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Edited by Mrph1 on Jul 29th 2024 at 3:09:00 PM
Sure, and I am not saying that it doesn't deserve a spot on the list, I mean the scene is undeniable iconic. But what I think puts scenes like the finale fight in Civil War, the Bridge Fight and the Helicarrier fight in The Winter Soldier or even the finale Fight in The Avengers easily above it is that all those action scenes have emotional moments during the fight scene which keep me engaged (which is in my case important, because I get easily bored watching two characters just punching each other, no matter how creative the means of punching is). Meaning when I stumble over the scene for a rewatch, I actually don't really pay attention to most of it all that much, I only start watching when he stops the train and the people carry him into the waggon. Meaning the moment which engages me emotionally happens after the actual fight, not during it.
Like I said, not my kind of list. I just have different priorities.
edited 31st May '18 3:32:46 PM by Swanpride
Elevator scene and Airport battles were the only ones I'd have included. Never saw GOTG and Thor was a long time ago for me. Skimmed Dark World and never saw Ragnarok.
I can understand them wanting to spread the love - Marvel might own the superhero live-action market right now, but Kick-Ass and Blade also had darn good fights. I'd have switched the club fight with Blade fighting Nomad personally.
My list would be:
- Clark and Zod punting each other across Metropolis in Man of Steel
- Cap and Bucky vs Stark in you know the one
- Megamind vs Titan in, well, Megamind
- The final fight with Deacon and his goons from the first Blade
- Cap fighting the guys in the elevator from WS
- Logan and Laura fighting the mercenaries at the end of Logan (and then some)
- Batman vs Luthor's goons in the warehouse BVS
- Blade vs Nomad from Blade II
- Deadpool vs Ajax (now that is a superhero fight)
- Spider-Man 2 Train Fight with Ock (reasons in compliance with what the video said)
Honorable mentions:
- The carjacker scene from The Amazing Spiderman
- Most of the fight scenes in Ant Man
- Venom!Peter fighting Harry in Spider Man 3
- The fly-by sequence from Avengers
- Most of the fights in Logan
- Everybody trying to gank Thanos in that one film
edited 31st May '18 3:51:01 PM by Soble
I'M MR. MEESEEKS, LOOK AT ME!If that video is using Spider-Man 2 to slam Amazing Spider-Man 2's choreography as a whole, I'm not sure I can agree with that. If the Building / Train fight is the finest adaptation of a comics-style Spider-Man fight in film, the opening of Amazing 2 with Spidey chasing the truck is just about the best adaptation of a comics-esque Spider-Man sequence with him out there saving the day and just straight out being the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man in film.
It wouldn't make my list because it's not, strictly speaking, a "fight," but it's by far the best thing in the film and promises something much higher quality than we got otherwise. It's one of my favorite sequences in a superhero movie of all time.
edited 31st May '18 4:19:16 PM by KnownUnknown
My top ten would definitely include:
- The battle sequence from The Avengers.
- At least one fight from Winter Soldier. It's hard to pick just one - the escape from SHIELD where Cap takes down a helicopter with his shield is great, but I also really like the fight on board the helicarriers, especially the fight between Cap and Bucky. It's so clear that Cap doesn't want to fight him, but when he realizes he's out of other options he just goes full-out even though it's clearly hurting him, because he knows that's what's needed to save other people. And as soon as he's dealt with Insight, he just drops his shield and stops fighting entirely, because he'll fight his brainwashed friend on behalf of innocents, but he won't fight him just in self-defence.
- The Stark-Cap-Bucky fight from the end of Civil War. I think the video ranked it too low - for me, it's probably the second-best superhero fight scene, because of all the emotional power behind it.
- Probably the airport fight from Civil War as well. Sure, it doesn't have as high of stakes, but it's still a fantastic scene with so many creative uses of powers.
But the all-time best superhero movie fight scene - for a given value of "superhero movie" - is the knives-vs-guns fight at the end of V For Vendetta. It's far more minimalist than the other fights listed, and it's absolute perfection.
edited 31st May '18 5:09:26 PM by Galadriel
The Steve/Bucky/Tony fight in Civil War is my number one, personally.
As an Iron Man fan, I actually went into the movie knowing that there would inevitably be a point where Steve defeats Tony. It's Steve's name in the title. You usually get to win Let's You and Him Fight matchups if your name is in the title. And I was expecting it to be stupid as shit and to come out complaining.
Instead, I was very satisfied with how the fight played out. Including Bucky and making it a 2v1 did a lot to help my suspension of disbelief, but what really pleased me was just how hard the fight was. America's greatest WWII super-soldier teamed up with the deadliest assassin and espionage agent in history are presented as the underdogs, desperately trying to hold out against the juggernaut of weapons technology that we've spent the last eight years building up.
It's not, like, some brief spat thrown into the movie somewhere before they team up for the climax. It is the climax. The culmination of everything that came before. Iron Man is the Final Boss Fight, the nigh-impossible adversary that Cap and Bucky have to find a way to overcome. And goddamn does it push them both to their breaking point.
That is a fantastic way to do Let's You and Him Fight. By the time the final blow was struck, I'm sitting there going, "Yeah, okay. They won, of course. But I am very satisfied with how near-impossible that victory was presented as. It took a miracle to beat my favorite superhero. I can be okay with this."
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.![]()
Yes. Which was a really clever way of doing it and led to a fantastic shot of the two double-teaming Tony and forcing him down.
I honestly thought the fight was going to be over when Bucky clenched the Arc Reactor with his metal arm. And I'm sitting there like, "Unibeam! UNIBEAM!!!" And then he did it. And it ripped Bucky's arm right the f*ck off, which was way more damage than I'd actually anticipated. 10/10, Holy Shit Factor through the roof.
All the while, the music playing in the background isn't the badass hero theme you might expect, but a sorrowful elegy that accentuates the sheer tragedy of this fight. The Russo Brothers make very clear in both the dialogue and the background music that the optimal outcome isn't for Cap to win, it's not for Tony to win, it's for this fight to never have happened in the first place. No matter who's standing at the end, nobody's walking away from this a winner.
Easily one of the most emotionally powerful scenes in Marvel's entire history, and an amazingly well-choreographed fight scene that manages to satisfy fans of both combatants at the same time. This scene is nothing short of a masterpiece.
edited 31st May '18 5:54:56 PM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.I completely and wholly agree. Actually, I would argue that the fight scenes involving both Steve and Bucky are some of the most spectacular and meaningful in the entire MCU. The scene on the train in the first Captain America movie demonstrates their teamwork and bond before culminating in Bucky’s death; the overpass fight scene from Winter Soldier has fantastic choreography all around, especially the knife fight, and the emotional gut punch of the reveal, the final desperate fight from Winter Soldier, where Steve refuses to fight Bucky after the mission is accomplished, Bucky nearly kills him, then saves him, and the aforementioned final fight from Civil War.
Yeah, those are pretty much the reasons why I lean towards this one for my number one fight, too (though any of the action scenes from the Winter Soldier comes close).
Here is the thing: With most Superhero action scenes you have the problem that you know how it will end. Naturally Spider-Man will stop the damn train, naturally he will survive to fight another day. But the end fight of Civil War, oh god, not only does it hurt to see them having a go at each other, for a hot second I actually thought that Steve would take off Tony's head in the the heat of the moment. And yes, deep down I knew in this case too that it wouldn't happen (it's Cap after all), but the scene is so intense and well-cut, I just couldn't help myself but honestly worrying about those two.
Fight scenes aside, which ones do you think are the best Superhero movie Climax scenes? I offer (not necessarily in this order) Civil War, The Winter Soldier, Doctor Strange, The Avengers and naturally Infinity War.
See, I didn’t appreciate the climax of Doctor Strange because the film overall was so weak and bland. It’s like a punchline with no set up; for me it completely failed.
Ant-Man climax had neat action and fun choreography, but I wasn’t emotionally involved in the climax. There just isn’t much set up for Scott and Darren Cross. The stakes don’t feel personal or compelling.
For all the things in which Doctor Strange slipped up, the built up to the climax was actually pretty brilliant. Even when he was still a doctor, Strange was obsessed with control...controlling time, controlling live, everything. Being ready to give up control in the end is a huge step for him, as is making a sacrifice not for fame but for the greater good.
I wasn't too enthralled with the Dormammu scene either, partly because it was nice but not particularly inventive looking CG, plus I watched it long after the film was spoiled to me beforehand and because I had already become accustomed to the timejump gimmick in other media.
Even if those themes were present in Dr. Strange, I barely noticed them, partly because the weak script didn't do a very good job of communicating them, partly because it had a bit of a problem with the Eight Deadly Words aside from Palmer and Mordo so I didn't have much motivation to think more deeply on it.
edited 31st May '18 6:37:24 PM by AlleyOop
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Glad you enjoyed it; it didn’t work for me. I hated Strange in his own movie; he was a gaping black hole of obnoxiousness that deprived every other character of screen time and competence, I didn’t feel like he actually changed much, or earned his powers, and so as I said, the climax did not work for me.
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That part was cool, but I didn’t feel particularly invested in Scott as a character.
edited 31st May '18 6:36:42 PM by wisewillow
Doctor Strange's "fight" with Dormammu is probably my favorite scene in the whole MCU.
But as for favorite actual fight (which would also exclude Yondu's Arrow vs. the mutinous Ravagers)...
I really do like the highway fight in Winter Soldier, especially the rapid knife-fighting. That's definitely up there. Iron Legion vs. Killian and his goons is pretty underrated, too. But I think my favorite might still be the Battle for New York. it's just so awesome.
You cannot firmly grasp the true form of Squidward's technique!I'd say that Tony vs. the Super Geriatrics and Thanos vs. Team Titan are my favorite fights.
This song needs more love.

I definitely agree with the train fight being #1, but in regards to the fight I don't agree with the "catching the train" part specifically being the thing that earns it that spot.
The entire thing running from the side of the building to atop the train remains one of the absolute best adaptations in live action of how fun, frenetic and just plain cool comic book fights can be, and how dynamic the characters involved can be.