The Mid-Grade MCU movies are solid films without major flaws that tell their stories competently with flair and style that we come to expect from this franchise. Not surprisingly this is the largest number of MCU movies in a single category.

Ant-Man: This film is charming with a deft, light tone that makes this one of the more fun movies. I very nearly moved it into the ‘Honorable Mention’ category full the child’s bedroom fight alone.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2: It would have been nearly impossible to be as fresh as Guardians of the Galaxy, and hampered with a required that no major changes can occur due to its placement in the overall multi-film plot Vol 2still manages to tell a compelling story and explore deeper into established characters, putting one on the path to if not heroism at least fighting against the coming big bad.

Iron Man 2: A good solid follow-up to Iron Man, IM2doesn’t suffer from the ‘grab the girl’ cliché as Iron Man 3did, it deepens our understanding of Tony conflicted nature with his father Howard Stark, and broadens the MCU itself.

Spider-Man: Homecoming:SMHis a joy because it brings Peter Parker back home to the MCU instead of suffering intolerable studio dreck produced over at Sony. The decisions top return Peter to a high school student and to skip over one of the most well-known of all origin stories elevates this film. The plotting is a little flabby with one extraneous action set-piece and Peter’s actions are a little too consequences free otherwise this would have floated up into the ‘Honorable Mention’ slots.

Thor& Thor: The Dark World:  Both of these films do a fine job of presenting the mythological/cosmic settings of the MCU. The casting is well done and of course Loki instantly became a fan favorite. Thematically both films are a little flat without greater impact than the characters’ lives themselves. Perfectly watchable with enjoyable performances nothing in these movies either elevates or sinks them. They are very nearly the Platonic Ideal of  Mid-grade in the MCU.