The Best Scene in the MCU

So, Avengers Endgame is very nearly here, and whether you like the Marvel Cinematic Universe or not, you have to admit that this franchise is one that has seriously impacted pop culture. Personally, I like it a lot, but I definitely have my issues. But that's not something I want to focus on today, because with the biggest installment yet on its way, I want to put all my gripes aside and turn on celebration mode. So, what am I going to do? I mean there's a thousand different ways to celebrate something like this, but there is something in particular I'd like to do. I want to look at and analyse a certain scene in the MCU, one that I think is not just great, but legitimately fantastic, and hopefully highlight what I think this series can be at it's best. Because when the MCU is good, it's really good, and when it's at it's best, it's an unstoppable pillar of modern pop culture that stands tall even when it occasionally stumbles

So, what's the best scene in the MCU? Well, there's actually a lot of contenders here. There is of course Infinity War's snap, a good one to be sure, albeit one that didn't affect me quite as much as everyone else. The one vs. two fight at the end of Civil War is definitely a good shout here, not just an intense action scene but the moment where three character arcs intersect in a genuinely compelling way. If we're thinking unconventional, then it's got to be the Mr. Blue Sky scene from Guardians 2, which subverts expectations wonderfully, and is just a really fun moment in a film full of them. Either of the royal challenges from Black Panther would be great choices here too, as they display how great the MCU, and that film in particular are at using action to tell a story. But the best scene in the MCU, or at least my favourite scene in the MCU is something much quieter from a slightly more obscure place.

Avengers: Age of Ultron is not the best film in this series. Which isn't to say it's bad, it's definitely not, but it's one that maybe suffers from its flaws more than a lot of the installments do. Ultron himself isn't a particularly great villain. He's definitely quite intimidating, but his motives are kind of weak and most of his dialogue is a touch generic. Because of this, the film itself suffers, and as a whole, I think it lands on the better side of alright. But it does do one thing really, really well. It nails the character of Hawkeye. Here's a character who, following The Avengers, was the subject of countless memes and jokes. Hell, even now, there are people who label him the worst Avenger, and this is actually something that Age of Ultron lampshades. I mean, alongside some of earth's mightiest heroes, you've got a guy with a bow and arrow? But in one brilliantly quiet sequence, he goes from meme fodder to honestly one of my favourite characters in this series

When a fight with gets out of control and is broadcast worldwide, and tension within this group is at an all time high (up to this point, anyway), the Avengers need a place to lay low. The safehouse, it turns out, is Hawkeye's house, a secluded cabin that he and his family live in. Again, this is something that the film has been playing with, portraying Hawkeye's personal life with deliberate secrecy, never quite revealing too much about him. So up to this point, you've got a character that a lot of people didn't like, who wasn't as powerful as the people he fought with, and who never actually had much revealed about him. But this sequence in the cabin took all secrecy and preconceptions and used them to fantastic effect, showing you this guy's home life, and in turn, his human side.

Unlike most of the characters in the series, Hawkeye is just a guy doing his job, and seeing the way he interacts with his wife and kids takes his relative normalcy and uses it to define his character. He's not a god, or a super soldier, or a genius playboy billionaire philanthropist. His life isn't as interesting as these other characters, but in a universe like this, that's precisely why he's interesting. A lot happens in the scenes in Hawkeye's cabin. Nick Fury shows up, there's some nice moments between Natasha and Banner, early tension between Cap and Iron Man, and Thor leaves. I guess Chris Hemsworth doesn't like cabins in the woods. But even with all of this going on, moments that are in themselves awesome character moments, the real value of this scene lies is Hawkeye's character. There's a problem now with universe cinema, that everything has to be explained. Everyone needs an origin story, a prequel, a spin-off. Everything needs to be gotten from this franchise, squeezed out of it until there isn't much left, and this scene is an example of how efficient storytelling can be more effective in worldbuilding. Not every character needs an origin story, and while this isn't a Hawkeye movie, the stuff we find out about him in this scene sticks and comes back, not only later in the plot, but across the series as a whole. It's especially effective in the story of this film, because the fact that parent makes him a little more sympathetic towards the Maximoff twins, which comes back in a big way in the climax.

It's a brilliant scene precisely because it's a quiet one. Age of Ultron has no shortage of action scenes, most of which are pretty good, but it's when it steps back, when it lets these characters just lay low and reconsider everything going on that this film reaches its peak, and becomes one of the best sequences that this series has given us. Understated character moments here tell us more than exposition ever could, and this rings true for the whole team, but as I said, I think what makes this scene so special is that, in the space of about fifteen minutes, everything we need to know about Hawkeye is told to us in a moment of ridiculously impressive, less-is-more storytelling, giving us story beats and character beats that every film he's been in since has drawn on. Ironically for a blockbuster franchise that excels at spectacle, the best scene is the one that tells the story quietly, and without much actually happening. Yet it's the atmosphere and environment that really communicate here, using the setting itself to develop Hawkeye's character, which is in turn a fantastic payoff to the restraint they've been using for the whole film. We get to know him not by seeing what he does when he's working, but by seeing where he is when he isn't. It's such a simple method of storytelling, but damn is it effective, especially in a relatively flawed film like this. For all of the thrust and spectacle of the action, it's when the story slows down that it truly thrills. It's an awesome way to develop a character that, up to that point at least, was sorely underloved. The MCU is a series where the scale has gotten bigger and bigger, and that makes it kind of easy for character moments like this to get lost. I mean, when put beside some of the series larger moments, it's easy for quiet scenes like this to go unnoticed or even lose their weight, but the stuff that's evoked here is much more likely to resonate than a large, showy action scene. For all of its issues, when the MCU tries to do smaller, character driven storytelling, it definitely succeeds, because it defies the cheap universe building that this series gives us at its worst. This moment is genuinely fantastic, and proof that this series is more than blockbuster fluff.

"You don't think they need me?"

"Actually I think they do. They're gods, and they need somebody to keep them down to earth"