Random Deaths In Superhero Movies That Are Burned Into Your Memory (15 items)

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  (#1) Spider-Man

  • Daredevil vs. Spider-Man, Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man, Spider-Man 3, Spider-Man 2, The Green Goblin's Last Stand, 3 Dev Adam, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Marvel Universe

  By the time Avengers: Infinity War comes to a close, numerous characters have met their end. The movie began with Loki's memorable demise, but as things progress - with our heroes going up against Thanos in different battlefields across the galaxy - Vision gets slain (twice), and, of course, Thanos snaps his fingers and culls half of all life from existence.

  At this point, audiences are torn apart watching Wanda, Groot, Bucky, Black Panther, Doctor Strange, and most of the Guardians of the Galaxy fade into dust. The most difficult passing was that of Peter Parker, AKA everyone's Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. It starts with him telling Tony Stark that he's not feeling so good, and as his mentor holds him in his arms, Tony is powerless to do anything but watch as his young protege fades into dust. It was one of those "I'm not crying! You're crying!" moments; despite Peter's eventual return in Endgame, this scene remains one that hurts to watch.
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  (#2) Yondu

  • Guardians of the Galaxy

  When he was first introduced in Guardians of the Galaxy, Yondu was something of a hybrid ally/enemy to Peter Quill. He kidnapped him when he was a child, and raised him to be a Ravager, all the while threatening to eat him. In the first movie, he was working against Peter to swipe the Power Stone, and while they teamed up in the end to save Xandar, Peter managed to pull the ol' switcheroo, which suggested their interactions weren't concluded.

  The second movie gives Yondu much more screen time, and with it comes the revelation that he abducted Peter to give to Ego. But he never handed him over, opting to keep and raise him for himself. By the end of the movie, it's clear he did this because Ego was slaying the kids Yondu was delivering to him, and that Yondu ended up being more of a father than Ego ever could be. It becomes clear that Yondu truly cared for Peter all along.

  As the two blast off of Ego's planet following the Celestial's demise, there is only one emergency spacesuit between the two of them. Without hesitating, Yondu puts the device on Peter and activates it. Before they soar out of the atmosphere, Yondu says, "He may have been your father, boy, but he wasn't your daddy." With that, Yondu holds onto Peter's face as he perishes from exposure while Peter cries and yells for the father he always had, even without realizing it.
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  (#3) Groot

  • Guardians of the Galaxy

  Guardians of the Galaxy introduced the adult version of Groot, and despite only being able to say "I am Groot" throughout the movie, he clearly demonstrated his intelligence and compassion when dealing with his friends. For his enemies, he dealt death and destruction like the rest of his pals.

  The tragic end of the film features the Guardians together aboard Ronan the Accuser's ship in the middle of what's about to be a crash-landing. The only way to save everyone is for Groot to grow a protective enclosure made of his own body; Rocket knows it is a sacrificial move that his friend will not survive. As Rocket pleads, Groot looks at each of the Guardians, and says, "We are Groot." When the vessel finally falls to the ground - destroying Groot in the process - everyone else survives intact, making Groot's sacrifice both noble and effective.

  The fans yelling at the screen that Groot could only ever say "I am Groot," and nothing more may have technically been correct, but they were yelling through tears.
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  (#4) Iron Man

  • Iron Man: Armored Adventures, The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, The Super Hero Squad Show, The Incredible Hulk, Ultimate Avengers, Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow, Iron Man 3, Iron Man, The Avengers: Age of Ultron, The Avengers, Iron Man 2, Planet Hulk, The Invincible Iron Man, Ultimate Avengers 2, Marvel Universe

  When Avengers: Endgame pits the entire might of the MCU up against Thanos and his army, the result is arguably the largest battle in cinematic history, with the possible exception of some scenes in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The entanglement is intense, involving several key players in the MCU taking the Gauntlet around the battlefield, with the aim of keeping it from the Mad Titan.

  When it finally comes down to an Iron Man vs. Thanos fight, the two beat each other with everything they have. In the end, Thanos finally gets ahold of the Gauntlet, declaring, "I am inevitable." He snaps his fingers... only, nothing happens. At that moment, he discovers the Infinity Stones are no longer set in the Gauntlet. His gaze turns to Iron Man, who raises his arm as the Stones set within his gauntleted fist. He rebuts: "And I... am... Iron Man" before snapping his fingers.

  Thanos watches as his forces are converted to dust, and there's nothing he can do. He realizes he's lost, so as his army crumbles to dust around him, he takes a seat and looks away pensively before he, too, turns to dust and blows away in the wind.
• 

  (#5) Black Widow

  • Ultimate Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Avengers, Ultimate Avengers 2, Iron Man 2, The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Marvel Universe

  In The Avengers, Black Widow speaks at length about her "ledger," and how she owed some people she hoped to one day repay. The conversation was designed to learn what Loki's plans were, but also serves to establish the character as someone who is not only honorable but who doesn't forget her debts.

  That comes full circle in Avengers: Endgame when it becomes apparent that either she or Hawkeye will have to sacrifice themselves so the other can get the Soul Stone. The two heroes fight each other for the right to be the martyr, and ultimately, it is Natasha who succeeds. At this point, as she sees it, she's sitll dealing with the "red" in her ledger, and she makes sure her friend will be able to see his family once more.

  It's difficult to watch, but also a lovely sentiment, which proves that while Black Widow may have racked up a lot of moral debt in her past, she has more than made up for it as a hero and member of the Avengers.
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  (#6) Gamora

  • Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel Universe

  The reason Gamora wants Peter to slay her if she falls into Thanos's hands is simple, and even noble: She knows the location of the Soul Stone. Once Thanos gets the information, he takes Gamora to Vormir, where the Red Skull informs them that Thanos has to sacrifice what he loves most in order to get the Stone. At first, Gamora laughs, thinking there isn't anything the Mad Titan truly cared for - but at that moment she realizes why he brought her along in the first place.

  With a heavy heart, Thanos grabs her by the arm. Gamora fights him all the way to the ledge, but she's powerless to stop him as he casts her over, dropping her to her demise. This unlocks the Soul Stone and gives Thanos what he wanted, but at a heavy cost. When Gamora passes in Infinity War, there's no way of knowing if she will return in Endgame; even though she does, the Gamora of this timeline was slain forever, which makes the sacrifice still hard to watch.
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  (#7) Agent Phil Coulson

  • Ultimate Spider-Man, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Thor, Iron Man, Nick Fury, The Avengers, Iron Man 2

  When the Avengers Initiative finally come together, it brought Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and the Hulk together, but they don't exactly get along at first. Instead, they fight constantly and always seem on the verge of tearing one another apart, making the team more of a pipe dream than a reality. That all changes when Agent Phil Coulson perishes at the hands of Loki.

  Coulson is aiming a massive weapon at the God of Mischief - or so he thinks. Turns out he's aiming at an illusion. The real Loki is behind him, and shockingly impales Coulson from behind. He doesn't pass right away; instead, he manages to let Loki know he's going to lose. As Loki begins to retort, Coulson finally pulls the trigger on his rifle, blasting Loki through the wall before Nick Fury can arrive and hear Coulson's last words.

  When Fury heads out to meet up with the Avengers, he informs them of Coulson's demise, which gives them something to bring them together - something, someone, to avenge.
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  (#8) Joker Blows Murray Franklin’s Brains Out On Live TV - ‘Joker’

  A key part of Arthur Fleck's descent into madness is taking a stab at stand-up comedy - an attempt that draws the attention of famed talk show host Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro), who mocks Arthur's "act" on national television. In the climactic segment of Joker, Arthur - fully off the deep end by this point - delivers karmic (and horrifying) comeuppance to his former comedy idol. Arthur, in full clown garb, appears as a guest on Franklin's show.

  The interview gets a bit heated when Arthur admits to being the "clown" who executed the men on the subway earlier in the film. Arthur, Murray, and his other guests discuss the claim, and Arthur's anger intensifies as he talks about how society has cast out the mentally ill and downtrodden.

  When his fury reaches a crescendo, Arthur quickly pulls out his pistol, and shoots Murray in the face, ending his life instantly - an act of violence memorable not only for being so public and brazen, but because it helps set off a firestorm in the streets as Arthur, the failed comedian and burgeoning supervillain, becomes a symbol of a nebulously rebellious evil.
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  (#9) Rorschach

  • Watchmen, Watchmen

  The dramatic conclusion of Watchmen involves, among other things, the revelation that none other than Ozymandias - a presumptive hero - was the man behind the slaying of the Comedian, and the person responsible for everything Rorschach and Nite Owl II have been digging into throughout the movie. The would-be superheroes go up against Ozymandias in his Arctic fortress, and wind up getting their butts handed to them as their foe explains his grand plan.

  The key revelation from Ozymandias is that those who've come to stop him are simply too late. By this point, he has already launched his plan, wiping out millions of people - and framing Dr. Manhattan for the deed. Manhattan comes to realize that telling the world the truth would ruin the peace Ozymandias brokered through his plan, rendering all that bloodshed pointless. Rorschach doesn't agree, and he leaves determined to tell the world the truth.

  The remaining heroes attempt to talk him out of it, but when it's clear there won't be any way they can change his mind, Dr. Manhattan looks at Rorschach, who yells at him to "DO IT!" With a somber wave of his hand, he disintegrates his former ally, ending him instantly, and leaving what looks like a Rorschach Painting in the snow.
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  (#10) Steve Trevor

  • Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman

  At the end of Wonder Woman, Ares makes himself available for an intense fight with our eponymous heroine; but first, Steve needs to hop onto a plane that's about to take off so he can commandeer and destroy it. Before he can do so, Diana is still recovering from a fight, and she can't hear Steve as he tells her, "I can save today. You can save the world." And with that, he wishes they had more time, before saying "I love you" as he rushes off.

  Steve gets into the plane and manages to get it away before it explodes, heroically ending his life in mid-air. This hits Diana hard, helping to unleash her true power and potential as she angrily sweeps through Ares's forces before taking him on in open combat. Diana manages to stand up to Ares, and after they fight for a few minutes, she manages to end him with his own lightning. This proved humanity isn't as damaged as Ares thought, and that Steve's sacrifice was proof of exactly that.
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  (#11) Toad

  • X-Men, Marvel Universe

  Sebastian Shaw proves himself a truly evil villain in X-Men: First Class. Working for the Third Reich at Auschwitz, he has a young Erik Lehnsherr brought into his office, and proceeds to have Erik's mother shot in order to trigger the young mutant's abilities. He gives the kid a coin. After WWII ends, and Lehnsherr is free, he keeps the coin while hunting Shaw and every Nazi he can find.

  Eventually, Lehnsherr becomes Magneto, but he's fighting alongside Charles Xavier and the so-called "First Class" of X-Men. That is, of course, up until the end, when Magneto turns against his friends to stand for a more aggressive stance toward those who would hate and destroy mutants. But his real transition from Charles's side comes when he goes up against Shaw.

  The two face off in Shaw's wrecked submarine, with Shaw wearing a special helmet that blocks Xavier's mental abilities. This makes him all but invincible, his ability to absorb all forms of energy making any means of attack moot. Magneto manages to manipulate some wires to remove the helmet, which lets Charles in, and Shaw becomes frozen in place. Despite Charles's direct opposition, Magneto slowly passes the coin Shaw gave him years ago right through his forehead, and out the other side, killing him where he stands.
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  (#12) Rachel Dawes

  • Batman Begins, The Dark Knight

  In a key sequence from The Dark Knight, the Joker has been captured (on purpose), and finds himself on the receiving end of an "interrogation" by Batman - which amounts to little more than a brutal beatdown for information. What Batman doesn't quite realize is that the Joker holds all the cards here, a fact that soon leads to our hero's most emotionally devastating moment.

  After being roughed up for a little while, Joker finally starts spilling the pertinent details: Rachel and Harvey Dent (the coronated "White Knight" of Gotham) are at separate locations, both rigged with dynamite set to go off in a very short period of time. The Joker is offering his heroic adversary a choice: save the hero Gotham needs, or save the woman he loves. Knowing Batman would choose Rachel, the Clown Prince gives him the wrong address, and Bats races away. He arrives at Dent's location - just in time to save him.

  Rachel, on the other hand, isn't so lucky. Gotham City Police arrive at her location, but they arrive a hair too late. Harvey, meanwhile, manages to lose half his face and the love of his life in one fell swoop, screaming in anguish and anger at Batman for rescuing the wrong person. To put a finer point on it, Harvey is on the phone with Rachel at the moment the detonation occurs. Her demise is not only a gut-punch for both Harvey - it lights the match for his own life of crime, transforming him into Two-Face.
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  (#13) Joker

  • Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Batman: The Animated Series, Fight Batman Fight!, Batman: New Times, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2, Batman Forever, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Batman: Under the Red Hood, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, The Batman vs. Dracula, The Batman Superman Movie: World's Finest, Batman, Batman, DC Universe

  At the end of Tim Burton's Batman, the Caped Crusader and the Joker battle it out in a church belltower high above the streets of Gotham City. Before Batman can apprehend him, the Joker manages to grab hold of a rope ladder thrown from his escape helicopter, and it looks as if he's going to get away. Unfortunately for him, there's a cable connecting his ankle to a very large concrete gargoyle - thanks to Batman, of course.

  As the chopper begins to fly away, the gargoyle breaks from its pedestal and begins to pull the Joker down the ladder. He manages to hold onto the ladder for about a minute, but the weight of the gargoyle gets the better of him, and he lets go of the last rung, falling to his demise. When the camera focuses on his body on the street, a familiar laughing can be heard coming from a small in his suit pocket. So, even in death, Joker has the last laugh.
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  (#14) Catwoman

  • Maggie, Catwoman, Batman: New Times, Grayson, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2, Fight Batman Fight!, Batman: Year One, DC Showcase: Catwoman, Batman, The Dark Knight Rises, Batman Returns, Alyas Batman en Robin, DC Universe

  While the Penguin may appear to be the main bad guy in Batman Begins, the true villain is Max Shreck, the billionaire businessman who manipulates the events of the movie from a nigh-untouchable position of economic and political power. His true villainy is proven early on, as he attempts to terminate Selina Kyle - in fact, he believes he did do the deed, until she shows back up in the office not long afterward. This attempted slaying has the quite unintended consequence of turning her into Catwoman - and giving Max Schreck an adversary he never planned on.

  By the end, the Penguin (Shreck's intended political puppet) has been defeated, and Shreck is left in the Penguin's underground lair with Batman, now unmasked, pleading with Selina not to finish off her former boss. He tries but fails, and Selina opts to kick the Dark Knight to the curb. Shreck pulls out a pistol and shoots Batman before turning the piece on Selina as she counts out each of her remaining lives with each blast. As she makes her way toward Max, she grabs a stun gun and an electric cable and goes in for a kiss of death that leaves Max a burned husk. How's that for showmanship?
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  (#15) Blade

  • Blade II, Blade: Trinity, Blade, Marvel Universe

  In Blade II, the eponymous antihero regularly butts heads with Ron Perlman's Reinhardt, a member of the Bloodpack, a group keeping an unsteady alliance with the Daywalker, with whom they share a common goal. It's virutally inevitable that Blade and Reinhardt will have it out by the end, and the movie doesn't disappoint. A rejuvenated Blade steps out of a pool of blood to face his adversary, and the two engage in an epic battle after a platoon of vampires carrying electric prods fall before the Daywalker as he makes his way through them, one by one.

  Once Blade and Reinhardt are the only two remaining, they fight it out, and it's as great a fight as any Blade has ever had. That said, it's not a long skirmish. It starts with some quick swordplay, with Blade catching the blade in his hands. He holds the sword before finally pulling it free from his opponent, quickly flipping it about, and slicing him clean through the middle. Reinhardt's two halves fall away on either side before the entire corpse turned to dust.

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