15 Saddest Moments Of The Marvel Cinematic Universe

Tony Stark and James Rhodes
Image Source: dailydot.com

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has taken over the box office in the last eight years with a combination of light-hearted action, larger than life heroes and family friendly fun. It’s a formula that’s worked. As it stands, the Marvel juggernaut is the highest grossing movie franchise of all time. While it might seem like Tony Stark and friends are all about fun though, it’s easy to forget how much they can tug at our heartstrings.

You may have forgotten some of them, so we’re going to ruin your day by bringing up all the times Marvel pulled the carpet from under us. Tragedy can strike anywhere, so this list will not discriminate between the cinematic outings of the MCU or their small screen counterparts. Television characters feel things too you guys. Get a box of tissues ready. This might get rough.

Cultured Vultures spoilers

Tony’s Mansion gets destroyed (Iron Man 3)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqnLPRv2isA

In Iron Man 3 we finally see how Tony Stark has grown as a person. He’s older and wiser, less arrogant. Still, it’s not until a helicopter full of bad guys show up and decorate his Malibu mansion with rockets that he’s forced into his second crucible.

No one dies here, but there’s a tangible feeling of loss from both Tony and everyone watching in the cinema. The building where Tony created Iron Man and where he and Pepper fell in love is gone forever. In many ways it was the first home of the Marvel universe and Iron Man 3 just took it from us. Excuse me, I think I need a moment.

 

Loki Dies (Thor: The Dark World)

For a moment there Thor: The Dark World had us staring into our popcorn in disbelief. Loki was dead, sacrificing himself to help save Jane Foster and his brother as well as the nine realms. After betraying Asgard in Thor and trying to invade Earth in The Avengers it was the ultimate redemption for the god of mischief.

Fortunately Loki was playing us all, or else his death would be much higher on this list. After impersonating an Asgardian soldier, Loki somehow manages to infiltrate Odin’s throne room and seize power. By the time the credits rolled he’s made himself King of Asgard without anyone knowing. Still, for the final third of the movie Marvel had us convince they’d killed off the series’ breakout character. That deserves a place on the list.

 

Daisy Says Goodbye to her Father (Agents of SHIELD)

Daisy Johnson and Cal
Image Source:
ibtimes.com

This one counts as Agents of SHIELD‘s only entry on this list. Through its first three seasons the network TV spin-off has struggled to find a consistent tone. It’s most tragic moment though, came at the close of its stellar second season. Through the course of the year Skye/Daisy and viewers had been gradually introduced to her father, Cal. Cal at first glance looked like a monster, but was actually a troubled soul who just wanted to help his daughter.

By stopping Daisy’s mother Jiaying at the end of the season he redeemed himself, but he still had to pay for his past crimes. His farewell to Daisy was heart wrenching, and the revelation that he’d had his memory wiped instead of going to jail was bittersweet.

 

Tony Creates a monster (Avengers: Age of Ultron)

Isn’t it a tragedy any time a person tries to make the world a better place only for it to blow up in their face. Tony didn’t create Ultron on purpose. Well, he totally did, but it was with the intention of saving the world, rather than destroying humanity. There’s a tragic irony to what robot James Spader ended up doing to an entire Eastern European city.

When Ultron first emerged from Tony’s Lab in Avengers Tower looking like some cyberpunk Frankenstein’s Monster we knew he was a tortured soul with a grudge against the Avengers. This time Tony might have been working towards the greater good, but he can just never catch a break.

 

Bucky Falls off the train (Captain America: The First Avenger)

Bucky Barnes
ImageSource:
marvelcinematicuniverse.wikia.com

Here’s another one which loses some of its power in retrospect, but at the time it came out of leftfield like a baseball to the gut. After leaving his USO shows behind, Captain America had finally found his true calling as the scourge of Hydra. At his side were the Howling Commandos and his childhood friend Bucky Barnes. The Red Skull was on the ropes.

But what was this? Suddenly Cap and friends were zip-lining onto a train. They were finally about to capture Arnim Zola, Nazi scientific mastermind. Like the laws of alchemy though, for Cap to get a win he was forced to lose something of equal value. As Bucky fell off the train into the snowy oblivion we felt the string of Steve Rogers’ heart snap.

 

Killgrave Meets Jessica Jones’ Neighbour (Jessica Jones)

Ruban meets Kilgrave
Image Source:
marvelcinematicuniverse.wikia.com

Jessica’s upstairs neighbours had a strange psuedo-incestous thing going on which Jones just did not have time for. That Ruben had a crush on her either went over Jessica’s head or just wasn’t important enough for her to remember. When Killgrave bumps into Ruben though, and learns of his infatuation with Jessica, viewers were left with a sinking feeling of inevitability.

The most tragic part is just how much of witless bystander Ruben was in the Killgrave-Jessica drama. As we start to learn later from his twin sister Robyn, Ruben was something of a helpless sap, blissfully ignorant of the dark world around him. That ignorance got him killed, and the reveal made our hearts drop, even if we’d already realised what happened.

 

Rhodes Gets Hit (Captain America: Civil War)

James Rhodes
Image Source:
bustle.com

After probably the greatest action sequence of the entire MCU, comic book panels bought to life, we were bought right back down to earth at the expense of James Rhodes. With hero fighting hero in an epic showdown at Berlin Airport, it was easy to forget how vulnerable superheroes really are.

All it took was one shot of friendly fire and Rhodes and the Iron Patriot suit were tumbling out of the sky. And while the wounds didn’t wind up as life threatening, for the first time a Marvel superhero is dealing with lasting damage. Rhodes took a hit and it remains to be seen if he’ll ever don his suit again.

 

Wilson Fisk visits Ben Urich (Daredevil)

BEen Urich
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youtube.com

Fearless journalist Ben Urich warned Karen Page how dangerous it would be to investigate Wilson Fisk. Even his old underworld contacts were afraid of the guy, but to Urich it was just another itch he had to scratch. So when Fisk turns up in his living room one evening Urich faces it with stone cold calm.

But Fisk isn’t there just to threaten him. It isn’t about keeping lurid details of his criminal empire out of the press. Urich bought his mother into it, and for that Fisk’s barely simmering rage splashes to the surface. All at once no character is safe. I for one still get chills down the back of my neck thinking about it.

 

Penny and Dime (Daredevil)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDYiDrnQQlk

Some of the MCU’s best moments are massive action set pieces costing millions of dollars. All it took Jon Bernthal’s Punisher to tear the house down was six minutes in a cemetery talking about his daughter. No car chase. No explosion. No fight choreography. Just words.

The actual tragic events the Punisher alludes to are never actually shown on screen. They don’t need to be. We feel the tragedy in his words, a man ripped from everything he loved dangling by a thread. One trip to the park turns into a horror show and a man with a vendetta is born.

 

Peggy and Steve Say Goodbye (Captain America: The First Avenger)

Of course Steve Rogers was going to sacrifice himself to save the world. It was inevitable, like toast landing butter side down or Batman beating the entire Justice League by being better prepared. But it didn’t make his final radio exchange with Peggy Carter any less tear jerking. They were supposed to be together dammit! They were supposed to go dancing.

Decades later Steve and Peggy would be reunited inCaptain America: The Winter Soldier. But it was too late. Peggy was now an octogenarian who’d lived a full life and found love elsewhere. There was no going back to what they might have had during the war, making their radio goodbye all the more tragic.

 

Jessica Jones Confesses to Luke Cage (Jessica Jones)

Jessica Jones and Luke Cage
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hitfix.com

Let’s face it, things were never going to end well between Jessica Jones and Luke Cage. For a while though Jones looked to have wandered into an accidental avenue of happiness, something she didn’t seem to want for herself. When she finally confessed to Cage about killing his wife, we found out why.

With the confession comes shades of grey. There’s no real hero or villain here, with both characters coming across as damaged and sympathetic. We should be feeling for Luke, who just found out his entire relationship with Jessica was built on a lie. Still, the glimpse of Jessica’s raw guilt at what Killgrave had her do elevates this scene into a kind of tragic tango.

 

We are Groot (Guardians of the Galaxy)

We are Groot
Image Source:
comicbook.com

Don’t those three words say everything really? With the Guardians failing to defeat Ronin and the ship going down, the entire team were staring death and defeat in its ugly mug. That is, until Groot makes the ultimate sacrifice, sprouting new branches and enclosing his friends in a superpowered bush.

Okay, it sounds a little ridiculous, but you had to be there. The group of oddballs and criminals who started the journey had now become friends. Groot’s actions helped the gang realise they needed to trust each other to defeat Ronin, and as his twigs burned this was all they really needed to understand.

 

Frigga is Killed (Thor: The Dark World)

Frigga and Jane Foster
Image Source:
marvel-movies.wikia.com

Let’s be honest. Thor: The Dark World isn’t one of the better Marvel movies, plagued as it was by production issues and directorial switches. Still, when the Dark Elves ran through Thor’s mother Frigga with a sword, we really did get the feels. This was Rene Russo, the woman who survived the Lethal Weapon movies.

It’s true that Frigga’s death does come off primarily as a way to give Thor added motivation for the final act of the film. However, the real lip quivering moment is seeing how her death turns old snarky pants Loki into a blubbering emo mess. When Thor visits him in his cell he’s a dishevelled puddle of a person, and that was something we’d never seen before.

 

Tony Finds Out Who killed his parents (Captain America: Civil War)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx5Ut8wYk_o

Helmut Zemo, antagonist of Captain America: Civil War, may earn a place amongst the highest pantheon of Marvel movie villains. Not particularly memorable or charismatic, Zemo nevertheless delivered a horrific master stroke of manipulation which the Avengers will be feeling for years. As Tony Stark, Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes finally put aside their differences to confront Zemo and stop his evil plan, he decides to drop a truth bomb on all of them.

See, Tony’s parents were killed by the Winter Soldier. As the revelation hits a battle rages in Tony’s eyes. The playboy tech genius billionaire has grown as a person over the course of a half dozen movies. He’s grown up and become a more responsible person. But the man who killed his parents is stood right over there. In his heart, Tony knows Bucky wasn’t really responsible, but he’s just not strong enough to shake off his bitter rage.

And in one twist of the knife, the Avengers fall apart.

 

Loki Kills Coulson (Avengers Assemble)

Everyone likes Coulson. He’s the black suit wearing schmuck who looks awkward at Tony Stark’s parties and collects Captain America trading cards.Coulson is our audience avatar in Avengers Assemble as he geeks out at meeting Steve Rogers, never being quite as cool as Nick Fury or Maria Hill.

So naturally as Loki makes his escape Coulson totally disregards the fact he’s facing a Demigod and grabs the biggest gun he can find. It’s not enough, and as the everyman of the Marvel Cinematic Universe bleeds out on the floor, the tear-filled eyes of fanboys and fangirls across the land stare back at him.

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