The Ultimate Marvel Cinematic Universe Bracket

This week at SB Nation, we are dove hard into the world of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) given that Black Widow was supposed to have already debuted in theaters. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the release date has been pushed to Nov. 6, meaning we have to wait just a bit longer to see how the MCU opens up its next slate of films after the epic, sprawling “Infinity Saga.”

The silver lining of it all is that it gave us a chance to be a little more reflective about the franchise that we have been able to experience over the last 12 years. Because we are sports fans thirsty for competition, we released The Ultimate Marvel Cinematic Universe Bracket.

We polled fans on Twitter, Instagram, and this page to crown the ultimate winner. After 150,000 votes over an entire week, we have a decision.

The Ultimate Marvel Cinematic Universe movie Endgame.

If you can’t see the voting box, click here

Here’s how the voting played out all week.

(1) Avengers: Endgame vs. (1) Avengers: Infinity War

“I am...inevitable.”

This was not a pre-determined tournament of results, but there’s a reason these two movies were the top two seeds overall. Some would argue that this should count as one two-part story, but Marvel doesn’t and neither will we. So now our readers are left to decide with which part of the epic conclusion they prefer. Is it the unraveling of a universe at a breakneck pace that Infinity War provides or the slower, contemplative and nostalgic Endgame that takes home the final prize? We’re about to find out.

This is the first time that the website vote didn’t totally match up with the Twitter and Instagram push, as Civil War took the cake on Instagram to push itself to a slim victory. The three biggest Russo Brothers films remain.

Ragnarok’s post-credits scene segues right Into the beginning of Infinity War, so this matchup felt destined to happen. Thor’s arc through both of these films is tremendous.

The movie that started it all gets to showdown with the movie that (unofficially) ended the Infinity Saga. This should be a fun one to track.

Some have argued that the seeds should have been swapped between these two movies, but now it doesn’t matter. Pitting the second two Cap films against each other almost feels dirty, but we are running a competition here.

Our third chalk matchup of the day so far takes us to Josh Brolin’s first appearance as Thanos in Guardians compared to his finest appearance as the Mad Titan.

Perhaps the MCU’s funniest movie now goes up against the first ensemble team-up. Both films also feature fights between Thor and Hulk, and Ragnarok specifically has callbacks to the first one.

This showdown pits Ant-Man’s first appearance in this universe against arguably his best and most important appearance. We think we know how this matchup is going to go, though.

This is easily the most interesting matchup in the first round. Both of these films sent shockwaves through pop culture following their release and Black Panther would even go on to earn a nomination for Best Picture. Robert Downey Jr. proved to be a perfect casting and if that did not work, this franchise may not exist as it does today.

Tuesday’s matchups signal the sign of the heavyweights entering the arena and Civil War is one of the biggest and most important Marvel films there is. But does the size of the film outweigh the charm of Cap’s first appearance? That’s for you to decide.

The second Captain America solo film had a legitimate case for a one-seed, so we will see how that affects it moving forward here. Homecoming scored a very comfortable win over Iron Man 3 to advance to the second round in this tournament.

Age of Ultron scored the first “upset” of the tournament by knocking off Thor: The Dark World, but now finds itself in the way of a speeding freight train that might be destined to make it to the end of the week.

Pitting the two Guardians movies up against each other hurts our hearts, but it is the way that the seeding broke down. It comes down to deciding on if you prefer the simpler original or the weirder (in a good way) second installment.

We probably know how this matchup is going to shake out, but these are arguably two of the most fun movies in the entire franchise. It is impossible not to crack a smile throughout either of them.

The second Spidey solo film in the MCU now gets to take on the movie that really kicked this franchise into high gear. The original Avengers movie looks so simple and low stakes compared to what came after it, but it holds up and is still a ton of fun.

If you can’t see the voting box, click here

Byes: (1) Avengers: Endgame, (1) Avengers: Infinity War, (1) Thor: Ragnarok, (1) Captain America: Civil War, (2) Captain America: The Winter Soldier, (2) The Avengers, (2) Guardians of the Galaxy

Ant-Man emerged somewhat late as one of the more likable heroes in the MCU, while Thor: The Dark World was a big reason why it took Marvel so long to make the titular character of Thor someone that audiences could gravitate towards in Thor: Ragnarok.

It hurt us to have the first Captain America adventure ranked so low, but it was the first one that we watched, and it speaks to the quality of the films that came after it. Doctor Strange is another character that felt ranked low, but is more a testament to what was ranked ahead of him.

Tom Holland’s solo film debut as the wall-crawling superhero is a delightful outing that pretty much nailed the modern high school experience and aesthetic with a tremendous plot twist to set up the third act of the movie. Iron Man 3 is just kind of...there. And the twist with The Mandarin is quite frankly mostly insulting.

This one pits Thor’s first appearance up against Thor’s fourth appearance in the MCU. Chris Hemsworth’s blonde eyebrows in the first one are ridiculously distracting, but that does not take away from the fact that the movie is otherwise a pretty good time (outside of all of those Dutch angle shots, of course).

Some would argue that the second Guardians movie is better than the first. Almost absolutely nobody would argue that the Edward Norton Hulk film is in the same breath as any of its peers in this universe.

The second film in the Ant-Man series is a heck of a lot of fun and has an argument to be ranked higher than the first one. Captain Marvel’s place in the universe makes significantly more sense when you watch in story order.

The second Tom Holland solo outing here is another great movie with a very good villain and performances. The same cannot be said for Robert Downey Jr.’s second Iron Man film. One of these certainly outshines the other. While Iron Man 2 develops some important characters (looking at you, Rhodey), it doesn’t do much in the grand scheme of things story-wise.

Concessions were made in favor of debate/matchups