The Marvel Movie With The Highest Audience Score On Rotten Tomatoes

After the Marvel Cinematic Universe climaxed in 2019 with the release of "Avengers: Endgame" — a film which made eleventy skatillion dollars (adjusted) — many began to wonder if that was it for the series. After a $400 million, three-hour SFX epic with 40 main characters, a time travel story, and a 45-minute climactic fight scene, it seemed doubtful that it could be topped. Even after another decade of buildup, and an additional twenty-some feature films, such a finale couldn't possibly be recreated. 

As it so happens, the doubters were correct. In the five years since "Endgame," the MCU has seemed both overstuffed and directionless. Multiple TV shows have oversaturated the brand, making each MCU entry seem less special. News began to come out about how Marvel Studios was engaged in vicious SFX bidding wars that were hurting the industry. Also, many have begun to notice the narrative limitations of superhero stories in general. There's only so much that can be done with a universe of heroes and villains. 

Most notably, when Phase IV and Phase V films hit, it seemed clear that Marvel was no longer building to any kind of climax. They tried to start a new story with a villain named Kang, but that fell apart over the real-life crimes committed by star Jonathan Majors. The films no longer interconnected a vast, over-arching story. And without its interconnectivity, the MCU has nothing. Fans had nothing to look forward to anymore. 

But there were still many latter-day hits on the way down. Both "Spider-Man: No Way Home" and "Deadpool & Wolverine" were gigantic successes, both happily taking cameo-laced victory laps that fans ate up. And, indeed, the Marvel film with the highest Rotten Tomatoes audience score came out during the maligned Phase IV. With a 98% score, Destin Daniel Cretton's 2021 film "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" is the MCU's most beloved.

"Shang-Chi" introduced the title character, played by the handsome Simu Liu, as the son of an immortal gangster named Xu Wenwu (Tony Leung). Xu was granted immortality by ten magical bracelets that he wore up and down his arms, and which he could control with his mind. Shang-Chi was trained in martial arts as a boy and was expected to be an assassin for Xu, but Shang-Chi left the family business over moral objections and became a valet in San Francisco. Shang-Chi's backstory is revealed slowly to his best friend Katy (Awkwafina) after the pair of them encounter high-octane super soldiers in the street one morning. 

What follows is a complex Marvel adventure involving a magical forest of bamboo, killer dragons, a resentful sister, a hidden kingdom, and a portal to Hell. Michelle Yeoh has a small role, and Ben Kinsley returns, reprising his role of Trevor from "Iron Man 3." 

"Shang-Chi" was reviewed well, sporting a 92% approval rating, based on 344 reviews. No one listed it on their best-of-the-year lists, but almost everyone gave it a pass. Moreso, many people logged into Rotten Tomatoes to give it a positive rating, giving it that 98% audience score, now called the Popcornmeter. Over 10,000 people gave it a thumbs-up. One might want to take that number with a grain of salt, however; one doesn't have to see the movie to give it a positive or negative score on the Popcornmeter. Indeed, certain films tend to get review-bombed by terminally online "fans" who simply want to move the needle on films they object to, sight unseen.

But still, 98% is impressive, even with the salt. 

In terms of its critical rating, "Shang-Chi" is ninth-highest rated of the MCU, listed behind "Thor: Ragnarok" (93%), "Spider-Man: No Way Home" (93%), "The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special" (94%), "Avengers: Endgame" (94%), "Iron Man" (94%), "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." (95%), "Black Panther" (96%), and "Ms. Marvel" (98%).