Alan Silvestri Is the Best Composer in the MCU (And It’s Not Even Close)

The orchestral scores in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have always been met with a more mixed reception than even the movies themselves. As early as 2016, major YouTube channels were lodging understandable complaints about the original scores composed for these titles. Too often, MCU movies have relied on standard blockbuster movie composers like Brian Tyler, Ramin Djawadi, Henry Jackman, Lorne Balfe, and Rob Simonsen, who can crank out compositions in time for a feature’s long-determined release date. Even Danny Elfman’s two MCU scores lacked idiosyncrasies. Minimal personality comes out in these tracks, while a shocking lack of effort has been put into reusing theme music for certain superheroes in big crossover movies.

Still, that doesn’t mean all MCU scores are disposable. Certain composers, like Michael Giacchino, Ludwig Göransson, and Joel P. West, have injected some real distinctiveness into this saga’s sonic scene. However, there’s one composer that rises above all the rest in the pantheon of MCU composers. That honor belongs to legendary musician Alan Silvestri, whose career accomplishments go far beyond the MCU.

Why is Alan Silvestri The Best MCU Composer?

When he took on composing Captain America: the Winter Soldier, Henry Jackman had only been composing feature films for a few years. Iron Man was one of the first feature-length movies Ramin Djawadi composed all on his own. Silvestri, meanwhile, had been composing original film scores for 39 years before he got hired to compose Captain America: The First Avenger. Starting with The Doberman Gang in 1972, Silvestri was a memorable composer in Hollywood, with his collaborations with Robert Zemeckis (on titles like Back to the Future and Who Framed Roger Rabbit) really taking his career to the next level of notoriety.

That level of experience already makes it clear why Silvestri’s such a step up from typical MCU composers. Other films in this franchise have scores from fresh-faced composers content to just mimic the sound of typical Hans Zimmer compositions. Silvestri, meanwhile, draws upon decades of experience and a more classical approach to scoring that works like gangbusters for his rousing MCU outings. His irony-free approaches to the scores for period pieces like Roger Rabbit and The Quick and the Dead especially proved useful of preparing him for The First Avenger’s score. The tracks here sound distinctly like they’d come from a rousing 1940s adventure.

He’s also just better at utilizing themes to accentuate the personalities of these costumed characters. Henry Jackman’s Captain America: Civil War score, for instance, didn’t utilize specific leitmotifs or distinctive instruments to differentiate Ant-Man/Scott Lang from Hawkeye/Clint Barton or Wanda Maximoff from Black Panther/T’Challa. By the time Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame rolled around, Silvestri had become adept at incorporating music cues from other MCU composers to suggest different worlds colliding. It’s a trait that provides a wonderful counterbalance to the musical uniformity defining so many other MCU soundtracks.

[RELATED – Alan Silvestri Seemingly Returning for Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars]

Silvestri’s Scores Aren’t Afraid To Stand Out

In describing why Silvestri was an ideal pick to compose The Avengers, writer/director Joss Whedon emphasized the composer’s ability to stir up big emotions in viewers. That quality would really get utilized by directors Anthony and Joe Russo once they took over the Avengers franchise. Avengers: Infinity War’s ending, for instance, largely eschews dialogue and lets Silvestri’s score carry the deluge of emotions felt by the characters. That final moment of Thanos emerging from his hut to sit and watch the sun set wouldn’t work nearly as well without Silvestri’s impeccably conceived score.

Meanwhile, that big “Avengers assemble” sequence in Endgame is nothing without the grand theatricality of Silvestri’s “Portals” track. Kicking off with thundering drums followed by a lonely trumpet wailing, “Portrals” is a tremendously towering track that stupendously communicates the weight of all these superheroes returning from the dead. Musical elements like a reverent choir accentuate the majesty of this occurrence. Meanwhile, the escalating energy and level of instrumentation in the piece provide a perfect auditory echo for more and more superheroes assembling. Having the classic Avengers theme music (though in a slightly different, more urgent form) begin to creep in halfway through is just a phenomenal touch.

This track alone is a microcosm of Silvestri’s gifts that caught Whedon’s ears years earlier. It’s also the kind of dynamic and varied track that most MCU scores lack. It’s hard to imagine any other composer mainstay of this franchise living up Silvestri’s wildly varying MCU work. From the period piece adventuring of The First Avenger to the more complicated tones of Infinity War and Endgame, this film score legend reminds moviegoers everywhere why he’s the real deal. If there’s any downside to his MCU accomplishments, it’s simply that Alan Silvestri’s compositions remind everyone what other MCU soundtracks are missing.

Avengers: Endgame is now streaming on Disney+.