Marvel Movies Tier List: All 38 MCU Films Ranked (2026)

The Complete MCU Tier List

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has released 38 theatrical films as of July 31, 2026, and this tier list ranks every one of them from S-tier to D-tier. That includes the full 2025 slate, Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps, plus Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which opened on July 31, 2026 and enters in A tier. Avengers: Endgame takes the top tier; The Incredible Hulk takes the bottom.

Eighteen years, thirty-seven films, six phases. Ranking the MCU is the most debated question in modern blockbusters, and everyone's list is different. Here's ours, split into classic S/A/B/C/D tiers. Disagree? You should, and you can settle it yourself in minutes with Shortlist.

How to Build Your Own Marvel Movies Tier List

You just built one. Five films, a handful of taps. Now consider that the MCU is 38 films and everything you like ends up a 4 out of 5, and you can see why the card works and a rating system does not.

Shortlist runs the same interaction across the whole MCU: add the films you have seen, pick between two at a time, and get a ranking that reaches the 32 the card never showed you. Is Thor: Ragnarok top five? Where does Civil War really belong? What do you do with Thor: The Dark World? Every list gets a share link, which is where the arguments start.

You can read more about the comparison-based approach in our movie tier list guide.

Two different things get scored around this page. The S to D tiers above are editorial, and S means a film that held up rather than one that reviewed well on opening weekend. The score you see in the app is a different number: it is built from the head-to-head comparisons you make, scaled to 0 to 10, not from critic averages. How Shortlist scores work sets out the whole method.

Marvel Movies in Chronological vs. Release Order

Two legitimate ways to watch the MCU: release order (the way we all lived it) or chronological order (by when events happen in-story). Neither affects a tier list, a great movie is great regardless, but it's the other big "how should I watch Marvel?" question.

Release order is the default for first-time viewers. Iron Man (2008) sets up the universe's tone, and every subsequent film builds on what came before. Chronological order (starting with Captain America: The First Avenger in the 1940s) is a fun re-watch, but it spoils some of the universe's best surprises.

Both orders in full, every film with its exact theatrical runtime, the timeline order Marvel publishes itself and the films it moves furthest, are in our Marvel movies in order guide.

The Best Marvel Phases, Ranked

• Phase 3 (2016-2019): Civil War, Black Panther, Infinity War, Endgame. Peak MCU.
• Phase 1 (2008-2012): Iron Man, Cap, Thor, Hulk, Avengers. The foundation.
• Phase 2 (2013-2015): Winter Soldier and Guardians carry weaker entries.
• Phase 6 (2025-present): one film in so far, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the strongest phase opener since Iron Man. Too early to rank honestly.
• Phase 5 (2023-2025): started with Quantumania and ended with Thunderbolts*, which is the whole story of the phase. Rebuilding, and it worked by the end.
• Phase 4 (2021-2022): The hardest phase. Shang-Chi and No Way Home are the clear winners.

The Newest Marvel Movies: Brave New World, Thunderbolts and Fantastic Four

The MCU released three films in 2025, and they are the reason the "superhero fatigue" conversation has quieted down. All three are ranked above.

• Captain America: Brave New World (February 14, 2025): Julius Onah directing, Anthony Mackie's first outing with the shield, and 46% on Rotten Tomatoes, the weakest MCU reception since Eternals. D-tier.
• Thunderbolts* (May 2, 2025): 88%, which made it the best-reviewed MCU film since No Way Home until Spider-Man: Brand New Day passed it in July 2026. Here is the detail most tier lists get wrong: the asterisk was not a typo or a marketing gag. Marvel rebranded the film The New Avengers days after opening weekend, a title change planned in advance for narrative reasons. Both titles refer to the same film.
• The Fantastic Four: First Steps (July 25, 2025): Matt Shakman directing, 86%, and the film that opened Phase 6. A 1960s retro-futurist Earth, Galactus as an actual planet-eating god, and a fourth attempt at Marvel's first family that finally landed.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day opened on July 31, 2026 as the 38th MCU film and is ranked above, in A tier, on a provisional placement we explain in full on the Spider-Man tier list. Next up is Avengers: Doomsday on December 18, 2026, which is not ranked here, because it has not been released and a tier list that ranks unreleased films is a wish list. If you are still catching up before Brand New Day, our Spider-Man movies in order guide sizes the shortest viable route at a single film.

What About the Marvel TV Shows?

The Disney+ shows (Loki, WandaVision, Moon Knight, etc.) aren't in this list because that's a separate conversation, and a longer one. You can rank the MCU Disney+ shows in Shortlist the same way, in a separate ranking. Or see our TV show tier list guide for how to rank TV.

Disagree with this order? You can build your own instead of reading ours. The Marvel tier list maker asks you to pick between two Marvel films at a time and hands back your personal ranking in about a minute, free and with no signup.

Marvel Tier List FAQ

What's the best Marvel movie of all time?

Most critical rankings put Avengers: Endgame, Black Panther, or Captain America: The Winter Soldier at #1. The "best" depends on whether you value payoff (Endgame), craftsmanship (Winter Soldier), or cultural impact (Black Panther).

How many MCU movies are there in 2026?

As of July 31, 2026 there are 38 released theatrical MCU films, spanning Phases 1 through 6, from Iron Man (May 2, 2008) to Spider-Man: Brand New Day (July 31, 2026). That count includes The Incredible Hulk, whose canon status is contested but whose release is not, and excludes Disney+ TV series and shorts. Avengers: Doomsday becomes the 39th on December 18, 2026.

What is the newest Marvel movie?

Spider-Man: Brand New Day, released July 31, 2026, is the most recent MCU film in theaters. It ends a twelve-month gap since The Fantastic Four: First Steps (July 25, 2025) and is followed by Avengers: Doomsday on December 18, 2026.

Is Thunderbolts the same movie as The New Avengers?

Yes. Thunderbolts* opened on May 2, 2025, and Marvel Studios rebranded it The New Avengers days later, resolving the asterisk in the title. The change was planned before release as a narrative reveal rather than a marketing correction, so the two names refer to one film.

What's the worst Marvel movie?

Reviewers and fans consistently put Thor: The Dark World, Iron Man 2, and The Marvels at the bottom. By the Rotten Tomatoes score alone the floor is now Captain America: Brave New World (46%), just under Eternals (48%). "Worst MCU" is still better than most superhero movies from other franchises.

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