The MCU has seen its fair share of death over the course of its many films, with many characters
uttering dramatic final words packed with thematic meaning. These are the last words
of every fallen MCU hero and villain, starting with the most memorable.
The first major villain to fall in the MCU was Obadiah Stane, the antagonist in the first
Iron Man. Stane is introduced as Tony Stark's lifelong friend and business advisor, but
as the film goes on, it becomes clear that he is unhappy that Tony has survived his trip
to the desert. Latching on to Tony's own arc reactor technology, he becomes the Iron Monger,
hellbent on killing Tony and reclaiming the company for himself.
While his actual, mostly forgettable last words come a second later when he tells Tony
to hold still so he can shoot him, it's the words leading up to that moment that foreshadowed
Tony's recurring struggle within the MCU.
"Trying to rid the world of weapons, you gave it its best one ever. And now, I'm going to
kill you with it."
In many ways, Tony Stark spends the rest of his time in the MCU grappling with his own
legacy, trying to use his brain to protect the world even as his hubris keeps causing
problems.
It took three Iron Man films before one of the character's most famous comic book villains,
the Mandarin, was finally brought to the MCU...sort of. For much of the film, the Mandarin appears
as a terrorist in a series of video messages, which later turn out to be the work of a drug-addled
actor hired by the film's real mastermind, vengeful scientist Aldrich Killian.
As the film progresses, Tony Stark learns that Killian and his Extremis compound are
the real threats, and the two clash in a fiery showdown at the end of the movie. Before Killian
finally dies, he shouts,
"I am the Mandarin!"
It's an amusing tease for what's to come, since neither villain of Iron Man 3 is actually
the real Mandarin. Marvel revealed in 2019 that the real Mandarin will be making his
debut in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
Groot may only say three words throughout most of Guardians of the Galaxy...
"I am Groot."
"I AM GROOT!"
...but through his actions, he proves himself to be a loyal friend, a kind hand, and a powerful
warrior when his friends are threatened. This all reaches its apex in the climactic scene
of the movie, when the Guardians are trapped on a crashing spaceship that's set to send
them to their deaths. Groot forms a leafy cocoon around his friends to cushion the impact,
despite knowing it will kill him. When his best friend Rocket tries to stop him, the
talking tree simply says,
"We are Groot."
It's a powerful moment of unity and love, and an emotional farewell to the original
Groot. Guardians of the Galaxy writer and director James Gunn has confirmed that the
current Groot in the MCU is the old Groot's "son," meaning those three words were a permanent,
devastating goodbye.
In 2015, Age of Ultron introduced two new members to Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Wanda
and Pietro Maximoff. The twins were initially set up as villains until they saw the error
of their ways and joined the Avengers to battle Ultron at the end of the film. While Wanda
has since gone on to become an increasingly vital member of the MCU, writer and director
Joss Whedon chose Ultron's final battle to prove that superheroes aren't always safe.
To protect Hawkeye and the civilian child he's holding, Pietro, otherwise known as Quicksilver,
runs in front of a spray of bullets. When Hawkeye sees the sacrifice he just made, the
young speedster responds,
"You didn't see that coming."
It's both an echo of the character's earlier boastful line, and a nod to the audience,
who really didn't see that coming.
Avengers: Age of Ultron spends a lot of time focusing on the hubris of superheroes and,
in particular, the hubris of Tony Stark. At the start of Ultron, in his efforts to build,
quote, "a suit of armor around the world," Tony accidentally creates Ultron, a murderous
artificial intelligence that decides the key to saving Earth is actually destroying humanity.
After Stark and the rest of the Avengers manage to fight Ultron off, newly created member
Vision is left to dispatch the last remaining Ultron bot. After Vision speaks admiringly
of humans, Ultron tells him,
"You're unbearably naive."
Vision acknowledges the truth of Ultron's statement by admitting that he was, literally,
born yesterday, before destroying Ultron for good.
When Yondu was first introduced in Guardians of the Galaxy, he was depicted as a cruel
and domineering figure in Peter's life. By Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2, though,
we learn that Yondu actually saved Peter's life as a child by not delivering him to his
real father, Ego, after Yondu learned that Ego was killing all of his children from around
the galaxy.
Though he spent most of his life hiding it, Yondu loved Peter like a son, and that's something
he finally confesses during an act of self-sacrifice in Volume 2. Before Yondu's death, he finally
expresses his affection for Peter.
"I'm sorry I didn't do none of it right. I'm damn lucky you're my boy."
Yondu's act of heroism also helped to bring about his own redemption, represented by an
honorable Ravager funeral at the end of the film. In finally declaring his love for his
adoptive son, Yondu made Guardians of the Galaxy's message of the importance of found
family even clearer.
Black Panther's Erik Killmonger is Wakandan by birth, but was raised in the United States
after the death of his disgraced father. He grew up to become a smart, fierce warrior
and saw firsthand the injustices of the world around him. It was those injustices that he
sought to remedy by seizing control of Wakanda, intending to use its vast wealth and technology
to reshape the world through conquest.
This culminates in a showdown between Killmonger and T'Challa in which the two men are very
evenly matched. Despite his grudging respect for his cousin, T'Challa ultimately defeats
Killmonger and walks him out to see a Wakandan sunset before he dies. T'Challa even offers
to try and heal Killmonger, which is when Erik gives the last in a long line of profound
observations:
"Just bury me in the ocean, with my ancestors that jumped from the ships, because they knew
death was better than bondage."
Odin has a complicated relationship with the MCU and a particularly complicated relationship
with his sons, Thor and Loki. By the time of Thor: Ragnarok, he's been deposed by his
son, forced into exile on Earth, and is aware that the daughter he'd hidden away is coming
to wipe out his kingdom.
Still, in his final scene, Odin shows a lot of wisdom and perspective. Talking to his
sons, he makes the vital point that Asgard is not a place but a people, and that Thor
and Loki must do whatever they can to lead them. As he sits on a cliff in Norway, pointing
at the ocean, he tells his sons he loves them, before saying,
"Remember this place. Home."
With that, Odin fades away, leaving Thor with the burden of his long legacy.
In the years since Thor, Loki has been everything from an all-out villain to a redeemed hero.
It's been quite a journey, but it all came to an end at the beginning of Avengers: Infinity
War, when the god of mischief's bag of tricks finally ran out.
After trying to deploy one of his enchanted blades against Thanos, Loki finds himself
with the Mad Titan's hand around his throat. With no more options and no more tricks up
his sleeves, Loki has no choice but to dangle helplessly as Thanos strangles him. He does,
however, get in one last dig:
"You will never be a god."
This attempt to bruise Thanos' ego turns out to be ironic, since by the end of Infinity
War, Thanos is practically a god thanks to all of those Infinity Stones. Of course, after
the events of Avengers: Endgame, Marvel tells us there's another version of Loki zipping
around the cosmos, but it was still tragic to lose the original trickster who had come
so far.
Gamora had a rough childhood, to put it mildly. After half the people on her planet were slaughtered
by Thanos, the Mad Titan adopted her as his daughter. Then came years of torturous training
and ruthless manipulation that she was only able to break when she left Thanos for the
Guardians.
Sadly, when father and daughter meet again in Avengers: Infinity War, all of her pain
comes rushing back. On Vormir, Thanos learns he has to sacrifice something he loves if
he's ever to get his hands on the Soul Stone. At first, when Gamora sees tears in Thanos'
eyes, she thinks it's because he knows his lack of love has become his downfall. Then
she realizes he's weeping for her, and protests,
"No. This isn't love."
Thanos apologizes, but still throws his daughter to her death. He gets the Soul Stone, confirming
that he did indeed love Gamora in his own abusive and twisted way. Of course, while
the original Gamora died, we'll still get to see more of her, since the 2014 Gamora
is still alive and well following the events of Avengers: Endgame.
Though he's an android and she's a human, Vision and Wanda Maximoff still managed to
fall in love sometime between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War. The
pair bonded, thanks to their shared experience as outsiders, and their mutual struggle of
coming to terms with powers they don't fully understand.
However, the two are torn apart in Avengers: Infinity War when, in an attempt to save the
universe from Thanos, Vision asks Wanda to destroy the Mind Stone in his head and kill
him. As Wanda prepares to do the unthinkable, Vision tells her she could never hurt him,
and that he just feels her. Moments before she shatters the Infinity Stone keeping him
alive, Vision whispers his last words.
"It's all right. I love you."
Not only is Vision willing to die, but he is willing to absolve and reassure Wanda as
he goes. He doesn't blame her. In fact, he's grateful for her.
Original Avenger Natasha Romanoff has always been a woman looking for redemption. As she
put it,
"I got red in my ledger. I'd like to wipe it out."
When she is sent to Vormir in Avengers: Endgame, she finally sees the opportunity to wipe out
that red once and for all, offering to sacrifice herself so that the Avengers can claim the
Soul Stone. The only problem? Natasha's best friend Clint Barton also has some sins to
atone for, and the two end up battling for who will make the ultimate sacrifice. As Clint
makes a last-ditch effort to save Natasha, she asks him to let her go, assuring him,
"It's okay."
Natasha may be the first of the original six to die, but it's on her terms, and with a
clear ledger.
Avengers: Endgame mostly focuses on the surviving members of the team traveling through time
to steal the Infinity Stones in an effort to undo what happened in Infinity War. By
the final act of the film, the Avengers have successfully reversed Thanos' snap, but find
themselves battling a 2014 version of Thanos who has traveled to the future.
For a moment towards the end of the battle, it seems Thanos has won yet again, and he
declares,
"I am inevitable."
When he snaps, though, nothing happens, because Tony Stark had sneakily grabbed the Stones
himself. It's then that the godfather of the MCU utters his own final words:
"And I am Iron Man."
Tony snaps and Thanos fades away, but the power of the stones is too much for Tony's
human body to handle, and he dies. Together, their intertwining final words reveal what
happens when a reluctant hero is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for the good of
others, and what happens when an arrogant villain is convinced of his own righteousness.
Spider-Man: Far From Home spends a lot of its runtime with a dual purpose. It advances
Peter Parker's story, but it also explains the way the MCU looks following the events
of Endgame and, of course, the death of Tony Stark. These themes are personified in Quentin
Beck, a seemingly benevolent figure who turns out to be a disgruntled former Stark employee.
Beck uses his mastery of illusion technology to cast himself as Mysterio, a hero who is
actually a madman hell-bent on seizing Tony Stark's legacy. Though Peter initially believes
he's on the right side, he finally uncovers Beck's scheme, and in the resulting showdown,
Beck is killed. As his breathes his last, he warns Peter,
"People need to believe, and nowadays, they'll believe anything."
This is a statement that proves prophetic; the end of the film reveals that Mysterio's
team released a doctored video that makes Spider-Man look like Beck's murderer.
Of all the Marvel franchises that kill off major characters, Thor seems to have the highest
body count. In the first film, the ice giant Laufey tells a comatose Odin that he hopes
he's still aware of his surroundings, because he wants the Allfather to know,
"Your death came at the hand of Laufey."
However, Laufey is then immediately killed by his own biological son, Loki, as proof
of the trickster's loyalty to his adopted father, Odin.
Thor: The Dark World then claims the life of Thor's mother, Frigga. When Malekith shows
up looking for the Aether, he demands to know its location. Before the Dark Elf kills her,
Frigga defiantly says,
"I'll never tell you."
Then, later in the same film, Malekith himself dies while declaring,
"The Aether cannot be destroyed."
But when it comes to Asgardians kicking the bucket, it doesn't get any grislier than Thor:
Ragnarok. All of the Warriors Three meet their fates at the hands of Hela when she returns
to claim her throne. When Hela first appears in Asgard, Volstagg asks,
"Who are you? What have you done with Thor?"
In response, he's stabbed to death. Fandral only manages a guttural scream before he's
killed, although Zachary Levi says he did film some final words which were cut from
the finished film.
"My last words in the Marvel Universe were, 'For Asgard!' Cutting room floor."
And finally, Hogun gets the most poetic final words before being impaled, telling Hela,
"Go back to whatever cave you crept out of, you evil demoness."
The deaths don't stop here, though. Toward the end of the final battle, Skurge switches
sides and sacrifices himself, proclaiming,
"For Asgard."
As for Hela, when she realizes Loki has resurrected Surtur, her last word is a stunned,
"No!"
Lastly, in Avengers: Infinity War, Thor's best friend, Heimdall, is killed for activating
the Bifrost, sending the Hulk to Earth with his final words.
"Allfathers, let the dark magic flow through me one last time."
While Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes both managed to survive decades after the world thought
them dead, the villains of the Captain America franchise haven't been so lucky.
In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Steve discovers that former HYDRA operative Arnim
Zola is still around as a living computer. Before he's destroyed by a S.H.I.E.L.D. missile,
Zola tells Steve,
"We are both of us out of time."
Then there's Alexander Pierce, the World Security Council member who turns out to have been
a secret HYDRA operative for decades. As he dies after being defeated by Steve and Nick
Fury, he declares,
"Hail HYDRA."
Later, in Captain America: Civil War, before the HYDRA traitor Brock Rumlow detonates the
bomb that kills him, he taunts Steve by bringing up Bucky, telling him that Bucky said,
"'Please tell Rogers 'when you gotta go, you gotta go.' And you're coming with me."
At the end of Iron Man 2, as Ivan Vanko detonates the army of drones around him, the Russian
villain looks at Tony Stark and simply says,
"You lose."
Vanko is wrong, but the incident leaves Tony, once again, questioning his place as a hero.
In Black Panther, secondary villain Ulysses Klaue meets his end at the hands of Erik Killmonger.
Just before Klaue dies, Killmonger pulls down his lip and reveals a Wakandan War Dog tattoo.
At that, the arms smuggler expresses amused surprise, telling Killmonger,
"Ah, to think I saw you as some crazy American."
Then there's Darren Cross, the villain from Ant-Man, who put on the Yellowjacket armor
and launched a full-scale attack against Scott Lang in his daughter Cassie's bedroom. Just
before his death, Cross turns to Cassie Lang and declares,
"Sorry, sweetheart. You have to help Daddy pay for his mistakes."
The line is a nod to Lang's criminal past, as well as Cassie's own possible superhero
future.
The MCU is full of cosmic and magical figures, and while more keep joining the mix, some
have fallen for good.
Ronan the Accuser, the hammer-wielding villain of Guardians of the Galaxy, was killed after
facing off against Star-Lord and his friends. Before he died, he expressed shock when Peter
Quill and the other Guardians were able to hold an Infinity Stone, crying,
"You're mortal! How?!"
This foreshadowed the revelation in Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 that Peter was actually
half-Celestial. His father, Ego the Living Planet, had passed his power on to him. Ego
planned to use that power to take over the universe, but Peter gave up his godlike status,
thwarting Ego's plans and leading Ego to warn him,
"If you kill me, you'll be just like everybody else."
Of course, that's what Peter wanted all along.
In Doctor Strange, the Ancient One contemplated the imminent arrival of her own death in a
rather poetic way, saying she thought she'd be ready, but when the time came, she surprised
herself.
"But look at me. Stretching one moment out into a thousand, just so that I can watch
the snow."
In Captain Marvel, the Kree scientist Mar-Vell nodded to Carol Danvers' heroic destiny before
she died:
"You gotta save them without me."
"Save who? How?"
"Now, I gotta blow this engine before they find it."
"What are you doing?"
This set up both Carol's future with the Skrulls and her own powers, which came from that same
engine.
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