The 6 Best Moments of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Have you seen the new “Doctor Strange” trailer? Anyone excited for “Captain America: Civil War”?
Yes I realize that some are getting tired of comic book movies, but not me! I’m a big Marvel fan and have been enjoying the ride. So one clarification, this is for little specific moments or scenes. You may be wondering about a lack of moments from “Captain America: Winter Soldier.” The reason is simple, it’s too hard to pick just one moment because that film is consistently excellent throughout.
And if you think I’m praising them a little too much, check out next week’s article.
6.) Young Michael Douglas (Ant-Man)
This isn’t an amazing moment for character or story, which is why it’s at the bottom. We have Hank Pym confronting an early version of S.H.I.E.L.D. and showing what led him to walk away from the superhero game. I was just amazed by the effect here. We’ve seen digital de-aging in movies before (“X-Men: The Last Stand”) but it’s never looked right. I can remember when my step-mom and I went to see the third X-Men movie and “young” Professor X and Magneto first came on-screen. We knew something was off, but we couldn’t figure out what at the time. Since then it’s remained in that weird, not quite real looking area. This is the first time I can remember it looking realistic. You almost wonder if they somehow filmed the scene in the 90s and just sat on it until this ha-ha. On top of all of that it speaks to my only real problem with “Ant-Man,” I mean aside from the lack of Wasp. I am far more interested in Hank Pym and his story than Scott Lang’s. A prequel would be awesome for me and in general I only see benefits to this technique in the future of movies.
5.) Loki’s Breakdown (Thor: The Dark World)
The “Thor” movies are the weak link of the MCU. Part of it may be the fact that I’m not a big fan of Thor from the comics. While Marvel has yet to make a completely awful film, both “Thor” movies have some major problems. That being said, they are at their best when they’re dealing with the family drama of the Asgardians. The best example of this comes from “Thor: The Dark World.” After Loki has been imprisoned the only person still willing to talk to him is his mother Frigga. It’s not only nice to see them let Rene Russo do something else in these films, but how we see Loki drop some of his defenses when he’s around her. So (Spoilers) when she is killed during a dark elf attack it actually does a good job of affecting the audience as well as Loki and it’s done completely with no dialog. Just him hearing the news standing in his prison and boom, the furniture flies against the walls. Then when we later see Thor break him out and Loki turns off his illusions we’re told entirely visually how much his mother’s death has affected him. Needless to say the “Thor” films need more moments like this.
4.) The Purple Man’s Police Station Visit (Jessica Jones)
Yes I said Purple Man and NOT Kilgrave because he’s The Purple Man dammit! Yes, I know it’s strange, but it’s a comic book and if that’s something you gotta ignore then you shouldn’t be adapting comics. Sorry that just irritated me a bit. I wasn’t as completely in love with the Netflix “Jessica Jones” series as some, but it was pretty darn good. A big part was because of how good David Tennant was as The Purple Man. I never could get into Jessica Jones as a character so this is what really saved the series for me. To put what made him so great in a simple way, they took a minor Z-list villain and turned him into one of the best of the whole Marvel canon. First it made me realize just how terrifying it would be to have someone like this walking around in the real world. His motivations were great in that it’s scary that there are people who really think like this, but also that he can’t comprehend that others don’t agree with him. His backstory was changed from the comics, but made much stronger by it now being that he was experimented on as a child. Thus he almost acts like a man child who can’t fully grasp the implications of what he constantly does. Finding the exact moment to embody this was tough, but I’d have to go with the police station scene as for me it’s where all of this is on full display. Needless to say I was glued to my seat. I honestly don’t know how Season 2 can function without him.
Definitely debatable. I see that you cited why you excluded Winter Soldier but the opening boat fight should be up here definitely. Also the first “Avengers” film deserves some credit. Finally seeing the Hulk work with a team rather than solo was awesome. When you see Ruffalo say “I’m always angry” and then transform…that was awesome. For Guardians I would put the “We are Groot” scene above Star Lord’s scene with his mother. But I’m a “less is more” type of person so I thought it was amazing how one word in Groot’s vocabulary had the impact it did with… Read more »
I thought about putting the first Avengers film as an honorable mention like the “Puny God.” scene but I felt like that film is pretty well spoken for in all of it’s awesome moments.
The “We are Groot” scene was a VERY close second for me. As well as Rocket’s drunken breakdown “I didn’t ask to be taken apart and put back together!”
Age of Ultron moments could have been it’s own list there are so many moments that I loved. In some ways I like it more than the first.
Best part of any of the Marvel movies for me is the old man in Avengers who stands up to Loki. That entire film just breaks down Loki so hard and at almost every turn. Its summed up so beautifully with him trying to stand over people and the old man says “There’s always men like you.” A testament to courage and just puts the big bad villain right in his place.
I love that moment too.