Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse swung into theaters in December of 2018 and immediately captivated audiences with its revolutionary take on the beloved superhero genre and breathtaking animation style. Directed by the talented trio of Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman, and Bob Persichetti, this animated masterpiece defied conventions and soared to unprecedented heights.

The film successfully introduces the concept of the multiverse and seamlessly weaves together the stories of various Spider-People from different dimensions. At its core, the film follows the journey of Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), a teenager grappling with newfound powers in the wake of the death of his universe’s Spider-Man. His world is spun even more out of control as he meets alternate universe heroes that make him question if he is ready for his new responsibilities.

Accolades poured in for the film, with the crowning achievement being the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. This recognition affirmed not only the technical brilliance of the animation but also the emotional depth and storytelling prowess that elevated Into the Spider-Verse beyond the status of a mere superhero film.

As first time viewers delve into the intricate web of dimensions and the extraordinary journey of Miles, it becomes clear that Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is more than a cinematic experience – it’s a groundbreaking achievement that redefined expectations for animated storytelling in the West and left an indelible mark on the superhero genre.

In this Movie List from The Film Magazine, we are highlighting the 10 best moments from the film that define why Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse continues to enthral audiences, and we will explore its legacy as one of the best comic book movies of all time.

Follow @thefilmagazine on X (Twitter).

10. Welcome to the Spider-Verse

This is how you start a movie.

The rising intensity of the opening music. The glitching of the studio logos. The flashes of graffiti. Then blam: the intro fully kicks in and we are treated to the visual feast that is this movie. An explosion of colours and funky graphics inform us that Into the Spider-Verse is unlike any other comic book movie in that it is unashamed of its genre.

Following this is the opening monologue from Peter Parker (don’t get too attached), beginning the recurring “Alright, let’s do this one last time” gag. Peter, voiced by Chris Pine, gives a brief rundown of things most audiences will already know, narrating his life and the responsibilities that come with being Spider-Man. Yes, we’re technically seeing another screen Spider-Man origin story, but the writers make this one concise and fresh. This self-awareness lends itself nicely to some humorous moments, such as detailing the smaller Spider-Man duties, like having his own cereal or recording a Christmas album. 

Furthermore, there are plenty of references to Spider-Man in pop culture for fans to feast on. Did anyone expect them to reference the abominable Spider-Man popsicle? The animators even draw comparison to other Spidey iterations on screen, like the upside down kiss, the train scene in Spider-Man 2, and the legendary dance scene from Spider-Man 3.

It is the film’s thesis statement: funny, fast-paced and visually spectacular. The perfect introduction to one of the most unique comic book movies. Simultaneously, these opening 2 minutes are a celebration of all things Spider-Man, and a reminder why the iconic hero has endured for so long on page, on screen, and in wider popular culture.

Recommended for you: 10 Best Moments from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man Trilogy

9. Meet Miles

A film is arguably only as good as its characters, and a film filled with fantastical Spider-people could have a hard time making its protagonist stand out. Within seconds of meeting Miles Morales, its clear audiences have a beloved hero to root for.

The first time we see Miles, he is caught up in his passions: artwork and music. His singing is gradually drowned out by his parents calling his name. He is pulled out of his daydream and into an all too relatable scenario – a teenager late for school. 

This quickly transitions to a high-energy montage showcasing Miles’ daily life, complete with the vibrant backdrop of Brooklyn. We are immersed in the sights and sounds of Miles’ world as they see a new side to him. As he walks through his neighbourhood, he is cool and approachable. His effortless charm makes him instantly likable. The dynamic animation, coupled with a hip-hop soundtrack, creates a sense of kinetic energy that mirrors the pulse of Miles’ urban environment. As Miles parades through the streets, leaving stickers of his artwork, he trips and is caught by his dad, a police officer. We are reminded that, despite his coolness, he’s still an awkward kid. These relatable struggles form the necessary strong connections between Miles and each of us.

These first moments with Miles do more for the film’s central character than a lot of comic book movies manage to do in their entire runtime. Miles’ humour and occasional awkwardness make him endearing. He embodies the youthful enthusiasm and idealism associated with adolescence, making him a perfect vessel for audiences diving into this larger than life story.

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!

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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.

Recommended for you: Once More with Feeling – 10 More of the Best Remakes

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

The Marvels (2023)
Director: Nia DaCosta
Screenwriters: Nia DaCosta, Megan McDonnell, Elissa Karasik
Starring: Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, Iman Vellani, Zawe Ashton, Gary Lewis, Park Seo-joon, Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur, Saagar Shaikh, Samuel L. Jackson

Previously on the MCU…

In Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers became the most powerful woman alive when she absorbed the cosmic energy of an exploding alien reactor. In ‘Wandavision’, astronaut Monica Rambeau gained the power to manipulate the electromagnetic spectrum when she passed through a barrier of chaos magic. In ‘Ms Marvel’, teenage superhero fangirl Kamala Khan’s inert extra-dimensional mutant powers were unlocked by a magical bangle passed down through her family. Now…

When three superheroes with light-based powers mysteriously start switching places across the universe, Carol Danvers (Brie Larson), Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) and Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) must team up to find the root cause of their conundrum and stop fanatical Kree warlord Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton) from doing untold damage to the universe.

The debate about whether it’s a good move for buzzworthy indie directors to make the leap to superhero blockbusters so early in their careers continues. Cop Car’s Jon Watts managed to keep some of his directorial voice intact when he swung into the MCU with Spider-Man: Homecoming, ditto Taika Waititi taking up Thor’s hammer straight after Hunt for the Wilderpeople, but other filmmakers like Cate Shortland (going from Berlin Syndrome to Black Widow) and Chloé Zhao (following Nomadland with Eternals) have struggled to make their superhero movies stand out. Nia DaCosta (previously behind the Candyman reboot) seems to find herself somewhere in the middle of that scale, bringing plenty of personality to her story but perhaps having to temper her darker impulses to fit the studio brief.

The sheer charm of the central trio’s dynamic makes you forgive the film a lot of sins. This is what you’re watching for, to see this unconventional surrogate family unit – an absentee aunt, a grieving daughter and an over-enthusiastic younger sister who just wants to be included – puzzle out their predicament and support each other through their trials. The problem is that exactly what Captain Marvel has been doing since her movie debut, referenced in brief flashbacks and confronted directly at this film’s close, sounds a lot more interesting than the film we are actually watching. Rather than grappling with the responsibility of what to do with your near-unlimited power, seeing her make what will prove to be disastrous decisions that impact the lives of billions of extra-terrestrials, more often than not we’re hurtling around the universe searching for space trinkets for undefined reasons. 

There are some admittedly eye-catching sci-fi vistas on display, with glittering futuristic cities and spectacularly collapsing planetary bodies aplenty. There is also, disappointingly, still the odd uninspiring brawl that amounts to repetitive punching with added fireworks, usually in pretty featureless added-in-post environs. 

The action highlight is unquestionably the bravura fight sequence in the first act that is given its lifeblood and rhythm by sterling work from editors Catrin Hedström and Evan Schiff, hilariously inopportunely zipping the three Marvels in and out of their brawl taking place at three different points in the galaxy every time they use their powers. This unexpectedly not only puts the Khan family and their Jersey City home in the firing line but also keeps the powered trio physically apart and unable to effectively coordinate a little while longer.

You can’t really accuse DaCosta and co for playing it safe, mostly because of how prominently they feature multiple Flerkens (chaotic alien cats that can consume just about anything with their disguised tendrilled maws). The film also finds room for not one but two musical, or at least musical-inspired sequences to break up its more generic action. The more self-aware of these scenes that references an infamous piece of bad pop culture is the better and most memorable of the two by far and will doubtless be doing the rounds on social media as soon as The Marvels is released digitally.

This is one of the funnier Marvel movies, but most of the humour comes from the performances (especially Vellani’s insatiable excitement levels) rather than what was written on the page. The script could have used another pass for sure, and it contains very little that might be considered quotable. The warm interplay of Kamala and her protective family, the undoubted heart and highlight of her solo show, is always welcome, plus it’s amusing that they gave her parents (Zenobia Shroff and Mohan Kapur, both great value) more to do in this than Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury.

The Marvels has probably the most boring villain since we completely lost Christopher Eccleston behind his prosthetics to play Malekith. Zawe Ashton’s Dar-Benn is literally carrying around her Kree uber-bastard predecessor Ronan the Accuser’s hammer and making foreboding pronouncements, sneering through metal-capped teeth completely straight-faced without the luxury of a Star-Lord dancing to puncture her pomposity. We know she’s after a pair of magical MacGuffins and she wants to destroy a sizeable portion of the universe (which is bad) in order to save her own dying world (which is goodish), but she has no other personality or nuance to make her feel like anything more than a driver of plot.

You do wonder how much this movie was whittled down in the edit and whether DaCosta would have wanted to delve further into Carol’s costly mistakes and dwell on the dark implications of godlike power a little more in addition to delivering a fun space romp driven by sparky interplay between three gifted female performers. As it is, The Marvels is a decent enough time at the movies that doesn’t quite come together as a satisfying whole. Fans won’t need to be told to stick around during the credits for a couple of pleasant surprises. 

Score: 16/24

Recommended for you: MCU Marvel Cinematic Universe Movies Ranked

It’s no secret that Marvel have had a monopoly on the cinema industry for well over a decade now. The superhero franchise, boasting its critically acclaimed (and extremely profitable) cinematic universe, employs a wide variety of techniques that keep audiences around the globe returning to their closest big screen with each and every release. But no strategy gets people quite as excited as the incorporation of cameo appearances from fan favourite characters and actors. This inclusion has been a staple of superhero cinema more or less since the beginning, with examples like Tony Stark in The Incredible Hulk in place to tease the next slew of releases, but it has undoubtedly been revolutionised since the 2021 release of Spider-Man: No Way Home.

What occurred in the fallout of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield making their highly anticipated return was nothing short of pioneering. Fans gathered far and wide on release day, brimming with enthusiasm in the hopes of seeing not one, not two, but three Spider-Men swinging, crawling and crime-fighting together. Unsurprisingly, the film was met with praise from critics and fans alike.

The Guardian, whilst carefully avoiding spilling the beans, referred to the film as “all very meta and self-referential; screenwriters Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers hoover up memorable lines from past movies and serve them with a flourish and an exaggerated wink to the audience. It’s also a good deal of fun.” Just how exaggerated are we talking?

Meanwhile, rogerebert.com writer Brian Tallerico alluded to No Way Home’s big surprise by asserting: “there’s more going on here than the previews would have you believe.” He went on to say: “More than any movie in the MCU that I can remember, it made me want to dig out my old box of Spider-Man comic books. That’s a heroic accomplishment.”

Above all else, the numbers don’t lie. No Way Home brought in just under $2 billion for Sony and Marvel, a staggering figure postulating the film as one of the highest-grossing ever.

Approved by critics, lauded by fans, bringing in a king’s ransom. Cue the light bulb moment for filmmakers everywhere.

Since No Way Home, embracing cameos has become a leading approach for a fair share of films within the same genre. 2023 saw the long-awaited release of The Flash, the thirteenth instalment of long-time Marvel rivals DC’s own extended universe. Following various delays, ranging from director changes to COVID-19 to the controversy surrounding its lead, the film carried with it plenty of pressure. Cast alongside Ezra Miller was a returning Michael Keaton, reprising his role as Bruce Wayne/Batman after over 30 years. Unlike the Maguire and Garfield case of No Way Home, Keaton’s involvement wasn’t kept secret, however this didn’t prevent the veteran actor from taking a significant slice of The Flash’s overall appeal.

What director Andy Muschietti didn’t reveal prematurely was the host of surprise cameos that would feature in the film’s third act. Adam West, Christopher Reeve, George Reeves. These three actors share three commonalities: they all played DC superheroes. They’ve all passed away. They’re all in The Flash. In a brief but memorable sequence near the film’s conclusion, the aforementioned actors (through the magic of CGI) come to life onscreen in the hopes of thrilling viewers much like No Way Home did. The brevity of the scene suggests that this inclusion came rather late in the film’s development, most likely a swift response to Marvel’s monumental success two years prior. It’s important to note that this is all speculation, but it doesn’t take an Avenger to see it.

Yet there’s a key difference here. None of the surprise cameos have any dialogue, any direct involvement in the film’s overarching narrative, and barely any screen time at all. It feels like a cheap attempt at recreating the charm of a better film. And, taking into account that a majority of these actors have passed on, it also feels exceedingly insensitive.

This is a sentiment shared over at rogerebert.com, with writer Matt Zoller Seitz making reference to the scene in his review of the film: “And rather than find an artful, modest way to repurpose library footage from earlier adaptations of DC comics, the actors who originally played them, many of whom died long ago, have been scanned (or rebuilt) as vaguely three-dimensional but uncanny grotesques.”

Considering the lack of… everything in these cameos, why include them at all? Was there a fear that the story couldn’t stand on its own? Were the writers under too much pressure to live up to Marvel’s supremely high standard? Or was this a dreadfully sleazy attempt at cashing in on the hype?

If the latter is true, director Andy Muschietti and company have failed miserably. So far (as of 14th July 2023), The Flash has grossed a lowly $262.6 million against its $200 million budget, which coincidentally, is the exact same budget Sony and Marvel allocated for Spider-Man: No Way Home. In addition, the film, and its cameo sequence in particular, were received to every filmmaker’s worst nightmare: mixed opinion.

The Flash isn’t the only superhero film to exploit the new-age cameo, Sony’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, despite being well received, also features a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Donald Glover, supplied with a one-line quip and no more. Less controversial, but also similarly useless. The third Deadpool film will resurrect Hugh Jackman’s Logan, but only time will tell if this move was made with sincerity or a lack of ulterior motive.

It seems this trend is, for now, here to stay. So far, none have succeeded in matching No Way Home in any department, and there’s a couple of reasons why. For the MCU’s third Spider-Man instalment, the fans and their wishes were paramount. Maguire and Garfield stealthily signed on to the film while it was halfway through production, as a result of heavy anticipation for their returns. Importantly, both actors signed on only after being assured that their involvement would be integral to the film, and not simply to bolster the film’s unique selling point. These factors are void in films like The Flash. Aside from Keaton, none of the cameos amount to anything more than a brief eyebrow-raising moment, abutted by a series of half-baked CGI fight scenes and an absence of decency.

This shortage of genuineness suggests fans and their enthusiasm are sadly being exploited for a quick buck. Whilst No Way Home took the cameo craze to an unprecedented level, it also inspired a shedload of dime a dozen copycats, indolent scriptwriting and an overt presentation of what cinema goers already knew about big budget filmmaking: profit is the first concern.

The Flash’s humble returns suggest audiences are at least becoming privy to this and are making it known in response that they aren’t satisfied. Superhero films are often renowned for their heart, and when such heart plays hooky, someone must be held accountable.

Written by Ibrahim Azam

You can support Ibrahim in the following places:

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Sony’s Spider-Man (2002) is unquestionably one of the forefathers of superhero cinema as we know and love it to be, and Sony’s further Spider-focused films (plus several major spin-offs) are some of the most popular and influential blockbusters of the 21st century.

In this edition of Ranked, we at The Film Magazine are counting down each Spider-Man Universe feature-length theatrical release from worst to best, judging each inclusion by its own artistic merits, critical reception, and importance to its genre and cinema as a whole.

Follow @thefilmagazine on Twitter.

13. Morbius (2022)

Morbius Review

Very little was expected of Sony’s Spider-villain-verse entry Morbius when it was revealed to be hitting our screens in 2020, but when it finally arrived after mass delays the low bar for “acceptable” superhero/villain cinema was… barely met.

Jared Leto worked hard to carve someone interesting out of a character with little by way of development, and the pacing was rapid (which is particularly impressive as a lesser Spider-Man entry), but Morbius ultimately felt like the best moments from other films thumb-tacked into a CGI mess that left said moments absent of meaning or purpose.

A lot seemed to happen in this 2022 film, yet very little gave us a reason to care for the characters, and the feature’s almost complete absence of threat only compounded this issue. It would be a stretch to claim that Morbius was trying to say anything about anything – it certainly wasn’t allegorical of past or present human issues like most vampire films, nor presenting a particularly obvious audience fantasy like other superhero movies – and it did little-to-nothing to make it look, sound or feel unique within its franchise.

Like Venom before it, Morbius was a film that seemed to be made for audiences of the mid-2000s, and yet unlike Venom it lacked all of the charisma needed to carry its more corny or less inspired moments. Even the post-credits’ mildly exciting previews of other films to come couldn’t save this one from the title of “worst Spider-Man movie”.

12. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was bad. The sad, grim reality is that this Marc Webb-directed film was so badly received critically and at the box office that Sony finally caved in and brought Marvel Studios back to the table, in effect admitting their own inadequacies as regards their treatment of the character and thus sacrificing some of their multi-million-dollar profits to rival studio Disney in an attempt to fix their mistakes.

The major issue with The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is its woeful screenplay, written by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci of Transformers, Star Trek and The Mummy (2017) fame. In this fifth live-action franchise entry, focus shifts from a sub-par, by-the-books plot surrounding Peter Parker (and particularly his on-and-off-again relationship) to the life of his hard-working Aunt May, the reason apparently being to ensure Sally Field got her share of the run-time, the amount of space given to prominent comic book characters elsewhere in the film sacrificed as a result, the run-time dragging on to a tiresome 2 hours and 22 minutes.

Despite featuring a stellar cast including star Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Sally Field, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Felicity Jones and Paul Giamatti, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 features some of the most ridiculous cases of over-acting in the entire franchise, every highly paid professional seemingly acknowledging the standard of movie they were in even ahead of it being released. This, mixed with a woeful narrative, worse dialogue and a Spider-Man 3 level problem of filling up the movie with characters for an expected “Spider-verse”, make The Amazing Spider-Man 2 one of this beloved franchise’s certifiably lesser releases.

11. The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

A considerable improvement on The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is the film that preceded it, The Amazing Spider-Man, a feature that made a new-look Spider-Man franchise feel viable once again; Marc Webb’s inexperienced but grounded take on the web-slinger being refreshing enough to earn the film a number of favourable reviews and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man a number of fans.

Inevitably, the creative decision to just re-do the Peter Parker Spider-Man origin story we’d seen just 10 years prior (that’s like seeing Iron Man rebooted in 2018…) was not the smartest idea, and even though director Marc Webb and company managed to effectively avoid revisiting a lot of the tropes established in Sam Raimi’s franchise, the dye was cast for what would come to be diminishing returns for the series.

A more sarcastic, some would say millennial, take on Peter Parker was the film’s shining beacon, but the studio’s obvious hesitation to try anything entirely new was evident, this 2012 release feeling every bit as much of a part of the preceding decade as its Sam Raimi-directed brethren, only with less charm and less to offer in terms of visual awe, unique scenarios and social commentary.

The Amazing Spider-Man makes for a good, although mostly irrelevant, watch; one that does just enough to keep you engaged but never once takes a stride towards creating something special.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)
Director: James Gunn
Screenwriter: James Gunn
Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Bradley Cooper, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Vin Diesel, Sean Gunn, Chukwudi Iwuji, Will Poulter, Elizabeth Debicki, Maria Bakalova, Sylvester Stallone, Nathan Fillion, Linda Cardellini, Asim Chaudhry, Mikaela Hoover

How many trilogies really stick the landing?

In 2018, writer-director James Gunn was unceremoniously fired by Disney after some bad taste jokes from his early days as a comedian were unearthed on Twitter by right-wing trolls who objected to Gunn’s outspoken political views. Following a passionate campaign from fans and Gunn’s friends and colleagues, a year later he was brought back on board at Marvel to finish what he started. If you love this particular bunch of a-holes, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is going to be an emotional one.

Scoundrel-turned-superhero Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) is in a dark place after making a mistake that doomed half the universe and lost him the love of his life, Gamora (Zoë Saldaña). The Guardians were restored following the defeat of Thanos, but a different Gamora – one who doesn’t even like Peter let alone love him – now stands in his paramour’s place. When an attack on the Guardian home base of Knowhere leaves one of their number mortally injured, the team set out on a quest that brings them into conflict with mad scientist the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji) and causes Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper) to confront his traumatic past.

What James Gunn has been hiding in plain sight up to now is that the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy is really about Rocket above anyone else. This is his journey, one that takes him from a bad start in life to being a full and happy person with people in his life he can trust and rely upon.

Much like Gollum in The Lord of the Rings, if Rocket didn’t work as a VFX creation, then nothing else in this instalment (where he’s driving pretty much all the action) would either. Thankfully, the time-lapse transition between a terrified caged raccoon and Rocket’s older, cynically twitching nose that opens the film puts those doubts immediately to rest. Gunn’s empathy for all living things, but particularly those who have been mistreated, is what gives this story its power, and Bradley Cooper’s pitch-perfect vocal performance has the strength to make you feel all the feelings. Just as a raccoon crying over his lost tree friend made us shed tears in 2014, his relationship with his fellow abused creatures brings on the waterworks all over again here with some almost unbearably intense scenes in captivity. We don’t get to spend all that long with young Rocket’s animal experiment friends Lylla the otter (Linda Cardellini), Teefs the walrus (Asim Chaudhry) and Floor the rabbit (Mikaela Hoover), but we quickly grow to love them just as deeply he did.

This does have the feel of a victory lap, bringing everything full circle and giving everyone their time to shine. Everyone loves the literal-thinking lunk Drax (Dave Bautista) and towering tree-man Groot (Vin Diesel) but it is stoic cyborg Nebula (Karen Gillan) and eager-to-please empath Mantis (Pom Klementief), previously both pretty one-note, who end up being the undisputed highlights here. The former’s gruff and tough personality has gradually been eroded over her time with the Guardians, and the rare occasion when she lets down her guard and lets emotion overwhelm her really hits hard. The latter is the heart of the team, gets most of the funniest lines, and her unique power helps her and her friends out of a few tough spots in some unexpected ways.

Newcomers to this universe include Borat 2‘s Maria Bakalova as Cosmo the talking psychic cosmonaut dog who has an adorable film-long argument with space pirate Kraglin (Sean Gunn), Will Poulter as genetically engineered gold man-child Adam Warlock, and Chukwudi Iwuji as the High Evolutionary, arguably the most evil and irredeemable bastard in the galaxy who will mutilate, torture and thoughtlessly dispose of countless living things all in service of his delusional mission to create a “perfect society”.

The action is all very polished and exciting, and because this is the team’s last ride it all feels a lot more dangerous for our heroes somehow. A fight in a corridor in the final act might be the finest couple of minutes of action in the MCU to date – not only is it meticulously choreographed, ludicrously entertaining and set to a killer Beastie Boys track, but it lets the team work in violent harmony and gives every member of the team a chance to showcase their special abilities, each getting their own big character moment at the same time.

James Gunn has always happily leaned into the sillier visual and conceptual aspects of space opera, and rarely have such strange ideas been more convincingly brought to life as here. From a bio-formed space station seemingly made of meat to learning that the city of Knowhere (built inside the skull of a dead space god) can actually be driven to a new location, and even to a mirror image “Counter-Earth” populated by humanoids forcefully evolved from lower lifeforms, big swings are taken. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is an epic, galaxy-spanning quest, but all this imagination vitally remains in service of a very intimate story. 

A minor criticism that could be levelled at this particular Guardians iteration is that the soundtrack isn’t as memorable or pitch-perfect as in the previous two films, with John Murphy’s (Sunshine, The Suicide Squad) original score extensively incorporating choral singing provoking a stronger reaction than the vast majority of the needle-drops. Similarly, the final act of the film, after over two hours of putting every Guardian through one life-threatening incident after another, keeps piling on the jeopardy to an almost absurd degree even when it is already fit to burst.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 brings this unlikely team’s journey to an immensely satisfying and appropriately epic conclusion. It is spectacular to look at and really funny, but it is also easily one of the darkest stories in the Marvel universe and does not pull its punches to make its pretty explicit discussion of abuse and animal testing any more palatable. We may see some of these characters again down the road, but for now it’s a fond farewell to them all, especially the acerbic Racoon who just wanted to be loved.

Score: 21/24

Recommended for you: MCU Marvel Cinematic Universe Movies Ranked

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)
Director: Peyton Reed
Screenwriter: Jeff Loveness
Starring: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Jonathan Majors, Kathryn Newton, Michelle Pfeiffer, Michael Douglas, William Jackson Harper, Katy M O’Brian, David Dastmalchian, Bill Murray

In 1964, Kang the Conqueror made his debut in Marvel comics, a year after appearing as another character entirely (it’s complicated, but basically Marvel writers later decided an Egyptian Pharaoh villain was another version of the time-travelling terror). After menacing The Avengers and the Fantastic Four for decades on the page in some of the most convoluted and regularly ret-conned stories around, he finally made his live-action debut in the Season 1 finale of ‘Loki’, hiding at the nexus of all realities as He Who Remains, portrayed by Jonathan Majors. His demise was one of the events that cracked open the Marvel Multiverse, and now Majors returns as Kang proper to clash with the MCU’s seemingly most insignificant super-family. Got all that? Good.

The newfound comfortable existence of Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) as a well-liked world-saver plugging his memoir is shaken when Janet Van Dyne’s (Michelle Pfeiffer) time trapped in the Quantum Realm comes back to haunt her. Threat to all reality, Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors), who has been banished to the microverse, brings the Lang/Van Dyne family – including Scott’s partner Hope Van Dyne/Wasp (Evangeline Lilly), Scott’s now teenage daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton) and Dr Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) – to the Quantum Realm in order to use their size-changing technology to escape his prison.

In Ant Man and the Wasp, during our brief sojourn to the Quantum Realm to rescue Michelle Pfeiffer, a lot was made of the fact that it “melts your mind”, implying something pretty psychedelic and out-there. There are certainly some surreal vistas and weird lifeforms inspired by micro photography, especially when our tiny heroes first plummet into a tinier world, but they could have definitely gone further with the brain-melting, especially in movie with such an attention-grabbing title as Quantumania. 

The denizens of the Quantum Realm are an assortment of interesting-looking creatures you might find on the covers of pulp sci-fi magazines in the 1950s, ranging from living broccoli to anthropomorphic glowing goo to Bill Murray. Then there’s the new secondary villain, android M.O.D.O.K, who looks absolutely terrible and completely breaks your suspension of disbelief whenever he’s on screen, though that is partly because they’re trying to do the impossible and adapt his particularly goofy design from the comics faithfully into live-action.

Paul Rudd remains the lovable core of this corner of the MCU, and as well as hearing his thoughts on his fellow Avengers out loud (“I was just happy to meet a raccoon who could talk”) this time Scott Lang is really put through the wringer. There’s a warm chemistry between Scott, Hope and Cassie, here recast as Kathryn Newton (Freaky), who regularly threatens to steal the show with her sheer moxie. It’s also refreshing that Cassie has to learn to effectively use her powers very much through trial and error – the five years she was on her own post-Thanos snapping half the universe away was used productively and she has a gifted scientific mind, but she has never had to test this technology in a fight before. Michelle Pfeiffer is on (admittedly committed) exposition duty for much of the movie, while Michael Douglas keeps a straight face with his hands stuck in a couple of slugs to fly a quantum spaceship. 

But this is Kang’s or, more accurately, Jonathan Majors’ movie. This particular saga of the MCU’s ongoing story has taken some time to gain traction, but the arrival of this particular big bad could very well accelerate things. A time-travelling world-conqueror whose many variants from other timelines have caused temporal and inter-dimensional chaos, Kang creates an oppressive regime within the Quantum Realm. He desires to correct the mistakes of his other selves and ultimately escape the tyranny of time itself. Majors is a charisma supernova and is able to convey with a gesture what many of his contemporaries would struggle to evoke with a monologue, not to mention that his physique makes him a credible threat even without his advanced weaponry.

The visual effects work on this movie, M.O.D.O.K aside, is certainly more polished than on Love and Thunder, which makes you think the VFX artists were given more ample time to complete the considerable task that was being asked of them. It’s all very bright and colourful, and the action scenes are dynamic, but shots can feel a bit busy and hard to pick out the details that really matter; a problem that will only be exacerbated in post-converted 3-D, which is disappointingly starting to re-surface with another ridiculously successful Avatar instalment.

The humour in Marvel movies often receives criticism for being incessant and interfering with dramatic moments landing with real impact, and the same could be argued here. Thankfully, Rudd, Newton and even Douglas demonstrate good enough timing to make sure most of the jokes about their family’s crazy science projects and tendency to land in jail really hit home. As fun as the film’s frankly ridiculous final stretch is, for a time it looks like they’re going for something pretty bold and grounded for a change before chickening out last-minute, which is a shame.

The main problem with Quantumania is that it is trying to be two very different movies that don’t really fit together. On the one hand you’ve got a fun, Fantastic Voyage-meets-Star Wars family sci-fi, and on the other you’ve got a deathly serious Kang origin story following a tortured time-travelling mass-murderer that’s like one of the darker ‘Doctor Who‘ stories. Given that he has apparently killed a lot of Avengers in other universes, Kang understandably underestimates Scott, his family and their capabilities to his cost, and it’s this perhaps misplaced faith in his own power and the fact that he’s just a man using technology from the future and not a space god that may ultimately make him more interesting in upcoming films than Thanos was. 

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is OK, but continues the slightly underwhelming, slow downward trend of the post-Endgame Marvel Cinematic Universe. At least it shows some imaginative flourishes and compellingly sets up the many faces of the next villain big enough to prompt the Avengers to reform and save the universe once more.

Score: 15/24

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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Tenoch Huerta’s Namor is the antagonist of the 2nd Black Panther movie, threatening war with Wakanda. Over the course of the film we learn that he is a mutant. Ever since Disney’s acquisition of X-Men rights holders 20th Century Fox, it has seemed inevitable that mutants would arrive into the MCU at some point. With a proposed mutant-centric film in the works, along with Deadpool 3 starring Ryan Reynolds as X-Men franchisee Deadpool and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, within the MCU continuity, there’s going to be even more speculation on who will also join the universe.

It is almost inevitable that the clawed badass Wolverine will be present in the MCU moving forward even if Hugh Jackman doesn’t stay on in the role. It’s also a given that Professor Charles Xavier and Magneto will come into the fold. As such, we won’t be speculating on them. Instead, in this Movie List from The Film Magazine, we will be offering up some different mutants to see in the MCU moving forward, some familiar and some new to movie audiences, for this: the 11 Mutants the MCU Should Introduce.

Follow @thefilmagazine on Twitter.

1. Kitty Pryde | Shadowcat

Despite being an enduringly popular comic book staple since “X-Men” legend Chris Claremont created her, Katherine “Kitty” Pryde has yet to get her due on screen.

Despite two appearances in the original Fox film franchise, with Elliot Page filling the role, she was always relegated to a secondary character, adept at running through walls and sending Wolverine back in time.

The reality is, her ability to phase through matter is visually striking and opens up fun action, and her history as a Jewish-American offers ample opportunity to explore persecution and prejudice, something that has been key to the X-Men from the start.

She also has an inter-dimensional pet dragon called Lockheed, and has at times joined the Guardians of the Galaxy, so her potential to become a key member of the universe is all there to be used. It helps (given that Marvel has been taking steps to offer better representation) that Kitty is a bisexual character.

Who should play them? Jane Levy.

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2. Akihiro | Daken

Daken is the mutant son of Wolverine and a certified badass in his own right. He has all the same abilities as his old man, only with added pheromone manipulation.

Like most of the MCU, he has a history of daddy issues which makes him ripe for exploration. Daken blames Wolverine for the death of his mother, Itsu, and how his not being present in young Daken’s life meant it was filled with hardship. This sort of tasty drama could make him the natural successor to Loki’s conflicted baddie role.

Given the popularity of Logan, and the slim chances of Hugh Jackman doing another long-term stint as Wolverine post-Deadpool 3, it might be worth Daken and X-23 going head to head over their father’s mantle.

Daken has also taken a more heroic role over time, offering a long term story arc of redemption for whomever takes on the role, something the MCU has also proven fond of.

Who should play them? Honour Jackman’s legacy by casting an unknown, preferably someone with a history of martial arts.