Here's an attempt by /Film to force-rank the heroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe [(which apparently excludes Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, though not the Netflix series or Agent Carter).
It's a mook's game, of course, because (a) everyone's going to have their own preferences, and (b) there are cases where some short appearances have been given more weight by the /Film folk than they should (Spider-Man), and where, on the other hand, some characters simply have done better because they are in multiple movies and so been a bit more fleshed out.
So, being a mook, here are my rankings, followed by the ranking /Film's folk gave in aggregate, and a few notes. I've bolded where someone is 6 ranks (20%) different from the /Film judgment.
30. 30. Hogun
29. 28. Fandral
28. 27. Volstagg
27. 25. Sif
26. 29. Quicksilver
25. 26. Heimdall
Sadly, Thor's sidekicks just don't get enough worthwhile time to get to know them (especially with edits made to the films). Quicksilver never really gels much, either.
24. 24. War Machine
23. 22. Gamora
22. 18. Vision
21. 21. Scarlet Witch
20. 14. Winter Soldier
19. 16. Drax
18. 8. Groot
Second string characters who get a fair number of lines. I've seriously downchecked Winter Soldier (grump grump angst grump) and Groot (fun to have around, but, c'mon, more of a laugh line and FX generator than a character).
The following ones are all folk I would happily watch more of, so the numbers are even more of a crap shoot.
17. 19. Luke Cage
In his brief appearances in Jessica Jones, Cage was pretty darned good. I'm looking forward to his series.
16. 9. Peggy Carter
I like Peggy, but she only does so much for me.
15. 7. Ant-Man
Paul Rudd's Scott Lang is fun, and carries a movie, but there's a bit of gravitas missing still. Maybe the second movie will help.
14. 10. Black Panther
13. 5. Spider-Man
Serious downchecked Spidey here, because as much as I liked his appearance in Civil War, I can't judge him that high on just what I saw.
12. 15. Falcon
11. 23. Hawkeye
Serious upcheck. I like Hawkeye. A lot. A lot more than most people. Even in a movie where he spent half the time a hypnotized slave, I thought he was good.
10. 4. Star-Lord
Downchecked mostly because I thought there were others that had been ranked too low.
9. 20. Daredevil
E.g., Daredevil, who's an awesome character, played very well.
8. 17. Nick Fury
Or this guy, who was sadly missing from Civil War, but has been one of the biggest and best movers and shakers in the MCU.
7. 13. Thor
I also like Thor a lot more than most folk, it seems. Including his movies (esp. the first, which remains one of my favorite MCU flicks).
6. 12. Rocket Raccoon
C'mon, this guy was the heart of Guardians of the Galaxy.
5. 11. Jessica Jones
A beautifully rendered mess of a person.
4. 6. Black Widow
3. 3. Hulk/Bruce Banner
2. 2. Iron Man
1. 1. Captain America
The big guns here. Can't disagree with the /Film rankings here much, except to bump up Natasha a bit. I vacillate on Tony vs Steve, but the quality of the Captain America films, vs the Iron Man films, sways me here.
Anyway, that's the way I see it. Until the next big thing comes out. Or I rewatch something and suddenly rediscover my love for the Voluminous Volstagg.
Marvel Cinematic Universe Heroes Ranked
We have cast our votes and ranked the thirty major heroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, from the Warriors Three to Spider-Man.
Not having seen this post (or yours, at that point) here's how I spent some times this afternoon: http://doyce.tumblr.com/post/144312657370/mcu-movies-worst-to-best
Weird coincidence.
+Doyce Testerman I can align largely with your list. The second (non-Ang Lee) Hulk movie is not bad (though sadly lacking Mark Ruffalo).
The original Iron Man still works pretty damned well. I need to rewatch it again.