Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Essential, and it is the best film of Phase Five and arguably of the Multiverse Saga. Watch the first two Guardians films and the Holiday Special first; it is the conclusion of a trilogy and assumes all of it.

The subject is Rocket, and the film is much harder than anything else in the franchise. Flashbacks follow a baby raccoon in a cage being surgically rebuilt by a scientist who considers him a prototype, alongside three other animals who become his friends, and the film does not soften any of it. Several sequences are genuinely distressing and the certificate was debated.

The villain is the reason it works. The High Evolutionary is not after power or a weapon; he is a perfectionist who creates entire species, finds them disappointing and destroys them, and Chukwudi Iwuji plays him as a man in a permanent state of irritation. A Marvel antagonist motivated purely by contempt is new.

The corridor sequence near the end, a single apparently unbroken shot following the whole team through a fight, is the best action Gunn has staged. The ending gives every member of the ensemble a resolution and the final needle drop is earned. It is the only Marvel trilogy that finishes properly.