Although death once seemed shocking for fans of the MCU, a lot of viewers have grown to expect the resurrection of certain characters based on how many times Marvel has used the “fake death trope" to further the plot of films. As of right now, more than five major MCU characters have supposedly died, just to reveal shortly after that it was all just a ruse. Marvel has been faking character deaths since the release ofCaptain America: The First Avengerwhen Bucky was presumed dead after falling off a train, only to come back a few years later as The Winter Soldier.
Loki was the first character to fake his own death on purpose, which happened duringThor, when he drifted into space after the killer robot he sent to Earth was destroyed. His second major fakeout took place duringThor: The Dark Worldwhen he tricked Thor into thinking he had been stabbed. Eventually, Loki had his neck snapped by Thanos duringAvengers: Infinity Warand he was even pruned and sentenced to the void in episode four of his own show. Loki has died and come back four different times now, and fans are starting to get tired of watching him be killed over and over again.
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Agent Phil Coulsonwas killed by Loki duringThe Avengers, but he came back to life forAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D.and served as one of the major protagonists of the series. It’s up for debate whether or notAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D.is MCU canon, because the limited series Marvel has released on Disney Plus have undone some major plot points for the television show. Either way, Coulson was dead, but he somehow managed to be resurrected and continue fighting for Marvel’s heroes.
Gamora is another victim of Marvel’s pretend death cliche, having been sacrificed by Thanos inAvengers: Infinity Warby Thanos so that he could acquire the Soul Stone. Similar to Loki, Gamora is now back in the MCU because of time travel, and the 2014 version of her is due to come back duringGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Even Nick Fury was “dead” after being shot duringCaptain America: The Winter Soldier.He very convincingly staged his own demise, making fans and heroes alike think that he was truly dead. However, later on in the film, Fury revealed that he had done it all to pull strings behind the scenes, so that he could help Steve take down Hydra.
There are plenty of other moments in whichcharacters were “dead” and later revived, like when fans thought Groot was going to die after saving the Guardians and returned as a tiny sapling, or that Hope’s mother inAnt-Manwas dead and gone in the quantum realm, but appeared later inAnt-Man and The Wasp.Overall, dying doesn’t seem to always stick when it happens in the MCU.
Now that Marvel has used the fake death scenario so many times, they’ve lost the element of surprise, because it’s become so predictable that a lot of characters will simply come back once they’ve been killed off. Marvel seems to be getting a bit too comfortable with this plot device, especially since they took it as far as killing Loki in his own show. Due to the frequency of fake deaths in the franchise, a lot of fans are still holding onto hope that characters like Tony, Steve, and Natasha willreappear one day to reprise their roles within the MCU.
Marvel insists that these Avengers will not be returning, but it’s easy to see why people are willing to believe their deaths weren’t permanent. It’s more difficult to say goodbye since the concept of death has lost a lot of its finality in the MCU. There are plenty of other ways in which Marvel could have furthered the plot of their projects, without killing off characters and rendering their sacrifices meaningless.
In some cases, like Bucky, resurrection made sense for the characters because it continued to help the heroes develop within the MCU. For characters like Agent Coulson and Gamora, however, bringing them back negates everything they sacrificed themselves for. Coulson’s death motivated the Avengers to start working together as a team, and Gamora’s death was a major catalyst behind Thanos’ destruction of the universe. Reviving them took away from the emotional impact their passing had on viewers, as well as the other heroes.
Now that Marvel has used fake deaths so much, it seems like a repetitive cop-out solution for when they need to continue their heroes’ stories. Moving forward, Marvel should make death the final stop for their heroes to give it meaning again, and prevent fans from getting tired of the same storylines. It’s worked well a few times in the past, but a lot of character “deaths” were unnecessary and avoidable, especially since acharacter’s story should be complete before they die. Instead of playing with fans by making them think heroes have died, only to have them reappear in the near future, Marvel needs to find a better way to deliver emotion in their films, without reusing the same trope over and over again.
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