There have been many iconic training montages throughout cinema history: of Rocky Balboa who, with the support of his entire city, rocky to Maverick flying upside down over Rooster while trying to train the new generation of pilots Top Gun: Maverick. The training montage is a way of establishing the growth of a character (or a group of characters) with fun, sometimes humor and heart. It’s a staple in many movie genres, from sports to even superhero movies.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is no stranger to pumping up his fans. From incredible scenes in costumes to some of the best fight scenes in modern cinema, you can put the films together and the audience will be motivated to achieve everything. However, these days we’ve had a lot of MCU movies that take place after the first baptismal moment when the hero gets that power or becomes that superhero. So the training montages have been replaced by epic costume scenes. Still, here are some of the best training montage series of the franchise.
7/7 The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
In the Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson become unlikely friends after their mutual partner Steve Rogers gives away his shield. Sam is the recipient of that shield, but doesn’t know if he can accept the role of Captain America. In the end, he comes into his own and becomes his version of Captain America, cementing that choice with an epic training scene while learning how to use the shield, proving to himself that he is, in fact, the right choice for the next Captain America. Complete with some epic slow-motion shots, running, sweating and destroying trees, this is one of the best montage training scenes in the MCU.
6/7 Captain Marvel
In the first female-led MCU movie Captain MarvelCarol Danvers goes in search of who she really is and how she came to her enormous power. In this classic hand-to-hand combat training with Kree alien Commander Yon-Rogg, Captain Marvel not only shows her strength, determination and strength, but also her talent for witty comebacks and sarcasm. It’s a great establishment of character and shows how powerful Carol can be.
5/7 Doctor Strange
In the original movie Doctor Strange, MCU fans were first introduced to the concept of magic. Stephen’s training montage in Kamar-Taj, in particular, provided some of the franchise’s most stunning visuals at the time. In this series, The Ancient One separates his body from his soul and sends him on a journey through the multiple dimensions, and then Strange begs her to teach him. After initially refusing, Strange keeps pushing, and this leads to a lengthy training sequence full of hand-to-hand combat, magic, incredible visuals and, of course, a dash of MCU lore.
4/7 Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings revolves around Shang-Chi, the former hit man on the run, desperately trying to find his sister and save his father from himself. Playing on old Marvel villains and new characters, Shang-Chi is a standout film, especially because of the fight scenes. With martial arts-style choreography and cinematography from classic martial arts films, the fight scenes are epic. Another special thing about this movie is that Shang-Chi was a brand new character to the MCU audience, so we got a backstory and a resulting training montage. Focusing on the young Shang-Chi growing up among his father’s collection of killers, we see his talent grow through the stages of his life as he grows stronger, faster and more powerful. Also bonus points for giving a new training montage for Xialing and her fearsome looking weapon.
3/7 Black Widow
Although the long-awaited solo Black Widow movie had an abundance of intense action sequences, explosions, cool weapons and ubiquitous badass-ery, there was really only one glimpse of a training montage, if you don’t count the hair-raising opening credits. And that’s the quick scene of all the Widow agents training in the actual red room, where they move as one, seemingly a beehive. It is only a few seconds long, but clearly emphasizes a negative perspective on the idea of gaining ‘powers’. While the training montage sequences in other MCU movies and series indicate that a hero is emerging or coming into his own, it was for the Black Widows that they became assassins completely against their will and for evil purposes.
2/7 ant man
One of the most unfairly underrated MCU movies has one of the best training sequences in the franchise: ant man. It’s a real training montage where Scott Lang steps into his hero role from start to finish. Scott learns how to use his super suit, designed by the one and only Hank Pym, and learn how to fight. He learns that, by ant size, he will have the strength of a bullet, and fights Hope Pym, learning how to actually fight a fistfight, not just a prison fight. Filled with humor and cool tech, this is one of the best MCU training montages.
1/7 Captain America: The First Avenger
One of the first epics of the MCU franchise, Captain America: The First Avenger has some of the best training scenes. It is, after all, a military film. We follow Steve Rogers as he comes into his own, fully embodying the role of Captain America and becoming the First Avenger, saving the day countless times through many battles. But one of the franchise’s most defining edits takes place before that — when he’s pre-serum Steve Rogers. He trains day in and day out with the other soldiers and proves that he has the heart behind the armor. He triumphs in multiple ways, showing exactly why he was chosen to receive the Super Soldier Serum, from capturing the flag with intelligence to diving for the grenade (not knowing it was fake) to save everyone else.