MCU Rewatch

As you may know my husband and I are rewatching all 32 MCU movies. Starting at the very beginning and going through in original release order we are watching all of the Marvel movies in release order. We have gotten through the first two Iron Man movies and now we have the other origin stories for the members of the big 3 of the MCU, Captain America and Thor. As origin stories go they differ pretty greatly but they both serve their purpose in the context of the greater cinematic universe. We are almost towards the end of phase 1 with these movies so we also get to talk about how they laid the groundwork for what’s to come.

Let’s start with Captain America. This origin film is unique in the sense that it doesn’t take place in the same timeline of the movies that we’ve seen up to this point. I think that this movie is a great introduction into who Steve is as a person. It perfectly encompasses who Captain America is supposed to be. It also does a great job of setting up the relationship between Bucky and Steve which serves as Steve’s motivation for really the rest of the MCU. There are parts of Captain America that drag a little longer than they need to, it is perhaps the most boring of the first 3 origin movies and we all know that Peggy Carter is kind of unnecessary. Her role in this film was just to be the jealous not-girlfriend when she could have been so much more than that. Also her badassness is written as “not like other girls” like the men in the film are attracted to her because she has the capability to punch them in the face. It's just a weird dynamic that easily could have been written better. Overall Captain America is a good film but it might be the least rewatchable of the three, that said anything and everything is better then Iron Man 2.

Then, of course, we have Thor. I would argue that this is the MOST rewatchable of the three origin stories we have in phase 1. I think that Thor is probably the most enjoyable movie of phase 1. Not only is it completely stand alone but even if you completely separated it from the MCU it still remains a good movie. I think that visually this one is the most comic book-like of all of the movies that we have watched so far. The cinematography did a great job of being interesting and aiding in the otherworldliness of the movie. The other thing it did really well was balance tones. There is obvious humor in Thor due to a god being grounded on earth but the darkness and weight of being a god grounded on earth. The other thing I really love about this movie is the fact that Thor and Loki’s stories are written really well as parallels. We don’t spend too much time on earth or too much time in Asgard; it is very clear that the brothers are running parallel to each other.

Overall I think that phase 1 of the MCU is pretty solid, it did a really good job of laying the groundwork for what is to come but really we don’t get to see it come together until after Avengers. Though the first team movie is a very important step in building this interconnected universe. The origin stories as a whole are pretty well written but there will definitely be a discussion about how far we have fallen from origin story to sequel at the end of phase 2.