A lot of the beauty of Marvel movies comes from the moments that the actors came up with on the spot.
In fact, oftentimes, that’s the beauty of any movie that has actors doing improv.
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Here are the best of the Marvel improv moments for you to look back on.
1. Samuel L. Jackson’s Spider-Man Comeback
When Peter Parker is going on about “I’m just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man”, you know, just doing some typical Peter whinging, Nick Fury replies:
“Bitch, please. You’ve been to space.”
Straight up iconic.
2. Robert Downey Jr. Reminding Tom Holland About The Blocking
Don’t blame poor Tom Holland, he was a young actor working with RDJ. However, during the scene in Captain America: Civil War where Tony is talking to Peter, he ended up blocking Tony from sitting on the bed. So RDJ said:
“You’re supposed to move now so I can sit on the bed.”
3. The Secret Door
All the way back during Avengers: Age of Ultron , Tony is searching for a door on a wall.
Robert Downey Jr. apparently improvised the “please be a secret door” line, and even the “yay” afterward.
4. Dropping The Orb
Whether you call this improvised or an accident, it was still not in the script. The moment where Peter Quill drops the orb was totally and completely improvised.
Of course, Chris Pratt stayed in character.
5. “Why Is Gamora?”
During the exchange between Peter Quill and Tony Stark in Inifinity War , Peter asks “Where Is Gamora?”
Tony replies: “I’ll do you one better, Who is Gamora?”
And finally, Dave Bautista improvised: “I’ll do you one better: Why is Gamora?”
6. Hanging Up Mjolnir
During one of the scenes in Thor: The Dark World , Chris Hemsworth thought it would be funny if he hung Mjolnir up on the coat hanger.
Maybe this is why the next movie was so funny.
7. Killmonger’s Auntie
Apparently, Michael B. Jordan improvised the “hey, auntie” line when he saw Angela Bassett’s character for the first time.
It was a great way to introduce some personality to the character.
8. The War Chants
During Avengers: Infinity War , Winston Duke and some other actors did some war chants from Black Panther .
Considering the popularity of the movie, they decided to keep them in.
9. Tony Stark’s Death
Apparently, according to Tom Holland , there were only a couple of people present for Tony Stark’s death scene.
They were: Kevin Feige (Marvel’s president), the Russo brothers (the directors), Don Cheadle, Gwyneth Paltrow, Robert Downey Jr., and, well, Tom Holland.
Apparently, the four cast members were told loosely what they needed to do, and then they all improvised the entire scene.
Tom Holland said it was really interesting, and we can’t help but agree!
And yes, even that iconic line was improvised.
There they were, sitting in the editing room, trying to find a final quip for Tony to go out on. That’s when the film’s editor, Jeff Ford, said (paraphrasing):
“Why don’t we just go full circle with it and say ‘I am Iron Man.'”
And the rest is history.
10. Thor’s Snake Story
The story about Loki turning into a snake to surprise Thor was improvised .
In fact, they had a bunch of different stories they tried out before landing on the snake one.
Here’s another one, according to director Taika Waititi.
“I was walking through a field, and I saw a lovely Turkish rug in the middle of the grass, and I love Turkish rugs, so I went to stand on it, and it was Loki and he turned back into Loki and there was a hole and I fell through the hole and was impaled on a whole lot of spikes.”
11. Nick Fury Checks Out Some Alien Wiener.
The scene where Samuel L. Jackson lifts up the sheet to see the Alien’s wiener was totally improvised.
Apparently, they just kept it in the movie because they thought it was funny. Good call.
12. Dr. Strange’s Beyoncé Joke
There’s a scene in Dr. Strange where the Doctor asks Wong for some books on astral projection, Wong replies that Strange isn’t ready for that, and Strange replies:
“Try me, Beyonce.”
I’m not cool enough to get that, apparently. But that moment was totally improvised.
13. The “Get Help” Gag
There’s a scene from Thor: Ragnarok that stands out as one of the funniest in the movie.
It’s when Thor pretends Loki is hurt and dying and screams for the guards to get help…
Only to toss Loki at the guards.
This was apparently made up by Chris Hemsworth on the spot .
In fact, director Taika Waititi wanted to show off the actor’s comedic talents, so they did a lot of improv.
14. Touching Captain America’s Pec
During Captain America: The First Avenger , once Hayley Atwell (Agent Carter) saw Chris Evans’ pec for the first time, she instinctively touched it.
They loved it so much they shot several versions of the pec touching .
15. Hawkeye’s “Nobody Would Miss Him” Joke
In Avengers: Age Of Ultron , there’s one joke where Hawkeye thinks about shooting Quicksilver in the back.
This wasn’t supposed to be in the script, in fact, Jeremy Renner just said it when he didn’t even know they were shooting .
16. The Hug Scene
This is one of the funniest moments from Spider-Man: Homecoming . It’s the one where Peter Parker thinks Tony Stark is giving him a hug when really he’s just trying to open the door behind him.
It was improvised by RDJ himself.
17. Robert Downey Jr. Hides Snacks
Apparently , Robert Downey Jr. is a big fan of eating while he works.
So he hides snacks all around the sets, so he can eat during the scenes.
This is why during one scene in ‘Avengers’ you can see him eating blueberries.
He even offers one to Chris Evans (er, I mean Captain America).
18. “Another!”
Everything about that iconic Thor scene was improvised. Not only were the “I like it” and “Another!” lines improved, but also the smashing of the mug.
And, everyone’s reactions were unscripted as well .
19. M’Baku’s Gorilla Noises
So there’s this scene in Black Panther where the Black Panther posse are all talking to M’Baku, and Martin Freeman tries to get a word in.
Winston Duke improvised some gorilla noises in there as if to say: “Not talking to you right now, Martin. Stand down.”
20. “He’s A Friend From Work!”
So we’ve already established that a lot of the dialogue from Thor: Ragnarok was improvised. Taika Waititi was apparently a big fan of letting his actors run loose.
But this funny line wasn’t actually from any of the actors…
This line was from a kid who was there for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Apparently, they were shooting the Hulk Vs. Thor scene and the kid said:
‘You know, you should say, ‘He’s a friend from work!’”
Everyone loved it and they kept it in.
21. “I am Iron Man”
Not only was the final iteration of “I Am Iron Man” improvised, but the very first one was unscripted as well.
Apparently, this was the moment they knew they could stay true to the comics while still adapting it to make it their own.
22. Odin Banishes Thor
When you think about it, the original Thor had a doozy of a cast and crew.
Not only did it have Anthony Hopkins as Odin, but Kenneth Branagh was directing.
But the cast had to be good, considering Kenneth Branagh wanted the person who played Odin to improvise the scene where he banished Thor.
It’s safe to say Hopkins nailed it, right?
23. Spider-Man’s Final Lines
We all remember the end of Avengers: Infinity War . It was all sad, but what was especially sad were the final moments between Tony Stark and Peter Parker.
Just thinking about it breaks my heart…
Well, we can thank Tom Holland for the lines Peter says before he’s snapped out of existence.
We can also thank Joe Russo , who said: “act like you don’t want to go.”
Thanks, guys.
24. Star-Lord Is Not Recognized
This was a joint effort between James Gunn and Chris Pratt . When Star-Lord introduces himself and is met by a “who?” his reaction is improvised.
And we loved it.
25. The Shawarma Scene
We all desperately miss Joss Whedon, because his movies were full of so much life.
Especially when it came to little jokes here and there, like the shawarma scene.
But, like everything else on this list…
It was improvised .
After Tony Stark crashes to his (almost) demise in the first Avengers and the Hulk catches him, once he revives they needed a line for him to say.
And that’s when Tony Stark mentions shawarma, which brought about something important.
The end credit scene!
Where all our pals are sitting around together and enjoying a nice meal.
27. Thor notices Cap’s beard
There were a couple of moments that were improvised during Avengers: Infinity War , but the one that stands out to us is the one that came from Thor, because Thor is a funny character now.
He makes this huge entrance into the Battle of Wakanda only to crack a couple of jokes about trees and, of course, point out that Captain America copied his beard.
Oh Thor, will your hilarity ever slow down? For a second?
