As Avengers Infinity War gets ready for its box office debut, I figured it was time for a bit of a review for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With the MCU turning ten years old, there is a lot of movies to review. Infinity War will be the 19th movie of the MCU, and it has its world premier scheduled for April 23rd, which is ten years and nine days after the world premier of Iron Man (2008), which began the MCU.

With so much to cover, I decided to have a little fun with this review.

If you read the title, then you know what's about to happen.

I am reviewing every movie in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe in 10 words or less.

After the review, I'll provide a slightly more in-depth review of my favorite and least favorite movies, as well as, a short retrospective on the MCU as a whole.

So let's get started.

1. Iron Man (2008)

Robert Downey Jr. plays himself, if he was a scientist.

2. The Incredible Hulk (2008)

You wanted to get a sequel so bad, didn't you?

3. Iron Man 2 (2010)

SO MANY MECH SUIT BATTLES!!!!!!!!!. Oh, and great villains.

4. Thor (2011)

"Stop. Hammer Time."

or

"I just can't wait to be king."

5. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Remember kids, to be an American hero, take steroids.

6. Marvel's The Avengers (2012)

Loki in the sky with Lazers.

7. Iron Man 3 (2013)

It's Iron Man vs Syndrome and ISIS with plot twists.

8. Thor: The Dark World (2013)

"After 10,000 years I'm free. It's time to conquer..." Asgard.

9. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

So... it's a spy thriller, but on steroids...

10. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

The Space Avengers vs. the System.

11. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

I don't need good vision to see this movie's problems.

12. Ant-Man (2015)

Funny, but something's bugging me. Oh, it's the continuity errors.

13. Captain America: Civil War (2016)

"You killed my father; prepare to die."

14. Doctor Strange (2016)

"His name is Doctor Strange. We must make strange puns."

15. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

Space Avengers Vol. 2: Daddy Issues. Also, Mary Poppins, y'all.

16. Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

So he's teenage Iron Man...Still better than Sony's versions.

17. Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Game of Thrones as a space comedy. Starring Point Break.

18. Black Panther (2018)

Thanks, Twitter for making me racist for having an opinion.

So now for my reviews of my favorite and least favorite movies:

Least Favorite: Iron Man 3

It was a toss-up between Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World, but at least Thor gave us some funny moments with Loki to redeem itself. Iron Man 3 was all over the place with its plot, and essentially suffered from Spider-Man 3 syndrome, thanks to its villains.

Maya Hansen was wasted, Aldrich Killian was a combination of the worst parts of the previous three big Iron Man villains (Obidiah Stane, Justin Hammer, and Whiplash), the Extremis agents were never threatening unless they were acting as suicide bombers, and they took one of the most iconic Iron Man villains and made him a joke.

When a studio has to make a short film to retroactively repair a mistake, you know it was a bad mistake.

At least Thor: The Dark World was able to use the lore around the characters to make them interesting. Yes, Malekith is boring beyond all recognition, but he had a cool backstory.

Killian, on the other hand, was basically Syndrome from the Incredibles, just older. He also wasn't as deep as Syndrome, but that's is probably because he felt like a lesser threat to the Mandarin for half the movie. I'm assuming they originally wanted to use "the Mandarin" as a way to make Killian seem like a bigger threat, but they made "the Mandarin" into a joke, which meant Killian did not benefit from being the real leader.

Despite Iron Man 3 having a realistic and dangerous set of villains, they never really showed character depth. Most of the MCU's villains, especially the good ones, have some great character depth, which makes them more realistic and threatening.

For example, the MCU's most popular villain is probably Loki, the little brother who wants to be king of Asgard. He was adopted by Odin, so he felt like the throne would never be his, but he still loved his adopted mother. He has issues with his brother Thor for four movies, but outside of Ragnarok, he didn't really change much as a character because he was well-developed in the first Thor.

Having time to develop characters is important because it makes them interesting.

Iron Man 3 really only thoroughly developed two characters, Tony and Harley, one of which hasn't been seen since Iron Man 3. It doesn't matter how much action is in a movie if it has a bad story and characters that people don't care about.

It's a spectacle to watch, but think of Iron Man 3 like a Paris Hilton: good-looking, but there is nothing else to it.

Favorite Movie: Captain America: Civil War

This movie manages to have a much larger cast than Iron Man 3 but finds a way to develop almost all of the characters. The top spot could arguably go to Guardians of the Galaxy, Thor: Ragnarok, or Black Panther, but Civil War is more complete than Guardians, and I want to give Ragnarok and Black Panther time before I make that definitive statement. I feel it takes more than one viewing to really be my favorite.

As for Civil War specifically, when you try to adapt one of the greatest comic book stories of all-time, there is always the risk of not living up to the hype, but Civil War delivered.

Some of the best fight scenes in the MCU are in this movie. There are some pretty funny scenes in this movie as well. I think the biggest thing that Civil War does well, however, is the emotional character-driven moments.

There are many moments in the MCU where things get emotional, but Civil War handles them very well, which is why the climactic battle in the movie carries so much weight. I won't spoil too much, but the final showdown really feels like a moment where you can root for either side. It is amazing storytelling.

Overall, the MCU has changed the film industry in a major way and is shattering box office records with almost every film. Superhero movies are the premiere genre of film across the globe, and the MCU started it all. The first Iron Man started a movement and a universe that is still going strong ten years late.

It's crazy to think that the MCU is almost a decade old. The only film series that even remotely compares is the Harry Potter films that managed eight films in a decade. Star Wars did nine movies in 41 years, and while Bond has 24 movies, it took 50 years to pull it off.

Now everyone wants to do their own cinematic universe because they want to make the kind of money Marvel is making. I feel like superhero movies don't get the critical respect they deserve when it comes to awards season, but Marvel has some in the trophy case.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has revolutionized the film industry over the past decade, and the next decade looks bright as well. Let's see if anyone figures out Marvel's success formula over the next decade.