My #1 Favorite Moment from the MCU- Avengers Assemble, The Avengers

There have been a countless number of moments in the MCU that I have loved, but out of all of them, this was, and still is, the defining moment of the MCU.

The Avengers spent the majority of the movie trying to learn how to work as a cohesive team, with little success. After Loki manages to nearly cripple the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier and kills Agent Phil Coulson, the heroes are able to rally together to defend New York against Loki’s Chitauri army. In this now legendary moment, Bruce Banner effortlessly transforms into the Hulk and punches a flying Leviathan into the ground as the Avengers Assemble in defiance of the Chitauri for the first time.

I still remember going to see this movie opening day with my dad, and up to that point, it was the greatest movie I had ever seen. I think most people even understand just how great this movie really was.

No one had tried to do a movie like The Avengers before. There were movies about superhero teams before, like the X-Men and Fantastic Four, but they didn’t have this level of world-building or attention. The closest I think anyone had gotten to the MCU was the DC Animated Universe from the 90s and early 2000s.

The Avengers managed to do what many had thought to be impossible, and redefined what it meant to make films about Superheroes. I hadn’t paid much attention to the MCU until Captain America: The First Avenger, but this was the moment where everything clicked, and I realized just how special the MCU truly was. But then I saw the end credits, and I saw him.

That’s when I realized that while what I just saw was amazing, it was only the tip of the iceberg. Nearly seven years and sixteen films later, the story that the MCU has been building towards for eleven years is about to be completed. And as I look back on what has come, I still consider this scene to be my all time favorite from the MCU.

I’m going to go see Avengers: Endgame in less than an hour. Whatever happens in the next three hours, no matter how this ends, this will mark the end of an era for Marvel and for superhero movies. Excelsior!

My Favorite MCU Moments #2- Every Stan Lee Cameo, The MCU

Its one of the Universal rules to seeing any Marvel film: Look for Stan Lee. The Co-Creator of Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, X-Men, and many of the 1960s characters that put Marvel on the map, Stan Lee was loved by millions of fans around the world for being one of the pioneers of Marvel Comics.

In his senior years, Stan became particularly famous for making a cameo in every Marvel movie, even for characters he didn’t help make. That tradition became widespread as the MCU gained popularity, becoming a game that kids and adults alike could play. Which made it even harder to accept when Stan Lee passed away in November, 2018.

Avengers: Endgame will be an important moment for Marvel fans. Not only will it be the final chapter to the Infinity Saga that’s gone on since the MCU’s start, it will also mark the final cameo done by the late Stan Lee. The world won’t be the same without him, and neither will the MCU. For that, I’m putting every one of his cameos as the number two spot on my list.