10 Weirdest Deaths In The MCU

Throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe, many characters have suffered weird deaths, both in the main timeline and in alternate realities. Across the MCU’s movie timeline, the franchise has built its overarching narrative around potential world-ending threats and powerful villains. This often requires heroes to step up and put their lives on the line in order to protect the innocent. The level of power on display within the MCU often means that these conflicts result in the death of some of the franchise’s characters. Though this is often tragic, there are occasions where the demise of MCU characters is decidedly more bizarre.

Across the movies and TV shows of the MCU, multiple characters have met with strange deaths. Often, this is due to the nature of their demise being unorthodox or unexpected, but sometimes it’s also down to an important character’s ending being considered odd from a narrative perspective. Naturally, if the death of a beloved or interesting character comes about through unexpected, abrupt, or otherwise creative means, the moment can feel particularly strange instead of tragic. With that in mind, here are the 10 weirdest deaths in the MCU.

10 Shocker Was Accidentally Vaporized

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

Spider-Man: Homecoming featured multiple villains from Spider-Man’s rogues’ gallery, including an iteration of the Shocker. As part of the Vulture’s crew, Shocker employs salvaged alien technology, and uses it in an attempt to subdue Spider-Man. His methods upset his boss, though, and Vulture fires a weapon at him. Shocker is abruptly disintegrated, leading Vulture to exclaim he mistakenly thought he was using an anti-gravity gun. The moment is played for laughs and another character swiftly assumes the mantle of the MCU’s Shocker, making the death seem even more unusual by how quickly it’s paved over.

9 Vision’s Double Death Was Humiliating

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Though Vision ranks among the many MCU characters who returned after death, his initial demise was a particularly odd way to kill off a major hero. During the Battle of Wakanda in Avengers: Infinity War, the heroes find themselves losing to Thanos. In an attempt to prevent the Mad Titan from collecting the Mind Stone, Wanda uses her powers to destroy it, killing Vision in the process. Thanos then uses the Time Stone to reverse time, bringing Vision back to life, only to rip the Mind Stone from his head and kill him again. It’s a humiliating way to kill off a major MCU hero, making it seem particularly weird.

8 Crossbones’ Abrupt End Served No Purpose

Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Despite appearing in multiple movies in the MCU, Crossbones was never presented as a major villain. However, the character is a mainstay of the comics, and his repeated presence in the MCU as a supplemental antagonist in Captain America stories worked well. Captain America: Civil War opened with the Avengers stopping Crossbones, but the villain reveals he’s in possession of an explosive device before detonating it. Though Wanda Maximoff is able to partially contain the damage, it proved an abrupt and unexpected end to a potentially prominent character.

7 Proxima Midnight Was Shredded By Her Own Machine

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

As a member of Thanos’ Black Order, Proxima Midnight may not have ranked highly among the villains of the MCU, but she was a prominent antagonist in Avengers: Infinity War. During the Battle of Wakanda, Thanos’ forces summon large machines to help turn the tide of the battle in their favor, and it’s there that Proxima Midnight meets her unexpected demise. Without warning, the villain is launched towards her own machines, landing inside the churning mechanism and being promptly shredded by it. It’s a moment of triumph for the Avengers, but it was also a sudden and unorthodox method of killing off a powerful villain.

6 Thanos Was Sliced In Half By Ultron

What If…? Season 1 (2021)

The What If…? season 1 ending concerns Ultron and the potential threat he poses to the Multiverse. After gathering the Infinity Stones, Ultron seeks to eradicate all life, and Thanos steps up to resist him. Despite the Mad Titan’s status as one of the MCU’s most powerful characters, Ultron swiftly slices Thanos in half, bringing a sudden end to his attempt to protect reality. Considering it took the amassed might of the Avengers to narrowly stop Thanos, Ultron’s dismissive murder of the character was incredibly disconcerting.

5 Jasper Sitwell Was Thrown Into Traffic

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Jasper Sitwell may not be the most memorable of MCU characters, but he played a relatively large role in early stories involving SHIELD and Hydra. The Hydra-loyal SHIELD agent is discovered during the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, leading the film’s heroes to apprehend him. While Sitwell is being transported, however, the Winter Soldier reaches through the vehicle’s back window, drags him out, and throws him into oncoming traffic. It’s an unceremonious end to a largely forgettable character, but it’s a noteworthy death for its abrupt quirkiness alone.

4 Reed Richards Was Torn Into Strips

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)

The addition of variant cameos to Doctor Strange 2’s cast may have been somewhat unexpected, but their rapid demise was truly shocking. Scarlet Witch’s massacre of Earth-838’s Illuminati might have been controversial, but it also featured several weird deaths. One of these was Reed Richards, who upon using his powers finds himself shredded into long elastic strings. Visually, the death is bizarre, but from a conceptual point of view it seems even stranger. Despite being one of the most important Marvel heroes, Mister Fantastic is graphically murdered just minutes after his MCU debut, making his death seem especially weird.

3 Sharon Carter Was Exploded By Wasp

What If…? Season 1 (2021)

What If…? season 1’s “Zombies?!” episode featured many deaths, but one in particular stood out as especially graphic and brilliantly bizarre. After being turned into a zombie, Sharon Carter poses a threat to the surviving Avengers. As she’s about to attack them, though, she inhales something, only to unexpectedly explode as Wasp emerges covered in her zombified remains. Being killed by swallowing a hero who then rapidly expands within her skull is one of the most graphic deaths in the MCU, making it an strange outlier in the franchise.

2 Black Bolt’s Violent Death Was More Amusing Than Tragic

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)

Another of Multiverse of Madness’ Illuminati deaths that was incredibly weird was that of Black Bolt. The powerful Inhuman served on the Illuminati as one of Earth-838’s most important heroes, but the Scarlet Witch quickly dispatched him. To prevent him using his power against her, Wanda simply removed Black Bolt’s mouth, causing the force of his voice to liquify his own brain. Black Bolt’s slump to the ground as his life is swiftly ended by his own powers is far more shocking than it is tragic, and it’s certainly one of the MCU’s strangest deaths.

1 Hulk’s Deadly Transformation Was Incredibly Unexpected

What If…? Season 1 (2021)

Another What If…? season 1 story saw Hank Pym assassinating the Avengers, and one death in particular stands out as incredibly odd. After Bruce Banner transforms into the Hulk, he simply continues growing, getting bigger and bigger until his body explodes into a cloud of green viscera. Such an iconic hero dying in such comical fashion was unexpectedly hilarious, making it by far one of weirdest deaths in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.