Although the Marvel Cinematic Universe has a few characters who were already recognizable icons, like Spider-Man and the Hulk, most of its characters were unknown to non-comics readers before Marvel Studios brought them to the big screen. This meant that each character’s introduction was crucial because it was the first time a lot of audiences were meeting them.
In addition to nailing a lot of its character introductions, the MCU has delivered a handful of heartbreaking death scenes. It’s not enough for a character to get the perfect on-screen debut; they need to bow out of the franchise as poignantly as they ed it.
Debut: Tony Stark (Iron Man)
The first Iron Man movie opens in medias res (in the middle of the plot) as Tony Stark is seen driving through Afghanistan with a U.S. military convoy. He banters with the soldiers and even takes a picture with one before the car in front of theirs is suddenly blown up.
Robert Downey Jr.’s sardonic portrayal of Tony is perfectly established in this scene, and the explosion is completely unexpected. As Tony takes cover behind a rock in the crossfire, a missile lands next to him bearing his own company’s logo.
Death: Groot (Guardians of the Galaxy)
Although he eventually came back in baby form after Rocket replanted him, the original Groot that audiences came to know and love in the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie made the ultimate sacrifice during the third-act battle.
When Ronan’s ship is going down, Groot grows out his branches around his friends to protect them from the impact of the crash. The scene becomes a real tearjerker when Groot says, “We... are... Groot.”
Debut: Korg (Thor: Ragnarok)
Taika Waititi injected a healthy dose of humor into the God of Thunder’s solo franchise when he was hired to helm Thor: Ragnarok. This included appearing in the movie himself as Korg.
Thanks to Waititi’s dry line delivery, Korg has quickly become one of the funniest characters in the MCU. When Thor first meets him in a holding cell for Sakaarian gladiators, he breaks the ice with a “rock, paper, scissors” joke.
Death: Killmonger (Black Panther)
Erik Killmonger is one of the most sympathetic villains in the MCU because Michael B. Jordan brought a real humanity to him and he’s a classic example of a bad guy whose goals are agreeable but whose methods are questionable.
Following his climactic fight with T’Challa, Killmonger asks the rightful king of Wakanda, “Bury me in the ocean, with my ancestors that jumped from the ships because they knew death was better than bondage.”
Debut: Black Panther (Captain America: Civil War)
Black Panther is one of the MCU characters who got introduced in somebody else’s movie before getting their own. We first meet T’Challa alongside his father T’Chaka at the United Nations in Captain America: Civil War, but don’t see him in costume until Bucky is framed for T’Chaka’s death.
As Bucky is fleeing from the feds across some rooftops, Black Panther suddenly appears and shows off his wide range of superpowers in the ensuing chase.
Death: Gamora (Avengers: Infinity War)
Gamora is the second Guardian of the Galaxy to die in one movie and then return in another form in the next movie. But just like Groot, Gamora’s death still has plenty of emotional impact. The Russos wisely focused Avengers: Infinity War on Thanos’ perspective.
His unwavering determination to collect the Infinity Stones and his strained father-daughter relationship with Gamora humanized him. On Vormir, he’s faced with a difficult choice: kill Gamora or give up one of the stones. He chooses the former, but it’s clearly not an easy decision to make.
Debut: Nick Fury (Iron Man)
Samuel L. Jackson made his debut as Nick Fury in the post-credits scene of the original Iron Man movie. After the improvised ending in which Tony revealed to the world that he’s the metal-clad superhero, Fury’s post-credits appearance establishes the larger MCU.
Fury arrives in Tony’s house and says, “Mr. Stark, you’ve become part of a bigger universe. You just don’t know it yet.” This set up the MCU’s trend of post-credits scenes, which has continued to this day.
Death: Yondu (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2)
Yondu isn’t necessarily redeemed for years of terrible parenting and a little human trafficking by the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, but it is clear that he regrets his past mistakes and that he did his best to raise Quill as his own son. When Quill defeats Ego and his planet-dad starts to implode around him, he accepts his fate.
But then, Yondu swoops in to save him. He gives Quill the only spacesuit, allowing himself to die in the vacuum of space to rescue his adopted son. “He may have been your father, boy, but he wasn’t your daddy.”
Debut: Star-Lord (Guardians of the Galaxy)
The first Guardians of the Galaxy movie opens with a brief flashback to the death of Peter Quill’s mother. Then, a couple of decades later on the planet Morag, Quill’s all grown up.
But James Gunn wastes no time telling the audience that Quill never really grew up following the loss of his mother, as he performs a goofy dance through an ancient temple that houses an Infinity Stone set to Redbone’s “Come and Get Your Love.”
Death: Tony Stark (Avengers: Endgame)
Tony Stark’s death scene in Avengers: Endgame brings his MCU character arc full circle. Since the first Iron Man movie, Tony was desperate to keep the world safe and lost a lot of sleep over the fact that a threat like Thanos would one day arrive that the Avengers couldn’t defeat.
Following their crushing defeat at the Mad Titan’s gauntlet-wielding hands in Infinity War, the Avengers finally lived up to their name in Endgame as Iron Man donned his own gauntlet and sacrificed himself to turn Thanos and his armies to dust.
