The 10 Best Moments From 2016’s Comic Book Movies (So Far)

It's been an interesting year for comic book movies so far. While Captain America: Civil War was the hit everyone guessed it would be from the second it was announced, Deadpool far exceeded expectations both critically and commercially. Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, meanwhile, was met with a very mixed response and subsequently failed to reach $1 billion at the box office. Then there was X-Men: Apocalypse, which was far from a flop but fell well below expectations. However, regardless of how good or bad these movies were, they all had some pretty amazing moments. So, now that we're past the halfway point of 2016 and both Suicide Squad and Doctor Strange are on their way in the latter half of the year, what you'll find here are the ten best scenes from the superhero movies which were released over the past six months. Some you'll no doubt quickly agree with, while the presence of others might just surprise you. Whatever the case may be, it's fair to say that each of these moments had qualities which definitely make them stand out in a big way. 10) Peter Parker Makes A Spectacular Discovery As after-credits scenes go, this may not have been Marvel's most exciting effort, but it was still pretty cool. Recovering from fighting alongside the rest of #TeamIronMan, Peter Parker fiddles with his web-shooters and ends up discovering something new which has obviously been put there by Tony Stark. In the comic books, Spider-Man always used that massive "spider signal" as a way of announcing his presence to criminals, but this version appears to be quite a bit more advanced than that. In fact, it may very well be something the young wall-crawler can aid him in his crime fighting activities, and while giving Peter access to this sort of technology may be a departure from the source material, it will be interesting to see the sort of impact this has on his adventures. 9) The Goddamned Batman As divisive as Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice may have been, pretty much everyone agrees that Ben Affleck's Caped Crusader was awesome. Of course, there are lots of great scenes which feel like they were torn straight from the pages of the comic books, but it's that warehouse fight sequence which arguably stands out as a true highlight. Batman effortlessly moves through the room, taking every single one of Lex Luthor's goons out in a suitably brutal fashion (though the fact he gets stabbed and at least a little beaten up reminds us that he's still human). The sense of urgency here as the hero races to save Martha Kent just helps to make this whole thing even more exciting, and if this was a taste of what we'll get in The Batman, then that movie really needs to hurry the hell up and get here. 8) The Phoenix Reborn Even non-comic book fans know that Fox seriously dropped the ball with their adaptation of "The Dark Phoenix Saga" in X-Men: The Last Stand. Perhaps that explains why it was so satisfying then to see Jean Grey's transformation into the Phoenix in X-Men: Apocalypse, and while it's clearly still early days when it comes to the young mutant discovering the full extent of her abilities, her unleashing this powerful entity in order to take down En Sabah Nur was a great start. Whatever other faults the movie's CGI heavy final act may have had, the sight of the Phoenix burning behind Jean was nothing short of iconic, and while it may be slightly too soon for another take on the classic story mentioned above, this brief nod to that has done a superb job of setting the stage. 7) Captain America And Bucky Battle Iron Man Captain America: Civil War was a movie full of amazing fight scenes, and while the airport battle stole the show (I'll get to that a little later), the main event was still pretty damn satisfying. Captain America and Bucky teaming up to take on Iron Man was downright awesome, as was the one on one dust up which followed. The fact that comic book fans probably sat through this sequence waiting for Steve Rogers to accidentally be taken out by a kill shot meant for Bucky no doubt added to the excitement, and just the sheer amount of emotion involved here really elevated the fight between Steve and Tony. The tension continued to build until Cap delivered what could have very easily been a deadly blow to Iron Man, but with that fateful shot came the end of a longtime friendship. 6) Deadpool Fights Colossus The first half of 2016 has been pretty action-packed for comic book movies, but by far one of the most unique "fight" scenes came in Deadpool. While this surprise hit featured lots of cool moments (like the sex montage and the first time Wade Wilson suits up), the Merc with the Mouth trying to take down Colossus was hilariously bizarre and extremely memorable. Breaking each of his hands and then his foot, it was hard not to cringe at the sight of the character's broken body...that is until the movie really earned that R-Rating. In a gloriously gory scene, Deadpool chopped off his own hand in order to escape from Colossus, something which left the armoured up mutant with blood splattered all over his face. Let's be honest, that something you'll never see in any X-Men movie. 5) Magneto Sees The Light Magneto's story arc in X-Men: Apocalypse was easily one of the best parts of the movie, and while it was initially frustrating to see him hiding out in Poland with a family after X-Men: Days of Future Past so perfectly set the stage for him to form the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, the way En Sabah Nur manipulated him ended up putting the Master of Magnetism on a very interesting path. Just as it appeared that he had descended into the same level of insane villainy as the version from X-Men: The Last Stand, Michael Fassbender's Magneto stepped up to protect his fellow mutants, placing a gigantic "X" in Apocalypse's way as he finally remembered the significance of his friendship with Charles. We may have missed out on the Brotherhood, but this was still pretty amazing. 4) Spider-Man Meets Captain America Spider-Man got a lot of great moments in that airport battle (we'll get to that soon, don't worry), but the highlight has to be his brief interaction with Captain America. The two heroes going toe to toe is something most of us have only ever fantasized about seeing happen on the big screen, while Steve ultimately taking the inexperienced - but more powerful - hero down felt like the right move. However, it was when Cap asked Spidey where he was from ("Queens"), only to reply with "Brooklyn," which felt like it may have created a bond of sorts between these two which will be revisited somewhere down the line. When and where that will happen remains to be seen, but even if they never again cross paths, Marvel and the Russo Brothers absolutely nailed this scene. 3) Airport Battle This sequence was teased for months before the release of Captain America: Civil War, with it described as being just like a comic book "splash page." However, after seeing dozens of heroes battling it out in the comic book version of Civil War, many were understandably disappointed by the sight of five or six heroes on each side running towards each other in the movie's trailers. Throwing Spider-Man into the mix may not have made a huge difference to how that ended up looking, but what followed blew everyone away, and whether we're talking about Giant-Man stomping his way through the battlefield or Black Panther coming to blows with Captain America, this gorgeous looking IMAX sequence is sure to go down in history as one of the best comic book movie scenes ever. 2) Apocalypse's Speech Say what you will about X-Men: Apocalypse and the appearance of its titular villain (which has been widely ridiculed and compared to Power Rangers baddie Ivan Ooze), but Oscar Isaac showed why he's regarded as one of the best actors working today during this speech. Despite the fact that much of this had been shown off in the movie's trailers, En Sabah Nur unleashing the world's arsenal of weapons as Beethoven Symphony No. 7 - II played in the background made for great viewing. This sequence including one of the more serious Stan Lee cameos to date was a nice little bonus as well, but the scene as a whole stands out as being perhaps one of the most emotionally charged and powerful from this year's superhero movies. 1) Fight Night A lot of people hated Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, but if you sat through the IMAX battle between these heroes with anything other than a massive grin on your face, well, I'm not sure what to say. Zack Snyder's style isn't for everyone, but one place he excels is with action, and the Caped Crusader's brutal fight with the Man of Steel proves that. Using Kryptonite to even the playing field, Batman managed to get some good licks in. Supes, meanwhile, utilized his many abilities to show Bruce Wayne that he's messing with someone a little more formidable than his normal rogues. As controversial as the whole "Martha!" thing may be, Batman standing triumphant over Superman with that spear in his hand was a great way to end a truly epic battle between icons.