Random Most Selfless Acts Of Heroism In MCU (19 items)

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  (#1) Tony Stark’s Endgame

  When: Avengers: Endgame (2019)

  Steve Rogers once opined that Tony Stark wasn’t one to make the “sacrifice play,” and Iron Man has spent the rest of his cinematic career proving that wrong. The culmination of Stark’s heroic arc is also the sacrifice that saves the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe from destruction at the hands of Thanos.

  When he comes up with the idea to take the Infinity Stones via nano-thievery and then snap Thanos’s forces out of existence, he knows full well that it will end him. All it takes, however, is a quick glance at Doctor Strange to confirm his plan will work - and one last “I am Iron Man” - for Stark to act. 
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  (#2) Yondu Wins Daddy Of The Year

  When: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

  Yondu Udonta is more of an antagonist than anything in the first Guardians of the Galaxy adventure, but he makes a rather quick face-turn by the time the sequel is complete. Revealed as a surrogate father-figure to Peter Quill, Yondu solidifies himself as Star-Lord’s “daddy” by sacrificing his life to rocket Quill off a collapsing planet - a planet that happens to be Quill’s biological father.

  Unlike some of the other notable sacrifices of the MCU, this one is planned out in advance - Yondu knows that he only has one jetpack and one spacesuit, so only one of he and Peter can safely escape Ego’s atmosphere. Yondu willingly gives his life to save that of his son, but not before taking the opportunity to finally speak of his paternal pride.
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  (#3) 'Captain’s Orders'

  When: Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

  When the HYDRA infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D. is revealed by Steve Rogers, things move pretty quickly - and a lot of agents need to make important decisions on the spot. No one is put in a tougher position than Cameron Klein, who is directly ordered by Brock Rumlow to launch the Insight Helicarriers into the sky - but bravely refuses.

  Klein states that he can’t proceed with the launch because of “Captain’s orders,” and he sticks to this even when Rumlow threatens his life. The intervention of Sharon Carter prevents Klein from having to actually sacrifice his life, but it’s clear that he's willing to do so in order to prevent the launch - a remarkable act of heroism from a regular, non-powered character in a world full of superheroes. 
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  (#4) 'We Are Groot'

  When: Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

  Long before any of the Avengers gave their lives, one of the Guardians of the Galaxy sacrificed themselves to save their teammates - the original Groot. While a younger version of Groot is still traveling around the universe with Rocket Raccoon, it’s a clone-child of the genuine article - and OG Groot’s sacrifice is very much a legitimate one.

  With the Guardians trapped on the Dark Aster as it's going down, Groot extends his body into a wooden sphere that encompasses his teammates - shielding them from the impending collision with Xandar. The force of the impact completely wipes out Groot’s wooden frame, but his message of “We Are Groot” informs the Guardians’ next act of selflessness shortly thereafter. 
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  (#5) Steve Rogers Jumps On A Grenade

  When: Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

  Captain America might be the greatest hero of several generations, but Steve Rogers was an Avenger long before he joined Project Rebirth. His selection for the Super Soldier Program is solidified when a seemingly live grenade is tossed at a group of troops who all scatter - save for Rogers, who throws himself on top of the grenade.

  In that moment, Rogers proves he is willing to give his life so that others may live - which proves to be exactly what Dr. Abraham Erskine is looking for in a Super Soldier. Of course, the grenade turns out to be a dud, but Rogers is anything but as he books his ticket to become Captain America with his would-be sacrifice. 
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  (#6) Ho Yinsen Starts It All By Saving Tony Stark

  When: Iron Man (2008)

  Tony Stark may end up making the most important sacrifice in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it’s made possible by the very first sacrifice - that of Ho Yinsen. The captured doctor saves Stark’s life in a multitude of ways - by operating on his shrapnel wounds, by helping him build the first Iron Man suit, and finally, by sacrificing his life to buy Stark extra time.

  Yinsen rushes the Ten Rings, knowing full well that he’ll be taken out as a result. When Stark catches up with Yinsen, the fading hero tells him that “This was always the plan” - meaning that he never intended to escape that cave, and had only been acting in Stark’s interest the entire time. It’s a lesson that Tony Stark doesn’t soon forget. 
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  (#7) Black Widow Sacrifices Herself On Vormir

  When: Avengers: Endgame (2019)

  Many of the sacrifices in the Marvel Cinematic Universe are undertaken to save the lives of countless others, but the sacrifice that Natasha Romanoff makes on Vormir is much more personal. Both she and Clint Barton know that one of them must perish in order to successfully retrieve the Soul Stone - and neither of them wants to let the other sacrifice themselves.

  In the end, the Black Widow wins the grim contest and hurls herself off a cliff - while simultaneously bolting Hawkeye to the cliffside - giving her life so that the Infinity Stones can be reunited and half the universe can be restored to life. She does so knowing that such a sacrifice will be permanent and that not even the Infinity Stones themselves can return her to life - and she still does it without hesitation. 
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  (#8) Quicksilver Sacrifices Himself To Save Hawkeye

  When: Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

  Pietro Maximoff isn’t an Avenger for very long, but he manages to pick up on their trademark selflessness in record time. Despite spending much of his debut film antagonizing Hawkeye, Quicksilver makes a snap decision to throw himself in front of a hail of fire aimed at Clint Barton - who was himself in the process of protecting a child from harm. 

  Maximoff manages to make a callback quip of “You didn’t see that coming?” before collapsing. It’s a sacrifice as shocking as it is sudden, with few fans expecting the long-time comic book Avenger to perish in his first cinematic appearance. Quicksilver’s demise stands as an important testament to what it means to be one of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. 
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  (#9) Iron Man’s First Sacrifice Play

  When: The Avengers (2012)

  Iron Man’s story ends with a powerful sacrifice in Avengers: Endgame, but it’s not the first time that the Armored Avenger puts his life on the line. Shortly after being teased by Captain America for his inability to make the sacrifice play, Tony Stark grabs hold of a nuclear missile headed for Manhattan and flies it into an alien wormhole - a journey that he assumes will be a one-way trip.

  Stark does end up falling out of the wormhole and being caught by the Hulk before he can hurtle to the Earth, but that doesn’t change the fact that he just stared an alien armada in the face without blinking. The incident results in some major PTSD for Stark in the years to come, but it doesn’t prevent him from making another important sacrifice play when the time comes.
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  (#10) Captain America Goes Down With The Red Skull’s Airship

  When: Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

  As a veteran of WWII, Captain America’s whole character arc has been about self-sacrifice from the very beginning - and his greatest act of sacrifice comes long before his time as an Avenger. Faced with no other choice, Steve Rogers chooses to down the Red Skull’s Valkyrie airship into arctic waters before it can make its preprogrammed and destructive arrival in North America. 

  In doing so, Rogers assumes he’s giving up his potential life with Peggy Carter - as well as his life in general. That assumption proves to be half-correct, however, when Cap is pulled out of the ice in the modern era - and wholly incorrect once the events of Avengers: Endgame are played out in their entirety. Captain America’s happy ending, however, does nothing to diminish the intentions behind his noble sacrifice. 
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  (#11) Wanda And The Vision’s Brave Last Stand Against Thanos

  When: Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

  Wanda Maximoff is asked to do a lot when Thanos and the Black Order come looking for the Infinity Stones on Earth. She has to take on Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight essentially single-handedly, she has to hold Thanos off by herself, and she needs to wipe out the Mind Stone - which also means sacrificing her lover, the Vision.

  The scene in which Scarlet Witch is holding off Thanos - a five Infinity Stone-wielding Thanos, no less - with one hand while she blasts the Mind Stone with the other might just be the single most impressive display of power in the entire MCU. The fact that Wanda is simultaneously making such a personal sacrifice only adds to the intensity of her heroism in the moment. 
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  (#12) The Guardians Grasp The Power Stone

  When: Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

  The Guardians of the Galaxy place their lives on the line on numerous occasions to protect the planet Xandar from Ronan the Accuser - including during Peter Quill’s dance-off to save the universe. Their truest moment of heroism, however, comes seconds after the dance-off when Quill grabs the Power Stone out of mid-air to prevent Ronan from regaining it - knowing full well that the Stone typically eradicates everything it comes into contact with.

  Quill improbably survives his grabbing of the Power Stone, but it requires the contributions of the remaining Guardians to wield its energy. Each Guardian has to assume that they’ll perish by joining hands with Quill, but they do so anyway - annihilating Ronan and solidifying their family bond in the process. 
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  (#13) Spider-Man Risks His Life To Save The Vulture

  When: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

  All the heroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe carry plenty of positive character traits, but Peter Parker still manages to be the most wholesome of the bunch. Spider-Man has long represented the very best of Marvel Comics’ superheroes, and the cinematic Spidey is no exception to the rule. In his first solo film, Parker does what few MCU protagonists would ever think to do - he risks his own life to save one of his enemies.

  Spider-Man really has no desire to fight the Vulture, who turns out to be the father of his homecoming date, but he can’t let Adrian Toomes escape with dangerous technology, so he stops him. When Toomes’s overzealousness winds up with him strapped to a wingsuit about to blow, however, Parker dives back into the fiery wreckage to rescue the guy who was just trying to take him out. Just another day in the life of the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.
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  (#14) Ant-Man Goes Subatomic For The First Time

  When: Ant-Man (2015)

  Scott Lang learns a lot of information in a short amount of time throughout the course of his debut film, but the lesson that gets repeated to him again and again is that “going subatomic” will result in him being lost in the Quantum Realm for all time. Of course, that doesn’t prevent Ant-Man from doing exactly that when the life of his daughter Cassie is on the line.

  Lang finds himself unable to shut down the Yellowjacket suit of Darren Cross - who has gone mad enough to threaten Cassie’s life. Without hesitation, Lang deactivates his suit’s regulator and goes subatomic, leaping inside Cross’s armor and condemning both of them to a horrible fate. Ant-Man frees himself from the Quantum Realm almost instantly, but he had no way of knowing that was possible when he committed the act - making this a genuine sacrifice. 
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  (#15) 'Dormammu, I’ve Come To Bargain!'

  When: Doctor Strange (2016)

  Plenty of heroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have sacrificed their lives, but only one has done so on multiple occasions - and he leads the category by a rather impressive magnitude. By trapping the impossibly powerful Dormammu in a chronological loop with the Time Stone, Stephen Strange forces the interdimensional being to relive the same moment over and over again indefinitely. 

  Unfortunately for Doctor Strange, Dormammu uses those moments to slay Strange in increasingly horrific ways an untold number of times - until he finally tires of the game and acquiesces to Strange’s demands. Strange’s actions save the entire universe, but they also exact a terrible toll on the new Sorcerer Supreme. 
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  (#16) The Holding Of The Forge On Nidavellir

  When: Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

  Thor Odinson has spent millennia throwing himself with reckless abandon at all manner of enemies - and so, self-sacrifice has a somewhat different connotation for the God of Thunder. He generally goes into a situation assuming that he will come out on top, but that doesn’t mean that Thor is incapable of putting his life on the line. He just does so with unerring optimism.

  When Thor offers to personally hold open the iris of the Nidavellir forge so that Stormbreaker can be forged - taking the full force of a star as he does so - he’s told that he will be eradicated. Thor’s retort says a lot about how he views such sacrificial acts - he knows that he’ll either perish or forge a Thanos-stopping ax, so he simply has to succeed. 

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