Boom! Bang! Pow! The 15 Best Comic Book Movie Brawls

2003’s Daredevil had a whole host of problems that kept it from being anything more than just barely watchable. The story was laughable, the characters were severely lame, and Ben Affleck only seemed half conscious throughout the whole thing. It’s still considered one of Marvel’s worst adaptations. However, the film does feature a barroom brawl that is actually pretty magnificent.

It’s the one scene that truly epitomizes the brutal, vigilante world of Daredevil, all while showing off his patented radar sense in a very clever way. It’s down and dirty, with some fast paced choreography and real world violence. It’s just a shame that this fight scene is the only thing in the movie that is reminiscent of what makes Ol’ Horn Head such a great character.

The Punisher has been adapted into a movie on three different occasions and each one left audiences mourning the loss of their beloved ticket money. Whether they suffered from an uneven tone, cheesy directing, or Dolph Lundgren, the Punisher's films have never truly lived up to their comic book counterpart. But 2004’s The Punisher featured a fight scene between Frank Castle and the Russian (played by wrestler Kevin Nash) that is about as close to Garth Ennis’ twisted take on the character as we’ll seemingly ever get.

Combining the dark, slapstick humor that made Ennis’ run on the character so memorable with a healthy dose of hard-hitting violence, this fight packs a serious wallop. No Punisher movie as a whole has yet to even touch the quality of this fight.

Kick-Ass surprised everybody last year by giving the well-worn comic book genre a dose of excitement and humor that most filmmakers seem too scared to try. And while the vulgar, violent, punk rock tone of the film didn’t necessarily click with a wide audience, people who did give the movie a chance were treated to one of the greatest cinematic heroines in a generation: Hit-Girl.

This pint-sized princess of punishment spends her youth disemboweling bad guys and cursing like a longshoreman. The highlight of the film comes when Hit-Girl almost singlehandedly clears out a penthouse full of mobsters in brutal fashion. We’d like to see Dennis the Menace try that.

Christopher Nolan may be getting all of the glory now for his version of the Caped Crusader, but let’s not forget that it was Tim Burton who truly put Batman on the cinematic map in 1989 with his blend of gothic imagery and noirish lighting. Hyper-stylized Gotham aside, what truly made Batman memorable was the Joker’s final confrontation with the Dark Knight atop of a towering cathedral.

People may argue endlessly over which Batman film is the best, but it’s obvious that this fight’s perfect blend of humor, camp, and brutality makes it stand out above most others. Plus, if gravel-voiced Christian Bale ever tried to growl the classic line, “Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moon light?” we would probably need to put the subtitles on just to understand what the hell he was saying.

Oh Watchmen, so many people claimed that this was the unfilmable movie. Based off the classic Alan Moore comic,Watchmen turned out to be a noble attempt to bring the highly-acclaimed book to the big screen. But trying to film a comic that is so beloved and complicated is a thankless task, and director Zack Snyder certainly felt the heat from fanboys who trashed every inaccuracy, and the mainstream audience never really gave the movie a chance.

Despite some mediocre reviews and a disappointing box office result, though, Watchmen nailed the visual look of the book perfectly. And no scene showcases that more than the prison riot scene in the middle of the flick. Every bone-crushing punch is felt with authority thanks to Snyder’s generous use of slow motion and his keen eye for violence. The scene also shows Rorschach at his most homicidal, which is quite an accomplishment considering he spent most of the film up to that point acting nuttier than an elephant’s stool sample.

2008’s Iron Man came completely out of left field and reminded all of us that comic book flicks should never be afraid of letting audiences have a little bit of fun. With a great blend of humor and real emotion, the first Iron Man stands near the top of the comic book pecking order. One of the most memorable scenes, and arguably the best, is when the audience is finally given its first proper glimpse of Ol’ Shellhead, complete in his Mark III armor, as he takes down a group of terrorists known as The Ten Rings.

Shown as a tactical fighter much like a well trained Marine, Iron Man effectively zaps and pounds his way through this terrorist cell with sheer brutality. It’s not often that we like to see our comic book heroes kill in cold blood, but in Iron Man it works because there really was no other resort. It’s still disappointing that the clichéd final battle couldn’t live up to this perfect showcase of Iron Man in all of his glory. And don’t even get us started on Iron Man 2—we still haven’t gotten over that dumpster fire.

There is a good chance that not many people had even heard of Hellboy before his 2004 big screen debut, but since then, he has become a pop culture icon and spawned a successful sequel, cartoons, and more comics. Working in unison with a unique look and memorable characters, director Guillermo del Toro made sure to fill Hellboy with tons of knuckle-breaking brawls that spanned city blocks with a ton of property damage to go around.

Hellboy’s fight with the constantly re-spawning hellhound, Sammael, is one of the film series’ most memorable moments as the two gruesome monsters fight through the city streets and subway system. And without an overreliance of CGI, the fight has a real sense of weight and pain behind every blow.

The X-Men movies started off strong, but the series has devolved into a revolving door of overloaded mutant cameos and hackneyed plots. 2003’s X2 was the series’ high-water mark because of its sophisticated plot and fantastic characters. It also served as the introduction of one of the series’ most popular mutants, Nightcrawler. He was quickly introduced in the film as he made short work of White House security in an attempt to kill the President.

With a blend of perfect choreography, great special effects, and Bryan Singer’s keen eye for kinetic action, this complicated scene comes off without a hitch as Kurt Wagner’s mutant powers are presented as the best of any mutant in the film. And it also doesn’t hurt to play "Dies Irae" in the background. It just says "epic."

7. SPIDER-MAN VS THE GREEN GOBLIN IN SPIDER-MAN (2002)

This is the big clash that comic fans everywhere were waiting decades to see on the big screen. Since his debut in 1964, the Green Goblin has been one of Spidey’s most persistent and dangerous villains. He is responsible for the deaths of countless people, including Peter Parker’s first girlfriend, Gwen Stacy. So, when Spider-Man finally hit theaters, this fight was all fans were waiting for, and it didn’t disappoint.

Much to the surprise of comic fans though, this fight wasn’t about aerial theatrics or eye candy. It turned out to be a complete slug fest with the Goblin and the Wall Crawler exchanging brutal blows and shedding a fair amount of blood in the process. Despite some corny moments and a heaping handful of ill-advised dance scenes, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movies always made sure to include some remarkable action.

2008’s The Incredible Hulk was a fresh start for a franchise that seemingly got off on the wrong foot after Ang Lee's much maligned 2003 attempt. Although this film was a little light on the character development and emotional depth, it did succeed in one key area: the ass-kicking. Watch the movie again—every plot point is dedicated to setting up the epic final fight between the Hulk and the Abomination, and the confrontation certainly lives up to the hype.

Featuring better-than-anticipated CGI, this battle showcased a citywide melee that a lot of comic films lack. Incredible feats of strength and the imaginative use of city property helped propel this final clash well above the fight scenes of its contemporaries such as Iron Man and The Dark Knight. And while the overall movie couldn’t live up to those two, Hulk’s fights easily surpass them.

A PG-13 rating is a harsh mistress. It may make movie companies more money in the long haul, but it also neuters some of the best characters in pop culture. And Wolverine has been one of the more notable victims of this trend over the last decade. Stripped of any blood he may have shed through the use of his claws, Wolvie has been a pretty big disappointment in almost every movie he has been in. And then there was his solo film, which was so awful that it just plain boggled the mind.

Wolverine's feral encounter with Lady Deathstrike in X2 is about as close to the comics as we’ve gotten so far, and it was simply fantastic. Torn flesh, blood stained adamantium claws, and quick healing wounds feature heavily in this battle, which serves as one of the high points of the X-Men series. It may be a little on the short side, and Wolverine does take too much of a pounding for our tastes, but the sheer violence and brutality more than makes up for any of those flaws. This encounter gave us a brief glimpse of how Wolverine should have been portrayed the whole time.

People seem to misunderstand something about Batman. His greatest villain isn’t the Joker or Two-Face; it’s a garish pair of rubber nipples on his costume. After Joel Schumacher almost killed the character’s film future with the dreadful Batman & Robin, Memento director Christopher Nolan was hired to give the Caped Crusader a much needed facelift. And with 2005’s Batman Begins, the character was reborn into the creature of the night that made him a cultural icon in the first place.

Some of Nolan's action scenes have been disappointing, but the fight between Bats and the eco-terrorist Ra’s al Ghul in Begins delivers fully. Set inside of a speeding monorail, this fight was jaw-jacking, intense, and featured some much needed speed and danger to go along with it. This is still the most exciting and visceral fist fight the Dark Knight has ever had on screen.

We know, we know, this movie is pretty universally reviled among comic fans around the Internet. But the truth is that this film is actually a pretty underrated character study of the Hulk under the expert lens of Ang Lee. Even though the movie did feature a lot of longwinded psycho-babble, it really kicked into high gear whenever the Jade Giant reared his ugly green head.

The Hulk’s near 30-minute rampage against the U.S. military near the end of the second act is the film’s greatest achievement, providing some much needed smashing in contrast with the movie’s slower scenes. Whether he’s reducing helicopters to scrap metal or throwing a tank clear across the desert, the Hulk’s rage also points out the army’s surprising unreadiness against 15-foot-tall green monsters. Just something to think about.

At the end of time, when humanity is reduced to rubble, one thing will still be true: Christopher Reeves is Superman. It doesn’t matter how many retreads there are of the Man of Steel, Reeves’ performance is so pitch perfect that it basically redefined the character for every medium.

Using only his charm and heroic demeanor, Reeves perfectly encapsulated the even temper of Supes. But even though Reeves portrayed Superman as infinitely friendly, he could also throw down when he had to. And in Superman II he was finally able to let loose as he battled three Kryptonian criminals in downtown Metropolis.

This fight is the perfect example on how to do a comic brawl right. Buildings get destroyed, cars get crushed, and it genuinely seems like Superman is in mortal danger. It’s amazing that 31 years later, Superman still hasn’t been in a better big screen brawl. But then again, Superman Returns was more concerned with showing the Man of Steel as a deadbeat dad than Earth’s mightiest hero.

Not only is it one of the best superhero movies ever, but Spider-Man 2 also features the greatest fight in comic movie history, and perhaps film history in general. Watching Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus battle it out atop a speeding above-ground train with the grace of a well choreographed ballet is still just as adrenaline packed now as it was seven years ago.

The CGI is picture perfect, the emotions are bubbling over, and every blow feels like there is real weight landed behind it. But best of all, it truly echoes the classic Stan Lee/John Romita/Steve Ditko comics from the '60s. With most comic book movies more concerned with portraying the action in a realistic and sterile way, Spider-Man 2 fully accepts the high octane pace of a comic book fight and puts it all on the screen.