The 30 Best Performances In The Marvel Cinematic Universe

10. Chris Pratt as Peter Quill in “Guardians Of The Galaxy” (2014)
Famously, Marvel and James Gunn had quite the task finding someone to play the lead role in “Guardians Of The Galaxy” — Joel Edgerton, Jack Huston, Jim Sturgess, Eddie Redmayne, Lee Pace, James Marsden, Garrett Hedlund, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Sullivan Stapleton and Zachary Levi were all considered before Chris Pratt, who’d been rejected earlier in the process as too heavy-set (due to his role on “Parks And Recreation”) landed the part. And boy, did they find their man. Pratt, equal parts Han Solo-ish rogue and loveable doofus, might be the most human of all of Marvel’s heroes here, and whether he’s nearly dying in space out of self-sacrifice, or saving the world with a dance-off, he’s totally charming.

9. Tom Holland as Peter Parker in “Captain America: Civil War” (2016)
After the train-wreck of “The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” we thought we were ready to not see your friendly neighborhood web-slinger on screens for a while. But after even just a few scenes with Tom Holland’s MCU-incorporated take, we’re actually kind of psyched for next year’s “Spider-Man: Homecoming.” A mostly unknown quantity before this, Holland simply clicks as soon as he turns up, a version of the character — genuinely young, awkward, quippy — that we’ve never properly seen before, and his legitimate thrill at getting to battle — and often best — the big boys during the airport battle is a real joy to watch. Could we finally have the definitive screen Peter Parker?

8. Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” (2014)
A relatively minor Marvel hero called The Falcon didn’t, on paper, seem like an essential addition to the MCU, but from the very first scene of his debut in “The Winter Soldier,” it’s clear what an asset Anthony Mackie is going to be moving forward. The “Hurt Locker” star plays Sam Wilson, a vet who forms a real bond with Captain America, and proves to be a loyal right-hand man in the next few movies, and likely beyond, thanks to his flying suit. In “Winter Soldier” in particular, Mackie subtly brings in a sense that Sam is someone who’s come through real trauma, but doesn’t want that to be an end to his service. And yet he’s still someone with a light, self-deprecating view on the world. One of the biggest problems with the Marvel films is that the bond between Steve Rogers and Bucky has never really convinced, in part because Cap’s bromance with Sam is already much greater.

7. Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones in “Marvel’s Jessica Jones” (2015)
Best known for playing the sarcastic friend in various rom-coms, Krysten Ritter finally got the role she deserved — and Marvel finally gave us the female lead we’d been waiting for after a dozen movies and 50-odd hours of TV — with “Jessica Jones.” A super-strong Hell’s Kitchen private eye who discovers her former tormentor Kilgrave (see above) has returned, Jessica is, in Ritter’s hands, a brittle and scabrous figure who walks right up to the edge of being unlikeable, but the actress always finds something to make you love her. She’s taken on a pretty tumultous emotional journey, and Ritter’s always throughly in control during every step.

6. Michael Peña as Luis in “Ant-Man” (2015)
The great Michael Peña should basically be in every movie, but he should especially be in “Ant-Man” movies, thieving the entire movie out under Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly and co. Essentially the best friend to Rudd’s Scott Lang, a fellow prison inmate and career criminal, Luis is an inspired and oddly original comic creation. The archetype is familiar — he’s the dim-witted comedy sidekick, essentially. But Peña turns it into something else, something weirder, be it his fast-talking, almost Tristram Shandy-ish digressions when he’s doing an exposition dump, or his quiet, genial, faintly stoned enthusiasm for basically everything. We demand a spin-off.

5. Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter in “Captain America: The First Avenger” (2011)
Only one Marvel character has so far proved popular enough to get their own spin-off with the name in the title, and that’s entirely a testament to Hayley Atwell’s performance as Peggy Carter in “Captain America.” The MCU has a mixed track record when it comes to female leads, but badass wartime spy Peggy is the undoubted high-water mark — tough as nails; independent minded; whip-smart; and with the most convincing, and tragic, romance of the series, in part because Atwell is so good at showing that she’s already starting to fall for Steve Rogers when he’s still a big-hearted shrimp. Atwell was great in subsequent appearances — a particularly affecting old-age turn in ‘The Winter Soldier‘ and on TV show “Agent Carter,” which sadly wasn’t the vehicle she deserved — but was never better than in her first.

4. Ben Kingsley as The Mandarin in “Iron Man 3” (2013)
The most divisive part of the MCU so far is the big twist in “Iron Man 3” — fans were promised Tony Stark’s greatest nemesis, asian stereotype The Mandarin, with Ben Kingsley announced as being cast in the role, only to throw their toys out of the pram when Shane Black and Drew Pearce’s script revealed that ‘The Mandarin’ is a drunken British actor hired by Guy Pearce’s real villain as a cover. To them, it tainted the whole movie; to us, it’s a stroke of actual genius, a disarming and hilarious twist that doesn’t reduce the stakes, and it works so well because Kingsley sells it so beautifully. His playing of The Mandarin felt like such obvious casting it was almost basic, but Kingsley’s cast so strongly against type as Trevor Slattery, and having so much palpable fun, that he steals the whole movie away.

3. Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk in “Daredevil” (2015-6)
We’re increasingly tired of the Netflix Marvel shows, which have fallen quickly into a sort of Identikit formula in terms of the kind of stories they were telling. But we were optimistic early on, mostly because of a mighty performance by Vincent D’Onofrio as the classic comic villain The Kingpin. He’s an urbane, sharply dressed, hulking crime boss, a man who is genuine about wanting to transform his neighborhood, but also a man who’s capable of smashing a man’s head to a pulp with a car door. D’Onofrio’s performance is almost theatrical in the risks it takes, but his lovelorn sensitivity; his awkward, almost faltering physicality; and his sense of being a little boy lost ensures that the risks pay off. The only problem was that he was roughly four million times more compelling than actual Daredevil.

2. Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark in “Iron Man” (2010)
Fact: The Marvel Cinematic Universe simply wouldn’t exist without Robert Downey Jr. knocking it out of the park in the first “Iron Man.” The actor had been in the doldrums, but the studio and Jon Favreau took a chance on him, and he paid them back with literally billions of dollars. Like Johnny Depp in “Pirates Of The Caribbean” before him, it was an unconventional but immediately adored performance, harnessing Downey Jr.’s unique energy for a spry, witty take on a character that, quite rightly, sometimes veers on him being an unlikeable smart-ass but always pulls back at the right moment. Perhaps more than he’s given credit for, he’s grown and shifted Tony across the franchise, but he was at his purest and best in that first film, as a man discovering a moral conscience and going out to make amends.

1. Chris Evans as Steve Rogers in “Captain America: The First Avenger” (2011 )
Chris Evans reportedly turned down the role of Captain America when he was first offered it, and it’s not hard to see why: In a cynical modern era, the idea of a literal representation of great American values could have seemed doomed to looking sort of lame. But thank God he didn’t, because if Downey Jr. is the brains and wit of the MCU, Evans is its heart and soul. The kind of heart-on-sleeve, all-American sincerity that he has to do here is unbelievably tough to pull off, but since the very beginning (especially in the beginning), as a surprisingly not off-putting digitally shrunk Steve Rogers, Evans has managed it: clear-eyed but not finger-wagging, amused by his friends but not necessarily funny himself, driven above all by a love for his fellow man. That Evans can make him not a fusty bore, but a real hero and role model, is a hell of a feat.

Given the insane casts that these movies have been able to attract, it’s not a shock that we could have made this list a lot longer and still missed people. “The Incredible Hulk” is the only movie not to have a performance here, which isn’t to say that Edward Norton and Tim Roth don’t do good work in it; while Don Cheadle has been consistently good as Rhodey from “Iron Man 2” onwards, if never quite getting the showcase he deserves; and Anthony Hopkins and Kat Dennings brought gravitas and disarming humor to “Thor.” Hugo Weaving’s Herzogian Red Skull in “Captain America: The First Avenger” is one of the better villains, too.

James Badge Dale gives good henchman (arguably outshining real villain Guy Pearce ) in “Iron Man 3,” while Samuel L. Jackson, while never quite developing Nick Fury into a character beyond ‘I am Samuel L. Jackson,’ is at his best in ‘The Winter Soldier,’ and Benicio Del Toro is beguilingly weird in “Guardians Of The Galaxy.” Jeremy Renner finally got to shine a bit in “Age Of Ultron,” while Paul Bettany turns up late in the same movie but does a lot with his few scenes, and Andy Serkis has a very entertaining cameo (hopefully we’ll see more of him in “Black Panther,” his character being a traditional adversary to the character).

Michael Douglas and Evangeline Lilly are both solid in “Ant-Man,” while Elizabeth Olsen and Sebastian Stan both got some substance to tuck into in ‘Civil War,’ a movie that also suggested that Marisa Tomei’s Aunt May is going to be delightful, and had some very good villainy from Daniel Brühl as well. Benedict Wong is a stand-out in “Doctor Strange,” and Alfre Woodard is very fine in “Luke Cage,” even if the material is often beneath her. And our hopes are high that, in a few years, we’ll be adding people like Kurt Russell, Elizabeth Debicki, Michael Keaton, Cate Blanchett, Jeff Goldblum, Tessa Thompson, Lupita Nyong’o, Michael B. Jordan, Forest Whitaker and Brie Larson to this list. Anyone else you think we’ve forgotten? Let us know in the comments.