Worst to Best Marvel Studios Releases of 2021
- Zebediah Oke
- Dec 29, 2021
- 6 min read
Updated: Jan 6, 2022
We reflect on Marvel’s releases for the year and rate them from worst to best.
Falcon and the Winter Soldier
One of the greatest virtues of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the immensity of its imagination. From warping Scandinavian Gods into alien superbeings that reside on the fictional flat planet of Asgard in Thor, to the dysfunctional, felons-turned-family whose leader is the child of a sentient planet in The Guardians of the Galaxy, the MCU has grown to acquire the space (and the budget) to flesh out some truly outlandish ideas.
Falcon and the Winter Soldier however, displays none of that immenseness. Which would be fine–if the ground-level examination it did try to make was compelling or purposeful. Upon it’s conclusion–I’m not entirely sure what the show was trying to achieve. I’m not convinced that Sam Wilson is, or will be, a good Captain America. I’m also not convinced that he even should be. And most of all, I’m not entirely sure the show knows.
Falcon and the Winter Soldier suffers heavily from some of the worst pitfalls in the superhero genre, chief of which is how superheroes preserve a failing and broken world. Where the film’s primary antagonist is radically imagining a new reality after the traumatic consequences of ‘the blip’ (and, like our heroes have done for 23 movies, is willing to resort to violence to achieve those aims), the series finds no convincing way to find fault with her reasoning. It backs her into a corner where she promptly falls down the narrative trapdoor of the “agreeable-villain-descends-into-gratuitous-violence-and-now-they’re-irredeemable” trope, which they might have gotten away with–if the white dude who replaced Steve Rogers as Captain America didn’t descend into the same pit of gratuitous violence only to be redeemed in the show’s final act. Falcon and the Winter Soldier tries it’s best to be political despite not having a political compass beyond “can’t we all just get along?”. It also tries to make moral musings whilst having an extremely tenuous grasp of morality. But hey, Bucky and Sam get a few good quips in with one another, so that must be alright, right?
As entertaining as it was, What If’s issues are a two-pronged crime: the first being an undesired selection of hypotheticals and the second being an uninteresting execution of them. What If... T'Challa Became a Star-Lord? is a refreshing exception to the rule, but most of the anthology’s stories felt flat, rushed or thematically shaky (Doctor Strange isn’t in love with Christine Palmer in the 2016 film and while it doesn’t require a Bilesian feat of mental gymnastics, it does ask us to consider a hypothetical scenario that feels too detached from the canon we know). The results are a series of vignettes which are fun, but feel disjointedly assembled. (And to be honest, I’m mostly putting it here because Party Thor is such a joke of an episode.)
Loki
Much of Loki’s success can be attributed to it being responsible for canonically unleashing the multiverse on the MCU–undoubtedly paving the way for more interesting and unorthodox upcoming projects. How we arrive at this monumental point in the series finale, however, is less than satisfying. Riddled with tepid reveals and lulls in pacing, Loki ends strong but stumbles its way there.
Shang Chi and the Ten Rings is my least favourite film of 2021. What should’ve been seamlessly choreographed fight scenes are mostly chopped-up, computer assisted action shots that render its characters blurry. Shang Chi’s (Simi Lui) personal hero’s journey is let down by a blankness of delivery whilst the comedic relief of his best friend Katy (Nora Lum) is more miss than hit. The story feels rushed and unthreaded in places which are further punctuated by tedious flashbacks meant to deepen our perspective into our characters’ histories. This takes away from the time that could be used to develop our character’s journey so it doesn’t feel like they go from car park valets to world saving heroes in less than a week and the final nail in the coffin is the way Shang Chi’s climactic scene descends into a messy tapestry of CGI overindulgence. Although, it’s not the worst film in Marvel’s arsenal by any stretch of the imagination–it didn’t grip me as much as some of the other additions on this list.
Black Widow
Black Widow is Scarlett Johansonn’s swan song as Natasha Romanoff. And despite certain gripes with the execution (I had to suspend my suspension of belief at the idea of using pheromones as a mind control apparatus and considering that breaking your own nose wouldn’t stop them from being absorbed through the skin/eyes/other open orifices but yeah, let me not be pedantic) and being chronologically out of order in the MCU’s catalogue, it’s a fun and exhilarating epic and a stellar departure for the founding Avenger.
M.O.D.O.K
The stop-motion animation about one of Iron Man’s greatest comic book foes stumbles into some pretty unconventional waters but, voiced by Patton Oswalt, the show uses its array of zany characters to pull off a surprisingly entertaining series of over-the-top action and gore, that accesses an endlessly revolving door of references and jokes whilst, at its core, is a tragicomedic exploration of a supervillain all delivered by an exceptionally talented voice cast..
If you haven’t seen Hit Monkey… Watch it.
If you have seen Hit Monkey: what the hell did we just watch??
I’ve already said a lot about Eternals. As a self-professed cinephile, it’s beautiful, sentimental and has a theme beyond the typical deployment of hand-to-hand violence that the MCU has mastered over its 10 year blockbusting tenure.
I could write think-piece after think-piece on Avengers: Infinity War and how it subverted the genre by gambling on a mainstream superhero movie where the villain wins. Thanos is the protagonist and Infinity War is a love letter to him–his presence is imposing and the delivery of his dialogue oft calm yet charismatic. He’s so passionate about his reasoning that his actions become almost rational (in a messed up sort of way) and his unrelenting determination is rewarded with victory. Humour and emotional devastation aside, it's an extremely thought-provoking film. Eternals matches, and even surpasses Infinity War philosophically–and the attempt to inject some intellectually captivating elements into a Marvel film aren’t wasted here.
Wandavision
Wandavision is a work of art. It has it all–masterful pacing, excellent writing and incredible acting all tied together with an original and imaginative conceptual vehicle. The series takes us on an emotional journey, full of twists and turns and suspense, concluding with a much-needed character development for Wanda Maximoff–setting her up to finally wield the immense power that’s been residing in her for so long. And in an era of a pandemic level threat that has affected so many of us, Wandavision should be considered the best show of the year for this musing alone: “What is grief if not love persevering?”
The long-awaited, multiversal extravaganza of Spider-Man: No Way Home is here: and it delivers a majestic mess of giddy nostalgia, bombastic action, cosmically high stakes and a deeply affecting finale that is guaranteed to push you to the edge of your seat and tremolo the heart strings. The film boasts an impressive cast, a thoughtful subject matter about the responsibility we have–not only in wielding great power but in owning our mistakes, making up for them, and granting the grace of others a second chance. This may end up being a periphery takeaway from such a frantic, Easter-egg chocked, fireworks display of a film but it’s born out of the same spirit and heart of Peter Parker himself–a spirit that is responsible for pushing Spider-Man into the spot of the most popular superhero of all time.
Hawkeye is achieving what Falcon and the Winter Soldier tried to–a compelling and gripping tale that takes place on the ground-level of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The ‘will our hero make it home for Christmas?’ trope is reminiscent of the 1998 fantasy Jack Frost, adding a further emotional layer and level of stakes to the show–will Clint be able to wrap up all the frays of his unravelling past in time for Christmas?
What was your favourite Marvel Studios release of the year? Let us know in the comments!
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