The release of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever marks the final film released in Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It has been an incredibly fascinating phase to watch unfold. It was coming off the massively popular Infinity Saga that concluded with the crowd-pleasing duo of Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home. Phase 4 would be the first MCU phase to not only include films but also work in television series on Disney+ as part of the narrative.

Phase 4 was supposed to kick off in May 2020 but was delayed by a whole year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and did not begin until January 2021 with the release of WandaVision. Phase 4 was meant to wrap up in 2021 but will now conclude a year later. On top of that, there has been a general consensus among critics and fans that the phase lacked a strong sense of direction that defined the earlier MCU phases, even with the outline of the Multiverse Saga revealed at San Diego Comic-Con 2022.

While Phase 4 has been the rockiest in terms of general audience reaction since Phase 1, the Phase 4 film lineup has offered expansion to the MCU in exciting ways in terms of introducing new characters, showing new corners of the universe, and telling deeply personal stories for the filmmakers attached to these projects. Here is all the Phase 4 MCU films ranked.

7 Black Widow

Black Widow (2021) movie and the Thunderbolts
Marvel Studios

Black Widow in many ways is the odd film out of the Phase 4 lineup. It is a prequel for a character that audiences saw die in Avengers: Endgame and also takes place during Phase 3. Combined with the fact that it was the first MCU film released following the COVID-19 pandemic (which delayed the movie by 14 months), it felt like a lot of unfair expectations were put on it.

Black Widow certainly has a lot of vital elements to it: a great prologue, a powerful opening credit scene, and the introduction of three great new characters to the MCU in the form of Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Red Guardian (David Harbour), and Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz). Yet the biggest issue with the movie might just be that it doesn't quite do enough to distinguish itself in a film landscape dominated by spy films. With James Bond, Mission: Impossible, and Kingsman franchises all still going strong, in many ways Black Widow feels like it is chasing the competition while brushing over the darker more fascinating human story about the exploitation of young women all over the world. Black Widow certainly does set up a lot of storylines for the rest of the MCU and will likely follow in Thunderbolts, but of the Phase 4 films, Black Widow will probably be people's least returned to.

6 Thor: Love and Thunder

Thor Love and Thunder
Marvel Studios
Disney

Following the success of Thor: Ragnarök, expectations were high for Taika Waititi to return to the Thor franchise. With the addition of bringing back Natalie Portman as Jane Foster and adapting both the Mighty Thor run from the comics as well as the acclaimed Gorr the God Butcher arc, there were plenty of reasons to be excited for Thor: Love and Thunder.

Related: Why Natalie Portman and Jane Foster's Arc is One of the Best in the MCU

Yet the release of Thor: Love and Thunder might have yielded the biggest mixed response from a Marvel movie in quite some time. The movie was a little over-reliant on humor, often repeating jokes which if you did not find funny the first time will lead to a frustrating viewing experience. Yet the film's emotional moments surrounding Jane Foster's cancer arc and the love story between her and Thor are genuinely moving enough to make it worth checking out.

5 Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Marvel Studios
Disney

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness saw the return of Sam Raimi to the director's chair after a 9-year absence and saw him bring another Stan Lee/Steve Ditko collaboration to life after his successful Spider-Man trilogy in the 2000s. Raimi takes full advantage of the supernatural side of the MCU to fully embrace his horror filmmaking roots with the film's climax of a zombie Doctor Strange wielding a cape made of the souls of the damned one of the coolest things in the director's filmography.

Some may have had issues with the sudden turn of Wanda Maximoff into the villainous Scarlet Witch after the events of her deeply moving series WandaVision and the fact that aside from one quick scene only three universes are explored. Nonetheless, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is a comic book movie that truly captures the feeling of reading a comic arc in a trade paperback. This storyline could have easily been one of many classic Doctor Strange adventures in the comics, and that simplicity is refreshing.

4 Eternals

Eternals
Marvel Studios
Disney

Eternals currently holds the lowest score on Rotten Tomatoes of any MCU film, yet Eternals stands as one of the most unique entries in the massive franchise, and a film which should not only be celebrated but one that will likely grow in estimation as time goes on.

Academy Award-winning director Chloé Zhao takes one of the most obscure Marvel properties and crafts a century-spanning epic that shows the simple beauties of the world through the eyes of alien god-like beings. It is a movie about what it means to be human and to be a family, an intimate film that also has a massive cosmic tapestry at work. Eternals looks beautiful and shows that the MCU can still surprise audiences and take chances.

3 Spider-Man: No Way Home

Spider-Man No Way Home
Marvel Studios
Sony Pictures

Spider-Man: No Way Home was the event movie of 2021 and the film that showed audiences were willing to come back to theaters after the COVID-19 pandemic. The film not only was the third chapter in the MCU Spider-Man trilogy but also a massive celebration of Spider-Man's almost 20-year cinematic history by seeing the return of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield as their past incarnations of Spider-Man.

While some may dismiss the love for Spider-Man: No Way Home as just simple fan service, the movie is still a deeply satisfying Spider-Man story in its own right. It is the story of a boy growing into a man, and how he loses everything but still remains a good person. Spider-Man puts others before himself, and while he may lose everything, he still keeps going. The two other Spider-Men serve a thematic purpose to guide their MCU variant, in a way acting as a type of Ghost of Christmas Past in this Christmas Carol parable. Spider-Man: No Way Home is a rousing event film that despite a rather depressing ending manages to give audiences a hopefully thrilling note to end on and reminds them why Spider-Man has endured after all these years.

2 Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Shang-Chi
Marvel Studios

Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was the movie that really showed Marvel Studios was back after the COVID-19 pandemic with a theatrical exclusive release. Using the same formula that turned Iron Man from a B-list character into an overnight superstar, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings takes a minor hero most audiences had not heard of prior and invests the time into developing him in a universally human story that makes him a character audiences can't wait to return to.

Related: Shang-Chi: Why It's One of the Most Underrated MCU Films

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings has that same magic that many of those Phase 1 origin stories like Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger did when this was all new and exciting, being introduced to a new superhero with an interesting corner of the franchise. Combine that with a great cast of supporting characters and Wenwu who stands as the best villain in Phase 4, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings showed that Marvel Phase 4 was worth sticking around for.

1 Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Black Panther Wakanda Forever
Marvel Studios
Disney

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is the last film in Phase 4 and Marvel Studios certainly did save the best for last. Making a follow-up to one of the biggest films of all time was going to be tricky, adding on top of that this was a sequel to an Academy Award Best Picture nominee. All of this was thrown into turmoil with the tragic passing of star Chadwick Boseman to cancer in August 2020 forcing a page one rewrite of the film. All of this should have made for an impossible movie to pull off, yet director Ryan Coogler does it with exceptional craftsmanship.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is a deeply moving exploration of grief, turning the real-life tragedy of Chadwick Boseman's passing into the movie's theme. How does Wakanda (and the MCU) move forward without T'Challa, and how do his friends and allies carry on his legacy? The movie gives many of the highlights to supporting players from the first movie and also gives a grand introduction to Namor in the MCU. He is the film's antagonist but not a villain, and the movie crafts a fascinating story for him that makes him easily one of the biggest breakout characters in the franchise. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is one great note to end Phase 4 on and a loving tribute to a man gone far too soon.