Viraldice

I attended my first Comic Con as a fan, not a writer - buying a pass and going to panels just for the sake of enjoying them, not because I had to have an article about their content. This was in 2006, and while I can't remember everything I went to, I distinctly remember sitting in the audience as Jon Favreau, Louis Leterrier, and (sniff) Edgar Wright talked about their plans to bring Iron Man, Hulk, and Ant-Man to the screen, respectively. But it wasn't the idea of three more comic book-themed movies coming along that was the big news - this was the summer of Superman Returns and X3 after all - it was the plan (hinted at by Kevin Feige, a name that didn't mean a lot to most of the people in the room* at the time) to make an eventual Avengers movie where those characters would cross over after debuting in their own films. 

Luckily for them it seems to have worked out OK - a shared movie universe that has stretched across 22 films and counting, breaking all kinds of box office records and earning unparalleled numbers of fans around the world. It was a plan that some said would never work (there was brief talk of making the first Avengers movie "Iron Man 3" after the non Iron Man films failed to make the same kind of money) and then became a template for so many other franchises: the DCEU is the most (in)famous of course, but James Wan's Conjuring has spunoff three separate franchises already with no signs of slowing down, and the Fast & Furious movies are giving it a shot this summer with Hobbs & Shaw. And then there's the Dark Universe... oh, wait.

Actually, the Dark Universe is a good point of reference, because it was based on what was one of the first attempts at this kind of shared world. In the 1940s, after pumping out a few sequels to their earlier hits (Dracula and Frankenstein primarily), Universal Studios had the idea to combine two of them with Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man, and its success paved the way for a few more "Monster Rally" films, where Dracula and some of their other characters popped up, albeit sometimes with different actors. It was pretty slapdash in retrospect, not to mention somewhat confusing in the case of Lon Chaney Jr., as he took over the role of Dracula and Frankenstein's Monster in those respective franchises at different times, only to come back as Wolf Man with new actors in those roles when the characters met up. The films aren't classics by any means, and the interactions are sometimes obnoxiously brief, but the general idea of all of these worlds existing as one was pretty exciting.

But I came to those late in life - I think I was in my twenties before I saw a classic Universal Monster movie in its entirety. No, the film that blew my mind with the idea that two separate movies that I saw might actually take place in a shared cinematic world was Dollman Vs. Demonic Toys, a 1993 Full Moon effort that combined three of their previous movies: Dollman (1991), Demonic Toys, and Bad Channels (both 1992). At 13, this seemed like the coolest thing in the world, opening my ill-informed mind up to the possibilities of things like John McClane teaming up with Riggs and Murtaugh, or Michael Myers fighting Jason Voorhees (Freddy vs. Jason had already been teased, but then and now I still believe Jason coming to Haddonfield would make a more exciting battle). It just seemed like something that couldn't be done; I mean, we already had Superman and Batman movies from the same studio, and they didn't ever reference each other, but somehow Full Moon president Charles Band had figured it out.

Running an economical 61 minutes with credits, the film picks up more or less as a direct sequel to Demonic Toys, with that film's hero Judith Gray (Tracy Scoggins) obsessed with the idea that the killer toys she took care of in the first film have somehow returned. One night her theory is proven correct, though her attempts to take them out again lead to her suspension on account of looking like a crazy person shooting at toys. Meanwhile, Brick "Dollman" Bardo (Thomerson) finds out about the existence of another 13 inch tall human (Melissa Behr, returning as Ginger from Bad Channels) and makes his way to her to offer some advice about being small (and then, five minutes later, they hop into the kitchen drawer she uses as a bed). Judith finds out about their existence and realizes that tiny toy-sized humans are the exact thing she needs to take out the murderous toys and clear her name, and so the trio sets off to the toy factory, preparing for battle.

As with the first Avengers and now the newer entries (Age of Ultron didn't add any feature characters to the mix), there's a good chance someone saw this crossover because they were a fan of one of the three movies and hadn't even seen the others. Indeed, to this day, I've never seen Bad Channels, so when Ginger shows up it means nothing to me - just as it meant nothing for Hulk or Hawkeye to show up in Avengers to someone who had only watched the two Iron Man movies (based on the box office of those Phase 1 movies, it seems that could have been a lot of people). The difference is that Marvel's string-pullers care not one iota about giving newcomers a bit of a primer of who anyone is when they show up in a big teamup movie like Infinity War; outside of the occasional gag that acknowledges that some films don't cross as much as others (Bruce Banner's confusion over the fact that they "have an Ant-Man now" in that film is comic gold), the filmmakers always just assume we know who's who and don't waste time re-explaining it, because that would be very dull to the folks like me who see all of these things on opening weekend.

But none of those guys are as notoriously thrifty as Charles Band! As I mentioned this movie only runs 61 minutes, and 10-15 of those are spent on flashback footage to the respective three films. After a quick hello from Dollman, it presents the climax of Demonic Toys to bring folks up to speed, and then later when Dollman meets Ginger, they both offer the other (read: the audience) a Cliff's Notes version of their own films. So along with the credits, there's only about 40 minutes' worth of new footage in this (barely a) film, a maneuver Band would use on some of the Puppet Master sequels, as well (and presumably others; I have little love for anything they put out these days that I've managed to catch and so I haven't exactly kept tabs on the likes of Killjoy). Even though Marvel had a reputation for being cheap in the old days, they never saved a few bucks by having Thor explain his history to the others by stopping Avengers cold to present a lengthy flashback sequence and eat up some of the runtime. 

That said, Band did have the stones (heh) to do something the Avengers movie didn't: kill off one of the main heroes (all due respect to Phil Coulson). Scoggins' Judith is surprisingly killed off around forty minutes in (so, the end of act 2!), leaving Dollman and Ginger to do battle without their much bigger partner's help. It's something that horror franchises can (should?) do in a way a comic book movie franchise really can't, because the villains are the real stars here, and it's far more important that the evil dolls come back again and again, as there can always be other heroes to fight them. But still, given Scoggins' then-penchant for appearing in DTV genre fare, it seems kind of ballsy to off her just as the universe was starting to expand - she could have become a tiny monster killing expert and hunted the Puppet Master dolls! Instead, according to the Videozone behind the scenes piece, Band planned to have Tim Thomerson's Dollman cross into their other franchises, using him as a sort of James Bond type who would have all of these crazy, presumably continuity-lite adventures fighting monsters and aliens we had already met in their own films.

Alas, that didn't happen for whatever reason, so this experiment didn't really pan out the way Marvel's did. It's a shame though - it could have been an easy way for Band to retain interest in the other Full Moon properties over the years - I'd maybe watch an Evil Bong movie if Thomerson showed up as Dollman again. Instead, the two men just focused on their (unrelated) Trancers series, the Demonic Toys got two (AWFUL) other movies much much later (one a crossover with Puppet Master, though Band had nothing to do with it and it's not considered canon), and Bad Channels has never been revived in any capacity. So it turned out more like the DCEU than the MCU, but I guess that's kind of fitting when you consider who wrote the original Demonic Toys in the first place. Still, it was a fun and relatively ambitious idea for its time, and the movie itself is kind of enjoyable even today (it certainly has better FX than any Full Moon release in the past 15-20 years), so even if the universe didn't really continue I still consider it a success. I hadn't seen it since I was 13 or 14, and expected it to be unwatchable, but had a good time with Baby Oopsie Daisy's cheesy one liners, the legitimately impressive oversized set effects, and Thomerson's laid-back hero antics. And I discovered this in exactly one third of the time it took to watch Endgame! 

*A much tinier room than you'd probably imagine - it wasn't even Hall H. In fact I'm pretty sure I was only in there because I wanted to see the following panel. Crazy times...

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In the 1985 film adaptation, Smooth Talk, Connie (Laura Dern) is a self-absorbed, boy crazy fifteen-year-old, constantly at odds with her mother (Mary Kay Place), who favors her duteous older sister, June (Elizabeth Berridge). Connie spends her evenings sneaking around with her friends and making out with boys she meets at a local drive-in restaurant. She initially finds all the attention intoxicating, until the night she captures the eye of a stranger in a gold convertible covered with cryptic writing. While her parents are away at a barbecue, two men arrive at Connie's house and she recognizes the driver, Arnold Friend (Treat Williams), as the guy from the restaurant. Curious and charmed by the charismatic stranger who appeals to her sense of vanity and desire, Connie slowly realizes he isn’t who he claims to be and grows increasingly terrified. When she refuses to go for a ride with him, Friend becomes more forceful, threatening to harm her family, all while maintaining a disturbing level of confidence in his ability to coerce her into doing what he wants. Eventually, Connie is compelled to leave the safety of her house and succumb to his demands.

Written in 1966, Oates based antagonist, Arnold Friend, on a real-life serial killer by the name of Charles Schmid. Known as “The Pied Piper of Tucson,” Schmid was a cult hero among the teenagers in town, said to have charmed them into keeping the murders he was prone to boasting about a secret. A bizarre individual, he’d paint his face with white pancake makeup and draw on a mole to make himself appear more sinister. Self-conscious about his height, Schmid would stuff newspapers and flattened cans into his cowboy boots to appear taller, which made him unsteady on his feet. Oates incorporated many of these quirks into Arnold Friend, gradually revealing them through Connie’s awareness of things that seem off about his appearance and demeanor. The film deviates from these exterior details to focus on the dialogue and mounting tension in the unforgettable scene, directed with precision by Joyce Chopra and featuring exceptional performances from Laura Dern and Treat Williams.

Admittedly, up until the climactic encounter that is the majority of Oates’ story, Smooth Talk is your run-of-the-mill coming-of-age movie. It fills in the blanks with typical teenage fare, depicting Connie’s discord with her family and her reckless pursuit of male attention, barely acknowledging the otherworldly atmosphere of the source material. Still, the moment Arnold Friend pulls up Connie’s driveway, you’re ensnared in the genius of one of our most prolific writers. Nearly a word for word recreation, the scene is a master class in building tension through dialogue. Gradually, Dern’s innocent young girl is coaxed from the safety of her house by Williams’ beguiling and intimidating charm.

Oates originally titled the story “Death and the Maiden” before deciding on a more symbolic and vague approach to telling the tale. A format that has inspired countless interpretations of the character Arnold Friend, not to mention the cryptic messages on his car. Many think of Friend as a supernatural entity, like death or the devil, while others read him more literally as a serial rapist and murderer. Either way, it’s clear that his intent is to lure Connie to a secluded location and have his way with her. While these supernatural aspects are more prominent in the story than the film, there is some suggestion that Friend has certain “powers,” considering he knows intimate details about Connie and her family.

The messages painted on Friend’s car – including the numbers 33, 19, 17 – are also open to interpretation. Friend tells Connie the numbers are a “secret code,” never revealing what they actually mean. Some claim the numbers equaling 69 makes them representative of Friend’s sexual deviancy, while others believe they point to the Bible verse Judges 19:17, because of its connection to the story’s title: “When he looked and saw the traveler in the city square, the old man asked, ‘Where are you going? Where did you come from?’” Friend uses other hidden messages, like lyrics to popular songs as a way to disguise his age and relate to Connie and her generation’s obsession with music. Music is a constant in both versions, often portraying Connie’s mood or emotional state-of-mind. Oates even dedicated the story to Bob Dylan, citing his song “It’s All Over Now Baby Blue” as inspiration: “The vagabond who's rapping at your door / Is standing in the clothes that you once wore / Strike another match, go start anew / And it's all over now, baby blue.”

In the end, Connie goes with Arnold Friend as if under some sort of spell, and we never learn what becomes of her. But the film creates an ending for her, as if choosing to believe it was all a dream or symbolic of her loss of virtue. It’s the cryptic layers in Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? that make it such a compelling and unforgettable story. The adaptation may sacrifice some of the more mystical allusions, but the dark reality is that people like Arnold Friend exist in the world. It's a scenario parents have been warning their daughters about since the dawn of time. A warning typically met with a roll of teenage eyes, but Oates makes the nightmare a reality, mixing true terror with fiction to convey the all too real dangers of growing up female and the inevitable end of innocence.  

Avengers: Endgame didn’t quite put a period on the run-on sentence that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe like its title might lead you to believe. Such things cannot end, lest the world go hungry for giant, gaping holes in the sky belching out spaceships. The question on the minds of Marvel fans everywhere is no longer “how will it end?” Now, it’s “how will it continue?” Tony Stark is dead. Steve Rogers is collecting Super Soldier Social Security. Bruce Banner has a burnt hot dog for an arm. Thor went to space to find himself like a college sophomore in Barcelona. Black Widow sacrificed herself for the Soul Stone. The very idea of “The Avengers” was so wrapped up in the specific characters brought together to save the world that it seems premature or even borderline sacreligious to broach the subject of how best to carry on this extremely lucrative brand. Iron Man’s corpse isn’t even cold yet.

Alas, the show must go on. Characters like Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and Doctor Strange demand sequels post haste. Shang Chi promises to be the first of what should be many new characters being introduced to the Marvel universe. But how can one top a 22-film interconnected saga that culminates in the biggest film of the century? Is it even possible? Is it worth trying?

It’s not; at least not yet. The brilliance of the Infinity Saga was in its patience. I am loathe to compare DC to Marvel, because it’s a pointless debate, but it’s worth it to consider Warner Bros skipping 20 steps in order to release a team-up film no one was clamoring for and the lengths they have gone to back-peddle from that aborted world-building. The next phases of the Marvel series will require even more patience than the first three, because the blueprint for success is there. Keep cranking out movies with “Avengers” in the title every few years with new characters and call it a day. That’s the easy way forward, but that seems unlikely from a movie studio that made a movie starring a talking tree. The Avengers brand needs a break. Nothing Marvel could dream up would be able to measure up to what they accomplished over the last 11 years. The only way to get past the unrealistic expectations of the most engaged fans is to totally subvert it, while reintroducing characters that are intimately connected to the fabric of Marvel Comics.

Marvel’s Phase Four should culminate in a brand new Fantastic Four film.

This sounds absurd, I’m sure. There have been three Fantastic Four movies already, with an unblemished record of three terrible movies to zero good ones. In a certain sense, this is like suggesting Marvel reboot The Punisher for the fourth time. The Marvel label is so potent that they could probably get away with that, so why not the Fantastic Four? Naysay all you want, but consider the positives rather than the negatives of this concept. The Fantastic Four offer the following:

• A cohesive team concept to rival The Avengers
• A mega-genius character in Reed Richards that could replace Tony Stark
• An elite antagonist in Doctor Doom, who could also do yeoman’s work in the Black Panther and Doctor Strange films
• A clear pathway to Galactus, the only Marvel villain who can outdo Thanos as a threat

From a purely business perspective, it makes a world of sense, too. Disney’s purchase of Fox has given Marvel access to characters it hasn’t been able to leverage these last 11 years: the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Deadpool, etc. The retconning on mutants into the MCU requires more mental gymnastics than the time travel in Endgame. Plus, Kevin Feige is on record stating that we’re years away from the X-Men appearing in the MCU. It makes no sense to go there so soon, especially with Dark Phoenix coming out this summer — the culimation of a movie series that has lasted even longer than the Infinity Saga. The Fantastic Four, on the other hand, is in a spot similar to where the Spider-Man franchise was when Sony rented out Peter Parker to Marvel. The audience’s expectations are lowered, the characters have barely been explored, and (say what you want about the Rami films) the previous interpretations are far from definitive. Making the Fantastic Four the centerpiece of Phase Four is not only a cute piece of marketing (Phase Four? Fantastic Four? Get it?); it also unlocks a wealth of storytelling potential across all three realms of the MCU: the terrestrial, the cosmic, and the mystical.

Let’s dive into the possibilities, with a hypothetical slate of Phase Four films that all lead to the reintroduction of Marvel’s First Family:

Doctor Strange 2

Let’s kick off Phase Four with the most underrated MCU hero, Steven Strange. The first Strange movie didn’t warrant a mountain of think pieces like Black Panther or Captain Marvel. It also didn’t touch on our latent patriotism like Captain America. It just was, and that’s OK. Someone has to be the Thor of this phase.

Doctor Strange set up Baron Mordo as a villain for the future, so why not bring him back here, training sorcerers in darker arts to battle his former protege? What if, in the post-credits stinger, one of those sorcerers in training is Victor Von Doom?

Black Panther 2

Doctor Doom is easily in the top tier of Marvel villains, which makes his general crappiness in the three Fantastic Four movies so disappointing. He’s a brilliant mind, a cunning wizard, and a brutal dictator. Enter Latveria, a Cold War-esque rival to Wakanda. T’Challa has already fought an enemy from within his own kingdom in Killmonger. The next logical threat would be from outside. Perhaps an assassin (Bullseye? Kraven, the Hunter?) is sent into Wakanda to destabilize the government while political forces attempt to seize power. Maybe that plan is being orchestrated from the seat of power in Latveria, which we come to learn is commanded by Doctor Doom, who is fluent in the mystic arts, as seen in Doctor Strange 2. Perhaps there are whispers of a space-bound mission, funded by Stark Industries, that left right before the Thanos Snap, and was lost. A post-credits stinger shows Captain Marvel responding to a distress signal from a far-off planet. When she arrives, the planet is gone. As in, no longer present. Disappeared. Swallowed up whole.

Black Widow

This is where things get a little fuzzy. The Black Widow film is a prequel, which means going backwards to tell a story that we’d need to really stretch to make matter in a Fantastic Four/Galactus saga. But when we remember that our watchword is patience, it’s easier to figure out how to make this fit within that framework. Black Widow sets up Shang Chi, which is your Ant-Man or Spider-Man post-Phase palate cleanser. Like Black Widow, Shang Chi functions best within a more realistic, Earthbound setting. The Black Widow movie could allude to a “Master of Kung Fu” that battles underworld criminals and spies. Or something like that. Let’s not dwell on that. The Black Widow movie is really just here to stretch things out before we get to the good stuff.

Captain Marvel 2

It seems unlikely we’ll get Guardians 3 in this Phase, thanks to the unnecessary controversy over James Gunn’s bad tweets. So, the space-bound elements of the MCU that will inevitably lead to Galactus and the Silver Surfer have to be assumed by Carol Danvers. Piggybacking on the stinger from Black Panther 2, we find Captain Marvel investigating the missing planet. In the midst of that, she runs up against the time-traveling villain Kang the Conqueror, who has seen terrible galactic devastation in the future and believes the only way to survive is to...have a baby with Captain Marvel. Of course, Kang wants to use this super baby to rule the universe and he’ll stop at nothing to woo Carol or kill her. This would be a play off of the Celestial Madonna storyline from the comics (it was Mantis that was the object of Kang’s affection there), and it would also be an opportunity for Marvel to continue using Captain Marvel to make salient points about female empowerment when Carol stands up to some greasy male villain trying to control her reproduction. Heavy-handed? Sure. But wasn’t Carol defeating Yonn-Rogg’s gaslighting equally on the nose? Carol defeats Kang, sending him into the Negative Zone, I guess. Why not? Have fun, Kang.

Our final post-credits stinger sets up our Phase-capping adventure: the Fantastic Four’s spaceship crash lands on Earth. Reed Richards stumbles out of the ship, totally unaware of where (or when) he is. In his panicked state, his arm starts to stretch.

The Fantastic Four

And here we are. Phase Four comes to an end. How does such a crucial group of characters as the Fantastic Four get retconned into MCU canon? First off, Reed Richards is a malcontent. Richards is a brilliant mind, but one that can’t be controlled. He’s bounced from job to job, failing to fit into any environment he’s been placed into. He finally lands a job with SHIELD, prior to the events of The Winter Soldier. Richards becomes obsessed with Dr. Wendy Larson’s work on the lightspeed engine and dedicates himself to making it work. After the dissolution of SHIELD, Richards goes to work for Stark Industries, taking his lightspeed engine efforts with him. Without the aid of the Tesseract, Richards has to invent a means of powering his engine. Richards solicits the help of his good friend, Victor Von Doom, to help him harness cosmic rays (or Gamma rays or some such thing) to make his dream a reality.

The arrival of Thanos in Infinity War sends Richards into a panic. Knowing that the fate of humanity is at stake, he decides to launch his experimental craft early. He will bring his girlfriend Sue Storm, her brother Johnny, and Ben Grimm, who is a mechanical whiz that can troubleshoot any technical issues with the flight. In the worst case scenario of Thanos-related intergalactic genocide, the lightspeed engine can ferry humans off of the planet to start anew. In his haste, Richards leaves out Victor Von Doom from his flight manifest. The ship escapes the atmosphere, but the lightspeed engine malfunctions, sending Richards, Sue, Johnny, and Ben into the Negative Zone. When they come out, they are hurtled back to Earth five years later (post-Endgame) and find that they are now imbued with their traditional superpowers: stretching, invisibility, flaming on, and whatever it is that the Thing is. The Fantastic Four land in, you guessed it, Wakanda. Shuri examines the four and explains the circumstances of their mutation. T’Challa gives them some kind of pep talk, which leads to them assuming the mantle of heroes. This is a bit of a nod to the first appearance of Black Panther in Fantastic Four #52 and 53, but with a switching of circumstances. Now, the Four are dumped into Black Panther’s story, rather than the other way around.

Simultaneously, the Silver Surfer comes to Earth, in the role of herald of Galactus, who was woken from his slumber when Thanos destroyed the Infinity Stones. The Stones were the only power keeping Galactus at bay. Now that they’re gone, nothing can prevent him from consuming the entire universe.

Doctor Doom, furious at Reed Richards for leaving him behind to suffer in the post-Snap world, leaves Latveria when he hears that his former friend has returned from space. Doom wants to not only kill Reed, but also curry favor with the Silver Surfer, in order to insure his survival. Doom attempts to recreate Reed’s experiment and open a portal to the Negative Zone, banishing the Four to this alternate dimension and also allowing various threats into our world to subjugate humanity in preparation for the arrival of Galactus. This gets the attention of Captain Marvel (who returns to Earth) and Doctor Strange (who recognizes that Doom is a disciple of Baron Mordo). They join forces with the Fantastic Four to stop Doctor Doom, who flees back to Latveria. Recognizing his genius at last, Stark Industries hands over Avengers Tower to Reed Richards to become a research facility that for reasons I haven’t yet figured out, is renamed the Baxter Building.

In the post-credits stinger, the Silver Surfer explains to the Fantastic Four that despite it all, Galactus is still coming. And he’s still hungry.

Shang Chi

God, I’m tired at this point. This is the palate cleanser movie, anyway. Who cares? There’s some crazy martial arts. The end. He’ll be back in the inevitable Phase Five. And the wheel keeps on turning.

What do you folks think? Into the above, or not so much? Are you more eager to see the Fantastic Four join the MCU, or the X-Men? Can you think of a bigger threat, post-Thanos, than Galactus? Sound off in the comments section below, and stay tuned for further updates on the MCU's Phase Four as they roll in.

You may have noticed that we're just a tiny bit excited about Marvel lately here at Birth.Movies.Avengers: Endgame. Given that this is essentially the end of Marvel's first giant chapter, it seemed like a good time to check BMD's pulse on how the saga currently ranks. Speaking just for myself this changes from day to day, and a whole lot of entries are more or less tied. But I, along with everyone else, made an official ranking anyway. We then averaged out those rankings (well, James Shapiro did) to get an overall BMD list, after which you can find our individual lists.

So without further ado, the BMD Marvel rankings (Warning, there are some ties. Sorry, but math is math!):

19. The Incredible Hulk

18. Iron Man 2

17. Thor: The Dark World

16. Avengers: Age of Ultron

15. Doctor Strange

14. Thor

13. Ant-Man and the Wasp

12. Captain Marvel

11. Iron Man

10. Ant-Man

9. Spider-Man: Homecoming

8. Captain America: Civil War

7. Avengers: Infinity War

TIE 

6. Captain America: The First Avenger

TIE

6. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

5. Iron Man 3

4. The Avengers

TIE

3. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

TIE

3. Thor: Ragnarok

TIE

2. Black Panther

TIE

2. Avengers: Endgame

1. Guardians of the Galaxy

And as promised, our individual lists:

JM Mutore

22. Doctor Strange

21. The Incredible Hulk

20. Ant-Man and the Wasp

19. Iron Man 2

18. Avengers: Age of Ultron

17. Captain Marvel

16. Avengers: Infinity War

15. Thor: The Dark World

14. Ant-Man

13. Thor

12. Captain America: Civil War

11. Avengers: Endgame

10. Spider-Man: Homecoming

9. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

8. Iron Man 3

7. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

6. Captain America: Civil War

5. Iron Man

4. Guardians of the Galaxy

3. Black Panther

2. Thor: Ragnarok

1. The Avengers

Leigh Monson

22. Thor: The Dark World

21. Iron Man 2

20. The Incredible Hulk

19. Avengers: Age of Ultron

18. Thor

17. Ant-Man and the Wasp

16. Ant-Man

15. Doctor Strange

14. Iron Man

13. Captain Marvel

12. Spider-Man: Homecoming

11. Captain America: The First Avenger

10. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

9. Avengers: Infinity War

8. Thor: Ragnarok

7. Captain America: Civil War

6. Iron Man 3

5. Guardians of the Galaxy

4. Avengers: Endgame

3. The Avengers

2. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

1. Black Panther

Amelia Emberwing

22. The Incredible Hulk

21. Iron Man 2

20. Thor: The Dark World

19. Avengers: Age of Ultron

18. Iron Man 3

17. Iron Man

16. Ant-Man and the Wasp

15. Thor

14. Ant-Man

13. Avengers: Infinity War

12. Doctor Strange

11. Thor: Ragnarok

10. Captain America: Civil War

9. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

8. Captain America: The First Avenger

7. Spider-Man: Homecoming

6. The Avengers

5. Captain Marvel

4. Guardians of the Galaxy

3. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

2. Black Panther

1. Avengers: Endgame

James Emanuel Shapiro

22. The Incredible Hulk

21. Thor: The Dark World

20. Iron Man 2

19. Spider-Man: Homecoming

18. Doctor Strange

17. Captain Marvel

16. Avengers: Age of Ultron

15. Ant-Man and the Wasp

14. Thor

13. The Avengers

12. Captain America: The First Avenger

11. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

10. Iron Man

9. Iron Man 3

8. Captain America: Civil War

7. Avengers: Endgame

6. Avengers: Infinity War

5. Black Panther

4. Ant-Man

3. Thor: Ragnarok

2. Guardians of the Galaxy

1. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Scott Wampler

22. Iron Man 2

21. Thor: The Dark World

20. The Incredible Hulk

19. Avengers: Age of Ultron

18. The Avengers

17. Thor

16. Doctor Strange

15. Captain Marvel

14. Ant-Man and the Wasp

13. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

12. Captain America: Civil War

11. Avengers: Infinity War

10. Ant-Man

9. Spider-Man: Homecoming

8. Black Panther

7. Iron Man 3

6. Iron Man

5. Captain America: The First Avenger

4. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

3. Avengers: Endgame

2. Thor: Ragnarok

1. Guardians of the Galaxy

Evan Saathoff

22. The Incredible Hulk

21. Thor: The Dark World

20. Thor

19. Doctor Strange

18. Iron Man

17. Iron Man 2

16. Avengers: Age of Ultron

15. Captain Marvel

14. Captain America: The First Avenger

13. Captain America: Civil War

12. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

11. The Avengers

10. Ant-Man and the Wasp

9. Ant-Man

8. Black Panther

7. Spider-Man: Homecoming

6. Iron Man 3

5. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

4. Thor: Ragnarok

3. Guardians of the Galaxy

2. Avengers: Infinity War

1. Avengers: Endgame