One of the main criticisms of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is that all of its movies follow the same cookie-cutter formula, which is true to a certain extent. The MCU’s movies have explored various different genres and narrative frameworks, but all of its movies are ultimately superhero stories driven by action, so there’s only so much wiggle room.
Likewise, every MCU movie has culminated in a climactic battle between the heroes and villains. Some of these battle sequences pay off the story’s conflicts in spectacular ways, while others leave a lot to be desired.
Chasing The Shrunken Lab (Ant-Man And The Wasp)
2018’s a comic book movie with two villains and not enough screen time to develop either of them into interesting characters.
Chasing a little building around San Francisco seemed incredibly low-stakes when this movie hit theaters, especially hot on the heels of Infinity War’s universal genocide. Still, Paul Rudd brings his usual goofy charm to the Giant-Man antics.
Carol Singlehandedly Destroys Ronan’s Fleet (Captain Marvel)
The problem with a near-omnipotent character like Carol Danvers or Superman is that there’s not much room for conflict in their stories, because they’re basically invulnerable.
For the most part, a wonderfully subversive MCU origin movie, but its final battle has basically no stakes because Carol can just fly through space punching her way through attacking ships until the whole fleet accepts defeat and retreats.
Foiling The Vulture’s Heist (Spider-Man: Homecoming)
Peter Parker reluctantly leaves his date at the titular dance in Spider-Man: Homecoming so he can chase down her father Adrian Toomes, who is hijacking a Stark cargo plane. Peter manages to bring down the plane on the beach and fights Adrian amid the flaming debris.
While the movie’s Washington Monument and Staten Island Ferry sequences were undoubtedly more exciting than this one, saving Adrian’s life is pure Spidey – he couldn’t even let the guy who tried to kill him die.
Reclaiming Wakanda (Black Panther)
Some dodgy CGI lets down the action in Black Panther’s climactic battle sequence, but T’Challa reclaiming the throne of Wakanda from Killmonger has more than enough dramatic weight in the story to make up for it.
For example, Killmonger’s death scene is extremely powerful. His “death is better than bondage” monologue – delivered spectacularly by Michael B. Jordan – is reminiscent of Rutger Hauer’s “tears in rain” speech from Blade Runner.
Mysterio’s Attack On London (Spider-Man: Far From Home)
Marvel’s VFX artists went above and beyond with Mysterio’s mind-bending illusions in Spider-Man: Far From Home. Jake Gyllenhaal goes full diva as Quentin Beck staging “an Avengers-level threat” in London. This could be seen as a meta nod to the varying stakes of MCU final battles and the mentality that the bigger they are, the better.
Peter manages to see through Beck’s illusions and save the day by using his Spidey-Sense, a power often ignored by the movies because it’s tough to visualize.
The Battle In Wakanda (Avengers: Infinity War)
There are two final battles in Infinity War: the one in Wakanda and the one on Titan. The majority of the former battle is just loud, rock-‘em-sock-‘em Bayhem spectacle with the Avengers mindlessly blowing up legions of Outriders. These faceless alien goons were reminiscent of the Chitauri from the Battle of New York – it’s hard to get invested in a fight like that.
Having said that, Thanos himself shows up and effortlessly decimates every Avenger in quick succession. And, of course, it culminates in “The Snap,” one of the biggest, boldest moments in MCU history.
Showdown On The Bifrost (Thor: Ragnarok)
Led Zeppelin’s Norse mythology-based rock classic “Immigrant Song” blares onto the soundtrack of Thor: Ragnarok as the God of Thunder channels his powers without the help of his hammer and annihilates Hela’s armies.
The Thor movies rarely dig into the difficulty of being a king, but this sequence forces Thor to be a real leader: he assembles the Revengers and decides to intentionally make Ragnarok happen so Hela will lose her power.
Confronting Dormammu (Doctor Strange)
“Dormammu, I’ve come to bargain.” Doctor Strange features the MCU’s only final battle without widespread destruction that would cost the local government millions to repair, as Stephen Strange traps Dormammu in a time loop and allows himself to be brutally killed over and over again specifically to prevent that kind of city-wide devastation.
This is easily the MCU’s most subversive final battle. Strange just keeps looping his own death back around until Dormammu eventually gets bored and agrees to leave Earth alone so he’ll be let out of the loop.
The Battle Of Earth (Avengers: Endgame)
The final battle in Avengers: Endgame – appropriately dubbed the “Battle of Earth” – is a big, loud, messy skirmish, but that was really the only way to play it as the finale of a 20-movie arc incorporating dozens of beloved heroes into the same conflict. The Russos shot Endgame’s climactic action like a bunch of cinematic splash pages.
The sequence has fan service in spades: Iron Man repeats his most iconic line before sacrificing himself to save literally the entire universe.
Destroying Ego’s Planet (Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2)
The final battle of set to Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain” is more interesting for the emotional context of their relationship than the fight itself.
In the end, Yondu’s sacrifice also unifies the movie’s themes. Peter Quill spent his whole life searching for his biological father, but after Yondu gives his own life to save Quill’s, he realizes he knew his dad all along.
