/Film Ranks the Heroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Posted on Tuesday, May 10th, 2016 by Jacob Hall
Last year, /Film ranked the films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so that means we’re allowed to wait a few more years before we’re due for a full and proper refreshment. But with Captain America: Civil War currently in theaters, we decided we had to rank something. This is the internet and this what you do on the internet.
So we put our heads together and cast top secret votes to determine the greatest superheroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After winnowing down the list or eligible characters to thirty names (anti-heroes, power-less sidekicks, and villains were ineligible, as was the cast of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. since almost no one on the crew watches it), we each ranked the heroes in order of preference. Those ranked higher were given a certain number of points. Those ranked lower received fewer points. Any ties were decided by a second round of voting.
And this is what we got. Feel free to express your polite disagreements and passionate opinions in the comments below.
30. Hogun
15 Points
The Films: Thor and Thor: The Dark World
The Character: A member of the Warriors Three and Thor’s most anonymous companion.
The Ranking: Hogun barely registers in Thor before he’s literally abandoned in the second scene of Thor: The Dark World, leaving him alone on his home planet while everyone else gets a role in the main plot. His own movies don’t care about him, so why should we?
29. Quicksilver
15 Points
The Film: Avengers: Age of Ultron
The Character: Obnoxious super-speedster with a vendetta against Tony Stark.
The Ranking: Everyone seemed to think Pietro Maximoff was the weak link of Avengers: Age of Ultron when the film initially came out and that still holds true today. There is only so much love we can muster for an annoying brat whose superpower isn’t nearly as interesting as everyone else around him.
28. Fandral
20 Points
The Films: Thor and Thor: The Dark World
The Character: A member of the Warriors Three and Thor’s second most anonymous companion.
The Ranking: He’s Thor’s buddy who kinda looks like Robin Hood. Yeah, we’ve got nothing.
27. Volstagg
22 Points
The Films: Thor and Thor: The Dark World
The Character: A member of the Warriors Three and one of Thor’s slightly more memorable companions.
The Ranking: Because he’s played by Ray Stevenson and because he actually has an easily identifiable personality (Loud! Boisterous!), Volstagg is easily the highest ranking member of the Warriors Three.
26. Heimdall
32 Points
The Films: Thor, Thor: The Dark World, and Avengers: Age of Ultron
The Character: The guardian of the Bifrost and the last defense against anyone getting into Asgard.
The Ranking: The greatest thing Heimdall has going for him is that he’s played by the great Idris Elba. Strip that away from him and he’s just a stoic warrior who gets to look intimidating every now and again.
25. Sif
42 Points
The Films: Thor and Thor: The Dark World
The Character: Thor’s warrior buddy and almost-love interest.
The Ranking: There is a spark of life in Sif that helps her stand out from the other residents of Asgard. Still, she’s too minor a player and ultimately too shallow to rank any higher than this.
24. War Machine
44 Points
The Films: Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Captain America: Civil War
The Character: Lt. Colonel James “Rhodey” Rhodes was an Air Force Officer before he absconded with one of his buddy Tony Stark’s Iron Man suits.
The Ranking: The best thing War Machine has going for him is that two incredible watchable actors have inhabited the character. Both Terrence Howard and Don Cheadle have managed to create a straight-laced military man whose friendship with Tony Stark feels surprisingly real, but in the end, Rhodey is rarely more than a foil to reflect Tony’s witticisms.
23. Hawkeye
49 Points
The Films: Thor, The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Captain America: Civil War
The Character: A government assassin-turned-Avenger whose sharpshooting skills have made made him the most impressive bowman in the world.
The Ranking: The defining character trait of Clint “Hawkeye” Barton is that he’s a very ordinary man who somehow finds himself stuck in a world with extraordinary people. The entire appeal of this take on the character is that he’s a bland everyman with a wife and a kid who actually has to worry about dying on every single mission. Alas, this is a bland everyman being measured against gods and monsters.
22. Gamora
52 Points
The Film: Guardians of the Galaxy
The Character: One of Thanos’ adopted daughters who betrays dear ol’ dad in the name of goodness and justice and what-not.
The Ranking: Although she’s the least-developed member of the Guardians of the Galaxy, Gamora is a striking and passionate presence, a warrior more than capable of putting the likes of Star-Lord and Drax in their place.
21. Scarlet Witch
53 Points
The Films: Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War
The Character: Quicksilver’s telekinetic sister, who can manipulate reality and implant hallucinations and so on.
The Ranking: Wanda Maximoff has been in two MCU movies and it feels like we’re finally starting to scratch the surface. She’s young. She’s inexperienced. She’s grieving her departed brother and coming to terms with her powers. She’s almost really interesting, but not quite yet.
20. Daredevil
56 Points
The Show: Daredevil
The Character: The “devil of Hell’s kitchen” whose blindness is only a partial issue because his other senses have been brought up to eleven.
The Ranking: Played with charm and anguish by Charlie Cox, Matt Murdock is more defined by his Catholic guilt than his super-senses, which is right on the money. However, Daredevil tends to downplay his abilities in favor of just letting him be a magical blind person, which is not a good choice at all.
19. Luke Cage
57 Points
The Show: Jessica Jones
The Character: A tough guy with a big heart. Oh, and unbreakable skin.
The Ranking: He’s only a supporting player on Jessica Jones (his solo series arrives soon), but Mike Colter has already made a strong impression as Luke Cage. He’s sweet and passionate, tough and terrifying, a man entirely aware of how the world sees him as a person of color and as an “enhanced” being. He’s only going to get more interesting.
18. The Vision
72 Points
The Films: Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War
The Character: An oddball science experiment run amuck, the combination of Ultron’s ambitions, Thor’s lightning, Tony’s meddling, JARVIS’s A.I. and a very convenient synthetic body.
The Ranking: The Vision is the weirdest hero in the MCU, one of those outrageous comic book characters that no one ever thought they’d see on the big screen. But now he’s here and he’s odd and fascinating and looks amazing in sweaters. These movies just need to give him a little more to do.
17. Nick Fury
79 Points
The Films: Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Avengers: Age of Ultron
The Character: The spy to end all spies. The guy who knows everything whether SHIELD happens to exist at a given moment or not.
The Ranking: Before the MCU learned how to fly on its own, Samuel L. Jackson’s Nicky Fury held the whole thing together. Although he’s now a background player, the head of SHIELD loomed over Phase One like an all-knowing, all-seeing espionage god. Deny his contributions to the Marvel Cinematic Universe at your own peril.
16. Drax
79 Points
The Film: Guardians of the Galaxy
The Character: A literal-minded warrior consumed by vengeance with a surprisingly flowery manner of speaking.
The Ranking: He may look like just another simple-minded brute, but Drax is a terrific character because he’s actually fairly complicated and more than a little hilarious. Everyone knew that Dave Bautista could pull off the vengeful muscleman thing, but few could have predicted the strength of his comic timing and the compelling chemistry he’d develop with every other member of the team.
