Most great superhero movies kick off with a bang. Usually, an awesome action-packed opening scene is there to grab the audience’s attention. Here we are going to list 15 of the best opening scenes in superhero movies. Some of your favorite scenes might miss out, but I think we do cover the best ones of all time!
15. X-Men Origins Wolverine
The opening scene of the first solo Wolverine movie was brilliant it showed Wolverine as a child who on finding out that the person he thought was his father killed screams and discovers his claws for the first time only to use the claws to kill the man who he finds out to be his real father. Confused by all of this he runs away with a teen Victor following him. Following this comes one of the coolest opening credits with both of them as soldiers fighting in the world wars. It was awesome to see Sabretooth and Wolverine fighting back to back.
14. Man of Steel
The movie opens with the scene showing the destruction of Krypton and it was a visual masterpiece. Russell Crowe played Jor-El who was running around trying to secure the core and then he sends his newborn son out of the planet in a rocket just before the planet destroys completely. It was something which only Snyder could pull-off setting the dark and grim outlook of the movie from the first scene itself. The scene where Krypton is being destroyed and Kal-El’s mother is praying for her safety with the music complementing the scene perfectly is exceptional. For me, the destruction of Krypton could not be portrayed in a better way.
13. Batman (1989)
Fans had been waiting for the portrayal of the Dark Knight on the big screen for a while. The opening scene in this movie had an amazing portrayal of Gotham crowed and shady. An unlucky family enters a lane which they should not have and get mugged. While the thieves are counting their money Batman just appears and they shoot him and just like a nightmare unaffected by their bullets Batman stands up and holds one of them on the ledge and told him to tell all his friends about him. On asking who he was we hear the iconic line for the first time in Micheal Keaton’s voice ‘I am Batman’.
12. X2
X-Men movies are always a mixed bag where we don’t know what to expect from it at this point but we can all agree the opening scene was amazing. Nightcrawler could not have a better entrance. In the scene, he entered the Whitehouse and took out the guards one at a time using his teleportation ability and great agility. Then he entered the Oval Office and was about to stab the president but he was shot and he teleported away leaving a ribbon with the words ‘Mutant Freedom Now’. This was a very well shot scene and it showed how well visual effects can be used to complement an action sequence.
11. Avengers: Age of Ultron
This Movie just kicked off with the Avengers destroying the Hydra base camp which had Loki’s scepter and this opening action sequence had all the Avengers from the first movie. The movie just grips us with great action scenes. Then it gets even better when Quicksilver and Scarlett Witch come out to fight the Avengers. It also has that one picture-perfect moment where all the Avengers line up for a split second in slow motion then move on with the attack. It also contains the part where Captain says ‘Language’ to Tony and is made fun of the entire movie. All in all, it was a brilliant way to open the movie which was way below par to its previous part.
10. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Well, this scene was the embodiment of why we love the Guardians. The scene kicked off with them fighting a Giant Octopus kind f creature with just too many teeth. Here Starlord was flying and shooting the beast with Gamora running and stabbing, rocket shooting from a distance, Drax was trying to kill the beast from inside and the best part Baby Groot dancing to Mr. Blue Sky by ELO. The scene was very well shot and hilarious to watch. Even though this movie was not loved as the first part but the opening scene was a banger.
9. Captain America: Winter Soldier
Who does not love watching Captain America running around kicking some ass? The opening scene of The Winter Soldier was exactly that. The SHIELD ship was hijacked by some terrorists and a strike force with Captain and Black Widow was there to rescue them. The action scene was brilliant with Captain jumping off a plane without a parachute and entering the ship in kind of a stealth mode and then there was amazing action scene where he jumped around taking out everyone using his shield. The scene with a crazy fist fight with the leader of this group of hijackers.
8. Thor: Ragnarok
If you watch the first two Thor movies and then watch Ragnarok you will realize the huge change in character shown by Taika Waititi from the opening scene itself. The opening scene showed Thor hanging in chains and joking about with a demon king and then freeing himself from the chains and fighting with the Demon and his army with the Immigrant Song playing. Then he flies and breaks to the surface where he was chased by a dragon. Taika did not go all out but he showed us the new Thor who we will love for the movie which was a blast and it kind of resurrected the Thor franchise.
7. Civil War
Avengers were back at it with an action-packed an opening scene with most of the Avengers present on the scene. This scene set the whole plot for the accords signing. Here they had to stop a group of terrorists from getting their hand on some radioactive or hazardous chemicals and this group was led by Rumlow as Crossbones. It was an amazing action sequence with some good individual fights with Captain vs. Crossbones standing out. The scene ended with Scarlett Witch making a mistake in handling an explosion leading to loss of life and eventually the whole accords issue coming up.
6. The Dark Knight Rises
The final part of Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy opened with a scene where we were introduced to an incarnation of Bane no one had previously seen. The first see contained an insane stunt which was suspending a private jet from a plane then getting into that plane to get the doctor and fake his death. This scene was shot in a practical way with no over the top action which made it even better. We saw Bane in a new light as he had brawn with brains. This scene had the iconic unmasking of Bane when he says ‘No one cared until I put on a mask’.
5. Avengers: Infinity War
This movie was in the 4th gear since the beginning. It was like either you are on this crazy train of the MCU or not. It was crazy to see that no time at all was wasted in introducing anybody it was like here we go straight into the action. And what amazing action in the first scene itself we saw Thanos face off against Thor Loki and a fistfight with the Hulk. Well, spoiler alert- we knew this movie meant business when in the first scene it killed off one of the main characters Loki who tried to trick Thanos and stab him and was choked to death. An amazing start to an amazing movie.
4. Watchmen
This first scene one of this set the dark grim outlook Snyder wanted to portray. The scene had the comedian sitting at his house watching television when someone broke in and tried to attack him. Clearly, the intruder was better at martial arts than the Comedian while he dodged all knives thrown at him. The fight sequence was exceptional and was something Snyder usually has in his movies. The scene ends with the intruder throwing the comedian out of the window and as he falls in slow motion the iconic part where the blood-stained smiley badge is falling down.
3. Blade
This was the first R-rated superhero movie and well it had all the blood and action. It starts at a night club which is for vampires where an innocent man is dragged in by a girl who is way out of his league and is about to be well whatever happens to you if you enter a vampire night club. Then we see one of the most badass fight scenes where Wesely Snipes as the Blade came in ad started shooting his short gun and killing everyone in his path when he came across Frost and his chums he revealed his katana and slice through everyone. This bloody and messy scene had set the tone for the movie and showed us R-rated movies do succeed in the box office.
2. Deadpool
The opening scene from Deadpool was just pure genius. The test footage which was leaked had been turned into a masterpiece with so many jokes references and gags it was just hilarious. It had action and humor well, in other words, it was just like Deadpool. Then the opening credits come in slow motion which was also epic because it did not give any names just references. For me, this scene could not be better the way the scene was executed and put together gripped the audience right from the get-go. There is nothing else you can really ask from the opening scene.
1. The Dark Knight
This opening scene just prepared us what the movie had in store for us. The introduction to Heath Ledgers Joker was perfectly executed. It was a bank robbery where everyone talks about the joker and then killing off people whose job is done for one less share. The first sighting of the Joker is accompanied by the iconic line ‘What does not kill you makes you stranger’. This is a dark and frankly psychotic Joker who can be feared by anyone. I will not comment on Heath Ledger’s portrayal because that would be an entire article. For me, this was the best opening scene of any movie. This movie was a Masterpiece from a Mastermind.
