2018 was another rollicking year for superhero and sci-fi flicks. What's most impressive is not just their financial reception, but the critical reception to these movies, with Black Panther and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse already making waves on the awards circuit.

RELATED: Black Panther Wins Best Film & Director at AAFCA Awards

That's because the majority of these movies were based on deep, emotional character studies, with more moments steeped in substance over style. Of course, we had quite a few scenes where studios and directors also paid service to fanboys across the fantasy, superhero and action genres, so let's look at the top 10 moments this year that stood out.

10.) THE WASP RETURNS

Ant-Man-and-the-Wasp-Janet-Van-Dyne

In 2015's Ant-Man, many were disappointed we didn't get to see more of a young Janet Pym in action. That's because the film focused on an older Hank (Michael Douglas) and the baton being passed to Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), but still, we felt short-changed, as she was a founding Avenger in the comics. While that wasn't the case in the MCU, and despite being older in Ant-Man and the Wasp, Michelle Pfeiffer's Janet proved she was just as much a badass.

RELATED: Avengers: Endgame Theory Suggests Ant-Man Is a Time-Traveler

Team Pym used Scott's experience in the Quantum Realm to track Janet, and when they finally located her and she came back to the real world, it was clear she never stopped being a warrior. It was a very warm moment to see the entire family reunite, but the way Janet re-emerged from the Microverse to stop Ghost from destroying the world using an unstable portal, and how she then used her newfound powers to the heal the villain, finally gave us the Avenger we were missing all along.

9.) UNTIL ALL ARE ONE

In five Transformers movies from Michael Bay, we never got an in-depth look into the origins of Cybertron and the war that tore the planet apart. He glossed it over, expecting fans to fill in the blanks. But director Travis Knight does the opposite with Bumblebee in just two short scenes, showing us how the Decepticons considered the Autobots to be brothers-in-arms who betrayed them.

RELATED: Bumblebee Rights Every Wrong of the Michael Bay Transformers Era

Knight's first sequence showed the Generation One versions of Optimus and 'Bee going up against Shockwave, Starscream, Soundwave, Ravage and more. For the first time, we really saw Cybertron under siege, evoking the War for Cybertron video game. We then saw more of Optimus holding off his enemies, even doing his signature jump move from the '80s cartoon's opening credits, right after he tasked Bumblebee with scouting Earth as a new home, where he promised the Autobots would become one again and take back the galaxy.

8.) HAN GETS CHRISTENED

Han Solo in Solo A Star Wars Story

For decades now, since we first saw Harrison Ford's Han Solo in 1977's Star Wars: A New Hope, we assumed that was the scoundrel's real name. In Ron Howard's Solo: A Star Wars Story, however, as the director details Han's (Alden Ehrenreich) early days as a criminal, we finally see just how he got this moniker, and it turns out to be from the least expected source.

RELATED: Marvel's Solo Adaptation Fills the Star Wars Film's Biggest Plot Hole

When Han and his lover, Qi'ra (Emilia Clarke), try to escape Corellia, she's kidnapped by gangsters at an Imperial outpost, while Han is taken by the Empire to join its army against his will. While there, he's asked his name by a senior officer and, when Han proves reluctant to give it, seeing as he's all alone, the officer officially gives him the designation of "Han Solo." It might be underwhelming to some, but for many it's an iconic moment that stays true to the franchise's dry comedy.

NEXT PAGE: Yeah, Someone Gave Deadpool a Time Machine

7.) DEADPOOL'S TIME AFTER TIME

Deadpool 2

Deadpool 2 was yet another bonkers ride as Ryan Reynold's Wade Wilson tore through a slew of villains, trying to stop young Russell (Julian Dennison) from becoming a future tyrant called Firefist. With the likes of Josh Brolin's Cable and Zazie Beetz's Domino alongside him, Deadpool saved the day, but he did lose the love of his life, Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), early on in the film, which inspired him to take a trip down the time stream later on.

RELATED: Deadpool 2 Handles Time Travel Better Than X-Men: Days of Future Past

The Merc with a Mouth used Cable's time-slider after it got repaired and, in a post-credits scene true to Deadpool's hilarious brand of comedy, he went back in time and saved her, not caring how it affected continuity. He also rescued his X-Force teammate Peter, killed Ryan Reynolds the actor so he'd never make the Green Lantern movie and even went back to kill that Deadpool abomination from X-Men Origins: Wolverine, finally giving us a Hugh Jackman team-up -- well, sort of.

6.) A QUIET DEATH

A QUIET PLACE
Left to right: Noah Jupe plays Marcus Abbott, Millicent Simmonds plays Regan Abbott and John Krasinski plays Lee Abbott in A QUIET PLACE, from Paramount Pictures.

A Quiet Place focused on director John Krasinski starring alongside his wife, Emily Blunt, as genius parents in a post-apocalyptic world overrun by monsters who hunt based on sound. It was a very emotional affair, as the family struggled to recover following the slaughter of their youngest son, Beau, early on. When the monsters eventually came for the other family members, Krasinski's Lee gave us one of the most heroic moments this year.

RELATED: A Quiet Place Isn't a Cloverfield Movie, But It Could Be

With one of the creatures poised to kill his kids, Regan and Marcus, in a stalled truck, Lee emerges from his cornfield and, using sign language, tells them he loves them. With the mother looking on via surveillance cameras, he screams to attract the beast so it can feast on him, with this sacrifice buying his kids time to drive away. In the build-up to his death, the teary eyes and overall silence creates a truly cathartic moment, reminding us of the special bond between parent and child.

5.) WE ARE VENOM

Fans waited with bated breath to see if Venom's iconic line from the comics would be included in Ruben Fleischer's movie; after all, it's his signature statement indicating that, when Eddie Brock and the alien symbiotie are truly one, only chaos can ensue. Thankfully, it's part of the movie, occurring right after Tom Hardy's Eddie flees a bunch of goons from Carlton Drake's Life Foundation.

RELATED: Venom Director 'Doesn't Feel the Need' to Release an Unrated Version

When they do corner him in the streets, Eddie, finally giving into the symbiote so that he could preserve his own life, manages to take them down using his new abilities. But when Venom takes one hostage and surveys what bodily organs he could use to make a meal, just as the petrified man asks him what exactly is he, Eddie's black goo wraps around his entire body and, as Venom's teeth emerge, the antihero replies, "We are Venom," just before he tries to eat the criminal.

4.) SYMPATHY FOR A VILLAIN

Killmonger talks to T'Challa while facing death

Black Panther, apart from making over $1 billion at the box office, became a social movement due to its cast of color and messages of diversity. But as it painted Wakanda as an African nation offering hope as to what other countries could be, Michael B. Jordan's Erik Killmonger wanted to take over and weaponize the utopian society to try and free other oppressed countries.

RELATED: Black Panther Stars Award Disney's First Black Panther Scholarship

In the finale, when Chadwick Boseman's T'Challa eventually leaves him mortally wounded, rather than accept treatment and possibly redeem himself, Killmonger makes it clear his wasn't a personal war, as Wakanda was simply part of a system that inadvertently helped keep impoverished nations from prospering. Killmonger even likened the current state of the world to modern slavery, and with his dying breath he told the king, "Bury me in the ocean with my ancestors who jumped from the ships, because they knew death was better than bondage," opting to die rather than live in a world built on colonialization.

NEXT PAGE: Who Will Win? Aquaman's Splashy Debut or Thanos' Fateful Snap?

3.) A NEW SPIDER-MAN RISES

Miles Morales Into the Spider-Verse

Sony's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse featured many Spider-Men, with one Peter Parker dying and another trying to train Miles Morales (Shameik Moore). As Miles continued his journey, he began to believe he wasn't be cut out for superhero duty, but after some wise words from Stan Lee and the death of his own uncle, he finally accepted his role as the multiverse's great hope.

RELATED: Into the Spider-Verse Shows Why We Need More Animated Superhero Movies

He grabbed a Spidey suit from Pete's lair, and with some help from Aunt May, went after the Kingpin to stop him from using his particle collider and tearing apart several realities. But just before he went into the field, he first took his spray paint cans and turned Pete's very first suit black and red, giving it his signature graffiti treatment. This allowed Miles to really step out as the Spider-Man of a new progressive generation, with his own distinctive flair and style.

2.) THE SEA KING HAS ARRIVED

Aquaman poster

James Wan made it clear his Aquaman would pay homage to the old cartoons and comics, especially when it came to the superhero's orange and green costume. When the moment arrived though, as nostalgic as it was, it's one of the DC Extended Universe's most badass scenes because it truly defines Jason Momoa's Arthur Curry as the king of Atlantis and someone also destined to be the Ocean Master of the Seven Kingdoms.

RELATED: With Aquaman, the DCEU Learns From the Mistakes of the Snyder Era

After finding the Hidden Kingdom and the tomb of Atlan, Arthur faces the Karathen (a giant kaiju) to see if he's worthy of the king's trident, and when he succeeds -- by preaching peace over war -- he's transformed and decked out with Aquaman's iconic armor. As he emerges from behind a waterfall with the trident, all the fish jokes are forgotten because this newly-empowered king looks like someone you don't wanna mess with, imbued with a warrior spirit we've never really seen the character possess before.

#1: THE DECIMATION

Thanos snapping have of the universes population in Avengers Infinity War while Thor watches

This isn't even a close contest -- there are few scenes in the history of film that will leave audiences with their jaws on the floor as when Thanos snuffed half of the universe out of existence in Avengers: Infinity War. The Russo brothers quickly went from a moment of triumph, as Thor stuck Stormbreaker into the Mad Titan's chest, to a moment of terror as Thanos snapped his fingers and disappeared, leaving folks turning to ash.

RELATED: Disney's Historic $7 Billion Box Office Led by Infinity War, Black Panther

What was so jarring is we didn't know who was going to wither away into the wind, with the likes of Black Panther, most of the Guardians and even the teenage Spider-Man falling victim to death's hand. The muted sound, the effects of the heroes' remains blowing away and the sight of Steve Rogers and Tony Stark defeated and near tears left us feeling empty as we left the theaters. It was an unpredictable moment, leaving fans immediately anxious to see how and if this snap could be rectified in Avengers: Endgame, really representing that the MCU is on the cusp of big change.