Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is astounding. Delivering a multiverse story in service of its characters rather than the other way around, directors Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson elevate this Spider-sequel with jaw-dropping craft and a keen deconstruction of the wall crawler’s metafiction. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is the closest a movie has ever come to the joy of reading a great comic book, splash pages and all.

Colors! Personality! Stakes! James Gunn closes out the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy with the wildly vivid Vol. 3. Crafting an intimate farewell against the fabric of Marvel cosmic, Gunn brings something that rarely finds its way into the Marvel Cinematic Universe: finality. It’s one last hurrah as the Guardians race against the clock to save a grievously injured teammate, touring through James Gunn’s warped imagination in a surprisingly personal goodbye. Like many superhero movies, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is overlong and stuffed to the brim with talented-but-shortchanged actors, but it helps that this is the best looking Marvel movie of the last ten years. Minor spoilers ahead…

The Marvel Cinematic Universe spins its wheels at full-tilt with the muddled, lethargic Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Jettisoning the fleet caper energy of its predecessors for more tedious teases of what’s coming next, the launch of the MCU’s Phase Five lands with an uninspired whimper. Jonathan Majors as Kang carries this lumbering sci-fi epic with suitable menace, but Quantumania forgets everything special — and charming — about its titular hero. Minor spoilers ahead…

Thor: Love and Thunder — for better or worse — is Ragnarok redux, down to its goofy lark humor and its undercooked A-list star as villain. But even with its superhero comedy dialed up to eleven and struggle with tone, its fleet adventure feels like a tonic, free from multiverses, cameos, and the seemingly requisite MCU buildup to the next “thing.” It’s one of the stronger Phase Four entries. Minor spoilers ahead…

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is neither very mad nor very multiversal, but it’s likely the most the Marvel Cinematic Universe has ever allowed a filmmaker to reach out from its steel cage house style. Despite its bloat, inelegance, and sheer refusal to do anything interesting with the multiverse concept, this is as close as the MCU is going to get to pure horror and an auteur’s vision. Sam Raimi’s influence is invigorating and his winking verve is a balm: Multiverse of Madness brings the splatstick terror and a surprising brutality to its unwieldy superhero story. Minor spoilers ahead…

The eagerly-anticipated Spider-Man: No Way Home, Tom Holland’s third solo outing as the web-slinging superhero, is the shaggiest and certainly the most stylistically inert of the MCU Spideys. Overstuffed and frenetic, the film cracks open the Marvel Multiverse with sledgehammer pandering. It’s anything but artful, but there’s no denying the power of its crossover charms; even more impressively, No Way Home tackles heroic compassion in a way that finally strikes true to the heart of Spider-Man. Minor spoilers ahead…

The Marvel Cinematic Universe tries something a little different with Chloé Zhao’s Eternals, injecting the filmmaker’s trademark humanist drama into cosmic-level superheroics. There are plenty of things to like with this new approach, but much of it fights tooth and nail with the dullest iteration of Marvel formula; Eternals’ weighty themes are lost in a story that is lopsided, overstuffed, and brutally overlong. Minor spoilers ahead…

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is as fresh as Marvel has been in years. A moving tragedy about fathers, sons, and the crushing weight of filial expectations, director Daniel Destin Cretton wraps affecting drama within an effortlessly cool superhero origin story. The MCU’s first film with an Asian lead doesn’t disappoint - even with its muddy, CGI soup third act, there’s a voice within Shang-Chi’s kinetic action, and a powerful performance from screen legend Tony Leung as one of the MCU’s best villains. Minor spoilers ahead…

Spinning off from the adventures of Loki and the TVA, Marvel Studios’ What If…? explores the fractured branches of Phase Four’s next big thing: the Multiverse. Animated, self-contained episodes that ask the titular question, the series opens a cabinet full of possibilities, even if it feels a little inconsequential. With its journeys into entertaining parallel realities, What If…? is playful enough with its creativity and dazzling animation, but these half-hour jaunts feel more like curiosities than essential text. Three episodes watched for review, minor spoilers ahead…

Clever and imaginative, Disney Plus’ latest Marvel series - Loki - brings the beloved scoundrel back to life. This new story takes the God of Mischief out of his element on a rousing, time-hopping, sci-fi adventure, diving deeper into his mercurial psyche while also expanding the weirder corners of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Two episodes watched for review. Minor spoilers ahead…

Bloated, over-produced, and underwritten, the Russo Brothers’ latest film - based upon Nico Walker’s novel of the same name - is a self-indulgent exercise in filmmaking hubris. The very definition of style over substance, Cherry is a lurching homunculus of artifice that never feels authentic, not even for a second. With nothing to say about any of the serious subjects it broaches, Cherry is prime contender for one of the worst films of the year. Minor spoilers ahead…

As the first series to usher in a new slate of original content on Disney Plus and the first Marvel Cinematic Universe project to grace our screens in over a year, WandaVision has a lot riding on its shoulders. And it’s largely excellent. Those critical of Marvel’s workmanlike superhero fare will find that WandaVision taps into some of the MCU’s wildest potential with two of its most compelling characters. Three episodes watched for review.

The end is here. The Marvel Cinematic Universe wraps up its long-running “Infinity Saga” with the messy, convoluted, and thematically satisfying Avengers: Endgame. The 22nd film in a franchise spanning over a decade, Marvel architects Joe and Anthony Russo compose a resonant coda to a story that began with 2008’s Iron Man, but also create a new breed of spectacle that defies criticism and filmmaking logic. Minor spoilers ahead...

Captain Marvel, the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first female-led superhero flick, sees the highly anticipated (and also unfortunately controversial) debut of Brie Larson as the titular super-heroine. Directed by indie film duo Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, Captain Marvel is the living embodiment of some of the MCU’s worst tendencies, but still ends up being an enjoyable ride and a fine introduction for Carol Danvers. The film’s uneven pacing, muted character beats, and boring CGI spectacle leaves a lot on the table, but are outweighed by the script’s humor and Brie Larson’s fun and easy chemistry with Samuel L. Jackson. Mild spoilers ahead…