The Marvel Cinematic Universe has successfully taken over the globe in terms of cinematic domination, but it’s been nearly 5 months since the release of Spider-Man: Far From Home back in July. A long time to go without any new MCU projects for audiences to fan-girl out about. And even worse than that - there’s still another five months to go until we’ll see anything new at all!
With the Black Widow standalone movie not slated to come out until the first of May, the MCU is taking it’s longest leave of absence from the big-screen since the 10-month gap between Ant-Man and Civil War. So, in the meantime, let’s take a look back at some of our favorite moments of the middle phase of MCU’s 23-film powerhouse. Here are the best fights from Phase 2.
Ant-Man vs. Yellowjacket
It didn’t exactly take in a ‘Giant-Man’ sized haul at the box-office, but Ant-Man did it’s best to close out the second phase of the MCU and succeeded with a good-enough grade to dictate a sequel. He might not be the fans’ favorite Avenger (heck, they don’t even want a picture with him) but there’s no doubt that whenever Scott Lang hops into his super-suit he’s bound to entertain. His first true encounter with a super-villain proved that correct as he narrowly avoided laser-blasts while tossing Legos, Lincoln Logs, and Thomas the Tank-Engines toys at his enemy. Not the best 1v1 fight in the MCU, but definitely one of the funniest.
Guardians vs. Prison Guards
Speaking of hilarious battles, the Guardians of the Galaxy certainly had their fair share of them, not the least of which was when the five prisoners decided to break out of the Kyln. The entire scene is beautifully crafted as not only do the Guardians individually have to scrounge for spare parts (including a man’s robotic leg) while avoiding the prison guards and their blasters. Then Groot accidentally setting off the alarm and putting the place on lock-down makes it a thousand times better than if it had just been the Guardians sneaking around to get what they needed. Plus, the scene gets a 30,000 credit bonus for the guy’s leg that they didn’t really need.
Thor vs. Malekith
It may have taken Thor a few more years to hit his real stride with director Taika Waititi and then The Russo Brothers, but it wasn’t without reason that the God of Thunder still managed to receive his own trilogy and maintain ‘fan-favorite’ status among the audience - and that reason was his fight scenes.
Despite a lack of lightning or thunder, Mjolnir was early-Thor’s bread and butter and he certainly made it known during this multi-world battle with the king of the Dark Elves. It may not have been the greatest movie the MCU has produced, but this battle was classic Thor.
Hulk vs. Hulk-Buster Armor
We may have known it was coming thanks to the trailers, but boy was this battle worth the wait. When the entire Avengers team is left incapacitated by Scarlett Witch’s mind-tricks, Iron-Man is left by himself to sedate the rampaging Hulk.
Luckily (and reference earlier in the movie) Iron-Man gets some back up from ‘Veronica’, A.K.A. the Hulkbuster Armor, and gave fans one of the best 1v1 fights in the entire franchise as the two Avengers nearly leveled an entire city block. It’s just too bad Hulk wasn’t in Civil War to pay Iron-Man back for the beating.
Captain America Crew vs. Hydra/Shield (Car-chase, elevator, bridge)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier is still widely regarded as one of, if not, the best movie in the entirety of the MCU. The buddy-cop, spy-drama had a near-flawless premise, but the numerous, action-packed fight scenes throughout the movie were a huge reason why audiences loved it - so much so that we couldn’t even specify which one. The car-chase between Nick Fury and the fake cops, Cap taking down an entire elevator’s worth of double-agents, the fight between Rodgers and the Winter Soldier where he finds out it’s his childhood friend, Bucky. Every one of these battles/fights was flawless and could arguably all deserve their own spots on this list.
Avengers vs. Ultron, Maximoff Twins
The initial battle that led to the Hulk vs. Hulkbuster fight was particularly awesome in the sense that it gave the Avengers their first true challenge. Up until this fight, the hardest enemies the super-six had to face were the Chitauri and Loki. While the sheer numbers of the alien-invaders was the true test for the, again, six of them to defeat, none of those enemies had superpowers. (Loki does, but to be fair he barely used them in The Avengers, relying more on the spear).
That means that Ultron, the super-quick Quicksilver, and the glowing-red Scarlett-Witch were the team’s first encounter with other ’enhanced’ beings - and look at what happened.
Captain America Crew vs. Winter Soldier, Hydra Helicarriers
The battle scenes throughout the middle portion of the movie may have been heart-pounding, but the end scene where Captain America has to take down Hydra for the second time in his illustrious career was stellar, to say the least. In The Russo Brother’s first spin behind the MCU director chair, they certainly proved their worth when they gave Cap his own mini-Avengers team built up of Black Widow, Falcon, Agent Hill, and Nick Fury as they successfully killed the parasitic Hydra that had regrown inside of SHIELD. Add in the emotional 1x1 between Steve and his brainwashed childhood friend, and we’re with this fight scene until the end of the line.
Guardians vs. Ronan, Kree
What are you doing? I’m distracting you, you big turd-blossom! This is one of the greatest battles/moments to hit the MCU yet. The Guardians may have been a team of ‘a-holes’ that the world wasn’t particularly familiar with before their movie came to fruition, but they quickly became a household name.
This scene had a lot to do with their newfound love. After Ronan took Rocket’s bomb like an absolute champ, it seemed nothing could stop the infinity-stone wielding megalomaniac - until Star-Lord stepped in and saved the day in a way only he, and Kevin Bacon could have. Listen to these words.
Captain America, Black Widow vs. Ship Guards
How many times do we have to say it - this movie was phenomenal! Captain America: The First Avenger may have stymied Cap’s true abilities since mixed-martial-arts hadn’t quite been invented yet, but 21st century Cap had no such issues. In the opening battle for Cap’s second-film, he takes down an entire ship-deck of guards on his own after jumping out of a plane without a parachute. But it wasn’t what he did, it was how he did it - nobody had seen Cap fight like this yet, relying more on his own fighting capabilities rather than just banging people around with his shield. This was the start of the Captain America that we all wept at losing in Endgame, and boy was it a heck of a start. On your left.
Avengers vs. Ultrons
Is that the best you can do? As a matter of fact, yes it is, at least in terms of overall battles for MCU’s phase 2 line-up. Once again, Age of Ultron doesn’t deserve a lot of the hate that it gets, especially with battle scenes like this one. The mechanical Ultrons may have been about as threatening as the Chitauri from the first Avengers. Make no mistake, seeing our favorite super-heroes back together, along with the addition of Quicksilver, Scarlett Witch, and Vision, was everything that audiences wanted from the action-packed Phase 2 culmination (even if most of them refused to admit it at the time). But in the words of Vision, “there is grace in our failings.”
