Marvel Comics history has really put its heroes through the wringer, and none more than its premiere hero team: The Avengers. Over the decades, the various members of the team have seen a lot of tragedies enter lives in shocking and heartbreaking ways. While the Marvel Cinematic Universe has brought these stories to life—after a fashion—in live-action, it doesn’t negate these comic tragedies.

  • 2022 brought about one of the most tragic moments for a member of the Avengers in the MCU. In Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Black Panther dies. This is not a spoiler, as Marvel said they would not recast T’Challa’s role after Chadwick Boseman’s death. However, it will create a difficult situation for Wakanda and T’Challa’s family, and it will also lead to the crowning of a new Black Panther in the MCU. This follows both Iron Man’s death and Captain America’s retirement and disappearance. However, as tragic as these moments are in the MCU, there are still things in the comics that make them pale in comparison when looking at tragic moments.

Nevertheless, there have also been quite a few pathbreaking moments in Marvel history that did not make it to the screen, even if they altered the comic’s history. In fact, Marvel Comics can be much more cutthroat than their film counterparts. Some of the worst events in the comics included gory deaths, mind control, and even the assassination of the biggest American hero.

Hank Pym’s Fall From Grace

Ant-Man was one of the original Marvel superheroes. This was Hank Pym, who made his first appearance in Tales to Astonish #27 in 1960, just one month after Marvel Comics introduced its first superheroes in The Fantastic Four. As an elder statesman of Marvel Comics, it seems tragic what befell this once great hero who helped form The Avengers.

It all started with him starting to doubt himself, which led to a mental break where he faked his own death and returned as Yellow Jacket. After deceiving his friends for a time, he finally settled down and married Janet Van Dyne. That marked the end, as he began to unravel once again, created the robot Ultron, which became a dangerous enemy, and then, in a moment of rage, slapped his wife in the face. From that day on, fans considered Hank Pym an abuser, and he never lived it down, even up to his death in 2015.

Captain Marvel Killed Iron Man

In Civil War II, Captain Marvel met an Inhuman who claimed to see the future, and she decided to start arresting people before they ever committed crimes. Iron Man was completely against the idea, and a new war began. When the pre-cog saw Miles Morales kill Captain America, the battle grew in intensity, and Captain Marvel murdered Iron Man when he tried to stop her.

Captain Marvel received commendations from the President of the United States for her actions in protecting the world. Iron Man returned later thanks to him sending his brain conscious into a machine and returning in a cloned body. Despite this, the moment was a low point for The Avengers as a team.

Iron Man Imprisoned His Fellow Avengers In Negative Zone

When the MCU presented Civil War in a movie, it really neutralized what happened in the comics. In the movie, it was a one-installment battle with Iron Man fighting for the pro-registration side and Captain America fighting for the side of freedom. Things were much worse in the comics, with heroes killing each other and people living in fear for their lives.

The worst moments came when three heroes decided that any hero who didn’t want to register to work for the government was considered a criminal. Iron Man, Hank Pym, and Reed Richards set up a prison in the Negative Zone, and they locked away any former ally who didn’t want to be part of the government-controlled superhero teams.

Hulk Went To The Below-Place

The Incredible Hulk has had a terrible life. As a child, his father abused him just because he was smart. His dad then killed Bruce’s mother and forced the boy to testify in his defense. This is why Hulk is a rage monster and other gamma heroes are not, because of the tragedies of his past. Things got worse when he was Hulk and the entire world saw him as a monster and enemy.

However, what might be the worst thing to ever happen to this Avenger came when he died. Hawkeye killed Bruce with an arrow to the head that Banner helped create to keep himself at bay. After this, Banner didn’t go to Heaven or Hell. He went to a location called the Below-Place, which is basically a hellscape for all gamma-powered individuals. For Bruce Banner, not even death could bring him peace.

The Vision Lost His Family

Ultron created The Vision in the comics, but the synthezoid turned on his creator and became a loyal member of the Avengers. Vision then had an interesting life. He fell in love with Scarlet Witch, they got married, and she magically created their children. However, he lost control, ended up deprogrammed, and his life fell apart.

In Yom King and Gabriel Hernandez Walta’s 2015 series, Vision created his own family. He created a wife, a son, and a daughter. However, people couldn’t leave him alone. His wife accidentally killed a blackmailer, and Vision’s brother Victor accidentally killed Vision’s son when the Avengers sent him in as a spy. In the end, all that was left was a broken-hearted Vision and his daughter, Viv, who eventually joined Ms. Marvel in The Champions.

Peter & MJ’s Split

Mary Jane and Peter always had a complex relationship. Their chemistry was a lot more noteworthy than Peter and Gwen’s. Peter and Mary Jane got married in 1987’s The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21, almost two decades after the two first met in Amazing Spider-Man #42. However, their married life was quite rocky and controlled by forces beyond them.

In Amazing Spider-Man #641 MJ asked Peter to find someone else to spend his life with which shocked fans, considering their long-time romance. This was all the more tragic because neither of them wanted to split. Ultimately, they were victims of their circumstances. Nods to this rockiness appear in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse where Peter B. Parker and his MJ are divorced.

Goliath’s Death

Iron Man has made many bad decisions in Marvel Comics. In the crossover storyline Civil War especially, Iron Man’s cloning of Thor may be one of the worst things in Marvel history. With the help of Reed Richards and Hank Pym, Tony cloned Thor and then further augmented the genetically-engineered clone with cybernetics. This cyborg version of Thor would end up killing Goliath AKA Bill Foster, who had sided with Captain America’s Anti-Registration heroes.

Tony Stark’s ego has often led the heroes to trouble. It has never actually resulted in something as major as death. For fans, Stark’s selfish move to clone Thor remains one of the most easily avoidable tragedies in the comics. Just because Tony can do something, doesn’t mean he should.

Wanda’s Break From Reality

One of the most tragic episodes in the comic series happened during Avengers Disassemble, the storyline that would eventually lead to a relaunch of Avenger’s titles. In the storyline, Wasp’s irresponsible comment about motherhood triggered Wanda’s suppressed memory of her lost twins, William and Thomas. As a result, it caused Scarlet Witch to snap. Wanda’s mentor Agatha Harkness suppressed this memory in her mind.

For fans of WandaVision, this break definitely echoes the tragedy inherent to the live-action series. Wanda’s loss of control only serves to show the immense psychological and emotional toll heroics can take on an individual. There’s only so much that a hero can bear.

Wasp’s Death

Janet Van Dyne has been injured, maimed, mutated, and has been through a lot during her time as an Avenger. In 2008’s Secret Invasion, she appeared to die during a Skrull invasion when her Pym Particles were compromised. She was turned into a chemical bomb and Thor had to use Mjolnir to turn her into energy and disperse her.

The superheroes were quite enraged at this mishap and worked together to end the Skrull invasion, bringing them together at a crucial moment. Despite being a plot point, Wasp’s death remained one of the most tragic occurrences in the comics. Janet Van Dyne, after all, was a ray of sunshine to many people. The death, however, didn’t stick in the long term.

Scarlet Witch Depowering The Mutants

Scarlet Witch has done some questionable things in Marvel Comics, but depowering the mutants was one of her worst decisions considering the amount of suffering it caused to the mutant population. Scarlet Witch also had no reason to depower the mutants, it was more or less just an impulsive act.

When she said no more mutants post the House of M fiasco, her spell robbed 986,618 mutants of their powers. While some were turned back to humans, the mutants who depended on their powers to survive were killed. The untold tragedy was utterly senseless in-universe and out.

The Storyline Where Captain America Was A Fascist

Marvel Comics’ 2017 crossover, Secret Empire, revealed Steve Rogers as a long-time Hydra agent. The arc also revealed that in this timeline Allies lost the war until they got their hands on the Cosmic Cube and used it to change Captain America’s loyalty in order to tip World War II in their favor.

This caused a major outrage among Marvel fans especially given the difficult political climate of 2016-2017. Fans largely agreed that the timing for this storyline could not have been worse, and the sequence of Captain America saying, “Hail Hydra,” did some major damage. The MCU did poke fun at it, but anyone who read the comics knows that this wasn’t the real Captain America at all.

The Downfall Of Reed Richards

Ultimate Fantastic Four gradually adopted a darker tonality, and Reed Richards’ character went through a significant, dark transformation. His genius is what made him a supervillain, and for many of his fans, this was a heartbreaking moment, considering Richards was famed for using his mind for the greater good.

The Ultimate variant of Reed Richards - or the Maker - went on to become one of the most notorious Marvel supervillains, which was a fascinating, almost Breaking Bad-esque turn. While it made for a complex and layered storyline, it also alienated some of the readers who grew up idolizing Reed Richards.

Beast’s Death

Beast was one of the first heroes to die in the original Ultimate X-Men series, sacrificing himself to save his friends from an explosion. This is in sync with his character since he has been known to be the most selfless friend, but his tragic end came without any warning which shocked the fandom.

Beast’s death was one of the most shocking deaths in the Marvel Universe. Due to his beloved nature from audiences and characters alike, it was terribly shocking. But, it also came across as shocking for the sake of being shocking.

Stature’s Death

Cassie Lang, the daughter of Ant-Man Scott Lang, was just a teenager when she died, which made her shocking end even sadder. In 2010s Children’s Crusade storyline, Doom blasts Cassie with an explosive spell that kills her, dying in the arms of her father after being newly reunited.

Not only was Stature’s death brutal, but Scott had to go through one of the most traumatic things that a parent could go through seeing their child die and being unable to prevent it. While the Young Avengers storyline remains highly rated, Stature’s death just felt absolutely unnecessary, merely meant to cause Scott Lang pain.

Captain America’s Assassination

No one was quite ready for a tragedy this big to rock the world of Marvel Comics. The Captain’s assassination was one of the most emotional moments for the fans. In the aftermath of Civil War, Captain America turned himself in for arrest in order to stop the violence between the warring factions. As he was being led into a courthouse, a brainwashed Sharon Carter assassinated Steve on orders from Doctor Faustus.

Not only does this hurt due to Steve and Sharon’s long-running romance in the comics, but Sharon would later find out that she was pregnant with Steve’s child. While many fans do not remember Civil War fondly, the tragedy still hit hard.