Going into Infinity War I am expecting an 8 or 9 type movie given how much I enjoyed Civil War and same people behind it (Russo). Looking back I think what keeps the MCU going is it never hits a major dry spell for people of 3 consecutive misses. They have enough diversity in movies that if you don't like one you can still enjoy the next one.

Also very interesting to see differences in opinions in scores and how highly or lowly various movies are ranked. The same people I sometimes exactly overlay on one I then vastly diverge on another in scoring.

On sub series it is a toss up between Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain America which is hard because Captain America has three movies, but the third felt like Avengers 2.5. I give it to Rocket and Company for now and see how Gunn completes the trilogy.

While I don't totally agree on the "3 consecutive misses" part -- I'd argue the four moves between Iron Man and The Avengers are all misses or near-misses -- I do agree that dry spells in the MCU are rare. It's a cinematic experiment that's been remarkably consistent. I'd say 8 of the 18 movies are good -- which is actually a great ratio. Even the "bad" movies are watchable, which I couldn't say for the DCEU, for example.

I will say the cinematic universe that ties these movies together is both a blessing and a curse: a blessing in that sometimes you get a catharsis 12 movies in the making in something like Civil War; a curse in that every movie must conform to a standard visual and storytelling template, and must, at least until now, carry the burden of an overarching plot line that might not serve the story in the here and now. Black Panther, in my mind, is the latest victim of this homogenization and laborious world-building, but I digress.

Reviewing your scores I'd wonder if you either are harder on films in general or if you don't enjoy these MCU as much as I do. On rewatching only Iron Man 3 and Thor Ragnarok were a real chore for me.

Probably more of the latter. MCU movies, and superhero flicks in general, tend to have a low ceiling. Feige et al. have done a great job in the MCU of raising the floor, so that most installments operate in a space that ranges from mediocre to good, but very few of them transcend those upper limits. You can only be so interesting and creative and daring when you're trying to sell your product to everyone on the planet.

Or you’re just a snob. 😝

I suppose I grade films within the realm of what they are.  Action movies can be great fun, but not be great in the same way as a dramatic work. I never have thought any MCU was best picture quality, but I do thoroughly enjoy some of them.

I mostly agree with you.  For example Civil War is my favorite movie, but I would have a hard time recommending it to a film buff if I knew they disliked superhero movies.  I mean the main reason why I like Civil War is that I get to see all my geeky fantasies come to life on the big screen.

On the other hand Black Panther is just an objectively good film.  I know one big thing in any film that I look for, and what many film buffs look for, is just to have a unique and interesting experience when they go to the movies.  In that respect Black Panther delivers in spades.  When I watched Black Panther I forgot I was even watching an MCU movie.  Because it is so unique I think you could judge against any other movie, and I would still give it 4 out of 5 stars on a universal movie scale.  I think the Guardians movies are somewhat like this too, since they are really sci-fi movies and not super hero movies.

I have some film buff friends who I know are tired of super hero movies.  When Black Panther came out I was going to recommend the film to them anyway, because I knew they would love it.  It turns out that when I saw them, they brought up Black Panther first to recommend the movie to me.  Black Panther simply breaks out of the MCU box and becomes its own unique film.

Just read some spoilers about Infinity war.

Certainly won't share them here, but I can say with certainty that they weren't lying when they said that no avenger is safe from death. Death toll is HIGH, but you knew that based on what Thanos plans on doing.

Just came back from Infinity War and holy shit was that epic. I don't often go to midnight-screening but this one was really worth it.