 Last time on the show, I ranked my top five worst MCU characters. This time, we're gonna do the top on another episode of Hot Takes. I'm not gonna sugarcoat this. Coming up with the top five list was a lot harder than I thought it was gonna be. Especially when I broke down the individual films on top of the combo flicks. But this is the list I have and I'll kinda stand by it. I'll half-ass stand by it. At the number five spot, we have Dr. Strange. Benedict Cumberbatch, or BC for short, I'll never use that again, is basically Tony Stark. Tony Stark Light, I guess. And I wasn't even that big of a fan of his solo film. It wasn't until I saw him with the rest of the roster that I stood back and was like, this guy's pretty awesome. Especially in Infinity War. That one I thought was a Dr. Strange vehicle. Him, Thor, and pretty much those two really wowed me more than anybody else. And I didn't think that was gonna happen. He's really won me over. And I'm actually really looking forward to his next outing. It's the only phase four film I'm really looking forward to at all. Honestly, all I really love about the character is him just going like this. And like doing little things with his hands and then CG stuff showing up. Like, I could just watch that for two hours. Because Cumberbatch just has that straight face while it's happening. He's really into what he's doing. If you were to ask me, after Captain America's first solo film was done, if he was one of my favorite characters in the MCU, I would have laughed at you. Told you to get out of my house. I'd never invited you in to begin with. But then something happened. The Avengers. And then something else happened. Captain America Winter Soldier. And then a third and a fourth and a fifth thing happened. And suddenly Chris Evans is on my mind more often than not. That's weird. That's a weird thing to say. Anyway, I found Captain America initially to be a lame character. I never was into him in the comics. I thought he was laughable in cartoons. He's wearing the Star Spangled Banner as an outfit. He's got a dumb shield. Yet somehow it worked. And that's because of Chris Evans' passion and 100% dedication to this role. What's more amazing is I'm old enough to remember him as the human torch from those old Fantastic Four movies. And he is completely different there. I mean, Johnny Storm is a smart ass. He's fun to watch. He's always screwing around. And Captain America is very much straight laced by the books. Well, besides Civil War. But for the most part, he's the guy you turn to when you want someone you can trust. Chris Evans nails it. It wouldn't be a legit list by me if I didn't find some way to kind of cheat. I'm putting the entire Guardians of the Galaxy roster on here, even Mantis. Because she was so great in Endgame running towards the combat and doing absolutely nothing. By themselves, I like all these characters. Peter Quill slash Star Lord, Rocket, Groot, Gamora, Drax. But when you combine their personalities, this family really shines. It's like the Adams family. You know, Pugsley and Wednesday and Gomez, they're all solid by themselves. But it's really the team. It's that cohesive unit that works so well. I debated Moving Thor up to the number one slot on my list. I also debated not even having him on this at all. Yeah, it's controversial. I was fighting with myself deep inside where the heart should be, but it's been gone for many years. Thor and, to a lesser extent, Hulk have been changed the most throughout these films. Thor in, I think, a better way than not. In the first outing, Thor is far more serious. Even in the second one, of course, he cracks some jokes and he is playful here and there. But for the most part, he's like 90% stoke and serious. And I feel like it was Joss Whedon who really kind of pulled that comedy out of Chris Hemsworth more. He saw something there and he lightened him up a lot in Avengers and especially in Age of Ultron. And I don't know exactly when those web videos came out where he's got the roommate, but those were hilarious. It could easily be an entire series on Netflix or on the Disney thing that they're coming out with. And it was obviously a jumping off point for a far more hilarious Thor in Ragnarok. Yet in Ragnarok, he's still able to balance this because of a great script with those serious moments, with those painful moments, with those powerful superhuman god-like moments. Then we get to Infinity War. Things are a lot more serious. We're still seeing him have fun. We're still seeing him balance in dialogue and jokes off the Guardians. But when it's time for business, Thor gets down to it. And my god, that is some awesome stuff. I turned to people and I said when he was forging the axe and especially when he smashed down and everybody had an immigrant song playing in their heads, that is how you do Superman. That is how Superman's done. He's a god. He is perfect in pretty much every way. So you have to give him internal conflicts. You have to give him reasons to fight that are captivating, that are emotional. And they absolutely knocked it out of the park with Thor in Ragnarok and Infinity War. And then for some reason decided to throw it all the way in Endgame, a movie that I think is praised far too much. It would have been one thing to make Thor a punchline for a little bit. Give him, give the fat suit, make him throw some jokes out. I get it. You know, he's lost his way. He's sad. He's disheartened. But to keep him like that for the entire film was just such a, it just felt such a betrayal to the character after he's been through so much already. The MCU is on like their 23rd or 24th film at this point. I don't even know. It's been running for 10 years or so. And it reminds me of a great TV show that's maybe going on a little too long. The characters have all become characters of themselves. They are kind of a shadow of what they used to be. And it's kind of like that line in Dark Knight. You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself as the villain or whatever. I'm paraphrasing. But you get what I'm saying. And I think that that's what's happening to some of these characters. Like I said, Thor and Hulk, however, they did right by one man. And that's Robert Downey Jr. He's this arrogant playboy philanthropist who's got, you know, billions of trillions of dollars. He can do whatever he wants. He's not humble. He doesn't really seem to care about people beneath him until the end of the first Iron Man. But even then, he's still, you know, he's kind of a drunk. He's sloppy. He's messy. And that gets pulled away in Iron Man 2. And by the third one, and by Avengers Age of Ultron, he's really becoming a leader with Captain America, their buddy heads of course. And they're not seeing eye to eye, but he's still growing in these films. And once we get to Infinity War, it all comes to a head. He's learned to let go. He's learned to trust someone other than himself for a change. He's learned that he can't do it all himself. And I think that it's such a powerful story arc. And Robert Downey is such a great actor and is such a perfect role for him to play. And they ended it on the best note they possibly could, self-sacrifice. It's always been his message. It's always been the thing that he knew he would have to do. And he knew that he could accomplish his goal finally because he did have faith in others. He had that trust there. And what a great out for him. What a great finish to that story. I don't know how you could not put Robert Downey, Iron Man as number one. He started it all, and he finished it all. I mean, they're still going, but I mean, are we really that excited? Thanks for watching. I hope you agree with my list. If you don't, that's fine, too. Let me know in the comments below, subscribe if you like hot takes or movie feuds or occasional car sight review. I do all of that and more at Adam Does Movies. Take care.