The Marvel Cinematic Universe is one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time, and given its vast popularity, there’s a surprising amount of consensus on which are the best MCU movies ranked in order. The same few movies tend to always come near the top and the bottom of the pile. So, one Reddit user posed the question of which are the most controversial and divisive MCU movies and the responses are interesting.
A popular answer – and one posed by the original poster MotorAnteater8965 – is one of the most recent MCU movies; Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. This is a good choice, as some people loved the Sam Raimi horror elements and weirdness brought to this sequel, while others were angry at the portrayal of the Scarlet Witch and her being positioned as the main villain of the movie. See what we thought in our Doctor Strange 2 review.
One person suggested that Multiverse of Madness is definitely the most controversial post-Endgame movie, but suggests Iron Man 3 for the most controversial MCU movie pre-Endgame. This is a good choice for a similar reason to Multiverse of Madness. Shane Black put his own directorial stamp on it, meaning it has a different tone to many other Marvel movies and the villain twist was once again mostly hated.
Some Marvel movies are controversial for reasons that aren’t really to do with the story or execution. Captain Marvel (2019) was controversial a long time before release because some people couldn’t handle a woman leading a MCU movie. This led to ‘review bombing’ and what was effectively a smear campaign. This has affected some of the Marvel series such as She-Hulk and Ms. Marvel as well.
Another post-Endgame movie that got really mixed reactions was Eternals, which is an unusual standalone movie with few ties to the rest of the series. See what our Eternals review had to say. In terms of least controversial MCU movies, the most universally acclaimed is probably Endgame itself, and Winter Soldier and Black Panther tend to be high up too. In terms of nearly universally panned, there’s poor old Thor Dark World and Iron Man 2 which are nearly always languishing at the bottom.
One of our writers is still conflicted over whether Doctor Strange 2 was bad – so it’s good to know we’re not alone.
Check out our guide to the best Marvel characters and the best Marvel villains. Check out what we know about The Marvels and the rest of the upcoming MCU movies. Find out what we know about Marvel’s Phase 5 so far too.