Although the films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have got plenty of character moments, emotional scenes, and running jokes, the focus is always on the action, because let’s face it: these are superhero movies above all. For all the character development and world-building and narrative continuation that needs to happen, at the end of the day, an MCU movie is only as good as its set pieces.
This can include explosions, fist fights, shootouts, alien invasions, space battles, and indeed, chases (car chases, foot chases, spacecraft chases – we could get into another list). Here are The 10 Most Thrilling Chase Sequences In The MCU, Ranked.
Spider-Man chasing the Vulture’s goons
Spider-Man gets more than he bargained for when he leaves a party at Liz’s house to break up an arms deal. The dealers turn out to be working for the Vulture, selling recycled Chitauri weapons they swiped from the rubble of the Battle of New York. The goons take off in their van, but Spidey is hot in pursuit, eventually surfing one of the doors hanging from the back of the van by a web.
The scene has light moments, like the homage to Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and dark moments, like the Shocker very nearly wiping out Spidey with an alien rocket launcher – Jon Watts strikes a nice balance that remains true to both the tone of the film and the character himself.
The Sovereign chasing the Guardians of the Galaxy
the Sovereign’s remotely piloted fleet of spacecraft come after them.
In fact, they almost don’t make it out alive – it’s only sheer luck that Quill’s Celestial father shows up to wipe out the entire fleet. By the end of the movie, Rocket has learned not to take batteries he doesn’t need – one of the many lessons he learned from Yondu’s heroic sacrifice.
Hydra agents chasing Nick Fury
When a dark conspiracy within S.H.I.E.L.D. that dates back to World War II and losing his faith in his government, the only thing he had left.
In an early scene, Nick Fury learns the extent of the conspiracy as some Hydra agents chase him down in his car and nearly kill him. Thankfully, his car is kitted out with spy gadgets, so he lives to tell the tale. But that’s not before a spectacular high-speed pursuit.
Two fighter jets chasing Iron Man
Tony Stark finds himself in a tricky situation in the first Iron Man movie. After perfecting the armor, he heads overseas to blow up some terrorists to repent for his years of profiting from the War on Terror. But he’s not yet known to the world – or, indeed, the U.S. military – as a superhero yet and they think he’s a foreign threat. So, Rhodey unwittingly sends a couple of fighter jets to blast his best friend out of the sky.
The problem here is that Tony doesn’t want to hurt the pilots, so he’s faced with having to dodge their attempts to kill him and simultaneously save their lives. It’s not an enviable situation to find yourself in, but it is a thrilling sequence that helped to entice audiences enough to kickstart the first (and possibly last) successful cinematic universe.
The interdimensional chase in Doctor Strange
The only thing more exciting than a well-crafted chase sequence through the streets of New York City is a well-crafted chase sequence that begins in New York with a group of sorcerers and then darts across a bunch of different dimensions, opening portals and folding the city in on itself.
On the whole, 2016’s a horror movie that will take Stephen Strange and Wanda Maximoff deep into the multiverse, can have even trippier visuals and no pesky origin story to get out of the way.
Captain Marvel chasing a Skrull through ‘90s L.A.
What makes the big chase scene in his unfortunate and untimely ing).
Even in this hot pursuit, Carol takes a moment to smile at Lee, acknowledging both his in-universe work as a Watcher keeping his eye on the Avengers and his real-life work as one of the most innovative, inspiring, and socially conscious creators in the history of comics. And then she’s back to chasing a Skrull through ‘90s L.A., a testament to how far the world Lee created has come.
Black Panther and his guards chasing Ulysses Klaue in South Korea
For all the world-building that took place in Wakanda in Black Panther’s first solo MCU outing, a huge chunk of the movie was actually set in South Korea. It began as a Bond-style sequence set in a casino with undercover spies keeping track of the bad guys, but when a car chase erupted on the streets of Busan and T’Challa got that costume on, it became a superheroic set piece to .
Although Ulysses Klaue was a secondary villain in the movie and Erik Killmonger emerged as T’Challa’s real enemy, this scene is one of the best and most exciting in the whole movie. The cinematography is breathtaking and the visuals – with shiny black cars cruising through a neon-lit metropolis – are slick.
Nebula chasing Gamora to Ego’s planet
This scene in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 shows both what a badass Nebula is and what a badass Gamora is. Nebula had previously promised Gamora that she would escape and then immediately come to kill her, and she remained true to her word.
She teamed up with the Ravagers to evade the Guardians’ capture and then took a ship straight to Ego’s planet, where she flew right into Gamora, guns blazing. And then Gamora managed to actually outrun the ship by heading into a cave. Nebula crashed the ship inside the cave and they got into yet another fight.
The big car chase in Ant-Man and the Wasp
While the first likes to fit each of its movies into a slightly different genre), director Peyton Reed wanted to make the sequel more of an Elmore Leonard crime caper. About midway through the movie, there’s a great car chase involving the titular duo, Luis and the guys, and Sonny Burch and his crew.
The sloping streets of San Francisco have always made for terrific car-based action set pieces, and what sets this one apart is the fact that Scott and Hope can shrink or enlarge cars to help them along the way. It’s an excellent car chase and an excellent superhero set piece.
Captain America chasing Black Panther chasing Bucky
This three-way foot pursuit from Captain America: Civil War is a doozy. It sees Black Panther chasing Bucky in the hopes of avenging his father’s death, and Cap chasing Black Panther in the hopes of protecting his brainwashed best friend.
At one point, Cap jumps in a car and then leaps out and outruns the same car as it tumbles after him. In the end, all three of them are captured by War Machine and the local police, but before that, it’s an intense sequence. They start off on the roof of a skyscraper and pursue each other down several stories. This is, hands down, the best chase in the MCU.
