1. Magneto Escapes His Plastic Prison (X2: X-Men United)
20th Century FoxX2 makes more appearances in this article than any other film in the franchise, and although Days of Future Past may have surpassed it in overall quality, it still features the most exciting moment in any of the seven films. Weve talked about Magnetos ability and its tendency to lend itself to some of the most memorable images in the X-Men film canon, but Ian McKellen is never more at home in the role than in Magnetos escape from imprisonment. Mystique drugs a particularly slow-witted goon in an earlier scene, but our expectations of another shapeshifter fake-out are thwarted when the guard passes safely through a metal detector with Magnetos meal. Instead, Mystique has increased the iron in his blood, which Magneto gruesomely extracts, quipping all the while, and shapes into ball bearings and a disc which allows him to levitate out of his cell. The ball bearings pop up again in Days of Future Past, presumably because their use as bullets is too visually satisfying to waste, but Fassbender doesnt quite match McKellens fantastic expression of smug satisfaction here as he floats to safety. Implausible and overly dramatic? Yes, but its also wonderfully inventive, and that makes this scene, as with all those on this list, a thrill to watch.