With Avengers: Age of Ultron right around the corner, and my boner reaching critical mass, I thought now is as good a time as any to rank all the men (sadly, they’re all men) who have helmed a Marvel movie and see how they stack up. A few notes before we get started: this list only concerns Marvel films made through Marvel Studios, so X-Men directors Bryan Singer and Matthew Vaughn weren’t considered, and Fantastic Four‘s Tim Story will escape my wrath. Oh, and the rankings on this list are pretty tight; Marvel movies are like pizza: even when they’re bad, they’re pretty fucking good.
(UPDATE: This list has been amended to include Ant-Man‘s Peyton Reed.)
10. Alan Taylor, Thor: The Dark World
The weird thing about Thor: The Dark World is that it should have been a much bigger deal. The aether that acted as a MacGuffin was actually a damn Infinity Stone, which could have used some more emphasis (plus we got to meet Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, and Baron von Struecker in the post-credits tag). TDW isn’t a bad movie per se, but it lacks its own sense of identity (Christopher Eccleston’s cipher of a villain didn’t help matters either). Director Alan Taylor is a veteran of TV shows ranging from Game of Thrones to The Sopranos to Bored to Death to Mad Men. His ability to adapt to any style and climate that a particular set demands is what makes him such a talented, sought-after director for television, but it’s also what kept Dark World from feeling like it came from anyone’s mind in particular (one might blame Taylor’s last-minute hiring, after original director Patti Jenkins left). Taylor’s next film is Terminator: Genisys, which, yes, looks like a disaster, but let’s hope it feels like Taylor‘s disaster.
9. Louis LeTerrier, The Incredible Hulk
The Hulk has always been hard to properly adapt. For starters, Marvel itself has never quite decided if he’s a hero or a villain, and trying to present him as both has been a task that has long eluded filmmakers. Ang Lee’s 2003 Hulk was a stylish misfire, but Louis LeTerrier’s attempt got a little closer to the gold. LeTerrier was lucky to work with a solid cast – with the exception of Liv Tyler, whose breathy delivery in every role makes me think she’s still in character as Arwen from Lord of the Rings – but big-budget spectacle just isn’t LeTerrier’s forte. (Look at his 2010 Clash of the Titans remake for further proof.) The climactic fight between Hulk and Abomination should have been a knockdown-dragout monster brawl, but it was so dimly lit and erratically shot it was hard to follow (although it was cool hearing “Hulk SMASH!” in an unironic context). LeTerrier is good at action – on a smaller scale. His film Unleashed was and still is a goddamn masterpiece.
8. Joe Johnston, Captain America: The First Avenger
The best Marvel films always feel like a product of their creator. Without that personal stamp, it’s as if the director is defying the very ethos of Marvel Studios. Maybe that sounds hyperbolic, but Marvel Studios has staked its reputation on its willingness to put its faith in counter-intuitive filmmakers. Joe Johnston is not that filmmaker. The Rocketeer director was picked for his familiarity with Captain America‘s 1940s setting, but he lucked out, because with Chris Evans in the lead role all Johnston really had to do was say “Action.” The Rocketeer was earnest in its day, but hasn’t aged well; I don’t think the same fate will befall Captain America. Johnston admittedly has a good eye and ear for the rah-rah patriotism that so defines his film’s first act, but it was a wise choice on Marvel’s part to look elsewhere for The Winter Soldier.
7. Peyton Reed, Ant-Man
Reed had a cloud hanging over his head the moment he agreed to replace the beloved Edgar Wright on the troubled production of Ant-Man. He could have cracked under the pressure and limped across the finish line, but what he did instead was double down, and take his own sense of breezy comedy (Reed also directed Yes Man and Bring It On) and apply it to one of Marvel’s weirdest films. Ant-Man is the closest that any Marvel comes to acting as a standalone story (well, other than Guardians of the Galaxy), which works to the film’s benefit. Since we’re just meeting Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), we have some time to goof around, but Reed and Rudd respect the material enough to turn in a genuinely compelling product. The way Reed plays with size and scale in fight scenes make Ant-Man‘s some of the most enjoyable to watch, and the (all too brief) time spent in the Quantum Realm is a visual feast. At some point, we had all resigned ourselves to an Edgar Wright-less Ant-Man being a sad fact of life – who the hell expected it to be this good? That’s all Peyton Reed’s doing.
6. Kenneth Branagh, Thor
Kenneth Branagh was an inspired choice to direct Thor, a film that I loved so much I saw it twice in two days. Branagh had earned his reputation as the foremost Shakespearean of his day, having helmed adaptations of Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, Hamlet…the list goes on. His experience with taking heavy-handed drama and making it palatable is what made Thor one of the most surprisingly enjoyable movies in Marvel’s oeuvre. Branagh handled the family dynamic that defines the film with ease and aplomb, and with his theater training, he was able to get Tom Hiddleston to play to the back of the house as Loki, Marvel’s best villain to date. Loki is cunning, witty, and ultimately tragic; he has more in common with a Shakespearean villain like Othello‘s Iago than he does a Marvel villain like Iron Monger or the Red Skull. It was Branagh who was able to get Hiddleston, Chris Hemsworth, and Anthony Hopkins to steer into the skid, to accept the fact that they were playing gods, they just had to act like they were mortals. Oh, and in case you can’t tell, this is where the rankings get even tighter.
5. Shane Black, Iron Man 3
Shane Black was the right man to invigorate the Iron Man franchise after The Avengers. In a weird way, Iron Man 3 feels almost scaled-back, as Tony deals with panic attacks and forms a bond with a young boy who on paper should be very annoying, but somehow avoids that pitfall (kudos to Ty Simpkins). Black has a sense of scale, though, and more importantly a sense of humor. Black wrote Lethal Weapon and directed Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, which arguably revitalized Robert Downey Jr.’s career, so his smirking self-awareness was a good fit for the first Iron Man film that dealt with the supernatural (Guy Pearce breathes fire! So does his character). Black and Jon Favreau, listed directly below, are pretty interchangeable as far as placement goes; the only reason Black is at #5 is because of IM3‘s twist, which I liked, but which also alienated a lot of fans. But it sent an important message: even evil needs to be laughed at. (The underlying message was: we’re Marvel, and we will do literally whatever we want with these characters.)
4. Jon Favreau, Iron Man and Iron Man 2
Like I said above, Jon Favreau could easily be in Shane Black’s spot up there, just like Black could easily be in Favreau’s. Why? Iron Man 2, the black sheep of the Marvel family. While not an abject disaster – Mickey Rourke’s wordless attack at the race track is still awesome – IM2 ultimately feels like fan service, right down to Black Widow’s routine of kick-punch-pose (the film fetishizes rather than celebrates her). But let’s not forget why Favreau is this high to begin with: Iron Man. Marvel took a huge gamble on Favreau, whose previous films were Zathura and Elf, and put the future of the new Marvel Studios on his shoulders. He had to launch a new franchise, based on a character who didn’t have the exposure he enjoys now, starring an actor whose sordid past made him a huge question mark. And Favreau fucking nailed it. “I am Iron Man” remains one of the best mic-drop endings to any superhero film. Iron Man is a perfect marriage of actor and star, and with those four closing words, it blew the doors wide open for a new crop of superheroes who existed very much in the public eye. It’s a great achievement, and Favreau would rank higher were it not for its lackluster follow-up.
3. James Gunn, Guardians of the Galaxy
Here’s where the rankings get really tight. Numbers 3-1 could easily switch places and I’d stand by it.
James Gunn might the most counter-intuitive choice that Marvel has made when recruiting directors, but it’s fitting seeing as how Guardians of the Galaxy is the studio’s weirdest film. Someone had to make sense of the lunacy of a film that included a talking raccoon and a sentient tree, and Gunn stepped up to the plate. He used his training at the anything-goes Troma Films to make sense out of anarchy, and managed to deliver a fun, thrilling ode to friendship in the process. Free of any ties to the Avengers or the films starring them, Guardians was wholly original from start to finish, and always felt like the product of its creator, an avowed nerd who directed Slither and wrote Zack Snyder’s kick-ass Dawn of the Dead remake. He brought his own unique sensibilities to the film, and allowed the Marvel universe to be fun again, which it sorely needed in the wake of Loki’s attack on New York. Plus, Guardians boasts one of the best soundtracks since Pirate Radio or Goodfellas. It’s just as fun on the second, third, or fourth viewing.
2. Anthony and Joe Russo, Captain America: The Winter Soldier
The Russo brothers are best known for directing and producing comedies like Community and Arrested Development, so who the hell thought it was a good idea to give them the keys to the kingdom? Someone who just got a fat raise, that’s who. (The Russos are also slated to direct Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War.) The Winter Soldier is a strangely intimate film, an impressive feat seeing as how it manages to fit in several huge battle sequences. The Russos take Steve Rogers, a man literally out of time, and use him as a way to examine the state of American surveillance and paranoia. The intelligence community is very much the bad guy in Winter Soldier, and the film plays even better in the aftermath of, say, Edward Snowden’s reveal of the NSA’s PRISM program. This isn’t the first time in American history that the populace hasn’t trusted the government, but I’d say it’s the first time that sane, rational people believe that the government is actively out to get them (Alex Jones and Lyndon LaRouche don’t count as sane or rational). Winter Soldier confirms those fears – yes, you are being followed and targeted. The oily Senator Sitwell even admits to HYDRA, operating through SHIELD, is keeping tabs on problematic individuals like Bruce Banner and Stephen Strange, and in doing so seeks to eradicate uniqueness, the very thing that makes Americans who they are. It’s a chilling, exciting film, because it doesn’t just present the problem, it suggests a solution. Granted, the solution is to blow a lot of shit up, but Winter Soldier earns its place at #2 for being the smartest Marvel movie by a wide margin.
1. Joss Whedon, The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron
You saw this coming. After cementing his geek god status with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly, Whedon was the obvious choice to take the reins of The Avengers. He was also the smartest. Imagine how daunting it must have been to try to put Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and the Hulk into a single movie, and make it a cohesive whole. Every character is well represented, with the possible exception of Hawkeye, who spends much of The Avengers brainwashed by Loki (which in its own way is a pretty ballsy move). Whedon has the experience, and more importantly the ambition, to tackle a project like The Avengers, which Marvel spent four years building up to. Plus, he, better than anyone, understands the Hulk. When Bruce Banner turns to Captain America and says “That’s my secret, Cap – I’m always angry,” it’s not only the best line of the film, but it’s the best example to point to when someone asks why Whedon got the gig.
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