The History of Marvel Movies

The history of Marvel movies doesn’t technically begin with the 4-star review that Roger Ebert gave Jon Favreau’s “Iron Man.” After all, there were movies based on Marvel properties before from filmmakers like Sam Raimi and Ang Lee. But the history of Marvel movies changed forever with that 2008 adventure film starring Robert Downey Jr. What would become known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or MCU, was born. Collected here, you will find our reviews of all of the films in the history of Marvel movies that now thrives in the form of the MCU. Looking over the collection, it’s startling to see the high number of thumbs up reviews, including two perfect grades – “Iron Man” and “Black Panther,” the first in the history of Marvel movies to win an Oscar. There is only one true pan from the old days (and a few recent ones) – Roger really disliked the first “Thor” movie – but even the films widely considered disappointments in the MCU make for interesting reviews. It’s hard to believe the MCU is almost two decades old given its market dominance and influence as we approach the 2030s. Read this collection of reviews and see how we got here.