Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at movie vehicles that are among the most powerful to grace the silver screen.
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00:00 Welcome to WatchMojo and today we're looking at movie vehicles that are among the most
00:12 powerful to grace the silver screen.
00:14 These vehicles are ranked relative to the world they inhabit.
00:17 Also, we are deliberately excluding spaceships.
00:27 Light Cycles and Light Runners, Tron franchise.
00:34 Years before "The Matrix", Jeff Bridges starred in "Tron", one of the first major
00:37 films that imagined entering the digital world of computers.
00:41 There, vehicles are limited only by their coding.
00:43 The original "Tron" featured light cycles, digital motorcycles that create impassable
00:48 walls.
00:49 When the cycles crashed into these walls, they and their programmed drivers are obliterated.
00:59 The 2010 sequel, "Tron Legacy", expanded the franchise's stable of deadly vehicles.
01:04 Olivia Wilde's character, Quorra, drives a Light Runner.
01:07 In addition to its unique digital off-roading abilities, it sported both programmed destroying
01:11 mines and missiles.
01:13 Later, she pilots a Light Jet, a fighter jet armed with both weapons and a deadly light
01:18 trail.
01:22 It's hard to picture a 1958 Plymouth Fury competing with vehicles decked out with the
01:34 best weapons a fictional world has to offer.
01:37 But, what if that car were possessed by an invincible, immortal and malevolent spirit?
01:47 The 1983 classic Stephen King adaptation, "Christine", features just such a fury.
01:52 Not only does Christine have the ability to forge powerful psychic bonds with her owners,
01:56 but her jealousy of that bond knows no bounds.
01:59 Anyone who threatens it is immediately at risk of a gruesome demise.
02:03 Worse yet, the stronger Christine's bond gets, the harder it is to hurt her.
02:08 She possesses a supernatural ability to instantly self-repair any damage she suffers.
02:12 Short of a volcano, it's hard to imagine a permanent way to destroy her.
02:27 In 1979, Australian filmmaker George Miller introduced the world to Mad Max, a road warrior
02:32 seeking a violent form of justice in post-apocalyptic Australia.
02:36 Max's baby, the Pursuit Special, is a souped-up Ford Falcon XPGT.
02:41 It sported both heavy armour and a supercharger popping out the front, providing both horsepower
02:46 and intimidation.
02:51 In the 2015 follow-up, "Fury Road", Max's enemies rock one of the most terrifying vehicles
02:56 put to film, Immortan Joe's War Rig.
02:59 The War Rig was a tremendous truck festooned with heavy armour.
03:02 It was both a defensive tank and an offensive powerhouse.
03:05 When sent out on runs for fuel and ammo, the rig demolishes all enemies, and is only eventually
03:11 destroyed intentionally by its own driver.
03:23 It may be hard to recognise today, but the famous ride of New York's favourite ghostbusting
03:27 team is actually a modified ambulance.
03:30 Not only that, but it's a Cadillac.
03:32 Egon Spengler and company took a 1959 Cadillac Miller Meteor Sentiel and converted it into
03:37 the bane of the undead.
03:47 Equipped with sirens, ghost-fighting gear and storage for the team's proton packs,
03:50 the Ecto-1 was primarily a transport vehicle.
03:53 Between Ghostbusters 2 and the 2021 sequel, Afterlife, Egon Spengler converted the Ecto-1
03:58 into a ghost-fighting machine.
04:00 It's now equipped with a gunner's seat so that proton packs can be used on the go.
04:04 In the 2024 sequel, Frozen Empire, the former ambulance was further upgraded with a deployment
04:09 apparatus for a ghost-trapping drone.
04:23 The 1990s Batmobiles were as progressively campy as each successive sequel.
04:28 In 2005, when Christopher Nolan took the wheel, his Batmobile was adapted to fit his more
04:33 gritty, realistic Batman.
04:34 He eschewed a more traditional, sleek vehicle for a literal tank.
04:40 The Tumbler started out as a military vehicle, equipped with armour, rocket booster and forward
04:45 cannon.
04:46 Its matte black finish helped it blend into the night.
04:48 In the 2008 sequel, it was upgraded with the ability to spin off two tyres into a motorcycle,
04:54 the Batpod.
04:55 The Dark Knight Rises unveiled an even more powerful iteration, the Bat.
04:59 A jet-powered urban combat vehicle, the Bat was armed with machine guns and a cannon strong
05:04 enough to take out a Tumbler with a single volley.
05:16 The James Bond series has almost featured as many gadget-filled cars as there are actors
05:20 who play the British super-spy.
05:21 That being said, one car has been featured in many different Bond iterations, the Aston
05:26 Martin DB5.
05:28 First introduced in Goldfinger, the MI6 supercar has been, at times, nigh on invulnerable.
05:38 Over the course of the franchise, the car has been equipped with a plethora of gadgets.
05:41 The changeable licence plates, oil slicks and smoke screen all allowed Bond to evade
05:46 his enemies.
05:47 When that didn't suffice, the bulletproof chassis and glass protected Bond while his
05:50 machine guns and tyre shredders took them out.
05:53 In a worst-case scenario, the car was also equipped with an ejector seat.
06:08 In the world of Snowpiercer, humanity's failed attempt to stop climate change ends
06:12 in a frozen apocalypse.
06:13 The last remnants of humanity are relegated to life aboard a single, self-perpetuating
06:18 train.
06:23 The Snowpiercer spends all day and night roaming an icy wasteland.
06:27 Heavily armoured and insulated, the train managed to keep humanity afloat for almost
06:31 two decades after the apocalypse.
06:33 Its hydrogen-powered engine can only be stopped by sabotage.
06:36 It's not just a vehicle, but an ecosystem.
06:39 Heat, water and power are distributed throughout the train unequally.
06:43 The rich and powerful live in luxury, while the poor barely scrape by.
07:00 S.H.I.E.L.D.'s helicarrier is as iconic as its leader, Nick Fury.
07:03 At first blush, the helicarrier seems to be a standard, albeit decked-out aircraft carrier.
07:09 Unlike its seaborne brethren, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s version is equipped with special engines,
07:13 allowing it to fly.
07:14 Its underbelly is plated with special stealth panels that allow it to be completely camouflaged
07:18 from the ground.
07:22 Just as with a standard aircraft carrier, the helicarrier is a small city, full of agents
07:27 and equipped with fighter jets.
07:28 Thanks to the secret influence of Hydra, a trio of helicarriers were built with access
07:33 to Project Insight, a series of spy satellites able to locate and predict potential threats.
07:38 While this list consists mainly of vehicles from the era of mechanisation, many movies
07:54 take place before the invention of the engine.
07:57 The "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise, for example, takes place in the 18th century.
08:01 Jack Sparrow's Black Pearl is the bane of the seven seas, able to outrun any ship at
08:05 sea.
08:06 "The Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" takes place a century later, where the seas are
08:10 still traversed by sailing vessels and steamer ships.
08:19 In that era, Captain Nemo's Nautilus submarine was so advanced, it's thought to be more
08:24 sea monster than ship.
08:26 Its metal hull was used to ram enemy vessels, easily sinking them, and electric currents
08:30 ran through the hull, repelling boarders and sea life alike.
08:55 The DeLorean time machine, "Back to the Future" franchise.
09:04 I mean, what is more powerful than control over time?
09:07 In the "Back to the Future" series, Dr. Emmett L. Brown manages to convert a unique
09:11 but fairly unpopular car, a DMC DeLorean, into a time machine.
09:16 By travelling 88mph, the DeLorean can travel to a fixed point in time.
09:28 Though it's not equipped with any weaponry whatsoever, this power is unparalleled in
09:32 film.
09:33 By travelling to the past, both Doc and Marty discover the power to completely rewrite history.
09:37 They're even able to utterly erase people from time altogether.
09:41 As Marty learns in the first film, this power is incredibly dangerous.
09:45 A single action in the past reverberates throughout the decades.
09:52 Did any of our entries blow your favourite movie vehicles off the road?
09:55 Is there a cinematic hell on wheels that deserves to roll into an entry?
09:58 Let us know in the comments below.
10:11 Thanks for watching.
10:22 (upbeat music)