Superhero movies are in a better and more prominent place than ever as the 21st century moves along, particularly thanks to the start of the "cinematic universe era." Headlined by blockbuster team-up movies like Avengers: Endgame from Marvel Studios and Zack Snyder's Justice League from Warner Bros., fans have no shortage of heroes to celebrate on the big-screen.
Even for all the success that Marvel and DC have had financially and from fan reception, one arena that neither company has found the success it wants in is the Academy Awards.
Marvel's biggest Oscar success came with Black Panther, which won three golden trophies in the seven categories in which it received nominations at the 2019 proceedings. The following year, DC hit the Academy Award lottery with Todd Phillips' Joker, coming away with a whopping 11 nominations and wins for Best Actor (Joaquin Phoenix) and Original Score (Hildur Guðnadóttir) in 2020.
For 2022, the Oscars is changing things up a little by adding a couple of purely fan-voted awards, including the best "Movie Cheer Moment." Five movies from the past two decades have moments that are in contention for this unique award, including a trio of show-stoppers from Marvel and DC.
Endgame, Justice League, & Spidey, Oh My!
For the 94th Oscars awards show, The Academy recognized five films for the newly-introduced "Movies Cheer Moment" honor, which will be announced during the ceremony on March 27. Included in the list were scenes from 2019's Avengers: Endgame, as well as 2021's Zack Snyder's Justice League and Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Snyder's four-hour cut of Justice League made the list with Barry Allen's universe-saving moment at the end of the film, titled "The Flash Speed Force." This showed Ezra Miller's speedy hero running so fast that he reversed the flow of time to stop the Unity and save his Justice League teammates.
As for Marvel, the culmination of the Infinity Saga is featured as Chris Evans' Captain America finally exclaimed: "Avengers, Assemble!" Standing in front of an army of dozens of heroes, many of whom returned to life after Bruce Banner's Infinity Gauntlet Snap, the Avengers charged into battle against the Mad Titan Thanos in Avengers: Endgame.
2021 brought another game-changing moment for the MCU as Tom Holland, Tobey Maguire, and Andrew Garfield's Spider-Men swung into battle in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Fighting villains from across the Multiverse, the three web-slingers joined forces to save their worlds as they posed side-by-side atop the Statue of Liberty.
The two other nominees were Jennifer Hudson's musical number "And I'm Telling You" from 2006's Dreamgirls and Keanu Reeves dodging bullets in slow-motion as Neo in 1999's The Matrix.
The full Tweet promoting all five entries can be seen below:
Which Marvel/DC Film Wins Oscar Recognition?
Looking at the Marvel and DC movies that have made their mark amongst general viewers, these nominations perfectly encapsulate the best moments from both comic book movie behemoths.
Zack Snyder's Justice League has already been the center of some unfortunate news with the Oscars, not being eligible for the Fan Favorite Award even with such great reception. Thankfully, it will have an opportunity to shine with this award as the movie's climax re-enters the conversation for one of the best comic book movie moments in recent memory.
For Marvel Studios, arguably two of the most memorable scenes in the MCU's 14-year history find their way into the discussion, coming in two of the six highest-grossing movies ever made. Fans got to watch the largest group of Avengers in history join forces one year, while all three cinematic Spider-Men did the same two years later, both breaking the internet and the fandom alike.
As of now, there is no way to track the voting numbers with just about a month until the award is presented at the 2022 Oscars. No matter who wins, seeing that three of the five nominees for the award come from comic book movies is a milestone achievement for the industry as a whole.
Zack Snyder's Justice League is streaming on HBO Max while Avengers: Endgame is available on Disney+. Spider-Man: No Way Home will be available for home release starting on March 22.
