10 Best Martial Arts Scenes In Comic Book Movies

There are many great martial arts scenes in DC and Marvel comic book movies. The heroes and villains of both comics houses all boast a vast array of superhuman powers and skills, which almost always includes fighting skills. Superheroes and villains in the MCU and DCEU alike have to be prepared to stand their ground, with many mastering a multitude of different martial arts disciplines to be prepared for combat.

That also makes the action in superhero movies a big selling point, especially with how far fight scenes in comic book movies have advanced in the 21st century. With the help of committed stunt teams, many of the best superhero movies of all time have implemented martial arts in their fight sequences to fantastic results. Here are 10 of the greatest martial arts battles in superhero movies.

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10 The Deadpool Movie’s Final Fight Is An R-Rated Blast

Deadpool & Ajax Go To War

The Merc with a Mouth is also a highly skilled fighter, with his skills being put to the test in his final showdown with Ajax (Ed Skrein) in 2016’s Deadpool. The blade-twirling fight choreography and superhuman kicks and flips gives Deadpool‘s final fight the appropriately R-rated edge it needs, especially with the amount of levity in the movie. Of course, Deadpool‘s final fight isn’t lacking for that either, with Ryan Reynolds’s Wade Wilson still cracking one-liners and derisively referring to Ajax as Francis amid his committed sword chops.

9 Shang-Chi & The Legend Of The Ten Rings Opens With A Wuxia-Style Battle

Shang-Chi’s Parents Fall In Love During A Fight

The first big fight sequence of Shang-Chi & the Legend of the Ten Rings unfolds between the titular hero’s father Wenwu (Tony Leung) and Ying Li (Fala Chen) and brings the flowing, gravity-defying beauty of the wuxia genre into the MCU. The opening of Shang-Chi plays like a throwback to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or Leung’s role in Zhang Yimou’s wuxia epic Hero, and adds fitting elements of both balleticism and romance to the film. Shang-Chi & the Legend of the Ten Rings masterfully merges Hong Kong action with wuxia grace in its fight scenes, and the movie’s first fight scene is a marvelous display of the latter.

8 Captain America: The Winter Soldier’s First Action Scene Is Amazing

Steve Rogers’s Martial Arts Skills Are Exceptional

The fighting skills of Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) noticeably evolve as he enters the MCU’s modern setting from his World War II origins, and by the opening ship fight of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Steve Rogers’s martial arts skills have been refined to their peak. Cap’s agility with his kicks and flips is astonishing as he takes down one opponent after another, while the fight scene also integrates his use of his vibranium shield beautifully. Best of all, The Winter Soldier‘s opening fight scene caps off with Steve going one-on-one with Batroc the Leaper, played by none other than real-life UFC legend Georges St. Pierre.

7 Batman’s Russian Prison Fight Is A Highlight Of The Flash

Michael Keaton’s Batman Finally Gets A Fantastic Fight Scene

Owing to the infamously restrictive nature of his costume, the fight scenes of Michael Keaton’s Dark Knight in Tim Burton’s Batman and Batman Returns are very hit-and-miss, to put it lightly, but third time is finally the charm in Keaton’s return to the cowl in The Flash. On a mission in a Russian prison with both Barry Allens (Ezra Miller), Keaton’s Batman leaps into action and blazes through enemy guards as only a seasoned crime fighter with the Caped Crusader’s skills can. Thanks to a visibly more mobile suit and Mike Lambert’s fight choreography, the Russian prison fight in The Flash is easily the best scene of martial arts glory for Keaton’s Batman.

6 Diana Leads The Charge Against German Soldiers In Wonder Woman

Diana’s Martial Arts Skills Are Immense

The No Man’s Land sequence of 2017’s Wonder Woman captures everything that makes its titular heroine an inspiring paragon of love and courage, and it should come as no surprise that the fight scene immediately following it shows her warrior’s might. Gal Gadot’s Diana is simply amazing as she wields her sword, shield, and spinning kicks against a group of German soldiers on the top floor of an abandoned building, followed by further martial arts and tank-tossing action in the streets. With some added speed-ramping to emphasize Diana’s power and fluidity, Diana’s big fight scene in Wonder Woman is still among her best.

5 Diana Makes An Explosive Rescue In Zack Snyder’s Justice League

Wonder Woman Arrives To Save Hostages From A Terrorist Group

When terrorists prepare to blow up a London bank in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman leaps to the rescue to dispose of the bomb and take down the terrorists at super-speed. Some added speed-ramping enhance the sequence’s fight choreography as Diana kicks and tosses opponents in one breath before deflecting bullets and throwing the bomb through the roof in the next. Ending a quite literally explosive finale with a last minute bracelet clang by Diana, her big fight scene in Zack Snyder’s Justice League is one of the movie’s martial arts highlights.

4 Shang-Chi’s Bus Fight Is Right Out Of A Hong Kong Action Movie

The Fight Choreography Is A Throwback To Jackie Chan Movies

Shang-Chi’s first big fight scene on a speeding bus in Shang-Chi & the Legend of the Ten Rings is right out of a Hong Kong action movie, and kickstarts the MCU career of Simu Liu’s Master of Kung Fu with gusto. Within the relatively tight confines of the bus, the fight choreography of the sequence and the multiple martial arts styles Shang-Chi uses are hard-hitting, flashy, and fittingly powerful, while Awkwafina’s Katy adds plenty of humor with her shock at seeing what her best friend is capable of for the first time. The bus fight in Shang-Chi & the Legend of the Ten Rings is exactly how Hong Kong action should be married to a superhero movie.

3 Blade II’s Final Fight Is A Rollicking Vampire Showdown

Blade & Nomak Pull No Punches

Guillermo del Toro’s Blade II brings an even darker tone to the Daywalker’s war against a new breed of vampires known as Reapers, while Donnie Yen’s fight choreography ups the ante of its predecessor’s Hong Kong influences, including in Blade’s final showdown with Jared Nomak (Luke Goss). In addition to matching the excellent fight choreography of the first Blade, Blade II also augments the action with CGI interludes to emphasize the superhuman strength of its vampiric combatants. Long after Blade II‘s release, Blade and Nomak’s final fight is still a textbook example of implementing martial arts into a superhero fight for maximum effectiveness.

2 Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice Shows The Dark Knight’s Martial Arts Might

The Warehouse Brawl Is Batman’s Best Big-Screen Battle

Batman is known for many skills, both mental and physical, but at his core, the Dark Knight is a warrior, a side of him brought to life like never before in the incredible warehouse fight scene in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. To rescue Superman’s kidnapped mother Martha Kent (Diane Lane), Ben Affleck’s Batman charges through her captors like a bat out of hell, with stunt man Richard Cetrone helping to bring Batman’s immense abilities as a martial artist to life. Batman v Superman‘s warehouse brawl is still the premiere Batman movie fight scene, and one of the greatest displays of martial arts ever brought into a superhero movie.

1 Blade’s Final Showdown Is A Kung Fu Blast

It’s Still One Of The Best Superhero Movie Fights Of All Time

As a barely known superhero to mainstream audiences, the Daywalker set a mind-blowing standard for fight choreography in superhero movies in 1998’s Blade, which concludes with an incredible Hong Kong-style martial arts battle. As a lifelong martial artist, Wesley Snipes brings a whirlwind of spinning kicks and swordplay to Blade’s smackdown with dozens of henchmen, swiftly followed by his final sword dual with Deacon Frost (Stephen Dorff). It’s still amazing just how well Blade‘s final fight scene holds up, testimony to the value of bringing a Hong Kong-influence to superhero movie fight choreography, and an absolutely timeless martial arts scene in a superhero movie.