Although She-Hulk: Attorney At Law has been full of hilarious scenes and introduced fans to some amazing friendships, unfortunately, it has received a series of bad reviews, even more so than Ms. Marvel. One particular criticism they initially had is the lack of action sequences involving Jennifer Walters and the villains, as these would have allowed them to see the extent of her powers in-depth.
This isn’t the first time that the MCU fans have raised this issue for there are a handful of final fights that some Redditors felt were underwhelming and didn’t live up to the hype. Various reasons include too much going on at once, earlier battles in the same film were executed better, or there being an overabundance of CGI.
The Falcon And The Winter Soldier (2021)
Sam And Bucky Vs. The Flag Smashers
Sam and Bucky’s chemistry was shown in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, but this Redditor felt that the final battle of the series could’ve been better.
They feel that the “Power Broker twist” was poorly executed, along with the Flag Smashers not being declared terrorists. The biggest issue they had with the fight was that Bucky was severely underused. He was pretty much just a spectator. As the Redditor suggests, a solution to this would’ve been to minimize the scale of the fight itself. With less going on there would be more of an opportunity for Bucky to get involved and contribute to his character arc, thus helping to alleviate his guilt.
Thor: Love And Thunder (2022)
Thor Vs. Gorr
Thor: Love and Thunder has been an underwhelming film as a whole, and rostron92 believes part of that is because of the disappointing final fight between Thor and the standout star, Gorr the God Butcher.
“I wouldn’t have had a bunch of children adopt the power of Thor and fight off shade monsters with makeshift weapons.” The Redditor makes a valid point. If Thor endows his powers onto Asgardian children, then it’s not really him defeating Gorr and the shadow creatures (despite him “defeating” Zeus). Even that isn’t enough as Jane has to help defeat Gorr. This renders Gorr’s initial defeat meaningless and doesn’t give Thor the credit he deserves.
Thor: The Dark World (2013)
Thor Vs. Malekith
This Redditor insists that the final battle between Thor and the dark Elf, Malekith, in Thor: The Dark World was very underwhelming. This makes sense, as earlier in the film, the Loki prison breakout scene is much more engaging.
Not only is that scene more engaging, but it’s also a game changer in the MCU as Thor’s mother, Frigga, dies. The final battle doesn’t carry the same emotional weight. Loki “died” but he does it so often that it doesn’t mean much. The victory isn’t solely Thor’s as it should be because he needs Jane and her friends to help him defeat Malekith. From a visual standpoint, the battle shifting between dimensions almost makes up for the poor color grading, and only serves as a way to showcase the Reality Stone.
Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness
Doctor Strange, Wong, America Chavez Vs. Scarlett Witch
Despite being one of 2022’s best fantasy films so far, Redditor Corne07 refuses to believe that Multiverse of Madness has a great final battle. Instead of getting a full-blown magic battle, there was a “flying corpse” and Wanda, who is “one of the strongest beings in the multiverse [is] shooting small blasts and has trouble getting rid of tiny demons.”
The point here is that a battle with Witches and Sorcerers should be much more creative and visually appealing. Wanda was shown to be dangerous and unstable after what she did to the Illuminati, so this type of fear should’ve carried over to the heroes. Instead, all the sorcerers do is make a shield and arrows. Compared to Raimi’s superb action sequence on the train in Spider-Man 2, it’s not surprising that a small collection of fans thought this fight was a huge letdown.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
Captain America Vs. Bucky
Captain America: The Winter Soldier is, arguably, one of the MCU’s best films due to its incredible fight scenes. However, for Flat_Fox_7318, they believe the final showdown between Cap and Bucky should have had higher emotional stakes; “the first fight in the street was one of the MCU’s best.”
Being able to get the upper hand on Cap shows just how formidable Bucky is. While it may not have the emotional weight the final showdown does, seeing Cap’s reaction when Bucky’s mask comes off is just as devastating. The film’s climax is yet another “ship falling from the sky” set piece. The elevator fight scene is arguably better also, as it spawned a number of memes.
Avengers: Age Of Ultron (2015)
The Avengers Vs. Ultron
Sgorillla argues that the Age of Ultron showdown between the Avengers and Ultron should have been a lot more captivating for a variety of reasons.
It resembled the Chitauri invasion in The Avengers. However, this fight didn’t have quite the tension and stakes as the battle in New York did. The Sokovia fight had a lot happening, yet there was no real sense of danger.This could be attributed to the threat of Ultron himself – he wasn’t much of one. He did have numerous drones, but those were easily dispatched by the Avengers. Maybe if Ultron was more of a threat like his comic iteration, this fight would’ve had even greater stakes than its predecessor.
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
The Avengers Vs. Thanos
An unpopular opinion, this Redditor argues that the final showdown against Thanos in Endgame was underwhelming in comparison to previous fights in the same movie, calling it “cluttered.”
While it’s not exactly the most popular opinion, there is some truth to their claim. The “pre-fight” between Iron Man, Cap, and Thor was more intense, as they “couldn’t live with their own failure.” They were more focused, not wanting their time heist to be pointless. While the “Avengers Assemble” is perhaps one of the greatest MCU entrances, the battle itself was so large in scale and provided a lot of fan service, so things were hard to keep track of.
Black Panther (2018)
T’Challa vs. Killmonger
Much of Black Panther was praised by audiences and critics alike. However, the final fight between T’Challa and Killmonger was not.
Kwakigra attributes this to the overuse of CGI, stating they felt that it made the final the fight feel weightless, “boring and worthless.” There was no metaphorical weight to the fight itself, which differed from the rest of the movie. T’Challa and Killmonger’s first fight was more intriguing in that they were fighting without their respective suits. The final fight also felt like those in the Iron Man films, where a mechanical suit is fighting another mechanical suit.
Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings (2021)
Shang-Chi Vs. The Dweller-In-The-Dark
Redditor Toomb8 feels that the final fight in Shang-Chi wasn’t “bad by any means,” yet was outshone by the bus scene earlier on.
What made the fight scene on the bus so compelling is that it was full of action and physical combat. The problem with the final fight between Shang-Chi and The Dweller-in-the-Darkness was that it wasn’t grounded. It reverted to a big CGI monster battle. Much like in DC’s Wonder Woman where the No Man’s Land scene was better than the Ares fight, the bus fight scene set the bar too high for the final showdown.
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
The Avengers Vs. Thanos (Wakanda)
For Tellsyouajoke, the final fight in Infinity War was underwhelming for much the same reason as it was in Endgame: there are just better fights in the film (such as “the fight on Titan”).
So many factors made the Titan fight spectacular, from the breathtaking visuals with Doctor Strange to Thanos nearly killing Tony. The suspense was at an all-high too when the audience could see that the Avengers were close to taking the gauntlet from the Mad Titan. By the time Thanos arrives at Wakanda, everyone knew who the winner was going to be. They just had to watch the consequences unfold.
