The Most Iconic Scene From Every MCU Movie

The MCU is a special gift to mankind. It doesn't matter if you're looking for a hearty laugh, a good cry, or a chance to stand up and start cheering, Marvel's ever-increasing cinematic universe has got you covered. With so many classic scenes constantly being added to the on-screen canon, though, it's getting hard to keep track of all of the different moments that have moved us in the past.

With that in mind, we decided to sit down and comb over each and every film in the Infinity Saga in order to come up with what we thought was the best moment from each movie. Of course, such a highly speculative endeavor is always going to lead to some disagreement, but we've assembled what we believe to be, hands-down, some of the best superhero content to ever reach the silver screen. Some of these moments are quick and clever shots while others are longer scenes that slowly work the audience up into a highly emotional state. Regardless, though, all of them are freaking amazing.

So, without further ado, we present to you Looper's official list of the most iconic scenes from each and every film. We're presenting them in our own authoritative order to watch the MCU, from the inception of Iron Man to the epic showdown with Thanos and beyond.

In his quickly released sequel, Tony Stark's story was propelled forward as the mortal man struggled with the threat of the shrapnel in his chest and, oh yeah, a pair of lackluster villains in the form of Ivan Vanko (aka Whiplash) and Justin Hammer. While the film admittedly took a bit of a step back from its stellar predecessor, there's one scene in the story that absolutely can't be overlooked. Yeah, we're talking about Natasha Romanoff's invasion of Hammer Industries Headquarters.

While Romanoff manages to make it through the entire Infinity Saga without her own movie (something that was finally remedied after the fact), she still racks up a robust eight different appearances in other films, the first of which takes place in Iron Man 2, and it's a treat. While she factors in throughout the plot, as the story moves towards its climax, Agent Romanoff shows off her true colors in a brazen, single-handed assault on Justin Hammer's company headquarters. Okay, Happy's there to help her too, but does that really need to be pointed out? The scene is intense, and immediately demonstrates why the former Red Room trainee warrants a coveted spot among the overpowered ranks of the future Avengers.

By the end of the Infinity Saga, Thor has been put through the wringer. The god of thunder loses his mother, his father, his brother, and his best friend. He parts ways with his hammer and one of his eyes and has to defeat his own sister in combat. He becomes king only to lose his home planet to Ragnarok and then half of his people to Thanos. After that, he doesn't go for the head and then gets depressed and gains a ton of weight. Nuff said?

The point is, with the son of Odin going through so many traumatic experiences, it's easy to forget that the dude started off as a cocky jerk. In Thor, he sparks an interplanetary war and is exiled to Earth where he has to learn his lesson the hard way. That's why, when he finally sacrifices his own ego and does what's right, it leads to the best scene in the movie. After being nearly beaten by the Destroyer, the Asgardian finally becomes worthy to wield Mjolnir once again, and it's enough to get any fan up out of their seat cheering him on. If only he knew what the future had in store.

The Avengers is the first time we get to see the entire team suit up — or in Hulk's case, suit down — together. The raucous event follows the various heroes as they inevitably come together and gradually form a bond under the watchful eye of Nick Fury. The movie has plenty of memorable moments, from Thor and Iron Man duking it out in a forest to everyone coming together to fix the Helicarrier to Hulk sending Loki careening into the floor of Stark Tower.

However, there's no doubt that one scene stands head and shoulders above the rest, and that's the first time the entire team is shown together, in their full colors, grouped up in the streets of the Big Apple. Standing together as they're surrounded by hoards of Chitauri soldiers — with a slowly circling camera shot, to boot — the scene is about as epic as they get. It's one of those moments that's instantly etched into the mind of every Marvelite who witnesses it.

Thor: The Dark World often ends up at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to ranking movies within the MCU. However, its critical role in the Endgame time-travel storyline gave it new importance, particularly breathing life into what was already one of the film's better scenes. 

In the middle of the movie, Malekith arrives with a squadron of soldiers right in the heart of Asgard, searching for the Aether, which currently resides inside of Jane Foster. However, he's confronted by Thor's subtly skilled mother, Frigga, who shows up as Jane's lone defender. Frigga creates a hologram of Foster, which successfully tricks the Dark Elf, but the Queen Mother is killed in the ensuing fight. The scene is moving all on its own, but now that we know about the conversation that she has moments beforehand with her future son during Endgame, it boosts Frigga onto another level of heroics entirely and only makes the moment that much better.

Ah, the Guardians of the Galaxy, the MCU franchise that just keeps on giving. Ever since the group's arrival in the MCU back in 2014, Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket, and Groot have become synonymous with sarcastic yet effective heroism. While every single member of this gang of misfits is lovable in their own way, though, there's one member of the team that's always received the most affection: Groot. Ever loyal, willing to sacrifice, and always ready to take a bullet for his friends, Groot has remained a faithful part of the Guardians' storyline, no matter what form he's taken.

Of course, that form has shifted from a potted plant to a spunky child to a rebellious teenager primarily due to the fact that he literally did sacrifice himself for his friends — and in the best scene of the franchise's first movie, no less. Giving his own life by growing a living cocoon around his friends as they hurdled through the air over Xandar, Groot's final words deviated ever so slightly from his regularl "I am Groot" verbiage to a heartbreaking "we are Groot" that left the audience in tears for the selfless arboreal protagonist.

Scott Lang's movies are fun in and of themselves. However, they always felt a bit disconnected from the greater universe ... until Endgame came along, that is. When Lang rolled up to Avengers HQ with the Quantum van in tow, it completely rewrote the importance of Ant-Man's role in the MCU, and it made one already iconic scene from his first movie particularly important — the moment when Lang purposefully shrinks into the Quantum Realm.

Desperate to take out Yellowjacket before he hurts Lang's daughter, Cassie, Ant-Man attacks him in a Janet van Dyne-esque move in which he shrinks between the molecules, sabotaging his opponent's suit before Lang shrinks away into near-nothingness. A moment later, he finds himself facing an eternity of lonely existence in the Quantum Realm before he messes with his regulator and manages to escape in the nick of time. The scene isn't just iconic due to its heroic nature. It also gives us our first glimpse into a world that would ultimately be pivotal in saving half of the universe.

When T'Challa made his first appearance in Civil War, it turned heads. Everyone was excited to see the king of Wakanda on the battlefield with the Avengers. When Black Pather's first franchise movie finally released, though, it wasn't the man in the vibranium suit who soaked up the most attention.

Once T'Challa's cousin, Killmonger, arrives on the scene, all eyes are fixed on the antagonist. Brutal, strong, and possessing a tragic backstory, Killmonger quickly becomes one of the most popular villains in all of the MCU. He manages to wrestle power from T'Challa only to lose it in an epic combat deep in the mines of Wakanda. The duel ends with Killmonger defeated, but T'Challa, graceful in victory, brings him out to witness the beauty of Wakanda. At that point, the best scene of the movie takes place. Rejecting charity, Killmonger chooses to bleed out, telling his cousin to bury him in the ocean "with [his] ancestors that jumped from the ships because they knew death was better than bondage." The moving scene is, by far, the best ending moments for a villain in all of the MCU.

The most iconic scene from the second installment of the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise has to be Yondu's funeral. The space pirate iteration of Mary Poppins slowly makes a 180-degree turn throughout the film, shifting from Quill's estranged, rough-and-tumble adopted daddy to a bona fide member of the team. However, his time as a Guardian is short-lived, as soon after helping Quill and company take down Ego, he gives himself up in order to save his adopted son from suffocating in space.

This is followed by a splendiferous funeral scene in which other Ravager factions arrive unexpectedly to celebrate their rehabilitated member's sacrifice and honor his memory. Several of the faction leaders are shown giving farewell addresses, and space fireworks are fired off in plenty. The iconic scene is a fitting testament to Yondu's impact on the Guardians' storyline and a colorfully moving way to end a spunky movie.

Thor: Ragnarok is a smorgasbord of amazing scenes, all of which deserve mention. However, if you had to pick one that stands out from the pack, it would have to be the scene where Thor is pitted against the Grandmaster's champion ... who happens to be Hulk. The scene opens with Thor joyfully shouting, "He's a friend from work," an instant classic that was brainstormed on the spot by a kid from the Make-A-Wish Foundation who was visiting the set while they were filming.

From there, the two Avengers tumble around the arena in a rowdy free-for-all that leaves the audience thoroughly entertained. Each hero gains the upper hand at various points in the conflict until the Grandmaster puts a stop to things by zapping Sparkles in the neck. From the genius reintroduction of Hulk — who'd been missing from the MCU for two years at this point — to the over-the-top gladiator setting, the entire scene was instantly the most memorable part of the movie, no questions asked.

Seriously, the Ant-Man franchise is really fun. It's quirky, exciting, and full of a healthy dose of Paul Rudd humor. And yet, we can't help but think, for all the different aspects of Lang's story, it's the Quantum Realm moments that truly stick in your memory. In the case of Ant-Man and the Wasp, it isn't even the numerous trips down to the Quantum Realm during the main film that truly stand out — it's the end-credit scene.

With the movie coming squarely between Infinity War and Endgame, the question on everyone's mind is how and where it all fits in to the larger Thanos/Snappening situation. The question is left unaddressed until the credit begin to roll. Then, we get a quick, two-minute scene in which Lang heads down to the Quantum Realm to harvest some healing particles for his new ghost friend. It turns out that this is the exact moment that the Snap is taking place, inadvertently leaving Lang stuck behind in the Quantum Realm and immediately shoving the less memorable moments of the movie out of mind as all eyes turn towards Endgame.

Much like Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame is overly stuffed with memorable moments. We've got Steve Rogers wielding Mjolnir, Black Widow's death, Iron Man's death, the second Snap, and the entire third act. Do we need to keep going? The point is, it's hard to even choose a favorite. If you had to pick a single moment that truly summed up "the best of Endgame," though, there's one scene that manages to nudge above the rest — Captain America's "Avengers, assemble" line.

Hinted at throughout the Avengers franchise, the line was most directly alluded to in the final moment of Avengers: Age of Ultron. The film literally ends with Steve Rogers surveying the new team and announcing, "Avengers..." The unfinished phrase left diehard Marvel fans in a tizzy until Endgame finally soothed their pain. As the climactic end battle kicks off and the Avengers and their allies pour through portals all over the battlefield, Cap makes a resounding declaration to the unified group, finally declaring "Avengers, assemble." Spine tingles, anyone?