The Avengers’ Battle of New York was a major battle between the Avengers and Loki Laufeyson’s Chitauri army. In the battle, the Avengers successfully thwart Loki’s plan to conquer Earth. This whole scene took a half-hour of screen time in the film alone.
The Battle of New York is one of the high-profile incidents involving the Avengers. It is followed by the Battle at the Triskelion in Washington, D.C., the Battle of Sokovia, and the Attack on the IFID Headquarters in Lagos.
The scene proved to be highly successful for the whole franchise. The film set various records and fetched over $1.5 billion worldwide because of the battle scene. It was also the first Marvel production to generate $1 billion in ticket sales. And all the sheer thanks behind this epic scene go to the Blue Eye Samurai director, Jane Wu.
Blue Eye Samurai Director Transformed a Marvel Moment into the Foundation of $30B Franchise
Jane Wu—a graduate of Otis College of Art and Design—is a storyboard artist, director, and martial artist. Her significant contributions to blockbuster action in the last two decades made her a natural pick for Marvel. Wu was the one who choreographed all the best moments in The Avengers’ Battle of New York.
She was a traditional Chinese martial arts wushu student, and that knowledge helped a lot whenever she choreographed fight scenes. Her journey with Marvel went smoothly. As storyboard artist told in an interview on Thrillist,
“It was easy for me to storyboard someone like Black Widow because… she’s me. I do martial arts, and I’m one of the very few people in the industry that can choreograph a fight sequence and animate to show you what the fight sequence looks like.”
As per the article by Polygon, Marvel recognized Wu’s talent. The studio enlisted her for films like Thor: The Dark World, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Age of Ultron. Her unique blend of physics expertise, fluidity, humor, and wushu martial arts almost secured her roles in Chinese blockbusters—but COVID-19 wrenched her plans.
Why There’s No Better Scene Than The Avengers Battle of New York
When The Avengers debuted in 2012, it featured a jaw-dropping scene—The Battle of New York—and no better sequence was ever made like that. The scene remains unparalleled, and even the franchise’s three Avengers sequels couldn’t touch that scene’s grounds. It is one of the howling achievements in comic-book moviemaking that challenges the vision of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight.
The bombastic Battle of New York had a lasting impact on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The battle’s success led every studio (including Marvel itself) to try to recreate its formula. The Battle of New York wasn’t just a cinematic magic trick—it reshaped Hollywood’s understanding of blockbuster business as a whole.
