10 Best MCU Moments Of 2023

Summary

• Kelsey Grammer’s return as Beast in The Marvels was a pleasant surprise for fans, providing a much-needed connection to the X-Men in the MCU.
• The final fight sequence in Secret Invasion showcased G’iah’s Super Skrull form and was one of the most innovative battles in MCU history.
• The probability storm in Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania was a joy to watch, combining Paul Rudd’s charisma with thematic power and a touch of gore.

2023 saw the MCU reach another release milestone with 33 movies and more than 10 small screen releases taking the behemoth franchise over 40 projects. As Marvel fans look ahead to two more Avengers projects, the arrival of mutants, and the Fantastic Four, as well as several other upcoming MCU movies, it’s about time to look back at the high points of the past year.

The story of the MCU in 2023 is an even one, punctuated by the excellence of Loki season 2 and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, and the critical and financial disappointments of everything else. The benchmark is high, but behind the scenes rumblings and talk of a soft reboot with 2027’s Avengers: Secret Wars suggest we may be coming to the end of this iteration of the MCU. Still, when the MCU is good, it’s unrivalled, and some moments from even the least well-received 2023 Marvel releases deservedly sit alongside the very best of the first 4 phases.

What makes a great MCU moment? Whether it’s about pure entertainment, fan reactions or a perfect adaptation of important Marvel lore, there are a number of factors to consider. Crucially, even in less appreciated or financially successful MCU properties, individual moments can stand out.

10 Kelsey Grammer’s Beast Returns

The Marvels

Putting aside cynicism around the MCU culture of post-credits scenes and celebrity cameos, Beast’s surprising cameo in The Marvels was fan-bait done right. Having appeared in 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand – and being a rare highlight in the otherwise disappointing sequel – Kelsey Grammer donned the blue fur again in 2023’s final MCU movie. As Monica Rambeau woke up trapped in an alternate reality, Beast was there for a comforting exposition dump, with Grammer subsequently promising he’ll return again.

Grammer’s intelligent performance as the X-Men’s resident genius caused more of a reaction than The Marvels itself (for shame), but it’s not hard to see why. Starved of any real X-Men teases (other than Sir Patrick Stewart’s cameo in Doctor Strange 2) since Disney’s Fox takeover, Marvel fans got something tangible. And Beast was a genuinely shocking choice for the first actual X-Men member in the MCU. Even considering the strength of Grammer’s performance, he’s not quite an A-Tier mutant compared to the likes of Wolverine, Cyclops, Magneto or Professor X, but his scientific mind suited the context of The Marvel‘s post-credits scene.

9 Secret Invasion’s Final Fight

Secret Invasion Episode 6

It may have scored unfortunately-record-breaking viewing and rating figures for Marvel, but Secret Invasion wasn’t entirely without merit. It added a sinister edge to Nick Fury’s MCU story thanks to the Avengers DNA storyline, finally delivered on Captain Marvel’s Skrull debut, and gave us all more of Ben Mendelsohn’s Talos. Somewhat more divisively, it also turned Emilia Clarke’s G’iah into the MCU’s most powerful character ever, thanks to Gravik’s Super Skrull machine and Fury’s stolen hero DNA.

While it might cause issues in the future for the MCU – given how difficult it’s been to balance God-tier heroes – G’iah’s Super Saiyan form did lead to an incredible final battle with Gravik. The sequence needs to be seen to be believed, as the Skrulls trade blows using the stolen powers of multiple other MCU characters. It’s a ridiculously fun, inventive fight sequence that never takes itself too seriously, and deserves to be counted as one of the most innovative battles in MCU history.

8 The Probability Storm

Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania

The decision to set most of Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania in the Quantum Realm led to some criticism of an Uncanny Valley feel that made real connection with the threequel difficult, but it did have some benefits. Not only did Quantumania introduce some of the strangest MCU characters yet – with full justification thanks to the realm’s quirks – but it also allowed for the probability storm sequence that was a joy.

No movie can ever have too much of Paul Rudd, and Quantumania‘s probability storm brought Scott Lang face-to-face with countless versions of himself (and one Jack from Baskin Robbins). The sequence essentially distills the Butterfly Effect into the accessible idea that every single choice creates a variant of the chooser, who in the storm all co-exist. Chaos inevitably ensured, as Rudd’s charismatic performance is dialed up exponentially, and a surprising level of gore is balanced by off-kilter humor. Crucially, of course, the scene also pays off Ant-Man’s message of cooperation and strength in numbers. So there’s thematic power behind one of the MCU’s most inventive set pieces too.

7 Captain Marvel’s Musical Sequence On Aladna

The Marvels

Precisely nobody would have gone into 2023 calling for a full musical in the MCU, but after The Marvels, there’s a vocal contingent online who would probably turn out for it. Count this writer among them. Because, when Brie Larson’s supernova hero is forced to return to Aladna to stop new villain Dar-Benn destroying the home of her husband (of convenience), we got a flash of what that could look like. Among the MCU’s many planets, Aladna’s conceit that the primary language is song and everyone dances is one of the most genius.

Not only did it mean Brie Larson got to show off her singing voice most memorably seen in Scott Pilgrim but it led to delightful Star Trek-like scene choreography and an infectious tone massively at odds with so much of the post-Endgame MCU. While James Gunn had previously declared himself the king of dance numbers in his Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, this was something different, though equally enchanting. And as cynics complain about MCU sameness, anything this bold and innovative needs to be celebrated.

6 The Council Of Kangs Arrive

Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania

There’s some acceptance that Marvel Studios is always looking for its next big threat. Loki and Ultron had only just been defeated before Thanos’ arrival was teased, and since the Mad Titan’s death, the question of who comes next has been a particularly pressing one. Loki season 1’s ending established Kang as the next big threat and set up a coming Multiversal War, but it wasn’t until Kang was defeated that the real threat was actually established. In Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania, the scale of that threat was finally revealed.

With Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror defeated, the curtain raised on the Council of Kangs, led by Immortus, Rama-Tut, and the Scarlet Centurion. Not only did their arrival herald the coming of the next big villain targeting the Avengers, but they also brought with them countless other Kang variants. It was, ultimately, a similar tease to Thanos’ Avengers post-credits scene in tone and specificity, but what it means to the scale of the war the Avengers will face in the upcoming Kang Dynasty movie is incredibly exciting.

5 Dog Days Are Over

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3

Like The Marvels‘ musical moment, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3‘s final dance number is one of those rare MCU moments that you can almost feel the collective audience smiling at. That it comes so close to the original Guardians disband and go off in pursuit of their own happy endings just makes the emotion land even more.

Once more graced by the motion capture of James Gunn – who again gave Groot his dance moves – the uplifting sequence reiterates just how important the idea of family became to the trilogy. The song choice – by Florence & The Machine – was immaculate, and after their collective trauma, it felt like the right note on which to end the galaxy’s rag-tag superhero team. In the trilogy’s impressively large catalog of scenes that made everyone cry, this was arguably the most effective.

4 The Flerken Kitten Escape Sequence

The Marvels

For a movie that explores concepts as dark as genocide, depressive isolation, traumatic guilt, and personal loss, The Marvels is a delightfully silly thing. It may not have been seen by nearly enough people in theaters, but moments like the escape from Nick Fury’s SABER station should be held up as evidence for exactly why everyone who stayed away missed out on.

Goose the Flerken joyously stole the show in Captain Marvel, and in among the chaos of Dar-Benn’s attacks, seeing her give birth to a whole herd of kittens was another high point. Again channeling Star Trek, and the dreaded Tribbles specifically, The Marvels played with the stark conflict of alien horror and cutesy kittens immaculately. Watching the SABER agents being chased through the station and “eaten” by the kittens so they could be safely evacuated to Earth ranks as easily one of the funniest sequences in the entire MCU.

3 The Corridor Fight

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3

The corridor fight has been a staple of action movies since Oldboy‘s notorious hammer sequence. Marvel adopted them mostly in The Netflix Defenders shows, but the trope was polished to the highest level by James Gunn in 2023. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 culminated in a battle between the Guardians and the High Evolutionary’s Hellspawn, in one of the most stunning battle sequences ever conceived.

Heavily drawing on the stylized violence approach made famous elsewhere by Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch (among others), Vol 3‘s stand-out battle switches perspective from heroes to monsters, with the camera frequently taking the place of weaponry. It’s incredibly cool, ridiculously well-choreographed, and set against the Beastie Boys’ tub-thumping “No Sleep til Brooklyn” in yet another perfect Gunn needle drop.

2 Lylla, Teefs, and Floor Dying

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3

Not all the best moments of the MCU’s 2023 releases could be good, and James Gunn has always proved himself determined to balance the humor of his Guardians trilogy with heartbreak. That trend got stronger as each movie progressed, and for every tear shed over Yondu’s death in Vol 2, Rocket’s origin story in Vol 3 inspired oceans. Teased throughout the trilogy, the reveal of Rocket’s tragic backstory was like a gut punch that retroactively completed his angry little jigsaw puzzle.

Seeing the tiny creature helping the High Evolutionary to work out how to create evolved life as Rocket and his friends dreamt of their place in the villain’s utopia was touching. Watching Rocket’s fellow test subjects: Lylla the otter, Teefs the walrus, and Floor the rabbit, all dying as he tried to free them, was unforgivably grim. But Gunn handled the moment – which perfectly explained Rocket’s attitude to friendship – with incredible deftness. For Rocket to think he was responsible was the kind of revelation that sucks the air out of a room, and a true reminder that all accusations leveled against the MCU for thin story-telling so often ignore reality.

1 Loki Realizes His Glorious Purpose

Loki – Season 2 Episode 6

Loki season 2 shifted focus away from Sylvie and back to Tom Hiddleston’s God of Mischief, leading to one of the most loaded endings for any MCU character so far. Burdened with an epiphany of what his real “glorious purpose” was by the events of season 2 and his attempt to save the TVA and the Sacred Timeline, Loki followed in the footsteps of Iron Man and Black Widow to give the ultimate sacrifice in the name of the greater good. But unlike his fellow Phase 1 veterans, Loki chose a fate worse than death: condemning himself to an eternity of isolated servitude, using his powers to preserve the millions of branched timelines of the Multiverse.

Loki‘s season 2 finale will probably end up being among the very best episodes of Disney+ MCU shows. It dealt with fate, identity, free will, and most importantly, brought Loki’s MCU story full-circle in the most satisfying way. From the moment he said he was going to save the timeline “for you. For all of us”, we should have seen it coming, but it didn’t make Loki’s final choice any less incredible. If he returns, it will be as the hero who gave up the most to save the most: the newly anointed God Loki who finally made up for his attack on Earth in The Avengers. If the MCU is to tell a single character’s story better than this, they will have to do something truly remarkable.

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