A good sequel can make or break a franchise. It can rally an existing fanbase and dive deeper into the lore, or toss out the previous film and essentially restart. Marvel films are no stranger to this phenomenon and may even be experts in the do’s and don’ts of crafting a sequel.
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From both sides of the spectrum — sequels that were so bad that they soured audience opinion on the original to films that reinvigorated a lagging or slowing franchise — these are five Marvel movie sequels that make you completely forget about the original.
5. The Marvels
The Marvels was always going to have a difficult job. It had to follow up on Captain Marvel (2019), a retroactive backstory for Carol Danvers, while taking Kamala Khan from a television series to a mainline Marvel Cinematic Universe film. It has to deal with the consequences of the Blip — thank you, Avengers: Endgame — and shoots itself in the foot by taking away the main relationship that audiences loved between best friends Carol Danvers and Maria Rambeau.
Maria died during the Blip, leaving her daughter Monica Rambeau bitter about Carol’s abandonment during it. The Marvels, while dealing with a forgettable space threat, is about repairing Carol and Monica’s bond while forming a new one with fangirl Kamala.
For what it is and all its challenges, The Marvels isn’t a bad movie. It just isn’t a great one. Despite an after-credits scene showing Kamala Khan assembling a Young Avengers-type squad for the MCU, that squad hasn’t materialized. Kamala Khan hasn’t reappeared in the MCU since, Monica Rambeau is rumored to have been sidelined in Avengers: Doomsday, and Captain Marvel 3 is uncertain.
4. X-Men: Days of Future Past
X-Men: Days of Future Past is a prime example of the opposite. The Fox X-Men franchise is well known for its highs and lows, and X-Men: Days of Future Past was arguably its pinnacle. Deadpool and Wolverine may hit all the right nostalgia notes, but X-Men: Days of Future Past struck a perfect balance between celebrating what audiences loved about the original three movies and striving to add something new to the conversation.
It’s able to adapt a beloved comic storyline, “Days of Future Past”, while feeling narratively seamless as a follow-up to the successful X-Men: First Class movie. Perhaps, more importantly, it was able to follow up a not-so-beloved film, X-Men: The Last Stand. Not only that, it made it irrelevant. Wolverine wakes at the end of the movie in the Xavier mansion, finding Cyclops and Jean still alive, two characters who died tragically in X-Men: The Last Stand.
Unfortunately, X-Men: Days of Future Past may have reinvigorated the franchise in its moments, but its sequels quickly derailed themselves. X-Men: Apocalypse failed to land its narrative beats and introduced the Phoenix — Jean has clearly tapped into it during the final battle with Apocalypse — only to walk it back in the next movie, Dark Phoenix. Still, X-Men: Days of Future Past is up there in the list of great Marvel sequels, especially for X-Men fans who want to remember when the movies were good.
3. Thor: Ragnarok
Under the direction of Taika Waititi, Thor: Ragnarok did the impossible and made Thor cool. The previous installments in the franchise, Thor and Thor: The Dark World, hadn’t landed with audiences and definitely weren’t funny. They hadn’t had a great impact on the larger MCU, except for that one Agents of Shield episode where agents found an Asgardian staff from Thor: The Dark World.
Thor: Ragnarok, however, pivoted the franchise and established a new status quo. It took the characters that audiences loved, mainly Loki, and put them in a situation where it could be humorous and fun. The movie invoked “Planet Hulk” by having Hulk and Thor battle it out in an arena on Sakaar, in addition to Thor’s mythological roots in having to stop Ragnarok. The film introduced fan-favorite Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) and had a compelling villain in Hela (Cate Blanchett), a secret child of Odin who had helped him conquer, only to be buried with Asgard’s true history.
Thor: Ragnarok allowed an easy jumping point for audiences to catch up with Thor and Hulk without having to return to the less-loved original movies. The destruction of Asgard and a new place to settle were threads that would be picked up in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, and the matter of Jane Foster would be picked up again in the fourth Thor installment, Thor: Love and Thunder.
2. Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Can one write about Marvel films without invoking Spider-Man: Brand New Day at this point? The Spider-Man films that preceded it had been hits with the audience, and the story impacted the narrative beyond the immediate film’s runtime. Spider-Man: Far From Home exposed Spider-Man’s secret identity, and Spider-Man: No Way Home killed off Aunt May — which still hurts — and led Peter Parker to make the world forget about who he was, effectively ending both his friendship with Ned and his romance with MJ. Still, Spider-Man: Brand New Day takes the cake easily.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day gave further closure to Aunt May’s death, introduced one of the most iconic mutants into the MCU, and gave audiences what they wanted with a street-level Spider-Man, all while breaking box office records. The sequel is grounded in the aftermath of Spider-Man: No Way Home, but stands apart as its own story. Similar to Thor: Ragnarok, Spidey is not alone in his adventure. The film has an outstanding supporting cast with The Punisher, Hulk, and even Yelena Belova, along with expected returns from MJ and Ned.
The film reinvigorated love for the MCU and reminded everybody why they loved Spider-Man, a fact that’s rarely in doubt. With Jean Grey officially in the universe, the Mutant Saga is ready to take center stage, a move even more impactful than bringing Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield back to the franchise for one movie.
1. Avengers: Endgame
Perhaps when Avengers: Doomsday comes out, it will usurp Avengers: Endgame’s place on this list, but until then, Avengers: Endgame is the movie sequel that makes you forget completely about the original. By the time audiences got to Endgame, it had been seven years since the original Avengers film back in 2012.
The team had gained members, defeated Loki and Ultron, experienced an ideological split strong enough to warrant a civil war, and lost loved ones to the snap. It was a hit with audiences when it originally came out in 2019, and with additional footage tacked onto the end, it became a hit once again in 2026 with Avengers: Endgame: Encore.
The film killed off beloved characters Tony Stark and Natasha Romanoff, sent Steve Rogers back in time to reunite with Peggy Carter — an action that only recently got revealed to have dire consequences —, and passed the mantle of Captain America to Sam Wilson, the moniker’s current holder. Up until the recent film Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Avengers: Endgame was considered the peak of the MCU, the sequel to end all sequels. What was the Avengers (2012) compared to that?
Is there a sequel that should’ve made this list? Let us know in the comments!
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