldn’t even be saved by a stellar and diverse cast. 

31. The Marvels (2023)

“Listen to me, you are chosen for a greater purpose. So you must go. But I will never let you go.”

The Marvels Review

The Marvels smartly builds a lot of its appeal around its central team-up of Carol Danvers, Monica Rambeau and Kamala Khan as their power usage causes them to swap places across the universe, but their found family warmth and oodles of charisma can’t overcome all the film’s flaws.

This needed more purposeful storytelling, a villain that doesn’t feel like a retread of what came before and more direct confrontation of the darker implications of the story. The musical elements will likely make an already decisive movie more so, but the MCU overall could do with some more audacious imagery like what Nia DaCosta does with alien cats.

Watching ‘Wandavision’ and ‘Ms Marvel’ through beforehand will certainly help you connect with two of the three leads that bit quicker.

30. Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)

“Whosoever holds these weapons, and believes in getting home, if they be true of heart is therefore worthy, and shall possess… for limited time only, the power… of Thor!”

Thor: Love and Thunder Review

Taika Waititi is the kind of distinct voice that gave the MCU a jolt in the arm when it was most needed, and he was vital in reinvigorating the Thor series, but the tonal balance and technical polish certainly felt off in 2022 release Thor: Love and Thunder.

Good performances from Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman and Christian Bale, and some memorable set pieces aside, Thor’s latest adventure battling a god-killer with his now superpowered ex-girlfriend Jane Foster at his side feels like too many mismatched stories smashed together.

Recommended for you: Taika Waititi Films Ranked

29. Thor: The Dark World (2013)

“One son who wanted the throne too much, and other who will not take it. Is this my legacy?”

The God of Thunder’s third film appearance tries to live up to its title with a story of dark elves trying to snuff out all light in the universe. Sadly, a late change in director – Alan Taylor taking over from would-be Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins – and extensive Loki-centric reshoots didn’t help an already disjointed film feel any less so.

Thor’s dynamic with his Earthbound friends is still funny and more Loki (shoehorned in or not) is always a good thing with Tom Hiddleston in the role, but the storytelling is inconsistent at best and Christopher Eccleston under heavy prosthetics as Malekith may be the most boring villain in the MCU so far.

28. Iron Man 2 (2010)

“The suit and I are one. To turn over the Iron Man suit would be to turn over myself, which is tantamount to indentured servitude or prostitution, depending on what state you’re in.”

The MCU’s first direct sequel went bigger and darker with Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark fighting a vengeful Russian inventor, a rival industrialist and potentially fatal health problems. Unfortunately, this ended up being a much less focussed, overblown and not all that compelling movie.

Scarlet Johansson makes her debut as Black Widow here, though she’s just a generic sexy spy at this point and not yet given the dimensions other writers would later bestow. The action is decent enough, but you wouldn’t lose out on much of you skipped over Iron Man 2 on your next MCU rewatch.

27. The Incredible Hulk (2008)

“You know, I know a few techniques that could help you manage that anger effectively.”

Lacking the clear intentions and boldness of many subsequent MCU movies, The Incredible Hulk is stylistically old-fashioned but works slightly better if you view this as a big-budget tribute to sympathetic monster movies (this one was made by Universal, after all).

A movie filled with false starts and one-off appearances (most obviously Edward Norton’s Bruce Banner would be recast with Mark Ruffalo for The Avengers in 2012), very little was carried over to the wider franchise right up until Tim Roth’s reappearance in ‘She-Hulk’ fourteen years later.

This is generally uninspiring stuff, with its most interesting man-on-the-run elements cribbed from the 1970s ‘Incredible Hulk’ TV show.

Recommended for you: Where to Start with Universal Classic Monsters

On the screen, Marvel Studios’ trusted output has been received positively by critics and audiences alike, the majority of its thirty feature releases being well received and worthy of their hype, even their so-called “calculated risks” being more often refreshing to their already established formula than detrimental to their overall output.

Cinema has been forever changed by the dawn of Marvel’s big screen dominance and old-school serial approach to storytelling, Disney’s newly ordained crown jewel inspiring every rival studio and aspirational production company to gobble up trusted IPs and set forth plans for so-called Movie Universes based around everything from fellow superheroes to famous board games, reinvented children’s cartoons to horror characters.

In this edition of Ranked, we at The Film Magazine are putting the world’s most influential film franchise under the microscope to compare every feature length Marvel release with one another to determine which MCU films are the best and which are the worst, judging each on artistic merit and cultural impact.

Follow @thefilmagazine on Twitter. 

30. The Incredible Hulk (2008)

To this day, Louis Leterrier’s 2008 MCU contribution The Incredible Hulk is the forgotten member of the family. And, while this isn’t necessarily this distinctly average film’s fault and is actually more to do with Edward Norton refusing to return to his role as the Hulk following strained relationships with both director and studio, as well as how the rights to the Hulk character are locked in a contract that limits Marvel Studios from telling a standalone story with Mark Ruffalo, a lot can still be said for how dated this film is – The Incredible Hulk playing a lot more like Spider-Man 3, Fantastic Four and X-Men: Origins – Wolverine than the later and much more tasteful Marvel Studios offerings to come in this list.

Recommended for you: Every X-Men Movie Ranked

29. Thor: The Dark World (2013)

The worst of a bad bunch of uninspired sequels, Alan Taylor’s Thor: The Dark World not only seemed absent of the comedy and much of the mythology of the original Thor film but it also hit at precisely the wrong time – that being between the much more highly anticipated Iron Man 3 and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and the year after the original The Avengers.

Thor 2 was generic in a Suicide Squad “angry swirl of evil descending from the sky for no reason” kind of way; a movie so uninspired Chris Hemsworth has openly spoken about how he almost quit the role because of it; a perfectly serviceable sequel (especially at the time), but one of little consequence or imagination that few get excited to rewatch – an MCU entry that time hasn’t been very kind to.

28. Iron Man 2 (2010)

The first Iron Man was such a huge success creatively, artistically, critically and financially for Marvel Studios that a quick-turnaround 2nd movie was demanded to bolster Phase One’s launch – a period in the history of the MCU that was a lot more rocky than many are willing to admit.

Iron Man 2 was a failure in all of the ways Iron Man was a success, apart from financially, offering bland and sometimes barely comprehensible moments of action, dialogue and character. As a result, Iron Man 2 fits right in alongside the likes of The Amazing Spider-Man as a very particular brand of cheesy and uninspired comic book movie that was made more to earn a quick buck than it was to fulfil any creative or artistic need. It has its moments – which movie starring Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man doesn’t? – but thankfully the MCU has proven itself to be better than this in its other phases since.

27. Ant-Man and The Wasp (2018)

Coming between Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame – ie, post-snap – Ant-Man and The Wasp was put in an awful position to succeed, the creative minds behind the film having to choose between embracing the actions of Infinity War or ignoring them altogether. They chose the latter (at least until the film’s final moments), but what fans wanted was something of an indicator as to what was to come in Endgame, or at least a taste of post-Infinity War’s MCU landscape, and the comedy-centred light-heartedness of an Ant-Man movie was an example of Marvel Studios not taking a minute to read the room.

More than that, Ant-Man and The Wasp felt scaled down from the original, its outlandish creative ideas brought into line with the wider MCU look and feel of things, making what seemed like a promising sequel to a moving and hilarious comedy one of the studio’s most formulaic and typically “superhero movie” releases to date – the “formula” not being necessarily bad, but certainly overplayed.

26. Eternals (2021)

Eternals Review

Eternals came with a lot of hope and expectation given the nature of the original material it was being adapted from and how it was the first MCU entry to be directed by an Oscar-winning director (Chloé Zhao). Ultimately, it proved too much of a mix of the trusted Marvel formula and director Zhao’s trademark directorial style, the clashes between action and existentialism forcing a disjointed rhythm in the filmmaking that made Eternals feel way longer than it was (which was one of the longest MCU films in history) and hit home way less effectively than anyone would have hoped.

As a product of the world’s largest production arm, Eternals was hopefully diverse from cast to crew, but ultimately this release had two authorial presences that seemed to clash on screen, this already troubling combination being amplified by its position in the MCU as a part of the studio’s fourth phase and thus responsible for a number of story elements and character introductions barely relevant to its standalone narrative.

25. Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)

Thor: Love and Thunder Review

Despite featuring one of the most empathetic and exceptionally-performed villains in Marvel Cinematic Universe history, Thor: Love and Thunder was a messy fourth instalment in the God of Thunder’s individual franchise, a film that flipped between tones as if at a loss at how to create both meaningful drama and laugh-out-loud comedy.

In comparison to post-2012 Marvel releases, the action was relatively poor too. Gone were the exceptionally choreographed sequences of the mainstream Avengers films or the differing styles of Black Widow, Doctor Strange and Shang-Chi, and in its place were bland and almost inconsequential battles repeated, a few moments of awe failing to rectify for a movie’s worth of oversights.

Thor: Love and Thunder is an enjoyable time at the movies. It will make you laugh and it does have some interesting moments, but these pros are simply too few and far between to make for a strong (or even meaningful) MCU entry.

24. Iron Man 3 (2013)

Adored by some and maligned by others, Iron Man 3 simply came about much too early, screenwriter-director Shane Black’s offerings of genre and trope deconstructions – most notably the choice to twist a genuinely fascinating villain into a trope-ridden stereotypical bad guy as a form of commentary – being things usually reserved for the dying days of a genre, not for one of its peaks.

This film was the follow up to The Avengers where Tony Stark had almost died, so Black’s smarts didn’t hit as they could have much later in the studio’s line-up – people wanted emotion and stakes, as well as suitable conclusions to character arcs, and Black’s work was seen to undermine that, the very strong work in several aspects of this film ultimately shunned to the background of a film dominated by a creator’s singular intention seemingly forced into the canon at the wrong time.

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“There was an idea to bring together a group of remarkable people to see if we could become something more. So when they needed us, we could fight the battles that they never could.”

Marvel Studios have been the standard bearer for all superhero films for the past 10 years, presenting 20 movies to increasing audiences the world over and earning around $17.3billion at the worldwide box office. The studio has created 10 separate franchises since its debut film Iron Man in 2008, digging into the once exclusive comic book properties of the likes of “Ant-Man” and “Guardians of the Galaxy” to present fresh and always entertaining takes on a genre that they have come to master above even their most intimate of contemporaries. In this edition of Ranked, we have judged each of the 20 Marvel Studios Avengers-related movies from worst to best based on their quality and historical importance. As always, we encourage you to share your thoughts on social media and in the comments below, but for now it’s on with the list…

20. The Incredible Hulk (2008)

Director: Louis Leterrier
Starring: Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, William Hurt, Ty Burrell, Tim Blake Nelson, Lou Ferigno

When The Incredible Hulk went into production, the characters of Bruce Banner and his gamma radiated alter ego were perhaps the biggest pop culture icons left at the behest of Marvel Studios after auctioning off their X-Men, Fantastic Four and Spider-Man to other companies. The duality of Banner’s character therefore seemed like the perfect choice for an audience-grabbing introductory film; one which would feature more fun and chaos than the Ang Lee presentation from 2003. If audiences didn’t see Iron Man earlier in the year, then they’d surely see this. History would have it that audiences did turn up to see Iron Man, and as such the lack of quality on offer in The Incredible Hulk was more obvious than it may have otherwise been. The movie was up and down, offering some half-decent fan service in amongst the rage and chaos but failing to deliver in terms of an interesting story or reason to care. In the aftermath of the release, it became clear that Leterrier was never entirely confident in directing the picture and had only taken the job after being rejected for his passion project Iron Man, and star Edward Norton threw the whole production under the bus by claiming he had ‘basically written the movie’. The Incredible Hulk now stands far afoot the bottom of the Avengers list in terms of quality, and can be considered as perhaps the only severe misstep of the studio’s entire universe. The film remains canon, with William Hurt’s continued presence being evidence of this, but having switched out Norton for Ruffalo it’s clear that this is the one film on this list Marvel are trying to forget about.

19. Iron Man 2 (2010)

Director: Jon Favreau
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Mickey Rourke, Sam Rockwell, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Paul Bettany, Jon Favreau

Iron Man 2 felt like a big deal back in 2010. It was the third movie of the would-be Avengers universe and had cast the recently reconciled Mickey Rourke hot off the back of his triumphant return to prominence in The Wrestler. Underneath the hype there were grumblings of malcontent however, with Don Cheadle being substituted in for Terrence Howard following a pay dispute in which Marvel reportedly refused to offer Howard the same money for the 2nd movie as they had offered Downey Jr., and the story of Edward Norton’s future within the universe seemingly putting an end to early plans to have Iron Man and the rest of the Avengers team-up to take down a rebellious Hulk (as hinted towards in the post-credit scene in The Incredible Hulk). Ultimately, this landed Iron Man 2 in the zone of “safe sequel”; a film which delivers on all of the original movie’s promises but did little to exceed expectations. Still useful in how it was offering an appropriately colourful take on a superhero genre in the midst of Nolan’s darker Dark Knight trilogy, this Jon Favreau follow-up is perhaps less well remembered now than it was way back when, and we can all see Marvel’s biggest faults – presenting believable threats to their heroes – poking their ugly heads, but this is by no means a bad movie in the same sense that The Incredible Hulk was; just more of a forgettable one.

18. Thor: The Dark World (2013)

Director: Alan Taylor
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Christopher Eccleston, Idris Elba, Stellan Skarsgård, Kat Dennings

Speaking of forgettable; is there a movie on this list that has as few special moments as Thor: The Dark World?

For the 2nd instalment of the Thor standalone franchise, and coming in the aftermath of The Avengers in 2012, The Dark World felt safe in many of the ways that Iron Man 2 did, though it also shared The Incredible Hulk’s unique trait of being a universe instalment that Marvel would look to move on from, resetting many of the lingering story threads in the first few minutes of its follow up Ragnarok in 2017. The Dark World did its job, presenting fans with more of the beloved relationship between Thor and Loki, and worked to introduce more of the unique planets and beings from the comic books, but it was lacking in anything beyond the typical faceless villain stereotype as a threat, and the film suffered significantly as a result of this. Thor 2 was very much the Iron Man 2 of the Thor franchise, only the relationship between Thor & Loki as well as the presence of a few characters that have since been forgotten about – as played by Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgård and Kat Dennings – were just enough to pip the Iron Man sequel in this list.

17. Iron Man 3 (2013)

Director: Shane Black
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Ben Kingsley, Jon Favreau, Rebecca Hall

Iron Man 3 is one of the more controversial entries into Marvel’s Avengers universe of films, and the entirety of the reason as to why is the film’s twist. Warning, there are spoilers ahead…

Screenwriter-director Shane Black had previously worked with Downey Jr. on Kiss Kiss Bang Bang in 2005 and therefore seemed like an easy, creative alternative to the Iron Man franchise’s exiting Jon Favreau. The issue was that Black was noteworthy for tackling genre conventions and therefore sought to deviate from the typical ‘rise of an ultimate villain’ character arc, seeing it as too much of an obvious path for Iron Man 3 to walk down. As such, the movie developed a believable, identifiable threat in the form of Ben Kingsley’s Mandarin, only for Tony Stark/Iron Man to discover that the character was simply an actor relaying lines on behalf of another villain, a villain who turned out to be much less identifiable and interesting, and much more like the lacklustre villains that had populated the universe to this point. In 2013 audiences had grown tired of under-developed villains with little to identify with, so Iron Man 3’s tease of a great villain proved too much for many. It was a moment which overshadowed the film and became the topic of discussion regarding the movie itself, which other than this moment was actually quite fun though somewhat forgettable.

Number 30: Amy 

Director: Asif Kapadia

Cast: Amy Winehouse

Number 29: Macbeth

Director: Justin Kurzel

Cast: Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, Jack Madigan

Number 28: Far from the Madding Crowd

Director: Thomas Vinterberg

Cast: Carey Mulligan, Matthias Schoenaerts,Michael Sheen, Tom Sturridge, Juno Temple

Number 27: Still Alice

Director: Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland

Cast: Julianne Moore, Kate Bosworth, Shane McRae, Hunter Parrish,  Alec Baldwin, Seth Gilliam, Kristen Stewart

Number 26: Black Mass

Director: Scott Cooper

Cast: Johnny Depp, Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rory Cochrane, Kevin Bacon, Jesse Plemons, Peter Sarsgaard, Dakota Johnson

Number 25: The Good Dinosaur

Director: Peter Sohn

Cast: Raymond Ochoa, Jack Bright, Sam Elliott, Anna Paquin, A.J. Buckley, Jeffrey Wright, Frances McDormand

Number 24: American Sniper

Director: Clint Eastwood

Cast: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Max Charles, Luke Grimes, Kyle Gallner

Number 23: Human

Director: Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Number 22: Ex Machina

Director: Alex Garland

Cast: Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander, Oscar Isaac, Sonoya Mizuno

Number 21: Avengers: Age of Ultron

Director: Joss Whedon 

Cast: Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Cobie Smulders, Anthony Mackie, Stellan Skarsgård, James Spader, Samuel L. Jackson

Number 20: Everest

Director: Baltasar Kormákur

Cast: Jason Clarke, Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Sam Worthington, Robin Wright, Michael Kelly, Keira Knightley, Emily Watson

Number 19: Cinderella

Director: Kenneth Branagh

Cast: Lily James, Cate Blanchett, Richard Madden, Helena Bonham Carter, Stellan Skarsgård, Nonso Anozie, Sophie McShera, Holliday Grainger, Derek Jacobi, Hayley Atwell

Number 18: Southpaw

Director: Antoine Fuqua

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Forest Whitaker, Naomie Harris, Victor Ortiz, Rachel McAdams, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Miguel Gomez

Number 17: Kingsman: The Secret Service

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Cast: Taron Egerton, Colin Firth, Samuel L. Jackson, Mark Strong, Michael Caine, Sophie Cookson, Sofia Boutella, Geoff Bell, Edward Holcroft, Mark Hamill, Jack Davenport

Number 16: Suite Francaise

Director: Saul Dibb

Cast: Michelle Williams, Kristin Scott Thomas, Matthias Schoenaerts, Sam Riley, Ruth Wilson, Lambert Wilson, Clare Holman, Margot Robbie

Number 15: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2

Director: Francis Lawrence

Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman,Donald Sutherland, Sam Claflin, Jena Malone, Jeffrey Wright, Natalie Dormer, Willow Shields, Mahershala Ali, Stanley Tucci, Gwendoline Christie

Number 14: Straight Outta Compton

Director: F. Gary Gray

Cast: O’Shea Jackson, Jr., Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Aldis Hodge, Neil Brown, Jr., Paul Giamatti, Marlon Yates Jr., Corey Reynolds

Number 13: Ant-Man

Director: Peyton Reed

Cast: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Peña, Tip “T.I.” Harris, Anthony Mackie, Wood Harris,  David Dastmalchian, Michael Douglas

Number 12: Inside Out

Director: Pete Docter and Ronnie del Carmen

Cast: Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Bill Hader, Lewis Black, Mindy Kaling, Richard Kind, Kaitlyn Dias, Diane Lane, Kyle MacLachlan

Number 11: Spectre

Director: Sam Mendes

Cast: Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Léa Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Dave Bautista, Andrew Scott, Monica Bellucci, Ralph Fiennes, Rory Kinnear, Jesper Christensen

Number 10: The Martian

Director: Ridley Scott

Cast: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Michael Pena, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan, Aksel Hennie, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mackenzie Davis, Sean Bean, Jeff Daniels, Donald Glover, Benedict Wong, Kristen Wiig

Number 9: Steve Jobs

Director: Danny Boyle 

Cast: Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen, Jeff Daniels, Katherine Waterston, Michael Stuhlbarg

Number 8: Furious 7

Director: James Wan

Cast: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges, Jordana Brewster, Djimon Hounsou, Tony Jaa, Ronda Rousey, Nathalie Emmanuel, Kurt Russell, Jason Statham, Sung Kang, Gal Gadot 

Number 7: Selma

Director: Ava DuVernay

Cast: David Oyelowo, Tom Wilkinson, Carmen Ejogo, Andre Holland, Tessa Thompson, Giovanni Ribisi, Lorraine Toussaint, Stephan James, Wendell Pierce, Common, Alessandro Nivola, Keith Stanfield, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Dylan Baker, Tim Roth, Oprah Winfrey

Number 6: Jurassic World

Director: Colin Trevorrow

Cast: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent D’Onofrio, Ty Simpkins, Nick Robinson, Omar Sy, B. D. Wong, Jake Johnson, Lauren Lapkus, Brian Tee, Katie McGrath, Judy Greer, Andy Buckley

Number 5: The Theory of Everything

Director: James Marsh 

Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Charlie Cox, Emily Watson, Simon McBurney, David Thewlis, Maxine Peake, Harry Lloyd

Number 4: Carol

Director: Todd Haynes

Cast: Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Sarah Paulson, Kyle Chandler, Jake Lacy, Cory Michael Smith, John Magaro, Carrie Brownstein

Number 3: Birdman

Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu

Cast: Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough, Amy Ryan, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts

Number 2: Mad Max: Fury Road 

Director: George Miller

Cast: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Riley Keough, Zoë Kravitz, Abbey Lee, Courtney Eaton 

Number 1: Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Director:  J. J. Abrams

Cast: Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, Max von Sydow

10. Friederich Mücke

Friederich Mücke is a young actor whose career is on the rise. He is best known for his role as Veit alongside Matthias Schweigöfer in Friendship which earned him a nomination as Bester Nachwuchsschauspieler (Best talended young actor) at the prestigious Bayerischer Filmpreis (Bavarian Film Awards). Friendship is the story of two German young men – Veit (Mücke) and his friend Tom (Schweighöfer) –  who, after the fall of the Berlin wall, travel to the United States. Veit longs to see his father, who fled from the GDR some years back, and Tom decides to tag along. The journey is full of surprises and adventures. Interestingly, the story is based on the experience of the producer Tom Zieckler, who embarked on a similar journey in 1989. Mücke’s character is engaging and fun and along with Matthias they make a brilliant comedy duo.

Mücke often stars with him in comedies, the latest being Vaterfreuden – which can be translated as ‘The joys of fatherhood’. I’d certanly love to see him in more films and maybe portraying a different character in a drama film.

9. Tom Wlaschiha

Tom Wlaschiha is perhaps internationally known for his roles in the crime tv-series Crossing Lines and Game Of Thrones, but he also starred in other English language productions such as: Enemy At The Gates, Valkyrie, Resistance, Rush and Mr. Turner where he had a cameo role as Prince Albert. He’s a versatile actor and, although he has been seen much more frequently featured in German tv than in cinema, his role in Games of Thrones is contributing to making him known to a wider international audience.

8. Florian Stetter

Born in Munich – incidentally one of my favourite German cities – Florian Stetter’s career ranges from Napola – Elite für den Führer (English: Before the Fall) to Sophie Scholl – Die  letzten Tage (English: Sophie Scholl – The final days) and Nackt Unter Wölfen (English: Naked among Wolves). From these titles it’s pretty clear that he’s starred in many WWII related films. Recently he’s also portrayed Schiller in the German drama Die geliebten Schwestern (English: Beloved Sisters) which I found to be an interesting film with a good cast and very distinctive in the way it was filmed, as it is similar to a theatre production. Stetter is a promising actor and I quite liked all the films he’s starred in. Nanga Parbat for example, in which Florian plays the lead, tells the story of the Messner brothers and their expedition on the Nanga Parbat mountain. This film was very emotional and I enjoyed watching it especially since it was based on true events.

7. Til Schweiger

Till Schweiger is a versatile actor who is also a producer and director. He’s starred in many international films – most notably The Red Baron and Inglourious Basterds – as well as well-known German films like Männerherzen,

Keinohrhasen, Wo ist Fred? and Kokowääh are all light-hearted comedies where he plays the main character, whereas Männerherzen is made up of different stories that intertwine and Schweiger is the protagonist of just one of them. Among his roles my personal favourite is The Red Baron’s, in which he plays Werner Voss, a pilot friend of the lead character Manfred Von Richthofen.

Schweiger is a remarkable actor, capable of playing a variety of characters – from the playboy Ludo in Keinohrhasen, to Stg. Hugo Stiglitz in Inglourious Basterds. Schweiger also directed Keinohrhasen,which proved to be a huge success in German cinemas and was awarded a Bambi (the oldest media award in Germany, given to German and international personalities in various categories), a Deutscher Comedy Preis (German Comedy Award) and a Bayerischer Filmpreis (Bavarian Film Award). This is just a glimpse of Till Schweiger’s career achievements. I’d certainly look out for him if I were you.

6. Matthias Schweighöfer

Matthias Schweighöfer is a worldwide famous actor and maybe one of the most famous and beloved in Germany. He portrayed Manfred Von Richthofen in The Red Baron, then he started starring in many comedies such as : Frau Ella, Vaterfreunden, Friendship, What a Man, Schlussmaker and the latest release Der Nanny. Among all of his films I particulary liked The Red Baron, because I still think it was his best performance and he should get back to dramas to me. Nevertheless, I also enjoyed his typical German comedies in which he was hilarious and brilliant as always. To choose among them is very tricky for me but I’d say Rubbeldiekatz would be my favourite. He’s been awarded a Bambi and a Romy (a prestigious Austrian TV award) for Schlussmacher and a Jupiter award for Vaterfreunden. You might also know him  for his cameo in Valkyrie; he’s a badass in that one. Look out for him and you won’t regret it.

5. Alexander Fehling

Best known for his role in Goethe! (English: Young Goethe In Love), Alexander Fehling is probably internationally famous as Oberfeldwebel (sergeant) Wilhelm in Inglourious Basterds. He’s recently starred in the film Im Labyrinth des Schweigens  (English: Labyrinth of Lies) which was also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2014 in the section ‘Contemporary World Cinema’. His performance in Goethe! was masterful and I’ve started to become interested in his career since I saw it. He hasn’t starred in many films yet, but he’s making his mark as an actor and I’m certain he’s poised for more success and world-wide praise.

4. Ken Duken

Ken Duken is a famous actor in Germany and he has also played in many English language films like Chalet Girl, in which he portrayed Mikki the snowboard instructor that helped Felicity Jones’s character get back on the board. He also played a little role in Inglourious Basterds and in the BBC two-part-film The Sinking of The Laconia. I especially liked his role in this film as I thought he brought much emotion to the character and it was very easy to relate to him. Another important role he played in Germany was the one of Karl Benz in the film Carl & Bertha. His performance with Felicitas Woll was overwhelming and riveting and the two actors together made for a great duo. You definitely shouldn’t miss his works because he’s a promising rising star!

3.Volker Bruch

Volker Bruch is a Munich-born actor best known for his role in the German war tv-series Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter (English:Generation War) which was also broadcast in the UK. It was a successful series both in Germany and abroad as it won the Bayerischer Fernsehpreis (Bavarian Film Awards), the Deutscher Fernsehpreis (in the category miniseries),a Goldene Kamera award, Jupiter award and an International Emmy Award in the category ‘miniseries’. His performance in this tv series was outstanding and, on a personal note, I thought he should have been nominated for Best Performance, but in any case the outcome of the series was successful and his performance had international resonance as a result. He has starred in more tv films than big screen movies. In The Red Baron he portrayed Lothar Von Richtofen, while in the tv-comedy Machen wir’s auf Finnisch Volker Bruch’s portrayal of Matti, the leader of the Finnish Rock band Rypeli, was hilarous. He also starred in Goethe! as a friend of Goethe’s. What can I say more about him? My feeling is that his career will skyrocket following the huge succes of Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter.

2. Tom Schilling

Tom Schilling is an internationally famous actor who has starred in many films such as Joy Division, a tear-jerker WWII drama film in which Shilling plays the lead role as the young Thomas. This film and his role were outstanding and impressive. He also played a German lieutenant by the name of Kurt Bonnet, a badass in this case. Schilling played many WWII roles, for example soldier Friedhelm Winter in Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter (English: Generation War), and Albrecht Stein in Napola – Elite für den Führer (English: Before the Fall). He’s notable for playing soldiers but his roles vary and in the 2014 thriller Who Am I he portrays the controversial Benjamin, a computer hacker with a twisted personality. You can see him in his latest work, in the American- British production Woman in Gold, so keep an eye out for him.

1.Thomas Kretschmann

You may have spotted him as Baron Wolfgang von Strucker in Avengers:Age of Ultron, his latest role, but Thomas Kretschmann has a long list of films to his credit. It would take too long to list all of them but some honourable mentions are: The Pianist, Stalingrad, Eichmann, and Downfall,  all WWII related movies that seem to be a recurring feature of his acting career.

He’s very charismatic and, again, a very versatile actor. He’s not only capable of pulling off dramatic roles, but his career spans a variety of genres (comedy, adventure, children films etc.).

He’s one of the most notable German actors of his generation and one that will exert a strong influence on young actors to come.

Avengers: Age Of Ultron is undoubtedly one of the biggest releases of the 2015 calendar year. Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and (many) others come together only once every so often, and their collaborative efforts are eagerly anticipated by the masses in such a way that The Avengers is no longer a nerdy comic book venture, but a pop culture phenomenon destined to surpass $1billion at the box office.

This second Avengers movie ticked the vast majority of the boxes that every sequel must tick. It was more action packed with larger set pieces, it utilised the dialogue better than the original, and it was a story that sought even more investment than Avengers 1. No longer was it necessary to build each character’s relationship to one another and this made Avengers 2 feel more refined with every piece of dialogue becoming necessary to the over-arching plot, leading to a more enjoyable experience in many ways. This refined presentation with regard to character development was emphasised with a huge action sequence at the very beginning of the film that not only illustrated how sleek the film was going to be, but also helped to lay down the marker: “We’re turning it up a notch”.

With many of the characters’ back stories already being presented to us in the previous instalments, Age of Ultron was able to open up the back stories of characters like Hawkeye, Hulk and Black Widow; something that helped to create a welcomed feeling of freshness.

It was, however, the presentation of “the twins” where praise for Whedon’s writing is less easy to come by. Quicksilver was vastly underutilised, and while it was impossible to predict that his appearance would match that of Evan Peters’ in X-Men: Days of Future Past, I did come away from this film thinking that Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s character needed a little bit more investment in order for the conclusions to his story to make more of an emotional impact.

Scarlet Witch, on the other hand, was brilliantly presented and could well be the shining light of the whole film. Her development was worthwhile and her difference as a “miracle” was such that she would consistently juxtapose the massive action sequences with her own intricacies and powers. This made her stand out from the rest of the group without needing to do that much talking. Witch’s eventual unleashing of her powers was probably the best moment of the film and was in many ways reminiscent of the awesome opening to X-Men (2000) in which Magneto’s powers came to light because of his permanent removal from his mother’s life in the Nazi POW camps.

Despite the obvious positives regarding the writing and presentation of most of the characters, Age of Ultron failed to live up to the “event movie” status of its predecessor. This is perhaps a natural conclusion to come to given the fact that seeing said characters interact and battle with one another was not totally brand new this time around, but there seemed to be something missing nonetheless.

Another less-than positive outcome from Age of Ultron was (as always seems to be the case with Avengers movies), the villain. The title “Age of Ultron” seemed to have everything set up for the ultimate bad guy that would bring about massive levels of investment at seeing his comeuppance, yet the tightly managed run-time barely left enough of a reason to truly believe in the legitimacy of his threat. Unlike Loki in Avengers 1, Ultron didn’t turn any of the good guys bad nor did he have a solid and humane reason for being like he was. He was a robot who wanted to fix the world and then, for no reason at all, wanted to destroy everyone on it. His character, like much of the movie’s secondary characters, was one that had to be taken at face value to enjoy and was very much presented in such a way that you couldn’t question a single one of his actions or statements because of the unrealistic answers you’d likely receive. Ultron was ultimately used to develop Paul Bettany’s Vision character.

As was the case with Avengers Assemble/The Avengers, Joss Whedon directed and co-wrote a movie that more than lived up to the hype and ultimately delivered what was expected of it: one of the best movies in the franchise. Whether it surpassed The Avengers is a debate that can be left for another time, but there’s no doubting that Avengers: Age of Ultron was a huge success in terms of its value for money. Age of Ultron managed to be a feast for the eyes while tugging on the heart strings and being an almost overwhelmingly good representation of its genre.

17/24

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