If there’s one thing a superhero movie is expected to get right, it’s the action. And Marvel has nailed it time and time again. The MCU has brought fans everything from brutal hand-to-hand fight scenes to high-speed chases to massive third-act battles that feel ripped straight out of a comic book panel. Almost every movie has a moment so perfect it makes theaters erupt, like Cap (Chris Evans) lifting Mjolnir or Thor (Chris Hemsworth) crashing into Wakanda.
While every MCU film has its fair share of big action scenes, some of them go a step beyond and feel like flat-out action movies. These are the movies that move from one set piece to another without ever slowing down, and they prove that Marvel movies can go toe-to-toe with some of the greatest action movies ever made. Here are the top 10 MCU movies that deliver that feeling from start to finish.
10
‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ (2023)
James Gunn has always known how to stage action that feels alive, and in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, he outdoes himself. The film kicks off with Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) crashing into Knowhere to capture Rocket (Bradley Cooper), and it quickly turns into a brutal showcase of each Guardian going 1v1 against him. Adam rips Groot’s (Vin Diesel) head clean off, hurls Nebula (Karen Gillan) so hard her entire body distorts, and beats Drax (Dave Bautista) to a pulp. It finally ends when Nebula drives a scorching blade through him. And that’s just the warm-up for what’s ahead.
From there, the film turns into a colorful heist movie as the Guardians try to infiltrate OrgoCorp’s headquarters to save Rocket. But the scene that cements its place in the top 10 is the iconic hallway fight. The camera glides through the chaos like it has a front-row ticket to the best brawl in the galaxy, and it is made to look like one long continuous shot. It keeps going and going and somehow keeps getting better with each passing second. Watching it in the theater was pure, unadulterated joy, and when it was over, the crowd broke into applause like they’d just seen a rock concert.
9
‘Iron Man 3’ (2013)
The premise of Iron Man 3 already feels like an action movie. Tony (Robert Downey Jr.) gets cocky, calls out the world’s deadliest terrorist on live television, and even gives out his home address. Of course, the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) takes him up on the offer and launches missiles into Tony’s cliffside mansion. From that point on, Tony spends most of the film without a fully functioning suit, which forces him to rely on his brains more than his tech. The sequence where he infiltrates the Mandarin’s hideout with homemade gadgets is peak Tony Stark ingenuity and feels more like a scene out of a spy thriller than a superhero movie.
And then there’s the Air Force One rescue. 13 people are falling from a plane, and Tony has seconds to figure out how to save them all. The best part is that this wasn’t CGI magic. This entire sequence was filmed practically by having actual stunt performers skydive out of a plane. And that’s why it still holds up as one of the most thrilling action scenes in the MCU even after a decade.
8
‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ (2021)
After Doc Ock (Alfred Molina) first shows up, No Way Home kicks into non-stop action. The bridge fight delivers pure spectacle as Doc Ock’s arms tear through cars while Peter (Tom Holland) scrambles to protect civilians. Then the movie takes a hard left into the Mirror Dimension, where Peter and Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) face off in a sequence full of twisting cityscapes and kaleidoscope patterns that make it one of the most mesmerizing fights in the MCU.
From there, Green Goblin takes over as the real threat and Willem Dafoe turns him into a full-on menace. The scene where Peter is punching him over and over and Goblin just laughs in his face is pure nightmare fuel. Peter gets hurled from floor to floor, pauses to catch his breath, and then gets slammed again. And the moves don’t come off as choreographed; they’re ugly and desperate, which makes the whole thing feel nastier. Then comes the final battle at the Statue of Liberty. Three generations of Spidey swing into action and every hero gets their big moment. They pass villains off to each other mid-fight, improvise with web combinations, and pull off moves that feel straight out of the comics. It’s the kind of finale that cements No Way Home as one of Marvel’s most crowd-pleasing action films.
7
‘Iron Man’ (2008)
The first MCU film still holds up as a great action movie because of its more grounded feel compared to the later, more cosmic phases. It opens with Tony Stark being captured by the Ten Rings and ordered to build a Jericho missile for them. Instead, he secretly creates his first miniaturized arc reactor and the clunky Mark I suit, then blasts through the terrorist camp using flamethrowers, crude weaponry, and sheer brute force.
Once back home, Tony refines his designs and eventually debuts the sleek Mark III armor in a warzone. The way his repulsor blasts send enemies flying feels like they’ve been hit by a Super Soldier, and he runs through every gadget like a kid showing off new toys. And the tank’s destruction, followed by Tony casually walking away from the explosion, is still one of the most badass frames in MCU history.
6
‘Avengers: Infinity War’ (2018)
Infinity War kicks off with Thanos (Josh Brolin) overpowering the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) like he’s sparring with a toddler, then jumps to the big NYC fight with Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Doctor Strange taking on the Black Order. Right after, we get the ambush on Vision (Paul Bettany) and Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen), followed by Cap’s heroic entrance. On Titan, Thanos hurls an actual moon at the heroes, trades blows with Doctor Strange in a stones-versus-magic duel, and goes toe-to-toe with Tony’s new nanotech suit.
And then there’s the Battle of Wakanda, which earns the “War” in Infinity War. The entire Wakandan army makes one last stand against the Mad Titan, the stakes feel huge, and Thor’s entrance with Stormbreaker remains one of the loudest theater moments in MCU history. Just this final battle crams in enough action to put entire war films to shame. And the fight choreography is so tight that even with dozens of heroes on screen, it never feels messy.
5
‘Black Panther’ (2018)
Black Panther is loaded with A-tier action from start to finish. The waterfall challenges are pure spectacles of brute force and fierce hand-to-hand combat. They feel like something ripped from Gladiator or 300, which checks out since the stunt choreographer for Black Panther also worked on 300.
But the 1v1 arena duels are evenly matched by big, MCU-scale set pieces. The casino ambush starts off feeling like something out of a James Bond film. But it quickly ramps up into a high-octane car chase with Vibranium-powered cars, spears smashing through vehicles, and T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) sprinting on walls. Rolling Stone even ranked Black Panther the 9th greatest action movie of all time and put it above action masterpieces like Terminator 2 and Mission: Impossible – Fallout.
4
‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ (2024)
Deadpool & Wolverine is the MCU’s first R-rated movie, and they waste no time showing what that means. It opens with the iconic “Bye Bye Bye” fight that went viral when the movie came out. It’s equal parts bloody and hilarious in a way that only Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) can pull off. And Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) finally fights like Wolverine in this movie. In his first fight with Wade, he’s completely unhinged, crawls on all fours like an animal, and they keep slicing each other nonstop. The sound design makes every hit feel 10x cooler. The snikt of Wolverine’s claws, the metallic clank when they clash against Deadpool’s katanas, it’s pure ASMR for action junkies.
The car fight is another creative sequence that stands a notch above the rest of the MCU’s action. In any other film, their moves would be instant kills, but since both heroes are basically unkillable, they go completely feral. And just when you think it’s done, it keeps going, and going, and going. The film lets you soak in the carnage. The Deadpool Corps fight is another highlight, which feels like a pseudo-hallway fight that’s become a signature of the Deadpool series.
3
‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ (2021)
Shang-Chi proved Marvel can deliver martial arts action at the highest level. The standout sequence here is the big bus fight that tears through the streets of San Francisco. There’s also Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) taking on the Death Dealer (Andy Le) in a fight so fast and precise that it’s easily one of the best close-quarters battles Marvel has ever done. The duel between his parents plays out like a beautiful dance as each uses their own fighting style to one-up each other. And the ending pulls all of that together as Shang-Chi uses his mother’s style to stop his father and then switches to his father’s style to finish the dragon.
The whole movie feels like a modern Marvel spin on films like Kung Fu Hustle and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. And a lot of that magic comes from the stunt choreographer who was also a veteran of the Jackie Chan stunt team. The action in Shang-Chi was so impressive that director Destin Daniel Cretton was immediately tapped to direct Avengers: The Kang Dynasty back when it was still in the works.
2
‘Captain America: Civil War’ (2016)
Civil War opens with the Avengers trying to stop Crossbones (Frank Grillo), and it’s Cap at his most brutal. Since he rarely fights regular people in the Avengers films, watching him go full Super Soldier on human opponents is incredibly satisfying. And the momentum never slows down. Cap and Bucky (Sebastian Stan) take on waves of enemies on the staircase. Bucky jumps out of a building as the camera follows him straight into a high-speed Black Panther chase. Then there’s the scene where the Winter Soldier gets activated, and he singlehandedly takes down Tony, Natasha (Scarlett Johansson), Sam (Anthony Mackie), Sharon (Emily VanCamp), and T’Challa.
All this leads to the big airport battle, which is a full-on action extravaganza with heroes clashing against each other. They might be holding back, but the creative power combos and the way they play off each other are pure joy to watch. And it all ends in a brutal 2v1 brawl between Cap, Bucky, and Tony. Chad Stahelski, the director of the John Wick films, served as second unit director on Civil War, and it shows. The action feels very grounded and fluid, even with all the superpowers involved.
1
‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ (2014)
Winter Soldier is still Marvel’s action crown jewel. It barely feels like an MCU film and plays more like a straight-up espionage thriller. It opens with Cap jumping out of a plane without a parachute, then clearing out terrorists on a captured freighter with surgical precision like a one-man Navy SEAL team. And then there’s Marvel’s most perfect close-quarters combat scene: the elevator fight. It’s a claustrophobic, bone-crunching brawl where Cap uses everything from magnetic cuffs to the walls themselves as weapons.
The highway battle with the Winter Soldier is yet another sequence that is pure tactical carnage. There are cars exploding, bullets flying, and Cap going hand-to-hand with Bucky in a knife fight so fast it looks like it’s on 1.5x speed. It’s grounded, it’s intense, and it makes you forget you’re watching a superhero movie until the shield comes flying in.
Marvel’s The Infinity Saga and The Multiverse Saga are available to stream on Disney+.
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