The Greatest Fight Scenes In The MCU

You knew this would be on the list. As expected, it's here, and for two very good reasons.

First, it's the payoff to over half a decade's worth of tension-building between the MCU's two biggest heroes. Across both Avengers movies we'd seen these fan-favorite characters butt heads, their ideological differences only diverging further from each other within their respective solo movies. That kind of friction could only be resolved in one way, and every fan knew it. So when Civil War came around, expectations were high. Would we see an emotionally charged climactic fight between the red and gold metal man and his patriotic ex-compatriot? The answer this beautifully grim finale so deftly gave us was a resounding "yes." The scene let us revel in seeing our preferred hero beat the snot out of the other guy, and gave us an MCU fight with some actual stakes.

The second great aspect of the fight is how painfully close it is to its comic book counterpart in terms of general tone and shot composure. Seriously, the poster-ready and movie-defining shot of Captain America deflecting Iron Man's point-blank repulsor blast single-handedly sums up why this movie deserves to have been made. It's a shot that pays tribute to its source material, catches the eye, shortens the breath, and raises the MCU's cinematography standards all inside a few short, impossibly sweet seconds. It's a masterful moment of film brought to life by directors Joe and Anthony Russo and cinematographer Trent Opaloch.

While this one's a sort of fight-race hybrid, that doesn't change how freaking cool it is. The scene, which follows Ulysses Klaue attempting to escape the clutches of T'Challa, has a lot going for it. First of all, there's the fact that it takes place in nighttime Seoul, meaning in between the cool blues and blacks of night there are waves of neon signage and lights that infiltrate every onscreen shadow and fill each frame with distinct, exciting colors. Beyond an electric color palette, there's the kinetic nature of the scene's choreography. Director Ryan Coogler outdid himself with this sequence, which steals the show due to its organically flowing, visceral motion: one second T'Challa is riding atop a remotely driven car, the next he's flipping over said car in slow motion, and the beat after that he's running across the side of a building. It's absolutely bonkers stuff, and yet, it's connected via such smart shot transitions that the film never confuses you with its highly mobile, visually busy action. Couple all of that with an amazingly fun performance from Andy Serkis, who throws in a ton of snarky and memorable lines during his race-fight with T'Challa, and you've got a surefire recipe for one of the best fights in the MCU.

This is one of the MCU's greatest fight scenes for two big reasons: aesthetics and characters.

First of all, the whole fight takes place in a dome-covered Japanese garden. How cool is that? Seriously, no other fight scene in the MCU's history has filled its frames with cherry blossom petals swirling around two guys in robot suits, and that can only be considered a huge missed opportunity given how cool it looked in this scene. The shallow streams of shimmering water, hilly terrain (which adds variety to the planes of action), and aforementioned pink trees of wonder all help to set up a very surreal and visually arresting scene composition, the likes of which the MCU has unfortunately yet to see since.

Secondly, and more importantly, this scene is one of the only times we get to see Rhodey use his War Machine armor to its fullest potential. Close-up shots of him slicing open Hammer drones and covering himself in black oil are some of the most metal (excuse the pun) shots in the whole movie, and it's one of the rare times in the MCU that Rhodey's superhero alter ego lives up to its name. While he and Iron Man get a cool team-up throwback scene in Age of Ultron, nothing quite compares to their first go-around at the end of Iron Man 2.

Not counting whatever surprises await us in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers 4, the tarmac showdown in Captain America: Civil War remains the scene with the most superheroes we've ever had onscreen together at the same time, and it will forever remain a glorious moment in the MCU's history. So far, not one other movie in the massive, multi-franchise saga can claim to have a scene with as much raw, literal superheroism as this one, given that there are no fewer than twelve Marvel superheroes throwing down at the same time. Does The Avengers have a scene where Rhodey sonic-blasts Scarlet Witch while Spider-Man takes down Ant-Man like an AT-AT from Star Wars at the same time as Vision saves Black Panther from an incoming bus? Nuh-uh. Does Age of Ultron have anything comparable? Nope. Civil War's tarmac scene is a cacophony of comic book noise crammed into frames that are barely big enough to hold all the action. For the sheer scope of the fight alone, this scene easily earns its slot on this list.

While this one is nowhere close to being the most bombastic fight scene on the list, it's great for a whole different reason: without a doubt, it's the coolest entrance of a villain in the MCU's history to date. The scene starts off calmly enough, what with the Avengers schmoozing and boozing together, enjoying the cool-down phase of their big post-Hydra-defeat party. Life looks good, for a brief moment. However, as Black Widow will say later on in the film, "nothing lasts forever." Just as the Avengers begin to think all is well, a deafening screech is heard and a mangled, leaking Ultron makes his debut. Trapped inside the body of a broken Iron Legion soldier, Ultron says some harrowing words before siccing a bunch of hijacked Iron Legion troops on the Avengers in their own meeting room. 

From there, caught with their pants down, all the Avengers scramble to defend themselves. Cap's got his shield, Thor's got his hammer, and Stark has a gauntlet, but overall armaments are pretty lacking in this scene — and that's what makes it great. Instead of Iron Man just pointing his hand at things or Hulk smashing, the Avengers actually need to display some slick moves and dodge attacks with acrobatic finesse. It's one of the more interestingly choreographed fights in the MCU and, at the same time, displays a reserved elegance in both its narrative delivery and action, the likes of which are hard to come by in Marvel movies.

As great as the Avengers' throwdown in New York was, let's not pretend its glory came from heroes like Iron Man or Captain America. Let's not fool ourselves into thinking Hawkeye, with his Robin Hood parlor tricks, was the star of the show. And Black Widow? Nah, she didn't do anything that special. These characters were all fine, sure, and we paid them their due above, simply because it would've been rude to do otherwise before we arrived at the real champions.

These two mystery contenders and their absolutely glorious brawl have, and will, reign supreme over the MCU fight scene hill today, yesterday, and tomorrow, and it's highly unlikely Infinity War will feature anything capable of dethroning the moment these two titans of war chose to go at each other. Who could it be, you ask? What two MCU characters gave us the fight of the century, the one hidden away behind this elaborate, multi-paragraph veil of secrecy? Well, at long last, it's time to reveal the winner of this whole competition. The characters: Thor, the God of Thunder, and the Incredible Hulk. The fight scene: when Hulk one-punches Thor offscreen. It's brutal. So brutal. Brutal enough to oust every other fight on this list from their shot at being number one. Seriously, a big green dude, in one hit, declares ownership over a deity that controls storms. Thanos has no clue what he's about to go up against.

(We're joking, of course. Nevertheless, it's still a great scene with some serious punch. Heh.)