Here's how every Infinity Saga movie could connect to Doomsday
With Avengers: Endgame re-releasing this week, I decided to complete a full rewatch of the entire Infinity Saga, and I will complete a rewatch of the entire Multiverse Saga (including the shows) before Avengers: Doomsday releases in December. A lot has changed since Endgame now that we've explored the multiverse. While I'm hopeful that Doomsday saves the multiverse saga's middling attempt to keep the MCU interesting, I also suspect (and hope) that Doomsday connects to the Infinity Saga. Disney+ leads us to believe that some of the older MCU movies will come into play, and I'm sure trailers are making it even more obvious (I have not watched any Doomsday trailers since the original short teaser). But I made it a point to look for anything at all that could connect each of the Infinity Saga movies to what may be getting set up in Doomsday. We've presumably only seen Victor Von Doom in the Fantastic Four: The First Steps post-credit stinger, but that alone opens up so many possibilities. Also, knowing that Robert Downey Jr., is returning (presumably as Doom? Do we truly know this for sure, though?), I think anything in the older movies is fair game.
Check out a couple of random thoughts on each Infinity Saga movie, then my personal theories on how they could tie into Doomsday. I also rank these movies, highlight my favorite action scene in each, and rank the power couples of the MCU just for fun.
Iron Man – This movie still holds up. It was cool to see the 10 Rings back then, though that changes in Shang-Chi quite a bit.
CONNECTION TO DOOMSDAY: With Robert Downy Jr. potentially Dr. Doom, anything in any Iron Man movie is fair game, especially if variants of Stark or Doom are at play. It was interesting when Stark said, "I shouldn't be here, unless it was for a reason” after returning from the cave. Was he supposed to die there? Could that be a recontextualized line? Did he cause an incursion?
Incredible Hulk – Banner and Elizabeth Ross could've been a power couple (see those rankings later). Even the Hulk called her Betty at the end. If nothing else, they are better than Betty being with Ty Burrell (I always forget he's in this movie!). The end-of-movie stinger with Stark, though, is what really made me giddy about the MCU in the early days.
CONNECTION TO DOOMSDAY: Banner and Ross originally were studying ways to remove the gamma radiation effects. With the X-Men at play in Doomsday, could something with their research connect antidotes or immunities to X-Men DNA in some way? In Brand New Day, we already saw Banner and Peter Parker discuss the universal inhibitor, which is clearly a setup for a way to combat the X-Men as well, right?
Iron Man 2 – Sam Rockwell steals the show. The Don Cheadle intro is still top-notch; Terrance Howard should be kicking himself. And do we have an official name for the leg-grab throwdown that Black Widow first popularized in this movie, which has since been done to death? Also, an Elon Musk sighting!
CONNECTION TO DOOMSDAY: Anton Vanko (Whiplash's dad) apparently worked with Howard Stark on a lot of the tech that made Stark rich. But if there are alternate timelines or variants at play in Doomsday, I wonder if Vanko would get mentioned again, maybe even as a more prominent figure.
Thor – It is actually in this movie that we get our first reference to Yggdrasil, the world tree that connects the nine realms. This is where Loki currently rules the multiverse and has control of the timestream (Spoilers for Loki Season 2). It’s interesting that Barton was already working for S.H.I.E.L.D. at this point; we never got a backstory explaining that.
CONNETION TO DOOMSDAY: Are we all just forgetting that Loki is a Frost Giant? Does that matter anymore? We’ve seen so many variants of him already. Wonder if this could possibly steer his motivation in some way while he rules the timestream. Also, it’s weird to me (not sure why I never thought this before) that Odin brought Loki from Jotunheim as a token to unite the two kingdoms, but he never actually planned to make him king. I could see an alternate timeline when the Frost Giants rule in some capacity.
Captain America: The First Avenger – Still a woefully underappreciated MCU film. Our first “I could do this all day” quote, Hayley Atwell’s Agent Carter, the flag trick Rogers pulls off, it’s all so good. What makes this movie and several other early MCU movies better than, say, just about everything after Endgame, is we get to witness the superhero progress from a skinny kid from the Bronx into the strong hero who fights for the little guy. So many MCU stories now just make light of the superhero coming into his or her power, almost turning it into a point of comedy.
More than its story, to me, Captain America is the first movie that feels truly connected to the other movies. Sure, Stark shows up in Incredible Hulk, and Thor’s hammer appears at the end of Iron Man 2, but this movie makes you feel like everything is heading to the same point. Rogers goes to the Stark expo, which we just saw Tony bring back in Iron Man 2, and the build-up to Marvel’s Avengers was so exciting when they find Cap in the present time.
CONNECTION TO DOOMSDAY: Once again, Yggdrasil is referenced. An image of it is on the stone that protects the location of the Tesseract before Red Skull digs it up. We now know how much of a foreshadow that was thanks to the Loki show. As far as viewers of the MCU are concerned, this was the first time humans got their hands on an Infinity Stone. When it opens a portal through space, maybe something alerts Doom about the location of Earth 616? Maybe the Tesseract wasn’t supposed to activate, thus leading to an incursion?
Another wild theory for me has to do with Wolverine. In the old X-Men movie (which is an awful movie to go back and rewatch now), we learn that Wolverine was around during the World War II era. I wonder if he might’ve heard about Captain America’s adventures at one point? Maybe he crossed paths with Hydra, too. This would be an easy layup to bridge the two movie universes – and their histories – together.
The last connection, of course, is Rogers and Carter living their lives in the past, a desire that started in this movie.
Marvel’s The Avengers – Still the best experience in a theatre I’ve maybe ever had (The Force Awakens was great, too). The movie surprisingly holds up well. Loki’s plan/alliance with the Chitari makes sense. The stinger revealing the biggest threat of them all in Thanos was epic. The Battle of New York became a reference point for all movies going forward. It’s the single most important success in MCU history.
CONNECTION TO DOOMSDAY: Any sort of reference to the Battle of New York is an obvious possibility. With Doom specifically, we again could get into the Tesseract. Heck, the opening monologue talks about the Tesseract “awakening.” Maybe Doom or a Doom variant in another timeline becomes aware of this, as well? Does the awakening of an Infinity Stone in one universe connect to the same Infinity Stone throughout the multiverse? Probably not, but that would be cool.
Iron Man 3 – This one is a wild ride. Not what everyone expected, but Stark’s PTSD perfectly showed how impactful The Battle of New York would become for everyone going forward. I put Iron Man 3 higher on my list than most not only because of Banner’s post-credit scene, but because of the Extremis tie-in to the concurrent Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. show. The rapport Stark develops with the kid is endearing and comical. And the air-rescue scene, which legend says was a fully real stunt, was super fun. The ending really fed into the rumors about Robert Downey Jr. stepping away from playing Iron Man (which was quickly put to bed when “Tony Stark will return” appeared during the credits). Nowadays, this movie has elevated for me after watching this year’s Wonder Man, which brought back the most fun character of the movie.
CONNECTION TO DOOMSDAY: This one is tough, but if anything were to connect, it would be Extremis. It’s a scientific and medical breakthrough that someone like Victor von Doom – a brainiac scientist – might be interested in. Doom also suffered a disfigurement in a lab experiment gone wrong, which is why he wears a mask. Extremis could be a plausible solution to fix his injury.
Thor: The Dark World – Definitely one of the lowest-rated MCU movies for a reason. It just tried to do too much, and nothing was developed enough. It would have been far more interesting if the story was more of a mystery instead of just telling us the convergence was coming again. The Dark Elves were somewhat wasted, too. Thor’s betrayal of his father didn’t hit strongly enough. The portal-hopping scenes at the end were actually cool, but a little ridiculous, even by superhero movie standards. Kudos to that one Asgardian archer who nails his shot with the flamed arrow during the queen’s funeral. No pressure there!
CONNECTION TO DOOMSDAY: This movie was significant for elevating the Infinity Stone storyline (especially with the Collector stinger). But there was a bizarre line Malekith said to Thor before their final battle at the Convergence site. He said, “Your universe was never meant to be.” That is a wild statement. Could more of the history of the universe be explained in the Doom movie? Was an incursion involved somehow? Could Loki have gained some of that knowledge now that he sits on the throne of the timestream?
Captain America: The Winter Soldier – The Hydra twist, the twist with Bucky, Falcon’s intro, the action and cinematography, Fury’s fake death, and the real-world similarities with the political discourse surrounding Project Insight all combine to make this the best MCU movie ever made. Add in the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. tie-ins (the show’s episodes the week before and the week after this movie released were epic), and I still rank this as my favorite MCU movie. It was a nice touch seeing the anonymous meeting with former soldiers working through their PTSD and grief (something Cap does again in Endgame with survivors of the blip). This movie also gave us the funniest MCU meme with Rogers being choked in the elevator.
CONNECTION TO DOOMSDAY: The post-credit stinger is an obvious choice. It’s the first true sighting of X-Men characters (they’re called miracles at this point) in the MCU. Although Quiksilver dies early on and Scarlet Witch “dies” later, there’s no reason not to suspect their return in variant form. The other, less obvious connection to Doomsday could have to do with Hydra being around all those decades after Cap thought they died out with Red Skull (who returns in Endgame, of course). Hydra could affect the MCU history as we know it, potentially setting up another incursion. Stark’s history and S.H.I.E.L.D.’s history could be affected, as well.
Reports suggest there will be about four minutes of bonus footage for the re-release of Endgame in theatres this week (more recent reports suggest the footage is not extra content from Endgame, but rather a sneak peek at Doomsday). With Robert Downey Jr. returning to the MCU, I wonder if that extra footage will have to do with Stark’s visit in the past, perhaps when he sees his father. The Winter Soldier suggests that Howard and S.H.I.E.L.D. were compromised by this point, which could lead into a shift in what we know about Tony’s history; if the prevailing theories that suggest Von Doom is tied to Stark, then Von Doom might be interested in Stark’s visit to the past, especially if it created an incursion.
Guardians of the Galaxy – The 1-2 punch of The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014 still makes that the best MCU year ever. Both are in my Top 5. Downey may be the MVP of the MCU, but Chris Pratt’s Starlord should be talked about very similarly. Guardians finally took the MCU to the cosmos, brought Thanos back to the forefront for the first time outside a post-credit scene, and broadened the scope of what the MCU was building toward with the Infinity Stones. The movie also made the “Hooked on a Feeling” and “Come and Get Your Love” songs far more popular than they ever needed to be. Side note: killing off Ronin was such a waste of Lee Pace’s talents.
CONNECTION TO DOOMSDAY: The Collector and his monologue about the universe might be key here. He recounts the universe beginning with six singularities, but we now know the multiverse branched off from that (the TVA had a hilarious amount of powerless Infinity Stones from different universes). I wonder if we’ll get a similar history lesson with the timeline/universe with the X-Men in it, maybe even a story that connects them more directly.
Avengers: Age of Ultron – Rewatching this movie while AI is fully infecting our society is hilarious. The first third of this movie was awkward at times, but it got better and better. The opening action scene to capture Strucker made very little sense. It’s a good thing the twins weren’t bad guys for very long because they (mostly Wanda, of course) completely disabled most of the Avengers team. And then the Avengers get all dramatic, saying they’re cooked after one minor setback. The Hulk v. Iron Man fight with Veronica was cool, though I hate how easily Veronica held her own against Hulk. The visions the Avengers saw while Wanda hypnotized them were very suspiciously informative. Thor learned about the Infinity stones because of Wanda. Stark sees a vision of the future because of Wanda. Not sure what she was hoping to accomplish there. My favorite moment of the movie is when S.H.I.E.L.D. arrives and Cap says, “This is what S.H.I.E.L.D. is supposed to be.” While the Avengers seemed to have become close friends, it’s this movie that begins their divide that eventually gets realized in Civil War.
CONNECTION TO DOOMSDAY: There are a couple of possibilities. Ultron’s whole “evolve” mantra for humanity could come back with the X-Men, especially since evolution was the entire mantra of the original X-Men movie. Stark’s vision also stands out to me. Did Wanda give Stark a vision of the future? Or a different universe/timeline? I wonder if Von Doom picks up on this somehow. Also, it’ll be interesting to see if a different Quiksilver returns after getting shot down in this movie. Another variant, perhaps?
Ant-Man – This was such a breath of fresh air when it came out. The MCU got so cosmic, so heavy, and so large (eh, you see where I’m going with this?), but Ant-Man came along and brought everything to a very small scale in a comedy-centric heist story. Somehow the small insect fights didn’t come across too cheesy. Well, okay, Lang smacking Darren into a bug zapper with a ping pong paddle cut it close.
CONNECTION TO DOOMSDAY: The Pym Particle and the Quantum Realm are likely candidates. The Quantum Realm likely could be a means used to navigate the multiverse, much like how it was in Endgame. Pym’s intelligence is close to Mr. Fantastic and Victor von Doom, so the mad scientists could share a connection somehow.
Captain America: Civil War – This was basically Avengers 2.5, and it was the original MCU appearance for Spider-Man after Sony closed the deal and allowed Marvel to squeeze in Spidey at the last minute. Black Panther’s debut was odd, but awesome, as well. It was risky to bring in new characters like this after the MCU did such a good job of giving proper character introductions first, but their first movies did okay later. And let the record show I’m team Cap, and he absolutely beats Iron Man.
CONNECTION TO DOOMSDAY: This one is a personal theory that has zero chance of connecting to Doomsday, but I’d love to see it. When Stark is talking to the MIT students and recounting his last moments with his parents (using his BARF glasses that come back in Spider-Man: Far From Home), I can’t help but wonder if there was more behind the death of Tony’s parents than Hydra and the Winter Soldier.
With Robert Downey Jr. returning—again, “supposedly” as Dr. Doom—I wonder if the timeline branches off, either because Tony’s parents weren’t supposed to die, or because Doom is trying to stop Tony from becoming who he becomes. When Dr. Strange discovers the one way out of 14,000,605 possibilities in Infinity War, did that take into account any incursions Doom might’ve caused by visiting Earth 616? The reason I hope the Doomsday storyline has to do with Tony’s past is I don’t want Downey’s return to be nothing more than a gimmick. During this MCU rewatch, I can’t help but notice how many times the stories mention events in the past, either related to S.H.I.E.L.D., Hydra, or otherwise. Heck, even Fantastic Four was in the past (interestingly, no one seems to be talking about that these days); it would make total sense if Howard Stark knew Mr. Fantastic, and if Victor Von Doom visits Earth 616 at that point in history, they all could’ve met easily. Maybe Von Doom creates an incursion in Earth 616’s past, maybe even an incursion that gets on Loki’s radar.
Doctor Strange – More proof that a great lead actor makes all the difference. Benedict Cumberbatch actually sells the character arc – from arrogant jerk doctor to humble sorcerer willing to sacrifice himself – quite well. Rachel McAdams was a perfect match for him, too. The visual aesthetic of Doctor Strange is unparalleled in the MCU and literally and figuratively opened it to new dimensions that were needed at the time to continue raising the scope and stakes of the MCU. The time loop at the end was a sci-fi nerd’s dream. And Wong finally laughing at one of Strange’s jokes was priceless.
CONNECTION TO DOOMSDAY: Any movie with Doctor Strange in it has the potential to be referenced in Doomsday. Though it was after this initial entry, Strange is the key to the multiverse, and there’s no doubt Von Doom and/or the X-Men will travel the multiverse. The term “Temporal manipulations” was an early version of incursions, a likely source of the main threats in Doomsday and/or Secret Wars. It’ll also be interesting to see if “the bill comes due” in any way, or if Dormammu himself is seen again.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 – The humor was ratcheted up, almost to the point that they were trying too hard. But the story about Ego was less interesting, and the way it was told—with the late reveal about his evil intentions—didn’t work for me, which is odd, because I usually like twists (if that’s what you would call this one). The Ravagers story was undercooked and, though heartfelt, mostly useless; however, I could absolutely envision a Red Rising-like spin-off saga involving all the Ravager factions (there were a lot of them at Yondu’s funeral). Gamora and Nebula were more interesting than Ego or the Ravagers. The Pac-Man gag was ridiculous, but one of the funniest moments.
CONNECTION TO DOOMSDAY: The Celestial term is interesting (and apparently not to be confused with Eternal). I wonder if we’ll see a Celestial in Doomsday, especially if the Fantastic Four are involved, who already have been to space and have encountered a cosmic enemy in Galactus.
Spider-Man: Homecoming – This is everything I want in a Spider-Man introduction movie. Because we already saw him in Captain America: Civil War, we didn’t need to watch the spider bite Peter or Peter discover what he can do (we’ve seen that plenty). But this still showed the challenge Peter faces as an anonymous superhero while still trying to maintain his grades, his friends, his relationship with Aunt May, and the girl he likes. Peter finding out she is the daughter of Vulture is still a Top 5 moment in MCU history. Spidey finally graduating from the training protocol and seeing all the cool gadgets at his disposal definitely felt like the first Sony Spider-Man video game. Aunt May’s “What the f***?” when she learns that Peter is Spider-Man was so perfect. And Captain America’s “How many more of these?” PSA is still the funniest end-credits stinger in MCU history (The Shawarma scene after Marvel’s The Avengers is a close No. 2).
CONNECTION TO DOOMSDAY: This particular Spider-Man doesn’t seem to have many possibilities of direct connection. Maybe Doom will reference Stark’s mentorship with Parker as something he can relate to, or maybe lacked?
Thor: Ragnarok – The third Thor entry is the best of the trilogy by far. The movie is ridiculous, weird, non-sensical, hilarious, eccentric, and it turns into a half-Hulk movie to boot! Hela was underutilized and not made as interesting as she actually is. Thor somehow still continued his maturation as he saves his now-exiled people from extinction, and he did so without his hammer and one of his eyes.
CONNECTION TO DOOMSDAY: Hulk ends up on Sakaar because the Quinjet somehow slips through a portal or wormhole or whatever that allows it to leave Earth at the end of Age of Ultron. It’ll be interesting to see if these same portals are used by Doom to send whoever he has a vendetta against to isolate them on Battleworld. Also, in a post Jean Grey MCU introduction, it was interesting to see Loki get into Valkyrie’s mind to see her memories of the first time she and her squad fought Hela (and lost). I wonder if Loki will be needed to compete with Jean Grey’s mind manipulation powers.
Black Panther – Much like how Dr. Strange infused the MCU with a fresh visual direction, this movie stands out both with its production and with its special effects and visual aesthetics. Michael B. Jordan was both an awesome villain and a terrible actor. Chadwick Boseman was the star, and he is sorely missed, both in the real world and the MCU. Wakanda Forever!
CONNECTION TO DOOMSDAY: Vibranium is considered the strongest substance in the universe, but the X-Men universe considers adamantium the strongest substance. This needs to be addressed immediately when the X-Men arrive in a battle between Black Panther and Wolverine. I could see Wolverine upgrading his claws at some point.
Infinity War – Thanos actually winning was such a great ending. The sheer terror the Avengers felt as they realized how outmatched they were set such a different tone for this movie than anything else in the MCU. This movie retroactively makes Civil War worse since all the Avengers just get back together again quite quickly (as we all knew they would). But it was fun to see the Guardians join the fray; the interactions between the different characters is what makes living through this cinematic event so great. Thor and Starlord fighting over who the “bigger stick” is, Strange and Stark exchanging wits, all of it is so fun.
CONNECTION TO DOOMSDAY – A lot of things could connect to Doomsday. The snap in particular could have curious repercussions. Did half the population of every universe get snapped away? Conversations in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness suggest no, but maybe Doom learns about what happens in Earth 616’s universe and gets worried it will happen in other universes. Or likely, Doom may want to gain the same power that Thanos briefly had. Were incursions created throughout the entire multiverse? Even if the snap is a single incursion, it’s hard to imagine it wouldn’t be considered the largest, most significant incursion of them all, right? Does Earth 616 become the center of all multiverses? Did Dr. Strange’s 14,000,605 possibilities only take into account Earth 616’s timeline? So much potential!
Ant-Man and The Wasp – The timing of this movie just seemed so awkward to me. A lighter comedy-style sequel following the heaviest MCU movie? After the snap, it just didn’t feel right. Also, the Ghost storyline was uninteresting and told in an even more uninteresting fashion. But what this movie did prove is just how much Kevin Fiege and the writers were planning. This movie sets up the main plot point for Endgame with the quantum realm tunnel and the idea that time travel is possible.
CONNECTION TO DOOMSDAY – The quantum realm GPS undoubtedly will be needed to traverse the multiverse, or time travel within the time stream. Maybe Doom and the TVA will need it to cut off branches that become incursions.
Captain Marvel – Ah yes, the movie in which boy was mean to girl, and girl does not make a feminist statement, as if Black Widow, Pepper, Jane, Sif, Peggy, Gamorah, Okoya, Shuri, Wanda, and Hope were not being representative enough?
Okay moving on. The movie touches on the ongoing Kree v. Skrull war, but it gets really good when we get an early glimpse of Nick Fury and Agent Coulson in the 90s (the nostalgia was real, too! Blockbuster, TLC, Nirvana, nerf guns, etc.). The mystery of Danvers’ history is not told in an interesting way, but the rest of the plot is decent. The writers anticipated everyone groaning about where Captain Marvel has been since this movie, but their flimsy excuses never really sat well with most people (my wife included). The Tessaract being on the orbital refugee ship in the 90s is interesting considering we also saw the Tessaract in EndGame in the past with Howard Stark and S.H.I.E.L.D., which suggests they knew about the Kree and Skrulls years ago. The movie had some really funny moments, and Ben Mendelsohn is great!
CONNECTION TO DOOMSDAY – More likely this will connect to Secret Wars, but the obvious choice will be the Skrulls. Their shape-shifting ability could be a way to match some of the X-Men’s powers. The Secret Invasion show told us that Skrulls stuck around the entire history of the MCU (which is annoying considering they somehow haven’t been involved), so there still may be surprises about who is a Skrull. I could see this being a springboard to a Superhero identification crisis that leads to the Superhuman Registration Act storyline (which was a primary story in the original X-Men movies).
Avengers: Endgame – The single greatest movie event of our era, maybe in all of history. Predictability aside, this was the greatest finale, the cherry on top of an incredible era.
CONNECTION TO DOOMSDAY – I mean, the entire movie is at play, especially since they are re-releasing it in theatres. The main points of interest will be Captain America’s trip back in time to return the stones – did he actually return them? Did something go wrong? – and the incursions he might’ve caused.
Spider-Man: Far From Home – This is one of the funnier movies of the MCU, but one of the weaker movies overall, though any movie would seem less interesting when being the unlucky follow-up to Endgame. And while it follows a lot of the same story beats as the first, it was still fun to watch Tom Holland pursue Zendaya (and Zendaya to bust Tom Holland’s balls) for the first time. Peter’s willingness to give away the Edith glasses was so stupid. Beck’s big reveal about a bunch of disgruntled former employees of Stark’s turned the story’s focus onto Stark more than Parker. I wonder if the Spider-Man movies would be nearly as popular if Zendaya and Holland weren’t together. Also, random note: Peter’s alternate monkey costume looks a lot like Nicholas Cage’s Spider-Man Noir suit (the Amazon show wasn’t that great).
CONNECTION TO DOOMSDAY – We get our first real reference to the multiverse when Mysterio starts talking about Earth 833 and identifies the main MCU Earth as Earth 616 (although, if Mysterio is a fake, it’s hard to tell if any of that is real as far as the multiverse is concerned). No doubt Doomsday will make references to it and other versions of Earth.
INFINITY SAGA MOVIE RANKINGS:
Marvel’s The Avengers (I keep this No. 1 for nostalgic reasons)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Avengers: Infinity War
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1
Doctor Strange
Avengers: Endgame
Spider-Man: Homecoming
Thor: Ragnarok
Captain America: The First Avenger
Iron Man 1
Captain America: Civil War
Black Panther
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Iron Man 3
Ant-Man 1
Spider-Man: Far From Home
Captain Marvel
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Iron Man 2
Incredible Hulk
Thor
Ant-Man and The Wasp
Thor: The Dark World
BEST BATTLE/FIGHT SCENE RANKINGS
Iron Man – Iron Man frees hostages with look-away explosion in background.
Incredible Hulk – Hulk v. army/early abomination version on college campus.
Iron Man 2 – Whiplash v. Iron Man and War Machine (including Iron Man’s laser finisher).
Thor 1 – Thor and friends v. Frost Giants.
Captain America 1 – The train scene is great, but short, so I’d lean toward Cap rescuing Bucky.
Marvel’s The Avengers – The Battle of New York is the obvious choice, especially the one-cut shot that featured all six Avengers. But the fight in the forest between Iron Man, Cap, and Thor earlier in the movie is underrated and incredibly fun.
Iron Man 3 – The final battle between Iron Man and Killian/Mandarin amidst the onslaught of many Iron Man suits, Iron Patriot, and even Potts/Rescue.
Thor: The Dark World – The end fight was a bust; probably another reason the movie isn’t favored so well. But the action scene when the Dark Elves invade Asgard, including the prison break, was good stuff.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier – The entire last action scene aboard the three insight hellicarriers is one the most explosive, destructive scenes in MCU history, and Cap’s fight with Bucky is brutal.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 – The finale was good, but I like the prison breakout scene far more. The humor, watching them team up for the first time, wondering how exactly Rocket would lead them out, it all made for a thrilling scene.
Avengers: Age of Ultron – There are three or four awesome action scenes (the battle on the highway has some cool moments), but the final battle against Ultron and his droid army was top tier. The scene when they play tower defense to protect the core from being set off early was particularly fun. Watching Wanda use her power in combat for the first time was fun.
Ant-Man – The battle between Scott and David, Ant-Man v. Yellow Jacket, at the end was one of the most entertaining and comical scenes in MCU history.
Captain America: Civil War – Other than maybe the Endgame finale and the Thanos-v-Dr. Strange fight, the airport fight scene may still be the single greatest action scene in MCU history. A 6-v-6 superhero-only brawl with great matchups that perfectly summarize the “Who would win in a fight?” discussions every nerd had as a child (heck, even adult).
Spider-Man: Homecoming – There weren’t as many great fights in this movie. The finale with Vulture is mostly trying not to fall off the plane, and when they’re on the ground, there aren’t any great new tricks we hadn’t seen earlier. While climbing the monument in D.C. was cool, my favorite action scene was his fight with the bad guys in the park, including the Farris Buhler’s Day Off tribute. The boat scene when Iron Man comes to save the day was good, too.
Thor: Ragnarok – The fight between Thor and Hulk is the main event for sure. Thor gaining true lightning/thunder powers without the need of his hammer was an awesome super-sane moment. And the “We’re friends from work” line is perfect (and the story behind that line is neat, too).
Black Panther – The first fight between Killmonger and Black Panther was so intense, and the stakes were high. The chase scene in Korea is a close runner-up.
Avengers: Infinity War – The Wakanda battle is epic, yes, but the single coolest action scene in MCU history is the fight on Titan between Thanos and Dr. Strange (and the rest of the superheroes there, as well). Specifically, the Strange v. Thanos, and Iron Man v. Thanos exchanges are such cool sequences.
Ant-Man and The Wasp – The first fight with Wasp (and later Ant-Man) against Ghost and the goons of Sonny (I forgot Walter Goggins was in this movie!) was highly entertaining.
Captain Marvel – The action is pretty weak overall in this movie, but the final scenes in the orbital station – with the flerken cat – get the job done. Danvers flying around to stop Ronin and his missiles was pretty sweet.
Avengers: Endgame – “On your left.” If you know, you know. I will say, I also enjoyed watching Cap wallop Thanos for a few hits while wielding Thor’s hammer. A nice payoff from a couple Avengers movies ago.
Spider-Man: Far From Home – The drone finale was awesome, of course, but I actually liked the battle between Mysterio and Peter in the abandoned building. Mysterio played a lot of visual tricks on him to get him to spill the beans on who all he told Mysterio’s identity to.
POWER COUPLES RANKINGS
Rogers and Peggy – They are perfect. Rogers even went back in time to live the life he always wanted with her. Apparently at all costs, but I guess we’ll find out for sure in Doomsday.
Parker and MJ – Such a perfect high-school sweetheart scenario, but we all know their relationship is far more entertaining because the actors are together, right?
Thor and Jane – Thor literally had Lady Sif available, but once he met Jane, he was always loyal to her, even when they were in different realms.
Lang and Hope – Their relationship follows such a natural trajectory. When it’s in full bloom, they are so adorable.
Vision and Wanda – He saved her life, and they live happily ever after. Well, until Thanos, anyway. WandaVision is still my favorite Disney+ Marvel show. I’m excited to watch VisionQuest.
Quill and Gamora – It is fun watching Gamora try to learn about Quill’s ways, but she’s always ready to follow his lead after he saved her life.
Stark and Pepper – they bicker like an old, married couple, but conflict only makes them stronger.
Honorable Mention: Banner and Natasha – They could’ve been something! They were never given the chance to blossom.
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