The best thing about the latest installment in the MCU Thunderbolts* is how unconcerned it is about being a story about comic book superheroes

Captain America: Brave New World is a toothless attempt at topicality.

Deadpool & Wolverine is critic-proof.

While maybe the most inconsequential film Marvel has put out into the world (not including a post-credit teaser that is crowd-pleasingly awesome and a little desperate feeling, both at the same time), The Marvels is also one of the fastest paced and most humorously beguiling.

Not only is Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 my favorite film of the series, but it’s also quite possibly the best entry in the entire MCU.

Ant-Man’s return is notable for the villain and not a lot more, meaning this sequel shrinks into the back of the memory rather quickly, disappearing into the multiversal content void almost as if it never existed in the first place.

Coogler aims high with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and when the director hits his target, it’s right in the absolute center of the bull’s-eye. But the misses add up.

Thor: Love and Thunder is my least favorite film in the MCU.

It doesn’t happen immediately, but when it matters most, Raimi unleashes all of the crazy, comedically vaudevillian, blood-soaked, visually audacious tricks fans expect from him, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness comes alive like no other MCU entry in recent memory.