100 Best Movies of 1985 Ranked (Clue)

---

The latest: The classic farcical whodunit Clue celebrates its 40th anniversary!

---

While 1985 has no shortage of highfalutin cinematic endeavors, it is equally defined by its brash, epic, and often counter-cultural crowd-pleasers. This 100 Best Movies guide highlights the top films of 1985 based on Tomatometer score, with Certified Fresh films first, followed by Fresh and Rotten movies with at least 1,000 user ratings on the Popcornmeter.

And a well-rounded year it was! Academy Award-winning drama The Trip to Bountiful shares room on the list with the gruesome, campy cult horror flick Re-Animator. Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure and To Live and Die in L.A. stand shoulder-to-shoulder as outstanding pieces of enduring art! Even Big Bird, Freddy Krueger, and James Bond make an appearance! (On the list. They unfortunately do not share the screen together.)

Throw on your Live Aid T-shirt, crack open a can of New Coke, and enjoy the journey through this eclectic list of motion pictures from 1985. (Tyler Lorenz)

---

1985: An essential year in teen-centered movies!

Back to the Future is one of the most definitive blockbuster films in existence, and 1985 plays such a crucial role in the film’s plot, it could almost be a character. Teenager Marty McFly wants to get home to 1985 so bad, he’ll risk countless time paradoxes over three movies to do it! 1985 is the MacGuffin of the movie! Great Scott!

The Breakfast Club is a deeply important movie to the generation that came up the Brat Pack. It is one of the most parodied and quoted films in pop culture. The lyrics to “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” by Simple Minds are so intrinsically tied to the freeze-frame image of Judd Nelson at the end of the film, that they are ironically impossible to forget if you wanted to! But, its earnest depiction of high school tropes and its message about how our differences don’t make us enemies makes this John Hughes teen dramedy a lasting parable for all generations.

The only thing harder than being a teenager, is being a teenager with a bunch of bizarre, paranormal nonsense happening all around you! Teen Wolf, starring Michael J. Fox, explores the perils of puberty… if puberty also involves growing teeth and fur, and absolutely killing it on the basketball court. Once Bitten explores the value of virginity, and the peer pressure to lose it… that peer pressure coming from a 400 year old vampire countess threatening to drink your blood.

For more comical teen fair, don’t skip Just One of the Guys or Better Off Dead. If you need your heartstrings tugged on, watch St. Elmo’s Fire or The Legend of Billie Jean. And Porky’s… well, go ahead and decide for yourself what you are looking for out of Porky’s!

---

You can’t speak of horror movie history without mentioning 1985’s gruesome cult hits: Stuart Gordon’s unapologetically gooey and gory B-movie classic Re-Animator, and Tom Holland’s vampiric special effects showcase Fright Night. Old fan-favorite icons are resurrected in A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge and Friday the 13th – A New Beginning. And, as if you could sleep after this selection of scary flicks, no movie fan should sleep on George A. Romero’s classic third zombie picture Day of the Dead!

Less spooky, but no less loaded with incredible special effects and stunts are the top action movies of 1985. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, Commando, and Rambo: First Blood Part II, like many action movies of the 80’s are a guaranteed adrenaline infusion. Jackie Chan delivers a kickass, acrobatic performance in the Hong Kong cop classic Police Story. Does a geriatric James Bond movie loaded with cheesy jokes sound like your idea of a good time? If A View to a Kill is your favorite 007 vehicle, it might be! And if it’s not, well, this standout 007 dud is a must-see entry in the enduring spy franchise. Even if it’s just for a laugh.

Some movies aim to be funny intentionally! Such is the case for unmissable comedies like Clue and Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure. Two movies with styles that shook up the genre. If a blend of adventure and comedy are up your alley, you can’t skip Steven Spielberg and Chris Columbus’s kid-led treasure hunting caper The Goonies, or Michael Douglass and Kathleen Turner’s romantic treasure-hunting romp The Jewel of the Nile. Man, it was a good year for pirate themed adventures…

---

Sydney Pollack’s Out of Africa was 1985’s Oscar darling with seven trophies: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, and Best Sound.

William Hurt took home Best Actor gold for Kiss of the Spider Woman, edging out Harrison Ford for Witness (his sole Oscar nom ever) and Jack Nicholson in Prizzi’s Honor, while Geraldine Page took home the gold for Best Actress in The Trip to Bountiful over Whoopi Goldberg in The Color Purple and Jessica Lange in Sweet Dreams.

Special effects fans will note that Eric Stoltz’s cosmetic transformation in MASK won the Oscar for Best Makeup, while the eerie alien images in Cocoon won the Visual Effects Oscar.

Japan delivered some of the year’s biggest artistic heavy hitters. Juzo Itami’s ramen comedy Tampopo endures as a beautiful and hilarious ode to Japanese food and culture. Film legend Akira Kurosawa served up a Japanese adaptation of Shakespeare’s King Lear with Ran, which won the Costume Design Oscar on top of four nominations. And, while not an award-winning film, the animated post-nuclear fallout dark fantasy romance movie Vampire Hunter D earned its place in the annals of anime history.

106 Blumhouse Horror Movies Ranked

---

The latest: Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is now in theaters! Critics say it’s “a fan-service mess,” while audiences give it an 88% on the Popcornmeter.

---

For some movies, the hype building up to their release isn’t based on its stars or director or plot, but by the boutique company putting it out to the public. Think A24. Think Laika. Think Blumhouse, the production org that’s become synonymous in horror with low budgets, big returns, and bigger thrills.

Over the past two decades, magnate of monstrosity Jason Blum — who has also produced plenty of “normal” movies — has banked his legacy on reinventing how horror scripts are discovered and made, keeping the genre from going stale, like it infamously did in the ’90s. After all, blood dries quickly; gotta keep it fresh. Look to franchises like The Purge, Paranormal Activity, and Insidious: when you watch one Blumhouse horror movie, you’re probably gonna seek out what else they’re up to.

Blumhouse had a very busy 2022 with The Black Phone, They/Them, Halloween Ends, and Nanny among their major releases. And they kick off 2023 with a dolled-up bang with M3GAN, their best-reviewed horror movie since Get Out. Since then, we’ve added Sick, Insidious: The Red Door, Totally Killer, and The Exorcist: Believer, and Five Nights at Freddy’s.

In 2024, they released Imaginary, Speak No Evil, and AfrAId, and this year brings the next chapter of The Black Phone series: Black Phone 2, which hits theaters this month. Now, as we head into spooky season, we’re ranking all Blumhouse horror movies by Tomatometer, with Certified Fresh films first! Be sure to explore these titles on Fandango at Home this season and beyond. In 2025, we got Wolf Man, Drop, M3GAN 2.0, The Woman in the Yard and Black Phone 2.

100 Best Movies of 1995, Ranked by Tomatometer

---

The latest: “To infinity… and beyond!” Toy Story is among the list of 1995 films that are celebrating their 30th anniversary this week. Alongside other classics like Casino, Ghost in the Shell, and Goldeneye.

---

1995 was a very well-rounded year in film. While kids marveled at the epic visual effect innovations in movies like Toy Story and Jumanji, ma and pops could indulge in the gritty drama of action/thrillers like Heat and Seven. Or bask in the charm and romance of French Kiss and The Bridges of Madison County.

Teens could temper their angst with humor in selections like Mallrats or Clueless. Or, escape the real world altogether with sci-fi faves in 12 Monkeys or Ghost in the Shell. And comedies Friday, Tommy Boy, and Boys on the Side transcended social lines and delivered laughs that audiences wouldn’t soon forget.

With our guide to the 100 best movies of 1995, break down an incredible year for cinephiles of all tastes. It’s ranked by Tomatometer, with Certified Fresh movies first. Next, Fresh movies with at least 20 reviews and a 60%+ Popcornmeter. And then come the audience picks: Rotten movies with a 60%+ Popcornmeter and 20,000+ user reviews!

(Photo by Disney / Courtesy Everett Collection. A GOOFY MOVIE.)

First, a few honorable mentions across genres that did not make the list, like superheroes (Batman Forever, Judge Dredd, Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers), comedies (Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, Casper, Father of the Bride Part II, The Brady Bunch Movie), sci-fi (Waterworld, Mortal Kombat, Species, Johnny Mnemonic). While they didn’t have the outstanding reviews on the Tomatometer or Popcornmeter to make the cut, some hit big at the box office, while others live on in cult infamy.

One movie that had no problem with any metric: Toy Story, Pixar’s first film and the one to rock the animation world to its core. Directed by John Lasseter, the entirely computer-animated feature heralded the era of 3D animation dominance, and Toy Story would franchise into an infinity of sequels, video games, talking action dolls (not a flying toy) and beyond. In what would become the beginning of the end for widespread 2D hand-drawn feature animation, a few movies stand out, like Balto (an Amblin-produced movie based on the sled dog who helped deliver antitoxin to a town in desperate need) and Whisper of the Heart, directed by Yoshifumi Kondo, a Studio Ghibli coming-of-age film about young love and aspirations that will melt your heart. And no 90s kid could forgive a 1995 movie list that didn’t highlight A Goofy Movie, the wacky yet heartfelt father-son road trip movie about Disney character Goofy and his wayward son Max, featuring unforgettable songs from pop idol, Powerline (played by Tevin Campbell).

(Photo by Gramercy / Courtesy Everett Collection. THE USUAL SUSPECTS.)

At the 68th Academy Awards, the 13th-century Scottish rebellion epic Braveheart took home top prizes for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography (as well as Best Makeup and Best Sound Effects Editing). Other Best Picture nominees still got their flowers, like space program disaster film Apollo 13 winning Best Film Editing and Best Sound, the quirky and heartwarming farm flick Babe nabbing Best Visual Effects, the Jane Austen classic Sense and Sensibility earning Best Writing – Adapted, and Il Postino: The Postman taking home Best Music. Other standout Academy Award-winning films include the captivating ensemble crime thriller The Usual Suspects (Best Screenplay – Original), and Disney’s Alan Menken-scored animated romance Pocahontas (Best Music – Musical or Comedy, Best Original Song).

The top acting award winners were Best Actress Susan Sarandon as a spiritual adviser to a death row inmate in Dead Man Walking, and Best Actor Nicolas Cage with raw drama Leaving Los Vegas. Other notable performances include Mira Sorvino as a sex worker struggling with her interpersonal relationships in Mighty Aphrodite, Richard Dreyfuss as a struggling high school music teacher in Mr. Holland’s Opus, and Mare Winningham as a successful folk singer with a strained relationship with her punk-rock sister in Georgia.

Action fans ate good in 1995. Heat united Robert De Niro and Al Pacino for one of the greatest face-offs in crime thriller history. Die Hard with a Vengeance united Bruce Willis’s John McClane with Samuel L. Jackson’s Zeus Carver in a popular franchise shakeup. And for the first time, James Bond is pit against another 00 Agent in the Pierce Brosnan-Sean Bean vehicle, Goldeneye. One action flick you don’t want to sleep on is Robert Rodriguez’s Western gunslinging extravaganza, Desperado, starring Salma Hayek and Antonio Banderas.

Horror and thrillers contributed their fair share. Seven, starring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, still has audiences shouting box-related inquiries. John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness still resonates, whether because of the Lovecraftian tone or Carpenter’s signature chilling score. Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci take no guff in Las Vegas gambling thriller Casino. And don’t miss Denzel Washington and Don Cheadle notable performances in the neo-noir mystery thriller Devil in a Blue Dress.

The sci-fi/fantasy genre had a memorable year. Director Kathryn Bigelow teamed with screenwriters James Cameron and Jay Cocks to deliver the dark techno-thriller Strange Days. Tank Girl, based on a post-apocalyptic comic series, employs unique special effects and prosthetics (ever want to see Ice-T get kangaroo jacked?), and has become a feminist cult classic. 12 Monkeys, starring Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt, twisted audiences’ minds with a mind-bending trip through time, so stylish that it earned a Best Costume Design nomination. And few movies stand out more in anime culture than Ghost in the Shell. The animated cyberpunk noir aimed at adult viewers appealed to audiences on two fronts: combining iconic action scenes with philosophical ideas about the future of technology. It would spawn several sequel movies and series, and a live-action adaptation.

(Photo by New Line / Courtesy Everett Collection. FRIDAY.)

In a year of great comedies, a few gems secured their place in film history. Though critically panned, Adam Sandler created an endlessly quotable cult classic for 90’s kids in his back-to-school goof-fest, Billy Madison. It’s no wonder a movie about a man-child going back to school resonated more with 1995’s youth more than it did Siskel and Ebert! Not to be outdone by their SNL co-star, David Spade and Chris Farley give an laugh-out-loud performance in the zany blue-collar road trip flick, Tommy Boy. Coming off a micro-budget hit called Clerks, director Kevin Smith’s gave us Mallrats, a laugh-a-minute love letter to geeks, for geeks. Other the other end of the social class spectrum, Clueless takes a wealthy, popular teen girl and depth and dimension to her and her crew. An adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma, Clueless blends 90s-centric humor with a timeless heartfelt story about growing up. And, perhaps more quotable of all is the Ice Cube-Chris Tucker neighborhood comedy Friday. F. Gary Gray delivers a sidesplitting picture of South Central Los Angeles so funny you’ll be screaming “DAAAAMN!” with a side of “Bye, Felicia” to haters.

If you pine for a good romantic film, you can’t go wrong with enduring favorites like Sabrina, French Kiss, and Before Sunrise. And if you desire to see 1995 from an LGBTQ+ perspective, you may be interested in Boys on the Side, Jeffrey, or The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love. (Tyler Lorenz)

All Tim Burton Movies Ranked By Tomatometer

---

The latest: Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride celebrates 20 years!

---

1995 was a very well-rounded year in film. While kids marveled at the epic visual effect innovations in movies like Toy Story and Jumanji, ma and pops could indulge in the gritty drama of action/thrillers like Heat and Seven. Or bask in the charm and romance of French Kiss and The Bridges of Madison County.

Born in the morbid, decaying wonderland known as Burbank, California, visionary director Tim Burton showed a propensity for the dark arts from a young age, guiding him into a CalArts education, and then the prestigious honor of getting fired from Disney in the mid-’80s. The reasoning: Wasting company money animating things too scary to show kids. This only gave Burton the opportunity to let his imagination run unfettered on the big screen and, with the help of some choice partners-in-crime, produced one deranged hit after another: Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, two Michael Keaton Batman movies, Edward Scissorhands. (And if you’re later wondering why Nightmare Before Christmas isn’t on this list, though he’s often associated with the role, Burton is not credited as director on the film.)

After perhaps his finest hour — turning the cultural tide on the worst director ever with Ed Wood — Burton has oscillated between pet project curios (Frankenweenie, Dark Shadows) and bombastic blockbusters, such as Alice in Wonderland, which made a lot of money for, appropriately enough, Disney.

After an existential corporate crisis creating Dumbo, though, Burton has sworn off the Disney remakes for good. The turn seems to have done him some good as his sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is his first Certified Fresh movie since Frankenweenie in 2012, and his first live-action one since 2003’s Big Fish. Now, we’re ranking all Tim Burton movies by Tomatometer!

23 Margaret Qualley Movies & Shows Ranked (Honey Don’t!)

(Photo by Focus Features/ Courtesy Everett Collection. HONEY DON'T!)

We’re ranking the films and shows of Margaret Qualley! The guide begins with Qualley’s Certified Fresh projects, including Oscar-winning body horror The Substance, limited series Maid, and breakthrough Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Those are followed by Fresh movies and series, like The Leftovers, where Qualley appeared across its three seasons, Happy Gilmore 2, and Drive-Away Dolls, the first of Ethan Coen & Tricia Cooke’s lesbian B-movie trilogy.

Finally, there’s Qualley’s Rotten-rated material, which includes Netflix’s live-action anime adaptation of Death Note, and Dolls follow-up Honey Don’t!.

All 37 Marvel MCU Movies Ranked (The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Thunderbolts, Ant-Man)

(Photo by © Marvel / © Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection. FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS..)

---

The latest: The Fantastic Four: First Steps is Certified Fresh and currently ranked #14 out of 37.

Heroes don’t get any bigger: Ant-Man celebrates its 10th anniversary!

Captain America: Brave New World debuts as the 35th MCU movie, and 33rd in Tomatometer ranking. But a bounce back sounds off with Thunderbolts*, the 28th Certified Fresh movie of the MCU.

---

It takes a lot of effort to get audiences the world over to believe that the fate of the universe should be entrusted to a talking tree and a sarcastic raccoon. First of all, you can’t just jump straight into it – you’ve got build up to it. Begin with a story of the repentant millionaire playboy who builds an iron suit with a nuclear heart from a box of scraps in a cave. Toss in a super soldier thawed from ice after 70 years. How about a magic hammer man from space, or the turncoat Russian spy who loses her accent real quick? It’s a good start – just add a few dozen more characters, mix and match them across multiple serialized movies, and as the physics-defying superheroics pile up, all of a sudden, putting all your faith in a trigger happy trash panda makes plenty of sense in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Not a bad world to build up for Marvel Studios, which originally had to put up the rights to Captain America, the Avengers, Black Panther, Doctor Strange, and more as collateral just to get the funding to make 2008’s Iron Man. Clearly, the movie bet of the century paid off, as an empire of 25 films (and counting) has flourished under Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige. The MCU has allowed generations of comic book fans to ascend to the highest throne in pop culture, while allowing millions more who have never visually connected comic page panels together to become versed in Wakandan politics as well as where to find the bathroom at the Sanctum Sanctorum. Iron Man, Guardian of the Galaxy, Captain America: The Winter Soldier are classics of the genre now, while Thor: Ragnarok, Captain Marvel, and Black Panther, and now Shang-Chi demonstrate superhero movies remain capable of reinvention for new relevancy.

The first 11 years of the MCU have spanned three so-called Phases, and the third closing after the epic battle royale of Avengers: Endgame and epilogue Spider-Man: Far From Home. The franchise barreled forward in a pandemic world with Black Widow, Eternals, Shang-Chi, and Spider-Man: No Way Home in 2021 alone. In 2023, we kick off Phase 5 with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which is drawing some of the weakest reviews of the franchise. The whiplash continued with a bit of a spring-back for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, before the critical split of The Marvels.

2024 was a promised pump-breaking in the wave of interconnected movies and shows, with the entire year’s spotlight reserved for just Deadpool, who’s sucked into the MCU through the corporate wormhole created by Disney’s acquisition of Fox. And he’s bringing a guest in Deadpool & Wolverine, an R-rated meta road comedy that critics have called a bloody, hilarious good time. It’s Certified Fresh, with a Tomatometer score putting it in the thereabouts company of Ant-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Captain America: The First Avenger, and Captain Marvel.

All 6 Despicable Me & Minions Movies Ranked

(Photo by Universal/ Courtesy Everett Collection. DESPICABLE ME.)

---

The latest: The one that started it all, Despicable Me, celebrates its 15th anniversary!

---

We’re ranking all 6 Despicable Me movies from animation house Illumination, including the first two Certified Fresh films and the viral Minions spinoff series!

89 Best Spy Movies, Ranked by Tomatometer

(Photo by 20th Century Fox/ Courtesy Everett Collection. SPY.)

---

Spy celebrates its 10th anniversary!

---

Spies! Secret agents! Intelligence officers! Undercover operatives! Moles! (Moley moley moley moley!) Some of our favorite characters in some of our favorite movies are adept at sneaking into where they don’t belong and either taking out enemies or gathering crucial information.

To celebrate the release of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, the conclusion to the decades-in-the-making story arc that began with Mission: Impossible, we present our top Best Spy Movies, ranked by Tomatometer.

What counts as a spy movie, first of all? Our definition is that the movie has to have spy characters and a political, international, and/or high-government dressing. That’s a pretty broad definition, but it allows us to include a lot of great films. The list is also Certified Fresh movies alone.

(Photo by Sony / Courtesy Everett Collection. CASINO ROYALE.)

You may notice that there are several spy movies conspicuous by their absence in this list. To explain why, a quick history of spy movies during the Cold War is necessary. Buckle up:

During the 1960s and ’70s, there was a constant fear throughout the Western world due to the Cold War. Nuclear attack could happen at any time and students practiced “duck and cover.” Paranoia about communism was rampant. Love of country was paramount, and anyone who dissented was automatically suspect. Spies could be everywhere!

This fear was channeled by filmmakers into some of the best spy movies ever made. They’re not listed here because they don’t meet our minimum review threshold for Certified Fresh: review websites, newspapers and blogs aren’t inclined to review old spy movies when there are new films to be concerned about. Still, it’s important to point out that movies like the British films The Ipcress File and The Quiller Memorandum, British / French film The Day of the Jackal and the later American movie The Falcon and the Snowman are excellent and well worth tracking down.

(Photo by Universal/ Courtesy Everett Collection. THE BOURNE IDENTITY.)

Spy films got a renaissance of sorts in the 1990s and 2000s, after the Berlin Wall fell. Technology developed to the point where high-tech spying was possible through computers and through phone lines. Enemy of the State, starring Will Smith and Gene Hackman, was a spiritual sequel of sorts to The Conversation from 1974. Another great spy film, Ronin, starred Robert De Niro in a series of spectacular car chases to retrieve a briefcase Macguffin. The ’90s was also the decade of wicked satire, so spoofs of spy films were everywhere, kicking off with the Austin Powers series, which mainly satirized British spy films that Mike Myers enjoyed in his youth, like Our Man Flint.

The 2000s brought an updated take on the 1980s Bourne novel spy series, with Matt Damon as Jason Bourne, a man with no memory, mysterious fighting and gun skills, and ties to a strange paramilitary organization.

Since spy movies are usually genre pictures, they generally don’t have much luck at the Academy Awards. Even Hitchcock only won one Best Picture (the non-spy film Rebecca) and one honorary Oscar in his day and never won for Best Director (though he was nominated five times for the latter), which seems mind-boggling today.

In fact, the only spy movie to win Best Picture was Argo in 2012, and no director has won Best Director for a spy movie. Argo, a dramatization of a true story features Ben Affleck (who also directed and produced) as a CIA officer who devises an elaborate plan to get six hostages out of Iran by creating an entire fake sci-fi movie from scratch, including concept art by Jack Kirby! The true story of what happened during what’s now called the Canadian Caper was classified until just recently, which allowed Affleck to make this movie.

Among other Academy Awards involving spy films, Mark Rylance won Best Supporting Actor as Rudolf Abel in Bridge of Spies, and Gary Oldman won Best Actor as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour. Among women, Ingrid Bergman won Best Actress as Alicia Huberman in Hitchcock’s Notorious, so at least Hitchcock’s movies were still awarded at the time in some way.

(Photo by Universal/ Courtesy Everett Collection. BLACK BAG.)

Though not showered with golden statues, spy movies tend to do very well at the box office, as filmgoers love to return time and again to movie theaters to see characters wear disguises, avoid capture, and find their targets under cover of darkness.

The biggest live-action spy movie of all time going by worldwide gross, and the only one to pass $300 million at the box office, is Skyfall, the third of five Daniel Craig James Bond movies and the one with the Home Alone-like estate-invasion theme. Skyfall is surpassed by Despicable Me 2, a family-oriented animated sequel with equal parts espionage and supervillain themes.

Others that have crested the $200 million mark are The Bourne Ultimatum, the second of the Bourne series and the highest rated; Mission: Impossible – Fallout, the sixth entry in the series and the second pairing writer-director Christopher McQuarrie with Tom Cruise; Mission: Impossible II, the strange second entry by director John Woo and the top-grossing movie of 2000; Austin Powers in Goldmember, the third and arguably best of this satirical series; Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, the sequel to Fallout; Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, the highly anticipated followup to the surprise home video hit; and Spectre, the Bond movie after Skyfall that brought back the classic evil spy organization of the same name and its leader, Blofeld. (Steve Horton)

100 Best Movies of 2015 Ranked

---

The latest: Ridley Scott’s The Martian celebrates its 10th anniversary!

---

2015 was a year marked by excellent award-winning domestic and foreign movies, and punctuated by some notable blockbusters. And a high number of the films on our guide to the 100 best movies of 2015 contain the same throughline: justice and humanity for the disenfranchised. The award nominations spread covered a large swath of topics, from exposing evil through journalistic justice in Spotlight, to child soldier recruitment in Beast of No Nation, to unlikely interplanetary survival in The Martian.

In foreign film, Embrace of the Serpent covers the plight of the indigenous tribes against the threat of white colonialism, and Mustang follows the demanding lives of five young orphan women living in a conservative Turkish society. Even a blockbuster like Mad Max: Fury Road is about the fight for liberation in a dystopian desert hellscape.

The 100 best movies of 2015 are ranked by Tomatometer, all Certified Fresh with positive Popcornmeters from at least 1,000 user votes. Before we go any further, that means, yep, even Fresh and popular Rotten movies arent’ making the cut, including worldwide box office hits like Jurassic World, Minions, Spectre, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, and Fifty Shades of Grey.

Spotlight, the thrilling and scarring drama based on The Boston Globe’s investigative reporting into child abuse in the Catholic Church, won Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay for 2015. Best Adapted Screenplay went to The Big Short, Adam McKay’s comedic yet prescient take on author Michael Lewis’s bestselling book about the United States housing bubble and financial crisis in the 2000s. The Revenant, a western revenge film set in the wild American frontier, would win Alejandro G. Iñárritu Best Director and Leonardo DiCaprio his first Oscar for Best Lead Actor. Brie Larson’s simmering performance in the claustrophobic abduction thriller Room would earn her Best Lead Actress. Mark Rylance impresses in Bridge of Spies, the Cold War prisoner exchange drama directed by Steve Spielberg and co-written by the Coen Brothers. Alicia Vikander’s performance in The Danish Girl, a heart wrenching story based on one of the first recorded instances of gender reassignment surgery, would earn her Best Supporting Actress.

Mad Max: Fury Road would take home a staggering six Academy Awards: Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Production Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Costume Design, and Best Film Editing. The spectacular experiential film spawned a prequel in 2024, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.

Pixar’s Inside Out won Oscar gold for Best Animation. Like Fury Road, its popularity would earn it a follow-up film in 2024: Inside Out 2. British animation fans might consider Inside Out’s win an upset, as it was nominated alongside the hit Shaun the Sheep Movie. Created by Aardman, the studio behind the beloved Wallace & Gromit franchise, Shaun would receive positive reviews from critics and audiences alike and spawn a sequel in 2019: Farmageddon.

Outstanding foreign films include Son of Saul, A War, and Aferim!. Hungarian film Son of Saul follows a Hungarian-Jewish prisoner in Auschwitz who is part of a unit forced to, by threat of death, aid with the removal of gas chamber victims in concentration camps. The devastating drama won Best Foreign Film at the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes. Danish war drama, A War, follows a commander in the Danish military in Afghanistan who, while attempting to thwart a Taliban attack, calls in an airstrike and is charged for the war crime of killing eleven civilians. Aferim!, the Romanian entry from Best Foreign Film at the Academy Awards (though not ultimately nominated), is a Western-style comedy-drama about a lawman hired by Wallachian nobility to track down a Roma slave accused of having an affair with the noble’s wife.

In comedy, Melissa McCarthy and Amy Schumer delivered a one-two punch in 2015. In director Paul Feig’s action laugh-fest Spy, McCarthy plays Susan Cooper, a shy CIA handler turned foul-mouthed international agent who must thwart a criminal plot by Rayna Boyonov (Rose Byrne), dodge setbacks from bozo fellow spy Rick Ford (Jason Statham), rescue her work partner/crush (Jude Law), and fend off the advances from a comically pervy undercover contact, Aldo (Peter Serafinowicz). Trainwreck, directed by Judd Apatow, stars Amy Schumer, as a sex-obsessed lush of a magazine columnist who struggles to maintain a steady partnership with her boyfriend (Bill Hader), due to her party girl ways and a severe commitment allergy. Trainwreck’s been praised by critics for being a refreshingly subversive take on the traditional romantic comedy.

And 2015 was not without its fill of action! Tom Cruise returned to the big screen as Ethan Hunt for the fifth time in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. Hunt and his ensemble of IMF agents (featuring Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, and Ving Rhames), and introducing a disavowed MI6 agent (Rebecca Ferguson), employ their skills to expose and dispose of the shadowy organization known as The Syndicate, in a globetrotting adventure lauded for its gripping pace and exceptional stunts. Marvel’s Ant-Man took a bow, introducing Paul Rudd as Scott Lang, an out-of-work engineer turned petty thief turned microscopic superhero. Ant-Man would eventually receive two sequels, Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023), though the titular hero would make crossover appearances in Captain America: Civil War (2016), Avengers: Endgame (2019).

Now, it would be impossible to discuss epic 2015 action movies and leave out Furious 7. Dom Toretto and his team of inexplicably superhuman gearheads are back for another white-knuckle adventure. This entry in the pulse-heightening franchise introduces a new villain, Deckard Shaw (Statham again!), who claims to have killed the team’s friend Han (Sung Kang). The film also says goodbye to Toretto’s best friend Brian O’Connor, as actor Paul Walker sadly perished in a real-life auto collision before the film wrapped production.

A few more worthy films! The Lobster, starring Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz, is a bizarre tale set in a seemingly authoritarian world where single adults force themselves to find a partner in 45 days or be transformed into an animal of their choosing. Such an odd concept could only come from the mind of writer/director Yorgos Lanthimos, who later directed the critically acclaimed films The Killing of a Sacred Deer, The Favourite, and Poor Things. Straight Outta Compton, directed by F. Gary Gray, is a biographical account of the early lives of hip-hop artists Ice Cube, Easy-E, and Dr. Dre, who formed the legendary group N.W.A., and was shot on location in Compton, California. The role of Ice Cube was a breakout for actor O’Shea Jackson Jr., who portrayed his own real-life father in the movie. The Witch, starring Anya Taylor-Joy, is an independent folk horror film set in pre-Revolutionary New England, where a Puritan family fears they are being stalked by evil. The film thrust Robert Eggers onto the scene as an outstanding director to keep an eye on. He would continue to make unconventional but well-received movies like The Northman, The Lighthouse, and 2024’s Nosferatu, which earned four Academy Award nominations. (Tyler Lorenz)

67 Best Baseball Movies of All Time

---

The latest: Indie bittersweet dramedy Eephus is majorly Certified Fresh!

---

The crack of the bat. The roar of the crowd. The smell of ballpark franks, and we’re not just talking of the Thomas variety. At Rotten Tomatoes, we’ve cleared the benches and rushed the field with the best-reviewed baseball movies of all time!

From sentimental favorites (Field of Dreams, The Natural) to inside documentaries (The Battered Bastards) to wild comedies (The Sandlot, A League of Their Own) we’ve got a murderer’s row of heavy hitters. And because we know baseball fans trend towards being stat geeks, here’s ours: We listed Certified Fresh films first, which includes sports classics like Bull Durham and Moneyball. That’s followed by Fresh films like The Bad News Bears, and Rotten movies after that (with quite a few featuring positive Audience Scores, including For Love of the Game, Hardball, and The Benchwarmers.

Batter up! It’s time to go to bat with the best baseball movies ever!

(Photo by Universal/ courtesy Everett Collection)

All Robert Downey Jr. Movies Ranked

Before he became synonymous with playing playboy millionaire rascal Tony Stark, Robert Downey Jr. was…a playboy millionaire rascal, but with an Oscar nomination! Born into minor Hollywood royalty, Downey spent his formative ’80s career as a Brat Pack honorary in films like Weird Science and The Pick-Up Artist. An Oscar nomination for playing the titular silent-era legend in Chaplin suggested a watershed moment for Downey and his future career.

Instead, he spent the rest of the ’90s in a maelstrom of wild parties and tabloid headlines as he publicly battled addiction. Early 2000s work in A Scanner Darkly, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and Zodiac told the world he was still capable of intriguing work, though, and the marked the early stages of a career comeback.

His tumultuous decades seem like a lifetime ago, simply a precursor to his role today as the Man in the Iron Mark IV. Director Jon Favreau fought hard to get Downey in as star of the first Iron Man, with Marvel Studios literally put up as collateral, and the rest is modern history. Across nearly a dozen appearances in Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, Downey has utterly owned the Tony Stark role, whose redemption arc mirrors the actor’s own in real life. Now, we ranking Robert Downey Jr. movies by Tomatometer! —Alex Vo

Like this? Subscribe to our newsletter and get more features, news, and guides in your inbox every week.

(Photo by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection)

All Samuel L. Jackson Movies Ranked

After a number of character parts and bit roles in a swath of urban dramas at the start of his career, Jackson made his breakthrough statement as the fiery voice of reason in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing: DJ Mister Señor Love Daddy. Pulling off a character with a name like that should only lead to more success, and sure enough, then came the slapstick comedy (Loaded Weapon 1), a disarming role in Jurassic Park, and the ultimate ’90s character: hitman Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction.

From there, Jackson has only cemented his rep as Hollywood’s versatile king of volatile cool, partnering with John McClane (Die Hard With a Vengeance), feelin’ the Force in the Star Wars prequels, starring as the sexy spawn of Shaft, and making his mark in original meme movie Snakes on a Plane.

And as, of course, the linchpin of the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Nick Fury, whose movie appearances (brief or significant) are all included here in the greater interest of the general public, i.e. you’re going to complain if we didn’t. With that said, hold on to your butts for Samuel L. Jackson movies ranked by Tomatometer! —Alex Vo

Recently in May, Avengers: Infinity War arrived and marked the culmination of 10 years and 18 films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, breaking box office records with its debut in the process. Last week’s Marvel release, Ant-Man and the Wasp, didn’t do quite as well, but it provided a bit of a lighthearted reprieve after the events of Avengers: Infinity War. With that in mind, we decided to take another look at every MCU release — including Ant-Man and the Wasp — organized by Tomatometer. Excelsior, superhero fans — it’s time for Total Recall!
[Updated on 7/9/18]

---

20. Thor: The Dark World (2013) 67%

(Photo by )

Tom Hiddleston’s Loki was a scene-stealing delight in Thor and Marvel’s The Avengers, so a Thor sequel throwing his character into an uneasy alliance with the God of Thunder could only be a good thing, right? For the most part, yes, but 2013’s Thor: The Dark World still felt like something of a squib grounder after the solidly satisfying long-distance thrills of its predecessors. What it might have lacked in impact, it did its best to make up for with a wider scope — a storyline pitting Thor against the Dark Elf Malekith in a cosmic battle for the fate of the Nine Realms — as well as a few fresh strands of franchise-building to help set up the next round of MCU movies. “The picture is a mess,” admitted Soren Anderson of the Seattle Times. “But it’s kind of a fun mess.”

---

19. The Incredible Hulk (2008) 68%

(Photo by Universal)

Ang Lee‘s Hulk left Marvel wanting another crack at establishing a franchise for the big green brute, and they got their shot with The Incredible Hulk in 2008. With Louis Leterrier in the director’s chair and Edward Norton taking over as the gamma-afflicted Bruce Banner, this pass at the character’s origin story offered a more thoughtful take on Banner’s tortured existence as the Hulk while taking care not to skimp on the rock ’em, sock ’em action. When the end credits rolled, it was still dismayingly clear that building a compelling franchise around a guy whose most exciting moments came after he morphed into a non-verbal human wrecking ball remained easier said than done, but the second Hulk had its fans. Calling it “Broad, loud, straight-ahead and raucous,” Tom Long of the Detroit News wrote, “The Incredible Hulk may not be the smoothest or smartest movie ever made, but it sure captures the spirit of its giant green protagonist.”

---

18. Iron Man 2 (2010) 72%

(Photo by Francois Duhamel/Paramount)

Even without the glowering good time Jeff Bridges gave us in the original, Iron Man 2 still has plenty going for it. In addition to returning franchise stars Robert Downey, Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow, the sequel added Don Cheadle (taking over as James “Rhodey” Rhodes from the departed Terrence Howard) and Scarlett Johansson as the superspy Avenger Black Widow, all while working in a story about the core of Tony’s arc reactor slowly poisoning him to death. The only problem? The movie’s two villains, Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) and Ivan “Whiplash” Vanko (Mickey Rourke), failed to offer much in terms of compelling dastardliness or a truly high-stakes threat. Still, even if it was a step down from the original, Iron Man 2 nevertheless offered a reasonable amount of fun; as Scott Tobias wrote for the A.V. Club, “It’s a clean, efficient, somewhat generic piece of storytelling and most of the additions are not subtractions. This passes for success in the summer movie season.”

---

17. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) 75%

(Photo by Walt Disney Studios)

Given how tough it must have been to pull off the bajillion-ring circus that was Marvel’s The Avengers, it stands to reason that the follow-up would, to some extent, fall prey to the law of diminishing returns. And so it was with 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, which added more of everything to the original’s CGI-coated stew and ended up with a sequel that most people liked well enough without being totally bowled over by it. Which is not to say there isn’t a lot to enjoy about the team’s second trip to theaters — or that the stakes aren’t appropriately high in a story that sees Tony Stark’s titular AI creation turning against him and deciding it needs to rid the world of the human race. “As he did in the first Avengers,” wrote the Washington Post’s Ann Hornaday, “writer-director Joss Whedon avoids the fatal trap of comic-book self-seriousness, leavening a baggy, busy, overpopulated story with zippy one-liners, quippy asides and an overarching tone of jaunty good fun.”

---

16. Thor (2011) 77%

On the printed page, Marvel has made a mint with characters far sillier than Thor, the mighty Asgardian God of Thunder — but on the big screen, it’s an awful tall order to take a guy with flowing blond locks and a hammer and turn him into a modern-day action hero. Yet that’s exactly what director Kenneth Branagh did with 2011’s Thor, which effectively straddled the line between building the mystic mythology of the MCU and dispensing good old-fashioned wisecracking and butt-kicking here on planet Earth. It certainly didn’t hurt that in the title role, Branagh was working with Chris Hemsworth, who brought the perfect blend of light humor and burly physique — or that Hemsworth shared the screen with Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgard, and Kat Dennings. Toss in Anthony Hopkins and Rene Russo as our hero’s royal parents, and you’ve got a fantasy action thriller with epic heft as well as enough sense not to take itself too seriously. “For those with a taste for the genre,” advised the Atlantic’s Christopher Orr, “Thor is a worthy addition to the pantheon.”

---

15. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) 80%

(Photo by Jay Maidment/Marvel Studios)

While he’s easily one of the more recognizable heroes in Marvel’s stable, Captain America has spent the last several decades battling the same perception that’s dogged Superman — namely, that he’s too noble, too upstanding, and too square to resonate with generations weaned on more morally ambiguous anti-heroes. With Captain America: The First Avenger, director Joe Johnston hurdled that obstacle by embracing Cap’s WWII origin story and making his first movie a period piece with a colorful Saturday serial feel. Anchored by Chris Evans‘ suitably patriotic performance in the title role, and enlivened by a supporting cast that included seasoned vets like Stanley Tucci and Tommy Lee Jones, The First Avenger compellingly laid the groundwork for one of the MCU’s central stories — and served as a springboard for the Hayley Atwell spinoff series Agent Carter in the bargain. “Of course it’s loaded with CGI. It goes without saying it’s preposterous,” admitted Roger Ebert. “But it has the texture and takes the care to be a full-blown film.”

---

14. Iron Man 3 (2013) 79%

(Photo by Walt Disney Pictures)

Enjoyable as the Iron Man movies are, the franchise has always had a big problem — namely, that Ol’ Shell-Head’s biggest comics villains aren’t exactly movie material. Director Shane Black took a novel approach to tackling this problem with Iron Man 3, wiping out the problematic stereotypes at the root of the would-be conqueror known as the Mandarin and reimagining the character as a nefarious warlord (played by Ben Kingsley) who turns out to be an alcoholic actor posing at the behest of the movie’s real bad guy, industrialist Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce). If it all sounds a little complicated, well, that’s to be expected from the third film in a trilogy—and after the relative disappointment of Iron Man 2, most critics saw it as a step in the right direction. “Downey is as funny as ever, if not more so,” wrote Bill Goodykoontz for the Arizona Republic. “He ensures that Iron Man 3 is a solid installment in the franchise, and helps to make it seem, at least for a time, that it might be something more.”

---

13. Ant-Man (2015) 83%

Comics creators have dozens of weapons at their disposal when it comes to establishing a level of narrative context to aid the suspension of disbelief a reader needs in order to truly invest in outlandish stories. For filmmakers, it’s a little trickier — they don’t have dozens of comics issues, or those ever-so-helpful thought balloons, to lay the emotional groundwork that makes viewers ignore a silly costume and really care about the character. All of which is a long way to say that Ant-Man had a lot of cards stacked against it from the beginning, and the problems only seemed more insurmountable when the film’s original director, Edgar Wright, parted ways over creative differences with the studio. In the end, however, it turned out to be yet another smoothly delivered burst of superpowered entertainment for the MCU, with Paul Rudd proving a perfectly charming action hero while an ace supporting cast — including Michael Douglas and Evangeline Lilly — added the finely calibrated doses of humor, genuine emotion, and universe-building context Marvel fans have come to expect. Praising it as “One of the more entertainingly human fantasies to come out of the studio,” Time’s John Anderson added, “it also defies the bedrock fanboy aesthetic that you don’t want to merely watch the superhero — you want to be the superhero.”

---

12. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) 85%

(Photo by Walt Disney Studios)

When the first Guardians of the Galaxy arrived in 2014, it offered a colorful antidote to the serious tone that had gripped many superhero movies since Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy proved fans were ready for their comics adaptations to go dark — and while the MCU has always made room for plenty of laughs, Guardians took it to another level while proving there were still vast unexplored reaches of the Marvel Universe just waiting to be adapted for the big screen. Needless to say, fans were eager for more in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 — and the movie delivered, perhaps somewhat to a fault. While the vast majority of critics and moviegoers enjoyed the Guardians’ next adventure, more than a few reviews pointed out that the proceedings couldn’t help but feel a little familiar the second time around, and what once seemed effortlessly fresh had started to show some slight signs of creative strain. None of which is to suggest that Guardians 2 is anything less than an action-packed, quip-filled thrill ride; on the other hand, the laws of diminishing returns to seem to apply to us all, even if we’re a profanity-spewing raccoon-like creature or an adorable alien who looks like a teeny-tiny tree. “If it’s overstuffed in the way of most sequels,” shrugged the New York Post’s Sara Stewart, “well, at least it’s stuffed with good cheer.”

---

11. Avengers: Infinity War (2018) 85%

(Photo by Marvel Studios)

With the fate of the world, universe, or galaxy perpetually at stake, it can be hard to retain a proper sense of perspective while watching MCU movies — especially since the studio’s so good at striking a balance between high-stakes action and guffaw-inducing one-liners, and hasn’t always stuck the landing when it comes to pitting its heroes against truly imposing bad guys. That all goes out the window with 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War, in which Thanos — the big bad who’s been making his way over the horizon since the first Avengers — shows up to forcibly collect the full set of cosmic gems required in order to wield enough power to wipe out half of all life in the universe. It’s a nefarious enough goal for the sort of cataclysmic battle Marvel fans expect, and screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely do their best to ground it by giving Thanos something approaching an actual motive — he wants to restore balance — and adding extra emotional stakes by fleshing out the father-daughter dynamics between the big guy and his adopted “daughters,” Gamora and Nebula. It’s still an awful lot for a single film to tackle, and for some critics, Infinity War couldn’t help but feel like a mad dash of quips and set pieces, all rushing toward a cliffhanger ending setting up the next installment. On the other hand, in attempting to put together an action thriller juggling dozens of established characters while offering solid entertainment value for longtime MCU watchers as well as those who might not have seen all (or any) of the preceding films, directors Anthony and Joe Russo were basically attempting the impossible, so it’s to their immense credit — and Marvel fans’ pleasure — that they ended up pulling it off as well as they did. “Marvel has pulled off all sorts of cinematic flavors in its 10-year legacy, from heist films and political thrillers to space operas and fantasy epics,” wrote USA Today’s Brian Truitt. “Now it boasts a full-fledged Shakespearean tragedy.”

---

10. Ant-Man and The Wasp (2018) 87%

(Photo by Marvel Studios)

After opening with the relatively low-stakes Iron Man, the MCU has steadily gotten bigger — and so have the threats facing its heroes — but all that cosmos-shattering drama can get a little numbing after a while, and in order for people to truly feel the ebb and flow of life on Marvel Earth, it helps to maintain some narrative dynamic. Fittingly, the Ant-Man franchise has helped serve as a palate cleanser — which is why it made perfect sense for the sequel, Ant-Man and the Wasp, to arrive as a chaser for the IMAX-ready symphony of action, humor, and gut-punching death that was Avengers: Infinity War. This time out, Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is under house arrest for his role in fighting against the Sokovia Accords in Captain America: Civil War — which is awfully inconvenient, given that estranged compatriots Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) and Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) need his help to rescue Hope’s mom and Hank’s wife Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer) from the Quantum Realm. Toss in the sudden appearance of Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) and the nefarious plans of tech broker Sonny Burch (Walton Goggins), and you’ve got enough plot for a couple of movies — so it’s that much more to director Peyton Reed’s credit that the end result was still wrangled so successfully. “For the most part, the two hours you’ll spend running around with Marvel’s Ant pals is fun and doesn’t have the same emotional investment Infinity War or even Black Panther did earlier this year,” wrote the Toronto Sun’s Mark Daniell. “And, for once in the MCU, that’s kind of refreshing.”

---

9. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) 90%

(Photo by Zade Rosenthal/Walt Disney Studios)

Death in the comics is a lot like death on your average soap opera: timed for maximum story impact, and very often temporary. It can have the unfortunate effect of undercutting the narrative stakes of a character’s demise, but it’s also pretty useful sometimes, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a perfect case in point. Mirroring the classic Marvel Comics story that sees Captain America’s old sidekick Bucky returning decades after his presumed death in World War II — only brainwashed into being the murderous bad guy known as the Winter Soldier — the First Avenger sequel dropped Cap into an emotional conflict that posed thought-provoking questions about real-life politics while paving the way for Civil War. As Owen Gleiberman wrote for Entertainment Weekly, “Captain America: The Winter Soldier is the first superhero film since the terrorist-inflected The Dark Knight that plugs you right into what’s happening now.”

---

8. Doctor Strange (2016) 89%

In the early days of the MCU, it seemed perfectly reasonable to question the wisdom of bringing lesser-known — or simply weird — comics properties to the big screen. But as we approach a decade of Marvel cinematic supremacy, it looks like there might not be a title the studio can’t successfully adapt, and for further proof, here’s Doctor Strange. An eminently trippy comic book whose earliest adventures took Marvel in a thrillingly psychedelic new direction, Strange faced all sorts of obstacles on its way to theaters: Would audiences even be interested in suspending their disbelief long enough to watch a goateed dude in a cape save the world with magic? And how best to deal with the comics’ frankly dated racial subtext? With director Scott Derrickson at the helm, the 14th MCU movie sidestepped those potential troubles with dazzling special effects and a top-shelf cast that included Benedict Cumberbatch as the Doctor, Mads Mikkelsen as his adversary Kaecilius, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Baron Mordo, and Tilda freakin’ Swinton as the Ancient One. Although it still added up to yet another origin story in a genre lousy with them, the end results were still thrillingly entertaining; as David Ehrlich wrote for indieWIRE, “If Doctor Strange can be dispiritingly safe, it can also be just as impressively bold – an hallucinogenic trip along a very familiar path, watching the film is like adding a large dose of LSD to your morning commute.”

---

7. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) 91%

(Photo by Walt Disney Studios)

It took a long time — and a lot of box-office receipts — before Marvel was finally able to eradicate the old notion that there was only one kind of “superhero movie,” and it needed to be based around immediately recognizable characters who fit a simple mold. Over and over again, pundits doubted that audiences were interested in seeing the big-screen adventures of characters perceived as either outdated (Captain America), silly (Thor), or second-tier (Iron Man) — but with 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy, the studio may have erased those doubts permanently. After all, if you can score a hit with an adaptation of a comic about a team of do-gooders whose ranks include aliens that look like a tree and a raccoon, you can do anything, right? Of course, it didn’t hurt that director James Gunn took a suitably irreverent approach to the material, or that he rounded up an outstanding ensemble led by Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, and Vin Diesel (those last two providing, respectively, the voices of the raccoon and tree). Like most Marvel movies, Guardians came packed with laughs and action, but this tale of intergalactic derring-do also boasted surprisingly poignant moments. Describing it as “Part George Lucas and part Chuck Jones,” TheWrap’s James Rocchi wrote, “Guardians of the Galaxy has enough scrappy heart and smart humor to make it seem like the best possible kind of product, one where the talent of all involved makes it easy to enjoy their hustle.”

---

6. Captain America: Civil War (2016) 90%

(Photo by Walt Disney Studios)

Comics are built upon the never-ending conflict between good guys and villains. But what happens when a pair of heroes find themselves so irrevocably at odds that the only solution is fisticuffs? The answer lies in Captain America: Civil War. With Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Avengers: Age of Ultron, Marvel laid the groundwork for a story about the real-world implications of super-beings; here, those ideas come rushing to the fore as Cap and Tony Stark find themselves on opposite sides of an ideological divide drawn when the world’s governments seek to impose regulations reining in the growing population of “enhanced” individuals. Naturally, there’s a lot of weighty sociopolitical subtext inherent in its themes, but this is still a Marvel movie, with all the action and quippy one-liners that implies — and a darn good one, according to the vast majority of critics, who deemed it one of the better efforts to come out of an increasingly complex cinematic universe. “With Civil War,” wrote Barry Hertz of the Globe and Mail, “Marvel Studios has proven, once again, that the world’s heroes remain in good hands.”

---

5. Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) 92%

(Photo by Chuck Zlotnick/Columbia Pictures)

Getting lightning to strike with one movie is hard enough, let alone an entire franchise — so when Sony’s plans for the first Spider-Man reboot fizzled after a pair of films, it wasn’t hard to understand why the studio turned to Marvel for a series-steadying hand. Sharing the creative reins turned out to be exactly what the web-slinger needed. After hiring Tom Holland to play Spidey, Marvel introduced his version of the character in Captain America: Civil War, which turned out to be a mighty effective teaser for the main event — Spider-Man: Homecoming marked a rebound for the flagging franchise while sending our hero back to his high school roots. Part superhero adventure, part coming-of-age story, it delivered the action comics fans craved — but the quieter moments in between the battles might have been its strongest. “It delivers eye-popping spectacle in spades,” wrote the Tribune News Service’s Katie Walsh, “but it’s the characters that make it count.”

---

4. Marvel's the Avengers (2012) 91%

(Photo by Walt Disney Studios)

It’s one thing to turn a slew of comics characters into successful film franchises. But to fit them — and the actors bringing them to life — into a single movie? That takes moxie, not to mention millions of dollars. Fortunately, director Joss Whedon had both resources at his disposal when he wrangled the cast of the MCU’s Phase One into Marvel’s The Avengers, somehow managing to guideex his overstuffed assemblage of heroes and villains in an all-star bonanza. The movie’s 140-minute length suggested lumbering overkill, but even with a CGI-enhanced battle for the fate of humanity in the final act, Whedon’s Avengers remained light on its feet, balancing high-stakes action against an intoxicatingly zippy plot that gave each of its many characters at least a few moments to shine (not to mention a laugh-out-loud one-liner or two). “Audiences have been eagerly anticipating this first all-hero extravaganza for years,” wrote USA Today’s Claudia Puig. “The wait was worth it.”

---

3. Thor: Ragnarok (2017) 93%

(Photo by Marvel Studios)

Blond locks notwithstanding, Thor has been the black sheep of the MCU for some time — after all, his franchise’s second entry, 2013’s The Dark World, still stands as the saga’s low point on the Tomatometer. As it turned out, the secret to making the God of Thunder fun was always pretty simple: embrace the inherent silliness of the character’s cosmic roots, even when you’re depicting something as serious as the long-prophesied end of days. Director Taika Waititi went all in on the comedy for Thor: Ragnarok, taking a loose, improv-friendly approach to the dialogue and adopting a dazzlingly colorful aesthetic for a story that sees our hero exiled, imprisoned, mutilated, and orphaned; it isn’t a story that sounds like a lot of laughs, in other words, but it ended up being one of the funniest — and most all-around fun — entries in Marvel’s cinematic universe. As Philip de Semlyen put it for Time Out, “In a world of portentous blockbusters getting ever darker, it’s a joy to see one throwing on the disco lights.”

---

2. Iron Man (2008) 94%

(Photo by )

All these billions of dollars in box-office grosses later, it’s easy to forget how many people thought the idea of an Iron Man movie was a little silly — as well as the not-unpopular notion that Marvel was taking a major risk by handing a superhero franchise to Robert Downey, Jr. Needless to say, those doubters were quickly silenced when Iron Man arrived in theaters in 2008, proving a comics character didn’t need Superman levels of name-brand recognition in order to send filmgoers flocking. With Downey in rare form as a quip-dispensing playboy/action hero and Jeff Bridges chomping cigars while exuding oily villainy, Iron Man hit all the requisite origin-story beats while establishing the first cornerstone of the Marvel Cinematic Universe — and offered plenty of blockbuster action in the bargain. “If every superhero franchise had a Robert Downey Jr.,” mused NPR’s Bob Mondello, “the genre might actually be watchable again.”

---

1. Black Panther (2018) 96%

(Photo by Marvel Studios)

The Marvel Cinematic Universe spent its first half decade defying expectations by taking superhero titles that were widely viewed as too niche (Iron Man), too outdated (Captain America), too cosmically silly (Thor), or simply too darn strange (Guardians of the Galaxy), and turning them into massive blockbusters. But after confounding the cynics for years — and raking in billions along the way — Marvel faced the ever-heavier weight of expectations, and Black Panther shouldered the franchise’s heaviest burden to date. To its credit, the studio refused to play it safe, hiring young director Ryan Coogler and trusting him to deliver a picture that could serve up set pieces and sociopolitical themes with equal dexterity. Mission accomplished: led by Chadwick Boseman in the title role and rounded out by a stellar ensemble that included seasoned vets like Angela Bassett and Forest Whitaker as well as a magnetic Michael B. Jordan, Panther proved once and for all that the superhero genre has more than enough depth and breadth to tackle entertaining stories with real-world heft — and it arguably solved the MCU’s “villain problem” in the bargain, with Jordan’s Erik Killmonger serving as far more than a stock nemesis to our hero. “Black Panther could have been just another Marvel romp — a fun but ultimately disposable entry in the studio’s catalogue,” acknowledged Slate’s Jamelle Bouie. “But Ryan Coogler and company had the power, and perhaps the responsibility, to do much more. And they did.”

Paul Bettany Movies and Shows Ranked

We’re ranking the movies and shows of Paul Bettany! We start with his Certified Fresh works, including his early supporting breakthroughs in A Knight’s Tale and Mast and Commander: The Far Side of the World. Of course, much of his Certified Fresh films come from being the secret weapon throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where he plays J.A.R.V.I.S.-cum-Vision starting in the original Iron Man all the way up to Avengers: Infinity War. WandaVision saw Marvel successfully spilling into TV, an arena where Bettany has also done acclaimed work, including the first season of Manhunt and miniseries A Very British Scandal. —Alex Vo

The heroes of Marvel Cinematic Universe, that expansive collection of movies and now streaming shows that has swallowed up so much of pop culture this century, are known for defying the laws of physics, but the universe itself can’t escape at least one of science’s basic principles: What comes up must come down.

Yes, even for Iron Man.

---

Listen Now: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | TuneIn | Google Podcasts | Radio Public | Deezer | iHeart | Art19

---

That fizzy, joyful feeling that powered critics hearts as they danced out of their screenings for the original Iron Man in 2008 was, for many, not the feeling with which they left their screenings for its sequel. Where Jon Favreau’s introduction of Tony Stark had been deemed a game-changing good time, Iron Man 2 was seen by many as all too much, a sequel with a chronic case of sequilitis that lumbered around under its heavy plot and the weight of having to set so much up for the impending Avengers movie.

They didn’t hate the film – Iron Man 2 is Certified Fresh at 72% – but it was a significant comedown from Tony Stark’s 94% Certified Fresh debut. (Audiences were even (slightly) harsher, giving the film a 71% Audience Score.)

It’s another debut, however, that prompts us to revisit Iron Man 2 in our podcast Rotten Tomatoes Is Wrong, this week, and to ask if the MCU’s first solo sequel really is deserving of its place towards the bottom of the Marvel Studios pile. That would be the entrance into this universe of Natalie Rushman/Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), who finally gets her own solo film in Black Widow, released Friday. It was here, whooping Happy’s ass in the ring and taking out a hallway of fighters in what remains one of the MCU’s best combat scenes, that the world first met the many-accented, many-hairstyled woman who would become the heart of the mightiest franchise on Earth.

---

---

Joining hosts Mark Ellis and Jacqueline Coley to ask whether critics and fans were too harsh on Iron Man 2 ­– and to reminisce about Natasha through the ages… and get into what happened to Rhodey! – is stand-up comedian, actor, and pop-culture expert, Jay Washington. Will he give Iron Man 2 the two-thumbs up its defenders insist it deserves? Or will slice it to pieces like some unfortunate Formula 1 vehicle getting in the wrong guy’s way? Tune in to find out.

---

Check out some more episodes of Rotten Tomatoes Is Wrong:

• Episode 29: “Rotten Tomatoes Is Wrong” About… Joker
• Episode 30: “Rotten Tomatoes Is Wrong” About… Video-Game Movies (with WWE superstar Xavier Woods)
• Episode 31: “Rotten Tomatoes Is Wrong” About… Game of Thrones‘ Final Season
• Episode 34: “Rotten Tomatoes Is Wrong” About… Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace
• Episode 35: “Rotten Tomatoes Is Wrong” About… Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones
• Episode 36: “Rotten Tomatoes Is Wrong” About… Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith
• Episode 37: “Rotten Tomatoes Is Wrong” About… Aladdin
• Episode 41: “Rotten Tomatoes Is Wrong” About… Tenet

---

If you have a suggestion for a movie or show you think we should do an episode on, let us know in the comments, or email us at rtiswrong@rottentomatoes.com.

---

Meet the hosts

Jacqueline Coley is an editor at Rotten Tomatoes, with a focus on awards and indie coverage but with a passion for everything, from the MCU to musicals and period pieces. Coley is a regular moderator at conventions and other events, can be seen on Access Hollywood and other shows, and will not stand Constantine slander of any kind. Follow Jacqueline on Twitter: @THATjacqueline.

Mark Ellis is a comedian and contributing editor for Rotten Tomatoes. He currently hosts the Rotten Tomatoes series Versus, among others, and can be seen co-hosting the sports entertainment phenomenon Movie Trivia Schmoedown. His favorite Star Wars movie is Jedi (guess which one!), his favorite person is actually a dog (his beloved stepdaughter Mollie), and – thanks to this podcast – he’s about to watch Burlesque for the first time in his life. Follow Mark on Twitter: @markellislive.

---

On an Apple device? Follow Rotten Tomatoes on Apple News.

---

Who is superhero cinema’s ultimate genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist? The wise-cracking tech head who took down Thanos? Or the reclusive, brooding, vengeful detective who looks as good in a tux as he does zipping between the buildings of Gotham? In our latest episode of Vs., Rotten Tomatoes Contributing Editor Mark Ellis is pitting the MCU’s Iron Man against DC’s Dark Knight, comparing their box office pull, Tomatometer and Audience Scores, and the quality and inventiveness of their gadgets, all to declare who is the superior super-powered scion.

As always, if you don’t agree with our choice of winner, let us have it in the comments.

While there would’ve been a certain amusement in watching a surly, 75-year-old Harrison Ford pretending to meet Lando for the first time and winning the Millennium Falcon, Disney went with the age-correct Alden Ehrenreich for Solo: A Star Wars Story. Though a few were up-in-blasters over casting someone besides Ford in the Han Solo role, that fervor has died down now that the reviews are out claiming the movie to be moderately neat-o. And that makes it the right time to look at 24 more movie characters replaced and recast with new actors, and how that turned out on the Tomatometer.

Phase One: 2008-2012

Iron Man (94%) | The Incredible Hulk (67%) | Iron Man 2 (73%) | Thor (77%) | Captain America: The First Avenger (79%) | Marvel’s The Avengers (92%)

Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. were not obvious pegs on which to hang a superhero movie — or the fortunes of a studio. Favreau’s biggest hit was a Christmas flick, which still had some time to go before becoming a classic, and Robert Downey Jr. was an acclaimed actor, but at that stage far from the world’s biggest star. But Marvel Studios and studio president Kevin Feige were determined to pick the best talent over marquee names. “It was liberating to make decisions like that, that I don’t know would have been made at other studios at the time,” Feige told Rotten Tomatoes when he sat down to talk about 10 years of the MCU. The decision paid off — Iron Man was beloved by critics (94% on the Tomatometer) and audiences alike (the film has an Audience Score of 91%).

Not all of Phase One’s films fared as well: The Incredible Hulk, Louis Leterrier’s reboot of the character, starring Edward Norton, was a sturdy effort, and is Fresh on the Tomatometer at 67%, but failed to set the world on fire — or launch a trilogy, as all other Phase One movies did. Mostly, however, critics and audiences rapturously embraced the assembling Avengers that Marvel Studios unleashed on multiplexes. Joss Whedon’s Avengers then took things next level with a 92% — a score that wouldn’t be matched again until Spider-Man: Homecoming. The secret sauce, Feige says, was there in the very first MCU effort. “What Jon brought to the process and what Robert brought to the process, as we were making Iron Man, laid the foundations — not only with the narrative and the story for where we’ve gone, now, almost 19 films with Infinity War — but also the tonality of our films and behind the scenes, the way we made the films.”

What follows is a history of the MCU, and reflection upon it, drawn form a sit-down interview between Feige and Rotten Tomatoes. 

PHASE ONE | PHASE TWO | PHASE THREE

---

“If we were to fail, at least we would have failed with the best intentions.” 

“I had been involved and Marvel had been involved at certain levels on other films before Iron Man, but always as a partner, never as the lead decision maker. The other studios spent the money to make the films – they had control of the films. When we got the chance to do it ourselves, there was a lot of pressure involved, because it was all on us. But I was very comfortable with that because: If we were to fail, at least we would have failed with the best intentions. And, Iron Man being our first film, we really believed in Tony Stark, we really believed in having a character that was as interesting, if not more interesting, outside of the costume as he was in the costume.”

“Let’s just cast the best actor we can find.”

“Deciding that Marvel Studios’ Iron Man will be the marquee name allowed us to say, ‘Let’s just cast the best actor we can find.’ And it’s funny to remember now, [when] Robert Downey Jr. is one of the biggest stars on the planet. What he was then was one of the best actors on the planet – [if not] necessarily one of the biggest marquee stars on the planet. It was liberating to make decisions like that, that I don’t know would have been made at other studios at the time.”

“On those early Iron Man screenings, it was apparent that audiences loved Tony Stark, that audiences loved the redemption arc that Tony was undergoing in that movie.”

“We do what we call friends-and-family screenings on all of our films, made up of neither friends nor family, but made up of people that we trust to tell us the truth and not tell anyone else about the horrifically rough version of the movie that we’re showing them at that point. On those early Iron Man screenings it was apparent that audiences loved Tony Stark, that audiences loved the redemption arc that Tony was undergoing in that movie. It was after those screenings… some of the executives at the studio at that time started making very big predictions for the opening weekend.”

“Hulk is a great character – who I do think can have standalone movies, and who I think would be great in his own standalone movies.”

“With The Incredible Hulk, we were trying to bring a Bruce Banner and a Hulk into the beginnings of the MCU, the beginnings of our cinematic universe. The thing about Hulk, and we realized this early on as we started working on The Avengers, is that he is a great character — who I do think can have standalone movies, and who I think would be great in his own standalone movies. There’s a wish fulfilment to Hulk that even the worst of us can be used for good – that, I think, is why that character has endured for as many years as it has. But there was also something fun that had never been explored on screen before, in either of the two movies or in his television series, [something] which had only been explored in the comics: Which was [what he is like] when he is part of an ensemble, when he is this unpredictable part of this ensemble.”

“Agent Carter is unbelievably capable at a time when it was very difficult to rise up the ranks in the military. We really wanted to create these female characters that were as strong and as capable as the heroes.” 

“From the beginning of my career, the notion of the damsel in distress was outdated, and when we started to make our own movies, we didn’t want to fall into that trope – we wanted to avoid it as much as possible. With Agent Carter, she is unbelievably capable at a time when it was very difficult to rise up the ranks in the military. We really wanted to create these female characters that were as strong and as capable as the heroes. Now, as we’ve continued to grow, that’s gotten even more apparent, to the point where they are the heroes. Literally right this second, Brie Larson is on the set of Captain Marvel in the first few weeks of photography; Evangeline Lilly has finished her role as The Wasp in Ant-man and the Wasp – and it will only grow from there. What Ryan Coogler did with Okoye, Nakia, and Shuri in Black Panther… they’re already iconic characters, and people are already asking, ‘When are they getting their movies? When are we getting the Shuri movie?’ The answer is: Nobody wants to see that more than me. And that’s a testament to that film and to those actresses. And to the world being ready, and overdue, to see these types of characters on the screen.”

“The big danger with the first Avengers was just getting overwhelmed with action. So many superheroes, so much spectacle, so many special effects.”

“Early on, we realized that the role of the filmmaker on our films is to bring a unique tonality and be able to maintain and ride that tone over the course of production and through post-production. We have amazing artists and technicians who can help with the scale, that can help with as big a canvas as it is.  What the filmmakers need to do is not get lost in all of that and to focus on the great character work. The big danger of the first Avengers was just getting overwhelmed with action. So many superheroes, so much spectacle, so many special effects. The most interesting thing about the Avengers is: Why in the world are all these people in the same room together – and what would they do when they were in the same room together? Joss Whedon was an amazing writer, and had done amazing things that showed that character would not get lost amongst the spectacle. And, he of course exceeded all of our wildest expectations – twice.”

---

PHASE 1 | PHASE 2 | PHASE 3

You may have spent dozens of hours in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but can your fandom match the critics’ review quote to the right MCU movie?

With the May 6 release of Captain America: Civil War, the third phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe officially commences. It’ll be a four-year, multi-picture deal featuring the debuts of Black Panther, Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel, The Wasp and more, culminating in the long-brewing Infinity War. As pop culture at large further commits to the superhero trend, Rotten Tomatoes offers our own ideas as to who (and what) from the Marvel comics should get a shot on the silver screen.

---

Spider-Gwen

In an alternate universe, Gwen Stacy (not Peter Parker) was bitten by a radioactive spider, and gained superhuman abilities. In that same universe, Peter Parker dies (not Gwen Stacy), and now Spider-Woman fights crime in New York, even as J. Jonah Jameson calls her a menace. Spider-Gwen’s hooded costume was wildly popular, helping what could have been a minor spin-off character get her own regular title. And not only is this Gwen a superhero, she’s in a rock band with Mary Jane Watson. If the Marvel/Sony partnership is viewed as successful by both studios, maybe we’ll see Spider-Gwen get her own movie someday.

---

Ms. Marvel

It’s not easy being Kamala Khan, but that’s one of the reasons she’s so relatable. A bookish, introverted comics fangirl from a strict-but-loving family, Kamala just wants to be a normal teenager — which is made all the more difficult because she also just happens to be an Inhuman with the ability to stretch and contract at will. A Ms. Marvel TV series is rumored to be on the horizon, which would be welcome news: at a time when politicians traffic in anti-Islamic rhetoric, a Muslim-American superhero from Marvel — particularly one as endearing as Kamala — could stand as a bold rejoinder.

---

Cloak and Dagger

A common criticism you’ll hear from DC diehards is that their celluloid heroes are the dark and gritty alternative to Marvel’s goofy,  family-friendly pop spectacles. Well, if Marvel was looking to boost its cinematic street cred, it might look to adapt the tale of Tyrone Johnson and Tandy Bowen, a pair of teenage runaways-cum-crime-fighting vigilantes who do business as Cloak and Dagger. Operating within a grim, perpetually overcast Manhattan, Cloak (a teleporter) and Dagger (who fires electrical knives from her hands) are complex characters, and their troubled histories and interpersonal drama could be the kindling for a grown-up superhero movie. (And lo and behold, a Cloak and Dagger show has been announced!)

---

Hercules

Depending on who’s writing for the character, Hercules can be slightly oafish to dangerously irresponsible. In his current title, the legendary god of strength is a little washed up and in need of redemption, and that’s the character we’d like to see hit the big screen. He’s been struggling with forces that few mortals can see, leading many to think he’s lost his mind, and there’s fodder for either broad comedy or tense thrills in that formula.

---

Miles Morales

It’s been a little over five years since the introduction of Miles Morales as swingin’ Spider-Man in the Ultimate lineup, the first major shake-up in the Marvel multiverse since Captain America’s death and the Iron Man movie changed the business. A Black Hispanic teen, Morales’ tales are more urbane and tense, and he eventually finds his way to the main Marvel universe to fight alongside Peter Parker. As Marvel preps yet another Spider-Man origin movie, Morales represents to shake off the cobwebs of Spidey’s story.

---

Carnage

On the other hand, what’s one more Peter Parker for the road? Spider-Man had some of the best supporting players and villains swirling in his world and the mid-90s Maximum Carnage storyline brought the oddballs out — not just Venom and Carnage (the former teaming with Parker to take down the latter), but Carrion, Demogoblin, Shriek, Doppelganger, Black Cat, Firestar, Deathlok and more. It’s a blunt and violent brawl and though the sappy conclusion would need to be reworked, it’d be a thrill to see a modern superhero movie that’s pure action with no subtext or symbolism.

---

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur

---

Namor

In his 70+ years in Marvel Comics, half-Atlantean Namor has been alternately portrayed as a villian, an anti-hero, and an actual hero.  But one thing has been pretty consistent across all of those portrayals; he’s a haughty, stuck-up jerk.  The intersection of his regal, overbearing attitude, quick temper, and his fierce determination to fight for what he believes in makes for a character that could have some thrilling confrontations with the rest of the MCU.

---

Spider-Woman

Having been first recruited by HYDRA, then involved with S.H.I.E.L.D., becoming an agent of S.W.O.R.D., and finally a member of the Avengers, Spider-Woman’s path could easily crossover Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Guardians of the Galaxy and The Avengers, and lead to the Skrull invasion story arc. Besides all that, Jessica Drew is one of the last few top Marvel characters not in movies or TV yet. The good news is that the recent partnership between Marvel and Sony — who might or might not own her rights in the cinematic universe — is a sign that her premiere on the big screen might be closer than ever.

Your favorite characters from comic books, movies, TV shows, and video games are walking the floors of the Javits Center in New York City this weekend, and you can check them out right here. Scroll down for the best costumes of NYCC 2015.

---

First off, I gotta say it’s a real honor to be buried here halfway down the Rotten Tomatoes homepage! I hope the genius who decided to go to Peter Bogdanovich for his Top 5 before asking yours truly has a fun time explaining that to the boss! I mean, COME ON!

Now when it comes to film, I mostly just like sayin’ ‘oeuvre’ and watchin’ the blank look on Drax’s face, but I do keep a personal library of my faves. So here they are in no particular order…

---

And that’s it, cinephiles! I’m sure some of you got different picks, but this ain’t a debate!

---

Now stop stealin’ yer boss’s internet and get back to work! Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 opens on May 5, 2017.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn’t come back with its third season until Tuesday, but we have the first five minutes of the premiere, “Laws of Nature,” for you to watch right here. Take a sneak peek at S.H.I.E.L.D‘s cold open and meet Joey (Juan Pablo Raba), the newest Inhuman, as he encounters Daisy Johnson a.k.a Skye (Chloe Bennet), Mack (Henry Simmons) and Hunter (Nick Blood) just in the knick of time!

---

Season three of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. premieres Tuesday at 9 p.m. on ABC.