7 Marvel Heroes Defined by Their Sacrifices

Marvel Comics took a different direction with their heroes starting with the Silver Age. Whereas their distinguished competition created heroes that were akin to gods, the House of Ideas made their characters as human as possible. They had real lives that weren’t perfect, they struggled to make their private lives and superhero lives work, and, most importantly, they were willing sacrifice it all. They weren’t perfect and they didn’t live in anything approaching an ideal world. They had to make hard choices and give up things that they loved, often times their very lives, in order to save the day. Sacrifice has always been an important part of the superhero and Marvel made it integral to many of their lives.

All superheroes have to be willing to give up their lives for others, but some of them take it much further than that. They’ve given up so much to be heroes, to save the day, their sacrifices defining who they are. These seven Marvel heroes are defined by sacrifice, willing to give anything to keep other people alive for one more day (hint, hint).

7) Jean Grey

Jean Grey is the most powerful X-Man and she’s been sacrificing for years. She gave up any hope of a normal life by joining the team, a move that would lead to her giving up her life for her friends and being reborn as the Phoenix. Since then, death has become a massive part of her life and she’s proven more than willing to give up her life for others, having died numerous additional times. She was even willingly to give up the man she loved, pushing Cyclops to embrace Emma Frost in order to save the planet from a terrible future. Since becoming the Phoenix again she gave up her life on Earth to patrol the cosmos, using her powers to save the most lives. Her sacrifices have made her one of the greatest Marvel heroes ever.

6) Captain America

Captain America has created an amazing legacy, all because he’s always been willing to give his all for the people of his nation. Steve Rogers believes wholeheartedly in the American dream and will give up anything to make sure it comes true. The perfect example of this is his relationship with Sharon Carter. The two of them have been in love for years, yet Cap’s mission is more important to him than his own happiness. Cap has given up everything you can imagine to be a hero and will continue to until he has nothing left.

5) Wolverine

Wolverine is the best there is at what he does and what he does is sacrifice. Logan is a man who for most of his life has been one of the most dangerous people you can imagine, partly because of his skill in battle but also because there was always the chance that he would go berserk and start slaughtering everyone around him. His mutants powers forced him to give up any chance at a normal life and that’s before we get to his time as a hero. Wolvie is willing to go to just about any lengths to win and will do anything he can to keep people from suffering the way he has. He’s willing to do the hard things, to jump into battle at the drop of the hat, all in order to make the world better for his friends, family, even people he never met before. He’s mouthy and angry, but he’ll give up anything to make sure that no one has to suffer like him.

4) Professor X

Professor X has done a lot of terrible things, but he’s also been a person willing to sacrifice anything to make the world a better place for mutants. He gave his fortune and his home to the cause, devoting his life to training mutants and fighting the good fight. Charles Xavier could have been living the high life, but instead he put himself into constant danger. All of his relationships have failed because of the choices he’s made; he’s even sacrificed the love of a family when he left behind his son Legion. He’s also willing to be the villain if it will make things better for mutants, giving up his reputation for the cause. There’s nothing he won’t give up for his dream, including his life.

3) Iron Man

Tony Stark is a handsome, charming, intelligent billionaire captain of industry. He could be lying on a beach somewhere, surrounded by supermodels, collecting passive income. Instead, after surviving being kidnapped by terrorists and taking shrapnel to the heart, he decided that he needed to make the world a better place (if only our real world billionaires were like that…). Since then, he’s made every sacrifice you can imagine to continue fighting the good fight, giving up the best life imaginable to put it all on the line on what seems like a daily basis.

2) Black Panther

Black Panther is in the same boat as Tony, just replace “captain of industry” with “monarch”. T’Challa has completely devoted his life to his people. He will give up anything for his home and he has. He’ll choose Wakanda over friends, family, and even the women he loves; he gave up his marriage to Storm because of his nation. He’s betrayed the Avengers numerous times to keep Wakanda strong. At any time, he could abdicate the throne to his sister or one of the other noble families, but instead he keeps fighting, keeps sacrificing, all to keep Wakanda as strong as possible.

1) Spider-Man

I think we all knew it was going to be Spider-Man at number one (even without the hint at the beginning). Spider-Man is Marvel’s most relatable hero, but he takes sacrifice to another level. When his Uncle Ben died, he learned that with great power comes great responsibility and this had led him to give up any hopes of having a happy life. There are so many examples of him deciding that he would die rather than let another person suffer (Avengers vs. X-Men #9 is a perfect example of this) and he gave up his marriage to save the life of his aunt. Sacrifice is the name of the game for him and he’ll never stop playing it.

What Marvel heroes do you think are defined by sacrifice? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!

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