I think that's fair. Of the 17 movies, I'd probably recommend maybe six? I'd place three of those among the ten best superhero movies made, and another three in the top 20.

I don't think the genius of the MCU comes from movie quality -- although I'd argue nothing among the 17 movies is truly awful and most are in the "decent, watchable" camp -- but rather its pervasiveness. Disney and Marvel are the first ones to take advantage of this new normal where 24-hour news cycles and social media keep ideas, memes, and, yes, cinematic universes, in the public eye longer and more comprehensively. They've capitalized on a market where the cultural buzz before a movie elevates its box office performance and then the buzz after that movie feeds into the next installment. For example, you can enjoy Ant-Man's appearance in Civil War, without ever seeing Ant-Man, because his role (or even existence) is something you've probably gleaned through media consumption. It really is brilliant, if more than a little cynical.

That said, the Justice League Universe also tried this, with arguably more famous and beloved characters, and has failed so far. So the quality of the movies does fuel this MCU dynamo, at least partially.

Ya, I think that's accurate. Disney/Marvel have definitely been trend setters in this regard. Every movie studio now is looking for their own version of the MCU, be it WB with DC, or Universal with their "Dark Universe." I also think what you said about none of the movies being awful, at least from an overall quality perspective - discounting the individual weight anyone may or may not give to any single aspect of a movie - is key here. You're never going to get a whole lot of people walking away from one of the Marvel movies being so put off that they think to themselves "....ok...I'm not watching any more of these." That's not something these other studios can say about their attempts at this so far, and it shows.

My only concern is what happens when we move off the Big Four (Iron Man, Hulk, Thor and Cap). They’re still pretty central to the franchise as a whole. Downey is lured back by massive paychecks and he could conceivably be Iron Man forever. I know both Hemsworth and Evans have said they’re open to doing more standalone films. But eventually we hit a point where someone says enough. Do they recast? Do supoorting players step into the costumes of the Big Four (I have my own issues with this even though it happens in comics)? Do we just proceed with the supporting heroes. I’ll be honest. I cringed at that B Team of Avengers at the end of Ultron. I just feel we’re closer to the end than the beginning. And it’s a little sad

Of the "big 4", only Iron Man and Cap had really noteworthy movies (well until Thor 3).  On the other hand, I think they are going to continue making Guardians, Spider Man, Dr. Strange, and Ant Man.  Both Guardians and Spider Man have huge fan bases, and Dr. Strange has a smaller but still very passionate fan base.  I don't think Marvel will have any problem with continuing their movies. 

Agreed. There's really only the big 2, Cap and Iron Man. Chris Evans I do believe is going to be stepping away, so that will be a big loss for them, as Captain America has certainly won over more and more people over time. I believe that they will try to replace his role in the MCU with either Captain Marvel, or Black Panther, with one of them becoming the de facto leader of the Avengers, or possibly splitting them between moral, and tactical leads. Downey could go either way. For enough money, I have no doubt he'll happily continue to be present in one way or another. Question is whether Marvel thinks it's necessary to pony up for that. My guess would be that they do, just to maintain some sort of consistency factor, or comfort blanket if you will, as they rotate in the new players. 

Chris Hemsworth I think is likely to stick around as well. Not just because he wants to, but because Ragnarok was huge, and I'm willing to bet that Disney/Marvel will be thinking that they've only just begun to really get the most out of that character. I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised if they make 2 more Thor movies, forget the first two existed, and just pretend that the latter 3 represent the real Thor trilogy. If not that, they'll surely find other movies to throw him into as a support role. We're quickly seeing these true solo movies disappear anyway, at least outside of origin style movies. Marvel have realized that not only are the movies more fun when you have several of these heroes playing off each other, but also, when you do true solo movies after all these team ups, everybody leaves the movie asking "why didn't X just ask Y for help.....? Where is such and such during all this....?" So Thor will be back. We'll probably see the Hulk every now and again as well, albeit more sparingly.

In any case, things aren't dying down any time soon. In fact, I'd argue that they're really only just beginning to really ramp up. They can do a lot of cool things with the characters they got stepping up to prime time after Infinity War, and we'll probably see them transition into Secret Invasion for the next big overarching story line. Then during that, they can lay the foundation for all the characters they'll add to their war chest when the Fox deal goes through, which should be all kinds of fun (live action Incredibles aka Fantastic Four anyone?). 

Honestly, I'm of the mind set that after this Infinity War shake up happens, the next phase of Marvel movies should actually be a lot more interesting. 

I think Iron Man 1, Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Spider-Man Homecoming are the only ones I would regard as "spectacular". I had varying levels of enjoyment for Avengers 1, Iron Man 3, Civil War, Dr. Strange, and GotG 2. The rest of them are either mediocre or just plain bad. The biggest problem with these movies is their choice to ignore having an emotional undertone, in favor of some stupid jokes. They also follow a similar plot structure all throughout the universe. I was watching the trailer for Black Panther today and was thinking that it just looked like a giant ripoff of Iron Man 1. Marvel needs to start experimenting with the type of movies they make. I would love to see a Marvel movie that's reminiscent of Spider-Man 2 or The Dark Knight. The Netflix MCU content usually has more flaws than the movies but they experiment with their structure which I can appreciate.

Agreed. There's really only the big 2, Cap and Iron Man. Chris Evans I do believe is going to be stepping away, so that will be a big loss for them, as Captain America has certainly won over more and more people over time. I believe that they will try to replace his role in the MCU with either Captain Marvel, or Black Panther, with one of them becoming the de facto leader of the Avengers, or possibly splitting them between moral, and tactical leads. Downey could go either way. For enough money, I have no doubt he'll happily continue to be present in one way or another. Question is whether Marvel thinks it's necessary to pony up for that. My guess would be that they do, just to maintain some sort of consistency factor, or comfort blanket if you will, as they rotate in the new players. 

Chris Hemsworth I think is likely to stick around as well. Not just because he wants to, but because Ragnarok was huge, and I'm willing to bet that Disney/Marvel will be thinking that they've only just begun to really get the most out of that character. I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised if they make 2 more Thor movies, forget the first two existed, and just pretend that the latter 3 represent the real Thor trilogy. If not that, they'll surely find other movies to throw him into as a support role. We're quickly seeing these true solo movies disappear anyway, at least outside of origin style movies. Marvel have realized that not only are the movies more fun when you have several of these heroes playing off each other, but also, when you do true solo movies after all these team ups, everybody leaves the movie asking "why didn't X just ask Y for help.....? Where is such and such during all this....?" So Thor will be back. We'll probably see the Hulk every now and again as well, albeit more sparingly.

In any case, things aren't dying down any time soon. In fact, I'd argue that they're really only just beginning to really ramp up. They can do a lot of cool things with the characters they got stepping up to prime time after Infinity War, and we'll probably see them transition into Secret Invasion for the next big overarching story line. Then during that, they can lay the foundation for all the characters they'll add to their war chest when the Fox deal goes through, which should be all kinds of fun (live action Incredibles aka Fantastic Four anyone?). 

Honestly, I'm of the mind set that after this Infinity War shake up happens, the next phase of Marvel movies should actually be a lot more interesting. 

My list pretty much matches up with yours. Iron Man, Winter Soldier, Guardians, and Avengers are the ones that really shine for me. 

We're in complete agreement on the lack of emotional gravitas. Anything meaningful that happens is always immediately undercut by a joke, or a wink at the audience, and this becomes more and more prevalent the further out you get with these movies. It's like Disney/Marvel have adopted the mind set that a comic book movie can never be anything other than silly fun, because after all....it's comic book material, right? I'm not even a big comic book fan, and even I find that frustrating. What's worse, you can see all the opportunities in many of these movies to present some real stakes, and actually throw some weight behind the decisions these characters make, but then nothing ever really comes of it. I mean maybe Marvel is right to do this. Maybe that's ultimately what the majority of audiences want to see from a comic book movie. Certainly they're making the money to support their decisions, so it's not like I can necessarily say they're missing the boat. It's just not really what I want to see. Not that I'm against silly fun movies, quite the opposite really. That's not exactly the way to keep me consistently engaged in an ongoing, extended movie universe though. I don't need a consistent cast of characters, and overarching plot to get some "cheap" laughs.

Still, I think at this point I'm mostly resigned to Marvel being Marvel. I really hit the height of my frustration with Civil War, and have since kind of made peace with the fact that I shouldn't go into these movies expecting anything other than a whole lot of quips, and some very cool action set pieces.