Favorite hero vs the villain moments

Mei protecting the corn she wanted to give to her mommy from the evil goat!

I of course agree with the classics mentioned. Vader vs Luke, Indy vs bald guy under the flying wing, etc

In the interest of trying to think of some lesser known standouts for me, I have two to throw in:

"The Big Lebowksi" - confronting the nihlists in the parking lot.

Throughout the entire movie, all three protagonists (Dude, Walter, Donny) are constantly bickering. Their speech patterns rarely change. Walter in particular, is constantly screaming like someone who is a little more talk than walk. We know he's military and has no problem pulling a gun, but his anger is played largely for laughs.

In the final confrontation of the villains, Dude and Donny, clearly not the fighting types, get behind Walter. Walter then spends the next few lines alternating between a calming voice, ready to defend and protect his pacifist friends, and angry jabs at the nihlists. This time though, he drops his voice a little bit...and he becomes a much more serious and formidable character. The nuance in this scene gives me chills everytime. (Admittedly this is my favorite movie of all time, so I'm probably a bit biased).

"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)"

I know, this is hardly high art, but there is a moment in this movie that cracked me up since the first time I saw it (back during its theatrical release). Spoilers obviously...

So the final fight on the rooftop is pretty well done, emotionally charged, and overall satisfying. For a movie about ninja turtles, they did a pretty good job of humanizing these characters. Plus they are...teens...and are thus impulsive and emotionally driven heroes. But the real hero is Casey Jones. He straight up murders the shredder in the garbage truck when he pulls that lever and just lets out a bored "Oops."

They went for a dark tone (this was hot on the trail of Batman 89), but even as a kid, Casey Jones struck me as morbidly dark and cold in this moment...especially after the emotional climax the rest of the characters had just been having minutes prior. I haven't seen that movie in ages, but I bet it would make me laugh out loud even still today.

Of the ones mentioned so far, I too really like...

Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980).

Superman II (1980).

Gladiator (2000).

But I’ll also add...

The Dark Knight (2008).



GoldenEye (1995).



The Lion King (1994).



Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983).