MCU Rankings, Post-Black Panther Edition

So, it's been nearly a year since I did this. The last time I just updated an old post, but I figured I'd rewrite it altogether this time. I've been re-watching all the movies with my son, and watching the movie through his eyes has been an amazing experience. Tonight I went to see "Black Panther," though not with him. He's not quuiiite caught up yet. In any case, through the exercise with him, I've finally seen "Ant-Man" and "Dr. Strange," which were the only two I hadn't yet seen.

As always, I put the movies into tiers along with ranking them, because it's easier to separate them out that way. Also, as always, these rankings are just for movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or MCU. "Logan," "Deadpool," any other Wolverine, X-Men or Spider-Man movies, those are not included here as they aren't MCU movies.

Tier Four
These are the bad MCU movies. Well, "bad" in terms of MCU movies, as these are still better than a lot of other superhero movies.

18. Iron Man 2: Every time I watch it, I like it less.
17. The Incredible Hulk: That General Ross behaves the way he does throughout this movie and then ascends to Secretary of State by "Civil War" feels very Trump-ian.
16. Thor: The Dark World: Bumps up a little because the Thor-Loki banter is just so good.

Tier Three
Tier 3 is for movies that are fine. Not great, not bad, just fine.

15. Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2: Just totally outclassed by the last few Marvel movies.
14. Dr. Strange: There's nothing wrong with this movie, and Dr. Strange is an important Marvel character, but I just don't really think he's a character that needed his own movie. I would have been much happier if this was the slot that had gone to the Black Widow movie.
13. Iron Man 3: It's still enjoyable.
12. Thor: I still have a soft spot for Thor, but it's sliding like many of the rest.
11. Avengers: Age of Ultron: It's growing on me, but I think this is as far as it can go.

Tier Two
Here, we have the movies that I really enjoyed, but at the end of the movie, I didn't say, "wow, that was the best one yet."

10. Ant-Man: I saw this one just recently, and was blown away by the attention to detail. This movie must have been a bear to edit.
9. Guardians of the Galaxy: It's here where you realize that the quality of these movies has really gone up a notch. This movie was really fun when it came out, a marked turn for the MCU. But it doesn't feel as special now, and Ronan was a pretty non-descript villain.
8. Captain America: Civil War: This movie is outstanding, and it did so much heavy lifting. But all of those disparate plots make it feel like longer than it is. It's the longest Marvel movie at 147 minutes. That's only four more minutes than "The Avengers," but that movie's plot was a lot more focused. Still, I do love this movie. Ranking these is like splitting hairs.
7. Thor: Ragnarok: Most people weren't clamoring for this movie, and it proved all the doubters wrong. I can't wait to watch it again.

Tier One
These are movies that I have, at one time or another, either considered the best in the MCU, or I could make the case for them as the best ever. The proverbial cream of the crop.

6. Captain America: The First Avenger: I can't believe it's been pushed down so far.
5. Iron Man: The movie that kicked it all off really doesn't deserve to be this low either, but a five-way tie for second place seems like it'd be a cop out.
4. Spider-Man: Homecoming: It really was the perfect Spider-Man movie, and Tom Holland really is the perfect Spider-Man. Equal parts cocky and vulnerable, but in a way that doesn't seem as hang-doggy as Tobey Maguire's Spidey.
3. Captain America: The Winter Soldier: I definitely have ranked this one No. 1 at certain points in my mind. I may yet again!
2. Black Panther: Just...wow. Ryan Coogler forever. This movie has such a great cast, and Coogler put together such a tight movie that also has a smoldering and complex moral dilemma. I can't wait to watch this a million times.
1. The Avengers: Still the best, but just barely. These movies are getting so good now. The Phase One movies almost seem old-fashioned by comparison, but this one still wins out. For now.

(Belated) End of Year Mixes, 12th Edition

Life is crazy busy right now. Starting your own business takes up quite a bit of time, as you might imagine. As such, I didn't quite get my 2017 end-of-year mixes ready in my normal time frame. It happens.

As a reminder, I do two mixes - aboveground and underground. The two rules:

• The strongest rule: The song had to be released during the year in question. Exception - An international song, as songs aren't always/ever released internationally and domestically at the same time.
• The mostly strong rule: The Aboveground mix is picked from the Billboard Hot 100, and the Underground mix is quite the opposite. I usually cheat a couple of songs on the Aboveground mix, but with good reason.

There was a third rule this year - the song had to be on Spotify. I've completely assimilated to Spotify, mostly out of convenience, and partially out of not wanting to pay for two music streaming services. This was notable with Jay-Z's album. I'm sure it's great. I love Jay-Z. But I'm just not going to pay for two streaming services. I pay for enough stuff already. Sorry, Jayhova.

ABOVEGROUND MIX

1. Cardi B - Bodak Yellow. I love her. How can you not love her?

2. Kendrick Lamar - DNA.. Haters are probably getting tired of waiting for K Dot to fall off. I'm not sure that's ever going to happen. This entire album was phenomenal. "DUCKWORTH." was my favorite track off the album, but "DNA." is a close second. Geraldo Rivera gets ethered.

3. Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee & Justin Bieber - Despacito Remix. The very first time I've included Justin Bieber on one of these mixes. I'll be honest, I was listening to this song for a very long time before I realized he was on it.

4. Paramore - Hard Times. Perhaps not quite as good as the Kurtis Blow song of the same name, but it certainly holds it own, and the beat is infectious.

5. Ed Sheeran - Shape Of You. We're going on a little run of uptempo songs here.

6. Camila Cabello - Havana f/ Young Thug. It's still hard to make out what Young Thug says, but it almost doesn't matter. He's speaking his own language, and it's just fun to listen to.

7. Selena Gomez - Wolves f/ Marshmello. Speaking of infectious...on the way home from a trip, I think I listened to this song on repeat for two-plus hours.

8. J Balvin & Willy William - Mi Gente f/ Beyonce. Beyonce singing/rapping in Spanish? Beyonce singing/rapping in Spanish!

9. Goldlink - Crew f/ Brent Faiyaz & Shy Glizzy. This one is just very smooth, despite some suboptimal lyrics. Suboptimal lyrics are kind of the norm for the childrens these days though.

10. DJ Khaled - I'm The One f/ Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance The Rapper & Lil' Wayne. Always have love for my fellow Arabic brother, DJ Khaled. I wonder if he grew up listening to "Port Said" like I did. Oh, and somehow Bieber snuck onto a second song on this mix! I must be going soft.

11. SZA - The Weekend. SZA seems pretty chill.

12. YBN Nahmir - Rubbin Off The Paint. This is perhaps the first song I've heard with a Spongebob sample. Hopefully it won't be the last!

13. Lil' Uzi Vert - XO Tour Llif3. Pretty sad that all his friends are dead.

14. Sam Smith - Too Good at Goodbyes. Being gunshy about commitment is equally sad.

15. Lana Del Rey - Love. This is also Lana's first time on the mixes. I thought she had been on them before, but I guess not. Overdue.

16. 21 Savage - Bank Account. In the 2016 post, I said I didn't understand why 21 Savage was popular. I finally get it. It took me awhile to get there, but I got there.

17. Taylor Swift - ...Ready For It?. My daughter really likes this one. Somehow, it fits sonically right between 21 Savage and Migos. Go figure.

18. Migos - T-Shirt. These guys could have ended up on like 12 different songs on this mix. Quavo did get onto one other. It's hard to keep up with these guys, they're everywhere.

19. Khald - Young, Dumb & Broke. The first time I heard this song, I hated it. The second time, I loved it. I've kept on loving it.

20. Tyler, The Creator - 911 / Mr. Lonely f/ Frank Ocean & Steve Lacy. It's been awhile since Tyler made the mix - 2011 was the last time I put him on. This song also doubled as the Frank Ocean song, as I wasn't that crazy about "Biking" or "Chanel," though the latter was a late cut.

21. Miguel - Sky Walker f/ Travis Scott. I too am Luke Skywalkin' on these haters.

22. Nicki Minaj - Regret In Your Tears. It really wasn't Meek Mill's year.

UNDERGROUND MIX

1. N.O.R.E. - Uno Mas f/ Pharrell Williams. This song just makes me so happy. N.O.R.E. still got it.

2. Big Boi - All Night. This one infuriatingly ended up in an Apple ad, but it can't diminish how good the song is.

3. Kamaiyah - Successful. She was one of the last cuts last year. Not this year. I could have picked two or three of her other songs and been perfectly content, but this one was just tremendous.

4. Kehlani - Undercover. While this song didn't make the Hot 100, she did have songs from this album that did, so this is sort of cheating, but it's not technically cheating, so I included it. Ha.

5. Joey Bada$$ - FOR MY PEOPLE. This was my favorite track off a moving, more mature album from him.

6. Open Mike Eagle - Legendary Iron Hood. There aren't more than five or six rappers in the game doing it better than him right now, if there's even that many.

7. Rapsody - Laila's Wisdom. She's never quite gotten her due. Hopefully that'll change soon.

8. Big K.R.I.T. - Confetti. Yet another underappreciated rapper, it's hard to get respect if you're not from a big city, and Meredian, Miss., doesn't quite qualify.

9. Meyhem Lauren - Shea Stadium f/ Action Bronson & DJ Muggs. Back when I first heard Meyhem Lauren years ago, I thought he was sort of a joke. So it was with some surprise when I realized that he was now a respected rapper. But after listening to his newest album, I got it. Clearly, he's grown.

10. M-Dot - Chrissy. This was another fantastic album, that I'm looking forward to listening to more.

11. Vince Staples - Big Fish. I enjoyed this album so much more than I did his album last year. There were a couple of songs I considered for this spot.

12. Sevyn Streeter - Anything U Want f/ Wiz Khalifa, Jeremih & Ty Dolla $ign. The original song that this song pays homage to, "Anything" by SWV, is one of my favorite songs of all-time, so this one was an automatic winner for me.

13. Skyzoo - '95 Bad Boy Logo. Speaking of nostalgia, I vividly remember the mixtape that Skyzoo samples at the end of this song. I still have it, I think, at my parents' house. I need to grab that the next time I'm home. It's a really good tape.

14. The LOX - Break It Down. Not only are they still doing it well, but they're starting to get salty at the new generation, which is hilarious.

15. BROCKHAMPTON - GUMMY. This is a very good song.

16. Statik Selektah - Slept to Death f/ Curren$y & Cousin Stizz. As always, picking a song from one of Statik Selektah's album's is a trial. I know he's not that critically acclaimed, but he's right in my lane.

17. Kelela - LMK. You really should.

18. Faith Evans - Ten Wife Commandments f/ The Notorious B.I.G.. This was a really fun concept, and a much more fun way to do this type of song, even if I didn't quite agree with all of her commandments.

19. Wu-Tang Clan/Method Man - If Time Is Money (Fly Navigation). Mr. Meth was the best part of this Wu-Tang album that wasn't a Wu-Tang album, and this song was the best part.

20. Jidenna - Bambi. To be honest, his two albums were a bit of a letdown, but this one caught me the right way.

21. Milano Constantine - Barbaric. Yet another album that was really difficult to pare down and pick one song from.

22. Sean Price - Price Family f/ Bernadette Price. Looking through the "Imperius Rex" booklet, it was pretty clear that Price was a family man, and this song was very emblematic of that.

23. Prodigy - Mystic. I still can't believe he's dead, and that I saw him perform live two months before he passed away.

Bonus Christmas Track. DMX - Rudolph The Rednose Reindeer f/ Divine Bars. This is sure to enter my personal pantheon of Christmas songs.