Credit: MarvelMarvel Studios is currently one of the biggest production studios. The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), spans 32 films, 11 Disney+ original series, and the amount of content continues to climb.
Since Iron Man (2008) was released 15 years ago, fans have been introduced to dozens of characters, watching them develop their superpowers, joining the Avengers, fighting for humanity, and even watching some of them die. One thing Marvel is very good at is helping fans get attached to characters and keeping stories and plot twists close to their chest.
So when a character dies in the MCU, not only is it completely unexpected and shocking, but it’s also heartbreaking for fans who loved those characters. Although Marvel has killed off several villains over the course of their cinematic universe, they’ve proven time and time again that they are not afraid to kill off their heroes either.
While the blip in Avengers: Infinity War (2018) was one of the hardest, most heartbreaking moments in Marvel’s film history, many of the characters were brought back by the end of Avengers: Endgame (2019). However, there are still several other characters whose deaths have been permanent and dozens of characters that have died throughout the course of the Marvel Cinematic Univers. Here are the top seven saddest deaths in the MCU, in chronological order.
Frigga
Frigga is Thor’s biological mother and Loki’s adopted mother. While Thor is Odin’s golden child and next in line for the throne, Frigga was closer with Loki, teaching him how to use magic and developing a close bond with him. When Loki is imprisoned following the events of The Avengers (2012), Frigga attempts to make his imprisonment more hospitable, visiting him and talking with him when no one else would.
She’s killed in Thor: The Dark World (2013) while trying to protect Jane Foster from the Dark Elves. She’s given a Viking funeral although she reappears in Avengers: Endgame (2019) as Thor tries to warn her of her future. She refuses to listen, instead saying that she accepts whatever her fate may be.
Frigga’s death deeply hurt Loki, as he’s seen distraught and dejected after learning what happened. It’s a significant point revisited in the Disney+ series Loki, as that version/variant of Loki hasn’t lived that event yet. It’s argued that her death is one of the turning points for Loki to rejoin Thor and change his motiviations.
Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver
Wanda and Pietro Maximoff were first introduced in a post-credits scene in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2015). They play significant parts in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) as siblings bent on getting revenge on Tony Stark for killing their parents. They’re originally members of Hydra, volunteering to be experimented on using the Mind Stone to develop their powers. While Wanda gets “chaos magic,” Pietro gets super speed.
They join forces with Ultron to defeat the Avengers, but after learning that Ultron plans to kill all of humanity, Pietro defects to join the Avengers in their fight against him. He’s instrumental in helping save the citizens of Sokovia although he isn’t quick enough to avoid his own death. He saves Hawkeye, who’s trying to save a little girl, by throwing himself in front of them.
His last line is a throwback joke to an earlier comment made by Hawkeye to him, “bet you didn’t see that coming.” Quicksilver was one of the first major Avengers to be killed, proving that Marvel wasn’t afraid to kill off their own heroes.
Gamora
Gamora (Zoe Saldana) was Thanos’s adopted (and more loved) daughter. In Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), it was revealed that she was trying to double-cross Thanos because she knew he was too powerful and too evil. She teamed up with Peter Quill, Drax, Rocket, and Groot, eventually becoming a found family with them.
Eventually, she and Quill developed a romantic relationship, and Gamora’s stony exterior quickly falls as she, too, learns how to trust others. As Thanos gathers up the final Infinity Stones, he sacrifices Gamora for the Soul Stone in Infinity War as something that he truly loved.
Although Gamora is brought back to the future in Endgame, it’s the Gamora from before the Guardians. She has no memory of Quill, Groot, or the others, but has decided to take their side in the battle against Thanos. After he’s defeated, Gamora leaves with the Ravagers, joining them instead of the Guardians. In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 (2023), Quill learns how to say good bye to the Gamora he once knew.
Vision
Vision (played by Paul Bettany) is a creation thought up by Ultron but commandeered by the Avengers when Tony and Bruce Banner uploaded J.A.R.V.I.S. to the the Mind Stone that gives Vision life and powers. Eventually, Vision falls in love with Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch and they try to live a life together.
They discover that Thanos is after Vision’s Mind Stone and try to use Wakandan technology to save Vision while destroying the Mind Stone. When that proves fruitless, Vision convinces a heartbroken and devastated Wanda to destroy it instead, saying that he’s okay with dying if she’s the one to do it. Wanda manages to destroy it only for Thanos to use the Time Stone to rewind time and take it for himself.
Wanda is so distraught it sparks the events of WandaVision and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022). In WandaVision, Wanda has taken an entire town hostage in order to create the life she wanted with Vision. They have children and Wanda is able to see what her life may have been like. A version of Vision is resurrected in the end of the series, although he flees when he recovers his memories and remembers everything that has happened.
Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow
Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) was introduced originally introduced in Iron Man 2 (2010), undercover while working for Stark Industries. She’s reintroduced as Nick Fury’s right hand man in The Avengers. She had a history with the Winter Solider and was part of the Widow program, but as the original woman on the team fans couldn’t help but fall in love with her.
Over the course of the nine films she appeared in, fans watched her learn to open herself up emotionally, trust other people, and learn how to work as part of a team and not as a double agent. She teamed up with Steve Rogers in Captain America: The Winter Solider (2014), and became a leader for the surviving Avengers after the Thanos blip.
She offered herself as a sacrifice to beat Thanos to the Soul Stone in Endgame, saving the life of Jeremey Renner’s Clint Barton (Hawkeye), who it was revealed she had a close and long friendship with. Unfortunately, because of how and where she died, she was unable to be brought back to life.
Tony Stark/Iron Man
Tony Stark (played by Robert Downey Jr.) won fans over when he first appeared in his MCU film in 2008. The brash but charming genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist quickly became one of the most beloved Marvel characters. He survived the Thanos blip in Infinity War and worked with the Guardians and surviving Avengers to defeat Thanos and bring everyone back in Endgame.
He was told by Doctor Strange that out of 14 million possible outcomes, there was only one instance in which they won. When it became clear they couldn’t get the Infinity Stone Gauntlet from Thanos, Iron Man stole the Stones, connected them to his own armor, and used them to defeat him, return everyone that had been blipped, and save the world. Unfortunately this came at the cost of his own life, as even cycled through the Iron Man armor, it wasn’t enough to dispel the energy and power of the stones.
Fans had seen Tony get to have a family and a happily ever after of his own with his former assistant turned wife, Pepper Potts, and their daughter, Morgan. “I love you 3000” was their inside joke, and it’s become the catchphrase of millions of couples around the world.
Aunt May
Aunt May is Peter Parker’s aunt and guardian. Played by Marisa Tomei, May supports Peter throughout his internship with Stark Industries, eventually learning about his secret identity as Spider-Man. While most other Spider-Man adaptations have used Uncle Ben’s death as a catalyst for Spider-Man, the MCU never had an Uncle Ben, instead focusing on Peter’s relationship with May.
Both Peter and May disappeared with the blip in Infinity War and were brought back during Endgame. May develops a relationship with Happy Hogan, Tony’s driver who eventually becomes a sort of handler for Peter. In Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Doctor Strange opens the portal to the multiverse, bringing in Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Men as well as their villains.
Norman Osborn, aka Green Goblin from Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man, also crosses into the MCU, at first a timid and confused man who just wants to get home. May convinces Peter to use Stark Tech to try and cure the villains of their various ailments, including Osborn’s personality disorder with the Green Goblin. Eventually, his mind is taken back over by the Goblin and he wreaks havoc on Peter’s apartment, killing Aunt May in the process. It causes the MCU Peter to nearly kill Osborn in devastated revenge, only being pulled back by the other two Peters as they explain their own experiences with Uncle Ben.
Bonus: Peter Parker/Spider-Man
Okay, so technically, Peter isn’t dead in the MCU, although for a teenager, he’s gone through A LOT of trauma. After being introduced in Captain America: Civil War (2016) as Spider-Man, the hits haven’t stopped coming. Seriously, someone get that kid a therapist.
Peter was actually killed in the Thanos blip. There wasn’t a dry eye in theater as Peter stumbled over to a horrified Tony Stark while muttering, “Mr. Stark, I don’t feel so good.” The energetic kid from Brooklyn had stolen the hearts of millions, and losing him in the blip devastated MCU fans who didn’t know if he would ever return.
While he did, and went on to help the Avengers defeat Thanos and star in another movie, Peter probably has the most tragic story that continued into his most recent movie. At the end of No Way Home, Peter asks Doctor Strange to make it so that no one remembers who he is, thereby resetting the order of his universe. With his Aunt May and father figure Tony Stark both gone, Peter had come to rely on his friends and Avengers teammates. At the end of the movie, neither his girlfriend MJ nor his best friend Ned recognize him at all.
Marvel is both ruthless and brave for not being afraid to kill off their heroes and main characters. It proves that fans have something to lose when becoming emotionally invested with these characters and that their actions can have real consequences.
Which MCU death do you think is the saddest? Let us know in the comments below!