Whose side are you on? Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most marvelous MCU fights. While we’ll limit ourselves to one entry per film or tv show season, there’s no limit on spoilers.
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00:00 - Before we get started, does anyone want to get out?
00:04 - Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down
00:06 our picks for the most marvelous MCU fights.
00:10 While we'll limit ourselves to one entry per film
00:12 or TV show season, there's no limit on spoilers.
00:16 (dramatic music)
00:19 Number 20, Iron Man versus Obadiah Stane, Iron Man.
00:29 (grunting)
00:31 With how far and how fast the MCU has expanded,
00:35 it can be easy to forget its roots
00:37 and the fact that in its very first film,
00:39 it offered up this excellent final fight.
00:42 Obadiah Stane, Tony Stark's former mentor,
00:45 essentially goes mad with power
00:47 after developing his own mammoth version
00:49 of Tony's initial Iron Man suit.
00:52 Outgunned and running low on power,
00:54 Tony uses his intelligence and experience
00:56 with the suit's shortcomings to gain advantages on Stane,
01:00 all while trying to protect civilians from getting killed.
01:02 Filled with everything from vehicles
01:04 being used as melee weapons
01:06 to the now seemingly mandatory Sky Beam,
01:09 Iron Man's fight against Iron Monger is a truly great one.
01:12 (dramatic music)
01:15 Number 19, Peggy and Jarvis versus SSR,
01:26 Agent Carter.
01:27 - Procedure 791, isolate the suspect
01:29 and remove civilians from harm before attempting arrest.
01:31 - While stopping for a bite to eat,
01:33 Agent Peggy Carter and Edwin Jarvis
01:35 are surprised by several strategic scientific reserve agents
01:39 who believe them to be helping America's enemies.
01:42 Carter dispatches the agents
01:44 with her excellent and characteristic skill,
01:46 while Jarvis holds off their backup at the doors.
01:49 ♪ Yes, it's a good day ♪
01:51 ♪ How could anything be wrong ♪
01:53 ♪ A good day for a monocle man ♪
01:57 - I can't hold him forever!
01:58 - Not to underplay Jarvis's handiwork,
02:00 he does get a good hit or two in by the end of it.
02:04 The fight utilizes its environment well
02:06 and is set to the song "It's a Good Day" by Peggy Lee,
02:09 making for a light and breezy scuffle
02:11 that's a short but sweet treat to watch.
02:14 Number 18, Black Widow hallway fight, Iron Man 2.
02:20 - Hey, hey, hey, you can't go--
02:23 - Pursuing Ivan Vanko, aka Whiplash,
02:25 at a hammer facility, Black Widow,
02:27 accompanied by Tony Stark's driver, Happy Hogan,
02:30 fights her way through a security team.
02:32 Romanoff makes efficient work of a dozen men
02:35 using gadgets and quick unorthodox moves,
02:38 like her signature scissor flip,
02:40 which is contrasted nicely with Happy,
02:42 who struggles to beat even one guy.
02:44 - I got him!
02:50 - Although Black Widow's introductory fight
02:52 in "The Avengers" against Russian thugs
02:54 was also quite well done,
02:56 we ultimately decided on this one,
02:58 both due to its greater length
02:59 and its impact on establishing her fighting style.
03:02 It was just a warmup for many fantastic scraps to come.
03:06 Number 17, Ant-Man versus Yellow Jacket, Ant-Man.
03:14 - I'm gonna disintegrate you!
03:16 - Playing disintegration by the cure.
03:18 - When it comes to great fight scenes, size doesn't matter.
03:21 Scott Lang first confronts Darren Cross in a helicopter.
03:25 Their miniaturizing battle leads them to the ground
03:28 and eventually to the toy-filled bedroom of Cassie Lang.
03:31 With his daughter in danger,
03:32 Scott does his best to protect her,
03:34 while keeping Cross on his toes with everything in the room.
03:38 But it isn't all small stakes.
03:40 During the battle,
03:41 ordinary objects are enlarged to enormous size.
03:45 The contrast of big and small scenery
03:47 made this fight feel unique
03:48 among the rest of the MCU's brawls.
03:51 And Scott going subatomic to defeat his foe
03:54 helped set up future plots
03:55 while making for an intense and dramatic finish.
03:58 - Can the relevant?
04:06 Can the relevant?
04:08 - Number 16, Melinda May versus Agent 33, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
04:13 - I won't go down easy.
04:15 That makes two of us.
04:17 - This supremely underrated show has a ton of great fights,
04:21 but out of all of them,
04:22 Agent Melinda May's fight with Agent 33
04:25 still sticks out in our minds.
04:27 After escaping captivity,
04:29 the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent confronts a villain
04:31 who's using a holographic disguise
04:33 to look like the heroine.
04:34 Their brutal fight is hilariously set
04:37 in a fancy hotel room.
04:39 And since the agent and her brainwashed doppelganger
04:41 are a solid challenge for each other,
04:43 the winner isn't immediately clear.
04:45 Although 33 arms herself with knives,
04:48 May still manages to take her down.
04:50 This mirror match is executed wonderfully
04:53 and features a final shocking attack from the heroine.
04:57 - The best part about killing you
04:58 is that I won't have to be you anymore.
05:01 - If you were really me, you wouldn't talk so much.
05:05 - Double the Ming-Na-Wen is never a bad thing.
05:10 Number 15, Thor versus Iron Man and Captain America,
05:14 The Avengers.
05:15 - Listen well, brother.
05:17 - I'm listening.
05:20 - After Iron Man and Captain America have captured Loki,
05:23 Thor shows up and abducts him,
05:25 keen on having Loki face his own people's justice.
05:28 However, Iron Man goes after him
05:31 and the two hot-headed guys clash in a fantastic fight
05:34 that utilizes their respective abilities
05:36 in fun and creative ways.
05:38 Captain America intervenes to put an end to the conflict
05:45 and manages to do so,
05:47 while dramatically flattening a chunk of forest
05:49 around them in the process.
05:51 Full of humor and inventive choreography,
05:53 this fight is just the first
05:55 of the MCU's many hero versus hero fights to make our list.
05:59 Number 14, the Guardians versus High Evolutionary Guards,
06:10 Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 3.
06:13 - New game plan, we get the hell out of here now.
06:16 - There are thousands of creatures on the ship.
06:17 - Many of them are children.
06:19 - We need to be good, you two.
06:20 - Huh?
06:22 - It means friends.
06:23 - If you're looking for the perfect combination
06:25 of music and action,
06:26 look no further than this three-cool scene.
06:29 Shortly after the Guardians reassemble,
06:31 the team risks everything to save innocent lives
06:34 on the High Evolutionary's ship.
06:36 Their clash with the villains' guards
06:38 is brilliantly underscored by the Beastie Boys'
06:41 No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn.
06:42 - No sleep 'til Brooklyn!
06:44 - Instead of traditional cuts,
06:49 the camera appears to fluidly move between the Guardians.
06:52 This makes it feel like the action never stops.
06:55 The sequence also gives each hero a chance to shine
06:58 and show off their skills.
07:00 While it is a brief scene,
07:01 the sheer style on display here
07:04 more than makes up for a short runtime.
07:07 Number 13, Scarlet Witch versus the Illuminati,
07:10 Doctor Strange, and the Multiverse of Madness.
07:13 Villains defeating the heroes is disheartening,
07:16 but straight up killing them?
07:18 Well, that's just terrifying.
07:20 After Wanda Maximoff possessed a version of herself
07:23 in another universe, she stops at nothing
07:25 to get her hands on the multiverse-hopping America Chavez.
07:29 When the heroic Illuminati alliance stands in her way,
07:32 she decides to remove them as an obstacle.
07:35 - I have children of my own.
07:36 I understand your pain.
07:38 - Is their mother still alive?
07:39 - Yes.
07:42 - Good.
07:44 There will be someone left to raise them.
07:46 - The Scarlet Witch kills this Earth's mightiest heroes
07:49 in increasingly grisly ways.
07:51 Although the last one standing put up more of a fight,
07:54 Wanda is far too powerful for any of them to handle.
07:58 She proves to be a frightening opponent
08:00 for these newly introduced heroes.
08:02 Their brief battle is one we often relive
08:05 in both our memories and our nightmares.
08:07 - They're not coming back.
08:09 And you just cast your vote now to kill your friends.
08:12 - Number 12, Punisher versus Cellblock, Daredevil.
08:16 - After this, you and me, we're done.
08:18 - Yes, we're done.
08:19 - After the Kingpin puts him up to killing a mutual enemy,
08:27 Frank Castle, aka the Punisher,
08:29 finds himself locked in a cellblock with a dozen criminals,
08:32 which is just what the bald crime lord wanted.
08:35 The group of inmates are all armed
08:37 with a variety of shivs and improvised weapons,
08:40 but Castle manages to turn those tools against his enemies,
08:43 brutally killing or injuring all of them,
08:46 taking a decent and satisfyingly realistic beating himself.
08:50 The fight is easily one of the most violent
08:53 in the whole MCU, and it really proves
08:56 that while the Punisher may be known
08:57 for his deadliness with guns,
08:59 he's just as lethal on his own.
09:01 - But I find it refreshing.
09:03 - Number 11, Star-Lord versus Ego,
09:06 Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 2.
09:09 Since Peter Quill can be quite a goober,
09:11 no one was expecting for him to briefly become
09:13 one of the most powerful beings in the galaxy.
09:16 Star-Lord was able to use
09:18 his newly awakened celestial powers
09:20 to keep up with his bad dad, Ego.
09:23 - You shouldn't have killed my mom and squished my Walkman.
09:26 - While Peter's friends enacted a plan
09:31 to kill Peter's monstrous father,
09:33 the hero held down the fort.
09:35 It was fun to watch the dad and son
09:37 rocket around the core of Ego's rocky body
09:39 by using their fists and their environment
09:42 in their titanic clash.
09:44 The Pac-Man shout-out was particularly fun.
09:47 Although a bomb ultimately put an end to Ego,
09:53 they wouldn't have had a chance
09:54 if Star-Lord didn't put his celestial powers on the line.
09:58 - If you kill me, you'll be just like everybody else.
10:02 - What's so wrong with that?
10:05 - No!
10:06 - Number 10, Hulk versus Thor, Thor Ragnarok.
10:10 - Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Lord of Thunder.
10:14 - Easily among the two heaviest hitters among the Avengers,
10:18 Thor and Hulk have clashed several times,
10:20 notably in the first Avengers film.
10:23 But their fight in Thor Ragnarok was truly next level.
10:26 - You're incredible!
10:28 (thunder rumbling)
10:32 (Hulk groaning)
10:36 - Yes!
10:37 - Forced to do battle in an arena,
10:40 Thor is at first happy to see the Hulk,
10:43 but the green guy is more interested in fighting.
10:45 Both combatants get in some big hits,
10:48 and the use of weapons adds a different dynamic
10:50 to Hulk's fighting style.
10:51 (Hulk groaning)
10:54 - Here we go.
10:56 - Thor's lightning powers seem to give him an edge,
10:59 prompting the Grand Master to stun him
11:01 rather than see the Hulk lose.
11:03 Too bad.
11:04 Had it been allowed to play out to the end,
11:06 this might have ranked even higher.
11:08 (Hulk groaning)
11:11 Number nine, T'Challa versus Killmonger, round one.
11:16 Black Panther.
11:17 - I train, I lie, I kill, just to get here.
11:22 - When Erik Killmonger arrives in Wakanda,
11:25 he challenges his cousin T'Challa
11:26 for rulership of the hidden African nation.
11:29 Their duel atop a waterfall sees a de-powered Black Panther
11:33 and his estranged family member
11:34 battle with nothing but their own strength
11:36 and traditional weaponry.
11:38 While T'Challa gives a good account of himself,
11:40 Killmonger's gradual cuts make it clear
11:43 that the killer is more skilled.
11:45 Even an interruption by Zuri isn't enough
11:47 to save Black Panther from a crushing loss.
11:51 Although the hero may lose the fight,
11:53 the evocative setting, charged emotions,
11:55 and the fact that every slash cuts deep
11:58 made this duel unforgettable.
12:00 - Now, I'm your king.
12:02 - No!
12:03 - We have to go now.
12:05 - Number eight, Hulk versus Hulkbuster.
12:07 Avengers, Age of Ultron.
12:09 - You're Bruce Banner.
12:11 - Yes!
12:11 - Right, right, right, don't mention puny Banner.
12:13 - Speaking of the Hulk, our current favorite brawl
12:16 featuring the incredible Avenger is this one.
12:18 After becoming entranced by Scarlet Witch,
12:21 the Hulk goes wild, rampaging through a city.
12:24 Iron Man calls down a package from a satellite,
12:27 which turns out to be a set of armor
12:29 designed with the Hulk in mind,
12:30 which he uses to battle the green rage monsters
12:33 through the streets and buildings.
12:35 The fight is chock full of cool tech, funny moments,
12:42 and some of the biggest impacts in any fight on our list,
12:45 like the climactic destruction of an entire building.
12:49 Number seven, Shang-Chi versus Wenwu.
12:58 Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
13:01 When the misguided Mandarin entrusts an evil force
13:04 to bring his wife back to life,
13:05 his son tries to knock some sense back into him.
13:08 Unfortunately, Shang-Chi's skills and staff
13:11 can't match his father Wenwu's powerful rings.
13:14 Their tightly choreographed and thrilling fight
13:17 seemed to be over when the hero got knocked into a lake.
13:20 But round two truly begins
13:22 after Shang-Chi gets a lift from a dragon.
13:25 - Get out of my way, boy.
13:28 Now.
13:31 - Not only is the fighting incredible,
13:33 but seeing the hero use both his mom's techniques
13:35 and his father's rings was poetic.
13:38 The fact that Wenwu and Shang-Chi
13:40 used the rings creatively was icing on the cake.
13:43 While this martial arts movie
13:45 is full of great action sequences,
13:47 this generational battle was the most satisfying.
13:50 - She's calling to me.
13:51 I wish that were true.
13:57 - Number six, the hallway fight, Daredevil.
14:00 (fighting)
14:02 Matt Murdock, still in the early days
14:06 of his vigilante career,
14:08 goes to rescue a kidnapped boy from a group of criminals.
14:11 The camera follows the action along a hallway
14:14 in one continuous shot,
14:15 as the fledgling Daredevil faces a number of adversaries.
14:20 The way in which this action moves in and out of rooms
14:23 makes for a particularly dynamic sequence.
14:25 (fighting)
14:28 (grunting)
14:30 The choreography is intense,
14:34 with characters getting winded
14:35 or recovering to come back for more,
14:37 making the scene reminiscent of a similar hallway battle
14:40 from the film, Oldboy.
14:42 Overall, this fight is arguably the grittiest
14:45 and most realistic fight in the MCU.
14:48 (fighting)
14:50 Number five, Iron Man, Thor,
14:55 and Captain America versus Thanos, Avengers Endgame.
15:00 - You could not live with your own failure.
15:02 Where did that bring you?
15:05 Back to me.
15:10 - The big three finally reunited against a common foe.
15:14 When a past version of Thanos arrives in the present,
15:17 Iron Man, Thor, and Cap face him
15:19 in the wreckage of their headquarters.
15:22 Individually, each Avenger gives Thanos a challenge,
15:25 and their team-up attacks are incredible and flashy.
15:28 Unfortunately, Thanos himself
15:30 is an absolutely relentless warrior
15:33 throughout the entire fight.
15:35 After Thor and Iron Man are knocked down,
15:37 Cap had to go one-on-one with the Mad Titan,
15:40 but that fortunately led to the unprecedented
15:43 and hype scene where Cap picked up Mjolnir.
15:46 (dramatic music)
15:49 - I knew it.
15:54 - Did we expect a formerly skinny kid from Brooklyn
15:56 standing up to a galactic conqueror?
15:58 No, but neither that fact nor this battle
16:02 will ever get old.
16:04 Number four, Spider-Men versus their villains,
16:07 Spider-Man, No Way Home.
16:09 - All right, let's do this.
16:10 (dramatic music)
16:13 - What's better than Spider-Man fighting Doctor Strange?
16:20 How about three times the Spider-Men
16:22 fighting villains at the Statue of Liberty?
16:25 Although the trio of Peter Parkers
16:27 decide to cure a group of super-powered foes,
16:29 the antagonists aren't that willing to accept help.
16:32 The resulting melee is full of great banter and callbacks.
16:36 Additionally, the web-slinging action and the unique locale
16:40 made for a thrilling fight scene.
16:42 Outside of the combat,
16:43 the emotional moments really elevate the fight.
16:46 Seeing Peter III rescue Mj brought tears to our eyes,
16:50 and the final confrontation between Peter I
16:53 and the Green Goblin left us breathless to the end.
16:56 - You are the one that killed her.
16:59 (laughing)
17:03 - Number three, The Highway Fight,
17:08 Captain America, The Winter Soldier.
17:10 The elevator fight from the spy-themed Marvel film
17:13 was extremely tempting to highlight.
17:15 However, the second confrontation between Cap
17:18 and the Winter Soldier arguably topped
17:20 the close quarters brawl.
17:21 It starts when Hydra's brainwashed assassin
17:24 attacks Cap, Black Widow, and the Falcon on the highway.
17:28 Their battle soon spills out
17:29 onto a neighboring street below.
17:31 From the fight in the car itself
17:33 to the Winter Soldier stalking Black Widow,
17:35 this fight's full of great thrills.
17:37 But it all builds up to the quick flurry of blows
17:40 between Cap and the Winter Soldier.
17:43 The rapid-fire hand-to-hand combat
17:45 is among the best in all of the MCU,
17:48 and it's all underscored with the Winter Soldier's
17:51 eerie, unnerving theme music
17:52 before crescendoing with a wild reveal.
17:55 - Bucky?
17:57 - Who the hell is Bucky?
17:58 - Number two, Titan Fight, Avengers Infinity War.
18:04 - Think you'll find our will equal to yours?
18:08 - Our?
18:11 - It's fitting that this fight takes place on Titan,
18:13 since it's absolutely titanic.
18:16 Most of the Guardians of the Galaxy and a few Avengers
18:19 come together with the aim of defeating Thanos.
18:22 While their initial salvo is effective,
18:24 Star-Lord upsets the momentum.
18:26 Fortunately, the fight restarts again
18:29 when the remaining protagonists face off
18:31 against an Infinity Stone-powered Thanos.
18:33 Seeing the heroes keep up with cosmic-level attacks
18:37 made for an exciting and epic conflict.
18:39 Doctor Strange and Iron Man's individual duels
18:42 with the Mad Men from Titan were especially fantastic.
18:45 Despite not featuring a ton of combatants,
18:48 the battle on Titan felt gigantic.
18:51 - You have my respect, Stark.
18:52 When I'm done, half of humanity will still be alive.
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19:13 Number one, Captain America and the Winter Soldier
19:16 versus Iron Man.
19:17 Captain America, Civil War.
19:20 (weapons clashing)
19:23 After learning the Winter Soldier killed his parents,
19:27 Iron Man goes after Bucky,
19:29 forcing a conflicted Captain America
19:31 to protect his childhood friend.
19:33 Sure enough, all three of them wind up duking it out.
19:37 While there's a ton of great moves and choreography,
19:40 the real meat of this fight is the emotional turmoil
19:43 at the heart of it,
19:44 both for the characters and for the audience.
19:47 It's heart-wrenching to see old wounds opened up
19:49 and close allies turned against each other.
19:52 - This isn't gonna change what happened.
19:54 - I don't care.
19:55 He killed my mom.
19:57 - We did consider choosing the incredibly varied
19:59 and spectacle-filled airport fight from the same film.
20:03 However, the trio's fight's high emotional stakes
20:06 took it all the way to the top.
20:08 - I could do this all day.
20:10 - Which MCU fight hypes you up the most?
20:12 Share your Marvelous favorites in the comments.
20:15 - All that for a drop of blood.
20:20 - Did you enjoy this video?
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