Getting ready for Avengers - Rank the 5 Marvel 'lead-ups'

fenway

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So, as many will do, I've been watching the 5 movies leading up to 'The Avengers'.

I was wondering what others thought of each relative to the others.

My order, Best to worst:

Thor
Iron Man
Captain america
Hulk
IM 2

I didn't dislike IM2, but happened to enjoy it the least of the 5.
I think Iron Man had the unenviable task of being good enough to justify further movies, so while I appreciate its increased importance in this 'vision'. I still give a slight edge to Thor (for me)
What about you?
 
I really liked Iron Man and Thor, thought Iron Man 2 was decent and didn't like Incredible Hulk. I haven't seen Captain America yet.

Iron Man (4) > Thor (4) > Iron Man 2 (3) > Incredible Hulk (2).
 
Personally I would say of those 5:

1. Iron Man

2. Thor

3. Hulk

4. Iron Man 2

5. Captain America
 
Five movies building up to the Avengers...cant wait!!!

1) Thor - watched 4 times

2) Iron Man - Tiebreaker that year with "Dark Knight"

3) Captain America - a lot of heart there!!!

4) Hulk - Why did Ed Norton have to leave?

5) Iron Man 2 - a bit dissapointing

I would really like to see (in the future) movies such as Black Panther, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch & Vision, Antman & Wasp, and othrrs appearing towards Avengers II and III...villains could include Kang, Ultron, Dr. doom, Masters of Evil....one can dream, why not?
 
I'm not giving Marvel films another cent until they finally start listening to fans and give us what we want:

Gerry Conway's Mindworm: The Motion Picture
 
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After having watched Captain America a second time (it doesn't hold up as well as it did the first time), I'd say:

Thor
Iron Man
Captain America - The First Avenger
The Incredible Hulk
Iron Man 2

But I know next year once I've seen Avengers it'll probably end up at the top of the list. Whedon and company would have to REALLY screw up to turn that awesomely amazing trailer into a crappy flick. I'm not expecting The Dark Knight, but I am expecting a good, adventurous summer movie.
 
Iron Man
Captain America
Thor
Hulk
Iron Man 2
 
1.) Captain America - It has some problems, but I still like it more than the others. Loved the WWII stuff, and Evans was great.
2.) Iron Man - Great movie. However, I didn't find it quite as engaging as Captain America.
3.) Thor - I found the earth scenes to be a bit boring, and I'm not a big fan of Natalie Portman. Enjoyed the Asgard scenes however.
4.) The Incredible Hulk - I don't remember a lot of it, bu I recall enjoying it when I saw it in theaters. Much better than the Ang Lee film.
5.) Iron Man 2 - I thought the villains were fairly weak and the story was forgettable. Seemed a bit like filler to me.
 
1. Iron Man- Dark Knight, Spiderman 2, are the only comic flicks better. On par with Batman Begins.

2. Thor- The scenes not on Earth were fantastic. Kat Dennings character was annoying as piss, especially the Facebook quip.

3. Captain America- This movie annoyed me the most. Marvel only has a few chances to have a film that isn't set in modern day New York and I feel like they failed pretty badly with the war scenes in this flick, unlike the Asgard scenes in Thor. When Saving Private Ryan came out it created the cinematic language for a WWII film. Audiences expect WWII to look and feel like that scene where they storm the beach. Every successful WWII film since then has followed that model. There wasn't anything close to that in Captain America. It was all too polished and generic for me. Also, the scene from Ultimates 1 when the soldiers are talking about Cap before they parachute in, and Cap crashes the plane, should have absolutely been in the film.

4. Hulk- This film went too far in the other direction of the first Hulk. Somewhere in between the two would make a solid film.

5. Iron Man 2- Same film as first, from what I can remember the whole race car fight scene was entirely to coincidental for me to believe it happening. The suitcase armor was pretty fantastic though.
 
3. Captain America- This movie annoyed me the most. Marvel only has a few chances to have a film that isn't set in modern day New York and I feel like they failed pretty badly with the war scenes in this flick, unlike the Asgard scenes in Thor. When Saving Private Ryan came out it created the cinematic language for a WWII film. Audiences expect WWII to look and feel like that scene where they storm the beach. Every successful WWII film since then has followed that model. There wasn't anything close to that in Captain America. It was all too polished and generic for me. Also, the scene from Ultimates 1 when the soldiers are talking about Cap before they parachute in, and Cap crashes the plane, should have absolutely been in the film.

I see your point, but to be fair a Captain America movie could never be Saving Private Ryan. Anything close to the storming the beach scene in Saving Private Ryan would have earned it an R rating, which the studio never would have allowed. I appreciate it for being in the tradition of Raiders of the Lost Ark. The ending with Cap crashing the plane doesn't make a whole lot of sense though on a second viewing.
 
1. Iron Man A+
This may be the straight up most entertaining superhero movie ever made based on Robert Downey Junior alone. The plot's meh and Obadiah Stane never really lives up to marquee villain status but the acting jobs of Downey and Jeff Bridges (plus that little helper robot who sucks at his job) make up for it in spades. It's not just the one that got the Avengers ball rolling that makes it the best of them. This, along with the Dark Knight, set the bar for how good comic book adaptations are supposed to be and very few (maybe with the exception of X-Men: First Class) have been able to reach that bar.

2. Thor A +
I was going to give this a slightly lower grade than Iron Man but it's really almost perfect in every way and even improves upon Iron Man. Chris Hemsworth really sells it as Thor and I can't wait to see he and Downey play off one another in the Avengers. Where Iron Man failed this one improved in that Tom Hiddleson as Loki is one of the best movie supervillains in past years apart from the ones in Dark Knight and First Class. I'm ranking it lower because it's too bent on throwing Avengers references in and didn't have nearly as much room to breathe as Iron Man. Also Hawkeye was such a bad cocktease.

3. Captain America A
The thing I like about the Avengers films is that while they've all been huge financial and critical successes they've all taken really brave approaches in their treatment of the source material. Placing the (arguably) most important Avenger in a movie comlete with pulpy camp and fo-Nazis with laser guns entirely set during WWII could have been awful but it payed off greatly. Evans may not have the shear entertainment value that Downey and Hemsworth do but he's the perfect Captain America and played him straight as a genuinly good person who only wants to help people which I don't think has been done properly since Christopher Reeves was Superman. The only thing knocking this one down is the fact that the Red Skull should have been waaay more amazing than he was. But Tommy Lee Jones is the greatest general in history.

4. The Incredible Hulk A-
This one doesn't get nearly enough respect as it should but that's mostly because it's just not as spectacular as the "Big Three's" movies. I think it was a vast improvement over "Hulk" even if I did think Sam Elliot and Jennifer Connely were better Ross's (though William Hurt was great as well). I wish Norton would come back but I think it's for the best as he'd be largely overshadowed by the main characters in the movie. I still think they're saving Blonksy for a possible Masters of Evil chapter in the films which is great because the Hulk/Abomination fight in this one was the best out of all of the "hero v villain showdown" at the end of all of the movies.

5. Iron Man 2 B
To say this was a bit of a dissapointment is an understatement and it's a shame Favreau wasn't allowed to do what he wanted with it (which I always assumed was Mandarin). Micky Rourke was even more dissappointing as Whiplash (That's not really Rourke's fault but more the fault of Iron Man having possibly the ****tiest rogues galleries in comics). Downey was great again and I'd love to see more of Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer. Also, while Renner's cameo as Hawkeye in Thor was absolutely worthless Scarlet Johanssen was by far the best part of this one as the Black Widow.
 
Iron Man
Captain america
Thor
Hulk
Iron Man 2

The drop in quality between Iron Man and Iron Man 2 has me concerned for future projects (Avengers a little less so, but still a little bit).
 
Iron Man
Captain america
Thor
Hulk
Iron Man 2

The drop in quality between Iron Man and Iron Man 2 has me concerned for future projects (Avengers a little less so, but still a little bit).

Yeah but Shane Black being involved gives me a little bit more hope on the quality getting back on track.
 
Iron Man > Thor > Captain America > Iron Man 2 > Incredible Hulk.
 
It's more like if Marvel doesn't meddle like they did with 2, then there's hope.

Yeah it's pretty much that. I'd hope they'd realize why Favreau was driven off but still, they probably won't.
 

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