Everyone Who’s Died in the Marvel Cinematic Universe Movies (So Far)

For more than a decade now, beginning with Robert Downey Jr.’s first Iron Man adventure, and continuing through 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home, the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies have taught us to expect the unexpected, especially when it comes to death. Nobody but nobody is safe in an MCU film.

Just ask … Well, read on.

For now, let’s just say that long before Thanos (Josh Brolin) snapped superheroes dead in Avengers: Infinity War, and even more crime-fighters bought the farm, to so speak, in Avengers: Endgame, good guys such as The Avengers: Age of Ultron‘s Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) were being offed as if they were easily dismissed bad guys. The MCU landscape is brutal — and we have the stats to back up that claim.

We did not count the deaths of the Wakandan soldiers, Asgardian refugees, Thanos fighters and Battle of New York bystanders who perish sadly, but anonymously. Likewise, we did not count the deaths that proved to be faked, such as Nick Fury’s in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Our list only includes the names of the dead-dead — and, this is key, deaths we saw on screen.

And, yes, characters that died in Infinity War‘s snap remain noted among the dead even if they were brought back in Endgame because they really were gone. Here, in chronological order, and including the fatality — or fatalities — from Spider-Man: Far From Home, is our grim rundown, a gallery of MCU characters meeting their makers — and we don’t mean Stan Lee and Jack Kirby:

Obadiah Stane, aka Iron Monger (‘Iron Man’)

 

Ivan Vanko (‘Iron Man 2’)

Laufey (‘Thor’)

 

In the Asgardian soap opera that is Thor, the King of the Frost Giants (played by Colm Feore) gets zapped, and then obliterated by Loki, his biological son, before Laufey can stab Odin, Loki’s adoptive father.

Dr. Abraham Erskine (‘Captain America: The First Avenger’)

Heinz Kruger (‘Captain America: The First Avenger’)

 

Karma comes fast for Dr. Erskine’s killer. The HYDRA heel (played by Richard Armitage) chomps down on a poison pill after being captured by Steve Rogers.

Phil Coulson (‘The Avengers’)

 

In 2008’s The Avengers, the SHIELD stalwart (played by Clark Gregg) gets shanked in the back by Loki, making Coulson the first prominent death in the Avengers movies. (Coulson is resurrected via Project TAHITI for TV’s Agents of SHIELD, but has not returned to any MCU movies set in the present-day, and died again in Agents of SHIELD.) 

Ellen Brandt (‘Iron Man 3’)

A foot soldier in Aldrich Killian’s Extremis army, Brandt (played by A Million Little Thing‘s Stephanie Szostak) is cooked, literally, when Tony Stark sets off a microwave-oven explosion in a Tennessee restaurant.

Eric Savin (‘Iron Man 3’)

This veteran-turned-Extremis-powered henchman (played by James Badge Dale) is fatally blasted by Iron Man during a battle aboard Air Force One.

Maya Hansen (‘Iron Man 3’)

 

The smart-turned-kinda-bad-but-mostly-good scientist (played by Rebecca Hall) is shot by the thoroughly insane Aldich Killian after she threatens to kill herself with the Extremis virus in an attempt to keep Killian in check.

Aldrich Killian, aka the Mandarin (‘Iron Man 3’)

Give Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pepper Potts another kill: With the help of an Iron Man arm, she blows up the already slightly-crispy scientist (played by Guy Pearce).

Frigga (‘Thor: The Dark World’)

After showing off mad fighting skills, Thor and Loki’s mom is stabbed by Malekith’s hench-elf, Kurse.

Kurse (‘Thor: The Dark World’)

The transformed Dark Elf formerly known as Algrim (played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) is stabbed by Loki, who, in turn, is stabbed by the same protruding weapon. The wounded Loki ultimately wins by tricking Kurse to suck himself into a black hole.

Jasper Sitwell (‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’)

Alexander Pierce (‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’)

The diplomat-presenting snake (played by Robert Redford) is plugged twice by Nick Fury, and is left with enough oxygen to get out just two last words, “Hail, HYDRA.”

Meredith Quill (‘Guardians of the Galaxy’)

In a flashback to Earth circa 1988, Peter Quill’s mother (played by Laura Haddock) flatlines from brain cancer (that we subsequently learn from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 was inflicted upon her by Peter’s biological father, Ego).

Groot (‘Guardians of the Galaxy’)

This is the first of two Groot deaths in this rundown. According to James Gunn, who directed the first two Guardians movies, the grown Groot really, truly did die in an act of self-sacrifice in Guardians of the Galaxy. The dancing baby Groot you see in the end-credit scene is not reincarnated Groot, Gunn says, but rather a new being, an offspring of Groot.   

Strucker (‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’)

Called “HYDRA’s No. 1 thug” by Cap, the imprisoned baddie (played by Thomas Kretschmann) is offed (off-screen) by an ironic Ultron, who scrawls the word “peace” on the cell wall.  

Pietro Maximoff, aka Quicksilver (‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’)

In the final battle with Ultron, the speedy one (played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson) dies in a hail of bullets that Hawkeye didn’t see coming.  

Ultron (‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’)

This A.I., which is really one of a series of Tony Stark-developed devices, dies more than one death. The most impactful death comes when Wanda Maximoff, mourning the death of her twin, Pietro, rips out an Ultron’s artificial heart.  

Darren Cross, aka Yellowjacket (‘Ant-Man’)

 

Another smart guy gone bad, Cross (played by Corey Stoll) knows he’s cooked when Ant-Man infiltrates his super-villain suit.

King T’Chaka (‘Captain America: Civil War’)

During a United Nations speech in Vienna, a terrorist blast kills the king of Wakanda (played by John Kani) — and not even the future Black Panther, T’Chaka’s son, T’Challa, can save him.  

Peggy Carter (‘Captain America: Civil War’)

Steve Rogers’ World War II-era love (played as a young and old woman by Hayley Atwell) passes away off-screen of natural causes. Steve attends her memorial service. 

The Ancient One (‘Doctor Strange’)

During a fight in the mirror universe, the sorcerer (played by Tilda Swinton) gets stabbed by Kaecilius, kicked through a portal and sent plummeting to a New York City sidewalk. As an astral projection, she delivers a lovely speech about life and death, but back in the harsh reality of the ER, she’s toast. In the time-traveling Avengers: Endgame, we see her alive and well in the past.  

Ego (‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’)

A Guardians-detonated bomb spells the end of the egotistical Celestial (played by Kurt Russell), who breaks up along with his home planet — and in front of his far-from-heartbroken biological son, Peter Quill.  

Yondu (‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’)

Peter Quill’s father figure and “daddy” (played by Michael  Rooker) dies as he sacrifices his own life to whisk Star-Lord away from Ego’s doomed planet.  

Jackson Brice (‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’)

Adrian Toomes’ henchman (played by Logan Marshall-Green) is in for a shock when he announces he’s leaving the Vulture’s gang.

Odin (‘Thor: Ragnaork’)

The great god (played by Anthony Hopkins) sits his sons down for a nice talk before disintegrating into golden dust.

Volstagg and Fendral (‘Thor: Ragnaork’)

Two-thirds of Thor’s loyal Warriors Three gang (played by Ray Stevenson, pictured on floor, left, and Zachary Levi, pictured on floor, right) are quickly dispatched with swords to the gut by Hela.  

Hogun (‘Thor: Ragnaork’)

Amid a field of dead or dying Asgardian soldiers, the third and final member of the Warriors Three (played by Tadanobu Asano) gets speared by the ever-lethal Hela.

Skurge (‘Thor: Ragnaork’)

Hela’s reluctant right-hand man (played by Karl Urban) also gets the projectile-through-the-upper-torso treatment after he disobeys the Goddess of Death.

Hela (‘Thor: Ragnaork’)

Asgard’s ultimate  baddie (played by Cate Blanchett) gets a sinking feeling just moments before being decimated by the world-destroyer, Surtur.  

Surtur (‘Thor: Ragnaork’)

When the demon plunges his sword into Asgard, it’s curtains for him — and for Asgard.

Linda (‘Black Panther’)

In one of the cruelest deaths in the MCU, this crook (played by Nabiyah Be) is shot dead by her boyfriend, the infamous Erik Killmonger, when she is taken hostage by the couple’s partner in crime, Ulysses Klaue.

N’Jobu (‘Black Panther’)

In a flashback to the 1990s, we learn Killmonger’s father (played by Sterling K. Brown) is fatally punctured by the Black Panther claws of his own brother, Wakanda’s beloved King T’Chaka.

Ulysses Klaue (‘Black Panther’)

The MCU’s one-armed arms dealer (played by Andy Serkis) is gunned down by Killmonger; his corpse delivered as a “gift” to the Wakandans.

Zuri (‘Black Panther’)

The wise Wakandan elder (played by Forest Whitaker) is impaled by an avenging Killmonger when Zuri steps into save T’Challa.

Erik Killmonger (‘Black Panther’)

Though the angry American (played by Michael B. Jordan) is impaled by T’Challa, it’s Killmonger himself who gives the blade the fatal twist after expressing his wish to die as a free man. But is he really dead?

Heimdall (‘Avengers: Infinity War’)

In a film filled from beginning to end with death, this warrior (played by Idris Elba) is the first major character to go — impaled by Thanos aboard the Asgardians’ ill-fated evacuation ship. Sadly, he gets no reprieve in Endgame.

Loki (‘Avengers: Infinity War’)

Following a vain, but valiant attempt to kill Thanos on the Asgardian ship, Thor’s wayward brother (played by Tom Hiddleston) is choked out by the Mad Titan. While we glimpse a past version of Loki in Endgame, his Infinity War death is not undone in Endgame.

Ebony Maw (‘Avengers: Infinity War’)

The Black Order bad guy (played by Tom Vaughan-Lawlor) is sucked out into outer space by the quick-thinking, Doctor Strange-rescuing Iron Man and Spider-Man.

Gamora(‘Avengers: Infinity War’)

In the cruelest homicide in the MCU, Gamora (played by Zoe Saldana) is thrown off a cliff on Vormir by her own father (by way of adoption), all so that Thanos can acquire the Soul Stone. By the end of Endgame, her past self from 2014 has entered the present-day timeline. 

Cull Obsidian (‘Avengers: Infinity War’)

During the battle of Wakanda, the Black Order killing machine (played by Terry Notary) is sent hurdling into the sky by the HulkBuster-wearing Bruce Banner en route to being blown to bits.

Proxima Midnight (‘Avengers: Infinity War’)

As she goes in for the kill on a prone Black Widow, this Black Order member (played by Carrie Coon) gets blindsided by the Scarlet Witch powers of Wanda Maximoff, and carried off into the path of an oncoming vehicle from her own army.

Corvus Glaive (‘Avengers: Infinity War’)

As he goes in for the kill, this Black Order member (played by Michael Shaw) also gets blindsided by an Avenger. In this case, Corvus Glaive is prevented from offing Captain America by a sword-thrusting Vision.

Vision (‘Avengers: Infinity War’)

At his request, the Avenger (played by Paul Bettany) is blown to bits by his beloved Wanda Maximoff in a bid to prevent Thanos from acquiring the Mind Stone. He remains dead in Endgame.

Vision–again! (‘Avengers: Infinity War’)

Within minutes of his death, the android with the heart of gold, so to speak, is killed anew when Thanos turns back time, and rips the Mind Stone out of Vision’s head. Sadly, there’s no second chance for this version of the Vision, either, in Endgame. 

Bucky Barnes(‘Avengers: Infinity War’)

Cap’s troublesome pal (played by Sebastian Stan) is the first MCU character to bite the dust, literally, in the Thanos death snap. He in snapped back to life in Endgame. 

T’Challa, aka Black Panther(‘Avengers: Infinity War’)

Audiences are as shocked as Okoye (played by Danai Gurira) when the Wakandan warrior disintegrates before her eyes. Endgame audiences, however, cheer his arrival following the reverse snap.  

Groot (‘Avengers: Infinity War’)

Rocket Raccoon is heartbroken anew when his sapling pal — the son of Groot, as James Gunn would tell us — get caught up in the Thanos snappening. In Endgame, he returns thanks to the reverse snap. 

Wanda Maximoff, aka Scarlet Witch (‘Avengers: Infinity War’)

And the sorceress’ very bad day — and very unlucky run in the MCU — continues: As she mourns over Vision, Wanda (played by Elizabeth Olsen) dies in Thanos’ population-thinning plan. When she is reverse-snapped back to life in Endgame, she is very angry with Thanos. 

Sam Wilson, aka Falcon (‘Avengers: Infinity War’)

 

This highflier (played by Anthony Mackie) is the next to go in the snappening, leaving Captain America fresh out of best friends. Fortunately for Cap, Falcon is back on his left after Endgame‘s reverse snap. 

Mantis (‘Avengers: Infinity War’)

The Guardians of the Galaxy empath (played by Pom Klementieff) senses “something’s happening” before the snappening reaches Titan — and her. She returns following the reverse snap in Endgame.

Drax (‘Avengers: Infinity War’)

The strongman (played by Dave Bautista) is helpless against the death snap. He is back in action, however, following the reverse snap in Endgame.  

Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord (‘Avengers: Infinity War’)

Oh, man, Quill gets wiped out, too. He’s back to his old self, however, after Endgame‘s reverse snap. (His relationship with Gamora, or Past Gamora, as it were, remains on  the critical list.)

Doctor Strange (‘Avengers: Infinity War’)

The future-seeing doc (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) presumably saw this coming: He gets snapped to death, too. In Endgame, when he’s brought back by the reverse snap, he lets Tony Stark (played by Robert Downey Jr.) know there’s only one way to end Thanos once and for all. 

Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man (‘Avengers: Infinity War’)

The young webslinger (played by Tom Holland) doesn’t want to go, but, well, he’s got to go. In Endgame, he’s made whole again, only to have to make like Tony Stark (played by Robert Downey Jr.), and watch one of his good friends die.  

Maria Hill (‘Avengers: Infinity War’)

In Infinity War‘s lone post-credits scene, the ex-SHIELD agent (played by Cobie Smulders) disintegrates as the death snap sweeps into the United States. She is returned to existence via Endgame‘s reverse snap. 

Nick Fury (‘Avengers: Infinity War’)

 

The very last death of Infinity War (though not of the death snap) is a killer: The Avengers-assembling SHIELD great (played by Samuel L. Jackson) gets taken out as he’s paging Captain Marvel. In Endgame, he makes a triumphant return following the reverse snap. 

The Pym-van Dyne family, (‘Ant-Man & the Wasp’)

During an end-credits scene, Hank Pym (played by Michael Douglas), wife Janet van Dyne, aka the original Wasp (played by Michelle Pfeiffer) and daughter Hope van Dyne, aka the current Wasp (played by Evangeline Lilly) are reduced to nothingness — and audiences are left to marvel at the awful reach of Thanos’ Infinity War death snap. All three family members are returned to Earth, alive, following Endgame‘s reverse snap.  

Dr. Wendy Lawson, aka Mar-Vell (‘Captain Marvel’)

After coming to earth, Kree scientist Mar-Vell (played by Annette Bening) adopts the alias Dr. Wendy Lawson, and begins work on an experimental jet engine. She is killed by fellow Kree Yon-Rogg after a test flight goes bad.

Laura Barton (“Avengers: Endgame”)

In the opening of Avengers: Endgame, Clint Barton’s wife (played by Linda Cardellini) and the couple’s three children are caught up in the Thanos death snap. They were returned to our living world in the reverse snap pulled off by Bruce Banner.  

Thanos (“Avengers: Endgame”)

Weakened by having killed half of all life, Thanos (played by Josh Brolin) is defenseless when Thor (played by Chris Hemsworth) goes for the head.   

Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow (“Avengers: Endgame”)

Obsessed with reversing Thanos’ death snap, this Avengers founding member sacrifices herself on the rocky cliffs of the planet Vormir in order to allow her team to acquire the Soul Stone. 

Nebula (“Avengers: Endgame”)

Thanks to some timeline twists, the 2014 version of this daughter of Thanos and sister of Gamora (played by Karen Gillan) is killed on Earth by the more enlightened present-day version of herself.  

Thanos–again! (“Avengers: Endgame”)

The ultimate bad guy (played by Josh Brolin) gets what’s coming to him a second time when the past, 2014 version of Thanos time-portals to present-day Earth, and unleashes more fury only to be reduced to dust in a Tony Stark-engineered snap that exclusively targets the Mad Titan and his army. 

Tony Stark, aka Iron Man (“Avengers: Endgame”)

Usually too slick and sardonic to be called the heart of the Avengers, Stark (played by Robert Downey Jr.) gives his all to snap away Thanos and the villain’s army. His use of the powerful Infinity Stones proves too much and he passes away shortly after his stoic wife, Pepper Potts (played by Gwyneth Paltrow), gives him permission to rest.

Quentin Beck, aka Mysterio

The nemesis of Spider-Man: Far From Home (played by Jake Gyllenhaal) is the only high profile on-screen casualty in the 2019 film: He dies while battling (who else?) Tom Holland’s web-slinger … or does he? When asked if Mysterio is really dead, Far From Home producer Amy Pascal responded, “You don’t know.” Well, we do: He’s dead. For now.