10. Avengers: Endgame
Avengers: Endgame is another movie featuring several satisfying action beats. Thor lobbing off Thanos’ head upon their reunion. Cap vs. Cap amid the Battle of New York. Tony, Steve, and Thor tooling up and going three-on-one against Thanos. Steve lifting Mjolnir and proving his worth against the Mad Titan. But, for me, Captain Marvel’s battlefield arrival is the best explosive burst. She does what she does best; tears through starships as if they were butter. All Captain America can do is marvel at her majesty. Broken shield on one arm, the hammer of a god in the other. He’s a badass, but she’s even more so, and he loves to see it.
9. Ant–Man and the Wasp
Most of the first Ant–Man was Hank Pym and Scott Lang getting in the way of Hope Van Dyne’s total supremacy. Now with a suit of her own, nothing and no one is standing in her way. The franchise’s true hero has arrived. To prove this point, Ant–Man and the Wasp reintroduces her character with a savage kitchen melee. Sonny Burch’s goons swarm on her, but she zips through the air, shrinks and enlarges to her advantage, and races across knives as they whip toward her. Here is the miniaturized creative violence we came for in the first film.
8. Black Panther
The second you mention Black Panther, some jerk will pop up to complain about the iffy digital doubles that climax the film’s action. Yeah, okay, they’re not the best. But you’ve got a brain. You know how the suspension of disbelief works, right? It’s what got you through the shoddiest of B-movies and made Roger Corman a millionaire. The VFX may creak here and there, but again, the emotion and character behind those computer brawls are what ultimately make the film sing. But enough excuses, I’m not celebrating the climax here. The best Black Panther action scene is easily the Busan beatdown. T’Challa, Okoye, and Nakia infiltrate a South Korean gambling den in their hunt for Ulysses Klaue. They find him, along with the CIA lackey Everett Ross. Guns come out, Okoye’s wig comes off. Ludwig Göransson’s score ignites. The Dora Milaje transforms Klau’s stooges into crumpled piles of bone and flesh.
7. Spider–Man: Far From Home
All that defensive posturing about Black Panther‘s climax brought me to this scene from Spider–Man: Far From Home. After nearly avoiding a shower of glass, Peter reaches out to touch his reflection, and the reflection touches back, pulling him close and giving him a good whack. A dozen other reflections join the dogpile and beat him down into a graveyard where Tony Stark’s corpse roars from the soil. Yes, it’s a cartoon. It’s a fantasy, a nightmare. Mysterio has drawn Peter Parker into his realm, and every image is designed to destroy the kid’s quaking soul. The sequence interprets multiple Mysterio encounters from the comic books, mostly bits originated by Spidey’s grandaddy Steve Ditko. Conceptually it’s a chef’s kiss, and sometimes that’s all you need for a killer action scene.
6. Thor: Ragnarok
Another tough pick. Thor and Hulk’s first “friend from work” gladiatorial session could easily sit here. That moment built from their very first encounters in 2012’s The Avengers (stay tuned, kiddos). However, Thor: Ragnarok‘s final Rainbow Bridge gauntlet is the film’s peak performance. Not only do you have Thor discovering the lighting within and bringing it down upon Hela’s ghoulies, but you also have Valkryie stepping up to the plate while the Grandmaster’s disco sparklers dance around her. Plus, Hulk terrorizes the Fenris wolf, and Loki jabs many daggers and his own helmet horns into soft Hela followers. Oh! And Scourge brings the pain with Des and Troy.
Related Topics: Action, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Studios
