We’ve come to the end of Phase 1 in The 300s Marvel Cinematic Rewind and while we’ve had some incredibly lofty highs, we’ve also had some pretty terrible lows. If not for the raging success that was the first Avengers, I could have seen this plan very easily getting shuttered. Iron Man and Avengers led the way with a 9.0 average rating from the guys here at The 300s, but the second and third films in the MCU, The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man 2 were a low point with ratings of 5.0 and 3.0 respectively. This whole thing could have gone off the rails if not for a strong 4th quarter surge from Thor (7.0), Captain America: The First Avenger (8.0) and Avengers.

Don’t believe me? The Infinity Stones aren’t even so much as referenced until the post-credits scene in Thor, which was the FOURTH movie in the MCU. Seems to me like the big wigs at Marvel had their finger on the eject button just in case fans didn’t take to these second tier heroes.

Some of these movies are incredibly strong, but the collective score is brought down by the abysmal Iron Man 2 and we’re left with a 6.8 average rating for Phase 1 of the MCU.  Luckily for us, Marvel recognized they had a potential license to print money if they could just fine tune what worked well and what did not.

Up Next: Iron Man 3