What the Thor films as a whole suffer the hardest from is a thunderous identity crisis. With Marvel’s latest trilogy topper breaking box office records the world over, here is a ranking of the MCU cinematic triptychs so far:

In order to succeed, they must tell their own story while also adding to the universe around them. Trilogies in the MCU are not as cut-and-dry as they used to be, especially compared to other franchises. A film like Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, while introducing a new hero, must do so on top of justifying its place in a post- Endgame world and setting up ways it will affect the wider canon, while also telling its own story that will need to take into account any and all appearances that Simu Liu’s master of Kung Fu may have between now and his first sequel. A star-vehicle solo superhero film now must be fashioned to fit into the universe of a pre-existing canon and respond to the established lore and its place in it. Since 2012, the MCU has changed the very function that their sequels and solo films serve and how they must operate. If you want to know the story of a favorite character in the Marvel universe, following their trilogy of solo films is not enough anymore. While he has only had three self-titled films, Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark has appeared in a total of ten films across the MCU, ranging from cameo appearances to supporting roles in team-up events. Through the success of the MCU, the concept of a multimedia shared universe has grown film franchising beyond the idea of straight-forward sequels into something more analogous with actual comic books. By interconnecting the stories of earth’s mightiest superheroes, starting with 2008’s Iron Man, Marvel Studios has spent the last 14 years redefining the shape of the modern blockbuster series. That something evolved into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, by far the biggest cinematic phenomenon of the 2010s and beyond. There was an idea to bring together a group of remarkable heroes and their concurrent film series to see if they could become something more.

The foundation of trilogy