15 Most Brutal Deaths In Marvel Comics, Ranked

Of the big two comic book companies, Marvel Comics is widely known as being lighter than DC. For better or worse, it has a reputation for brightly colored stories, quippy dialogue, and relatable, human characters who rarely struggle with more than they can carry. Want brooding dark knights, god-like superheroes, and violent, demi-god warriors? Go across the street.

Putting aside the debate that might surround the validity of this perception — undoubtedly influenced by the generally all-ages content of the Marvel Cinematic Universe — it certainly isn't comprehensive. Marvel can get seriously dark when it wants to, spilling as much blood, if not more so, than its competitors at any other comic book company. From crushed skulls and decapitations to ripped-out spines and stomach-eating sharks, we've found the most brutal deaths from across the Marvel Universe and ranked them, considering their narrative impact, violent thrills, and creativity, and, simply, how awful of a way to die they would be.

Quickly, we have to pay due respect to two notoriously violent universes that won't be considered for this list. The answer for why is simple: if we were to include one death from either, there are so many other brutal deaths to consider that we'd inevitably fill this entire list only with deaths from a single storyline, which just isn't much fun.

Both "Marvel Zombies" and the original Ultimate Marvel Universe (particularly the climactic "Ultimatum" storyline) have notoriously brutal deaths that eclipse many of the fatalities we've included below. Just because we're omitting them for now, however, doesn't mean we won't potentially revisit them in the future ...

The lowest entry on our list might seem deserving of a higher placement at first glance — but there's a reason this "kill" is so low, despite being so brutal. In Marvel's 2016 "Thanos" series (written by Jeff Lemire and drawn by Germán Peralta), the Mad Titan crushes the head of then-Captain America, Sam Wilson, with a single clap. It's an appropriate new feat for the man who once snapped untold death into the universe, but it's the setting that doesn't quite sit right.

Thanos had the opportunity to kill Sam because he was, as of this issue, apparently leading the Avengers. Obviously, this couldn't truly be the case, and Sam eventually reveals that this reality is an illusion conjured by the God Quarry meant to test Thanos' worthiness of cosmic power great enough to defeat his Phoenix Force-empowered son, Thane. Sam tells Thanos that, if he accepts this new reality, he can live a life of peace at last. As you can tell by his explosive response, Thanos seems pretty comfortable with his life as it is.

Without question, there isn't another death on this list as famous as the tragedy that befell Gwen Stacy — y'know, when she befell to her death in a 1973 issue of "The Amazing Spider-Man." What? Too soon?

Slain by the Green Goblin — then a completely out-of-mind Norman Osborn, driven back to madness by immense personal struggle — Gwen's death was a shockingly dark twist for the "Spider-Man" stories of that era (by Gerry Conway and Gil Kane) to take. Marvel editors had requested Conway kill off a major character, with the original choice being Aunt May. They ultimately decided on Gwen, however, in order to have the death be impactful without fundamentally changing Spider-Man's support system. If that sounds like they were treating "Spider-Man's girlfriend" as a replaceable position ... uh ... yeah, they kinda were. The final choice was between Gwen and Mary Jane Watson.

Regardless, "The Night Gwen Stacy Dies" is one of the most well-known comics ever written. It inspired two powerful moments for Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man, as well as the death of Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe) in Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man."

To fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Wanda Maximoff's most dangerous moment was in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness." As gnarly and metal as her superhero-slaying rampage against the Illuminati was, it hardly compares to the deadly chaos she sowed in the Marvel Comics crossover event upon which the "Doctor Strange" sequel was partially based.

In "The Avengers: Disassembled," Earth's Mightiest Heroes suffer greater misfortune than they've ever known. A villain they believed to be dead returns from the grave to destroy their home, an act which claimed the life of the Ant-Man, Scott Lang; one Avenger loses control and destroys one of their teammates (a kill so brutal it earned a spot on this very list); and, finally, the intergalactic military of the Kree Empire suddenly decides to launch a full-scale offensive against Earth.

Justifiably concerned about facing an alien invasion with only a bow and arrow, Hawkeye runs off-panel real quick to retrieve a more expansive, explosive arsenal — only for misfortune to strike once more, when an errant blast triggers his combustible quiver. With only a few seconds before detonation, Clint Barton heroically commandeers a Kree jetpack and pilots himself into a Kree warship, destroying it and forcing them to retreat. As Doctor Strange himself reveals, all this bad luck could be attributed to Wanda's uncontrolled powers, currently going haywire as a result of her suppressing the trauma associated with the loss of her children.

Having turned the city of New York into a battleground for their Civil War, Captain America was the first hero to come to his senses during the final day of the Superhero Registration Act conflict. He chose to surrender to Tony Stark and S.H.I.E.L.D., hoping that he could fight against the unjust law without endangering the lives of his friends or innocent civilians. Sadly, his attempt to become a non-violent symbol of protest wouldn't go very far.

As Steve Rogers is being taken into custody by U.S. Marshals, he notices one of them being tracked by a sniper taking aim from a nearby building (A+ protection from Stark and co., real top-notch security for the world's most famous and vulnerable political prisoner). Rogers takes the bait and jumps in front of the bullet, taking a flesh-wound to the shoulder. But while Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes are busy with the sniper — revealed to be Brock "Crossbones" Rumlow — a second shooter empties a clip into Cap's stomach at point-blank range. What makes this bloody assassination even more brutal is that the ultimate killer wasn't actually Crossbones, but his love, Sharon Carter, brainwashed by Doctor Faustus and the Red Skull.

If Cap struggled to trust Sharon once he inevitably returned from the dead, he surely would have found new understanding after he himself fell under the control of the Red Skull. In the extremely controversial "Secret Empire" storyline, Captain America's history was rewritten by a sentient shard of the Cosmic Cube that was sympathetic to the Skull's cause, transforming the Star-Spangled Man into a double agent for Hydra.

When he finally overthrows the United States, a few heroes — including Black Widow and Spider-Man / Miles Morales — form an insurgency with the aim of taking Cap down. Miles specifically had been somewhat prophesied as the killer of Captain America by a clairvoyant Inhuman called Ulysses. However, when their team travels to Washington, D.C., to finish the job, Black Widow gives her life to prevent Miles from taking Steve's (out of concern for the young hero's humanity). As she steps between the two, Steve strikes her at the base of her spine, killing her instantly.

While Dave Bautista's transformation into Drax the Destroyer for the Marvel Cinematic Universe mostly consists of him spending hours in gyms and makeup trailers, the transformation of the comic book character was even more torturous. In the comics, Drax was actually a human named Arthur Douglas whose family was seemingly slain by Thanos when their car was blasted by his spaceship. Before Arthur could fully pass on, Thanos' Eternal father A'lars turned him into a being specifically empowered to kill the Mad Titan.

Fast forward to the Marvel Comics Annihilation storyline (a fantastic cosmic crossover event that's far too complicated to explain in detail here) — in the midst of Annihilus' galactic conquest, Drax is close to finally reaching his destiny. Thanos, who had sided with Annihilus for his own, secret aims, is so preoccupied with trying to manipulate the twilight of the war in his favor that, when Drax does begin to attack him, he doesn't take the threat seriously until he can literally see Death (as in Lady Death) in front of him. He only has a moment to process before Drax plunges his hand into his back, shoving his heart through his ribcage, killing him.

When Norman Osborn rose as the unexpected savior of Earth in the aftermath of the "Secret Invasion" storyline (which is vaguely similar to the Marvel Studios Disney+ series of the same name and saw the Marvel Universe deal with the covert infiltration of Skrull warriors into the superhero community), appointing himself the new director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the leader of the Avengers, he knew there would be significant opposition to his regime. Thus, he made a list of super-powered individuals who needed to be taken care of — one of which was Frank Castle, aka the Punisher.

For this dangerous hit job, Osborn employed the services of his Avengers' answer to Wolverine — Logan's son, Daken. Castle is able to give the mutant assassin some trouble in an otherwise straightforward, one-on-one death match. By the end, however, Daken has cut him into so many pieces that, when Castle was inevitably resurrected, he was called "Franken-Castle."

As surprising as it may sound, Blade was recently a central villain in the Marvel Universe (and, no, it's not because he keeps threatening us with a solo movie that should definitely be cancelled at this point). Early on in "Blood Hunt" from Jed MacKay and Pepe Larraz, the Daywalker reveals himself (secretly possessed by the vampire Varnae) to be behind a massive vampiric invasion of Earth by killing Doctor Strange in a manner so graphic, Marvel had to release it in an alternate "Red Band" book.

In the mainstream version of the comic, Blade merely comes up behind Doctor Strange and stabs him through the chest with a special anti-magic sword he procured from the magic-hunters of Atlantis. In the "Red Band" version, he takes this a step further, seemingly twisting the blade inside the sorcerer before ripping it through his midsection, tearing him in half.

Cutting the Master of the Mystic Arts in half is no small feat, but Blade does lose a few points for using a weapon. At this point in our list, we get to take a brief detour through all the times Marvel characters used what is seemingly the company's favorite fatality — someone ripping a guy in half with their bare hands. It is, admittedly, pretty rad every time it happens, even when there's less blood involved.

Case in point: She-Hulk, a usually reasonable counterpoint to the jade giant who once lost control during "The Avengers: Disassembled — Chaos." With the reality-warping powers of the Scarlet Witch in flux, the Vision unexpectedly crashes into New York City and, after partially melting his own face in a manner horrifying enough in and of itself, begins to vomit Ultron copies from his throat. Despite Captain America's pleas for restraint, Jennifer Walters' monster-half takes over, causing her to tear Vision in two.

Sometimes, a kill doesn't need to be all that consequential to make a perfectly violent impact on readers. When Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw took over the "Thanos" ongoing series, they held nothing back when it came to depicting how monstrous he could be. And when they were given a chance to explore an alternate universe version of Thanos through the origins of the Cosmic Ghost Rider, they took full advantage.

In their storyline "Thanos Wins," the Mad Titan defeats the Avengers and pursues his quest for power undeterred. He killed everyone, including Frank Castle, who subsequently cut a deal with the powerful demon Mephisto to become a fiery Spirit of Vengeance. Of all the heroes to die in this event, none had deaths as memorable as Tony Stark, who is torn in half by Thanos — his insides vividly rendered, spilling out of his iron shell.

Of course, as longtime Marvel Comics fans are surely aware, the king of tearing people in half is none other than Bob Reynolds, aka the Sentry (the villain of Marvel Studios' "Thunderbolts*"). In "The New Avengers," he helped manage a catastrophic prison break on the Raft by tearing Carnage apart just above Earth's atmosphere; he attempts to repeat this maneuver during the "King in Black" storyline by yanking Knull, the God of Symbiotes, into space and tearing him down the middle.

For the purposes of this list, his most brutal tear of all is unquestionably his first. Once Ares, the God of War, realizes that Norman Osborn is not to be trusted as the leader of the Avengers, his teammate, the Sentry (currently controlled by The Void), wastes no time in exorcising the traitor. The splash page in which Ares is bisected is so graphic and detailed, it's hard to believe it was published in a mainstream Marvel comic.

If 20th Century Studios' "Logan" was as disgusting as the comic it was based on, it probably wouldn't be such an enduring and endlessly watchable hit on streaming services nearly a decade after its release. While the film depicts the title character in a version of the Fox "X-Men" universe that essentially has no superheroes of any kind left, the world of the original "Old Man Logan" comic book series (by Mark Millar and Steven McNiven) filled its supporting cast with broken, perverted shadows of Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

The Hulk is particularly warped in this alternate future; he's now an evil California land baron ruling a frightened, dwindling populace via his sociopathic brood, all of whom were born of an incestuous relationship between him and She-Hulk. After killing Logan's family to bait the Wolverine out of hiding (desiring one last grudge match between the two historic foes), the Hulk eats Logan alive — only for Logan to heal and claw his way out of the Hulk's stomach.

With Robert Downey Jr. returning the MCU to play Doctor Doom and "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" serving as the set-up for "Avengers: Doomsday" and its sequel, "Avengers: Secret Wars," it seems fairly obvious by this point that Marvel Studios' Multiverse Saga finale will be heavily inspired by the 2015 "Secret Wars" crossover event from the comics. This event was particularly consequential for the Marvel Comics multiverse — arguably least of all because it kinda settled who would win in a fight between Doctor Doom and Thanos.

Yes, we know, we know — both characters being broadly defined by a lust for infinite power, Doom wins because he just happened to be the first to satisfy that goal. "Secret Wars" sees him become the God Emperor of a new universe he created to survive the Ultimate Incursion. When Thanos tries to challenge Doom's godhood, the latter proves him wrong by effortlessly removing his spine.

The "Annihilation" event transformed Annihilus from a top-tier villain of the Fantastic Four into a cosmic, intergalactic threat capable of commanding a story with unlimited stakes. (He would be even more popular if James Gunn had followed through on his original plan for "Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3," which would have seen Annihilus serve as the central antagonist instead of the High Evolutionary.)

By the time the storyline was reaching its end, the creative team had so perfectly built up the operatic conflict between his forces and the forces of Richard Rider, the only surviving member of the Nova Corps at the time, that readers were more than ready for a climactic showdown — and boy did they get one. In an explosive battle that spans several pages, Nova staves off a death so imminent that the Lady herself watches alongside a lovingly deceased Thanos, eventually gaining an opening to reach elbow-deep into Annihilus' throat, grab hold of his spine, and rip it through his gaping, buggy maw. The image of the villain dying while choking on the pink mush of his forcefully vomited innards is spectacularly haunting.

For the No. 1 pick on this list, we have to travel to Earth-295, a reality seen in the 2010 series "Uncanny X-Force" in which the titular superhero team has essentially taken over the world. In this reality, Nightcrawler's wife, Linda, was slain (read: fridged) by the Blob, a mutant of immense physical strength and durability — some readers may remember his portrayal by Kevin Durand in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine."

In an act of unrestrained vengeance, Nightcrawler lures Blob to a secure location within a facility that just so happens to have an aquarium nearby. Immediately after Blob proves that Kurt's swords won't do much to his skin, the mutant teleporter is thrown crashing through the glass and into the water — liberating a live shark. With a single "Bamf!", he and the shark are inside the Blob's stomach, with the latter remaining there until it can chew its way out. Horrible, disgusting, and impressively imaginative, it's the most brutal death anyone has suffered in the Marvel Universe.