Ranking Marvel’s 2025 Films From Worst to Best

In 2024, Marvel Studios delivered just one theatrical movie, Deadpool & Wolverine, to the general public for the first time since 2012 when the first Avengers made its long-awaited debut (excluding the COVID-affected year 2020). For 2025, though, the MCU went into overdrive once again delivering three motion pictures to theaters. To boot, all three of these movies opened in just under six months. Even as Marvel Studios tries to whittle down its annual slate of projects, Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts*, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps ensured it was a bustling year at the multiplex for the MCU.

Now that all three movies have been unleashed on the general populace, it’s worth asking how these individual projects did artistically. Ranking this trio of titles from worst to best illuminates the shockingly amateurish shortcomings of some of these productions, but also the creative peaks MCU cinema experienced in 2025.

3) Captain America: Brave New World

Disastrous. There’s simply no other word for how poorly Sam Wilson’s first star vehicle in the MCU went. Captain America: Brave New World is a feature with little creative vigor or personality. Instead, it’s a clip show of past MCU installments, from channeling The Winter Soldier‘s tone to the rehashing of The Incredible Hulk and Eternals lore for central plot points. The end result is a motion picture catastrophically divorced from its lead character. Wilson’s interior world and personality don’t factor into the story whatsoever. He’s frustratingly superfluous to every inch of Brave New World.

Also yawn-worthy is how much timidity Brave New World expresses over being a comic book movie. Drab “realistic” environments dominate the production, while villains show up wearing dimly-colored military gear cribbed from a CBS show. Gone is the grandiose imagery of classic comics, with the screen instead being filled with laughably bad green-screen work. The less said about the wildly miscalculated story points concerning Harrison Ford’s President Ross, the better. Not even actors as superb as Carl Lumbly and Tim Blake Nelson can salvage a movie this poorly executed and devoid of humanity.

2) The Fantastic Four: First Steps

The Fantastic Four: First Steps keeps just missing greatness. There’s something about its buttoned-up tone and hurried narrative that keeps these central characters and their world at too much of a distance from the audience. It’s lovely to see a modern MCU feature that isn’t obsessed with quips, but surely First Steps could’ve afforded a little more pep in its step without lapsing into “He’s right behind me, isn’t he?” territory. Still, those gripes aside, this is a handsomely-made feature with several truly standout elements.

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Vanessa Kirby and Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s performances as The Invisible Woman and The Thing, for instance, are truly exquisite. Ditto Michael Giacchino’s spry score and the immensely pleasing visual aesthetic. Committing to a retro-futuristic world gives First Steps a unique ambiance that’s absolutely enthralling to absorb on a massive screen. Plus, Galactus (thanks largely to Ralph Ineson’s towering acting) is a splendidly intimidating foe. Though it leaves potential on the table, First Steps does make room for great acting and an endearingly audacious personality.

1) Thunderbolts*

It’s true that Thunderbolts* suffers from some common MCU movie flaws. Namely, its camerawork too often opts for cramped close-ups rather than more interesting wider images with precise, multi-layered blocking. There’s also awkwardly executed color grading and certain plotlines that simply fizzle out. On the whole, though, this is one of the franchise’s better entries on many levels. That includes the script’s shocking effectiveness at working as a standalone enterprise despite juggling so many characters from disparate movies and streaming shows.

Hinging the proceedings on Florence Pugh’s Yelena is also an inspired move, since that means this Oscar-nominated legend can absolutely crush her character’s most vulnerable moments. There’s real heart and rawness to Thunderbolts* thanks to its emphasis on character interactions rather than CG-heavy battle scenes. An imaginatively trippy third act and Son Lux’s outstandingly distinctive score just further sweeten this cinematic concoction. After so many Phase Four and Five MCU movies only concerned with nostalgic fan-service cameos, Thunderbolts* and its willingness to get real about mental health struggles is a breath of fresh air. No wonder it’s the pinnacle of the MCU’s 2025 cinematic exploits.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is now playing in theaters.