Only 3 MCU Movies Are Better Than ‘Avengers: Endgame’
Whether we like it or not, Avengers: Endgame is Marvel’s crowning achievement. The film marked the triumphant end to a decade’s worth of storytelling, bringing together a massive cast of beloved heroes for a once-in-a-lifetime, generation-defining cinematic event that redefined culture and marked a symbolic ending to the entire 2010s. Sure, Endgame might’ve ruined the MCU in retrospective, and the saga hasn’t been the same since — and it probably never will be. Still, the film’s achievements cannot be minimized, let alone denied.
With such praise coming its way, it might be easy to declare this seminal project the best MCU movie, and it is — well, it’s definitely a top 4. Indeed, at least three MCU movies are better than Endgame, thanks to their execution, plot, scope, and overall success as superhero motion pictures. Two of these also arguably had as much impact on the franchise as Endgame, and at least one matched its cultural footprint. These three movies are the subject of this list, but it would be unwise to think of this article as a bashing of Endgame, though; as stated, the 2019 film is a masterpiece of the superhero genre. It’s just that these three movies are arguably superior in almost every metric.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.
💊The Matrix
🔥Mad Max
🌧️Blade Runner
🏜️Dune
🚀Star Wars
01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.
02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
04
How do you deal with authority you don’t trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.
08
What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
Your Fate Has Been Calculated You’d Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
The Resistance, Zion
The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.
You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.
The Wasteland
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.
Los Angeles, 2049
Blade Runner
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.
Arrakis
Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ (2014)
Image via Marvel Studios
Widely considered the best MCU movie in the eyes of many, Joe and Anthony Russo‘s Captain America: The Winter Soldierrepresents the franchise at its most assured. Chris Evans reprises his role as Captain America, now working with SHIELD and living in Washington, D.C. When Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) pulls a dangerous stunt during a mission under the orders of Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Cap realizes SHIELD still hides many secrets from him. Things only get worse when Fury is seemingly killed by the mysterious Winter Soldier, leading Cap to investigate the identity of this new enemy and reconcile with a beloved figure from his past.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier is among the few MCU movies that can truly be considered superhero masterpieces. The action is among the best in the franchise, with the Russos bringing a real sense of intensity that makes the sequences all the more impactful. Evans delivers what remains his finest turn as Captain America, a man still trying to find his way in the modern world and struggling to reconcile his old-fashioned, idealistic values with the ruthless and ever-changing spy world he finds himself in. His relationship with both Johansson’s Black Widow and Sebastian Stan‘s Bucky Barnes is the beating heart of the story, and his partnership with Anthony Mackie‘s Sam Wilson adds a nice layer of camaraderie that keeps things from becoming too bleak. Perhaps the film’s greatest strength is finding genuine gravitas in what is a traditional superhero story. It even adopts a political thriller approach with echoes of Three Days of the Condor, going so far as to cast the late Robert Redford in a crucial role. Endgame might be a movie event, but Captain America: The Winter Soldier is superhero filmmaking at its finest.
‘Black Panther’ (2018)
If there is a film that can be decisively declared as the MCU’s best, it has to be the only one that has received a Best Picture Oscar nomination. I’m talking, of course, of Ryan Coogler‘s Black Panther, a deeply influential film that remains a milestone not only in the superhero genre but in blockbuster filmmaking as a whole. Following his introduction in Captain America: Civil War, the late Chadwick Boseman stepped into the spotlight here, playing King T’Challa as he tries to protect his throne and legacy from his estranged cousin, the brutal Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan). As Wakanda’s fate hangs by a thread, T’Challa must rise to the challenge and prove he is indeed worthy of his throne and the Black Panther mantle.
Black Panther is one of the crowning jewels in Ryan Coogler’s career. The film is effectively a celebration of Black culture, incorporating it into every aspect of its filmmaking, from its Oscar-winning costumes, production design, and score to the main themes that power its narrative. At its core, Black Panther is a tale about legacy and the importance of not only preserving one’s history but, more importantly, understanding it. T’Challa and Killmonger represent two sides of the same coin, drawing parallels to Civil War leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X: one is far more direct in his approach, but both come from a place of wanting to protect their people. Thus, Black Panther is arguably the MCU’s most complex film, presenting a more nuanced and less straightforward story that eschews traditional good-versus-evil tropes in favor of a tale of opposing ideologies clashing. It is the only MCU project that can rival Endgame‘s cultural significance, and it perhaps even surpasses it, as it opened mainstream cinema to new possibilities and gave Black audiences a film that truly acknowledged and commemorated them on a massive scale.
‘Thunderbolts*’ (2025)
Bob (Lewis Pullman) and Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) in ‘Thunderbolts*’Image via Marvel Studios
No, you’re not reading it wrong. For the last movie on this list, I’ve gone with Jake Schreier‘s Thunderbolts*, and I promise it makes sense. The ensemble film stars Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, now working as an agent doing difficult jobs for the infamous CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. Things change when Yelena realizes she, along with fellow antiheroes John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), have been sent to a remote facility to terminate each other, thus erasing de Fontaine’s connection with them. There, they stumble upon Bob (Lewis Pullman), a shy young man who hides secrets of his own. Forced to work together to escape, the group must also find answers regarding de Fontaine’s plans, receiving help from Yelena’s adoptive father, Red Guardian (David Harbour), and Bucky Barnes, now a US congressman.
Although initially dismissed by many as Marvel’s answer to DC’s Suicide Squad, Thunderbolts* turned out to be something wholly unique and deeply resonant for today’s audiences. The film subverted expectations by being more of a psychological drama with action elements than a straightforward superhero story. Indeed, Thunderbolts*cares far more about the mental health of these broken heroes than about seeing them kick ass. The characters of Yelena and Bob are particularly poignant, offering a compelling exploration of trauma and regret that seems wholly original in the MCU. Sure, the film is still indebted to its franchise, and the ultimate reveal of the team as the New Avengers felt a tad rushed, but that doesn’t take away from its ultimate message regarding acceptance and self-worth. The New Avengers will return in Avengers: Doomsday, but it’s highly unlikely that we’ll get as in-depth an exploration of their psyche as we got in Thunderbolts*. The movie proved that there is more to superhero cinema, and that stories about the heroes’ states of mind can be just as riveting as straight-up action blockbusters. The focus on mental health also arguably makes it the most pressing film in the MCU, as it speaks directly to a situation experienced by countless members of its audience.
