10 Coolest Superhero Movie Scenes Ever

Bryan Singer’s first X-Men movie gets a lot of attention for being the first superhero movie proper to explore the possibilities of adapting comic books to the big screen. Warner had already adapted Superman and Batman several times for television and film, but the Man Of Steel and the Dark Knight had been household names for decades: they merely happened to originate in comic books.

Prior to 2000, the X-Men were a more or less unknown quantity outside of comics and cartoons, but Singer brought them to a live action feature almost seamlessly. It’s not like he knocked it out of the park: Singer might have given the X-Men credibility on film for a mainstream audience (and introduced the world to Hugh Jackman), but the plot didn’t make a whole lot of sense, no one except for Jackman really clicked in the roles, and the action scenes were decidedly static and underwhelming.

X2, on the other hand, saw him learning from several of the mistakes he’d made on the first film, setting out his stall early with this dynamite opening set-piece.

Here, brainwashed mutant teleporter Kurt ‘Nightcrawler’ Wagner stages a home invasion of the White House in an apparent attempt to assassinate the President, actually getting as far as the Oval Office and a knife to the commander-in-chief’s throat.

Wagner’s demonic appearance and the innovative fight choreography, special effects and editing required to portray his takedown of POTUS’ Secret Service bodyguards made for a game changing moment in superhero cinema, all set to a score sampling part of Mozart’s Requiem.

For perhaps the first time, millions of cinemagoers saw the real possibilities of superheroes on the big screen, as a previously unfamiliar character staged a practically unstoppable attack on the most powerful man in the world in his own home. The scene set a standard for movies to come, but still holds up well, even thirteen years later.