Spider-Man: No Way Home swung into theaters Thursday night, giving movie fans a semblance of the experience from pre-pandemic times as raucous crowds cheered, cried, and clapped at each turn. This is the 27th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a behemoth that has spanned 13 years, multiple characters, and brought in over $23 billion worldwide.

In order to prepare for the third entry of this Spider-Man saga, I rewatched all 30 bits of content, starting with Captain America: The First Avenger and ending with the latest episode of the Hawkeye series on Disney+ before heading to a 6pm showing of No Way Home.

Here are some things I learned along the way, and if you want to see all my thoughts, check out the thread that starts here:

The pre-No Way Home thread starts here. Mute or follow accordingly.

— Caroline Darney (@cwdarney) November 29, 2021

[Note: this contains spoilers for the MCU, but NOT for No Way Home]

I am a staunch believer that the best — and only — way to consume the Marvel Cinematic Universe is story order as opposed to release order. There aren’t a lot of differences between the two, but it all flows so well and it’s so much easier to follow the journey of the infinity stones when it’s all in perfect order.

The biggest movers in story order are Captain America: The First Avenger (jumps from No. 5 to No. 1), Captain Marvel (No. 21 to No. 2) and Black Widow (No. 24 to No. 16).

After Captain America: Civil War, you can watch Black Panther, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Black Widow in really any order, and the same is the case after Endgame (as long as you watch Far From Home before No Way Home, of course).

Here’s the order I followed:

I don’t know why we aren’t talking about this more. General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross first makes his MCU appearance in The Incredible Hulk, the really only bad movie in the series. Blinded by rage and concern for his daughter, Betty, Ross makes MULTIPLE terrible decisions that include endangering the lives of civilians repeatedly and creating a terrifying monster in Abomination.

Thunderbolt Ross: -brought a military unit to a university and opened fire on the quad -directly led to the creation of Abomination -instructed the pilot of a helicopter to open fire on buildings in NYC -is generally bad at his job and a terrible father

— Caroline Darney (@cwdarney) November 30, 2021

He then returns in Captain America: Civil War, Infinity War, and Endgame as Secretary of State, meaning someone decided he should have MORE responsibility. Apparently, someone also gave him a Medal of Honor along the way. At every turn, he’s quick to dish out judgement on the Avengers actually helping people while he sits on his high horse of vengeful past actions.

Thanos and Killmonger, probably two of the best villains in the MCU, are at least honest about their villainy and plans for destruction and death. Ross? He just blames everyone else and puts lives at risk in the name of revenge and power. Clear out a spot for yourself at the Raft, Thunderbolt. You’ve earned it.

Asking me to pick my favorite Marvel movie is like asking me to pick my favorite puppy; they’re all great. Ok, not ALL because The Incredible Hulk exists, but even the bad ones have their moments.

Every time I try to rank the movies, I end up wondering how something as fun as Ant-Man ends up at No. 17. Instead, I’m going to go with tiers because I’m a coward, and that’s easier.

God (of Thunder) Tier: Thor: Ragnarok, Infinity War, Endgame, Spider-Man: No Way Home

Epic Tier: Captain America: Civil War, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Spiderman: Homecoming, Black Panther, Guardians of the Galaxy

Super Great Tier: The Avengers, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Captain America: The First Avenger, Iron Man, Thor, Loki, Hawkeye, Ant-Man, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings 

Very Good Tier: Doctor Strange, Black Widow, WandaVision, Ant-Man and the Wasp, The Avengers: Age of Ultron

Pretty Good Tier: Eternals, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Captain Marvel

Not Great but Not Terrible Tier: Thor: The Dark World, Iron Man 3, Iron Man 2 

Hulk Tier: The Incredible Hulk

One of my favorite parts of this rewatch was getting to consume Black Widow in story order. Scarlett Johansson’s solo flick was released mid-pandemic in 2021, which meant it hit Disney’s streaming platform sooner than expected or hoped (even leading to a recently-settled lawsuit). Natasha Romanoff sacrificed herself so Clint Barton could retrieve the Soul Stone to help un-do Thanos’s snap that disappeared half the world’s population (man, what a sentence). At the time, it was a sad moment, but wasn’t as impactful as it could be without her full backstory and that connection.

Black Widow, which fits into the narrative at the conclusion of Captain America: Civil War, tells of Natasha’s childhood, her relationship with her “sister” Yelena and “parents” (who are all plants as part of a mission) and her journey to free all the other Widows from the shackles of the Red Room.

Although it wasn’t a movie that will contend with the likes of Thor: Ragnarok or the Infinity War/Endgame duo, it was an entertaining romp with some vibes of Jason Bourne. Florence Pugh was electric as Yelena, and she’s going to be a bigger part of the story in the MCU moving forward.

In all, it’s an excellent fit into the story, and one that should have been told long ago.

It was sad to close the Infinity War Saga, and it’s had to imagine watching Marvel movies without Iron Man, Captain America, or Black Widow. The future, however, is bright. All four recently released series on Disney+ — WandaVision, Loki, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Hawkeye — are all varying levels of good to great, and the addition of Shang-Chi and the Eternals provides a lot of opportunities. No Way Home has potentially earned itself a spot in the Top-3 of all MCU movies, and upcoming films like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (May 2022), Thor: Love and Thunder (July 2022) and Wakanda Forever (November 2022) are all set to come out next year.

The shows have shown to be wonderful ways to develop backstories, introduce new characters, and serve as vehicles to move the larger story along with more detail and charm than a movie allows. WandaVision’s look into Wanda Maximoff’s crippling grief following the events of Infinity War added dimension to a character we didn’t truly know much about. Elizabeth Olsen’s portrayal was incredible, and has changed the way we’ll consume Scarlet Witch content going forward.

Loki and Hawkeye have impacted the narratives around the titular characters,  whether giving them a new lease on life for the former, or highlighting just how human the latter is among a group of gods and heroes.

Hawkeye has also given us an introduction to Maya Lopez, who will anchor the upcoming series Echo, and the latest episode showed that Kingpin — with Vincent D’Onofrio reprising his role from the Netflix series Daredevil — is now canon.

Best Scene: Portals (Endgame). Honorable Mentions: Elevator Scene (Captain America: Winter Soldier), House Party/Mjolnir Lifting (Avengers: Age of Ultron), Thor’s Arrival in Wakanda (Infinity War)

Best Fight Scene: Bus Fight (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings). Honorable Mentions: Scaffolding Fight (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings), Captain America and Bucky vs. Iron Man (Captain America: Civil War), Airport Fight (Captain America: Civil War)

Best Post-Credit Scene: Wong karaoke (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings). Honorable Mentions: Eros mid-credit scene (Eternals), “I know a guy” end-credit scene (Ant-Man), Thanos’ “Fine, I’ll do it myself” (Avengers: Age of Ultron)

Best Character Trilogy (Non-Avengers): Spider-Man – Homecoming, Far From Home, No Way Home. Honorable Mention: Captain America – First Avenger, Winter Soldier, Civil War

Best Villain: Thanos (Infinity War/Endgame) Honorable Mentions: Killmonger (Black Panther), Xu Wenwu (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings), Vulture (Spider-Man: Homecoming), Green Goblin (Spider-Man: No Way Home)

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