Road to Infinity War - Phase 2 - Ant-Man (2015)

The greatest "What If?" in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Out there in the Quantum Realm somewhere there is a version of the MCU that still features an Ant-Man that was directed by Edgar Wright.
Fans of the Cornetto Trilogy were feeling rather negative towards the film before it came out, saying that this was finally going to be Marvel's first genuine misstep and flop but...
Trust in Feige and the MCU because in spite of all the troubles and issues going into the production, the final result is actually a very fun and enjoyable Marvel film, albeit it on a smaller scale than Age of Ultron (pun intended) and the perfect palette cleanser.
Paul Rudd is a fantastic choice for Scott Lang, who is drawn into a scheme to stop the original Ant-Man Hank Pym's protege from recreating the technology. He perfectly captures the wide-eyed cynicism to the ridiculousness of the entire situation and it helps draw the audience into this world.
It certainly plays to Rudd's strengths, playing up the humour "Baskin Robbins always find out" and he is given a terrific sidekick to spark off in Michael Pena's Luis with his fantastic flashback explanations.
NB: Marvel, please release the Comic-Con video of Pena explaining the entire MCU history to Michelle Pfieffer before Infinity War comes out!
While Pym has handpicked Scott Lang to be the one to take on the mantle (or should that be Antle) of Ant-Man, this puts Scott at loggerheads with Hank's daughter Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) who believes she is the worthy successor but at odds with her father because of a past family tragedy that will drive the narrative forward in the sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp.
With Marvel keen to put a different spin on each of their movies, this one can definitely be described as a heist movie with a lot of time spent on Lang training for the job (including the contractual Marvel shot of Rudd with his top off to prove that he has worked out enough to have a six-pack) and putting the plan into action.
Peyton Reed does a good job of delivering the action but there are still moments in the film that still feel like Wright (he retained a screenplay credit) such as the train fight sequence at the end with a cameo from Thomas The Tank Engine.
However if there is one person who deserves a huge amount of credit for the success of Phase 2 and 3 in the MCU, it is the person responsible for the visual effects that de-aged Michael Douglas in the opening scene as the result is astonishing (and would be repeated in Civil War and Guardians Vol. 2). It is creepily realistic and they deserve a pay rise!

Also, it doesn't get mentioned a lot but one would argue that Ant-Man features that saddest death in the MCU outside of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2!

Infinity Stone counter = 4

Road to Infinity War - Phase 1 - Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

From tales of Norse Gods and visiting the Nine Realms in Thor, the Marvel Cinematic Universe then followed that up with... a period action film set in World War II?
Yes, it was time to introduce the face and poster boy for Marvel since 1942... Steve Rogers aka Captain America.
And who did they get to portray the Star Spangled Man with a plan? Well, the Human Torch of course.
At this point, Chris Evans (no, not that one) was most famous for starring in Fantastic Four. 7 years on, it is hard to imagine anyone else carrying the shield... well maybe, Bucky or Falcon (if you read the comics).
Powered by a terrific cast including Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Toby Jones, Stanley Tucci, etc, director Joe Johnston proved the perfect choice for the tale, having previously delivered a perfect slice of retro charm with The Rocketeer. He even manages to throw in a reference to his work on Raiders Of The Lost Ark when the Red Skull gains possession of The Tesseract and quips that "Hitler digs for trinkets in the desert".
The CGI still holds up well in the early scenes with "tiny" Steve before the super serum and Evans does a great job at showing Rogers' pure heart and determination ("I could do this all day").
The origin of "Captain America" gifts the MCU with one of its all-time greatest moments, the Star Spangled Man with a Plan musical number, and its finest leading lady in the form of Peggy Carter.
Hayley Atwell is a match for Steve in terms of wits, guts and style and gets her moments to shine. The only times she comes across as the "love interest" is when she reaches across and touches his chest post-serum and during the Armageddon-Aerosmith style radio message at the end.
Their relationship is what gives the movie its heart and leaves the audience with a heartbreaking denouement before setting us up for The Avengers (somewhat disappointingly with a mini-trailer for the film rather than a standard post-credit sting).

Infinity Stone Counter = 1 (The Space Stone aka The Tesseract)

Road to Infinity War - Phase 1 - Thor (2011)

Again, it seems hard to believe but at the time, Thor presented a huge gamble for Marvel Studios. It introduced Asgard, Norse Gods, Space, Alien races and monsters. It could have gone so horribly wrong. Yet this was the studio that would go on to give us a film starring a talking raccoon and a tree monster!
Thankfully for Marvel, under the guidance of director Kenneth Branagh, Thor was the best movie since Iron Man.
It works because Branagh does not treat it as a Flash Gordon-esque adventure (that would have to wait till Ragnarok) but as a Shakespearean tragedy with the focus on a family feud between a King and two squabbling Princes both with an eye on the throne.
It succeeds thanks to having British heavyweights like Anthony Hopkins spitting out lines like "You are a vain, greedy, cruel boy" and "But you're NOT King. Not yet". Plus it introduced the majority of the world to Tom Hiddleston as Marvel's number one villain you love to hate, Loki.
Chris Hemsworth was also a relative unknown at this point. Really only appearing in the first ten minutes of the Star Trek reboot. But he perfectly captures the fish out of water element of his character as the selfish, boorish warrior who is stripped of his power and forced to learn a lesson on earth... and find love along the way.
Thor continues the development of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Coulson is firmly established as Fury's number two, running the whole show in New Mexico and even ordering around Clint Barton aka Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner).
It remains one of the strongest entries in Phase 1 but contains the single biggest mistake in the history of the MCU. One that was thankfully rectified come The Avengers and that was the decision to dye Hemsworth's eyebrows blonde!

Infinity Stone Counter = 1 (Brief glimpse of the Tesseract aka the Space Stone in the post credit sting)

Road to Infinity War - Phase 1 - The Incredible Hulk (2008)

One forgets that The Incredible Hulk came out a mere 6 weeks after Iron Man. The MCU were either very, VERY keen to build on the success OR that is what happens when you were dealing with multiple distributors on your films (until Disney bought Marvel Studios, Paramount were releasing the Iron Man, Cap and Thor movies while Universal still had Hulk. Actually even to this day which is why you don't see a solo Hulk movie).
Incredible Hulk is viewed by many as bottom tier Marvel. It is not a bad film. It's certainly a hell of a lot better than Ang Lee's 2003 Hulk with the mutant poodles!
It is just not as good or as slick and polished as the rest of their catalogue. Indeed, the MCU was clearly still finding its feet here as evidenced by Thunderbolt Ross's references to the Super Soldier plan not tying in perfectly with Captain America: The First Avenger.
Also, they seemed a little bit unsure of themselves and had the post-credit sting of Tony Stark telling Ross that they were putting a team together before the credits.
To think this is the same studio that gave us the troll-heavy Captain America sting at the end of Spider-Man Homecoming.

The Incredible Hulk always seems slightly out of place in the MCU and is mostly remembered for their handling of Edward Norton who did no publicity for the film after they rejected his 3 hour cut that was more of a Jekyll and Hyde character study in favour of retooling it as a two hour "Hulk Smash" action film.
The effects never really worked as the CGI Hulk never really felt like Norton's Banner. Something that would be fixed when Mark Ruffalo would be cast and did performance capture as the Hulk. Although it was nice to see Lou Ferrigno provide the voice and make a cameo.
It certainly wasn't all bad and there are some really lovely, fun moments such as Banner getting "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry" wrong in Portuguese or stopping himself from getting intimate with Betty Ross because his heart rate is getting too high and fearful he may Hulk out, or Craig Armstrong (delivering one of the strongest MCU scores) using the "sad walking away" music from the TV show.
In terms of references and world building, there is a nod to the Ultimates series of comics where they drop Banner out of a helicopter at an enemy to induce a change. This is also the series that introduced the Samuel L. Jackson version of Nick Fury and so gave comic fans an idea of where the over-arching story might be going.

Infinity Stone Counter: Still zero!

Road to Infinity War - Phase 1 - Iron Man (2008)

Has it really been ten years since it all began? It's hard to believe right Jeremy Piven?

Who would have believed that a movie directed by the guy who was Pete Becker on Friends, about a second tier Marvel hero played by a post-jail & troubles Robert Downey Jr would launch a billion dollar franchise that is still going from strength to strength 18 films down the line?
But the Marvel Cinematic Universe hit the ground running and they are forever indebted to RDJ because his performance as "genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist" Tony Stark is note perfect.
The film is fast, loose, full of colour, wit and boundless energy. A world away from DC and Nolan's (excellent) but "Why so serious?" Dark Knight trilogy.
The references to the comics are there for the fans (the original Mark I suit) but never at the expense of an audience entirely new to this world.
It also does a subtle job of universe building. There is Rhodey's look at the Mark II suit and quipping "Next time baby" (sadly not for Terrence Howard though!), and the introduction of SHIELD through Agent Coulson's character who would become pivotal to Phase I.
But it was the post-credit sting with Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury turning up at Stark mansion to talk about the Avengers initiative that sent fanboys into meltdown.
It isn't perfect. Jeff Bridges is very "un-Dude" but ultimately won't rank highly on the list of top Marvel villains (although I would dare you to come up with a Top 5 list of truly memorable MCU villains that doesn't have to include Wilson Fisk or Kilgrave and therefore not canon).
One can also see the beginnings of the MCU's biggest criticism. You know, the one where Act 3 descends into two (or twenty) CGI men in metal suits smashing into each other.
However Downey Jr is a charisma fuelled arc reactor that powers this entry to classic comic book movie status and arguably one of the finest and most complete superhero origin stories.

Infinity Stone Counter: 0