Summary
Despite consisting of mostly PG-13 movies, theMarvel Cinematic Universehas gotten away with some truly grotesque character deaths over the years.TheupcomingDeadpool & Wolverinewill be the series' first true R-Rated film,but that doesn’t mean the MCU hasn’t featured a few brutal death scenes over the years that have truly pushed the limits of their usual mass appeal ratings. On top of that, the canonization of the Netflix shows has made the MCU a much bloodier place.
Before being bought by Disney, Marvel Studios were much more apt to feature a few eyebrow-raising villain deaths before largely being sanitized by Disney’s corporate leadership. However, in recent years,the advent of Disney+ projects likeMoon KnightandWerewolf By Nighthave gradually pushed the envelope with the levels of gore the MCU is willing to show.With theofficial addition of the NetflixDefendersuniverseinto the series, a lot of brutal kills have been retroactively added into the MCU, as well.
Every Universe In The MCU Confirmed (So Far)
Since the beginning of the MCU’s Multiverse Saga, many alternate universes have been introduced into Marvel Studios' live-action and animated stories.
Directed by horror icon Sam Raimi, it’s no wonder thatDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madnessfeatures one of the most grotesque sequences of any MCU film. As Wanda infiltrates the esteemed alternate-reality superhero team The Illuminati, she dispatches them one by one with her terrifying powers,turning Mr. Fantastic into ribbons, cutting Captain Carter in half with her own shield, and mentally annihilating Professor X.By far the most shocking kill, however, was none other than Black Bolt.
Appearing for the first time in the MCU outside theill-fatedInhumansseries, Black Bolt is an extremely powerful hero with a devastating voice. Scarlet Witch was able to turn this strength against him by using her reality-overwriting magic to remove his mouth,causing Black Bolt to scream in panic and destroy his own brain from the inside out after screaming in panic.Not only is this a tremendously gory death, but the body horror of having no mouth and needing to scream adds another disturbing layer to the brutality.
Within the first 10 minutes of its runtime,Avengers: Infinity Warmakes it abundantly clear that no one is safe, asThanos impales Heimdall, embarrasses Hulk in hand-to-hand combat, and chokes the life out of Loki.Ever the trickster to the bitter end, Loki tries to get the drop on Thanos, getting close enough to stab him with one of his trademark daggers. Unfortunately, the Mad Titan finds this wound about as threatening as a mosquito bite, and pays Loki in kind by asphyxiating him and snapping his neck.
Loki is a character that has “died” and come back multiple times in the MCU, faking out audiences with his apparent demise in bothThorandThor: The Dark World.
Loki is a character that has “died” and come back multiple times in the MCU, faking out audiences with his apparent demise in bothThorandThor: The Dark World.However, as Loki’s bloated face drifts through the vacuum of space, the slow realization that the God of Mischief has finally met his end was an emotional twist of the knife on an already brutal death. Even if a Loki variant would eventually continue the character’s legacy in the franchise with his own series,the original Loki’s death is one of the hardest to watch of any major character.
DID YOU KNOW: Tom Hiddleston originally auditioned for the role of Thor before being cast as Loki.
Clearly taking their inspiration from pulpy adventure stories,theCaptain Americatrilogy has never been afraid to show off some nasty demisesfor its background characters. InCaptain America: The Winter Soldier,Bucky watches as a hapless soldier gets sucked into a turpoprop. Strangely, this wouldn’t be the first time a goon has died via propeller in the series, with one of the most brutal kills in the trilogy taking place in the previous film.
As Captain America wrestles for control of the experimental bomber with various HYDRA agents, one of them meets a particularly bloody end. After being kicked off the side of the plane by Steve Rogers, oneunnamed HYDRA agent gets sucked into one of the craft’s propellers mid-flight, turning him into a bloody stream of mist.This jarringly gruesome death shows off the film’s pulp roots in films liketheIndiana Jonesseries, in which a Nazi mechanic dies similarly.
Ant-Man
The shrinking technology enabled by Pym Particles results in some of the most fun action setpiecesin the MCU, giving theAnt-Manmovies much of their charm. That being said, the first film wasn’t afraid to take a look at the more gnarly applications of the experimental technology, thanks to Darren Cross, a.k.a. Yellowjacket. Before donning a size-changing suit himself, Darren uses a shrink ray to dispatch Pym Technologies senior executive, Frank.
After Frank questions the Yellowjacket suit’s ability to stand up to international law, Darren Cross corners him in a restroom and shoots him with a gun charged with unstable Pym Particles.The sudden unrefined shrinking turns Frank into a tiny puddle of inert organic slime,casually wiped up and flushed down the toilet by Darren without a second thought. The horrifying callousness with which Darren performs this murder is supplanted only by the disgust of Frank’s throbbing new form.
A unique format among the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s offerings,Werewolf by Nightsits in a curious middle ground between series episode and short film, operating under the Marvel Studios Special Presentations banner alongsideThe Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special.Being black and white allowedWerewolf by Nightto get away with some surprising levels of gore, withblood splattering on the camera as Elsa Bloodstone and the titular lycanthrope tear through their enemies.
However, one of the most terrifying kills in the short film just might be Verussa Bloodstone’s death at the hands ofMan-Thing, also known by his real name, Ted. As the creature grasps his former captor,she erupts into flames, screaming as she slowly burnsto death in one of the single most painful MCU deaths ever. This moment proves Man-Thing’s comic slogan – “Whoever knows fear burns at the touch of the Man-Thing!”
Cornering a member of the Flag Smashers, John Walker unleashes his rage with Captain America’s shield,viciously decapitating the unarmed man in a very public display of violencethat gets him stripped of his title. Captain America was never opposed to killing when necessary, fighting as a soldier in World War II. However, both the cruelty of killing a clearly-surrendered enemy and the brutality with which the murder was carried out sully the name of the hero enough for John Walker to earn himself a dishonorable discharge.
4Loki’s Eyeball-Gouging Machine
The Avengers
These days, Loki is best known for being a lovable, charming anti-hero in his own eponymous series. It’s easy to forget that this same Loki was once capable of some truly horrific acts, including acting out one of the most wince-inducing murders of the MCU’s history. InThe Avengers, Loki aims to break into a facility full of valuable Iridium, sealed behind advanced security requiring a retinal scan from an entrusted staff member.To circumvent this, Loki crashes a party with one Heinrich Schafer, extracting his eyeball with a horrific machine.
These days, Loki is best known for being a lovable, charming anti-hero in his own eponymous series.
Not only does the device Loki uses to complete this task look incredibly painful, butit callously turns Schafer’s eye into a mere key used by the mind-controlled Hawkeye.Because of how wellLoki redeems himself by the endof his own series, it’s easy to forget that he committed this gruesome murder not to long before the first episode ofLoki.The death should remain a reminder of Loki’s villainous origins.
The addition ofDaredeviland other shows from the Netflix realm of Marvel content has significantly darkened the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Rated TV-MA for brutal violence, disturbing content, and unsavory language,Daredevildidn’t pull its punches when it came to showcasing the more unsavory side of Marvel characters.No moment in the original series better encapsulates this than Kingpin’s shocking car door murderin season 1, episode 4.
After being “embarrassed” by Anatoly Ranskahov at a romantic dinner with Vanessa,Wilson Fisk takes his unbridled rage out on the hapless Russian mobster, slamming his head into a car door.He repeats the vicious act over and over again until Anatoly’s head is completely gone, panting with exertion from the release of his simmering anger. This moment was the first real time Kingpin proved how dangerous he truly was in the series, both physically and mentally.
By far the darkest of theGuardians of the Galaxytrilogy, James Gunn’s MCU magnum opus was one of the darkest films ever made in the franchise. From Rocket Raccoon’s haunting past toStar-Lord dropping the franchise’s first official F-bomb, the third entry of the Guardians' beloved spacefaring high jinks wasn’t so upbeat.One particular kill courtesy of Adam Warlock proved this definitively, showcasing the being’s powers with brutal efficiency.
After being captured by the Sovereign, the Ravager raider Fitz-Gibbonok finds himself at the mercy of the newly-born Adam Warlock and his race’s leader, Ayesha. When he refuses to give up Gamora’s location, Ayesha orders Warlock to show their prisoner they mean business, only for the superhuman being to take things too far and incinerate the alien with one of his energy beams.Much to Ayesha’s dismay, Fitz-Gibbonok dies a horrifically painful death, burned to cinders by Adam Warlock.
As gory asDaredevilcould get, the adventures of Hell’s Kitchen’s non-lethal protector can’t hold a candle to the vile acts committed by The Punisher in his own eponymous Netflix series. As the man who gave the order to massacre Frank Castle’s family, William Rawlins may have been the gun-toting anti-hero’s single biggest target for revenge. When Rawlins erroneously believes he has the upper hand on Castle,he makes the mistake of taking his time in killing him, leading to one of the most gory deaths in any Marvel adaptation.
Seeing a vision of his late wife asking him to give up his vengeful rampage and be with her, Frank Castle refuses, clinging to life. Breaking free from his restraints, The Punisher tackles Rawlines, using his own knife against him andrapid-fire stabbing him in the neck before literally twisting the knife. Finally, he ends it by gouging his eyes out with his bare hands,making for one of if not the single most painful-looking death ever attributed to theMCU.
Marvel Cinematic Universe
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a multimedia superhero franchise that began in 2008 with Paramount’s Iron Man starring Robert Downey Jr. The franchise quickly grew in popularity, with Disney eventually buying out Marvel Entertainment in 2009. The MCU consists of dozens of movies and TV shows, most notably Avengers: Endgame, WandaVision, and Loki.
