Today I’m counting down the top five BEST Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movies, in my opinion. (SPOILER ALERT)

#5: SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME

This movie follows Peter Parker after getting his identity revealed by Mysterio due to the events in the previous movie, and that restricts his friends from getting into college, so he goes to Doctor Strange for a spell to make everyone forget that he is Spider-Man and that creates a multiversal disaster that brings in villains from across realities. This movie is the best origin story Spider-Man has had and it was nice to finally hear “with great power comes great responsibility” in the MCU . William Dafoe’s “Goblin” was at his very best in this movie, even better than his first appearance in 2002’s “Spider-Man.” This is the first time we have really seen Tom Holland’s Spider-Man struggle and I can see how many would tear up during this movie . The emotion from the first to second half of the movie was great. The cinematography was amazing, even with the CGI being a little wonky at times. The inclusion of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield was amazing and their chemistry with Tom was so natural. It was also a great redemption for Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man, and the role Doctor Strange plays in this movie is perfect. This movie had the best conclusion to a trilogy in the entire MCU.

#4: GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 

This movie follows Peter Quill and the Guardians as he struggles to keep the team together while quietly dealing with his own parental problems. Then he meets his father Ego, the villain of the movie, who he later finds out is a god as old as the universe. This movie was one of the better appearances of the Guardians and Ego was a realistically menacing villain as he knew the things he was doing were bad, like putting a tumor in his wife’s head and attempting to kill his son.  It had lots of emotion just like its predecessor. The movie was very colorful and vibrant which made it very fun to watch and there a lot of scenes in the movie that could be tear jerkers for some fans. James Gunn is one of the best directors in Marvel and it shows in all the films he has directed.

#3: CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR

This movie not only perfectly sets up the future movies of the MCU like “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame,” but it also greatly shows the two sides of “good.” With multiple deaths being on the Avengers’ hands, the government wants control of which missions the Avengers take. While Iron Man and others agree with this, Captain America disagrees and this ends up being a huge conflict for the two sides. It shows that they may be superheroes but that they are also people with goals and ideas. Not to mention the great introductions of new characters Black Panther and Spider-Man into the franchise. Zemo was also a great and realistic villain with an understandable motive and he was one of the few that got what he wanted. Baron Zemo’s family’s death was because of the Avengers so he did not want to destroy the avengers himself but wanted to watch them destroy themselves. So I definitely think Zemo is one of the best villains.

#2:THOR: RAGNAROK     

In the third installment to the Thor franchise it’s more Odin family chaos with Thor’s older sister being the main villain after she is unleashed due to Odin’s death. She then sends Thor and Loki to a far off planet called Sakaar where they put together a team to defeat Hela. This movie really saved the Thor franchise with the first two movies being extremely boring and dull, trying very hard to be dark and serious. This movie is the complete opposite, action packed, funny and extremely vibrant. This movie introduces multiple new characters and is a great showcase of Thor’s power. Thor went from relying on his hammer for every battle to surviving the final battle without it. It was a great arc for the character and a great setup for his future. Hela was a great and brutal villain who had no remorse for her brother (Thor) and would’ve killed him if she could. Pure evil. Valkyrie was an amazing touch to the movie with Korg being one of the most funny characters in the movie. The fight scenes were some of the best in the MCU and this is the best we have ever seen from Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk.

#1: AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR

This movie is the perfect example of “the beginning of the end” and it was. This movie follows Thanos and his journey of collecting all six infinity stones and I like that there wasn’t too much plot armor for the heroes with the movie instantly killing off Loki. This also felt exactly like a comic book with character team ups and interactions I never would have expected. So I honestly think this is the best team up superhero movie of all time with heroes from all corners of the MCU showing up. The CGI was the best and looks better than most of Marvel’s recent projects. The fight scenes were perfectly choreographed and the contributions of each character was amazing. With the movie being a more villain focused film made for a very refreshing take on the genre. Josh Brolin as Thanos is the perfect casting. and for me the ending was pretty unexpected since it was the first time we saw the heroes lose and it was captured perfectly. Thanos sitting and watching the sunset was the perfect ending.