Top 10 Scenes in Superhero Films

This was a VERY difficult list to make, so don't feel offended if I've left any of your favourites out. Also one scene per films (otherwise The Dark Knight would totally dominate the list). Also I guess I could put Birdman on this list, but that wouldn't be fair really. Also something like Guardians of the Galaxy, despite being a film I quite love, won't quite make the list because it doesn't really have specific scenes I love, I just really like how it all comes together. Also does Mad Max: Fury Road count as a superhero film? Just wondering.

Hon. Mention: Loki Confronts His Parentage (Thor)/Eats Black Widow Alive (The Avengers)

I'm glad to see Tom Hiddleston gradually finding his way into significant roles in films and television as I do think he's a very good actor. He's far more range than some give him credit for (I mean, look at what he made out of such a paper-thin role in Crimson Peak), and I really hope he gets his teeth into some heavy dramatic work soon. However, for now at least we have his excellent performance as Loki in the Marvel films to look to--though he's arguably a bit underutilised. Though I'm not a biggest fan of the Thor films he's easily the best part of them, as he's both so entertaining yet nuanced as a villain who's not exactly sympathetic, yet you can't help but have strong feelings for. In The Avengers he makes for a great smarmy presence, culminating in this great scene where Hannibal Lecter-esque, he becomes such an imposing presence even within the confines of a cell. He doesn't have the most invested co-stars to work with in these two scenes, but no matter he gives it his all, and boy is he fun to watch.

10. Nightcrawler Invades the White House, X2

A pure masterclass in editing, music choice and setting up this (still) best film of the X-Men series, I absolutely love this entrance of my favourite X-Men character as it's just so perfectly captured. Even though the film is far from perfect I still like it a great deal, and its action sequences are one of the main reasons why. It sets a high bar the rest of the film really can't live up to, though, and I do like it very much as a superhero film. It's my favourite scene in all the X-Men films, though followed closely by Quicksilver's antics in X Men: Days of Future Past.

9. Elevator Shennanigans, Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Captain America is my favourite Avenger, and I love Chris Evans' depiction of the character as a straightforward yet not at all boring, All-American righteous dude. It's fairly difficult to pick out a specific scene of his I adore the most. His transformation scene, and farewell to Peggy Carter before his plane sacrifice, are elements of The First Avenger I really like, and in The Winter Soldier he has a great deal of cool action sequences too. Out of all of them my personal favourite would most certainly be the elevator action scene which is marvellously edited and ingeniously thought out. Really though, if I had to pick out which scene featuring Captain America as a character I love the most though, I'd go for the plane scene which hits the emotional sweet spot each time. It's just that taking down people in an elevator looks so cool, so Oldboy-esque.

8. Iron Man in Gulmira, Iron Man

Most of the best moments of the Iron Man films involve Tony Stark and not the suit. I mean after all he's played by Robert Downey Jr., an actor who can coast by films just on his charm (though he's so much more than just that). His scenes of snarky humour and banter outside the suit are great, however in terms of just pure awesomeness this is probably my favourite individual scene in all the Iron Man films. The earlier scene where he first uses a primitive version of the suit to escape from captivity is pretty great, but this one is even more spine-tingling.


7. Clark Meets Jor-El, Learns to Fly, Man of Steel

As I've said before, Man of Steel is a guilty pleasure for me. There's lots of scenes in it I love in a really corny sort of way, like Colonel Hardy and Faora's exchanges culminating in a wonderfully satisfying 'A good death is its own reward', Michael Shannon repeatedly screaming that he WILL FIND HIM, Clark yelling YOU THINK YOU CAN THREATEN MY MOTHER as he takes down Zod, but my favourite scene--well, I'm cheating a bit here, scenes technically speaking--is when Henry Cavill's Clark Kent comes face to face with Russell Crowe's Jor-El, who with all the gravitas of a thousand suns explains his son's origins, his purpose in the universe, and reveals his costume to him, and whose voice inspires Clark to take flight. Now I'm not ashamed to admit that Crowe is amongst my nominees for Best Supporting Actor for 2013 (which are, by the way, Barkhad Abdi the winner, Ben Foster for Lone Survivor, Colin Farrell, Matthew McConaughey for Wolf of Wall Street, and Crowe). He just brings such splendour and elegance to his lines that alongside Hans Zimmer, gives this scene all the conviction it needs, and more.

6. TAKE COVER CHILD, Kick-Ass

Nic Cage hamming it up, Hit Girl being a badass, rousing music, top-notch cinematography. What's not to like? Kick-Ass used to be one of my favourite films, and though my passion for it has waned considerably over the years I still think it's a very good film, and contains some great moments, like this scene and Hit Girl's rampage to Joan Jett.

5. Batman REALLY Begins, Batman Begins

Close second was Cillian Murphy's delivery of 'He's here...The Batman', but this is definitely my favourite scene in Batman Begins, what I think is the perfect way of going about doing an origin story, albeit not a perfect film itself. Anyway Batman's entrance could not be better handled, as Nolan pulls out all the tricks in his arsenal to set up his first appearance with all the tension mustered throughout the film up till this point, with some great action choreography, camerawork, and a very satisfying comeuppance paid to Carmine Falconi (Tom Wilkinson).

4. The Ending, V for Vendetta

A film I like even more, the more I think about it, I've written about V for Vendetta on here before but haven't really gone into detail about what I love about particular scenes. Well it was very tough to pick a specific scene out for this list. There's the heartrendingly moving letter scene, V's marvellous entrance in which he uses nothing but V-starting words, V's propaganda speech, Evey being reborn into a revolutionary, V's surprisingly tender murder of the sole villain who feels any regret for her actions, and of course V's last stand. Out of all these scenes however, I chose to go with that brilliantly filmed ending. You don't even necessarily have to agree with V's principles to go along with it, because it's just such a beautiful blend of spectacle, grand music, and the perfectly coalesced underplayed performances of Natalie Portman and Stephen Rea, whose characters have both gone through significant arcs, musing on what V meant to humanity.

3. Bruce escapes from Bane's prison, The Dark Knight Rises

Now this was an easy scene to pick. The Dark Knight Rises is not a great films, but it certainly has great moments. Bane's speech, the Dark Knight's return to Gotham (especially the one on ice), Alfred leaving Wayne Manor, anything involving Catwoman. My favourite scene of them all however is the spellbinding scene in which Bruce Wayne escapes from the pit Bane had broken him down into. Bale gives his best performance in the series, and one of the best superhero performances ever, and I'll admit to always getting chills down my spine as I watch Wayne make his way out of there, ready to take on Bane and protect the city he loves.

2. A Spider Stops a Train, Spider-Man 2

I have a soft spot for all three of the original Spider-Man trilogy (yes, even aspects of Spider-Man 3), and the new films really make me miss them all the more (I mean look at how poorly they handled Uncle Ben's death scene in the new ones). Yeah, I hate the new films. Deal with it (I'm really glad the character is getting rebooted since it means Andrew Garfield can get back to doing proper dramatic work and being the great actor he is, and Tom Hollander appears to be a fitting replacement, with more of the classic Spidey vibe to him). Anyway, the second film is definitely my favourite of them all. There's plenty of great scenes in it, among them being Peter Parker rushing into a burning building to save a child without his powers, the bank fight scene with Otto Octavius, and J.J. Jameson's hilarious reaction to Spider-Man coming back after giving an oddly poignant speech about his regrets of how he portrayed the wall-crawler in the press.  The train scene, however, tops them all just in pure visceral power. Tobey Maguire gives his all in this scene, and though technically speaking it's all rather improbable it's still pretty darn rousing.

1. The Joker Makes a Deal, The Dark Knight

Picking a favourite scene in The Dark Knight is like picking a Domino's pizza, there's just so many varieties to choose from and they're all so good in their different ways. I hate to leave off any of Gary Oldman's brilliantly understated dramatic scenes including his brilliant final monologue on what Batman means to Gotham, the 'Sophie's Choice' scene, Batman rescuing the hostages, the opening bank scene, the 'Tonight's Entertainment' scene ('Why hello beautiful' has never worked as a pickup line since), any of the 'you know how I got these scars' monologues, the car chase sequence, Two-Face coming into full bloom, the Hong Kong scenes, if it feels like I'm digressing into a bit of a list now that's inevitable. The scene I hate to leave off most of all is the interrogation scene, because as much I love that scene, I love the Joker's scene in which he trolls the mafia most of all. It's basically a scene designed to give Heath Ledger a bit of an opportunity to show off and I must say, it works completely for me. I have underrated The Dark Knight for too long, and it really is a masterpiece (NOTE: I could change to any of the other scenes at any point, as this really is a great film).