I saw Captain America: Civil War this week and absolutely loved it. Perhaps it’s because it’s fresh in my mind but right now it’s on top of my Marvel Studios movie rankings. It’s certainly top 3 anyway and I’m more than happy having it at no.1 just now. We’ll see if it stays there after watching it again. There were quite a few slow scenes, which I really didn’t mind at all when watching but I might skip if rewatching it. They do help to give the film some emotional depth though (or more than usual at least). And there are just so many awesome moments in this film. Too many to mention, and I don’t want to spoil too much either. But I think the Russos have absolutely nailed the Marvel tone and action style. Their other film, Captain America: Winter Soldier is my second favourite on the list and I’m just amazed that they made probably my least favourite character into such an amazing film and made me become a big fan of Cap. The action in both films has something very real and natural about it.

But there are so many good points about Civil War: seeing Tony Stark very vulnerable is interesting, I loved the hologram scene with Tony too, Black Panther is awesome in and out of costume, Spider-Man is perfect at last (Marvel Studios have nailed Spidey in their first 15mins better than Sony did in 5 films) and the whole scene at the airport (obviously including Ant-Man’s big moment).

Great to see General Thunderbolt Ross back again. I wonder if they’ll get him turning into the Red Hulk in one film.

Here are my current personal rankings. These are purely my personal favourites and I’m sure are different to many other people’s lists:

  • Captain America: Civil War – for all the reasons mentioned above. So much stuff packed into this film and all expertly done. And possibly the most emotional depth or serious subject matter of any of the films so far too.
  • Captain America: Winter Soldier – Cap was my least favourite character but I came out absolutely loving this movie. The action is amazing, Cap is done brilliantly and I loved the whole situation to do with S.H.I.E.L.D.
  • Avengers – Incredible to see all these characters together for the first time. So many funny and cool moments.
  • Avengers 2: Age of Ultron – There was a fair amount I didn’t like about this movie (mostly to do with Ultron) but there were so many great moments and interactions between the Avengers too. I’ve always been an Avengers fan since the 80s so these films had to be up there.
  • Iron Man – The film that basically started it all. I remember how I felt when I first watched it. That scene where Tony flies outside in his suit for the first time was absolutely spine tingling.
  • Guardians of the Galaxy – I know many people have this as their no.1 Marvel film. I can see why. It’s extremely cool and a lot of fun. I love it too but just not as much as the five films above it on this list.
  • Ant-Man – We’re getting very hard to pick the next few apart now. Ant-Man was very different from a lot of the other films. Felt smaller and more grounded. But I’m a huge fan of Paul Rudd and thought he played it perfectly. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
  • Thor – I’m very impressed they made this work so well. Chris Hemsworth is perfect as Thor. Wasn’t quite so sure about the Anthony Hopkins casting though.
  • Iron Man 3 – A lot of people slag this one off but I really liked it. I could easily have this as high as 6 or 7 on this list. I even really liked the scene where he stumbles across the young boy near the end, which I know a lot of people didn’t like. I did feel a little bit cheated by the Mandarin situation but I get what they were trying to do.
  • Thor 2: The Dark World – Again a very good Thor film but this one was slightly more forgettable than the first one.
  • Captain America – Very well done film but I just wasn’t that into Second World War Cap.
  • Incredible Hulk – I wasn’t sure whether to include this Ed Norton Hulk film in this list or not. But I did and here it is. I actually really enjoyed a lot about it. Just wasn’t sure about the Ed Norton casting though.
  • Iron Man 2 – I’ve only seen it once but this is the only film in the list that I have bad memories of. There was a lot of this film that I really didn’t like. It felt too much like a pre-Iron Man 1 superhero movie. Obviously some cool bits too but not enough to counteract the general vibe.

So many good films to come soon too, including Doctor Strange, Black Panther and Spider-Man. I have a feeling all of them may be quite high on my list too.