MCU Final Battles Ranked
A couple weeks back, Black Widow dropped in theaters and Loki finished this week. I wanted to do an MCU ranking that I haven’t done before, which is to rank all 27 MCU final battles. Let’s get started!
27. Thor: The Dark World: This is one of the weaker movies inside of the MCU, and it has the weakest final battle in anything that the MCU has done. Since the movie didn’t build-up Malekith as this compelling villain, you don’t care about anything that Malekith does in this third act. And it’s a bit unclear what his plan was. The movie wants you to feel this big epic feel, but you just don’t. The moments where Thor and Malekith are hopping between portals and universes are pretty funny. But in general, it’s a very forgettable final battle to a very forgettable movie.
26. Thor: Now, I like the first Thor movie. I think it’s a good movie, but I don’t think the final battle is very good. By his nature, Loki isn’t a physical threat towards Thor so you have them fight for like 30 seconds, and they make their way out on The Rainbow Bridge, and Thor destroys the bridge. Then we think Loki is dead, but he doesn’t die. So in a movie that I enjoy, the actual final battle isn’t very good. I wish they added a sequence where Thor, Sif, and The Warriors Three battle Loki and The Frost Giants, it could have been cool. But I don’t think this final battle really works.
25. Captain Marvel: Like the first Thor movie, I like this movie, and I think it’s a good movie. But one of the big issues with this movie is the character of Captain Marvel, and they didn’t develop or make a compelling enough character. She’s just there and along for the ride but in a matter of 30 seconds goes from not knowing her full power to being this unstoppable force of power. The scenes with Goose defeating a bunch of aliens is great, and the lines that Nick Fury says are pretty funny. But in general, this is one of the weaker elements of an otherwise solid MCU movie.
24. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: This final battle has a number of great moments. The stuff with Rocket and Baby Groot is just really funny, and classic moments between the two of them. And they do some great moments with Yondu and his Mary Poppins joke also makes me laugh. But the sequence is like 45 minutes long, and I don’t think the movie needed to be that long. They could have been trimmed for like 15-20 minutes and it would have been better. The fight between Star-Lord and Ego isn’t as impactful as it should be. But in general, it’s frustrating sequence in a frustrating MCU movie.
23. Iron Man 2: Another sequence that has some great moments, but not as good as it should be. Getting to see Iron Man and War Machine team-up to defeat drones is fun to see, and it’s something that we were waiting to see. And the Black Widow hallway fight scene is great because it’s the first actual scene where we see Black Widow in action, and the moments with Happy are really funny. But once Whiplash shows up, it feels too similar to the finale of the original Iron Man. So once again, this is a good enough finale but could have been better.
22. Black Widow: I really dug Black Widow as a movie, but I think the third act of the movie was the weakest act of the movie. The act was filled with a lot of exposition and action that was good but the weakest action in the movie. On the exposition side of things, it’s Dreykov telling Natasha about what he’s been up to and revealing the identity of Taskmaster, which that itself was fine. But on the action, it’s good but not great. I wish it was more hand to hand and not special, because certain things about it felt that. Now there are some nice touches of humor in it, and I liked seeing Red Guardian in action but I wish that Taskmaster was more involved. But I really like this movie, the final battle is good enough.
21. Loki: So far, Loki is my favorite of the Disney Marvel shows. But the season finale of the show is my least favorite episode. And there isn’t a whole lot of action, we get a brief fight between Loki and Sylvie that does have emotional weight to it, of having to have friends start fighting. But the fight itself only lasts about a minute. But 85% of this episode is Loki and Sylvie talking with Kang, and Kang is giving exposition about his origin story. And that’s not what I wanted from the season finale of this show. So I don’t hate this episode or this finale, it’s just both of them are very underwhelming. So in a show that is really really solid, the finale is lower on the list.
20. Black Panther: This is another frustrating one that does some things really well. On the positive side, the moment where M’Baku comes back to save the day is really cool, and it’s a continuation of his character arc. Just seeing rhinos in armor in action is fun to see. But I’ve never cared for the final fight between T’Challa and Killmonger in the mines. It looks so fake and some of the worst CGI in the MCU. It’s so obvious that Chadwick Boseman and Michael B. Jordan were on green screens. And just the fight itself wasn’t super interesting. I like this movie, I think it’s very good. But the finale is easily one of the weaker elements of the movie.
19. Ant-Man and the Wasp: The action sequence itself is actually pretty fun, but I don’t think it fits as a final battle. It feels a bit too small, and like if this was in the middle of the movie I’d like it. It just doesn’t give off a “final battle” vibe to it. Some of the shrinking jokes with Michael Pena riding in a shrinked down car is pretty fun. And there is some nice emotional weight when I see Hank and Janet re-unite in The Quantum Realm. But even with Ghost and Bill Foster they aren’t as involved as I think they should be. Once again, it’s fun and funny but I think it works better as a middle act action sequence.
18. Iron Man: Now the first Iron Man movie is one of the stronger movies inside of the MCU, but the final battle might be the weakest element of that movie. It’s great to see Tony willing to sacrifice himself, and you feel it. And that’s because the movie gave Tony a character arc in the movie. But the fight between Iron Man and Iron Monger is pretty short and forgettable, like they fight on a highway for a few seconds, in a parking lot, then they go to the top of a building where IronMonger is killed. And that’s basically it, the final battle of this movie lasts not even 10 minutes. So if they had some more action it could move up.
17. Spider-Man: Homecoming: Yet again another movie that I think is great, it’s one of the stronger movies but the finale isn’t very memorable. The movie doesn’t have super memorable action inside of it, and this finale doesn’t really have action. It’s more so Spider-Man trying to stop Vulture from doing a sky heist, but like Ant-Man and the Wasp it feels more like a middle act action sequence rather than the final battle. But you have that tension between Peter and Vulture, where 5 minutes earlier Peter learned that his date to the dance was the villain, so there is that nice tension between them. But besides that, not super memorable or even a great sequence.
NOTE: As we move into the top 16, there is a big jump in the quality and entertainment of the finales. So even the one I have at number 16, I still really like.
16. WandaVision: The first of the Disney+ Marvel tv shows to come out, and the first MCU product for Phase 4. And the stand-out sequence here is seeing Fake Vision and White Vision talk about life and philosophy, and Paul Bettany nails playing both characters. Seeing Wanda become fully formed as The Scarlet Witch is great to see, and just puts a smile on your face. It’s nice seeing The Twins get in on the action. I know some people didn’t like episode 9 because it felt too generic as just big MCU action sequences, that’s what I liked about it. So I really dug that episode and this final battle.
15. Iron Man 3: For me, this is easily the best of the Iron Man final battles. And it’s the one that just feels epic in scale, where you have all of the Iron Man suits coming into fight on this dock of some sort, and having Tony hop between different suits is very fun. And you have Rhodey rescuing The President in The Iron Patriot suit. So it’s one that feels epic. It has some fun moments, and once again seeing Iron Man and War Machine or I guess Iron Patriot team-up is fun to see. So it is a very good finale to a good but not great movie inside of the MCU.
14. The Incredible Hulk: Now, I’m not crazy about this movie. It actually is my least favorite movie inside of the MCU. But I think the final battle is one of the best sequences of the entire movie. It’s just fun to see Hulk and Abomination duke it out in the streets. Hulk puts cars on his fists and uses them as boxing gloves. This final battle doesn’t have the weight of the world on its shoulders, it’s just trying to deliver a good time of having monsters fight each other, and I think it works at that.
13. Spider-Man: Far From Home: This final battle actually has a number of positive things about it. First up, it’s nice to see Happy get in on the action, where he’s helping Peter’s friends get safety. And he does have some nice funny moments in the mix. Also, the visuals and look of the final battle is pretty good. This is easily one of the best looking final battles in an MCU movie. And seeing Peter outsmart Mysterio a bit was a nice touch after what Mysterio did a few minutes prior. So I don’t really have any issues with it, it’s just a very solid final battle.
12. Ant-Man: This is the SMALLEST scale of the MCU final battles. Figuratively and literally, the stakes here are pretty ANTi-climatic. You have Ant-Man fighting with Yellowjacket in a house on a Thomas the Tank Engine play set. And just seeing them knock each other over with trains is fun to see. And it has these shots where it zooms out and we see them just not doing any damage. The action and humor both really work for this sequence. It’s one of the funniest and most memorable final battles in the MCU.
11. Doctor Strange: I find this movie to be one of the more overrated movies inside of the MCU. A number of people have this movie in their top 10 favorite MCU movies, but I don’t. Now I said Far From Home was ONE of the best looking final battles in the MCU, Doctor Strange is the best looking final battle in. The whole movie has great visuals, and it is shown in this sequence. And the scene where Doctor Strange puts himself and Dormammu in a time loop is maybe the best scene of the movie. And it’s fun to see Doctor Strange as the fully formed Sorcerer Supreme, and hopefully it continues in the sequel, In the Multiverse of Madness.
10. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: I really dug The Falcon and the Winter Soldier as a show, I know some people didn’t. But I think episode 6 One World, One People is the best episode of the season. And the first 30 minutes of the episode is basically one big long extended action sequence. It’s just so powerful to see Sam take up the role as Captain America, and his suit is one of the best in the MCU. And there's some emotional weight all through-out the final battle. Now, I think this episode could have been better but I think the Power Broker reveal wasn’t very good, we knew it was Sharon all the way back in episode 3.
9. Captain America the First Avenger: This might be the most emotional final battle on this list. The moment where Steve tells Peggy what he has to do, and that he never got to dance with her. Was a moment that is one of the most emotional in the MCU. But, that moment paid off so well in Avengers Endgame. This final also sets up Infinity War and Endgame with what it does with Red Skull. But the action is pretty good, seeing Steve face-off against Red Skull is fun and satisfying in some ways. So it is my top 10 favorite MCU final battles.
8. Guardians of the Galaxy: A sequence that has some great moments inside of it. The big stand-out here is the “We Are Groot”, another super emotional moment inside of the MCU. If I were to describe the scene, it might sound pretty SAPPY, but the way it actually plays out is super great. The dance-off between Peter and Ronan is just a super Guardians moment. Now the final has great moments, but the actual action isn’t the best. If the action was as good as moments, it would have been in the top 5.
7. Avengers: Age of Ultron: The top 7 are all pretty great final battles, so the fact that this is one is at number 7 just shows how great the MCU final battles are. All 4 of the Avengers final battles have big action, big emotions, and funny moments. We get another great team-up shot with the slo-mo as we see them take out Ultron’s army. It’s nice seeing Vision join in on the action, and his final moments with Ultron is great. And Quicksilver’s death is a great little moment, and Wanda’s reaction helps add to some of the emotion of his death.
6. Captain America the Winter Soldier: Yet again, another final that has big emotions and big action inside of it. The entire movie has some great action inside of it, and this battle is no exception. It’s fun seeing Captain America and Falcon team-up to defeat HYDRA and fun seeing Falcon flying around with his wings. But the big emotions here come when Steve confronts Bucky, and Steve doesn’t want to fight Bucky but Bucky keeps on fighting him. And seeing Steve trying to bring out the human side of Bucky is really quite emotional. So this final battle has it all, and does it all very well.
5. Thor Ragnarok: This finale might not have as big of emotions or powerful moments as other ones on this list. But this is one of the most fun final battles in the MCU. Every hero gets some moment in the spotlight, everybody gets to be the hero in one moment. Hulk gets some of his funniest moments with him jumping out of the plane and wanting to turn into The Hulk just falls on the rainbow bridge, but then we have Hulk battle a wolf which is awesome. Seeing Thor release his full potential when it comes to his powers is great to see. The inclusion of The Immigrant Song is great, so put all of it together this is one of the best MCU final battles out there.
4. Captain America: Civil War: In some ways, I think this final battle is more emotional than Captain America the Winter Soldier’s final battle. Where we see two Avengers battle it out, one of them trying to kill the other person's friend. And the other one is trying to save his friend. This is one of the best action sequences in the trilogy, of course the Airport battle is iconic, but this finale is far more emotional. Leading to a very satisfying finale where Tony tells Steve “that shield doesn’t belong to you”. And Steve just drops the shield in front of Tony. But the action itself is also quite good, maybe not as good as the action in Captain America the Winter Soldier but still, very solid action. Mixed is with big emotions.
3. Avengers: Infinity War: One of the most epic final battles in movie history. Where there are really two different large scale battles going on. One is on Titan with Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, and the Guardians of the Galaxy trying to stop Thanos by taking off the gauntlet. The other one is in Wakanda with some other heroes, fighting Thanos’ army. This finale has some really funny moments especially with Steve, when he meets Groot is great and my Steve’s funniest moment in the MCU. Him reuniting with Thor is great and has become a meme. Thor in general gets some great moments, but it is all leading up to a shocking finale where the villain won. Thanos did what he said he was going to do, and it was emotional and shocking.
2. The Avengers: Such a great comic booky final battle where it was the first time where The Avengers came together to fight an army, or came together in general. Like the previous couple that I’ve mentioned, every hero gets a moment in the spotlight. Hulk being the big stand-out, the “I’m Always Angry” moment is great, his moment with Loki is great, and his moment with Thor is...great as well. The team-up shot where the camera circles The Avengers, and the aliens think to themselves “we are differently screwed”. This is such a fun final battle with some great moments and action inside of it, so it is the runner up on this list.
1. Avengers Endgame: When I set out to make this list, I knew what was going to be at number 1. And in my mind, no other final battle inside of the MCU comes close to Avengers Endgame. The final hour of this movie is the best final hour in any movie history, and the best theater experience of my entire life. When Captain America had his moment with a certain weapon throwing down on Thanos, my theater was cheering so loud and crazy. Then The Portals sequence started and my theater lost it, The Portals sequence is my favorite movie scene of all time. This finale has it all big action, big laughs, and big emotions. So easily without question, the finale to Avengers Endgame is my number 1 favorite.
There you have it, my ranking of the 27 MCU final battles. What is your favorite MCU final battle? Also, I’ve down a whole bunch of MCU rankings and the top 10s. Thanks for reading!
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