There are not many cinematic achievements that are as impressive as what happened with the Infinity Saga, the first twenty-three films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It truly changed the game for superhero movies, building on the foundation created by Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy and, more so, the Dark Knight trilogy, making superhero movies a near unrivaled box office monster.
The climax of the saga – with Spider-Man: Far From Home being more of an epilogue – was Avengers: Endgame, a film with its flaws, but also a movie that provided a satisfying, emotional, and epic experience. With a new era beginning, the film has its share of death. Some fans liked to joke before the release of the movie that the answer to the question of who died in Avengers: Endgame would be “everyone” when all was said and done, but that’s not what happened. Some of the deaths, however, are still hard for the audience to deal with.
Updated on November 18th, 2021 by Amanda Bruce: There is certainly a lot of death and destruction in Avengers: Endgame, but maybe not as much as some fans expected. The epic battle sequence that provided the movie’s climax certainly featured the most deaths, but not every one is of the hard-hitting or emotional variety. Each death in the movie propels the plot forward to a new point, so they aren’t exactly wasted on the audience, but only a handful of deaths in Avengers: Endgame are the kind that the audience truly connect with.
9 Thanos’ Army
The climax of the film sees the victims of the snap return, and an extravagant, exhilarating battle ensues between the heroes and the forces of Thanos.
Those forces, made up of Leviathans, Chitauri, etc. were simply foot soldiers. They were not of any significance like other villains in the movie, and there is zero thought or care given to any one of their deaths, never mind sadness. It’s become a pattern in superhero movies for “faceless armies” to be the ones to take the brunt of the heroes’ hits.
8 Akihiko
Fans of Marvel finally got to see Hawkeye take up the Ronin mantle in Endgame as he hunted criminals who survived the snap as an avenger of the dead, in a bid for vengeance and a way to take out his feelings about the loss of his family.
Ronin’s time was brief but badass, and fans saw him in Tokyo, Japan, hunting Akihiko and his men. Despite begging for mercy, Akihiko dies at the hands of Ronin, and, once again, audiences felt no sadness, perhaps only surprise at Clint Barton’s actions. All the audience knows about the character, after all, is that he’s a bad guy that Hawkeye tracks down. Black Widow isn’t exactly broken up about it when she witnesses the death, so the audience isn’t either.
7 Children Of Thanos
Other villains whose deaths inspire zero sadness from fans are the Children of Thanos, otherwise known as the Black Order, a team of Thanos’ adoptive children with power, who appeared in Infinity War and Endgame.
The 2018 versions of Ebony Maw, Corvus Glaive, Cull Obsidian, and Proxima Midnight all got killed in various ways in Infinity War. However, the 2014 versions traveled to 2023 with Thanos, and all got killed by Tony Starks’s heroic snap to save the world or in other ways. Their deaths can be considered slightly sadder than the rest of Thanos’ army purely due to them having names but nobody is really meant to care about these characters or their deaths. The focus is on seeing the heroes prevail, not seeing if Thanos’ team can survive.
6 2014 Thanos
Perhaps the most significant criticism directed towards the MCU for a good while was the lack of memorable villains. There was nobody genuinely great for a long time, except for Loki, a villain who became more of an anti-hero.
This began to change with the likes of Killmonger, Vulture, and finally, Thanos, the villain fans were waiting patiently for, and who lived up to all the hype, exceeding even the highest expectations. In Endgame, there are two versions of Thanos, and the one whose death was less sad was the Thanos who traveled from 2014 to 2023. The one who quickly became impatient and bloodthirsty for the Avengers before getting defeated by them.
5 Thanos
The other Thanos is the one whose timeline fans were on for the Infinity Saga, who got teased in multiple movies, who eventually exploded onto the scene in Infinity War and, to the surprise of many, won. He defeated and killed many heroes, a couple permanently, and a lot temporarily.
This Thanos returned during Endgame. After Thanos fulfilled his life goal of bringing ‘balance’ to the universe, he traveled to Planet 0259-S, a.k.a the Garden, to farm and live in peace. This is where the Avengers locate and find him in a desperate bid to gain the Infinity Gauntlet and reverse the snap. It does not pan out, and Thor pretty ruthlessly kills him. It is a shocking moment and a fantastic one for the audience since they’ve been watching everyone grieve the loss of the heroes from Infinity War.
4 2014 Nebula
Going back to the other timeline of villains who traveled from 2014 to 2023, Nebula and Gamora joined their father, and with present-day Gamora gone, Nebula was the only one of the three to face their future self.
She kills 2014 Nebula, who, unlike her sister, remains on the side of her father in the colossal battle. Sadly, this Nebula never got to have that redemption like her future self; she never got to embrace Gamora properly or see the evil in her father. But there are far sadder deaths.
3 The Original Avengers And Guardians Teams
A lot of the sense of sadness in Endgame as it pertains to death did not come in the form of people actually dying in Endgame but through other circumstances related to death. In a sense, the original lineup of teams that fans were familiar with “died” in Avengers: Endgame.
Captain America did not die, but Steve Rogers did grow old, and his time as Captain America came to an end. Steve’s decision nearly caused the death of the symbol of Captain America and set up the events of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Loki, Vision, Gamora, and Heimdall did not die in this movie, but any hope of their survival from their deaths in Endgame died. Of course, there were two Avengers who did die in Endgame.
2 Black Widow
When Gamora died in Infinity War, it was shocking, with Thanos cruelly deeming her life worthy of sacrifice to attain his goal, having her fall to her death to retrieve the Soul Stone.
Fast forward to 2023, or one year for viewers, and audiences see this same search for the Soul Stone, this time by Black Widow and Hawkeye. Avengers: Endgame had just as heartbreaking results, with both fighting for the other to die, with Natasha eventually falling to her death, one that sent fans into a deep feeling of heartbreak and surprise. What made this death feel worse, however, was that both parties were willing to sacrifice themselves so the other could go on.
1 Tony Stark
Of course, as harrowing as Natasha Romanoff’s death is to watch, it just misses out on the level of sadness felt by one of the most heartbreaking moments in cinema history for superhero fans, the death of Tony Stark.
Going into the movie, many fans predicted the death of the man who kicked off the whole Infinity Saga, and who had such an apparent influence on most of the films within it. “I am Iron Man,” is a line that will go down in history, and his final breath, alongside the reactions and funeral attendance from those who loved him, only made it that much more agonizing.
