30 Greatest Gravity-Defying Movie Scenes

Avengers Assemble (2012)

The Gravity-Defying Scene: Really, pick any moment from Joss Whedon's Phase One closer - with Iron Man, Thor and those chitauri chariots all flying around, it's like gravity doesn't even exist.

Top marks go to Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), though, for pinching a chitauri cruiser and flying it like a pro.

Coolest Element:
Not only does she fly it like a pro, Black Widow flies it by stabbing the chitauri pilot and getting him to steer. Oh, and she dismounts with 100 times more grace than Loki…

Hocus Pocus (1993)

The Gravity-Defying Scene : Things come to a head in this fun Disney flick when witches Winnie (Bette Midler), Mary (Kathy Najimy) and Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker) duel with pesky kids Max (Omri Katz) and Dani (Thora Birch) in a graveyard.

Funniest of all is the fact that Mary's having to fly around on a hoover because she couldn't find a broom…

Coolest Element: Also in attendance is zombie Billy Butcherson, played by none other than Doug Jones.

The Craft (1996)

The Gravity-Defying Scene : "Light as a feather, stiff as a board…"

Sarah Bailey (Robin Tunney) and her witchcraft-loving friends levitate Rochelle (Rachel True) off the floor using just their fingertips - and their witchy powers.

Coolest Element: "Are you girls getting high?" Bonnie's mum comes in, breaking the spell with a thematically-fitting question…

The A-Team (2010)

The Gravity-Defying Scene: "They're trying to fly that tank," eye-rolls Jessica Biel as the A-Team is launched from a plane inside a tank that's cruising along thanks to a couple of parachutes.

Yes, it's madness (and the parachutes only just ensure that the tank defies gravity, for a while at least), but it's that brilliant kind of bonkers that we just can't get enough of.

Coolest Element: Um, it's a TANK flying through the air, engaged in battle!

Grease (1978)

The Gravity-Defying Scene: After declaring their undying love for each other, Danny (John Travolta) and Sandy (Olivia Newton-John) clamber into a car to drive off into the sunset.

Which they almost literally do when the car suddenly takes flight, leaving the fairground far behind. No, it doesn't make any sense and yes the effects are pretty shoddy, but my isn't it memorable?

Coolest Element: Danny's hair. Obviously.

Aladdin (1992)

The Gravity-Defying Scene: Aladdin discovers a whole new world while singing, er, 'A Whole New World', sailing along on a flying carpet with Princess Jasmine.

Gorgeous animation, catchy tune, and one of the film's finest moments that doesn't involve the genie (Robin Williams) stealing every single scene he's in.

Coolest Element:
Clearly, the flying carpet. How often do you get to see one of those in action?

Speed (1994)

The Gravity-Defying Scene: Faced with an incomplete freeway while driving a speeding bus, Annie (Sandra Bullock) puts her foot down and just keeps driving.

Cue a bus soaring majestically through the air and clearing the gap in the freeway no trouble. No trouble at all…

Coolest Element:
In your face science! This would never happen in real life, but that's why we love the movies. Where else could you see a bus doing what this bus does?

Gravity (2013)

The Gravity-Defying Scene: In a scene from the trailer (so no spoilers here), Dr Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) is detached from the Hubble Space Telescope and starts spinning off into space.

With nothing tethering her, she just keeps spinning and spinning and spinning…

Coolest Element : The technology behind the making of the film is mind-blowing in itself, but the visuals here are stunning - and the reality of the fact that Dr Ryan could just keep spinning into eternity is frightening as hell.

Avatar (2009)

The Gravity-Defying Scene: Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and Jake (Sam Worthington) take a ride on dragon-like banshees, giving Jake the chance to experience Pandora by air.

Swooping through clouds and weaving around the floating islands, this is an adrenaline rush like no other. If you hadn't fallen in love with Pandora already, you will have by the end of this sequence.

Coolest Element: The banshees themselves - lithe, agile and awesome to look at.

X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)

The Gravity-Defying Scene: In one of the franchise's stand-out moments (despite appearing in its least-loved entry), Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) levitates her old family home from the ground and turns gravity on its head.

As Wolverine finds himself crushed up against the ceiling, Professor X (Patrick Stewart) is lifted out of his wheelchair for the final time…

Coolest Element: Well, it's not Storm or Juggernaut, is it? Perhaps the most affecting moment, though, is Magneto's (Ian McKellen) horror at what Jean's about to do to Prof X…

Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.