Best and worst deaths in a comic book movie

[The Overlord]

What are the best and worst deaths in a comic book movie?

I think Ben Parker's death was handled well.

I think Cyclops' death was pretty bad, he died off screen.

 

[Union Jack]

The death of the planet krypton.
Moving stuff.

 

[Optimus_Prime_]

Best - Death of Krypton/Ben Parker/Bruce's Parents (Batman Begins)/Jean Grey (X2)

Worst - Cyclops

Honorable Mention - Elektra in DareDevil

 

[uniqueweasel]

Best - Big Daddy in Kickass "take cover chiiiiild"

Worst - Cyclops without a doubt

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Best: Jean Grey(X2), Uncle Ben (Spidey1), Harry Osborn (Spidey 3), Bid Daddy (KickAss) Bruce Banners Mother (Hulk), The Wayne's (Batman Begins), The Castle's (The Punisher '04).

Worst: Definately, definately Cyclops in X3, the other deaths in X3 werent much better either.

 

[hopefuldreamer]

Best: Rorschach (Watchmen), The Comedian (Watchmen), Big Daddy (Kick Ass), King Leonidas (300), The Waynes (B B), Rachel (TDK), Ben Parker (SM1), Norman Osborne (SM1), Doc Oc (SM2), Harry Osborne (SM3), Dr Erskine (CA:TFA), Bucky (CA:TFA), John Constantine (Constantine), Eric Draven (The Crow), Jackie Boy (Sin City), Kevin (Sin City).

Worst - CYCLOPS IN X3!!!!!!!!, all the other deaths in the x-men franchise (yes, even Jean in X2), Hal Jordan's father (Green Lantern), Eben Oleson (30 Days of Night).

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

Best: Rorschach (Watchmen), The Comedian (Watchmen), Big Daddy (Kick Ass), King Leonidas (300), The Waynes (B B), Rachel (TDK), Ben Parker (SM1), Norman Osborne (SM1), Doc Oc (SM2), Harry Osborne (SM3), Dr Erskine (CA:TFA), Bucky (CA:TFA), John Constantine (Constantine), Eric Draven (The Crow), Jackie Boy (Sin City), Kevin (Sin City).

Worst - CYCLOPS IN X3!!!!!!!!, all the other deaths in the x-men franchise (yes, even Jean in X2), Hal Jordan's father (Green Lantern), Eben Oleson (30 Days of Night).

I'm not a big fan of the death's in the X-Men franchise either, but there were some good deaths in First Class. Erik's mother, those guys at the bar in Argentina, and Sebastian Shaw's were all great deaths.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

^Wow, totally forgot about Watchmen, so will add Rorschach, the Comedian and another one I thought of, V from V For Vendetta.

 

[uniqueweasel]

^Wow, totally forgot about Watchmen, so will add Rorschach, the Comedian and another one I thought of, V from V For Vendetta.

Ah good call, I think i'd add V to my list too!

 

[elgaz]

I liked the Joker's death in Batman 89. Especially how there was still laughter emanating from him (from a device in his pocket, but creepy nonetheless and a nice touch).

Good call on Rorschach's death in Watchmen - that was pretty strong stuff.

Cyclops death was handled pretty badly, but my worst has to be Nuclear Man in Superman IV. Superman pushes the moon out of orbit, eclipses the Earth, Nuclear Man is instantaneously robbed of his powers (he has to be in direct sunlight or he's powerless) and Superman then kills him by dropping him into a nuclear power plant. Which suddenly gets a power surplus, even though the character was powerless. The whole thing looked ridiculous, made no sense, and went against the character of Superman, who supposedly never kills. At least we can imagine Cyclop's off-screen death was handled better.......

 

[Thebumwhowalks]

Worst death has to be Bill Bixby/Lou Ferrigno's Hulk in the tv movie 'The Death of the Incredible Hulk'. After 5 seasons of him trying to find a cure, for it to end like that, totally depressing.

 

[Thebumwhowalks]

I liked the Joker's death in Batman 89. Especially how there was still laughter emanating from him (from a device in his pocket, but creepy nonetheless and a nice touch).

man, i'd say that was one of the worst. Back in 89, I did not know they were gonna kill off the joker, it was utterly depressing, and I don't see how it could not have been for any longterm Batman fan. Like, no chance of the Joker ever appearing again in a Batman film in this series.
and it was not even really a creative desicion, they did it because of Jack Nicolson's pay deal, and didn't want to pay him that kind of money for any further appearances. I think he might have got a cut of the sequels anyway, as part of that deal.

 

[elgaz]

He got a cut of the box-office, iirc.

I didn't mind the Joker dying in Batman 89. Because Burton took the decision to have the Joker actually be Jack Napier (who killed Wayne's parents), I think he had to die at the end to bring closure to that story arc. Otherwise every film would have had Batman chasing him, because after all, he was arguably the whole reason Batman existed at all in Burton's films. I felt him dying was the right thing for the movie, even if I personally didn't really want to be robbed of the chance to see Joker in a sequel.

Nolan of course kept his Joker well away from the death of Wayne's parents, and thus there was no real need to kill him off at the end. Just a pity that Ledger died and thus we were again faced with no possibility of seeing a great character re-appear in any sequels.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

Yeah, definitely Batman (89) with the Joker's still smiling and his laugh toy still going off.

It kind of suggests the Joker's influence will never die.

 

[Thebumwhowalks]

He got a cut of the box-office, iirc.

I didn't mind the Joker dying in Batman 89. Because Burton took the decision to have the Joker actually be Jack Napier (who killed Wayne's parents), I think he had to die at the end to bring closure to that story arc. Otherwise every film would have had Batman chasing him, because after all, he was arguably the whole reason Batman existed at all in Burton's films. I felt him dying was the right thing for the movie, even if I personally didn't really want to be robbed of the chance to see Joker in a sequel.

No, this is why it was a mistake to make the Joker the killer of Batman's parents in the first place, so the death was part of that storytelling mistake. Their arch-rivalry should stem from their ongoing battle of wits, the Joker being the villan who pushes Batman the furthest.
I did not like the sense that Batman's crusade against the Joker became a personal vendetta once he found out he was the killer of his parents. He should just be going after the Joker because of his crimes, and he shouldn't be changing the gameplay to murdering him, like he did in the film, as he went to Axis Chemicals with the intent of killing him, *after* he found out he was his parent's killer.
It just made Batman a far less interesting character.

Nolan of course kept his Joker well away from the death of Wayne's parents, and thus there was no real need to kill him off at the end. Just a pity that Ledger died and thus we were again faced with no possibility of seeing a great character re-appear in any sequels.

He kept his story the way he was in the books, which was the best way to approach the character.

 

[elgaz]

I agree with what you're saying. But regardless of how we would have preferred the film to be made, Burton did choose to have the Joker be the killer of Wayne's parents, and thus - for that reason - I felt that him dying at the end was the right thing. And the portrayal of his death, with the laughter still audible from his body, was pretty spot-on in my opinion.

 

[Thebumwhowalks]

I agree with what you're saying. But regardless of how we would have preferred the film to be made, Burton did choose to have the Joker be the killer of Wayne's parents, and thus - for that reason - I felt that him dying at the end was the right thing. And the portrayal of his death, with the laughter still audible from his body, was pretty spot-on in my opinion.

Aye, i understand what you're saying, having to kill him off is part of the same reason why it was a bad idea to have him be the killer. Because, every time they face off, you have to bring that whole aspect up again, instead of the Joker earning his place as Batman's arch nemesis, he automatically gets the job. and you don't want to be repeating the same story over and over every time they face off.

They had Joe Chill killed off in BB for the same reason, you have to get that character out of the way. They also killed him off in Year Two, but they did it in a smarter way than in the Burton film, in Year two Batman was struggling over the desicion to kill him, with Chill egging him on to do it, but then another bad vigilante, the Reaper stepped in and did it for him.
so, y'know, that is another reason I didn't like the joker's death in 89, they kind of made it that Batman killed him, yeah, they did it in such a way that he may have survived if he had let go of the helicopter's ladder, but it still did not show batman struggling over the desicion to kill him, which would have been more interesting. He went flat out to kill him once he found out.
the image at the end is good, as you say, but the way it happened was not dramatically good enough imo.

 

[Optimus_Prime_]

Shaw's is great. So is Rorschach. Glad some brought that up, that whole scene is intense, especially the "do it".

 

[hopefuldreamer]

Shaw's is great. So is Rorschach. Glad some brought that up, that whole scene is intense, especially the "do it".

Yeah, seriously. It has to be the number one greatest death scene in a superhero film:

[YT]NFV2sZJrtDQ[/YT]

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Cant believe I forgot about Sebastien Shaw, yeah that was a great death scene, which triggers Magneto's 'god-complex' for the rest of his life, amazing stuff.

 

[henry_9305]

Deacon Frost's death was pretty awesome in Blade. "Some motherf@#$ers are always trying to ice-skate uphill."

 

[MMMMM...Pancakes]

Shredder in the garbage truck, well actually I guess he survived. I like the speech Splinter gives to Shredder before dropping him in the garbage truck.

A lot of other deaths kind of sucked. Such as Iron Monger, Whiplash/Vanko, Doc Ock, Ra's Al Ghul, Two-Face (in both TDK and Batman Forever), and Cyclops.

 

[StarLord]

I don't believe Two-Face's death was that bad (in TDK obviously) as it was purely for the purpose that Joker had suceeded.

In Batman Forever, it was just dumb. Hundreds of coins in the air! Wowee!

 

[Microchip]

I really liked Shaw's death.

Vanko's was pretty terrible. "I have you now! I'll just take off my helme-BOOM". Stupid.

 

[Drizzle]

Best Hero Death: Rorschach, Watchmen
Best Villian Death: Sebastian Shaw, X-Men: First Class

Honorable mentions:

Green Goblin, Spider-Man
Gambol's Henchman (pencil trick), The Dark Knight

Worst Hero Death: Cyclops, X-Men The Last Stand
Worst Villain Death: Two-Face, Batman Forever (Seriously? It's a damn coin. You can get a new one. No need to flail around on a narrow ledge because there's a ton of them flying at you.)