If you’re still reeling from the number of characters who met their demise in Avengers: Infinity War, we hope the newly-released Ant-Man and the Wasp is enough of a distraction to get you through until next spring. Of course, everyone expects the forthcoming Avengers movie to bring a number of characters back to life, but the possibility that even a fraction of the heroes won’t make their return may be upsetting enough.
While this is the first time that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has axed a major character, superhero movies as a whole are no stranger to unexpected character exits. Of course, considering the genre, there’s always the high likelihood that a character will be resurrected. But depending on the scene and the set-up, one can usually tell when a character’s departure is going to be permanent.
These climatic and emotionally-charged scenes can be hard to pull off. If it’s an instance where the hero is defeating the villain, the payoff better be well worth the hour and a half build-up. If the filmmakers are bold enough to knock off a fan-favorite hero, they better be sure to do the character justice so as to not cause an uprising from comic book nerds everywhere.
From the heroes to the villains to the trusty sidekicks, let’s take a look back at some of the most memorable exits in superhero movies, keeping in mind that “memorable” doesn’t always mean good.
Here are 10 Character Exits That Hurt Superhero Movies (And 10 That Saved Them).
20. Hurt: Superman (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice)
DC’s strategy of trying to expedite a shared comic book universe of its own has backfired on more than one occasion.
Things really started to go off the rails with Batman v Superman. Maybe the movie’s biggest offense was axing its tent-pole hero only two movies deep into the franchise -- far too soon for the audience to feel any significant emotional impact over the loss.
Even worse, Superman was immediately resurrected in the next team-up movie. Despite the crux of Dawn of Justice revolving around the world living in fear of Superman, public opinion conveniently made a 180 at the start of Justice League, with everyone seems to be mourning his loss.
19. Saved: Wolverine (Logan)
Another actor will inevitably be cast to play Wolverine at some point in the future. But until that time comes to pass, we don’t want to think about anyone else expect Hugh Jackman in the role.
The X-Men franchise has certainly had its fair share of ups-and-downs, including a completely out of whack timeline and a couple of solo Wolverine movies that didn’t quite pan out as expected. At the center of it all, there has always been the mutton-chopped Australian actor turning in a solid performance as Logan..
While it’s always sad to watch an actor part ways with an iconic role, 2017’s Logan sent Jackman’s Wolverine off in the right way — which turned out to be on a river of the audience’s tears.
18. Hurt: Quicksilver (Avengers: Age of Ultron)
Less than a year after Evan Peters made his debut as Quicksilver in X-Men: Days of Future Past, Aaron Taylor-Johnson suited up to play the same character in Age of Ultron. For once, the MCU’s incarnation of a character was the one that underwhelmed.
Because of the complicated overlap between Fox and Marvel, both Pietro and Wanda were stripped of their mutant origins and turned into HYDRA experiments. Even still, fans were excited to see these two Silver Age characters brought to life in the MCU.
Before Quicksilver could ever really come into his own, the character failed to reach Days of Future Past speeds and was brought down by a barrage of bullets.
Quicksilvers's departure could have added stakes to the franchise, but he's been all but forgotten by both the Avengers - his sister include d- and the audience.
17. Saved: Doctor Octopus (Spider-Man 2)
While few would deny that Spider-Man 2 was the standout of Sam Raimi’s trilogy, many have mixed feelings about the ending — which found Doc Ock upstaging Spider-Man to save the city from destruction.
That's exactly what makes Doctor Octavius one of the most memorable supervillains to date.
With the overabundance of superhero movies and TV shows in the last decade, we’ve become all too accustomed to settling for villains who have a one-track mind. Sure, wanting to bring about the world’s destruction is an easy way to align the audience with the heroes, but a conflicted villain makes for a much more compelling battle of wills.
While we’re still championing Peter Parker's victory in Spider-Man 2, we’re not quite rooting for Doc Ock’s defeat — making his sacrifice the only fitting ending for the film.
16. Hurt: Jonathan Kent (Man of Steel)
If you thought Superman destroying Zod was the worst thing the character did in Man of Steel, don’t forget the moment that Clark let his father get swallowed up by a tornado.
To be fair, Jonathan Kent doesn’t want his adopted alien son to save his life. Instead, he would rather have Clark live his entire life in secret, letting bad things happen to good people because he's afraid of what people might think of his son.
It’s a totally nonsensical school of thought.
Instead of Clark stepping up, rescuing his father, and changing his perspective on the world, Jonathan meets his demise in a completely ridiculous fashion.
Then again, he's the reason we got an emo Superman in the first place, so his absence wasn't exactly missed.
15. Saved: Uncle Ben (Spider-Man)
Uncle Ben’s departure wasn’t exactly a shock to anyone who was familiar with the Spider-Man origin story. We knew the character would have to meet his demise for Peter Parker to be inspired to use his powers for good.
Just because you can see something coming, doesn’t make it any less gut-wrenching.
The first Spider-Man movie went to great lengths to make Peter’s transition into a superhuman web-slinger seem within the realm of plausibility.
It's ultimately Uncle Ben's departure — and the guilt that Peter feels as a direct result — that makes the audience buy into an otherwise unbelievable story. Without this tragic scene, the movie wouldn't have been half as effective as it was.
14. Hurt: Ra’s Al Ghul (Batman Begins)
Batman has one rule: he doesn’t terminate his enemies. Otherwise, Bruce Wayne would slip into the realm of ambiguity along with many of his adversaries.
This is ultimately what makes The Dark Knight such a compelling watch, as Batman has countless opportunities to end the Joker's life — though doing so would come at too great of a cost.
However, Bruce's morals seemed to totally go out the window when he's up against his former trainer, Ra's al Ghul, in Batman Begins.
Despite sparing Scarecrow's life in the same film, Batman decides against bringing Ra's to justice and instead abandons him on a train that is bound for destruction. Is this really any different than Batman ending his enemies’ life outright?
13. Saved: Yondu (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2)
Who would’ve thought that the most heartfelt scene in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 would’ve revolved around Yondu, the blue-skinned Ravager played by the scruffy Michael Rooker?
Although Rooker is often cast to play ruthless characters, the actor still manages to incite a strange sense of sympathy which really shines through in the final third of Vol. 2.
Here, Yondu decides to sacrifice himself to save Peter, his semi-adopted child who he's largely at odds with throughout the first two movies.
Yondu’s sudden longing to redeem himself, coupled with Peter’s recent falling out with his biological father, makes for an unexpectedly beautiful moment between the two men.
Guardian's of the Galaxy Vol. 2 may not have been as perfect as the first film, but this heartfelt ending certainly helped end the movie on a high note.
12. Hurt: Gwen Stacy (The Amazing Spider-Man 2)
Here’s one sure-fire way to destroy a massively popular franchise: simply get rid of the most charismatic actor on the cast.
To be fair, Gwen Stacy’s departure is one of the most effective moments in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. In fact, is almost too good for the rest of the movie -- which is bogged down with far too many characters, many of whom felt miscast.
The problem with Gwen’s demise is that A) Everyone saw the moment coming, and B) Emma Stone was one of the standouts of the cast. Her chemistry with Andrew Garfield was the one thing holding the franchise together, and the filmmakers were clearly aware of this as they decided to cut Mary Jane out of the movie.
If only they had devised a way to keep Stacy (and Stone) around.
11. Saved: Steve Trevor (Wonder Woman)
Let’s try to ignore the abundance of questions we have about Steve Trevor’s presence in the upcoming Wonder Woman 1984, and instead solely focus on the character from the first movie.
Wonder Woman was the first film in the DCEU to be warmly received be critics, in part thanks to the dynamic between the Amazon goddess and the WWI pilot.
After already getting a glimpse of Wonder Woman in Batman v Superman, we knew the relationship between Steve and Diana wasn’t meant to last. That didn’t make Steve’s departure any less heartbreaking by the film’s end. Not to mention that Diana having to watch a mortal make the ultimate sacrifice has no doubt left an impression on her.
Now, we can only hope the filmmakers have a mighty clever explanation for Steve's return.
10. Hurt: Venom (Spider-Man 3)
After the massive success of Spider-Man 2, you would think the studio would have given Sam Raimi pretty much free reign over the third installment. Reportedly, Raimi didn’t want to include Venom and the studio did, and we all know who won out in that argument.
By Raimi’s own testament, he knew that fans wanted to see Venom up on the big screen, he just personally couldn’t understand what was so great about the character. It seems like the director’s heart wasn’t in the Venom scenes. The result was an over-abundance of villains with Venom getting the short end of the stick.
The villain’s defeat is pretty lackluster, with Peter lobbing a bomb in the symbiote’s direction.
It wasn't exactly the climactic showdown we’d been waiting for.
9. Saved: Rorschach (Watchmen)
Watchmen wasn’t a perfect adaptation. But no movie — even a three hour one — could have ever done justice to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ heady, 400-plus page graphic novel.
While the ending did undergo its fair share of changes, there was slight redemption in Rorschach’s departure as it played out exactly as it did on the page.
Jackie Earle Haley was easily the standout the film, embodying the shifty vigilante known as Rorschach, who’s never stopped fighting crime despite being outlawed years ago. When Rorschach is faced with living in a world where people can only be united through a common enemy, he elects to have Dr. Manhattan end his life instead.
It may be a bummer of an ending, but we couldn't expect anything less from the cynical Rorschach.
8. Hurt: Deadpool (X-Men Origins: Wolverine)
From the sewn-shut mouth to the retractable arm-swords, to the laser beam eyes — everything about the incarnation of Deadpool in X-Men: Origins is so uncomfortably bad that it’s hard to even know where to start. With so many changes from the comic books, one has to wonder why they named this character Deadpool at all?
Arguably, Deadpool being eliminated by Wolverine is the best thing that happens to him throughout the entire movie - then came the second end-credits scene.
Deadpool’s arm claws his way toward his detached head which is still alive — hinting at a future for this rendition of the character that clearly no one was asking for.
Thankfully, the studio listened up, and despite further confusing the X-Men timeline, we've finally gotten two solo Deadpool movies that have little connection to this character.
7. Saved: Thomas and Martha Wayne (Batman Begins)
Once the reboots start stacking up more than a few franchises deep, you can pretty much abandon a character’s origin story altogether.
Spider-Man: Homecoming didn’t bother to regale us with Uncle Ben’s departure yet again, and we could have done without the super slow-motion mugging scene at the beginning of Batman v Superman.
That being said, Batman Begins did succeed in fleshing out Bruce Wayne’s origin story far better than what we’d previously seen on the big screen. While 1989’s Batman did give us a flashback of the mugging that brought down Bruce’s parents, the parents never even talk, meaning we have little emotional connection to the characters.
However, Batman Begins gave us multiple flashbacks of Bruce’s childhood, building a connection between Bruce and his father which made for a much more impactful exit when Thomas and Martha meet their demise.
6. Hurt: Jimmy Olsen (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice)
Jimmy Olsen’s cameo in Batman v Superman is almost one of those blink-and-you-might-miss-it moments. In fact, the character is never even referred to by name unless you check out the R-rated extended edition of the film.
Here, Olsen is an undercover CIA agent who’s posing as a photographer alongside Lois Lane during her trip to Africa.
His cover is quickly blown, and the character is swiftly greeted with a bullet to the head.
Not a big deal for a no-name character - until Snyder confirmed a number of movie-goers suspicions that the character was indeed Jimmy Olsen.
Snyder's reasoning: Apparently there wasn't going to be enough room for the character in the ever-expanding DC universe.
5. Saved: Agent Coulson (Avengers)
A movie that was written half as well as Avengers simply would’ve shown Agent Coulson meeting his demise, only to have the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes finally start working together after feeling like they let the character down.
But the script and characters are so cleverly written that Coulson actually has the wherewithal to find meaning in his departure while it's happening. He knows that without adversity there can be no change, and Coulson is willing to accept his own passing so that the world can be saved.
In lesser hands, this moment easily could have been botched.
However, it deftly handles the risk of being self-referential -- acknowledging that even though these moments are a cliche in superhero movies, they're still necessary.
Now if only the MCU movies could address Coulson’s return to the small screen.
4. Hurt: Cyclops (X-Men: The Last Stand)
After two movies of being the de facto leader of the X-Men when they’re out on the battlefield, audiences were expecting Cyclops to play a prominent role in the third outing.
With a title like The Last Stand, a number of major character exits seemed inevitable, but you would think they would at least wait until late in the game to knock off someone like Cyclops.
After just a few minutes of screen time, Cyclops met his demise upon reuniting with his deceased girlfriend, Jean Grey - now Dark Phoenix.
What’s even worse is that the scene cuts away before Dark Phoenix finishes the job, and rumor has it that the sequence was purposefully bad as a result of actor James Marsden abandoning the X-Men franchise to film Superman Returns.
3. Saved: Groot (Guardians of the Galaxy)
We’re cheating a little bit with this entry, as Groot wasn’t permanently gone by the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1. Of course, we didn’t know the extent of his regenerative powers at this point, so the emotional impact wasn't diminished when he decides to "sacrifice" himself to save his friends.
This scene is by no means the make or break point of Guardians, though it is a defining moment of the movie and the first instance where we really feel like these characters have an emotional investment in one another.
Let's not forget that it paved the way for Baby Groot, who is by far the best Groot out of all the Groots.
2. Hurt: Uncle Ben (The Amazing Spider-Man)
One of the worst things a reboot can do is retread the same ground that was covered in a previous franchise.
Even though The Amazing Spider-Man came out only ten years after the first installment of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, it reiterates a ton of the same concepts and characters.
Admittedly, Uncle Ben’s departure is a defining moment in Peter Parker’s life — and it would be hard to tell a Spider-Man origin story without it. The MCU somehow managed to pull it off, so why couldn’t Columbia Pictures do the same?
The main problem with this scene isn’t that it’s inherently bad, but that it’s a much weaker version of the same scene from Spider-Man.
It also omits the most iconic Spider-Man line of all time.
1. Saved: Yinsen (Iron Man)
The majority of superhero origin stories all carry out in a similar fashion, which usually involves the future hero losing one or more of their parents from a young age.
But this is what sets Tony Stark’s origin story apart.
Instead of parents, Tony has Yinsen — his fellow captor in Afghanistan who saves Stark’s life on more than one occasion. Yinsen helps Tony keep the shrapnel away from his heart, and he even sacrifices himself so Tony can escape in his original suit of armor.
But more importantly, Yinsen offers Stark a glimpse into the often unseen tragedy of warfare, which completely changes the genius's outlook on arms dealing.
Plain and simple, there would be no Iron Man without Yinsen.
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Which one of these character exits do you think helped/ hurt the movie? Let us know in the comments!