The top 18 Marvel Cinematic Universe superheroes, ranked from worst to best

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At this point, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has a lot of characters. Some might even say too many.

A lot of its heroes are pretty similar: men who are full of themselves, get superpowers (or great technology), become heroes, and go through a lot of personal growth (or not).

In anticipation of "Avengers: Infinity War," we ranked all the superheroes who have been main characters in their own movies, and significant side characters who have fought with the Avengers.

In February, we ranked the MCU villains, and since they were all bad, the ranking wasn't as fraught. But this one was a little more tricky because the majority of the MCU heroes are compelling characters with many layers to unpack, who leave a lot to look forward to in every scene. But that doesn't mean that all of these MCU heroes are great. Some, like Hawkeye and Black Widow, are forgettable despite appearing in several films over nearly a decade.

Here's our ranking of the MCU heroes, from worst to best:

18. Quicksilver/Pietro Maximoff — played by Aaron Taylor Johnson

Who? Quicksilver was Scarlet Witch's annoying brother, who Ultron killed during the Battle of Sokovia. He didn't even last an entire movie, and that's a good thing. He wasn't a fully fleshed-out character, and "X-Men: Days of Future Past" (2014) used this character in a much more clever way the same year.

17. Tony Stark/Iron Man — played by Robert Downey Jr.

Flaws are good for any character, especially a superhero — and a lack of them is one of the reasons Superman is so hard to translate to the big screen. Tony Stark is probably the most flawed hero in the MCU, which was fun for a few movies, along with his one-liners. But over time, he became relentlessly arrogant, ignoring the needs of others unless they related to his need to feel glorified.

16. Hawkeye/Clint Barton — played by Jeremy Renner

The only thing that makes Hawkeye any different from arrow-slinging heroes like Legolas or Katniss Everdeen is that he has a secret family, which is not even a secret anymore because he introduced them to the Avengers in “Age of Ultron.” The most personality we’ve seen from Hawkeye was in “Captain America: Civil War” when he shows up out of retirement to help fight on team Cap. Why? We don’t know and probably never will.

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