All 4 Avengers Movies, Ranked by Action

The Big Picture

• Marvel’s Avengers have set a high standard for superhero action with thrilling and boundary-pushing setpieces.
• Each Avengers movie, from the first to the latest, delivers top-notch action and emotional satisfaction.
• Infinity War shines as the best in the franchise with non-stop action, showcasing every hero in exciting sequences.

Ever since the Marvel Cinematic Universe brought its primary heroes together in 2012’s Marvel’s The Avengers, audiences all over the globe have fallen in love with the team of superheroes. A large reason behind their success, aside from the initial excitement of seeing that many cool superheroes together on the silver screen, is their commitment to larger-than-life action setpieces that defy expectations and continuously push the boundaries.

It takes a lot to manage a team of protagonists in both the writer’s room and the director’s chair, so the fact that these films’ action sequences are as well executed as they are is a marvel in and of itself. Still, it’s logical that some action efforts might be lesser than others. To be clear, every Avengers movie has some of the best action in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Each entry in this tetralogy is entertaining and emotionally satisfying, to the point where they are all considered among the few superhero movies that are pretty much perfect. However, like any franchise, some just stand out more than others.

4 ‘Marvel’s The Avengers’ (2012)

Directed by Joss Whedon

The first film in the Avengers franchise set the standard for superhero films to come. The movie was a huge moment in pop culture history and is borderline unrivaled, even today. As the first major team-up in the saga, The Avengers had to spend considerable time setting up the why behind the group’s assembling and thus includes less action than its sequels. However, the action that is there is simply spectacular. Seeing the Avengers come together for the first time is groundbreaking, and the action sequences it provides are some of the best in superhero cinema.

Like its sequels, The Avengers has two prominent action sequences: the first takes place in the SHIELD helicarrier as the team goes up against each other due to growing pains, and the second is the third-act battle against the Chitauri, the alien army sent by Loki (Tom Hiddleston). Benefiting from Hiddleston’s perfect casting as the iconic MCU villain and some truly impressive VFX, the action in The Avengers is thrilling and left audiences wanting more, instantly hooking them on the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

3 ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ (2015)

Directed by Joss Whedon

It was always going to be difficult to pass up a film as groundbreaking as Marvel’s The Avengers, especially on the action front. Impressively, Avengers: Age of Ultron managed to do so, at least on the action front, if not anywhere else. Introducing new characters, such as Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), into the fray added even more opportunities for the film’s action and did wonders for it in the end. Sadly, Taylor-Johnson is among the many actors wasted by the MCU, but at least he gets a couple of cool action scenes here.

As the stakes grew larger, so did the scale and quality of the action. As stated, the introduction of new characters opened up more doors to showcase new and visually dazzling abilities, especially Scarlet Witch’s famous red hexes. Additionally, the Avengers were now a pre-established group and didn’t need to take much of the film to assemble; thus, the film had much more time to include more action sequences. Although it lacks in the narrative department, Avengers: Age of Ultron has many memorable sequences, but the battle between the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) in his Hulkbuster is one of the most epic in the franchise.

2 ‘Avengers: Endgame’ (2019)

Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo

The entire Marvel Cinematic Universe led to this moment in history. Avengers: Endgame was a monumental event in pop culture, and with such a gigantic premise and plot, the action needed to match such stakes and impact; thankfully, it did. The action in Endgame is boundary-pushing and makes every moment count, mostly thanks to the humongous third-act action setpiece after the rest of the Avengers and the universe’s population come back to life.

Although the film largely focuses on the elaborate time-travel heist to recover the Infinity Stones and snap everyone back to life, Avengers: Endgame still found the time to include its fair share of action, both major sequences, including several characters and minor one-on-one fights between different characters. The third act then presents one of cinema’s longest, busiest, and most elaborate battles, which is thrilling in every single way and wraps up over a decade’s worth of storytelling. Seeing every single Marvel hero introduced in the Marvel Cinematic Universe up until this point was a sight to behold. More impressively, Endgame gives everyone a moment under the soon, using each hero to the best of their abilities to craft one of the best battles in cinematic history.

1 ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ (2018)

Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo

Commonly referred to as the best of the Avengers franchise, 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War is packed full of action that keeps the film on a fast yet steady pace as the Avengers race to keep Thanos (Josh Brolin) from gathering all the Infinity Stones. The non-stop action makes the film one of the most thrilling roller-coaster rides in superhero cinema and ends up providing some of, if not the best, action setpieces in superhero film history. Furthermore, it uses pretty much every member of its massive cast in at least one exciting action sequence, giving everyone a chance to shine.

The film has several major extended battles, but the two most important are the giant battle in Wakanda with the Avengers on Earth and the Avengers on Titan trying to take down Thanos toe-to-toe. Of these two, the latter is the superior one, as it finds a way to showcase everyone’s unique abilities while still showing them as a team. However, the action in Avengers: Infinity War is astounding all around. The battles range and vary from giant war-like conflicts to smaller, intimate action sequences. No matter the size, though, Avengers: Infinity War delivers on the action front with style, substance and grace.

NEXT: The Worst Character in Every Avengers Movie