Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe took some of the franchise’s darkest turns, from the brutal hero-on-hero fight in Captain America: Civil War to Thanos’ destructive finger-snap in Avengers: Infinity War. But it still had plenty of the MCU’s signature humor, with snappy Tony Stark one-liners, endearing Scott Lang goofiness, and sharp pop culture references.
From the Mary Poppins comparison in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 to the “Peter-Tingle” gag in Spider-Man: Far From Home, there are a bunch of hilarious lines in Phase Three movies.
Captain America: Civil War – “Thinks For Thanking Of Me!”
Ant-Man joined the wider ensemble of the MCU when he was recruited to join Team Cap in the fight over the Sokovia Accords in Captain America: Civil War. Sam Wilson brings him in for the airport battle after previously fighting him at the Avengers’ upstate headquarters.
When he’s taken out of a van before the battle, Ant-Man is starstruck when he meets Cap and all the superheroes who sided with him – so starstruck, in fact, that he gets hilariously tongue-tied: “Thinks for thanking of me!”
Doctor Strange – “Just Wong? Like Adele?”
When Benedict Cumberbatch took on the role of Stephen Strange in the MCU, he gave Tony Stark a run for his money as the wittiest quipster in the franchise. In the first Doctor Strange movie, he has a biting insult waiting for everybody he meets.
When he’s introduced to Wong, he takes aim at the fact he only has one name with a series of single-named celebrities: “Just Wong? Like Adele? Or Aristotle, Drake, Bono... Eminem?”
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 – “I’m Mary Poppins, Y’all!”
James Gunn’s heartwarming sequel Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is all about Peter Quill coming to the realization that he had a pretty cool dad. When Yondu arrives at the final battle, floating through the air while hanging on his magical arrow, Quill observes, “You look like Mary Poppins.”
Oblivious to who Mary Poppins is, Yondu asks, “Is he cool?” Quill replies, “Hell yeah, he’s cool,” and Yondu proudly exclaims, “I’m Mary Poppins, y’all!”
Spider-Man: Homecoming – “I’m... Looking At... Porn...?”
Jon Watts made Tom Holland’s first MCU solo movie, Spider-Man: Homecoming, as a John Hughes-style teen comedy with more focus on Peter Parker’s school life and social circle than any of the previous incarnations of the franchise. Jacob Batalon gives a standout performance as Peter’s best friend Ned Leeds, who becomes Spidey’s “guy in the chair.”
While helping Spidey from the school’s computer lab in the final battle, Ned is caught by a teacher who asks what he’s doing. The lie he comes up with is less than graceful: “I’m... looking at... porn...?”
Thor: Ragnarok – “I Am Asking For Safe Passage Through The Anus.”
Taika Waititi revamped the God of Thunder’s solo adventures with a healthy dose of humor in Thor: Ragnarok. There are many funny moments in the threequel, from Thor and Loki playing “Get help!” to the Grandmaster referring to his slaves as “prisoners with jobs.”
After hearing that a swirling cosmic vortex known as “The Devil’s Anus” is the only way to get off Sakaar, Loki asks for “safe passage through the Anus.”
Black Panther – “I’m Kidding, We’re Vegetarians.”
The funniest moment in Black Panther arrives shortly after its darkest moment. When T’Challa is thrown over a waterfall and left for dead by Killmonger, he ends up being revived by M’Baku, the leader of the Jabari Tribe.
M’Baku threatens to feed American government bureaucrat Everett Ross to his children, but quickly reveals that this is just a dark joke as his tribespeople are vegetarians.
Avengers: Infinity War – “Dude, You’re Embarrassing Me In Front Of The Wizards.”
For the most part, Avengers: Infinity War is one of the darkest and most somber entries in the MCU. But it has its fair share of comedic moments, like Drax mistakenly believing that he can be so still that he’s imperceptible and Captain America responding to Groot saying, “I am Groot,” by replying, “I am Steve Rogers.”
But arguably the funniest line in the movie is Tony Stark’s deadpan reaction to Bruce Banner’s inability to turn into the Hulk in the presence of Doctor Strange and Wong: “Dude, you’re embarrassing me in front of the wizards.”
Ant-Man And The Wasp – “We Look Like Ourselves At A Baseball Game.”
There are many hilarious lines in Ant-Man and the Wasp, from Hank Pym asking a pint-sized Scott Lang, “Hiya, champ, how was school today?” to Scott pointing out the laziness of Marvel’s sci-fi worldbuilding: “Do you guys just put the word ‘quantum’ in front of everything?”
But the funniest moment is when Hank promises to disguise Scott from the feds who are after him and simply gives him a hat and a pair of sunglasses. Scott snaps, “That’s not a disguise, Hank. We look like ourselves at a baseball game.”
Captain Marvel – “Mother Flerken!”
Nick Fury’s supporting role in the ‘90s-set MCU prequel Captain Marvel provided fans with a hilariously anticlimactic answer to the mystery of what happened to his missing eye. As it turns out, it was scratched out by a cat named Goose who turned out to be a cosmic being called a Flerken capable of storing entire universes in its mouth.
Marvel never misses a chance to include a PG-13-friendly nod to Samuel L. Jackson’s frequent on-screen use of the term “motherf****r,” and when a Flerken scratches out Fury’s eye in Captain Marvel, he says, “Mother Flerken!”
Avengers: Endgame – “So, Back To The Future’s A Bunch Of Bulls***?”
After the Avengers suffered their worst defeat of their lives, Endgame was a time travel movie about their attempts to undo that failure. While Smart Hulk is trying to figure out how to travel through time, all the other Avengers are under the impression that they can go back in time, move some things around, and create a brighter future for themselves. The Hulk tells them, “Changing the past doesn’t change the future!” When he asks where they heard that, they rattle off the titles of every time travel movie ever made, from Back to the Future to Hot Tub Time Machine.
The Hulk explains, “If you go into the past, that past becomes your future, and your former present becomes the past, which can’t now be changed by your new future!” Ant-Man is dismayed to learn that Back to the Future, one of the greatest movies ever made, is “a bunch of bulls**t.”
Spider-Man: Far From Home – “I Thought You Could Sense That With Your Peter-Tingle.”
There are a ton of hilarious quotes in Spider-Man: Far From Home, from Tony Stark’s posthumous explanation of the E.D.I.T.H. acronym (“Even Dead, I’m The Hero”) to Nick Fury quipping, “B***h, please! You’ve been to space.”
But easily the funniest line in the movie is when Spidey fails to predict an impending banana and Aunt May says, “I thought you could sense that with your Peter-Tingle.” May couldn’t have come up with a worse name for the Spider-Sense than “Peter-Tingle.”