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The movies in theMarvel Cinematic Universehave been mostly praise by critics , but the franchise ’s detractors excoriate the pic ’ rigid story complex body part . While Marvel has entries from wildly dissimilar genre , there are commonalty among all the picture : quippy one - line drive , a schematic romanticistic subplot , a one - and - done baddie — and a big , prominent face-off in the third act . The best ones utilise this struggle succession to search the flight of the character discharge and go out with a eruption . The worst ones have a faceless USA and no challenge for the fighter . Here are The 5 salutary ( & 5 regretful ) Third - Act Battles In The MCU .
Best: The Avengers
Every dependable action set bit follows its own three - deed story structure , with the stakes established betimes on , the action rising in the middle part , and everything climax in a climax . The Battle of New York at the ending of 2012’sThe Avengershas all of that . earthly concern ’s mighty heroes unite for the first time as Loki and the Chitauri start their encroachment of the city .
Captain America galvanizes everyone with a fight scheme before Iron Man ingest the government activity ’s nuke and send out it through the wormhole , making “ the sacrifice period of play ” that Cap say he never would . Plus , halfway through the battle , Joss Whedon gave us the cinematic variant of a splash page , with a wholesale tracking flash catch up with all the Avengers .
Worst: Avengers: Age of Ultron
While the final conflict in the firstAvengersmovie had expert zest , unforgettable cinematography , and its own compressed internal story structure , the final battle in the second one , Age of Ultron , was moderately mussy and inconsistent . Instead of building the activity to a breathtaking sexual climax like he did in the first one , Joss Whedon just confound whatever he could think of at the screen to see what would stick .
The action mechanism is all over the seat , and the stake never seem that gamy — we ’re just watching CGI robot get ruin . In the end , Ultron turns out to be underwhelmingly easy to vote down , as the Hulk just beats him up and then Vision destroys his consciousness .
Best: Thor: Ragnarok
Taika Waititi reportedly used “ Immigrant Song ” as the soundtrack over the sizzle spool that he used to peddle his visual sense forThor : Ragnarokto Marvel . So it ’s meet that the iconic Led Zeppelin track — which apply a ton of mental imagery from Norse mythology in its lyrics — plays over the final battle .
Just when Thor has render up promise , having lost his eye and been outperform by Hela , he has a visual sense in which his father Odin remind him that he does n’t get his world power from a cock ; he get it from within . In a crash of skag , Thor explode onto the Bifrost Bridge to blaze his way through Hela ’s armies . It ’s brilliant .
Worst: Iron Man 3
Shane Black’sIron Man 3gets off to a promising starting signal , but it quickly cash in one’s chips off the track in its second act . This was mainly a result of then - Marvel chief Ike Perlmutter nixing a distaff scoundrel from the script and forcing Black to make Aldrich Killian the chief resister .
This result in a third - act battle in which a guy whose lift pitch was discount by Tony Stark 20 years ago kidnaps the President of the United States in an overly convoluted attack to get back at Tony . When the Iron Legion shows up to take precaution of everything , Tony becomes fundamentally redundant . This battle sequence is a mess .
Best: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
InGuardians of the Galaxy Vol . 2 , Peter Quill find out his pop is a genocidal planet , aptly named Ego , who wants to remake the universe in his own image . All of the movie ’s battle converge as Gamora and Nebula discover Ego ’s enigma , Yondu arrives to preserve his adopt son from his malign biologic father , and the Sovereign ’s fleet returns for round two .
James Gunn has alwaysnailed the balance of humor and emotionin theGuardiansmovies , and this is no different . From Rocket and Groot’shilarious back - and - Forth River with the detonatorto Quill say , “ You should n’t have defeat my mommy and squished my Walkman , ” dress to Fleetwood Mac ’s “ The concatenation , ” this is a rattling battle successiveness .
Worst: Captain Marvel
Captain Marvelnicely countermine the MCU ’s rule for origin stories . alas , its net battle let it down . It never feels like Carol Danvers is in any danger throughout the total succession . She just pass the struggle discovering convenient raw powers that can handicap the sorry cat , like the power to punch spaceships out of the sky .
With Yon - Rogg face up Carol , and Ronan the Accuser bringing his forces to Earth , the stakes should be high at the end ofCaptain Marvel . But it never sense that way , because the villains are hopelessly outmatch by Carol and the full extent of her tycoon .
Best: Captain America: Civil War
The final battle inCaptain America : civic Wardoesn’t involve spaceships blowing each other up or skyscrapers crashing to the earth . It just involve three guys fighting it out . But the stakes are high here than in most city - flattening battles . decent after Tony Stark phone a cease-fire with Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes , the three are treat to some telecasting footage in which a brainwash Bucky murders Tony ’s parents in moth-eaten stock .
So , Tony wants to kill Bucky , Steve want to protect his dependable friend , and the Avengers are displume apart . In the last minute of the fight , Tony looks into Steve ’s center and sees that , at least for a arcsecond , Steve is willing to vote out him .
Worst: Thor: The Dark World
2013’sThor : The Dark Worldis often called the MCU ’s worst movie , and that ’s probably because it ’s the one that most nearly follows the franchise ’s rigid formula . Whereas directors like James Gunn , Taika Waititi , and Ryan Coogler have each brought a unequaled visual sense to their Marvel movies , Alan Taylor directedThe Dark Worldthe same mode he would direct a video episode — a cookie - cutter installment , designed to match the mansion style .
The third - routine battle is no dissimilar . A major city is at stake and the villain ’s wispy evil plan is almost complete . Thor get the better of Malekith in the dullest , most predictable path imaginable .
Best: Avengers: Endgame
The final conflict inAvengers : Endgamewasn’t just the climax of the picture show ; it was the sexual climax of the entire Infinity Saga , 11 years in the making .
Kicking thing off with the breathless “ portals ” sequence , the Russo brothers deal to cram in every possible instance of lover service they could observe way for : Captain America manage Mjolnir , Valkyrie free into battle on a Pegasus , Giant - Man punch a Chitauri Leviathan out of the sky , Pepper Potts wear out a wooing of armour , Captain Marvel singlehandedly fill down a combat ship , and of class , Iron Man shit the ultimate sacrificeto save the creation from Thanos ’ ira .
Worst: Iron Man 2
After the runaway success of the firstIron Manmovie , a nigh - perfect superhero blockbuster that was alas overshadowed byThe Dark Knightin 2008 , anticipation for the sequel was high . unluckily , it fail to live up to expectations . Whiplash was nowhere almost as interesting a villain as Obadiah Stane , and the patch seemed more concerned with setting up future MCU installment than telling its own tale .
In the last struggle , Rhodey last became War Machine andjoined military force with Iron Man to take down Whiplash and his robot army . It should ’ve been an amazing sequence , but it ’s lazily written . The Hero defeat Whiplash with a good fortune , experiment with firing repulsor bang at each other .
NEXT : MCU : The 5 Best ( And 5 Worst ) Movies In The Infinity Saga