Jan 15, 2022
20 Times Superhero Movies Got Very Dark Very Fast
Though superheroes are typically presented in hopeful and enjoyable movies, there are still many times when these heroes can have some grim and gritty moments.
These moments have shown audiences that, despite the many fantastical and lighthearted elements of comic book movies, superheroes and their stories can be taken seriously. Thus, brace yourselves, because I’m about to dive into the list for the 20 Times Superhero Movies Got Pretty Dark.
WARNING: 🚨SPOILERS🚨 AND GRAPHIC CONTENT AHEAD!!!
20. Shaw Dies, Magneto Is Born — X-Men: First Class
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At the end of this X-Men prequel, Erik confronts the mutant Sebastian Shaw, the man who killed his mother. With Professor X freezing the villain’s body with his telepathy, Erik decides to exact his revenge by driving a Nazi coin through Shaw’s skull. The Professor begs Erik to spare his life, but his pleas fail to get through to him. With the Professor screaming as the coin goes through Shaw’s skull, it appears as though Erik is killing his friend along with his enemy, thus giving birth to the mutant villain Magneto.
19. Tentacle Attack — Spider-Man 2
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After an experiment-gone-wrong grafts his robot tentacles to his body, Otto Octavius is rushed to the hospital so the doctors can try to remove them from his body. The scene starts innocently enough, but once the A.I. inside the tentacles takes over, they start to murder all the doctors in Otto’s operating room. It’s a particularly horrifying scene in a relatively lighthearted film, but it effectively displays how far the good doctor has fallen as he transforms into the evil Doctor Octopus.
18. Rachel’s Death — The Dark Knight
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This film is full of notably dark moments, but the one that stands out the most is the death of Rachel Dawes. After the Joker has her and Harvey Dent trapped in separate buildings armed with explosives, he tricks Batman into going to the one where Dent is by claiming Rachel was there. Not only do Batman and Harvey lose the woman they love, but her tragic death drives Dent, Gotham’s White Knight, to become the villainous Two-Face.
17. Reunion with Peggy — Captain America: The Winter Soldier
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After decades of separation, we see Steve Rogers finally reunite with his true love, Peggy Carter. However, we learn in this film that the elderly Carter suffers from Alzheimer’s disease as she instantly forgets the conversation she has with Steve. Who knows how many times Steve had visited her before, only for her to forget each and every time.
16. The Capitol Bombing — Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
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In an effort to frame Superman for murder, Lex Luthor plants a bomb that the Kryptonian is unable to detect inside the Capitol Building. During his trial there, the bomb goes off, and everyone inside is immediately incinerated except for Superman. As the Man of Steel stands within the flames, completely unharmed, we can see him mourn over his failure to stop this tragedy and save everyone around him, displaying his inner struggle over trying to be a savior for all of humanity.
15. Sivana Murders the Board — Shazam!
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Having acquired the power of the Seven Deadly Sins, Doctor Sivana meets with his abusive father and brother and exacts revenge on them. In a truly horrifying scene, Sivana throws his older brother out the window and has the Sins devour his father and his fellow board members. Shocking and unrelenting, this scene harkens back to director David F. Sandberg’s roots in horror while cementing Doctor Sivana as a truly evil person.
14. Ratcatcher’s Past — The Suicide Squad
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Even though this film is full of wacky characters and silly moments, they still don’t detract from how utterly dark James Gunn’s story is. One notable scene is when Ratcatcher II recounts her childhood growing up in the streets of Portugal. We learn that her father, though brilliant and loving, suffered from drug addiction and died from an overdose, leaving her to fend for herself. Though she and her father were thieves before his death, such a tragic past displays how people like her can end up walking down the wrong path.
13. Iron Man Gets Murderous — Captain America: Civil War
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In the third act of this film, Iron Man learns that Captain America’s friend-turned-HYDRA agent-fugitive Bucky Barnes murdered his parents and that Cap himself knew about it and didn’t tell him. A vengeful Iron Man then tries to kill Barnes despite the fact that he was brainwashed by HYDRA when he did it. Captain America tries to protect Barnes and is forced to battle Iron Man, all but destroying his friendship with him. This bleak final battle shows how far the Avengers have fallen and perfectly cements the divide between them for years to come.
12. Silas’s Sacrifice — Zack Snyder’s Justice League
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When the evil alien Steppenwolf tries to reclaim the third and final Mother Box, Victor’s father, Silas, locks it and himself in a glass chamber and uses a laser cannon in what seems like an attempt to destroy the Box. Unfortunately, Silas is immediately vaporized as a result. Victor can only watch as his father sacrifices himself to try and save the Earth. This was another terrible moment in Victor’s already traumatic life, losing the last of his family and one of the last remains of his old life.
11. The Night Gwen Stacy Died — The Amazing Spider-Man 2
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During his battle with his friend-turned-enemy Harry, Peter’s girlfriend, Gwen, ends up falling from the top of a clock tower. Though Peter succeeds in catching her with his web, her head still hits the ground, and she dies instantly. The filmmakers amazingly adapted such a legendary comic book moment, and Andrew Garfield’s tearjerking performance in this scene perfectly captures Peter’s sorrow over losing his true love.
10. The Death of Killmonger — Black Panther
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After T’Challa succeeds in defeating his evil cousin, Killmonger, the Wakandan King fulfills his enemy’s dream by taking him out to see his country’s sunset. Though T’Challa offers to heal him, the latter refuses as he knows he will be imprisoned for his crimes. He thus decides to end his life, claiming that his ancestors chose that over a life of bondage. Even after all the terrible things Killmonger did, the film made us sympathize with him as he was wrongfully abandoned as a child, which is enough to make you shed a tear for this tragic, young man.
9. The Opening Scene — Avengers: Infinity War
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Right when the Marvel Studios logo first appeared, we knew this movie was going to be dark. In the first few minutes, we see Thanos and his followers massacre half of the people of Asgard, defeat the Hulk, choke Thor’s brother, Loki, to death, and murder his friend, Heimdall. This harrowing scene perfectly sets the dark tone of the film while establishing how great a threat Thanos really is.
8. Aunt May Is Murdered — Spider-Man: No Way Home
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After Peter fails to cure Norman Osborn of his evil personality, the Green Goblin takes over his mind and throws a pumpkin bomb at Aunt May. Though it seems like May survived the blast, we soon learn that she was still gravely wounded and ends up bleeding to death right in front of her nephew. This moment ultimately breaks Peter, and the sight of him watching J. Jonah Jameson blame him for her death on live TV emphasizes how much his mistakes have hurt himself and the world around him.
7. Superman Kills Zod — Man of Steel
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In this infamous and climactic scene, General Zod threatens to kill innocent civilians while he is held down by Superman. The latter begs Zod to let them live, but after the evil Kryptonian refuses, the Man of Steel reluctantly snaps his neck, effectively killing him. Not only does this mark the first time that this Superman killed someone, Zod’s death meant that Kal-El has truly become the Last Son of Krypton.
6. Cyborg’s Knightmare — Zack Snyder’s Justice League
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As the Justice League tries to resurrect Superman with the Mother Box, Cyborg suddenly has a vision of a future in which Darkseid succeeds in obtaining the Anti-Life Equation. We catch glimpses of Wonder Woman’s funeral pyre, her fellow Amazons enslaved by Darkseid, and the evil god murdering multiple Atlanteans, including Aquaman. We also see Superman holding Lois Lane’s charred corpse, allowing Darkseid to take control of the Man of Steel and rule over a post-apocalyptic Earth. And to think, Cyborg tried to warn Flash against it, and that the latter mishearing him is what sealed this fate for the entire multiverse.
5. Thanos Kills Gamora — Avengers: Infinity War
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In order to claim the Soul Stone, Thanos is forced to sacrifice someone that he loves the most. Though his adopted daughter, Gamora, initially celebrates, thinking he lost due to him not loving anyone, she is horrified to learn the person he loves most turns out to be herself. Though the evil Titan sheds a tear for his daughter, he wastes no time in throwing her off the cliff and to her death. In the end, Thanos does acquire the Stone, proving that in his own way, he loved Gamora, making this scene all the more soul-shattering.
4. Wanda Kills Vision — Avengers: Infinity War
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In a last-ditch effort to stop Thanos from acquiring all the Infinity Stones, Wanda reluctantly destroys the Mind Stone inside Vision’s head. As the other Avengers fail to hold back the all-powerful Thanos, we slowly watch Wanda agonize over having to sacrifice the android she loves until she finally kills him. This ultimately fails, as Thanos reverses time and takes the Mind Stone anyway, so not only do we have to see Vision die twice, but Wanda ended up killing her true love for nothing.
3. The Death of Rorschach — Watchmen
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After Ozymandias succeeds in staving off nuclear war with his own global attack, Rorschach decides he must expose his plan to the world. The other Watchmen refuse to reveal the truth out of fear that it will only resume humanity’s war with itself, driving Dr. Manhattan to stop Rorschach by any means necessary. Unwilling to compromise, Rorschach tearfully goads Manhattan into killing him, and Nite Owl’s screams over his friend’s death will no doubt linger in your mind long after the credits roll.
2. Uncle Ben Dies — Spider-Man
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We’ve all seen Uncle Ben die more times than we’d prefer. However, none of his deaths are quite like the one he experiences in Sam Raimi’s iconic Spider-Man film. You all know the story: After letting an armed robber go free, Peter Parker is shocked to learn that this same man ends up killing his Uncle Ben, driving him to fight crime as the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. Tobey Maguire and Cliff Robertson’s performances as Peter and Ben really tug at the heartstrings, and the tragedy behind the latter’s death is successfully captured in Spidey’s first big blockbuster.
1. The Snap — Avengers: Infinity War
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Though we all had a feeling that Thanos would win, it still didn’t soften the cosmic blow enough. Just when we thought the Avengers succeeded in defeating Thanos, the Titan gains the upper hand and wipes half of all life in the universe with a snap of his fingers. Many of the characters we’ve grown to love over the years vanished before our eyes in an instant, and seeing Spider-Man struggle to stay alive as he fades away broke our hearts the most. And in the end, Thanos simply smiled after unleashing all this death upon creation, making this the darkest moment in any superhero movie.
