Avengers: Endgame serves as the culmination of 22 movies, and while it doesn't feature as many deaths as
Avengers: Infinity War, a lot of characters - both new and old - still meet their makers.
It was inevitable that some big names would die to usher in the next wave of stories, and some not quite as well-known heroes and villains obviously also had to bite the dust (literally, in some cases) in order to up the stakes. The question is, how do they all they compare to each other?
That's what we're taking a look at here as we rank each of the movie's deaths from worst to best.
From demises we never saw coming to those which had to happen but still rocked us to our core,
Avengers: Endgame didn't pull any punches and it will take a long time for many fans to recover.
So, to take a look at this ranking, all you guys have to do is click on the "View List" button below!
10. Ebony Maw
The Black Order returns in
Avengers: Endgame thanks to the 2014 era version of Thanos, but if you were hoping they would get more to do than the last time we saw them, expect to be disappointed!
Ebony Maw is present in the final battle and very nearly gets his hands on the Infinity Gauntlet to give to Thanos, but by the time all is said and done, he simply turns to ash alongside the rest of the Mad Titan's forces. It wasn't the worst death scene in fairness as he can be seen stumbling towards his master, no doubt looking for help or comfort in his final moments.
The rest of The Black Order fare a little better, but we'll get to that a little later.
9. Akihiko
Westworld's Hiroyuki Sanada plays Akihiko in the movie, a mysterious Yakuza leader who Clint Barton (now known as Ronin) tracks down in Japan.
While his role is minor, his exchange with the man formerly known as Hawkeye sheds a lot of light on Ronin's mission and why he's intent on now killing those he doesn't believe should have survived the snap. This is really cool and unexpected fight sequence for a Marvel movie, and the way he's taken out by the Avenger is downright badass - not to mention shockingly brutal.
Because of that, he definitely deserves a place on this list.
8. Proxima Midnight And Corvus Glaive
These two barely get a couple of lines between them in
Avengers: Endgame and they don't get a huge amount to do in the final battle. Glaive ends up being skewered through the chest by Okoye but seemingly survives that, because if you look closely in the distance when Thanos' forces are being dusted you'll see Midnight cradling him (presumably as he lays dying from his fight with the Wakandan).
In the comics, they were a married couple, but that's not something we've ever seen explored in the MCU. As a result, this allusion to that relationship should definitely be appreciated by fans.
7. Cull Obsidian
Cull Obsidian went out like a chump in
Avengers: Infinity War when Bruce Banner (decked out in the Hulkbuster armour) sent him rocketing into Wakanda's shield where he quickly blew up.
Things are a little cooler here, though, because not only does he get stabbed in the back multiple times by Drax during the course of the final battle but just as he's about to attack Spider-Man and Iron Man, Giant-Man comes out of nowhere and completely squishes him into the ground.
It's a satisfying and funny moment which deserves to live on forever as a reaction GIF.
6. Nebula (2014)
The villainous version of Nebula is extremely interesting to follow and the Russos do a great job of showing just how conflicted she is as she serves her father Thanos, despite knowing that her future self turns on him. While it appears as if Nebula toys with the idea of helping Gamora and her future self, she can't quite escape Thanos' grasp at this point and turns the gun on her sister.
This leads to the present day version of Nebula gunning her down and ensures that we won't see two versions of the same character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe moving forward. There's also something poetic about the Nebula we've grown to love putting an end to her dark past once and for all.
5. Thanos (2014)
After Iron Man uses the Infinity Stones to wipe out Thanos' forces, it seems as if the Mad Titan finally accepts that he's been defeated. While he knows that his future self wins, he also knows that he fails in a way, hence why he wants to create a lush new universe where no one will remember him wiping out half of all life (making himself a God in the process).
Tony Stark bests him, of course, so all that's left is for this past version of Thanos to remove his armour, sit down in the battlefield and turn to ash. He's now dead and gone and defeated by Earth's Mightiest Heroes in what serves as a poetic ending, especially after what he did in
Infinity War.
4. Clint Barton's Family
Marvel chooses a very unique way to kick off
Avengers: Endgame, as Clint Barton (wearing an ankle monitor because he remains under house arrest) spends the day with his family.
However, things head in a horrifying direction when Clint turns around for a second only to then look back and see that his daughter has vanished. As he then goes to see if she's with her mother and brothers, they too have gone and we just see ash floating in the air knowing all too well what it means.
It's a horrible moment, as the sheer panic the character must feel in this moment is easy to relate to.
3. Black Widow
Considering a
Black Widow movie is being released next year, none of us could have predicted that Scarlett Johansson's stint as the character (in the present day, at least) would wrap up with
Avengers: Endgame.
While on Vormir alongside Hawkeye, they quickly realise that one of them must leap off the cliff so the other can get the Soul Stone and while Clint tries to take the figurative bullet, Natasha won't let him and instead sacrifices herself in a hearbreaking and genuinely quite shocking moment.
The fact that the Russo Brothers show her body (with blood coming from her head) and it's later confirmed that the nature of the Soul Stone closes the door on her return means she's officially done, and that's beyond upsetting.
2. Thanos (2019)
The present day version of Thanos really doesn't last long in Avengers: Endgame and his death comes as a genuine shock during the first fifteen minutes or so of the movie. Confronted by Earth's Mightiest Heroes in "The Garden," he admits to having destroyed the Infinity Stones and is clearly weakened by the toll that took on his body.
While he gloats about his victory over the team and how he managed to succeed in his mission to wipe out half of all life in the universe, Thor takes his advice from
Infinity War and goes for the head.
Using Stormbreaker to slice the Mad Titan's head clean off, the broken down God of Thunder doesn't take much time to enjoy his victory as The Avengers have failed and this moment won't be forgotten.
1. Iron Man
Heading into
Avengers: Endgame, Iron Man and Captain America were the most likely candidates to die and it's the former who ends up making the ultimate sacrifice in a bid to put an end to Thanos.
After successfully getting the Infinity Stones from the Mad Titan, Tony Stark declares "I am Iron Man" in response to the villain's line about being inevitable, and snaps his fingers to unleash their power and wipe out Thanos and his forces once and for all. It's a kick-ass way to go and makes sense for the hero, especially after his interaction with Doctor Strange a little earlier on.
What follows is a touching and tear-inducing sequence in which the broken Tony barely manages to bid farewell to War Machine, Spider-Man, and Pepper Potts before passing away in her arms.
Continue reading below to see six new character posters
and to read some new quotes from the movie's cast!
"At the beginning of this film we see a lot of broken people," Chris Evans explains. "That’s what Marvel’s great at doing. They’ve truly leveled us, not just literally, but morally and emotionally. The good thing is, it’s always easier to build people back up after they’ve been broken down, but you just have a lot of incomplete characters."
"Steve still has his back turned on things as a result of ‘Civil War,’ but after Thanos snaps and we lose all these people, he’s really trying to jumpstart that optimism and rediscover that loyalty to conventions bigger than himself to somehow stay afloat. Otherwise, it’s so easy to just give up, but that’s not in his nature. I think he knows that, so it’s just a matter of how, in the face of the worst possible outcome, do you still be a leader?"
"After everything goes down, Tony is still on Titan, so for him it becomes all about whether he can get home and how," Robert Downey Jr. says when asked about where we find Iron Man at the start of this movie. "The last real trauma for Tony came when the portal was opened in ‘The Avengers.’"
"So, a defeat at the hands of Thanos, which resulted in Peter Parker turning to dust in his arms, was a real gut punch. Even though he’s not all that touchy-feely, he’s pretty crazy about this kid and he appreciates the crucible that he went through in ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ and ‘Infinity War.’"
"‘Thor: Ragnarok’ was Thor at his wackiest, ‘Infinity War’ was Thor at his best and most heroic and ‘Endgame’ is probably Thor at his worst," Chris Hemsworth teases. "Mentally, emotionally, physically, every aspect of Thor is broken. He is lost and uncertain."
"So, it is a whole new journey, and it felt like I was playing a completely different character. I felt freer than I’ve ever felt before because there were no rules at this point. It was a real opportunity to just kind of swing for the fences, and if I had been given this character two or three years earlier, I think I would’ve dropped the ball in a big way."
"When we shot ‘Iron Man 2,’ I didn’t know if the fans and the audience would accept my interpretation of the character," recalls Scarlett Johansson. "I knew there were many different dramatic directions that we could go, but it was just an introduction to the character as an idea, and it wasn’t until the first ‘Avengers’ that I got to really work on this characterization and develop the depth of this character’s back story in what we wanted to be her truth."
"It was really exciting, and it was something I always kind of dreamed of for a long time," Jeremy Renner says about playing a different Hawkeye in this movie as he adopts the Ronin persona. "There were a lot of physical challenges and there were many more emotional challenges in this one than there were in past ones. I think it’s a great way to end this kind of journey thus far for the character where he’s kind of transgressed, grown and formed relationships within the team."
Mark Ruffalo, meanwhile, talks about getting the opportunity to play a very different version of Bruce Banner here. "Part of why I became an actor is because it’s always changing and I don’t have to do the same thing over and over again. Luckily Banner has had this crazy kind of trajectory. People grow over the course of ten years, and I think it’s cool that the character has as well."