10 Best Marvel Movie Trilogies Ranked

Summary

• Deadpool & Wolverine is likely to pass $1 billion, solidifying the Deadpool trilogy’s place in Marvel history.
• Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man trilogy is one of Marvel’s most influential.
• Wolverine’s solo trilogy is uneven, but redeemed itself with Logan as a fitting finale.

Between the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Fox Marvel movies, and more, there have been some exciting films that make up the best live-action Marvel trilogies. Deadpool & Wolverine, the MCU’s only movie of 2024, has proven that Ryan Reynolds’ Marvel franchise is one of the most important to the genre. The film should cross the $1 billion mark, cementing the Deadpool movie trilogy as one of the best in Marvel history.

That legacy includes extremely popular characters like Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Man, and more. Some of the characters and actors who led a few of Marvel’s best trilogies are set or likely to return for future MCU movies. That could even lead to brand-new trilogies that could look up at what worked for Marvel in the past to reach and surpass the high bar set by the best Marvel movie trilogies.

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10 Ant-Man

A Fun Trilogy With A Disappointing Finale

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The Ant-Man trilogy features some fun adventures that go for a different approach from the usual big-scale MCU events. Paul Rudd is delightful as Scott Lang, showing off all his charm in the role throughout three Ant-Man movies. The franchise also includes a strong cast, with names like Evangeline Lilly as the Wasp, Michael Douglas as Hank Pym, Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet van Dyne, the multiple Cassie Lang actresses, and more contributing to the MCU trilogy’s strong ensemble.

The Ant-Man movies have mostly been refreshing to the MCU, allowing Marvel to delve into sillier characters and have a lot of fun with Ant-Man and the Wasp’s powers visually. However, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania ended up falling short of expectations. While Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror was great in it, the movie ultimately had multiple issues that led to the lowest-grossing Ant-Man film.

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9 Blade

One Of The Most Important Marvel Trilogies

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With Mahershala Ali’s Blade movie reboot having a hard time getting off the ground in the MCU, Wesley Snipes’ legacy as the character might be worth being looked at as a source of inspiration. Snipes’ Blade movies knew what they had to be and excelled at it, with the franchise presenting straightforward action flicks that had the Daywalker murdering vampires left and right.

Snipes’ Blade trilogy was one of the first for Marvel in live-action, and as such, paved the way for future Marvel movies and the MCU itself. The actor was great as the Daywalker, delivering a performance that made Blade become many viewers’ favorite hero due to his cool look and personality that shone through amid intense action sequences. While not among Marvel’s most intricate trilogies, the Blade trilogy was an exciting affair.

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8 Wolverine

A Finale Among Marvel’s Very Best

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Before returning as Logan in Deadpool & Wolverine, Hugh Jackman starred in a solo trilogy as Wolverine under 20th Century Fox. Jackman is the most iconic X-Men actor in live-action, with his version of Wolverine being one of the best live-action Marvel heroes. As such, it made sense for the character to get a spinoff trilogy after appearing in a few X-Men movies, though the quality of Wolverine’s trilogy was fairly uneven.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is one of the most criticized superhero movies of all time. The Wolverine was a decent action flick that failed to utilize the full potential of its Japan setting. However, 2017’s Logan is the Wolverine trilogy’s crown jewel. It elevates the trilogy to great heights, with Logan being an acting masterclass from many involved with it, one of the best comic book movies ever, and a definitive finale to Jackman’s emotional journey as Wolverine — or so it was thought.

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7 Iron Man

The Hero That Started The MCU

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Robert Downey Jr. is the most important actor in the MCU, with his Iron Man trilogy helping establish and ground the franchise with a main hero for audiences to follow. 2008’s Iron Man remains one of the MCU’s best movies. The film managed to set up many exciting characters and storylines that would be developed over the next decade, with RDJ delivering a performance that resurrected his career in a major way.

The Iron Man trilogy does not rank higher due to Iron Man 2, which was a major step down from its predecessor. A convoluted plot with a bad villain makes the movie one of the MCU’s worst, which does not befit RDJ’s legacy as Tony Stark. Thankfully, Iron Man 3 was something of a return to form, with the movie holding one of Downey’s most complex performances as Iron Man.

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6 X-Men (Original Trilogy)

The Trilogy Made History Despite A Lackluster Finale

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The 2000s X-Men movies are key to the success of Marvel and the MCU in live-action. While they did not feature the popular mutant team in comic book-accurate suits, the original X-Men trilogy stands the test of time as one of the best superhero franchises in history. The original Fox X-Men movies mostly got the casting right, with Jackman as Wolverine, Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier, and Ian McKellen as Magneto becoming the most popular of the bunch.

After the first X-Men movie established the world of the franchise and its characters, X2 went a step beyond. The movie was better than its predecessor in pretty much every way, going deeper into its characters’ dynamics and presenting an intriguing plot with kinetic action sequences. Even though X-Men: The Last Stand botched Marvel Comics’ Dark Phoenix story, there are more positive aspects than negative in the original X-Men trilogy.

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5 Spider-Man (Tobey)

Perhaps The Most Influential Marvel Trilogy

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Spider-Man: No Way Home showed just how beloved Tobey Maguire’s version of Peter Parker is to this day. While there are three live-action Spider-Man franchises, Maguire was the first to properly bring the wall-crawler to the big screen, establishing himself as the one and only Spider-Man in the eyes of many. It surely helped that Maguire’s Spider-Man trilogy was fantastic, with the movies making sure that Spider-Man’s fame in the comics translated to a hegemony in live-action movies.

Spider-Man is undoubtedly one of the most popular superheroes of all time, and Maguire’s Spider-Man movies contributed to the hero having an enormous and continuous presence in cinemas. 2002’s Spider-Man is a classic that is a lesson of how to show an origin story onscreen. Spider-Man 2 is simply a superhero movie masterpiece, becoming one of the best superhero films of all time. However, Spider-Man 3 saw the studio force director Sam Raimi to include too many conflicting plots and villains, ultimately harming the trilogy’s status, though the franchise is still fantastic overall.

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4 MCU Spider-Man (Tom)

Another Trilogy Might Be On The Way

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Tom Holland’s Spider-Man trilogy ranking above Tobey Maguire’s might be wrong for some. However, the reason for that is the MCU’s Spider-Man movies are more uniformly great than Maguire’s, meaning there is no entry that clearly stands below the others, as was the case with director Sam Raimi’s complicated Spider-Man 3. Since debuting in the MCU, Holland has become a fan-favorite, and his Spider-Man movies showed the huge potential the actor has as the hero.

Spider-Man: Homecoming tried many new things with Peter Parker, establishing a different supporting cast for the hero and using RDJ’s Iron Man in a mentor role. Then, Spider-Man: Far From Home featured one of the MCU’s best villains in Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio, with creative action sequences. Finally, Spider-Man: No Way Home was a generational event that brought in Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Men but kept its focus on Holland’s Peter Parker, who displayed a wide range of emotions in his best performance as Spider-Man yet.

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3 Deadpool

Marvel’s Latest Concluded Trilogy

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Ryan Reynolds’ casting as Deadpool is among the very best in comic book movie history. The actor was born to play the role, with Reynolds possessing the charm and impeccable comedic timing that make the Deadpool trilogy one of Marvel’s most unique and very best in live-action. No Marvel movies manage to be quite as funny as the Deadpool franchise, with Reynolds’ hero trilogy making the most of its R rating.

The Deadpool movies present raunchy comedy and violent action in spades, and they often do so in innovative ways. It is interesting to note how the Deadpool trilogy started off with a fairly contained movie and grew to feature a team adventure in Deadpool 2 and a bona fide multiverse extravaganza in the trilogy’s finale. Deadpool & Wolverine is the ultimate Marvel movie for fans of Reynolds’ Wade Wilson, delivering plenty of laughs, bloody action, emotional moments, MCU connections, and several cameos, all with Hugh Jackman coming back as Wolverine in the hero’s iconic yellow and blue suit and mask.

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2 Guardians Of The Galaxy

James Gunn Brought A Unique Flair To The MCU’s Cosmic Trilogy

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It is no surprise that James Gunn is now in charge of DC Studios’ creative side, as the director has had a string of major successes in the comic book realm for both Marvel and DC. Gunn started in the MCU, transforming the Guardians of the Galaxy from a group of obscure characters into one of the most popular Marvel teams. The Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy beams with humor, style, and intense emotions.

The team dynamics in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies are incredible, with some of the best character development in the MCU and the Guardians truly feeling like a family as time progresses. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 closed the trilogy in grand style. There are no misses, with Gunn’s last movie at Marvel succeeding at every turn and becoming one of the MCU’s most emotional and impactful entries.

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1 Captain America

One Of The MCU’s Best Heroes Leads The Way

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Finally, Chris Evans’ Captain America trilogy takes the cake as the best live-action Marvel movie trilogy. The Captain America movies made a hero who could be seen as old-fashioned so interesting that Steve Rogers became one of the faces of the MCU. Evans’ work as the character is the best of his career, with Captain America’s movies all ranging from good to excellent. There is no bad Captain America movie in the MCU.

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The trilogy also features some of the MCU’s high points. Captain America: The Winter Soldier is such a gripping, grounded action thriller that Marvel has been trying to copy it for years without reaching the same level of grit it had. Captain America: The First Avenger was a war epic that perfectly brought Steve Rogers’ origin story to life. Captain America: Civil War balanced several Avengers and made Captain America the character to follow in a confrontation with Iron Man, the system, and everyone in between. With solid performances and very few flaws, the Captain America trilogy is Marvel’s best.

Marvel Cinematic Universe

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a multimedia superhero franchise that began in 2008 with Paramount’s Iron Man starring Robert Downey Jr. The franchise quickly grew in popularity, with Disney eventually buying out Marvel Entertainment in 2009. The MCU consists of dozens of movies and TV shows, most notably Avengers: Endgame, WandaVision, and Loki.

Upcoming MCU Movies

• Captain America: Brave New World

  Release Date February 14, 2025

• Thunderbolts*

  Release Date May 2, 2025

• The Fantastic Four (2025)

  Release Date July 25, 2025

• Blade (2025)

  Release Date November 7, 2025

• Avengers: Doomsday

  Release Date May 1, 2026

• Avengers: Secret Wars

  Release Date May 7, 2027

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Category: Entertainment