It seems that all everyone wants to know about Infinity War is just who exactly is going to kick the bucket during its runtime. So I decided to gather up all the main Avengers – plus some new additions with this movie – and tally up just how many times they've each died. As a result, we should be able to figure out which Avenger will be the greatest Reaper magnet.
All death stats were curated from Comicvine.gamespot.com, which keeps track of this sort of thing.
Source: nerdist.com
10. Spider-Man
One Death: Amazing Spider-Man #700
Huh. Really? I could have sworn there were more of these.
Like, I did a lot of digging, but I could only find this single canonical example of 616 Spider-Man’s death, in which ultimate Peter kicked the bucket in a huge event comic. Amazing Spider-Man #700 is the only real example I could find of Spidey being killed off for real. And even then, his body still lived on.
After enduring years of serious brain damage, Doctor Octopus decided to enact his final plan, and actually succeeded in swapping his brain into Spider-Man's body. Then Ock's body finally gave out before Peter could reverse the process, and he died. However, fragments of Peter's mind were still active, and he was eventually rebooted after spending some time Superior Spider-Man-ing.
Hey, according to these metrics, it doesn't look like Peter's gonna be dying. And these metrics cannot lie.
Source: dailydot.com
9. Black Widow
Two Deaths: Avengers #177 and Secret Empire #7
And here we have our first main Avenger.
Natasha has actually died very few times for a comic book character. It's weird. Her first-ever death came at Korvac’s hands during his titular saga. She was blasted in the chest and died on the spot, although this death was pretty much immediately undone.
Her second death occurred during the Marvel Comics event Secret Empire. In this story, Steve Rogers had his personal reality re-written to make him into a HYDRA sleeper agent. Natasha was a leader of the superhero resistance, and she fought him tooth and nail. But in the end, she wound up stepping between Steve’s shield and Miles Morales, aka Spider-Man. The shield struck her in the neck, and killed her.
Buuuut again, while I haven't been reading Tales of Suspense, it appears that she's probably making her return over there as we speak.
Source: grantland.com
8. Black Panther
Three Deaths: Onslaught #1, Infinity Gauntlet #1, Avengers #177
A relatively new – but highly profitable – addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe canon, Black Panther has only died a couple of times. One of them was in that previously mentioned chapter of the Korvac Saga in which he’s blasted THROUGH THE CHEST. Hell, man, that's brutal as heck for a seventies Marvel Comic.
He was also one of the many people (half the cosmos, in fact) who were blasted out of existence when Thanos snapped his fingers with the Infinity Gauntlet in the first issue of that maxi-series.
Finally, he was also one of numerous heroes who seemingly met their ends at the hands of Onslaught in that giant ridiculous event comic book. Look, I normally try really hard to read everything I write about, as opposed to just doing research through online sources, but the Onslaught saga is like 60 issues, and that's not happening.
That's like, almost the entire length of Preacher.
Source: pinterest.com
7. Hulk
Three Deaths: Onslaught #1, Secret Wars #11, Civil War II #3
The Hulk!!!!! I like the Hulk.
So, how many times has he died? Well, he was another dude who was exterminated by Onslaught, only to find himself stuck in the Heroes Reborn universe.
He also died alongside all the heroes in the original Secret Wars before he was resurrected alongside all the heroes in the original Secret Wars. Yeah, the whole everyone dies and then comes back like three pages later thing kind of showed up in every single big Marvel event for a real long time.
Hawkeye finally killed him at the halfway point of Civil War 2. This was actually on Bruce Banner's specific direction. He told Hawkeye to kill him if he looked like he was ever going to turn into the Hulk again. Of course, he's totally back now, and he’s about to star in a book (that looks pretty good). So whatever.
Source: postimg.com
6. Iron Man
Three Deaths: Avengers #395, Infinity Gauntlet #4, Avengers #177
Everyone seems to believe that Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, will die in Infinity War. While I'm not sure that's the case, there's certainly a precedent for it.
First, we need to go back to our old friend Avengers #177, in which the Power Cosmic fried Tony so hard that his arc reactor exploded.
Next, we have to turn to Infinity Gauntlet #4, in which Thanos violently murdered all the heroes who opposed him. Then they were all resurrected like an issue later.
Finally, he bit it at the end of The Crossing, in which it turned out that Stark had always been a mole for Kang the Conqueror, and was literally always evil. And to think you hated HydraCap. Anyway, a teenage Tony Stark was pulled through time to defeat the older, evil version. Then the old evil Tony made a heroic sacrifice, and the combination of Heroes Reborn and Heroes Return wiped the whole dumb thing right out of continuity.
Source: cheatsheet.com
5. The Vision
Three Deaths: Avengers the Children's Crusade #9, Avengers #500, Infinity Gauntlet #4
Death also looks like a possibility for The Vision. After all, Thanos needs that Infinity Gem that happens to be crammed right in our colorful robot boy's skull. But that doesn't mean that anything’s certain.
First, we have our Infinity Gauntlet #4 death, when he went out alongside some others. Then there's the first part of Avengers Disassembled, Avengers #500, in which the Scarlet Witch brings on machinations that cause She-Hulk to lose control and rip The Vision in half. That kills him.
The Vision was rebooted from a backup drive in Iron Lad's old suit back in Young Avengers. Buuuuuuut that wouldn't last, either, as Iron Lad destroyed that version when he came back and went all Kang Jr. on him. But Classic Recipe Vision returned, and is still around at present.
Source: popculture-y.com
4. Scarlet Witch
Four Deaths: Infinity Gauntlet #4, Uncanny Avengers #14, Avengers #177, Onslaught #1
We’re really gettin' up there now, folks, into characters who rival Professor X when it comes to frequent death.
Scarlet Witch has a bunch of deaths that we've already talked about, but let's quickly rattle through them. She and Black Widow are zapped in Avengers #177, and both of them die.
As discussed, she goes out alongside the others In Infinity Gauntlet #4. She dies and comes back in the whole Onslaught into Heroes Reborn thing.
Her single most unique death comes in Uncanny Avengers #14. She goes out as she tries to save the world immediately after Wonder Man dies. She came back not too long after that, and then a bunch of other assorted ridiculous stuff happened to her. But where is she now (typing noises)? Still on the Avengers! Neat! Good for her.
Source: insidepulse.com
3. Hawkeye
Five Deaths: Avengers #502, Infinity Gauntlet #1, Secret Wars #11, Avengers #177. Onslaught #1
Shockingly enough, Hawkeye’s been through a hell of a lot of death. In fact, I was honestly surprised at how many times this dude has been buried.
First, we have the obligatory Avengers #177, in which Korvac laser-blasted both Hawkeye and Yondu through the stomach and killed them. Then he and his fellow Avengers all met their respective ends in Secret Wars #11.
In Infinity Gauntlet #1, Hawkeye hung out with Captain America until Thanos vanished half of the universe with a finger-snap. Clint Barton was in the vanished half, and he poofed while on panel. He was also with the Avengers who died and were pocket universe-ed in Onslaught #1. Well, maybe not, because Onslaught Reborn retconned that version of Hawkeye into Wolverine or something? It's silly.
Finally, he was among the Avengers who bit it during Disassembled, although that happened when he grabbed a malfunctioning jetpack and kamikaze-ed himself into a Kree warship. He was back in a limited capacity less than a year later, and came back for good shortly after that.
Source: nerdist.com
2. Captain America
Six Deaths: Captain America #25, Captain America #443, Avengers #177, Secret Wars #11, Onslaught #1, Infinity Gauntlet #4
And we have a tie for first place, but let's go with the obvious contender first. Again, we have some old favorites.
In Avengers #177, Steve is thrown through a wall and it somehow kills him. Huh. Secret Wars #11 is pretty much the same as all the other ones. In Infinity Gauntlet, he fought against Thanos and died as a true hero. This was one of the character’s finest moments.
In Onslaught #1, Onslaught downed Cap, who was then Heroes Reborn-ed back to life. He also briefly kicked at the end of his Cap Armor period. That was before Operation: Rebirth started and set off that kickass Waid and Garney run.
Finally, here's the biggie. In Captain America #25, the Death of Captain America was a huge story in which Crossbones and a mind-controlled Sharon Carter shot Cap and killed him off from 2007 to 2010.
Those comics are good. You should read "˜em if you haven't yet.
Source: marvel.com
1. Thor
Six Deaths: Thor #85, Fear Itself #7, Onslaught #1, Avengers Annual #16, Secret Wars #11, New Avengers #32
And here we are, folks, our second Sixer! Tied for First Place, it's the mighty Thor! Thor’s died a bunch of unique deaths, but first, we have to roll through the familiar ones. You’ll notice that Avengers #177 isn't here!!! Holy crap! He actually survived that one!
He did die in Secret Wars #11 and Onslaught #1, however. He died fighting the Legion of the Unliving in Avengers Annual #16, although he immediately returned.
Thor subsequently repeatedly died and resurrected during a brief period of time. In Thor #85, during Avengers Disassembled, he put himself in Odinsleep and was near death after Asgard's destruction, but came back after Civil War. He expired for real at the end of Fear Itself, and returned within the year. AND he died and was unkilled just within the run-up to Time Runs Out in New Avengers #32.
And there you have all the dead Avengers, and how dead they've all been.
