The Marvel Cinematic Universe has so many awesome moments in its movies that listing them all out would be next to impossible. Here at ComingSoon.net, we’ve done the next best thing and compiled a list of some of the best MCU moment. Be warned that the following list does contain spoilers!
The Vision is Born:
After a heated argument that would prove to foreshadow a civil war over Tony Stark’s plan to create a machine capable of assisting the Avengers in their fight against Ultron — also a machine created by Tony Stark ironically to assist the Avengers — the Vision miraculously came to be. This time it seemed that Stark and his reluctant partner Bruce Banner got the AI right. With the voice of Jarvis and a consciousness of his own, the Vision would go on to enable the Avengers to save the day yet again and even become an Avenger in his own right, but nothing for the character has yet topped seeing him come into being in a time of such dire need.
M’Baku Changes His Mind Just in Time:
In the recent Black Panther solo film, M’Baku was more of an antagonistic hero than an outright villain. He strongly opposed T’Challa’s rule as king of Wakanda and even tried to fight him for the throne. He also refused to provide assistance to the Black Panther in stopping Erik Killmonger from taking over Wakanda and converting it to a militaristic nation for good.
Still, in a clutch moment during the Wakandan civil war between T’Challa’s loyalists and Killmonger’s revolutionaries, M’Baku came up big with a change of heart that proved he really did want the best for Wakanda in spite of his reservations with T’Challa himself. His entry into the battle alongside his people marked the turning point where T’Challa’s forces were able to turn the tables on Killmonger’s warriors and keep the nation they cared for from sparking a potential genocide. Good timing, M’Baku. Good timing.
Tony Stark is Iron Man:
Secret identities are the core of many superhero narratives. So many heroes like Peter Parker go out of their way to conceal their identities to protect their loved ones that the concept of the alter ego has become engrained into the superhero genre. Tony Stark seemed to be prepared to take one on at the end of his debut movie by lying to the press with some phony garbage about knowing Iron Man, but it soon became apparent that Stark wasn’t about to play by the superhero rule book.
In a surprise moment, Stark stopped even attempting to make up a cover story and simply announces “I am Iron Man” to the world. This signaled a willingness to abandon the status quo from the comics while being delightfully in character for Stark as an attention-seeking lovable rogue, and it was a great moment to end the movie on.
Nick Fury Wants to Talk About the Avengers Initiative:
On the other side of the credits, Iron Man is where fans learned to wait until the movie actually stopped rolling when they went to see a Marvel production. During the post-credit scene an unaware Tony Stark walks into his own room to find a mysterious figure waiting for him. This figure, a man with an eye patch known as Nick Fury, wants to talk to Stark about something he calls “The Avengers Initiative.” It was in this single moment when he said the word “Avengers” that people realized what was about to happen. It was in this single moment that the Iron Man movie became connected to what was to come and it was in this single moment that the MCU was truly born. And it was super cool. Then again, so is just about everything Samuel L. Jackson does.
We are Groot:
The Guardians of the Galaxy movie showcases some of the best group dynamics and character development in the whole MCU. Each of the Guardians, in their own way, starts off as mostly self-serving. The only two members that are friends from the start are Rocket Raccoon and Groot. Everyone else can barely stand the other members of their strange little fellowship and they really only stick together out of a shared need.
By the end though, things have changed. Groot sacrifices himself to save the other Guardians and when asked why by an already grieving Rocket, Groot responds “We are Groot” instead of his usual “I am Groot.” This indicates that he sees the others as becoming so close to his heart that they are one and the same, and that seeing them harmed would be as bad or worse than seeing himself harmed. It’s not until the very end of the movie that the team officially decides to stay together in their adventures through space, but it is truly in this moment of selflessness and compassion that they became the Guardians together in spirit.
The Vulture is MJ’s Father:
We’ve all been there: you’re on a date to the prom, your date’s father is driving you up to the school dance, everything is going great, but then it turns out you’re dating the daughter of the super villain that has been trying to kill you all week. Wait, what?!
Yeah, that’s what we thought too. The big reveal near the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming that the Vulture is Liz’s father comes out of left field and it hits hard. What should’ve been the film’s titular homecoming in the form of a dance becomes a perilous struggle for Peter Parker to pretend not to be panicking in order to keep his secret identity a secret from his nemesis and the shift happens in a single jarring instant. Michael Keaton does a great job as the oblivious father slowly recognizing Peter, and Tom Holland does an equally excellent job in his role as the bumbling hero who keeps digging himself in deeper with the “help” of his unaware date, but the scene is made by that first awful moment of revelation.
Spider-Man Arrives at the Civil War:
Not all revelations are bad for Spidey, though. For example, his reveal in Civil War was awesome! Nobody expected it. For the longest time Spider-Man was Sony’s cinematic property alone and so fans thought that they’d be seeing a Civil War movie without the web-head. Seeing him yank Captain America’s shield out of his hands with a shot of web fluid and then quipping at his army was about the best way they could’ve broken the news and it elicited cheers from many a Marvel fan when it happened.
Dr. Strange Comes to Make a Bargain:
The finale of Dr. Strange has to be one of the most unique final “battles” in MCU history. Up against the dreaded Dormammu, Dr. Strange does not prevail with his fists but with his magic and with his mind. Rather than smashing Dormammu apart (which would’ve been futile anyway) Dr. Strange repeatedly arrives in front of Dormammu offering a simple deal: “Dormammu, I’ve come to make a bargain” he announces each time, and each time he’s killed in increasingly brutal ways as Dormammu’s frustration with the time-bending Strange grows. By the end Strange claims to have been killed a thousand times and points out that he’ll never stop until Dormammu listens to him.
It is in this particular moment, this specific utterance of “I’ve come to bargain” that the awesome moment happens. Dr. Strange is no longer simply bargaining; from the inflection in his voice, it’s clear that he knows he’s won. He’s no longer making an offer, he’s rubbing his victory in the face of an immortal space god with the snarky arrogance of a master magician. It is at this point that the audience sees just how far he’s come in his quest to become the Sorcerer Supreme, and it’s seriously satisfying to watch.
Thor Gets His Lightning Powers Back:
Thor: Ragnarok was an odd departure from the other Thor films and it was better for it. One interesting difference was that Thor could no longer rely on his hammer because it was crushed by the villain Hela. This left him feeling nervous that he was no longer worthy of it. There was a palpable doubt throughout the whole movie that Thor would be able to save Asgard. This all came to a head when, during a vision of Oden, Thor realized that his power was not about his hammer, but about his role as the god of thunder.
Cue Thor leaping to the ground from a balcony to absolutely thrash the enemy army with his returned lightning powers alongside a reprise of the perfectly fitting Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin. It’s as awesome as it sounds and an excellent payoff for Thor’s character arc overall.
Bruce Banner is Always Angry:
In the original Avengers Captain America was astounded that Bruce Banner managed to avoid becoming angry enough to transform into the Hulk. He asked Banner how this was possible, but kept being told it was a secret.
That is, until crunch time hit and an alien craft was headed directly for the Avengers. Captain America told Banner that it was probably time to get angry, at which point Banner infamously responded “That’s my secret, Cap — I’m always angry.” He then turned into the Hulk and smashed the alien craft without even skipping a beat, and it was truly incredible. Everything about that moment, from the understated tension of the oncoming battle, to the payoff of learning Banner’s technique, to the casual dissonance of Banner’s quietly furious delivery of the line, to the almost offhand way he transforms and utterly wrecks the massive heap of metal coming his way was perfect.
What makes this moment the best though is the depth it reveals in Banner. Captain America was wrong all along; Banner wasn’t avoiding becoming angry, he was living with it constantly. The awkward dork of a scientist we’ve seen the whole movie is revealed to actually be so full of rage that it physically affects him, yet so determined to overcome it that he manages to keep it boiling just below the surface. The fact that he can switch between the two forms of himself so fluidly and on demand speaks to the immense amount of self-control that he’s taught himself since the first film, and the delivery of his big line sounds simultaneously exhausted, miserable, and triumphant. Banner hates having to live with the Hulk inside of him and it leaves him drained, but he’s also a master of his own making and he is proud that he has tamed the beast inside of him. Very rarely does he get to be fulfilled in his career as unlike Captain America or Thor, he’s a much more dangerous person capable of doing real harm to innocents without even realizing it, but in this moment he got to show the rest of the team that he was just as much a hero as any of the rest of them.
Hulk smash. Hulk smash indeed, in the most badass way possible.
So that’s it, that’s our list. As was said earlier, fitting every epic moment in the entire MCU into one top ten list is absolutely impossible. We probably couldn’t even do it if it was a top one hundred list, but that’s a good thing. It speaks to how well-done the MCU has been thus far, and it serves as a promise for future films like Infinity War to be just as good. Our only question is, what would you put on your list, and why? Let us know in the comments, and until next time… excelsior, true believers!
