Marvel Madness: Infinity Region – Round 1

Keeping rolling a little better than before with Round 1 – Infinity Region results. Let’s do it!

The Infinity Region:

1 vs 16 Sorry Tom Jane. Punisher never stood a chance against what is arguably the best of the full-Avengers movies. Not much to say on this matchup, an absolute route.

8 vs 9 Tough matchup here between the original Men In Black and Ant-Man. While Ant-Man took a big risk and showed that there was a place for Paul Rudd and screw-ball comedics in the MCU with startling success, the edge here goes to Men In Black for taking sci-fi comedy from the fringe to the mainstream. This was peak Will Smith at his Will Smith-iest and Tommy Lee Jones doing his Tommy Lee Jones thing to perfection.

5 vs 12 Lower seeded X-men puts up a strong showing here as the original Marvel main-stream box-office success from 2000; however, Deadpool’s strong off-kilter energy combined with Ryan Reynolds’ surprising comeback from two absolutely abysmal superhero outings (X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Green Lantern) gives it the slight edge in this nail-biter.

4 vs 13 Not much of a match-up here between a way-too-late sequel (or is it a reboot?) and an original modern classic. Nobody asked for Men In Black: International, while the original Raimi Spider-Man combined with the X-Men franchise that was just gearing up, established Marvel as a true pop-culture powerhouse and led to the eventual MCU.

3 vs 14 Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2 is up and down, but it does have some really incredible character beats for Rocket, Peter Quill, and Yondu. It’s definitely enough to get passed Ghost Rider, whose main strength is Nicholas Cage at his Nicholas Cagiest.

6 vs 11 Another 11-6 Upset! The movie that really kicked the MCU into Avengers mode gets my sentimental vote over a pretty good X-Men outing in Days of Future Past. Call me a sucker for a man in uniform, but I just really enjoy everything to do with Captain America.

7 vs 10 Ant-Man and The Wasp is really interesting. The villain is complex and multi-dimensional. It’s not your typical superhero movie, which is it’s biggest strength. Men In Black II is ultimately just a little too weird and forgettable.

2 vs 15 Kick-ass’s quirky energy could have gotten it past a lot of the front runners in this bracket… but not Black Panther. I mean, where do i start? the cast: perfect, the production design: brilliant. The Themes: so strong. Ultimately, the only complaint i have with Black Panther is that I wish there were slightly larger stakes, but the more focused conflict suits the intimate setting. Black Panther Kicks Ass.

Things are moving along now. Check back soon for the Avengers Region – Round 1 results

Avengers Region – Round 1 here

The Endgame Region – Round 1 results are here and Ultron Region – Round 1 results are here if you want to check them out. If you want to go back and see the original post setting up the bracket, it’s here