The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Arts Friday, April 19, 2019 — 5 In the run-up to “Avengers: Endgame,” I’m running down every movie and TV show the MCU has ever put out and ranking them based on how well they tell their stories with the means available to them. This is part three of a four part series. 22. “Marvel’s Luke Cage”: Season one (2016) As with many Marvel projects on both TV and on film, what makes the first season of “Luke Cage” work more than anything else is the casting. Mike Colter is electric in the title role, so unbelievably charismatic in every scene that you couldn’t take your eyes off him if you wanted to. He’s more than matched by his villains, played just as magnificently by Mahershala Ali and Alfre Woodard. Seriously uneven narrative aside, the worst part of the season might just be that no amount of time with these characters would be enough. 21. “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”: Season three (2015-2016) “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” truly comes into its own in its third season, with Brett Dalton completing his transformation from a “big, brave brick of meat” into one of the most deliciously evil villains the MCU has yet offered. Meanwhile, Ian De Caestecker and Elizabeth Henstridge prove themselves to be the show’s hidden weapons — not just charming, but capable of wringing more emotion out of a single glance than some onscreen couples can with entire scenes. 20. “Thor: Ragnarok” (2017) “Ragnarok”’s greatest weakness is that it’s a sequel to “The Dark World,” and thus must spend its entire first act cleaning up that film’s mess before Taika Waititi can get around to telling his own story. There’s a notable shift the moment the story gets to Sakaar, and from there, Waititi is free to realize his heavy metal-inspired dreams for all to see. I may not love this as much as others, but there’s no denying how special it is to watch the God of Thunder finally get his due in his third solo film. 19. “Captain America: The First Avenger” (2011) “The First Avenger” is a delight: an old-fashioned, pulpy, cheesy delight. From the moment he first steps foot on screen, Steve Rogers is everything a superhero should be — brave, noble and selfless — and that’s before he’s turned into a beefcake. The film functions in much the same way; it’s a big-hearted ode to classic superhero movies, one that reminds everyone watching that they don’t need a star-spangled shield to be a hero. 18. “Spider-Man: Homecoming” (2017) Whatever the flaws of the landmark Sony/Marvel effort, director Jon Watts absolutely nails the most important parts of “Spider-Man: Homecoming” — namely, Spider-Man here feels more human than any interpretation of the character since “Spider-Man 2.” Much of this is due to the casting of Tom Holland in the title role but just as superb is Michael Keaton as the Vulture, grounding the yet another larger-than-life story of the film in some semblance of humanist reality. 17. “Avengers: Age of Ultron” (2015) People dislike “Iron Man 2.” People are ambivalent about “The Incredible Hulk.” But people hate “Age of Ultron,” and I just don’t get it. It would have been so easy for Joss Whedon to let his characters stagnate in their second team-up flick, but instead, he gives them arcs that admirably walk the line of self-containment and feeding into conflicts to come. The action will always be a big draw for these movies, but “Age of Ultron” also understands that just as important are the moments where the movie slows down to give the Avengers time to grow. 16. “Captain Marvel” (2019) As if proving my point about “Age of Ultron,” the MCU’s most recent big screen outing is at its worst during its action scenes, which all-too-often come down to people just shooting beams at each other. Thankfully, much more plentiful are the scenes focused on the characters and their relationships. Captain Marvel is an immediately relatable potential leader for the next generation of Marvel movies, the supporting cast is one of Marvel’s best and Brie Larson’s performance is nothing short of incandescent. 15. “Iron Man 3” (2013) Like “Ultron,” “Iron Man 3” achieved near “Last Jedi”-levels of vitriol from some corners of the fanbase, and like “Ultron,” I think it’s a gem. The title is almost misleading, as “Iron Man 3” is much more interested in Tony Stark outside of the suit than it is in him as Iron Man. Most of the movie is therefore spent with Tony running around without his armor, struggling to cope with his PTSD in the wake of “The Avengers.” It’s a startlingly real story to foist upon one of the MCU’s bigger personalities, but under the direction of Shane Black, there’s an intelligent sheen to the whole thing that makes it irresistible. 14. “Marvel’s Luke Cage”: Season two (2018) The biggest problem with the first season of “Luke Cage” was that, after all the grounded examination of privilege and the politics of Harlem, the main antagonist was another guy in a supersuit. The second season rectifies this, electing Alfre Woodard’s Mariah Dillard for the role of the lead villain and setting the stage for a gripping season where the line between what’s right and wrong becomes more blurred than anyone would like. Her showstopping monologue in the ninth episode should have netted her an Emmy. 13. “Marvel’s The Punisher”: Season one (2017) “The Punisher” would always face a tricky release, as releasing a series centered on a gun-toting mass murderer at a time of great turmoil of America’s relationship with gun violence is just a bad idea. There’s no glory to the story of Frank Castle, though. There’s not a moment the show asks us to actively root for him to shoot a place up in his quest for revenge. Instead, “The Punisher” takes a look at PTSD and the soldiers afflicted with it and in doing so becomes a mature, surprisingly affecting look at soldiers’ issues in modern day America. 12. “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”: Season four (2016-2017) The fourth season of “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” opens with Ghost Rider himself rolling up to a gang of white nationalists in a flaming Dodge Charger and crushing a man’s skull with his bare hands, and it somehow only gets better from there. By all accounts, the run of twenty-two excellent episodes that followed – split into three intensely character-focused arcs that kept the pacing lightning quick in seeming defiance of TV norms – should have changed the way broadcast television operated, and the fact that it didn’t is part of the reason why traditional TV is going the way of Edward Norton’s MCU career. Next week, with “Endgame” upon us, the MCU’s film arm blasts them out of the park like nobody’s business while the cream of the TV crop make their case for why they should have a shot at the top of the list. A Marvel Cinematic Universe ranking, part three FILM NOTEBOOK JEREMIAH VANDERHELM Daily Arts Writer When “Killing Eve” premiered a year ago, it felt like both a peculiarity and a given. Obviously a show like this — an intense, stylish drama dealing in espionage and assassins and grisly crimes — could spring from the brilliant mind of Phoebe Waller-Bridge, whose “Fleabag” is one of the most inventive, challenging shows of the 21st century. Strange as it was, something about it worked. The show has found itself an adoring cabal of fans, a perfect coalition of Sandra Oh (“Grey’s Anatomy”) believers ready for her career resurgence, Jodie Comer (“Doctor Foster”) devotees awaiting her time in the spotlight and, of course, lovers of exquisite womenswear. So with the premiere of Season 2 of “Killing Eve,” which now airs both on AMC and BBC America, everyone will be very pleased to know that Oh is back, Comer is back and the womenswear is back (it’s still quite exquisite). In the first season, we met Eve (Oh), an MI5 agent re-assigned to a secret passion project to hunt down a mysterious assassin. That assassin would be the glamorous Villanelle (Comer), who is, frankly, quite flattered that someone has decided to pay so much attention to her. But whatever thrill she derives from being the subject of this investigation doesn’t distract from what Villanelle does best: killing people in rather gruesome, alarming ways. When we last left Eve and Villanelle, they had caught each other at last in Villanelle’s Parisian apartment and both confessed to their deep infatuation with the other. An uneasy armistice of sorts is achieved — until Eve stabs Villanelle in the stomach and the elusive assassin flees again. What a quirky, gory way to end a quirky, gory season. The second season begins not more than a minute afterward. Villanelle, nursing an ugly wound, tosses herself in front of a cab to get to the hospital. A dazed Eve makes her way back to London (along the way she has to ditch the bloody knife before she goes through airport security) where different problems await her: Her marriage to the sweet, disgruntled Niko (Owen McDonnell, “Single-Handed”) is on the verge of collapse and she is newly unemployed. Oh gets to do her best work when Eve is spiraling, and there’s a remarkable, gripping scene in the season premiere in which a rattled Eve is doing nothing more than sit in a bathtub, picking at her still bloody fingernails. She doesn’t get much time to wallow though. Soon enough, her boss Carolyn (Fiona Shaw, “Harry Potter”) has rehired her (this is TV, everyone is promptly rehired after being fired) and they’re back to investigating the brewing mystery of Villanelle’s employer. The stab wound hasn’t kept Villanelle down either; she’s quickly back to scheming and manipulating (and a little bit of killing too). The scheming and manipulating, of course, is at the heart of “Killing Eve.” At surface-level, the show is a kind of mindless, stylish caper. But really, it’s so much more: a meditation on the female psyche, a study in power and vulnerability, an open question about what a woman can or should do to get ahead. And hey, if we get some coats and blouses along the way, what’s the harm in that? TV REVIEW Rejoice, for ‘Killing Eve’ has finally returned to us The sun was setting on a gorgeous spring day in Ann Arbor. Students milled around outside Hill Auditorium, where A$AP Ferg would be performing shortly. I was occupied in the Panera bathroom, mixing a noxious concoction of tropical vodka, peppermint schnapps, Mountain Dew and Sprite in a plastic bottle. After my brew was prepared, my friends and I sat on a concrete ledge on the side of Hill Auditorium, passing the bottle back and forth among us. A$AP Ferg was due to take the stage any minute. We entered into a dismal scene. The crowd was spread out throughout the auditorium, the energy lackluster. The liquor was an insufficient bulwark against the lameness of the situation. Soon, A$AP Ferg came on stage and, sensing the vibe, almost immediately called everyone to rush the front against the futile objections of the staff. Good move — but not quite enough. It felt like the concert never really got going. One reason is that most people there were clearly not huge A$AP Ferg fans. This is normal — most concertgoers don’t know every song that is performed, and it’s common for non-fans to attend a concert. However, Ferg’s discography is particularly lopsided towards a few massive hits, so most people in the crowd only knew him from “Plain Jane,” “Work (Remix),” “Shabba” and “New Level.” The real, unsolvable problem was the choice of venue — Hill Auditorium is packed with traditional auditorium seating, meaning the energy of A$AP Ferg’s music can’t really charge up the crowd since, if you move more than a foot in any direction, you’ll trip over a row of chairs. It is an auditorium designed for ensemble performances and lectures, not for hip hop or any other type of concert that invokes an active audience. I think this arrangement also led to a lot of pent-up aggressive energy in certain members of the crowd, most noticeably the guy in front of me wearing a Knicks jersey (with what I believe was his own last name printed on the back) who kept trying to fight people. Outdoor concerts in the spring are fun; maybe MUSIC Matters, having done outdoors concerts for the day portion, should consider that for future events. While I think by and large he did his best, I do have one complaint with Ferg’s set. In the middle of it, Ferg played “First Day Out” by Tee Grizzley and “I Don’t Fuck With You” by Big Sean. While I understand the Detroit homage, it seems a little strange to play other people’s songs that you aren’t involved with at all during your set. If all people wanted to hear was a set of Tee Grizzley songs played over the aux, I would have done it for much cheaper. I respect and appreciate that he continued to pretend we were a good crowd throughout, as many artists would have made their disappointment known. It’s a testament to his showmanship that he was able to keep up a fairly convincing facade the whole time, his stage presence likeable and serious. At the end, when he thanked us for being a great crowd, I saw some people laugh and shake their heads. When the lights were turned on at the end, a quick glance around left me questioning the heavy use of the n-word throughout the concert by the audience during the refrain of “Plain Jane” given the obvious demographic tilt. After the show I walked to Fleetwood Diner and got a patty melt and fries. It was good. It left me hoping A$AP Ferg’s impression of Ann Arbor wasn’t limited to the narrow scope of Hill Auditorium. A$AP Ferg tried his very best at SpringFest 2019 CONCERT REVIEW JONAH MENDELSON Daily Arts Writer While I understand the Detroit homage, it seems a little strange to just play other people’s songs that you aren’t involved with at all during your set. BBC AMERICA MAITREYI ANANTHARAMAN Daily Arts Writer Killing Eve Season 2 premiere BBC America & AMC Sundays @ 8 p.m. In the run-up to “Avengers: Endgame,” I’m running down every movie and TV show the MCU has ever put out and ranking them based on how well they tell their stories with the means available to them.