The Best Marvel Movies That Balance Action & Humor

Key Takeaways

• Successful Marvel movies balance action and comedy to create fun, heroic films with memorable moments.
• “The Avengers”: Action-packed ensemble with witty humor impresses with the Battle of New York.
• “Guardians of the Galaxy”: Blend of hilarious antics, real heart, and excellent action make it a huge phenomenon.

The modern MCU has made it seem for a long time that Marvel really has things worked out with their cinematic adaptations. This hasn’t always been the case, and the ever-ongoing attempt to balance the most important superhero elements of action and comedy has gone on for decades; not just on the big screen but in TV and comic book versions of these beloved characters.

Though many films choose to focus more on the comedic (Ant-Man) side and some want to be filled with serious action (Black Panther), other Marvel and superhero movies have attempted to cut out the comedic elements of the comics entirely. Where success is most consistently found among audiences though is where action and comedy blend perfectly to make a heroic, fun film, which has become a specialty of Marvel’s in many cases.

8 The Avengers

The Action-Packed Coming Together Of An Entire Universe

• Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth & Mark Ruffalo
• Directed By: Joss Whedon
• Released: 4th May 2012
• Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score: 91%
• Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 91%

The original Avengers sometimes gets lost in the shuffle when talking about the great films of the MCU, but before the darker sequels, this film managed to bring together Marvel’s greatest heroes in a fashionable and action-filled film. Featuring the Battle of New York as an epic conclusion that sets the scene for the rest of the MCU as we know it, The Avengers contains some of the most memorable comedic moments in the entire franchise.

Who could forget the Puny God moment, one of the greatest comedic action moments in cinematic history? From Tony Stark’s quips to Thor’s confusion at Earth customs, The Avengers put together an amazing ensemble cast that carried witticism and amazing action scenes, bringing the MCU to life before our eyes.

7 Spider-Man 2

A Memorable Sequel That Told A Charismatic & Adventurous Story

• Starring: Tobey Maguire, Alfred Molina, Kirsten Dunst & James Franco
• Directed By: Sam Raimi
• Released: 30th June 2004
• Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score: 93%
• Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 82%

Although the first one gave audiences the now classic origin story of Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker, Spider-Man 2 is more often cited as a true great of the superhero genre nowadays. The battles with Doc Ock are amazing to watch even now in the packed world of superhero action scenes. The emotion of this film, as well as the more comedic aspects, which found a happy balance between the relatively serious first film and the comical third one, made for a fantastic theatrical experience.

From the tense train scene that has inspired many other similar superhero scenes to the grandiose final fight against Octavius, Spider-Man 2 has everything needed to make a great superhero sequel that breaks free from the constraints of the origin story and makes something hugely memorable. It furthers the character development as well as bringing a great sense of humor and a lot of extremely memorable, genre-defining action.

6 Deadpool & Wolverine

A Great Example Of An Unserious Film With Plenty Of Wild Action

• Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin & Dafne Keen
• Directed By: Shawn Levy
• Released: 26th July 2024
• Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score: 78%
• Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 94%

There is no doubt that Deadpool & Wolverine is a massive hit. Not only has it brought the Merc With The Mouth into the mainstream MCU and brought the R-rated comedy as well, but it also gave him the best action scenes out of any of his movies. The comedy aspect has never been Deadpool’s shortcoming throughout his trilogy, but featuring him among so many other superheroes made the action scenes a level higher in this entry.

There’s the opening sequence, which perfectly encapsulates the blending of action with humor murders a number of TVA agents while dancing to Bye Bye Bye. Then there’s the iconic sequence where Deadpool and Wolverine fight their way through an army of Deadpool variants. Deadpool & Wolverine had it all, making audiences laugh out loud and stand in awe of the comic-accurate depictions that honored the Fox tenure with the X-Men and other Marvel characters.

5 X2

A Classic Marvel Showing Packed With Memorable Action

• Starring: Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen & Famke Janssen
• Directed By: Bryan Singer
• Released: 2nd May 2003
• Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score: 85%
• Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 85%

Many of the early X-Men films are considered more serious than some of the MCU films that followed. However, they had their own sense of self and it included quite a bit of humor, as well as bringing many great mutant characters to life with great action-packed scenes showing off their many varied powers.

X2 is what many consider the epitome of a simple X-Men film. It had many of the classic characters like Wolverine, Storm, Cyclops, and Jean Grey, introduced Nightcrawler and Beast, as well as Lady Deathstrike. Featuring Wolverine uncovering his origins and taking on William Stryker, X2 saw infamous scenes like Nightcrawler invading the White House and the grand final sacrifice during the Flood. Filled with drama, great characters, and humorous moments, X2 is a classic of the superhero genre and deserves to be treated as such.

4 Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings

The Best MCU Fight Scenes And A Slick Style

• Starring: Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Tony Leung & Meng’er Zhang
• Directed By: Daniel Dae Cretton
• Released: 3rd September 2021
• Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score: 91%
• Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 98%

There are few Marvel films, particularly since Endgame, which have enchanted audiences like Shang-Chi. This origin story for a beloved Marvel character who finally got his due in the form of Simu Liu saw a wonderful leading partnership with Awkwafina. Those two made for a fantastic comedic duo, a possible romantic duo, and they both had their part to play in bringing the MCU some of its greatest action scenes.

From the excellent bus action sequence to the huge final fight against his father, Shang-Chi did great things for the MCU. It created a new star for the future while bringing the MCU’s brand of comedy as well as a huge level-up on the normal Marvel fight sequences.

3 X-Men: Days Of Future Past

A Wildly Ambitious Adventure With A Massive Cast

• Starring: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender & Hugh Jackman
• Directed By: Bryan Singer
• Released: 22nd May 2014
• Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score: 90%
• Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 91%

Sending Wolverine into the past to interact with the younger cast of characters from X-Men: First Class may have confused some viewers, but it was an infinitely ambitious idea that worked out for Fox’s X-Men films. Adding appearances from the likes of Patrick Stewart into this mix and telling an infamous X-Men comic story helped craft a film unlike any other in the series.

The action scenes were massive and sometimes blended with excellent comedic timing, made all the more excellent considering the lack of comedy in many of the previous X-Men movies. Quicksilver’s introduction and slow-motion scene was an instant classic, and the grand finale, both in the past and future, made for an epic, action-packed conclusion to a great individual entry in the franchise.

2 Avengers: Endgame

The Grand Conclusion Wasn’t Devoid Of Hilarious Moments

• Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans & Chris Hemsworth
• Directed By: Joe Russo & Anthony Russo
• Released: 25th April 2019
• Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score: 94%
• Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 90%

Although all the Avengers films have brought a wealth of actors and characters together in wondrous cacophonies of action, humor, and epic moments, Avengers: Endgame is something else. After the heart-breaking Infinity War – a much more serious film – left the MCU in disarray, Endgame had a lot to do in order to fix things and bring the Infinity Saga to a conclusion.

But it managed it with aplomb. Endgame saw hilarious moments like Thor’s extra girth and comical quips, Ant-Man’s traditionally amusing lines, and Tony Stark’s final sarcastic comments. All of that, alongside the grand finale, which was more action on screen at once than any other film has ever dared to attempt, made for a stunning conclusion to the MCU up to that point, and it remains one of the most legendary comic book movies ever.

1 Guardians Of The Galaxy

The Comedic Genius Of The MCU

• Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana & Dave Bautista
• Directed By: James Gunn
• Released: 31st July 2014
• Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score: 92%
• Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 92%

Although it was not considered one of the bigger MCU films at the time, Guardians of the Galaxy snuck into everybody’s hearts, became a huge phenomenon, taught other Marvel creators and directors how to make a hilarious film that was also action-packed and made stars out of most of the cast.

The Guardians, led by the bumbling Star-Lord, became a hit for their quirky chemistry, and hilarious antics. No other MCU film could get away with a dance-off in the final fight, and real heart and excellent action at the core. The battle of Xandar was a grand conclusion, the amazing soundtrack kept the off-beat film bounding along and the breakout of James Gunn led to him leading the entire DC Cinematic Universe as they attempted to match Marvel’s scale and success.