The second 10/10 Marvel ever released in my opinion. Captain America: The Winter Soldier is an absolute cinematic masterpiece. The plot, the action, the emotion—it’s the second-best project Marvel has ever put out in my opinion. Every single second of this movie will have you on the edge of your seat.

The Ultimate Betrayal: HYDRA in SHIELD

This movie is so interesting to me because it depicts a man like Steve Rogers, who is so righteous, realize he has been working for the most unrighteous of organizations. He finds out he has actually been aiding the organization that he spent his life—before going into the ice—fighting. HYDRA infiltrates SHIELD and goes unnoticed for years. Peak cinema.

An Emotional Villain and the Ultimate Reveal

The Winter Soldier was obviously the perfect villain for this film, and I will never forget the reveal of Steve’s best friend, Bucky Barnes, as the Winter Soldier himself. His death was one of the most impactful scenes of the first film, so seeing him again was such a shock. And the emotions didn’t stop there! The final fight scene between Cap and Bucky was so intense, and with the culmination of Steve refusing to fight Bucky and reciting what Bucky said to him in the first film, “... I’m with you ’til the end of the line.” Such a great scene. One of the best in the MCU in my opinion.

Shaping the Future of the MCU

The film was very crucial to the MCU because it introduced a number of mainstay characters that end up playing big roles down the line. Obviously, we get Bucky Barnes as the Winter Soldier, who plays a big role throughout the MCU all the way up to this point. It’s the first time we meet Sam Wilson as The Falcon, who plays a big role side by side with Steve, ultimately culminating in him taking on the shield and becoming Captain America himself. It’s also the first time we see Sharon Carter, who shows up a few more times but in very important and controversial ways. And finally, it’s the first time we see Wanda Maximoff on screen as Scarlet Witch in the end-credit scene. All of these characters are very important to the MCU.

A+ Action: Holding Your Breath

The main plus of this movie to me is the action. This movie has some of the best action in any Marvel movie ever. This movie has gunfights, hand-to-hand combat moments, and intense car chases. Every single moment of this movie will have you holding your breath. And Captain America was just electric in this film: The elevator fight scene was just incredible— “Before we get started, does anyone want to get out?” The rooftop chase with the Winter Soldier after he shot Nick Fury is a masterpiece. Every single action scene in this movie is an A+.

Perfect Casting and the Russo Brothers Formula

It’s no surprise that this movie is so good when you look at a couple of key factors. The obvious is the casting: Chris Evans as Steve Rogers, Anthony Mackie as The Falcon, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, and Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes. I mean, that is just fantastic casting. Another key factor to this movie’s success is the fact that it was the Russo Brothers directing. They are comic book movie masterminds and have made many of Marvel’s best films such as Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Captain America: Civil War, and, of course, Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The storyline and plot that they got from the comics and made into this movie is simply spectacular!

The Proof is in the Numbers

And once again, the proof is in the numbers. With a budget of only $170 million, which I feel is on the smaller side for a Marvel film, the movie grossed $714.4 million worldwide. This movie is so good, it’s so rewatchable, it’s so fast-paced and high-stakes. This movie is an absolute masterpiece!

Rating: 10/10

Now, before we begin, I want to state that these are just my personal top 10 Disney movies. And this is a list that I’m not as dogmatic about compared to my MCU top 10 list… I’m pretty dogmatic about those. This is more just a fun, lighthearted list. I would love to hear all of your top 10 Disney films as well!

Now, my not-at-all-controversial top 10 Disney movies list.

10. Peter Pan

A film that needs no introduction. I don’t know if you can get more classic Disney than Peter Pan.

• The intro song

• The London night sky

• Nana putting the children to bed

• Peter Pan’s shadow in the drawer

It’s so classic, it’s so fun, and it’s a great “turn your brain off and feel like a kid again” kind of movie. This movie also transcends generations; everyone has seen Peter Pan. I don’t care if you’re 80, 18, or 8—you’ve seen Peter Pan.

This movie shows that growing up is a beautiful tragedy. Because when we grow up, we lose sight of the imagination that once was, and eventually, we forget. But Peter Pan always has a way of reminding us of the person we once were as children.

9. Moana

I personally love the ocean, and I have always had a fascination with the Hawaiian culture, so I was pretty much bound to enjoy this movie. Every single song in the film is fun and catchy, it has genuinely funny moments and funny characters, and emotionally gripping moments.

I think Gramma Tala is one of Disney’s most profound characters. Her refusal to forget her people’s history as voyagers is what ultimately saved her people. If she did not encourage Moana, she would have stayed on Motunui and never recovered the Heart. Their past saved their future because Grandma Tala refused to forget. That’s profound in my opinion!

Obviously, having Dwayne Johnson play Maui was fun with his deep Hawaiian ties. Other characters like Heihei the chicken, Tamatoa the crab, and the Kakamora tribe brought a very fun and funny aspect to the film.

This movie is just everything you want in a Disney movie:

• Bright colors

• Catchy songs

• Funny moments

• A deeper emotional meaning

• Ultimately, triumph

8. The Little Mermaid

Very similarly to Moana, I love the ocean, so I have always loved The Little Mermaid. I think Ursula is the star of this film. She is one of Disney’s best villains (if not the best). The soundtrack is also one of Disney’s best. Once again, just a movie with everything you want in a Disney film: fantastic songs, a sinister villain, emotional turmoil that leads to triumph, and a gripping love story. The Little Mermaid checks all the boxes.

Another very important detail about this movie that makes it so great is that this film in 1989 kicked off what’s known as the Disney Renaissance Era. Disney was really struggling to produce box office hits at this point in the company’s history, but with the cutting-edge animation of the time, The Little Mermaid kicked off some of the golden years of Disney’s animation. In my opinion, easily making it a top 10 Disney film.

7. Beauty and the Beast (2017)

I think you could easily argue that the original 1991 version could be right here at the number 7 spot. But I wanted to add the live-action one for the simple fact that this is the best live-action remake that Disney has ever produced.

The film made $1.2 billion at the box office, explained some things from the original that left audiences questioning, and had an absolutely star-studded cast. This film is one of only five live-action remakes that Disney has made that’s produced over $1 billion in the box office. And out of those five remakes, this film had the highest rating on Rotten Tomatoes at a 71%.

The movie dived deeper into the story of Belle’s mother, which the original doesn’t specify, stating that she died of the Bubonic Plague in Paris when she was just a baby—an interesting fact that this film has that the original doesn’t.

And as was stated, this film has an absolutely stacked cast:

• Emma Watson as Belle

• Dan Stevens as the Beast

• Luke Evans as Gaston

• Josh Gad as LeFou

• Ewan McGregor as Lumière

• Ian McKellen as Cogsworth

I don’t think you can get much better than that!

6. The Princess and the Frog

This movie was historic on a couple of different fronts. It was Disney’s first African American princess, who broke the mold of what Disney princesses stereotypically were. She is not a passive dreamer; she’s an active dreamer. She wasn’t awaiting the arrival of a prince; she was hard-working and driven.

This film was Disney’s last hand-drawn animated film, which is a sort of bittersweet reality. Disney, for the company’s entire existence up to this point, had only done hand-drawn animation on animated films, but this was their last.

This film obviously has a unique soundtrack for Disney, but a super successful one. The entire soundtrack doesn’t have one bad song. Dr. Facilier, or The Shadow Man, is probably one of Disney’s top 5 villains in my opinion. His character fits the vibe of New Orleans effortlessly with the component of voodoo magic, and he was genuinely a scary villain with the addition of the “shadows.” This movie was Disney’s last hand-drawn animated film, but it’s one of their best!

5. The Nightmare Before Christmas

This movie has very quickly become a cult classic—a “if you know, you know” type of movie. Danny Elfman did incredible work with this film. The songs in this movie are some of my favorite songs in all of Disney. The gothic-style music just fit the film so seamlessly.

Part of what makes this movie so impressive and good to me was that it was made in stop-motion animation. Meaning that you have to capture each individual frame one by one, which means that for one second of film, the animators had to strategically pose the puppet 24 individual times. It took a team of over 100 people 3 years to film the movie. So impressive!

The movie also covers two major holidays which make it such a rewatchable movie as it spans from Halloween to Christmas. So, you really can watch the movie in season from about September to early January, which I think is really cool.

It was also one of the first movies where Disney had the main character of a film be an anti-hero. So, while Jack Skellington starts as somewhat of a villain by hijacking Christmas, he becomes the hero by restoring it. The Nightmare Before Christmas is a great film of fantastic music, complex characters, and seasonal enjoyment.

4. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Probably the most controversial movie on the list, but I simply don’t care. This movie is so much fun, it’s so interesting, and has such gripping characters.

Now, this movie was built for success as long as they stayed true to the book, which they of course did. C.S. Lewis is one of the greatest authors of all time, and Andrew Adamson did a fantastic job of staying as true to the book as possible. I grew up on this movie, so I probably have a deeper appreciation for the film than most. All the Biblical undertones of the movie are just beautiful to me:

• Aslan representing Jesus Christ

• The White Witch representing Satan

• Edmund representing Judas

• Peter representing the disciple Peter

It’s a beautiful depiction of the Biblical account of the cross.

Adamson did such a fantastic job creating Aslan into this spiritual character that you deeply desire to encounter. And they couldn’t have casted a better voice actor than Liam Neeson to voice Aslan.

The film has so many good moments: the final battle is great, the initial meeting between Edmund and the White Witch is eerie and interesting, and of course, the sacrifice of Aslan for Edmund leading to his death and resurrection is the complete culmination of the movie. Narnia is so good, and you know it’s so good. And if you don’t believe me, believe the numbers: $745 million at the box office.

3. Lilo and Stitch

He makes this movie enjoyable, he makes it funny, eventually he makes it emotional, and he makes it rewatchable. It was just such a new and refreshing genre of a movie that Disney hadn’t really explored. It departed from the stereotypical Disney princess and perfect family aesthetic and explored more of a real-world dynamic with the foster care system, economic strain, and grief and trauma. It was raw and real, compared to the normal “fairy tale” and “happily ever after’s” that Disney was used to putting out.

The aspect of space and aliens in a Disney movie was a relatively new and fun aspect in a Disney film as well. Everything about this movie broke the mold of what Disney was used to. Even down to the soundtrack, the movie steered away from typical musical type songs and had people like Elvis Presley on the soundtrack.

And of course, the ultimate motto of the movie that makes it so great is Ohana, “which means family, and family means no one gets left behind or forgotten.” One of the best meanings of any Disney film. But ultimately, as I stated, Stitch is the one who makes this movie. His funny antics, meaningful moments, and journey from chaos to emotional intelligence is so much fun.

2. The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Truly some of Disney’s most creative work was done on The Pirates of the Caribbean films. They are all hits. Every single film is a masterpiece. But ultimately, I decided to go with the film that started it all.

The casting of Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow is a top 3 casting decision Disney has ever made. Depp’s Jack Sparrow is also a top 3 Disney character as well. The film does such a great job of being a fictional world that is grounded in realism built on history. The real history makes the supernatural events of the film feel all the more real. So, Jack was chasing Cortez’s gold (fiction), while the 18th-century British Royal Navy was chasing him (history).

Something about the movie that I have always loved is how they incorporated scenes from the original Disneyland ride into the movie, almost as a sign of respect and acknowledgment that there would be no Pirates of the Caribbean movie without the famous Pirates of the Caribbean Disneyland ride.

These ride-inspired additions include:

• The jailhouse dog scene

• The grotto skeletons

• The “Yo Ho” theme song

• The burning town during the raid on Port Royal

These films are all funny and spark a sense of adventure in all of us.

1. Aladdin

This might be a controversial number one pick, but for me personally, it’s a no-brainer to have Aladdin at number 1.

Robin Williams delivers unequivocally the best voice acting of all time with the Genie. He was absolutely incredible! His performance alone makes the Genie a top 3 Disney character. The movie was a classic Disney hit with every aspect that makes a Disney movie a Disney movie. Every song is spectacular, the love interest between Aladdin and Princess Jasmine is compelling, Jasmine herself is a strong-willed princess, Jafar is a top-tier Disney villain, and of course, the Genie is spectacular.

The film doesn’t have a single bad or unnecessary scene. The Cave of Wonders is some of the most spectacular animation Disney has ever produced. The component of animals that they add is really fun:

• Abu as the monkey and elephant

• Rajah the tiger

• Iago the parrot

• The tiger head at the Cave of Wonders

The incorporation of Aladdin going from poverty, to becoming selfish with the Genie, and acknowledging that all the money and possessions mean nothing without love is a profound undertone. The comedy throughout the movie (mainly with the Genie) is really funny for a Disney film. Jafar is a genuinely sinister villain. And the music is all so good.

With a small budget of $28 million, the movie made a whopping $504 million at the box office! Easily making it the highest-grossing movie of 1992, beating out massive live-action films such as Batman Returns. Aladdin is the G.O.A.T. of the Disney films in my opinion… Fight me.

My Honest Thoughts on Thor: The Dark World

I can’t really sugar coat it; this movie isn’t great…

I don’t think it’s as bad as most people say it is, but it’s not great. With the original Thor film, people say it’s bad, and I completely disagree and love that movie. With Thor: The Dark World, people say it’s super bad, and I acknowledge it’s bad, it’s just not super bad.

The Biggest Gripe: Horrendous CGI

The biggest gripe I have with this movie is the horrendous CGI. It’s so noticeably fake and so noticeably bad.

But I don’t quite understand why, there were MCU films before this that had an equal amount of CGI that looked much better. How do you allow a prequel to have better CGI than the sequel.

The final battle between Thor and Malekith has legitimately terrible CGI. It almost just makes the film feel corny.

A Universally Flat Villain

Another clear issue that I think is a sentiment that is universally accepted is that Malekith is a terrible villain.

I have never heard one person, since the release of this movie, claim that Malekith was a solid villain. Nothing about him was compelling, he seemed very weak at times, and his backstory felt so bland and overdone.

We have enough villains in the MCU who became villains after their homeland was destroyed or taken away from them… Come up with something else.

Finding the Positives

The positives of this film are similar to the positives of the original Thor film:

• Great love interest

• It has Loki so I’m automatically going to at least consider it a rewatchable movie

• It has some good comedy

The film does have a level of importance because we are first introduced to the Reality Stone in this film, which obviously become very important the closer we get to Infinity War. Another very important thing that happens in this movie is the death of Thor and Loki’s mother, which shapes a lot of their future as characters.

The Box Office Reality

But, despite the movie’s mediocrity, it was still a clear box office success. This was at a time in Marvel’s history where it didn’t matter how good or bad the movie was, people were going to pack the theater to watch. This was an incredibly fun time to be a Marvel fan.

With a budget of $150-$170 million, the film grossed $644.8 million worldwide. A great success despite its 66% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. A mediocre Marvel movie is still always going to bring in numbers.

Over to You

Let me know what you think about this movie in the comments!

Rating: 4.5/10

In the wise words of Steve Rogers: no, I’m kidding! But seriously, this entire article is going to be strictly my personal opinion, and probably some controversial opinions as well. This list features my total personal favorites and my own personal top 10.

I was very specific with the wording of “projects” and not “movies” because I wanted to include shows in this list as well. I would love to hear your thoughts and your own rankings in the comments. Bear with me, I know this is a controversial ride!

Honorable Mention: Thor

Literally fight me on this one. As I stated in my review of the film, I truly don’t understand the hate that this movie receives. It is one of those rare films that gets better every single time I watch it.

It checks every single box I want for an MCU movie:

• Fantastic casting across the board

• Great action sequences that hold up

• A compelling storyline from start to finish

• An A+ villain with Loki

• A good love interest dynamic

• Genuine comedy that is actually funny

Sadly, there are 10 projects that are frankly just better, but that doesn’t mean this still isn’t a fantastic movie.

Honorable Mention: Black Panther

I know it is highly controversial to leave this out of the top 10. To be honest, I think its placement was completely self-inflicted due to oversaturation. I watched this movie what felt like a billion times when it first came out because I loved it so much.

The late, great Chadwick Boseman was incredible in this film. Additionally, the villain is exceptionally strong; Killmonger’s backstory is deeply interesting, from his father dying to becoming a decorated military veteran driven by a desire to rule Wakanda.

The best part about this movie, in my opinion, is the action. The choreography and scale are absolutely breathtaking. A few standout moments include:

• The high-octane car chase scene

• The intense first fight with Killmonger at Warrior Falls

• The final subterranean battle between Black Panther and Killmonger

But just like Thor, as controversial as it may be, there are just 10 projects that edge it out.

10. Thor: Ragnarok

I actually had no idea that this movie split opinions. For years, I honestly thought that pretty much everyone loved this movie as much as I did, but there are genuine haters out there. Crazy!

This movie hits the sweet spot for comedy:

• Thor: The Dark World had way too little humor.

• Thor: Love and Thunder was just obnoxious with its jokes.

• Thor: Ragnarok gets it just right—it is hilarious without crossing the line into ridiculousness.

The addition of Hulk and the Planet Hulk storyline on Sakaar gave us an awesome, gladiator-style fight between Thor and Hulk. The banter between them was incredibly fun. Plus, having Loki here automatically makes it a must-watch for me. The family connection with the villain, Hela, made the stakes incredibly interesting (not to mention Cate Blanchett is a fantastic actress). At the end of the day, it’s a movie with Thor, Hulk, and Loki... I am bound to love it.

9. Avengers: Age of Ultron

Once again, here is another movie I had no clue had detractors. Not only is this a great film, but it is also highly critical to the overall MCU timeline.

Think about everything it set up:

• Introduced Vision and Wanda Maximoff to the team

• Alerted the earthly heroes to the Infinity Stones after Thor’s vision in the Water of Sights

• Ignited the events that directly led to the Sokovia Accords

• Sent Hulk into space, directly setting up Ragnarok

I personally think Ultron was an awesome villain. He was complex and highly intelligent, yet somehow still funny—which is the ultimate recipe for a great antagonist. This movie was pure spectacle, and I am a massive sucker for spectacle. Avengers releases are “you had to be there” cinematic events. Spoiler alert: every single Avengers movie is on this list. Fight me!

8. Captain America: The First Avenger

This pick has an even deeper level of bias than the rest for the simple fact that Captain America is my second favorite character in the entire MCU. This is my absolute favorite individual origin story in Marvel history.

As I noted in my review, I love movies that blur the line between reality and fiction. Taking a fictional universe and weaving it directly into the events of World War II is brilliant.

This movie delivers so many iconic, memorable moments:

• The origin of the line: “I can do this all day.”

• The physical and emotional transformation Steve Rogers undergoes.

• His heartbreaking sacrifice at the end of the film.

• The final, tragic conversation between Steve and Peggy while he “puts her in the water.”

• That incredible post-credits scene.

Red Skull is also an awesome villain; his first face reveal inside the burning Hydra facility was insane. Steve Rogers is amazing, this movie is amazing, and you’re not allowed to disagree.

7. Daredevil: Born Again (Both Seasons)

The first of two television shows on this list, Daredevil is incredible—literally flawless in my opinion. I can think of very few times I have had as much pure fun watching Marvel content. It grabs your attention from the very first episode and never lets go.

To give a little context, I actually went into Daredevil having never watched the original series and knowing absolutely nothing about the character. I didn’t even know he was blind! Such a casual, I know. But this show delivered everything I could have hoped for. The combination of superhero, detective, and lawyer dynamics makes him one of the most interesting characters in the MCU. And did I mention he’s blind?! So insane!

On top of a spectacular hero, you have one of the greatest villains ever in Wilson Fisk’s Kingpin. Vincent D’Onofrio deserves every acting award known to man for this performance. He flawlessly portrays a wide array of heavy emotions:

• A villain who presents himself as a good guy

• A man barely keeping it together before going completely unhinged

• The deep grief of losing his wife

This series is spectacular, and it completely redefined what Marvel TV could be.

6. The Avengers

The OG Avengers movie is pure joy. I will never forget being eight years old when my grandpa took me to see it. I had never been so excited for a movie in my entire life. Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and Hulk all sharing the screen was the original Marvel spectacle, and it completely holds up.

Seeing our favorite heroes interact for the first time and watching the Battle of New York unfold is amazing. It also serves as a vital foundation for Avengers: Endgame.

The action set pieces throughout are phenomenal:

• The initial clash between Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man when they first meet

• The chaotic Helicarrier battles featuring Thor vs. Hulk and Cap fighting Loki’s mind-controlled men

• The legendary final stand in New York City

The first Avengers film will always hold a special place in my heart, and it should in yours, too.

5. Guardians of the Galaxy

Can you honestly think of a movie that is more pure fun than Guardians of the Galaxy? The vibrant colors, the incredible soundtrack, and the brilliant comedy changed the game.

This movie vastly expanded the boundaries of what a superhero film could be. Because of that, it was a massive gamble for Marvel and director James Gunn. Before this, superhero movies didn’t really use bright color palettes, licensed pop music, or focus on a team that virtually no mainstream audience had ever heard of. But boy, did they deliver.

The movie is incredibly entertaining, the action and CGI are spectacular, the story is compelling, and it is absolutely hilarious. Something about this film that I think is so amazing is that the villain is weak. Ronan the Accuser is not a strong villain in my opinion, but the movie is so good that it almost doesn’t even matter. I almost just view Thanos as the true villain of the movie anyway! Nevertheless, the film provided an incredible origin for all of the Guardians and really opened up the cosmic aspect of the MCU.

4. Loki (Both Seasons)

This show is simply spectacular, and all of you know it. I completely reject the notion that the first season is mediocre and the second season is great. They’re both fantastic!

Similar to Daredevil, Loki completely grabbed my attention from the very first episode. Watching the internal struggle between good and evil in Loki’s mind is awesome. We see him immediately after taking the Tesseract in Avengers: Endgame and showing up in the TVA, and then we watch him turn into not only a hero, but the MCU’s greatest hero. It was an experience like no other.

Loki literally sacrificed himself to sustain the entire multiverse. Every single Marvel universe would be destroyed if it wasn’t for him. It is a hopeless argument to say that Loki isn’t officially Marvel’s ultimate hero.

A few things that made this show a masterpiece:

• The addition of Owen Wilson as Mobius: His character brought a wonderful sense of stability and banter to the show.

• The introduction of He Who Remains: The buildup to getting to him makes you expect a daunting, terrifying villain. Instead, in the season one finale, he is calm, unfazed, and funny—yet it is made crystal clear just how much raw power he possesses.

The show is engaging every single episode, it’s funny, and it’s just pure fun. I literally can’t wait to see Loki in upcoming crossover events! I’m not going to lie, I think they might kill off Loki again... but I’m incredibly excited to see him back on the big screen.

3. Avengers: Endgame

No, I don’t have this film at number one like most people do. But make no mistake: this movie is spectacular, breathtaking even. I have never—and maybe will never—have another theater experience like seeing this movie on opening weekend. The cheers, the tears, and the realization of all those years of buildup made it truly special.

The “on your left” scene with the portals opening up remains one of the greatest moments not just in MCU history, but in cinema history. Watching all the heroes go back in time was not only awesome, it was deeply nostalgic.

The character arcs wrapped up beautifully:

• Tony Stark interacting with his father, Howard: One of the best, most quiet scenes in the entire franchise.

• The emotional conclusion for Iron Man: A heartbreaking but perfect end.

• The emotional farewell for Steve Rogers: Giving him the life he always earned.

This movie was the culmination of a massive saga that started all the way back in 2008 when some of us were just kids. We grew up watching these films, and this was the grand finale. It was a spectacular spectacle, and the emotional connections we built over the years felt so palpable here. Leaving the theater after seeing this movie was a genuine emotional experience. That is the true sign of great filmmaking.

2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

The Russo Brothers absolutely crushed it with this installment. This movie easily boasts the best action in the entire MCU. Every single fight scene is choreographed to absolute perfection. The gunfights, the explosions, the raw hand-to-hand combat—it is all incredible.

The narrative twists keep you on the edge of your seat:

• The reveal of The Winter Soldier: Finding out he was Bucky Barnes all along was insane.

• The collapse of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The revelation that Hydra had been infiltrating the organization for decades changed everything.

• The debut of Sam Wilson’s Falcon: A cool, perfect introduction for a foundational character.

But mainly, it just comes down to the out-of-this-world action set pieces. The high-stakes car chase with Nick Fury, the highway brawl between Steve, Sam, Natasha, and Bucky, and the final emotional showdown between Captain America and Bucky are all top-tier.

The emotional core is what anchors it: Steve is completely torn between wanting to stop Bucky because he’s doing horrible things, and wanting to protect him because he’s his childhood best friend. It is a complex movie in the best of ways. Most people I talk to have this in their top three, so if you don’t... what are you doing?

1. Avengers: Infinity War

And last but not least, Infinity War. This movie literally doesn’t contain a single bad scene. From start to finish, the entire 2 hours and 29 minutes is the best runtime that Marvel has ever produced.

We finally see Thanos unleash his power after a decade-long buildup, and it marks the first time we see the entire MCU roster sharing the screen together rather than just the core Avengers. The Battle of Wakanda is easily the second-best battle in MCU history. Watching Thanos actually win at the end and make half the universe disappear was a stunning, jaw-dropping moment to experience in a theater.

Every single ounce of dialogue is spectacular, and seeing these distinct corners of the universe collide was mind-blowing:

• Tony Stark and Doctor Strange clashing egos

• Spider-Man and Peter Quill trading barbs

• Steve Rogers and Groot introducing themselves mid-battle

The film is packed with incredible, distinct battle sequences. You have the initial New York street fight with Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Doctor Strange against Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian. Then, the intense ambush in Scotland where Captain America, Falcon, and Black Widow rescue Wanda and Vision. And, of course, the brutal Battle of Titan on Thanos’ ruined home world.

Every single conflict in this movie went way beyond what I thought Marvel was capable of achieving. It is a flawless ride, and in my opinion, the absolute peak of the MCU!

Thank you for reading! Let me know your thoughts on my list, and please share your own top 10 MCU projects in the comments below!

The Savior Who Walked Before Us

The human brain has never—and will never—experience something that our Savior has not already mentally experienced before us. He felt it all: sorrow, pain, betrayal, temptation, happiness, excitement, and even anger. There is no corner of the human experience unfamiliar to Him.

On top of this truth, our God is an omnipresent God. He exists completely outside of space and time, meaning He is in all times at all times.

Comfort in the Omnipresence of God

What does this mean for us? It can mean a multitude of things, but what I take away from it the most is profound comfort.

Because God is omnipresent, He has not only ordained all of my trials and bad days, but He is actively in those days with my future self at this very moment. Scripture anchors this truth for us in Hebrews 13:5-6:

“... ‘I will never leave or forsake you.’ So you can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’”

God will always be with us. He is existing in my past, He is with me right now in the present, and He is already with me in my future. This means that God is currently standing beside the hospital bed during the day I was born. He is currently standing at my death bed on the day that I will die. And He is currently embracing me on the day I reach Glory. Yet He’s doing all of that simultaneously in this very moment!

Pressing Onward

So, what shall we fear if we know our God will never leave us? Nothing! Our God will sustain His elect, His bride, His beloved children, until the very end.

Because of this, we die to ourselves daily. We pick up our cross daily. We continue our journey toward our hope, toward our eternity, toward our Savior, and toward our Creator.

Along this journey, He calls out to us. We hear and follow the voice of our Shepherd through His perfect Word. Christ carried His cross to Calvary so that you can carry yours to Paradise. What a beautiful, completely undeserved blessing.

So, press on! Though the journey is long, Yahweh is with you every single step of the way.

Iron Man 3, in my opinion, is clearly the worst of the 3 Iron Man films. The plot is a bit messy, the villain is weak, a lot of the dialogue comes across as somewhat pointless, and we really don’t get almost any actual Iron Man in the film.

A Chaotic Plot and Too Much Melodrama

For starters, the plot is a bit chaotic. Watching Tony Stark go through yet another mid-life crisis feels a bit repetitive. His relationship with Pepper being in a really bad spot, but also her always being understanding, gets a little confusing.

Tony experiencing the panic attacks is an interesting twist on a hero that I don’t mind, but it’s just another point of chaos. I think it’s a real and raw thing to show and prove that heroes are still just people at the end of the day with regular people’s problems; it was cool to see. But again, it’s just another point of chaos.

Aldrich Killian seemingly being in love with Pepper at one point, and then seemingly trying to kill her soon after—I could go on. It’s just a bit of an all-over-the-place movie.

The Problem with Aldrich Killian (and The Mandarin Fiasco)

As I mentioned before, I think the villain of Aldrich Killian just isn’t a very gripping villain. On top of the whole Trevor Slattery “The Mandarin” fiasco, it’s just not too compelling (although I love Trevor Slattery’s character).

Killian’s backstory is just corny to me. He was a total nerd, was treated poorly, and developed something that made him indestructible basically; his character just wasn’t handled very well to me.

Where is the Suit? The 4-Minute Problem

Possibly my biggest gripe with this movie is that we barely get any actual Iron Man at all.

• The total runtime: 130 minutes and 22 seconds

• Tony in the actual armor: 4 minutes and 20 seconds

Unacceptable. I love Tony Stark—he’s the best part of this movie—and although I understand there are holes in this argument, ultimately it’s an Iron Man movie, not a Tony Stark movie.

RDJ: The Shining Beacon of the Film

Of course, the shining beacon of this movie is Robert Downey Jr. He’s the best part of every Marvel film he’s been a part of. He is just so perfect in every category of acting the role of Tony Stark and Iron Man.

His comedic timing is perfect, his acting out the actual panic attack scenes is incredible and spot-on, and all his dialogue with Harley is hilarious.

The Final Verdict: Success by the Numbers, But Still Flawed

But ultimately, it comes down to the numbers, and the reality is that this movie was a huge success and pretty well received by critics and the audience alike.

• The Budget: $200 million

• The Global Box Office: $1.2 billion worldwide (a massive success)

• Rotten Tomatoes Critics Score: 79% approval

• Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 78% approval

Those scores are pretty dang good. Most people like this movie; I’m a bit lower on it and think it has problems. But it has Robert Downey Jr., so it’s not a bad watch at all necessarily.

Rating: 5/10

The Golden Crown of Phase One

And of course, last but not least… The golden crown of Phase One.

The Avengers was one of the biggest movie spectacles of all time. I will never forget being eight years old walking into a theater to see a movie with Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, and Captain America. I couldn’t believe it. And the movie beyond delivered.

Seeing all of our favorite heroes on the big screen was already more than enough. But then tack on:

• A perfect villain in Loki

• Fantastic pacing

• Lasting comedy

• The pure spectacle of the film itself

It makes it easily a top 10 MCU film.

The Proof is in the Numbers

As usual, the proof is in the numbers. With a budget of around $225 million, the movie grossed $1.5 billion worldwide at the box office.

At the time of its release, it was the third highest-grossing film ever and broke the record (at the time) for the highest-grossing opening weekend of all time at $207.4 million. The movie was unlike anything anyone had ever seen at the time.

Chemistry from the Jump

Something about all the Avengers films, but this one in particular because it was the first, is the chemistry that all the cast had seemingly off the jump. All the actors and actresses just flowed perfectly right from the start.

The physical fight scenes, the arguing scenes, the “assembling” scenes, the banter, the joking—they all just really seemed like it hit it off perfectly from the start and it showed in the best possible way.

The Brilliance of New York

I think it would be impossible to talk about The Avengers without touching on the brilliance of the final New York battle scenes. It was simply stunning. It also really set the trajectory for all the characters moving forward. Each of them already had their own origin stories and movies, but they all become something more when they’re together.

During that final portion of the movie, you see all of their roles defined:

• Captain America takes the lead at one point giving everyone jobs and tasks to do to defeat Loki. And he consistently keeps that theme throughout all the Avengers films; he’s the spoken leader.

• Iron Man is really the brains behind the entire operation; he is usually the one who comes up with the ideas that defeat the enemy. He came up with the idea to fly the nuke that was headed for NY, he came up with the idea to blow up Sokovia in mid-air to keep it from hitting the ground, etc. Iron Man was always the brains behind the entire Avengers Initiative.

• Thor is the power behind the Avengers; he is the most powerful Avenger in my opinion. But when you see the sheer volume of people that Thor is able to take out just on his own, it shows that he is the power behind the Avengers.

• Black Widow represents the stealth, espionage, and heart of the team. She grounds the massive, cosmic stakes of the battle by closing the portal manually and keeping her wits about her while literal gods fight around her.

• Hawkeye provides the tactical, birds-eye view for the entire squad. From the top of a skyscraper, he acts as the ultimate lookout and anchor, proving that even a regular guy with a bow and arrow belongs on a team of superheroes.

• And of course, “Hulk… Smash.” That’s his role, just take out everyone with reckless intentions.

The Perfect Villain

As I’ve stated in my article about Thor, Loki is my favorite MCU character ever, and he elevates this movie to a different level.

He is the most complex antagonist and protagonist all wrapped up into one person. He has one of, if not the most interesting origin story of any MCU character; he was the perfect villain for the first ever Avengers film.

Masterclass Post-Credit Marvel Architecture

We also can’t talk about this movie without highlighting how it perfected the MCU post-credits tradition. It gave us the legendary dual-credit format that kept audiences glued to their theater seats.

First, the mid-credits scene shook the comic book world by pulling back the curtain on Thanos for the first time, setting up a massive ten-year arc. Then, the actual post-credits scene gave us the hilariously silent Shawarma scene, proving that even after saving the world, Marvel wasn’t afraid to let these larger-than-life heroes just sit down, exhausted, and act like regular people.

Entering a New Stratosphere

All the previous MCU movies were massive, but this film sent them into a different stratosphere. It completely changed the landscape of modern cinema, proving that the “shared universe” model wasn’t just a gimmick—it was the future of Hollywood storytelling.

People have always and will always love this movie and I can’t speak highly enough about it. I think it’s a top 2 Avengers films and a top 10 MCU film in general.

This movie is about as clear a 10 as you can get!

Rating: 10/10

Another gem from Phase One. Captain America: The First Avenger is a fantastic origin movie. Also, an incredibly important movie to the MCU as a whole. This movie deserves a ton of respect for its complexity, longevity, and futuristic mindset.

The Foundation of the Future MCU

For starters, there are multiple future MCU projects that stem directly from this film. This is the first time we’re introduced to HYDRA, which obviously leads into The Avengers and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. It’s the first time we’re truly introduced to the Tesseract (we see it in the post credit scene of Thor, but I don’t really count that), which is one of the main focal points of The Avengers and also shows up again in Avengers: Endgame. And it’s the first time we’re introduced to Red Skull, who appears again in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.

Blending Fiction with Historical Reality

This movie is a personal favorite of mine for a few reasons, with the main reason probably being because I love movies that have hints of reality inside of a fictional world. This movie obviously takes place during World War 2 (1939-1945), and the movie is based in the years 1942-1945. The movie obviously focuses heavier on HYDRA than the Nazi regime, but they are mentioned a number of times. The World War itself is mentioned, and real historical events are mentioned. I love when movies such as this take a fictional world but apply real world events.

Brilliant Phase One Casting

Just like almost all of the other movies in Phase One, this movie has absolutely brilliant casting. Can you even imagine anyone other than Chris Evans playing Captain America and Steve Rogers? Of course you can’t! Hayley Atwell is perfect in the role of Peggy Carter; she is an actor with strong presence and plays the role of the independent agent very well. Tommy Lee Jones was practically made to play a military colonel, his distinctive voice, and quick wittedness make him excellent for the role of Colonel Phillips. And Hugo Weaving fit the role of Red Skull beautifully; his voice, his calm nature that came across as so sinister, he was perfect.

Introducing the World to the Unknown

Marvel just did such an amazing job during this time introducing the world to less known characters and making us all fall in love with them. The average everyday person had no idea who Captain America was pre-MCU movies. But they did such an outstanding job with all of these origin movies (besides The Incredible Hulk of course, that movie is beyond bad) that nowadays you would be hard pressed to find anyone who doesn’t know who Captain America is. You can think whatever you want about the MCU but you absolutely have to give them props for that.

Box Office vs. Lasting Legacy

This film actually wasn’t a massive box office success. With a budget of $140 million it produced $370.6 million worldwide in the box office; which isn’t bad by any means but is low enough for it to be the second lowest grossing movie in Phase One. And what was lower than that you might ask? Well, the “Incredible” Hulk of course. Legitimately one of the worst movies ever made. But this doesn’t make The First Avenger bad by any means, it’s a movie that’s just gotten better over time in my opinion. Aged like fine wine.

Rating: 8/10

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Breathtaking Action vs. Frustrating Relationships

Spider-Man: Brand New Day was without question the most excited I’ve been walking into a movie theater to see a Spider-Man movie. The trailers left almost nothing to the imagination (which I actually didn’t appreciate), and we went into the movie knowing there was going to be some awesome action and cameos. And there was.

The cameos were great, and the action was probably—in my opinion—the best action we’ve ever gotten in a Spider-Man film. But I had some pretty big issues with certain aspects of this movie.

I will start with some of my negatives so that we can end on a positive note, given that this is the last Marvel content we’ll see before Avengers: Doomsday, and I’d prefer to go into that on a high note.

The Negatives: Broken Promises and Out-of-Place Villains

First off, call me whatever you want, but I’m a sucker for a happy ending with a good couple. You definitely don’t get that in this movie. There’s no closure with Peter and MJ’s relationship; in fact, I left the theater even more confused than when I walked in.

You end Spider-Man: No Way Home with the hard reality that MJ and Ned (along with literally the rest of the world) don’t know who Peter Parker is. MJ makes Peter promise that he will find her and explain everything. Then the movie ends with Peter walking into the coffee shop where MJ works, ordering a coffee, starts to introduce himself, says he doesn’t need anything else, smiles, and the movie ends.

Now, mind you, No Way Home came out in 2021—that was 5 years ago! We have been patiently waiting for 5 years for Marvel and Sony to explain to us how Peter is going to make MJ and Ned remember him. Then this movie finally gets announced and I begin to get excited because we’re finally going to see Peter make his girlfriend and best friend remember him.

But nope! We don’t get that in this movie at all. In fact, we get MJ literally saying, “I don’t love you.” You can call it childish or whatever you’d like, but I want the happy ending, I want the lovers reunited, and I want the friends to be together again. And Marvel didn’t give me that in this movie, and it bothers me.

The second issue I have with the movie is the villain. Spider-Man has (in my opinion) the second-best catalog of villains in all of superhero history, behind only Batman. So why is it that Spider-Man has all of these amazing villains that we’ve never even seen on screen before (Mister Negative, Hammerhead, Hobgoblin, etc.), yet we somehow landed on Jean Grey? How did we land on an X-Men villain for a Spider-Man movie? So, with the large quantity of other potential villains, I was pretty disappointed with Jean Grey.

The third and final issue I have with this movie is the ending resolution between Peter and Jean. I just don’t buy it. Jean does some downright sinister things in this movie. She mind-controls an elderly woman to operate a tank and kill people, she walks another elderly man into ongoing traffic, and the rooftop scene where she inhabits MJ’s body and gives Peter hope that MJ remembers him and kisses him is completely unforgivable in my opinion.

And in the end, he defeats her with the power of friendship? Get that outta here! I understand her sister died and that’s very sad, but that doesn’t mean you can do all these terrible things and just be forgiven because of your trauma. And although I think Sadie Sink did a fantastic job playing the role of Jean Grey, I personally still would’ve actually rather seen a Spider-Man villain in a Spider-Man movie.

The Positives: Breathtaking Action and Perfect Cameos

Now onto the positives. For starters, as I’ve already stated, the action in this movie is quite honestly breathtaking. The Hulk fight scene, the Scorpion fight, and the final fight scene with The Hand was literally stunning—it was so awesome. All of the action scenes were shot so well, and the camera angles were amazing.

Given the context of the movie with Peter’s already spidey senses becoming even more heightened, it would make sense that the action should be even that much better than it usually already is. And boy, did they deliver.

Also, as I mentioned before, the cameos were really fun. Obviously, with the most notable being Bruce Banner returning as Hulk, Frank Castle returning as the Punisher, and Yelena Belova returning as Black Widow. They all were great in their own ways.

• The Hulk: We got to see all three iterations of Bruce Banner, which I thought was pretty cool. We see him as normal Bruce Banner while he’s professoring at Empire State University, we see him as Smart Hulk while Jean Grey is mind-controlling him, and then we see Savage Hulk take over. And like I’ve already said, the fight between Spider-Man and Savage Hulk was incredible.

• The Punisher: Frank is his normal self as the Punisher, and he delivers as he usually does with brute honesty, colorful language, and compelling speeches. Jon Bernthal shines in this role; he’s perfect for it.

• Black Widow: And lastly, Yelena Belova, who has the least amount of screen time out of the three but makes every moment she has on screen count. She delivers on a few funny quotes reminding Spider-Man that she deals with important stuff, and he deals with the small stuff. On top of claiming that her office is an indoor public hot tub.

The Post-Credit Scene: Clues for Avengers: Doomsday?

The final thing I want to bring before you in this review is just all the questions that this movie left me with. I walked out of the theater more confused than when I went in, and I haven’t decided yet on if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

But obviously, the movie culminates with the end-credit scene showing Ned’s Spider-Man tracker tracking Spider-Man’s location all the way in space, then the words appear, “Spider-Man will return.”

When those words popped up on the screen, everyone in my theater began cheering and saying, “That means he’s going to be in Doomsday!” Now, that might be true, but I don’t think it’s that simple, and here’s why: Every character-specific trailer that we have seen for Avengers: Doomsday specifically states, “... will return in Avengers: Doomsday.” We see that for Steve Rogers, Thor, the X-Men, the Wakandans, and The Fantastic Four. But Spider-Man’s says nothing about “returning in Avengers: Doomsday.” It just says “... will return.”

Now, Spider-Man might be in Doomsday for all we know, I just thought that was an interesting detail that might not make it as simple as some people are making it out to be.

Final Questions:

• Does Ned actually remember who Peter is at the end of the movie after the handshake? Or does he just remember that MJ said Spider-Man’s name is Peter?

• Will we see Spider-Man in Doomsday? Or not until Secret Wars?

• What is he doing in space?

• Does Jean Grey, Hulk, or the Punisher show up in Doomsday or Secret Wars?

Final Rating: 7.5/10

I will probably be a lot lower on this movie than most just because I can’t stand what they’ve done with Peter and MJ’s relationship along with Peter and Ned’s relationship.

What is Worship?

Worship has become one of the most hostile and debated topics within the Christian Church over the last 30 years or so. Some people value the experience or feeling, while others value the words in which are being sung, others value the type of instruments that are being used, and others value the way the music speaks to their season of life.

So it begs the question, what is the proper way of worshipping? Who has it right, and who has it wrong?

Redefining Worship Culture

I believe what must be addressed first is that corporate or personal singing is only a form of worship. We live in a church culture today where when I say worship, people’s first thought is singing. And that’s okay, but it’s important for us to understand that singing is one of many forms of worship.

• Reading the Word is worship.

• Sitting under the faithful preaching of the Gospel is worship.

• Prayer (in my opinion) is the highest form of worship.

There are many facets of worship, and singing is one of them, but there are many other facets as well. So what is the singing facet of worship? What is its purpose? And how has God described it in His Word?

Substance vs. Preference

First and foremost, I want to establish that whether or not one’s worship is Biblical or not is not based on the matter of preference but rather should be based on the substance.

Voddie Baucham said in a sermon a number of years ago:

“Now we have adopted what I like to call the affective principle of worship, and the affective principle of worship goes like this, ‘If somebody likes it and it makes them feel close to God it’s good.’ That’s all that’s required. If people are blessed by it, if it’s meaningful to them and if it facilitates an encounter, if it facilitates an experience with God then it is acceptable. And anyone who says otherwise is judgmental and legalistic and mean. And we know the eleventh commandment is ‘Thou shalt be nice.’”

And he was very right. Many people in today’s culture believe that the way one’s heart “feels” trumps what Scripture says.

But before we even get into all of that we must first establish what reformed and charismatic worship are at their core.

Understanding the Two Frameworks

1. Charismatic Worship

Charismatic worship is a style of congregational worship that emphasizes the active, supernatural presence of the Holy Spirit through the expressive physical actions and the use of spiritual gifts. Physical actions are usually expressed in the sense of hand raising, swaying, and bowing. This type of worship commonly involves moments of spontaneous or non-scripted melodies or singing in tongues.

Charismatic is oftentimes a more “cutting edge” worship involving very modern praise and worship songs led by a multi-piece worship band. Songs often have a simple structure and are repeated many times to facilitate a “flow” that can allow space for prayer, prophecy, or people speaking in tongues. Lyrics to songs will often focus on the believer’s personal experience and intimacy with God, sometimes using direct “I/You” language.

2. Reformed Worship

Reformed worship is a style of congregational worship that emphasizes the Word of God and a reverence for His nature and character. Reformed worship is oftentimes structured as a covenantal dialogue - a back and forth conversation where God speaks through His Word and the people respond through song.

The atmosphere is typically characterized by reverence and awe, focusing on the transcendence of God rather than entertainment. Reformed worship often really focuses on the words that are being sung, and focuses on the words lining up with the written Word of Scripture.

Side-by-Side: Charismatic vs. Reformed

So, as you look at the two different styles of modern corporate worship there are lots of glaring differences. (These are generalizations, but oftentimes the case).

• Primary Goal

  • Charismatic: Personal encounter with the Spirit.

  • Reformed: Edification through the Word.

• Music Style

  • Charismatic: Contemporary, band-led, high energy.

  • Reformed: Often traditional, organ/piano or a cappella.

• Song Content

  • Charismatic: Experimental and intimate.

  • Reformed: Scriptural and theological.

• Role of the Spirit

  • Charismatic: Spontaneous prompts, tongues, prophecy.

  • Reformed: Primarily through the illumination of Scripture.

Who is Right and Who is Wrong?

So, this leaves us with the question, who is right and who is wrong? And the answer is yes.

This may be a confusing conclusion, but when broken down (I believe) will bring clarity. I think it’s important to note that in the context of singing worship we need to prioritize the Scripture and the Spirit. Our words must be echoing the principles of Scripture, maybe even echoing the literal words of Scripture. But we also must acknowledge examples we see in Scripture of the manifest presence of God during the singing of songs; that I believe we should desire.

Biblical Precedents of His Presence:

• 2 Chronicles 5:13-14: We see during the dedication of Solomon’s Temple we see that as the musicians and singers lifted their voices in unison with trumpets and cymbals to praise God, the “glory of the Lord” filled the temple in the form of a cloud. The presence was so overwhelming that the priests could not continue their service.

• Acts 16:25-26: While Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God in a dungeon, a violent earthquake suddenly shook the foundations of the prison. This is often cited as a physical manifestation of God’s power and the Spirit’s presence in response to their worship.

• 1 Samuel 16:23: When David played his harp for King Saul, the “evil spirit” would depart and Saul would be refreshed. This suggests that David’s Spirit-anointed music created an atmosphere to drive out spiritual oppression.

• Ephesians 5:18-19: Paul explicitly links being “filled with the Spirit” to the act of singing. He instructs believers to speak to one another in “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs,” indicating that worship is a natural byproduct and evidence of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling presence.

So we see these real life examples in Scripture of God’s manifest presence during the act of singing worship.

But I believe an important detail of all of these stories is that none of them were doing anything external to achieve or receive that manifest presence, they just had the right heart posture. They had a heart posture that was directed towards the Father, a pure desire for the will of their Savior. That’s what dictates real worship from manufactured worship, Spirit filled worship and dead worship.

Where is your heart? Are you just desiring some sort of sign or wonder, or are you just desiring closeness to your Savior. I don’t believe that desiring some sort of sign or wonder is bad by any means but it shouldn’t be the reason or heart posture behind our worship. We should just desire the will of our Father, and leave any and every outcome up to Him.

The Logistics of Worship

From a logistical standpoint this is one of the most debated topics within the Church today.

• Hand raising or no hand raising?

• Standing still or dancing and movement?

• Singing loudly or quietly?

• Focus on being joyful or focus on being serious out of reverence?

I hope to address as many topics as I can think of on the logistical side and provide a few quick and clear thoughts. But ultimately the entire basis of everything in a singing state of worship should be ‘What is your heart posture?’

Hand raising or no hand raising?

This is probably the most commonly discussed logistical operation of corporate singing. And like the answer to many of these questions will be, it’s ‘What is your heart posture?’

We know for a fact that the literal act of raising one’s hands during singing or praise is not in any way sinful or bad, but the heart posture behind the act can be misinformed or deceived and can possibly even be intentionally misleading.

Psalms 134:1-3 says:

“Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, who stand by night in the house of the LORD! Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the LORD! May the LORD bless you from Zion, he who made heaven and earth!”

God through David clearly states here that the lifting of hands is permissible and acceptable unto the Lord. The point is where our heart is. Are we lifting our hands to fit in with others? Are we lifting our hands to come across as uber spiritual? Are we lifting our hands with the hope of people noticing? Ultimately we can’t determine the heart posture of anyone but ourselves, so these are questions that truthfully only we as individuals can answer.

I think it’s important to note that we need to strive to live a life of worship unto the Lord, because the way in which you live your life can validate or invalidate the genuineness of your worship. But still, no one can determine that but ourselves in our own life.

Amos 5:23-24 says:

“Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

The context of Amos 5 is that the Israelites continued their religious rituals and festivals (at sites like Bethel and Gilgal), but God rejected this worship because it was divorced from righteous living and social concern. So worship with lifted hands but no righteous living is an affront to our God.

The lifting of hands is not something that should be judged by others, or ever be told not to do. But it is of the utmost importance that our heart posture be in the right place and that we are doing our absolute best to have our lives reflecting the life of Christ, and that we have a life marked by repentance. The lifting of hands can be a beautiful depiction of surrender, exaltation, and of praise to God. And we need to be active in resisting any sort of judgment in our hearts, and should be doing everything in our power to be encouraging one another in our walk to live out a faithful life unto the Lord.

What Kinds of Songs Should We Sing?

The content of the worship we sing is of vital importance. The songs in which we sing must be filled with truth; Truth about the character and nature of God, truth about our desperate need for a Savior, truth about Scripture, etc. The theology behind our worship must be ruthlessly Biblical. We must strive daily for all the words that come out of our mouth (whether it be in day to day conversation or in a state of worship) to echo the truths of Scripture.

Christ says in John 4:23-24:

“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

This should be the basis of all of our worship; we do our absolute best to adhere to the words of scripture (truth), and worship from a place of outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This can get muddy when it comes to different people’s interpretation of Scripture, but I think as long as nothing broaches heresy we need to have grace. But in order to have our worship be pleasing to God, we need to do our best (we’ll never be perfect) to have our worship be accurate to Scripture.

Songs about any measure of our own strength, worth, or value aren’t necessarily bad, but I think we need to be focusing most of our “worship attention” on Christ, His work on the cross, our desperate need for a Savior. That (I personally believe) will produce the most fruit in our lives.

But I believe that there are many songs that can be of significant benefit to us in our own personal spiritual walks that aren’t necessarily “church songs.” And that’s okay and acceptable! There are many songs that are “Christ through me” type songs that are amazingly helpful and encouraging, and we need to have space for those forms of worship in settings such as worship centered events, our own personal walking with Christ, or prayer meetings. The content of the songs we sing is very important and shouldn’t go unchecked, but we need to acknowledge there is a place and a time for certain types of songs, and that’s okay.

Men in Worship

This might be the topic of the entire discussion I’m most passionate about.

Men… What the heck are we doing?

We as men need to be more active in our atmospheres of worship. We are called to be the leaders of our homes. Your wives and your children watch you, if you’re not truly worshipping odds are they probably won’t either. You want your sons to grow up to be faithful men of God who are leaders of their own homes? Let them see you worshipping the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. First and foremost let them see it in the way you live your life, but also importantly let them see you worshiping with song.

And likewise, men, do you want your daughters to grow up and know what to look for in a faithful man of God? Worship, let them see you be faithful in your worship, let them see you be emotional and vulnerable before the Lord (if He moves on you in that way, which He probably will at some point).

But just like I said with the boys, first and foremost they need to see it in the way you live your day to day life. They need to see you be a faithful man of God on a random Wednesday after a long, hard day of work, yet you still come home and make time for them, love on them, and teach them in the ways of the faith. Then let them see stoic, unshakable dad break during Sunday morning worship in awe of his Father.

And teach them! Answer questions that aren’t being asked out loud, talk about things you yourself are working through, explain your emotions when they come out in front of them so that they know that the House of the Lord is a place to be open, to be vulnerable, to be emotional, and to come to the Father with all that we have.

I completely reject the notion that emotions always equate to weakness. As men we are called to be steadfast, and in some cases stoic, leaders are meant to be stoic, seemingly unshakable, but when we are before our Father especially in a state of worship, I believe being emotional is one of the most manly things you can be in that moment.

So men, invite your family into worship settings, encourage worship settings, show them an example to look to of a life of worship, be emotional, be vulnerable, teach and shepherd your flock that God has given you, and rise up. We know that the devil “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” So we know that he’s coming for your family, he’s coming for your wife and he’s coming for your children. And one of the most powerful ways to defend against that is with worship.

Worship is war. Quit letting your wife be the only one who’s putting on her armor. Man up and go to war for your family, men of God.

Lights, Camera, Action?

Another often debated topic is the glitz and glamor (if you will) of some modern day worship. Lights, cameras, fog.

Some argue that it’s giving God our best. Others argue it’s putting the focus on something outside of God. The answer to this argument I think is pretty simple compared to the others. What’s the main focus? And of course the overarching theme, where’s your heart?

Can lights, cameras, fog machines, and emotional moments become the main focus in some settings? YES! Is that acceptable? NO! Does that become the main focus in every single setting where there are lights, cameras, etc.? NO!

We as the people of God desperately need to ramp up our discernment. When you go into a setting with all of these external things, search the interior, seek the heart of God, discern the posture of the atmosphere. Is it reverent or is it man centered. Just use your discernment. Lights aren’t bad, fog isn’t bad, cameras aren’t bad. Are they necessary? No, not at all. But that doesn’t make them bad, as long as they don’t become the main focus.

When people are describing the worship to others their first statement shouldn’t be, “The worship is so dynamic, they have amazing voices, the bass is great, the lights are cool, and they have this cool fog thing.” The goal should be that when people are describing our worship to others they say, “Man they worship with a heart posture that is directed only towards Christ and His Spirit. They worship in such a way that makes the manifest presence of our God so palpable that you almost feel like you could touch Him.”

Our worship needs to be focused on the internal hearts of God’s people, and not the external “sprinkles” that we can tack on to make it a cool experience. But, at the end of the day there is nothing inherently wrong with external things at all, as long as they never become the main focus.

Should worship be more about the glory of God, or more about what God has done in our life?

This topic has three main central questions, with all three combining together to give the full answer.

1. What’s the difference between praise and worship?

2. Is one more important than the other?

3. Should one be more prevalent than the other in a church setting?

1. The Distinction

The main difference between praise and worship is that praise is giving God glory for what He has done (on the cross, in your personal life, etc.), while worship is giving God glory for the mere fact of who He is.

2. Biblical Command and Importance

Both are commanded in Scripture on numerous occasions.

• Psalms 150:6 says, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!”

• 1 Chronicles 16:9 commands, “Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell all of his wondrous works.”

• Romans 15:11 targets all people with Paul saying, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let the people extol him.”

• Psalms 148:2 instructs the spiritual realm, “Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his heavenly hosts!”

There are also many passages that command worship, such as:

• Psalms 95:6 which says, “Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel down before the Lord, our Maker!”

• Psalms 29:2 says, “Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.”

• Matthew 4:10, during Christ’s temptation, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy to issue a precise mandate: “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.”

• Exodus 34:14 formats the instruction as a warning: “You shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”

So, we clearly see that both are commanded in Scripture. An important distinction to make is that praise (can sometimes depending on the person) be viewed as situational, while worship isn’t a matter of circumstance. For some, they only praise when something “good” happens to them, when the reality is we should praise God for the mere breath in our lungs. While worship can’t be linked to a specific circumstance, since it is just glorifying God for who He is as our creator, sustainer, etc.

So, is one more important than the other? I believe so. Based on the clear fact that worship is a lifestyle, worship is defined by the way you live your life, your life has to validate your worship. While praise (which is still incredibly important) is an expression with words, while worship is proven in action.

3. Prevalence in the Church

The discussion on should one be more prevalent in the church is an interesting one. I think the more I dwell on it the more I realize that praise and worship need to coexist in the church.

But a very important distinction to make is that the praise should still be Christ centered. I think JSON centered? No, I think oftentimes we find a way to make praise more centered around our blessings instead of being centered around the one who gave the blessings. Worship is to be done from a place of awe, and praise is supposed to be the same. So, when done correctly they must coexist.

Children in Worship

This is actually a topic that I think requires much more thought than it seems to be given. It is a strong conviction of mine that children ages five and above should be in the main singing worship section of a church service.

It is vitally important for children to see their parents worshipping the Lord together, and I believe it does the children a huge disservice to put them in a classroom while mom and dad go before the Throne. Let your kids see that! Encourage your children to participate!

I think as parents, one of the best gifts you can give your children is letting them see you truly worship the Lord in song. And then as they watch, you cultivate any righteous curiosity they have. Answer all their questions to the best of your ability, show them Scripture, and encourage them. Bring your kids into worship!

Order or Freedom?

This is one of the central joys and confusions of this debate in my opinion. One can’t deny the Bible’s clear position on order in worship, but what does order look like outside of the clear examples given to us in 1 Corinthians 14:26-40.

For some people it’s hard to draw the line on order and chaos. Some people are staunch, others are more “open minded.”

• Order: I think the first thing that needs to be stated is that “order” isn’t bad, it’s actually really good. We as humans (because of our sin) oftentimes see “order” as restriction, and we don’t want restriction. But order is God’s way of protecting us from harm. It’s not restrictive for God to set up the ways in which He does and doesn’t want to be worshipped. Order isn’t religion, it’s protection.

• Freedom: And on the flip side “freedom” in worship can be a good thing, it can also be a really harmful thing too. Freedom in worship in the sense that if someone feels led to raise their hands, they have the freedom to do that, is healthy freedom. Freedom in the sense that someone feels the freedom to run around the sanctuary and roll around on the floor, is harmful freedom.

When done properly, freedom isn’t chaos, its closeness, it’s a beautiful display of individuality within the Body of Christ. But freedom should never be misused or abused.

So, when done properly, order isn’t religion, its protection, and freedom isn’t chaos, it’s closeness.

Conclusion

In conclusion, worship is such a hotly debated topic, and you could spend a lifetime talking about different issues or questions surrounding it, but worship is a gift. We need to be so incredibly Biblical with our worship, but we absolutely must be open to the work of the Holy Spirit.

The fact that it’s become “reformed vs. charismatic” is a shame. God desires unity within the Body of Christ, and we must come together as a people, acknowledge our sore similarities, and operate out of a place of unity.

I hope that this piece encourages you, maybe taught you a little something you didn’t know before, and puts into perspective what worship should be! Our God loves to be worshipped with song; give Him the worship He is owed!

I for the life of me have never understood the Thor hate, I have always really enjoyed this film, and the Thor slander will not be tolerated on this platform. The casting is great, the pacing is good, the comedy is still funny, the villains are fun (especially given the fact that we find out that Loki himself is a descendant of the frost giants). It’s a great movie!

This movie has everything you want in a Marvel film.

For starters, the casting is absolutely brilliant from top to bottom. Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, Idris Elba as Heimdall, the list goes on and on. Every single role is casted to perfection.

Something of vital importance to the success of this movie (in my opinion) is Loki. Loki makes every single MCU project that he has ever been in better. He is probably my favorite character in the entire MCU. And for me personally, knowing what we know now about Loki (after Loki seasons 1 and 2) make everything he’s in even that much better. His character arc that begins in this film is the best character arc in the history of the Marvel franchise.

This obviously was the first time we saw Chris Hemsworth on screen as Thor and he absolutely delivered. He played the role of the arrogant, spoiled, son of the King of Asgard in the first half of the movie. And plays the humble, calm, soon to be king of Asgard during the last half of the movie. The comedy that surrounded Thor being “out of his element” so to speak on Earth was funny. Being in the diner and smashing the coffee mug while yelling “Another!” Walking into the pet store and declaring, “I need a horse!” I mean come on people that’s funny!

And yes, I think the Jane Foster love interest is good, fight me. Natalie Portman does a great job playing the role of an awkward scientist, and her and Thor’s relationship is entertaining. Watching two people from two totally different universes connecting was interesting to see. Their first encounter being Jane hitting Thor with her car is funny. Their relationship does seem to grow a little too quickly for my liking, but nevertheless, I really enjoy the relationship. Now, before you even say anything, yes, I think they completely ruin their relationship by not featuring her in Ragnarok, and they absolutely ruin everything in Thor: Love and Thunder. But that has nothing to do with this film. In this film they’re great together.

As I said initially, I really enjoy the Frost Giants plus Loki villain combo, especially when we find out that Loki is actually the son of King Laufey’s biological son. The history that the Asgardian people have with the Frost Giants is an interesting angle, and Loki aiding them in their desired assassination of Odin is incredibly interesting.

But ultimately, don’t just take my word for it that this is a good movie, I can prove it with numbers. With a budget of $150 million, it grossed $449.3 million at the global box office, over 3 times the budget. That is a huge success. Prove of a good movie!

In conclusion, Thor is a fantastic origin movie. Fight me…

Rating: 7.5/10

Iron Man 2 is a quality movie. Pretty rewatchable, some of the best comedy in the entire MCU, decent action. It’s just that, decent. It has a couple memorable moments and quotes. But nothing too crazy. Just decent (that word will be used a lot in this article so prepare yourself).

I was actually pretty surprised at the somewhat lackluster box office numbers that this film did. The film grossed $623 million worldwide with a budget of $200 million. Making it the 23rd highest grossing MCU movie of all time (out of 37 movies total). I think I had just assumed that the striking success of the first Iron Man would’ve propelled this movie to extremely high box office numbers.

I do believe it is important to note though that this movie was released in 2010 which was a historic year for box office films. Movies the likes of Toy Story 3, Inception, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, and Tangled, just to name a few, all came out in 2010. So, usually when a new Marvel movie (especially at this time) came out, their main competition was outdoing their previous movie. But this year was just an incredible year of movies, which possibly hurt Iron Man 2’s numbers somewhat.

Obviously, the shinning beacon of this film is Robert Downey Jr. (he’s the best part of every Iron Man film). His character arc is a top three arc in the MCU. He’s hilarious in this film, the court room scene is one of my favorite scenes in the entire MCU. “I’ve successfully privatized world peace,” is an all-time film quote in general not just MCU. Almost every single interaction with Tony and Natasha is hilarious, Justin Hammer is hilarious throughout the film with his “Ex-wife” weapon, almost every scene with Happy is funny. It’s a great comedic MCU film.

The movie has a few decent action scenes. I really enjoy the Monaco Racetrack battle, although it is pretty short. This scene in particular has great action, great CGI, of course the explosions are fun, when Ivan Vanko whips the car (that Happy and Pepper are in) in half is awesome, and the suitcase armor suit up with the Mark V is awesome. I’m not super big on the final fight scene, but as I’ve said, it’s decent.

I think a real bright spot on the final battle scene is Black Widow’s hallway scene. It’s the first time we really see Natasha in action in the MCU, and it was sick! Then tack on the comedy of her taking out all these guys in a matter of seconds, while it takes Happy forever to take out one individual guy, and gets super hyped before he realizes how many Natasha took out. Hilarious.

For me personally, I think the real blemish on this movie is the villain. And the sad part is that it wasn’t the acting of Mickey Rourke in the role, because I really enjoyed him, it wasn’t necessarily his villain arc (although I thought they could’ve added more) it was purely the lack of screen time that he has. We only get Ivan for 19 minutes in the film which already too little as it is, but we only get him actually suited up as Whiplash for 5 of the 19 minutes. That is way too little for my liking. That’s my biggest and main gripe with the film.

As I stated in my pervious article about Iron Man, I really enjoy the Pepper Potts love interest. Watching their relationship grow throughout all the movies they’re in (including the Avengers films) might just make them the best love interest in the MCU. Their constant sarcasm and banter is entertaining, it’s endearing, and comes across as very genuine. Their relationship is depicted as real and raw, they have arguments, disagreements, and apologies. But it stays clear throughout all of it that they never stop loving each other, they go through their ups and downs, but ultimately Tony knows and realizes that no one can out up with him the way Pepper can.

Ultimately, the movie is pretty good. Has some great highs and a few lows. It truly is… The definition of decent.

Rating: 6/10

In the Christian worldview, sin against God is more than just doing something wrong. It is rebellion against the sustainer of the universe. It is the most destructive force in the cosmos, the root of every pained heart, every broken family, every pointless war, every heinous genocide. Sin spreads through nations like a malignant cancer, and it ravages through civilizations like a plague.

The effect of sin is cataclysmic. Like taking a sledgehammer to a mirror, sin shatters the image in which man is made.

When Adam sinned the image of God in man was irreparably broken. It could only be repaired by a perfect sacrifice to the almighty God. But we as the human race had nothing of eternal value to offer up to God to suffice and repair what we had done.

So, God the Father in His inconceivable mercy offered up to us, a child. But this was no ordinary child, for He was a foreigner amongst men. Yahweh offered up to us His Son, the God man, in the form of a child the likes of us. This child was to be our savior, our long awaited holy stranger. God had sent this infant savior, His fragile fingers made to heal us, His tender brow prepared for thorn, His tiny heart whose blood would save us. Redemption had come and was amongst us.

God exercised His perfect love towards us in a way we couldn’t even comprehend.

We had burned the bridge that God made between us and Him, out of our own selfish ignorance, yet God was prepared to rebuild it knowing we were incapable of doing so. So, God’s carpenter Son got to work rebuilding God’s holy bridge. Jesus as a holy servant, served us in His acts, His teachings, and eventually served us by purchasing our eternal hope with the payment of His own life.

He took the mirror that we shattered at the beginning of time, and he calmly, courageously, and lovingly began piecing it back together to make it even more beautiful than we could’ve imagined. Because now when we look into that mirror that Jesus repaired thousands of years ago, we no longer see ourselves, we see our Savior Jesus when we look at our reflection.

Jesus knew the cost of repairing our eternal mirror, He knew that picking up the glass pieces of our severed mirror would cut His hands. But He did so joyfully unto His Father. And He now embraces us with His bloody hands, so now all that the Father sees upon us is the blood of His obedient Son. Jesus repaired our mirror; He’s repaired God’s holy bridge between us.

So now, we run towards the bridge that Jesus built leading to our eternal horizon. The Father stands on the other side of the bridge waiting for us, arms open, awaiting our embrace, calling to us, calling for us to block out everything of this corrupt world as we run toward Him. For this world is rapidly depleting and can offer us nothing but an eternity apart from the Savior that we’re running towards. Keep running, don’t look back, only look forward to the bridge with the Father and Son awaiting you. Run as fast as you can towards our eternal horizon.

Dwell on your sin today. Dwell on what the Father has saved you from. And let today be a day you give God the worship He is owed. He loves you all, and He desires you all, run to Him today!

This article is going to be very short and to the point, because this movie doesn’t leave much to talk about.

This movie is terrible. Like seriously awful. This movie is so incredibly bad that it held the title of the lowest grossing Marvel movie ever from its release in 2008 up until 2023 with the release of The Marvels. That’s 15 whole entire years! 30 MCU movies came out in between The Incredible Hulk and The Marvels. That’s embarrassingly impressive.

The plot isn’t great and feels rushed to me. The action scenes aren’t up to par with what I think a Hulk film should have. The love interest between Bruce and Betty is terrible. None of the villains are particularly captivating; General Ross is literally just a corrupt military general who uses his position to get what he wants, and Emil Blonsky / The Abomination is rushed and forced and has no real villain arc at all throughout the movie.

One of the strange things about this movie is a lot of the actors casted are actually really talented actors. Edward Norton is a great actor and has been in some really great movies (Fight Club, Glass Onion, etc.). But he’s a terrible Bruce Banner. He really just doesn’t play the role well and he doesn’t match any of the characteristics of the Bruce Banner we see in the comics. Bruce Banner is meant to be a scrawny, nerd, schismatic guy. But Norton’s iteration of Banner is this athletic, seemingly not so intelligent guy. It really just isn’t it if you’re picking up what I’m putting down. Like Norton a lot, absolutely HATED him as Bruce Banner.

As I stated previously, the love story between Bruce and Betty is terrible, like quite literally might be the worst love interest in the entire MCU. They’re in a deeply committed relationship, the accident happens and he turns into Hulk (nearly killing her by the way), he disappears out of her life for five years because her father is trying to find him, he shows up five years later and she drops her entire life to be with him. If it were other characters maybe that plot would be better, but this one in my opinion just sucked. She had a new boyfriend, she had recreated her life, and she seemed happy. But Bruce had to show up and ruin everything. The only positive I think you can possibly say about the love interest is the fact that Betty’s father is General Ross, that does put a more interesting twist onto the plot, but not enough for it to be actually good or interesting.

And of course, there’s the whole conundrum with The Abomination. How do you fumble the easiest bag in the MCU. There’s Hulk, and there’s another guy with the same powers as Hulk… It’s so easy, it’s so marketable, yet Lous Leterrier (the director) found a way to completely botch it. We get stuck with this random and weird, obsessive soldier in Emil Blonsky for most of the movie, then we only get Abomination for a total of eighteen and a half minutes. How do you ruin this so badly. Hulk vs. Abomination is the classic idea of an immovable object vs. an unstoppable force, yet we only get it for a very short amount of time, and even when we do get it, it’s this CGI slop boxing match. It’s not a good fight scene, there’s not good action, and the CGI is terrible. Now, I know some of you might be saying, “Caleb… cut it some slack, after all it was made in 2008.” To which I would respond, “Absolutely not, Iron Man released the same year and had fantastic CGI.”

Overall, this movie is trash as much as I hate to say it. Hulk is genuinely one of my favorite Marvel characters and they have completely wrecked his character. He doesn’t have a character arc at all. We don’t see his origin, we don’t see Hulk becoming Hulk at all throughout the MCU, unless you consider the very beginning of the Incredible Hulk movie with the picture explanation of what happened to be a valid explanation which I obviously don’t. Hulk feels like a thrown away character which truly breaks my heart.

Rated: 2/10

Iron Man is a properly yet unproperly rated movie, people like it, people rate it highly, but I don’t feel like people give it the credit it deserves. Iron Man was a transcendent movie, it was the MCU’s guinea pig, it was the “is this going to work” movie. And it delivered four times over… literally. With a budget of $140 million the film grossed $585.8 million in the box office (four times the budget) blowing any and all expectations out of the water. Now what I feel as though doesn’t receive the attention it deserves about this movie is the era in which this movie was released. This movie was released at a time where if you were a Marvel character not named Spider-Man, Hulk, or one of the X-Men, nobody knew who you were for the most part. There were scattered cartoon iterations over the years of Iron Man, and obviously he was featured in many comic books, but for the most part only hard-core Marvel fans knew who the heck Iron Man or Tony Stark were. On top of that, DC was in their golden age with Batman Begins releasing in 2005, Superman Returns in 2006, and The Dark Knight releasing just 77 days after the release of Iron Man. DC was unstoppable in the film industry and Marvel was just for hard-core comic book fans and niche characters. This movie broke the mold and proved that Marvel characters (no matter how known or unknown they may be) will succeed on the big screen.

Now as for the actual movie itself. Iron Man has a top tier origin story throughout this movie. Seeing Tony go through his arc from being on top of the world, to captured by terrorists, onto becoming Iron Man, while still staying true to his comedic self was and still is, refreshing. In most movies where the protagonist changes from immature to mature they usually tend to lose all playfulness and comedic relief; at times it can seem as though they lose their humanity and become these robots of righteousness. While Tony Stark on the other hand walks through the fire of captivity, abandonment, and betrayal and yet still stays hilarious, keeps his dark sense of humor, and even continues in his impulsive decision making.

To my recollection, pretty much the only knock I’ve ever heard people give this movie is some people had an issue with Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger as a villain. But personally, I think he makes perfect sense to be the villain in Iron Man’s origin story. His character strikes a personal nerve with Tony given that Stane was partners with Tony’s father, Howard. So, Obadiah had known Tony since he was just a child, and he helped Tony build Stark Industries into the modern powerhouse that it was. The unsuspecting betrayal, the final showdown, and ultimately justice is a tale as old as time that I for one enjoy. And the final fight scene with Stane in the Iron Monger suit I think is a fantastic fight scene.

Importantly, casting for this movie was absolutely brilliant. Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man is one of those casting moments in film history where I think it’s literally impossible to imagine anyone else as Iron Man. As an interesting side note, there would be no RDJ as Iron Man if it weren’t for Mel Gibson (lead actor of my favorite movie of all time; Braveheart). As of 2003, Hollywood insurance companies had blacklisted RDJ out of the film industry because of his legal past, his hopes of ever acting again were basically slim to none. So, with no companies willing to insure him, Mel Gibson just stepped in and personally insured him so he could play his role in The Singing Detective. This reignited Downey’s career eventually getting him the role of Tony Stark. So, thank you Mel Gibson for your unknowing contribution to the MCU. All of that considered, casting Downey was a very bold move by Marvel, but boy did it pay off. I actually really liked Terrance Howard as Rhodey and wish that he was able to remain in the MCU. He was actually re-casted as a result of Marvel being a ridiculously cheap company. Howard had a three-picture contract to appear in all three movies, but when Iron Man ended up being a massive hit, they wanted to give Downey a substantial raise and wanted to re-negotiate Howard’s deal. This was obviously problematic for Howard given that he was actually the highest paid actor in the first film receiving $3.5 million for the role. His contract had him slated to receive $8 million for the sequel, but Marvel came back and offered him just $1 million for the second film; he obviously laughed and walked away from the role (rightfully so). Nevertheless, I think he was great for the role, and I wish Marvel decided to not be so cheap. I enjoy Jeff Bridges’ Obadiah Stane and think he embodied his character very well. He was conniving, methodical, and played Iron Monger very well in my opinion also.

Obviously, a huge part of the draw of Marvel movies are the action scenes, an area I think Iron Man delivers very well on in this film. The scene where Tony escapes captivity in the in the Mark 1 suit is incredible. To have that be the first suit you see on screen I think is awesome. It’s raw, it’s real, and proves in that moment that possibilities are endless for Tony not because of his suits, but because of his brain. Tony is beyond brilliant and really can seemingly do anything he puts his mind too. The movie doubles down on this point later in the film when we get Stane’s famous quote, “Tony Stark was able to build this in a cave! With a box of scrapes!” This quote obviously directed at the scientist who wasn’t able to recreate what Tony had made in that cave with an entire lab and billion-dollar business in Stark Industries funding him. Tony’s superpower is his mind. We see the scene in the Gulmira Village (the hometown of his late friend, Yinsen), where the same terrorists who captured Tony are terrorizing the town and Iron Man shows up (in the Mark III suit). And he throws the one terrorist that would always interrogate him through the wall and leaves him to the people of the village… Peak. The dogfight scene was obviously awesome, and I really enjoyed the final battle with Tony and Iron Monger.

And last but not least, the comedy of this movie still hits to this very day. There are some Marvel films (that we will get to on this long-term project) that either try to be funny and just aren’t at all, or movies that are funny the first time you watch them, but as you get older realize really aren’t that funny. Iron Man fits in neither of those molds. The comedy of this movie still makes me laugh all these years later. It’s the sarcasm of Tony Stark that just does it for me; his nonchalantness in every single situation no matter if it’s casual or incredibly serious is refreshing in a superhero movie. Most superheroes tend to be laser focused, no nonsense all the time type people. But Stark breaks that mold as a hero, he has a change of heart about manufacturing weapons and he has a heart and mind change, but he never loses who he is as a person, he stays funny, he stays unserious all the time, and I think that’s a great spin for a hero.

In conclusion, this movie changed the game, it set the bar for what the MCU would become. They took massive swings with this movie and hit on all of them. It’s an incredibly rewatchable movie, it’s fun, it’s fast paced, it’s funny and it’s just an overall good time. Robert Downey Jr. plays the role of Tony Stark flawlessly, and his character is probably the G.O.A.T of the MCU so how can expect it to not be a good movie. Top 10 Marvel movie for sure!

Rated: 9/10

What are the Gifts of the Spirit?

1). Service (Romans 12:7)

2). Teaching (Romans 12:7, 1 Corinthians 12:28)

3). Exhortation (Romans 12:8)

4). Generosity (Romans 12:8)

5). Leadership (Romans 12:8)

6). Mercy (Romans 12:8)

7). Prophecy (Romans 12:6, 1 Corinthians 12:10, 1 Corinthians 12:28-29, 1 Corinthians 13:2, 8-9, 1 Corinthians 14:1-5, 22, 29-33, 37-39, Ephesians 4: 11-13)

Examples of Prophets or Prophecy: (Acts 2:16-18, Acts 11:27-28, Acts 13:1, Acts 15:32, Acts 19:6, Acts 21:9-10, 1 Thessalonians 5:19-21, 1 Timothy 1:18, 1 Timothy 4:14, 1 Corinthians 14:3, Revelation 11:3-10, Revelation 19:10, Revelation 22:9)

8). Utterance of Wisdom (1 Corinthians 12:8)

9). Utterance of Knowledge (1 Corinthians 12:8)

10). Faith (1 Corinthians 12:9)

11). Healing (1 Corinthians 12:9, 28, 30)

12). Working of Miracles (1 Corinthians 12:10, 28-29)

13). Ability to Distinguish between Spirits (1 Corinthians 12:10)

14). Various kinds of Tongues (1 Corinthians 12:10)

15). Interpretation of Tongues (1 Corinthians 12:10)

1-6 are functional gifts, and 7-15 are sign or supernatural gifts. Scripture only specifies that we are to have a deeper desire for prophecy (1 Corinthians 14:1). So outside of prophecy all gifts are equal and necessary for the Body. Therefore, having one of the sign gifts does not make you a “better Christian” or somehow closer to God. Many get caught up in the idea that the sign gifts are somehow a sign of deeper faith or spirituality. Scripture is clear that all of the gifts (outside of maybe prophecy) are equal and needed. Scripture is also clear that not everyone has a sign gift of the Spirit, AND THAT’S OKAY! The church needs people with the gift of mercy, the gift of generosity, and the gift of leadership, and those are just as important as the gifts of healing and tongues. The sign gifts are a blessing and wonder of God bestowed upon His people, but we cannot fall into the Enemy’s trap of feeling like we HAVE to have one of those gifts. We are to desire the gifts as God commands (1 Corinthians 14:1), but we cannot make an idol out of them and we must never feel the need or pressure to fabricate what God has declared as a gift. It’s a mockery of what God has graciously given us. You walk down a dangerous road once you start fabricating or making an idol out of the Spirit’s gifts, and Scripture gives us a clear warning in Matthew 7:22-23, “On that day many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophecy in Your name, and do many mighty works in Your name?’ And I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” What does this tell us? That the Gifts of the Spirit on the surface are NOT a sign of salvation. Now, I do believe that those who are truly operating in the gifts from a heart posture genuinely surrendered to the Holy Spirit are saved. But Matthew shows us that there will be some who will seemingly “operate” in the gifts who are not known by the Lord. So there are those among us today within the Church who on the surface operate in the gifts, claim to perform miracles, and do mighty works under the banner of Christ that are incredibly deceived. So, not all will operate in the sign gifts but that is okay. Do not get caught up in hyper pentecostalism that says if you aren’t speaking in tongues or have a prayer language you’re not saved. That is a false doctrine!

Functions of the Gifts of the Spirit:

1). Service- The divine empowerment to identify unmet needs in the church and provide the practical service needed to meet them.

2). Teaching- The divinely given ability to understand, clearly explain, and apply the truths of Scripture in a way that others can understand and grow from.

3). Exhortation- The divine empowerment to come alongside others to offer comfort , counsel, and “nudge” people toward spiritual maturity and action.

4). Generosity- The divine empowerment to contribute personal resources- including money, time, and possessions- to the work of the Lord with a unique cheerfulness.

5). Leadership- The divine empowerment to set goals in accordance with God’s purpose and to communicate those goals in such a way that others voluntarily and harmoniously work together to accomplish them for the glory of God.

6). Mercy- The divinely given ability to feel deep empathy and compassion for those who are suffering and to translate those feelings into cheerful, practical service that alleviates their pain.

7). Prophecy- The divinely given ability to speak forth a message from God to a specific person or group for the purpose of encouragement, edification, or comfort.

8). Utterance of Wisdom- The divinely given ability to receive and communicate a specific, practical insight from God to address a complex situation or need.

9). Utterance of Knowledge- The supernatural ability to receive and communicate specific facts or information from the Holy Spirit that could not have been known through natural means.

10). Faith- The supernatural ability to trust God with unwavering confidence for things that seem humanly impossible.

11). Healing- The supernatural ability to serve as a human channel through which God cures illness and restores health - physically, emotionally, or spiritually - apart from natural means.

12). Working of Miracles- The supernatural ability to serve as an instrument for God to perform acts that bypass or suspend the natural laws of the universe.

13). Ability to Distinguish between Spirits- The supernatural ability to perceive the source of a spiritual manifestation - whether it originates from God, a human spirit, or a demonic influence.

14). Various kinds of Tongues- The supernatural ability to speak in a language the speaker has never learned (Prayer language, utterances of the Spirit, real human languages).

15). Interpretation of Tongues- The supernatural ability to reveal the meaning of an utterance spoken in an unknown language.

I think no matter your personal beliefs on the continuation or ceasing of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, one must admit that they are at least returning in the latter days. Acts 2:17, “And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit and they shall prophesy.” Another argument I have heard regarding the Gifts is that they were only accessible by the Apostles during the Apostolic Age. So, only for the Apostles and no one else. This however is quite the puzzling conclusion based on a multitude of the letters written by Paul. 1 Corinthians was written to the Church at Corinth which was a very divided church, due to the arrogance of its more powerful members. And Paul writes to all of them saying, “Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.” This is a very intriguing verse given the fact that Paul (an Apostle) is writing to the congregation of the Church of Corinth (not Apostles), and telling them (not asking them, which therefore makes it a command) to EARNESTLY desire the spiritual gifts especially that you may prophecy. This wouldn’t make any logical sense if these gifts were only for the Apostles in the Apostolic Age. Why would Paul command an entire congregation of non-Apostles to earnestly desire gifts that were never meant for them?

Now, when discussing this topic, the Continuationist must answer a very legitimate question that is often posed by the Cessationist, which is why are there so many abuses, misuses, and fabrications of these spiritual gifts. This is a very valid question that deserves an answer. And I think the answer can be found in what we see is the mission and character of Satan. Scripture says that Satan “... disguises himself as an angel of light.” (2 Corinthians 11:14), and he “... is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). Satan’s mission is to parade around disguised as an angel of light and pervert anything that is the Lord’s. Satan knows that God has commanded His people to earnestly desire His gifts, and I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility for Satan to convince people that anything that is from him is truly from God, while simultaneously convincing people that anything that is from God is from himself. Satan wants to be the still small voice in your mind, he wants to have access to the depths of your soul and pervert what it is the Lord is doing. So why is it wild to think that Satan would convince people that something the Lord says to earnestly desire, is actually something very bad that should be avoided. This is what I believe to be the basis of why there is a wrong view of the gifts. This also bleeds into the discussion of why there are abuses, misuses, and fabrications of the gifts as well. We know that the Lord tells us that there will be fabrications thousands of years ago in the gospel account of Matthew, “Many will say to me on that day ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you, away from me, you evildoers!’” (Matthew 7:22-23). This verse plainly shows us that there will clearly be people on this earth who allegedly operate in the gifts of the Spirit but are not of the Lord. There are congregants, leaders, and pastors all over the world that “use” the gifts as a means of popularity, financial gain, and status within the church, yet God tells us in His Word that a day will come when He will judge those who have misused and abused His gracious gifts.

As a result, this poses yet another question. How are we to determine those who are misusing, abusing, or fabricating the gifts? The answer is simple, compare what they are performing, speaking, actively doing, and the way they live their life with Scipture… ALWAYS. It is of vital importance that you look at the gifts through the lens of Scripture. God, out of His mercy and grace has given us order, and that order extends to the gifts as well. Scripture gives us many verses that explain to us the purpose of the gifts. First, we see that they are given for the common good, and unity of His people: “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Corinthians 12:7). “So with yourselves, since you are eager for a manifestation of the Spirit, strive to excel in the building up of the church” (1 Corinthians 14:12). “And he have the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-13). Second, we see the gifts given for service, and the edification of the Body: “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one speaks oracles of God; whoever serves by the strength that God supplies - in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen” (1 Peter 4:10-11). “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ…” (Ephesians 4:11-12). “On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and constellation” (1 Corinthians 14:3). “So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church” (1 Corinthians 14:12). Third, we see the gifts given for the purpose of witnessing: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria,and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). So, the gifts have been given to us by God for the purpose of unity and the common good of God’s people, for service and edification amongst the Body, and for witnessing to the lost.

In conclusion, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are not something to be afraid of, something to avoid, and definitely not something (when operated in Biblically) to call demonic. But also on the other side, the gifts are not something to be misused, abused, fabricated, or used to receive personal or financial gain. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are exactly that… They’re gifts. They are blessings from God that should be treated as such. They should never be weaponized, but should never be targeted by weapons either. The gifts are serious business, we must be ruthlessly Biblical when operating in or observing them. The enemy has spent hundreds of years of church history causing division amongst the people of God regarding these gifts. He hates them, he hates when the people of God operate in these gifts Biblically, because it brings unity and edification to the Body of Christ, of course he hates that. But on the flip side, the enemy absolutely loves when these gifts are used outside of their Biblical context, because that brings the exact things he wants inside the Body: confusion, chaos, and division. So we must be very open and ready to press into these gifts, but very careful of the enemy’s schemes, and of the ways of man to desire power, money, etc. And above all else (in my opinion), we cannot let this topic cause strife amongst the brotherhood of believers. There are wonderful, loving, intelligent believers on both sides of this debate, and we must operate out of unity and love.

I have embarked on a journey to rewatch the entire MCU before the release of Avengers: Doomsday on December 18, 2026. I will be rewatching the movies in release date order separated by phase. So, I will start with Iron Man and end with Spiderman: Brand New Day. This rewatch will include movies, shows, specials, and some of the cartoons such as X-Men ‘97. I will review each movie individually, but also each phase as a whole. I have already begun and am about halfway through The Avengers and finished with phase 1, once I have completed the phase, I will release each induvial movie’s review, and then the entire phase 1 review.

The MCU has compiled some of the greatest story telling in cinema history, the way all the movies are connected into the massive web that is the MCU is beyond impressive. The level of nostalgia that a classic Marvel brings is almost unparallel to any other movie franchise. There was just nothing like going to see a new Marvel movie in theaters during Marvel’s golden age where it felt like it was impossible for them to make a bad movie (Which in my opinion was phase 1-3, which would be 2008-2019, over a decade!). Movie theaters would sell out for days when a new blockbuster MCU project was released. And it would be all people wanted to talk about, so you’d better make sure you go see it as soon as possible opening weekend or the movie was going to be spoiled for you when you get to school Monday morning.

So, this leads to the main point of this entire thing, the sad reality is Marvel has taken a few steps back since Avengers: Endgame. A lot of their projects have felt watered down, chaotic, and less vision. But they are attempting to bring back all their lost hype with Avengers: Doomsday, and I am beyond intrigued. I think Marvel clearly realizes they’ve lost their way; they seemed to have lost a sense of direction with the death of Tony Stark and the closure of Steve Roger’s Captain America with him returning back in time to be with Peggy Carter. Those (in my opinion) were the two clear cut leaders of the MCU, but now they’re gone… Or so we thought. With Marvel bringing back the Russo brothers, Chris Evans, and Robert Downey Jr., I think Marvel is acknowledging their lack of vision throughout the MCU post Endgame and swinging with all the star power they have in their arsenal restore Marvel. And as controversial as all of these returns have been received by the media, everything Marvel has put out about the movie has received unmatched traction. They posted the first official trailer this morning and it got over a million views in half an hour. People are excited about this movie.

In conclusion, this journey throughout the MCU is for a multitude of things; nostalgia, content, and for the inevitable and impending Doomsday. This film has the potential to be transcendent, potentially one of if not the biggest movies of all time, and it deserves an insane build up. So, as I’ve said, I will be posting individual movie reviews, and full phase reviews over the coming months as we prepare for Doom. Thank you for accompanying me on this extensive but thrilling and nostalgic journey.

-Caleb Webb