10 Most Intense Space Battles In Sci-Fi Movies

Part of what makes the 1999 Star Trek parody Galaxy Quest such a perfect movie is that since it’s primarily comedy, the production could have gotten lazy about the space battles, but they didn’t. The conflict between the sleek N.S.E.A. Protector and the comparatively gargantuan K’ragk-Vort’t commanded by Sarris (Robin Sachs), is just as suspenseful and explosive as the best Trek spaceship fights and, if we’re being honest, better than many of them. After the end of their first encounter, when the Protector is nearly destroyed by the dozens of magnetic mines it drags with it, we get a “guys on the bridge being thrown around” moment better executed than in pretty much any official Trek flick.

The fight between the Narada and the Kelvin in 2009’s Star Trek is one of the few space battles on this list in which the good guys didn’t emerge victorious, and it’s also the only fight in this list that leads to the creation of an entire alternate reality. Trek’s Kelvin Timeline is named for this battle, in which the vengeful Romulan Nero (Eric Bana) changes the course of history by destroying the Kelvin and George Kirk (Chris Hemsworth) sacrificing himself moments after his son is born. With visual effects that easily outstrip those of the earlier movies, Star Trek delivers an unforgettable space fight right out of the gate.

Ironically, in spite of that Guardians being MCU’s first space-based heroes, they don’t actually have a lot of fights in space. The big aerial battle in the first film, for example, takes place in the skies over Xandar but not technically in space itself. 

That changes within the first twenty minutes of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 when the remotely controlled Sovereign fleet arrives to get payback for the Anulax batteries Rocket stole from under their gold noses. The Guardians manage to escape the fleet at first, but the battle continues in the core of Ego’s planet at the end of the film.

While it was set in space and followed the exploits of heroes in a spaceship, Firefly wasn’t known for epic space battles. But when the film Serenity continued the story, the heroes manage to not only start a massive fight in space, but they do it all to create a diversion.

Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) has to navigate through a fleet of wild, homicidal villains known as Reavers to get where he’s going, but where he’s going is guarded by an equally hostile Alliance fleet. So, the captain starts a fight with the Reavers, runs like hell, and leads them right into the Alliance ships. Serenity and her crew just barely make it to the planet (which is never named in the film but is called “Station 2E” in extra source material) while fleeing the fight they started, but not without paying a heavy toll.

Like many of the best battles in Star Wars, the fight at the end of The Phantom Menace is fought on multiple fronts, and one of the most pivotal is the biggest of the film’s space battles, against the Trade Federation’s Droid Control Ship. While it starts off with the heroes looking like victory is far out of reach, the arrival of the young Anakin (Jake Lloyd) changes everything.

Anakin’s destruction of the Droid Control Ship deactivates the battle droids on the surface, making things a lot easier for both the Gungans and the strike force led by Padme (Natalie Portman). It also gives us a clear picture of how strong Anakin’s connection to the Force is considering that he not only doesn’t even mean to join the space battle, but his bypassing of the ship’s shields and destruction of the enemy vessel is all unintentional.

When the Star Trek: The Next Generation two-parter “The Best of Both Worlds” aired, some fans no doubt felt cheated because what was one of the most amazing space battles — the Battle of Wolf 359 — occurs during the events of the episode, but take place completely off-screen. A whopping 39 Starfleet ships clash with a Borg Cube at Wolf 359 and lose, and until flashbacks show a tiny sliver of the conflict in the premiere episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, we only see the aftermath. But when fans went to see 1996’s Star Trek: First Contact, they got to see a similar battle in its full glory.

And they didn’t have to wait long. We arrive at the absolutely massive Battle of Sector 001 (i.e. Earth’s Solar System) less than ten minutes into First Contact, and while we never get a firm number of the total Starfleet ships lost, it’s in the neighborhood of 20.

None of the space battles of Star Wars enjoy a scope more epic than what we see in the Battle of Coruscant in the opening scene of Revenge of the Sith; and considering the franchise, that’s saying a lot. The fight between the Galactic Republic fleet and the Separatists led by General Grievous is utterly colossal, with just about every exterior shot filled with fights raging up front and in the distance.

Just as the Battle of Naboo does in The Phantom Menace, the Battle of Coruscant also takes the opportunity to reveal some important details about Anakin: namely, how his relationship with Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor) has grown since Attack of the Clones.

Of all the space battles portrayed in Star Trek, none are as tense or suspenseful as the final confrontation between the Enterprise and the Khan-led Reliant in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. With both vessels effectively blinded after entering the Mutara Nebula, their clash often feels more like something like a submarine story like The Hunt for Red October or Das Boot than a Star Trek film. It’s since been copied multiple times in the franchise, including in Star Trek: The Next Generation’s “The Best of Both Worlds.”

When it comes to the final battle of Rogue One, we tend to think first of either of the heroes on the surface or Darth Vader’s epic hallway scene. Too often forgotten is one of the most incredible space battles in the franchise, with the Rebels’ desperate fight to destroy the Imperial shield gate. It isn’t a much higher percentage of heroes in the space above Scarif that survive than those fighting on the ground, but like the folks down below, they get the job done.

Return of the Jedi has taken a lot of flak over the years, but if the increasingly divisive Star Wars fan base can agree on nothing else, they should at least acknowledge that Jedi gave us perhaps the greatest of all the space battles in the film series. The Rebel Fleet’s one desperate shot to take out the Second Death Star is a suspenseful visual feast that proves even more exciting than the Battle of Yavin.

The space chapter of the Battle of Endor also plays a big part in broadening the scope of the conflict; but not in terms of the number of ships or the amount of space, but the people involved. The final battle of Return of the Jedi is fought on three fronts — in space, on Endor, and in the Emperor’s throne room — and the part fought in space is the only one in which none of the lead cast from the previous two films are present. It helps us to remember that the battle between the Empire and the Rebellion encompasses more than the few heroes we’ve come to know.