No spoilers for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
One thing that the MCU has always been known for are the fight scenes. The big action spectacle. If you have a superhero movie, you need awesome action. And Phase Four had some cool action. Sure, sometimes it was up and down, but overall, I think this phase delivered on having some pretty cool fight scenes. So here are my ten favorite fight scenes from Phase Four of the MCU.
10. The Bridge Fight (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever)
The bridge fight in Wakanda Forever is the true introduction to the might of the Talokan, and they are terrifying. Without spoiling anything, this scene is brutal. We see Okoye take on these warrior water people, and you feel every hit. There's no music. It's just silence so that you can hear every single grunt and punch and slice and smack. It established how aggressive our antagonists can be, and I really, really liked it.
9. Strange Supreme Destroys the Universe (What If...?)
This includes the part where Strange Supreme fights the real Doctor Strange. This scene shows what the animators of What If...? can do without the restraints of real people, real environments, and CGI. They went all out with this animated battle. The visuals involving Doctor Strange in the movies are already amazing, so they are able to up the ante when it's animated. It's an awesome wizard fight that culminates in one of the most devastating final moments in anything Marvel. It's fantastic.
8. The Zombies (What If...?)
One of the better episodes of What If...? was the zombies episode, which is essentially one big action sequence. This entry is basically the entire episode, because it had some of the coolest animated fights ever. I just really liked seeing the undead versions of all of our favorite superheroes. Since most of the Avengers were zombified, you also felt the stakes throughout this episode as the surviving members fight this disease that is threatening to destroy this dystopian universe. If the Zombies show delivers on this action, it will be awesome.
7. Doctor Strange vs. Spider-Man (Spider-Man: No Way Home)
This was one of the heavily marketed elements of Spider-Man: No Way Home, and it paid off in an awesome fashion. As I mentioned before, Doctor Strange action is super cool. The visuals involving him always feel like a kaleidoscope combined with Escher drawings, and that is brought in here as Strange tosses Spider-Man in the mirror dimension to try and get the box that will send the villains back to their respective universes. Hero battles are always fun, and this is a hero battle in the mirror dimension with cool visuals. So it's awesome.
6. Talokan vs. Wakanda (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever)
The grand finale of Wakanda Forever is cool. You feel the tension between the Talokan and the Wakandans as they both fight for the good of their nations. Once again, I will not spoil anything, but there are some awesome moments, especially the fight between our Black Panther and Namor. The person that becomes Black Panther gets a great completion to their arc, which elevates this battle even more. I also just really like seeing two very powerful nations duke it out for fifteen minutes. It was cool.
5. The Music Note Fight (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness)
The fact that something like this exists in the MCU is awesome. Doctor Strange visits a decaying universe where he encounters Sinister Strange, who is being manipulated by the Darkhold. The ensuing fight is something that only Sam Raimi could come up with: the two of them launch music notes back and forth at each other. It's so weird. It's so Raimi. It's so unlike anything that's ever been in the MCU. And I love it for that. It's grown on me and has become one of my favorite parts of Multiverse of Madness.
4. Shang-Chi vs. The Mandarin (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings)
While I don't like the actual final battle between the dragons at the end of Shang-Chi, the fight between Shang-Chi and Wenwu is pretty great. There's tons of emotion injected into this battle as it's a son that is trying to win his father back and pull him out of this madness, but the Mandarin refuses to bend and eventually unleashes the Dweller-in-Darkness. The choreography is pretty cool and Destin Daniel Crettin does a solid job with the direction, but the emotion is really what elevates this fight.
3. The Werewolf Massacre (Werewolf by Night)
This is the only battle on this list that I think is completely devoid of CGI (with the exception of the What If...? fights). Werewolf by Night was a throwback to Universal classic horror films, and this is the horror part of that special. Jack Russell becomes a werewolf and goes bananas on everyone at Bloodstone Manor. The practical stunts and wire work is amazing. The amount of blood we get here is awesome. I love this finale. It's a great wrap to a great little project from the MCU.
2. Namor Floods Wakanda (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever)
This was in the trailer, so it's not a spoiler. The war between the Talokan and Wakanda explodes when Namor attacks Wakanda, resulting in a truly epic fight scene that has bursts of awesome action combined with huge plot and character moments. The scale here feels massive as you truly see all of Wakanda suffer from Namor's attack. I can't say much more without spoiling, but this is one of the best parts of Wakanda Forever and one of the best battles in Phase Four.
1. The Statue of Liberty Fight (Spider-Man: No Way Home)
While I do love all of the action sequences above this, there is nothing even close to the final battle of No Way Home. If you ever told me that I would see Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland's Spider-Men fighting Green Goblin, Doc Ock, Sandman, Lizard, and Electro, I would've laughed and said "In my dreams". Well, it actually happened. Not only is the action tense and exciting, but there are amazing moments of payoff, whether that's Andrew saving MJ, Doc Ock turning good, Tobey stopping Tom from killing Green Goblin...all of it. It's amazing. It's a gift to Spider-Man fans. And I absolutely love it.
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