50 Greatest Reboot Moments

Bruce Banner Is Hungry

The Moment: Confronted by assailants in Rio, Edward Norton's Bruce Banner attempts to deliver his most famous catchphrase in halting Portuguese.

Why It's Great: "You wouldn't like me when I'm hungry" is a great gag for the fans, and proof that this reboot is going to take itself far less seriously than Ang Lee's 2003 film did.

Swear Words

The Moment: Batman interrogates petty crim Flass in Batman Begins , and isn't happy when the latter swears to God. "Swear to me!" snarls Batman.

Why It's Great: Hear that? That's the sound of several million jaws dropping as Christian Bale unleashes a rage that previous Bats never even hinted at.

Meet Scotty

The Moment: Kirk and Spock Prime arrive at a remote iceworld outpost, where they discover none other than Montgomery Scott.

Why It's Great: With most of the Enterprise crew introduced early into Star Trek , J. J. Abrams saves one curveball by bringing Simon Pegg's Scotty into the mix via the film's loopiest twist.

Back From The Dead

The Moment: Laurie Strode is revealed in Halloween H20 to have faked her death and is living under a pseudonym, but still trapped by the traumatic memories of her psycho brother Michael Myers.

Why It's Great: An early attempt at a semi-reboot, ignoring the continuity of previous films to put the focus back on Jamie Lee Curtis' heroine.

The Untold Story

The Moment: The opening scene of The Amazing Spider-man flashes back to Peter Parker's childhood to show the youngster's parents flee into the night.

Why It's Great: The reboot promised 'the untold story,' and the refocusing of the backstory onto Peter's folks gives the franchise plenty of options going forwards.

The Kraken Wakes

The Moment: The Kraken emerges from the depths of the ocean in the 2010 version of Clash Of The Titans .

Why It's Great: In the vast majority of cases, CGI is no substitute for the organic richness of the original's Ray Harryhausen creations... but you gotta admit, the Kraken is one hell of a Titan.

Bam! Biff! Pow!

The Moment: Patience Phillips, aka Catwoman, finally confronts the villain who killed her, Laurel Hedare, and the two engage in an epic fight.

Why It's Great: Granted, Catwoman is awful, but the sight of a leather-clad Halle Berry taking on Sharon Stone is one of the campest, most guiltily pleasurable scenes in modern Hollywood.

Hunting Nazis

The Moment: Erik Lehnsherr sets off on a globe-trotting quest to locate Sebastian Shaw, killing every Nazi he finds along the way.

Why It's Great: All Bryan Singer's X-Men gave us of Magneto's Holocaust past was a brief flashback. X-Men: First Class has the luxury to go deeper, with Michael Fassbender essaying a suave Nazi hunter akin to Jon Voight in The Odessa File .

Shaken and Stirred

The Moment: Rattled after being bested by Le Chiffre in their poker game at Casino Royale , James Bond is asked whether he wants his vodka martini shaken or stirred.

Why It's Great: Bond's reply - "Do I look like I give a damn?" - is a cute reversal of one of 007's catchphrases and proof of Daniel Craig's steel in the role.

Protection Racket

The Moment: Early in Batman Begins , Bruce Wayne scuffles in a Bhutan prison and has to be dragged away from his victims for protection. Not his - theirs.

Why It's Great: Isn't Bruce Wayne supposed to be the debonair playboy? Not in Christopher Nolan's conception, where the man behind the mask is just as dangerous.

A New Hobby

The Moment: Institutionalised child killer Michael Myers develops a fondness for making masks out of papier mache.

Why It's Great: Rob Zombie's Halloween reboot is part-prequel, helping to explain just why the killer is walking around with a face modelled on William Shatner.

Coming Soon

The Moment: SPOILER ALERT! The post-credits scene in The Amazing Spider-man , in which Curt Connors is interrogated by… who?

Why It's Great: In the style of Marvel's pre- Avengers teasers, this is a hint that the guys behind the Spidey reboot are playing a long game.

Aye Eye

The Moment: When Superman arrives to foil a bank robbery in Superman Returns , the criminal fires his gun directly at the Kryptonian's eye - and it bounces off.

Why It's Great: Advances in special effects are often cited as the reason to mount a reboot; this is something they simply couldn't have done in the Christopher Reeve era.

Ryan's Slaughter

The Moment: In The Sum Of All Fears , rookie analyst Jack Ryan discovers that Neo-Nazi terrorists are about detonate a nuclear bomb at a football game, just in time to rescue the President but not soon enough to prevent thousands dying in the blast.

Why It's Great: The casting of Ben Affleck as a younger, pre-Harrison Ford Jack Ryan raised some eyebrows, but pays off in a chilling set-piece that depends on the hero being more fallible than the hero of Patriot Games and Clear And Present Danger .

Spock vs Spock

The Moment: Two generations of Star Trek collide, as Zachary Quinto's Spock meets his future (and our past) incarnation in the form of Leonard Nimoy.

Why It's Great: A kiss to the fans who might otherwise be spitting blood by this point, all the geekier for Spock Prime's refusal to say "Live long and prosper" for fear of being "self-serving."

Defining Character

The Moment: Rachel Dawes asks Batman his true identity, and Bruce Wayne lets slip by paraphrasing one of her lines from earlier in Batman Begins - "it's not who I am underneath, it's what I do that defines me."

Why It's Great: Gone is the campness of earlier films' division of Bruce and Batman; this is a psychologically dense reveal, and Rachel's knowledge has repercussions in the next film.

Double Shaft

The Moment: The original John Shaft (Richard Roundtree) passes on the baton to his nephew, the new John Shaft (Samuel L. Jackson).

Why It's Great: Technically, Roundtree's presence makes this a continuation of the three films and seven TV movies in which he played Shaft in the 1970s. Yet starting things again with a new title character makes this an early prototype of what would become the reboot.

Bitchy Bond

The Moment: It's the end of Casino Royale ; Vesper Lynd is dead and James Bond has to move on - "the job is done and the bitch is dead."

Why It's Great: Originally written by Ian Fleming to show Bond's coldness, Daniel Craig plays the line against type to highlight a heartbroken man forced to suppress his emotion. Acting beyond the call of duty for 007s of the past.

With Great Power, etc...

The Moment: Uncle Ben has his fatal encounter with a mugger in The Amazing Spider-man , all the more galling for Peter Parker because he had the chance to stop him.

Why It's Great: Unlike 2002's Spider-man , where Peter quickly catches the criminal, the rewriting of this scene forces Spidey into a darker quest for vengeance as he tries to find his uncle's killer.

Thade In Full

The Moment: Human astronaut Leo Davidson is brought face to face with General Thade, the violent chimpanzee soldier hell-bent on becoming the apes' warlord, in Tim Burton's Planet Of The Apes .

Why It's Great: Tim Roth turned down the role of Snape in Harry Potter to play Thade, and his commitment pays off in a performance of blistering intensity and anthropomorphic subtlety. Given the rise of mo-cap, this might be the last great performance in simian prosthetics.

Smash!

The Moment: During their climactic duel in The Incredible Hulk , Abomination asks the green giant if he has any last words. The reply: "HULK… SMASH!"

Why It's Great: Louis Leterrier was determined to make a more fan-friendly movie, and so the hero's signature line (voiced by original TV star Lou Ferrigno) makes a crowd-pleasing comeback.

Anyone For Hockey?

The Moment: Jason Voorhees loses his cloth mask during a fight in the 2009 version of Friday The 13th , so he searches for a replacement and finds a hockey mask.

Why It's Great: One of the most satisfying call-backs in a reboot, since Jason first acquired his iconic headgear off-screen between Parts 2 & 3 of the original series.

Mutant Love

The Moment: Mystique's attempts to seduce Magneto in X-Men: First Class are reversed when the smooth-talker persuades her not to hide her mutant self. "You are an exquisite creature, Raven. All your life the world has tried to tame you. It's time for you to be free."

Why It's Great: Rebecca Romjin's Mystique in the X-Men trilogy never got beyond the surface. In Jennifer Lawrence's hands, the character's divided loyalties become crucial to the mutants' story.

A New Direction

The Moment: SPOILER ALERT! After her experiences on LV-223 in Prometheus , Elizabeth Shaw embarks on a mission to visit the Engineers' homeworld and discover why they want to destroy humanity.

Why It's Great: Prequel to Alien ? Stand-alone film? Ridley Scott played a blinder in foxing the audience, because few anticipated his film's open ending might allow it to establish a new franchise - a reboot of Alien mythology, rather than of the original story.

Understanding Fear

The Moment: A pre-Bat Bruce Wayne is given a dressing-down by mob boss Carmine Falcone in Batman Begins .

Why It's Great: "This is a world you'll never understand, and you always fear what you don't understand," reckons Falcone. A neat piece of dramatic irony, as we know that Batman, especially Christopher Nolan's version, is a guy who understands fear.

Mock Spock

The Moment: James T. Kirk goads acting captain Spock into taking a swing at him in Star Trek , in order to prove the Vulcan's lack of fitness for command so he can, at last, become Captain Kirk.

Why It's Great: A beautifully judged scene that (re)sets one of sci-fi's most iconic friendships... and also explains why it's Kirk, not Spock, who helms the Enterprise.

A Shared Mind

The Moment: Charles Xavier reads Erik Lehnsherr's mind in X-Men: First Class , finding a rare memory of happiness from the latter's childhood.

Why It's Great: When audiences are used to the more brittle relationship between Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, this is a moving moment of intimacy - beautifully played by James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender - that showcases the duo's friendship in the days before Magneto hid his thoughts.

Carpet-ulation

The Moment: Casino Royale villain Le Chiffre captures James Bond and subjects him to a novel interrogation method - a carpet beater to the balls.

Why It's Great: The Bond movies were famous for avoiding the darkest scenes in the Ian Fleming novels, so it's a real statement of intent that Casino Royale doesn't flinch from the novel's most painful moment.

Contagion

The Moment: The post-credits sequence in Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes reveals that James Franco's neighbour, who came into contact with Caesar earlier in the film, is infected with the virus… and he's an international pilot.

Why It's Great: Why wait until the sequel to get things moving? This is the point at which Rise moves from solid origins story into a viable franchise.

Down To Earth

The Moment: After five years away, Superman Returns to stop a plane crashing into Metropolis.

Why It's Great: Amidst far too much relationship soap opera, the old-school pleasures in the first and best set-piece of Bryan Singer's semi-reboot highlights just why we still need Superman.

Batty

The Moment: Batman calls on some old friends to help him escape from Arkham Asylum, using a hidden sonar device to spark a frenzy of bats.

Why It's Great: Batman Begins is all about Bruce Wayne overcoming his fears and using them to his advantage - so this isn't just a cool set-piece, it's symbolic too.

The Name's Bond

The Moment: Daniel Craig finally gets to deliver his character's most famous line at the end of Casino Royale : "the name's Bond. James Bond."

Why It's Great: This is Bond's origins story, so it's fitting that we have to wait until the end of the film for 007 to adopt his trademark introduction.

An Eventful Subway Ride

The Moment: Unknowingly affected by a radioactive spider bite in The Amazing Spider-man , Peter Parker's ride home becomes a scene of accidental carnage when he suddenly starts sticking to things and fellow passengers.

Why It's Great: Played for laughs, and benefitting hugely from Andrew Garfield's gawky posture, this is a satisfying reveal of Spidey's powers considering it's only a decade since Tobey Maguire's similar discovery.

Micro-nap

The Moment: In the reboot of A Nightmare On Elm Street , Nancy is attacked in a supermarket by Freddy Krueger while she's still awake...but she's so tired she's taken a micro-nap.

Why It's Great: Based on modern research into sleep, the writers were able to incorporate a new twist on the old 'stay awake' plotline that makes it harder to avoid Freddy's clutches.

Stripped For Action

The Moment: Daniel Craig's 007 emerges from the ocean in Casino Royale wearing just a pair of swim shorts.

Why It's Great: Not only a cute nod to Ursula Andress in Dr No , but proof that James Bond has undergone a total transformation. Even in Sean Connery's day, 007 never looked quite so ripped.

Second Sight

The Moment: The famous blind swordsman Zatoichi opens his eyes, and reveals he's been able to see all along.

Why It's Great: Takeshi Kitano's reboot of the classic Japanese film series plays true to the source… until this cheeky, audacious twist foxes the expectations of the character's enemies as well as the audience.

First Love

The Moment: Peter Parker thinks he's blown his chances with Gwen Stacey after a disastrous dinner at her parents' apartment... but then he shows her that he's The Amazing Spider-man .

Why It's Great: As any fan of the comics knows, Gwen was Peter Parker's first love. Emma Stone's winning performance restores the character's iconic presence after Bryce Dallas Howard played her as 'the other woman' in Spider-man 3 .

Calling Card

The Moment: A telltale calling card, "a taste for the theatrical" like Batman, and sky-high anticipations for the follow-up to Batman Begins .

Why It's Great: Because Christopher Nolan delivered on the promise, ensuring that The Dark Knight was a worthy sequel.

Legendary

The Moment: Ducard gives Bruce Wayne the idea for becoming Batman, by telling him "if you can make yourself more than a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal," you can become a legend.

Why It's Great: Proof that Christopher Nolan has really thought things through, this is a) a great rationale for superheroism and b) loaded with ambiguity, since we later learn than Ducard is Batman Begins ' big bad.

Time For A Change

The Moment: Spock muses that Nero's time-travelling antics have changed the flow of events. "Whatever our lives might have been, if the time continuum was disrupted, our destinies have changed."

Why It's Great: What a cheek! J. J. Abrams rewrites the rulebook by shoving the entire history of Star Trek into a parallel universe, so he's now free to do whatever he likes with the franchise.

Keeping Vigil

The Moment: At the end of Superman Returns , Supes heads into space - no, he's not buggering off again, he's just keeping vigil over the Earth, ready to spring into action again when he spots trouble brewing.

Why It's Great: A superhero reboot should leave the audience feeling that its main character is back in charge of their franchise, and this moment does just that.

First Kill

The Moment: James Bond recounts his first kill to unsuspecting target Dryden, who hasn't clocked that the second kill is "considerably" easier.

Why It's Great: Where in a famous character's timeline do you position the reboot? Casino Royale gets it spot-on by setting events just after the spy's first mission as a double-O. The moody monochrome is a nice touch, too.

To The Manor Burn

The Moment: In Batman Begins , The League Of Shadows sets fire to Wayne Manor, nearly killing Bruce Wayne in the process.

Why It's Great: Not only is the cosiness of previous Batman movies shattered by destroying one of its main locations, but it paves the way for The Dark Knight 's more urban take on the character.

Wheelchair Bound

The Moment: Moira MacTaggert tries to take on Magneto in X-Men: First Class but, as he deflects her bullets, she accidentally shoots Charles Xavier.

Why It's Great: James McAvoy plays a very different Professor X to Patrick Stewart; this is the start of his transformation into the iconic father figure of the X-Men. Next stop - hair loss.

Rewriting The Script

The Moment: Ape-hating sadist Dodge Landon reprises Chuck Heston's most famous line, as he tells Caesar, "Take your stinking paws off me you damn dirty ape!"

Why It's Great: Dodge (and the audience) aren't expecting Caesar to reply. "No!" the ape roars, as he kickstarts the Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes .

More Than A Batmobile

The Moment: Batman takes the Batmobile out for a spin. Only now it's called the Tumbler, and it rocks.

Why It's Great: Nolan's efforts to ground Batman Begins in reality are exemplified in a vehicle that's essentially the coolest boy's toy around. "I gotta get me one of those" reckons Commissioner Gordon. Damn right.

Jump Into Action

The Moment: Casino Royale hits the ground running in its first major action set-piece, as Daniel Craig's 007 chases free-jumping villain Mollaka through (and above) Madagascar.

Why It's Great: The 'blonde Bond' sceptics were noticeably silent after Mollaka chucks his empty gun at Bond - and Craig instinctively catches it and coolly throws the weapon back at him.

Wolverine? Wolver-out!

The Moment: Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr go on a recruitment drive to populate X-Men: First Class , but one of their potential recruits isn't having any of it.

Why It's Great: Hugh Jackman's unheralded cameo as Wolverine is a short sharp blast of an in-joke, as he nonchalantly tells them to "go fuck yourselves."

Bye Bye Vulcan

The Moment: Time-travelling Romulan Nero drops 'red matter' into the core of Spock's home planet Vulcan, destroying the planet and the memories of Trekkies everywhere.

Why It's Great: J. J. Abrams wasn't shy in invoking reboot logic, using the altered timeline to effect a radical change to the Star Trek timeline as it had stood for decades.

Who Are Ya?

The Moment: Over an hour into Batman Begins , and finally we get to see Christian Bale's interpretation of the title character as he takes out Falcone's goons and growls "I’m Batman" into the terrified man's face.

Why It's Great: Deliberately aping Michael Keaton's introduction in the 1989 Tim Burton film - but with far more grit - this is Nolan's statement of intent for his trilogy, and the marker for all subsequent reboots.