The deaths of many major MCU characters in Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame heralded the end to an era (eleven years and 23 movies!). And while those deaths looked very final, some of these characters will be resurrected in Phase 4. Marvel Studios seems to be literally taking a page from their comic book publishing counterpart where death is a revolving door. In some cases, major Avengers characters have taken trips to the afterlife several times that they should just buy a vacation home there! In this first piece in a new series of articles, we cover Iron Man and Captain America and the pair’s many deaths.
Iron Man
Number of Deaths: 6
- West Coast Avengers Annual #1 – When the Avengers mysteriously die, Iron Man and the rest of the west coast team discover that it’s all part of a game between the Grandmaster and Death. They take a poison that temporarily kills them as they go into the afterlife to save the west coast team.
2. The Infinity Gauntlet – All of Marvel’s surviving heroes fight against the god-like Thanos. Iron Man isn’t even killed by Thanos himself. Thanos’ newly created consort, Terraxia beheads him. Iron Man and the rest of the departed are restored to life after Thanos is defeated.
3. Iron Man Vol.1 #284 – After Tony succumbs to extreme nerve damage from a rough battle, he’s declared dead in the operating room. Unknown to everyone, he was put in suspended animation while he healed from his injuries.
4. Avengers: The Crossing – It’s revealed that Tony was being mind-controlled by Kang the conqueror. As Kang’s agent, he would manipulate events from behind the scenes and even murder those who would get in his way. In a ploy to save Tony, the Avengers go back in time and pluck his teenage self from his time period. In the end Adult Tony sacrifices his life to defeat Kang.
5. Onslaught – When an all-powerful mutant entity Onslaught tries to take over the world, it takes teenage Tony Stark (who has taken the role of Iron Man) and all of Marvel’s heroes to stop him. They defeat Onslaught only by sacrificing their lives. Franklin Richards (Mister Fantastic’s son) uses his reality-warping powers to resurrect them and restores Tony to his older self.
6. Civil War II – After an intense battle against Captain Marvel, Tony dies from mortal injuries. Fortunately, Stark had a back-up plan that involved a genetic copy, complete with all his old memories! It’s good to be rich!
Captain America
Number of Deaths: 7
- Avengers: The Korvac Saga – When Michael Korvac stole the Power Cosmic from the ship of Galactus (a planet-eating giant), he gains omnipotent powers. Considered a threat by the Avengers, they attack Korvac. He starts killing them off until only Cap remains. While Cap is the only one able to do some real damage to Korvac, the new god kills him as well. A remorseful Korvac eventually has a change of heart and revives Cap and the other heroes.
2. Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars – Doctor Doom steals the reality-warping powers of the Beyonder. Doom unleashes a gigantic bolt of lightning that kills all the heroes, including Captain America. Victorious, Doom is unaware that Cap and the rest are brought back to life by an alien healer. Cap takes the fight to Doom who immediately disintegrates him! To Doom’s dismay, the Beyonder resurrects Cap to continue the fight! So Cap actually dies twice in this event!
3. The Infinity Gauntlet – In the hopeless battle against Thanos, only Captain America is still standing amongst the fallen heroes. Cap defiantly approaches Thanos while other heroes attempt to steal the Infinity Gauntlet. The gambit fails and Thanos strikes Cap with a killing blow. After Thanos loses the Gauntlet to Nebula, Cap returns to the land of the living.
4. Onslaught – See Iron Man Bullet Point 5. Cap, along with Iron Man and the other Avengers sacrifice their lives to defeat the mutant entity Onslaught.
5. The Death of Captain America – In the aftermath of the Marvel event, Civil War, Steve Rogers is arrested even after he and his team of rogue Avengers were able to beat Iron Man’s team. Days later, as he goes to his trial, he’s shot dead by Sharon Carter, who is under the control of the Red Skull! It turns out that the bullet used to kill Steve was a “time bullet”. The bullet displaced Steve’s consciousness in the time stream so that he would be forced to repeat his life over and over again. The Skull used the opportunity to transfer his mind into Steve’s body (ah, comics!). Steve’s consciousness found its way back into his body after fighting the Skull for it. He came out victorious and was reborn!
About the author:
JV Tanjuatco, comic book writer/editor/publisher, founded Comic Book Lab that publishes the comic book titles Mythopolis and War of Whispers (co-created and co-written by him). Comic Book Lab’s most recent project was the graphic novel anthology Stay: 21 Comic Stories authored by Palanca Award winner Angelo R. Lacuesta and illustrated by a stellar line-up of artists including Trese’s Kajo Baldisimo. He has also written articles/reviews for Spot.ph and Ain’t It Cool.
