*Phase 1 spoilers.*
It’ll be a little while before I’ll be able to catch Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. I have some family coming to visit next week, and I didn’t want to risk contracting COVID at the theater. So for now, I’m still out here dodging spoilers like Neo.
I enjoyed coming up with a Superlatives list for phase 4 recently, so I decided to go back and do the same with the rest of the MCU. Since phase 1 was the shortest, this list will be short and sweet. But even though the franchise has grown over time, the films in this opening phase still have fine qualities to recommend them.
Best Technical Innovation – Iron Man
Obviously, we’re only seeing the very earliest Iron Man suits here. Over the course of the franchise, Tony designs increasingly more sophisticated models, not to mention other Iron suits and multiple technically enhanced Spider-Man suits for Peter. And then Wakanda gets in on the action…. But while I love all the neat in-universe advances we see over the years, I have a special fondness for watching engineering geniuses tinker and figure things out. I mean, Tony’s “able to build [an arc reactor] in a cave, with a box of scraps!” How punk rock is that? I love seeing his various trials as the first major suit comes together.
Best Bastard – The Incredible Hulk
Of the phase 1 films, Thor has the best villain in Loki, but in Gen. Ross, The Incredible Hulk has the best bastard. Just a jerk from top to bottom, equal parts trigger happy and grossly opportunistic. This film has been more fully welcomed into the “official” MCU fold now, with nods in What If…? and other returning cast members in She-Hulk and the forthcoming Captain America. But before all that, Ross was the only element from The Incredible Hulk that was brought over to the main MCU, which goes to show how punchably terrible he is.
Best Hallway Fight – Iron Man 2
Is this technically the first MCU hallway fight? Off the top of my head, I don’t recall anything from Iron Man or The Incredible Hulk that would fit the bill. At any rate, five years before Daredevil blew everybody’s minds, Natasha frickin’ Romanoff showed up and laid waste to some goons. She’s cool, she’s competent, and she’s ruthlessly efficient. Bonus points for the amusement of Happy beating down one guy in the time it takes Natasha to handle all the others.
Best Villain Plan – Thor
I’ve mentioned before that I love watching how Loki’s plan plays out in the first Thor movie. He has multiple onion layers of deception and misdirection going on, and yet every time I think I know what he’s doing, his motive makes sense to me. Not that he’s justified in any way, as he takes his massive issues back on everyone around him, but I get why he thinks he’s justified. Then another layer gets pulled out to show us something completely different, and that makes sense to me too. Loki has generally been great throughout the MCU, but I’ll always appreciate how well his manipulative plotting was written here.
Best Romance – Captain America
There were romances that followed this one that I’ve liked even more, but Steve/Peggy was the first MCU pairing to really stick the landing for me. Chris Evans and Hayley Atwell have great chemistry, and I love that their early interactions are marked by the fact that they both see each other primarily as people, not as “just” a weakling or a woman in the army. And at the end, “I just…I had a date,” hits you right in the chest.
Best Fight Set Pieces – The Avengers
Oh, man. Natasha fighting a target on a S.H.I.E.L.D. mission while tied to a chair, Thor fighting the Hulk to keep him away from humans on the Helicarrier, Tony figuring out how to kill a Leviathan, Steve taking out Chitauri who are threatening civilians in a bank. The hits just keep on coming—each memorable fight includes awesome moves and great character interactions. I hadn’t really been into the MCU when I first watched The Avengers, but after seeing this movie, my brain went, “Oh, get me more of this!”
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