By Jason Saldivar
The “Big Three” of The Avengers are Iron Man, played by Robert Downey Jr, Captain America, played by Chris Evans, and Thor, played by Chris Hemsworth. They are also the heroes that started what fans have come to know as the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Each has his own trilogy of movies with varying results of praise. Captain America Winter Soldier is acclaimed to be the best second movie out of the three trilogies.
In a broad ranking between all three trilogies, I rank the first Thor movie as number three, the third Iron Man movie at number two, and Captain America Civil War at number one.
Thor is last in the top three because it was more solid than Thor the Dark World and Thor Ragnarok, but despite it being better than its sequels, it is mainly focused on building Thor back up from an arrogant prince, to a caring and understanding soon-to-be ruler, by stripping his powers.
Iron Man Three is ranked at second because it progresses Tony Stark’s development that started in Iron Man One and has reached a tipping point in the first Avengers that we see evolve by the end of Iron Man Three, where he starts fresh and becomes better because of it.
Ranking number one is Captain America Civil War, which I believe is the best movie out of the three trilogies. Civil War brings roughly every Avenger, including both primary and reserve members but excluding Thor and Hulk, into a dividing battle over the Sokovia Accords. This is a legal document that would essentially allow for government regulation and control over enhanced individuals. The divide is between Steve Rogers, who believes the government shouldn’t control them, and Stark, who believes they should have overseers. Both sides stem from respectable arguments; Stark’s lack of oversight was allowing terrorists access to his weapons, but Rogers has seen how government control of enhanced individuals leads to corruption. Personally, I side with Rogers on the argument.
