Sep 03, 2026 4:56pm IST
‘Avengers Endgame: Encore’: Ranking Every Death in the Film, From Least to Most Devastating
Spoilers ahead for “Avengers: Endgame.”
“Avengers: Endgame” is a movie about death and the lengths people will go to undo it. While “Infinity War” ended with half the universe disappearing in a snap, “Endgame” deals with the aftermath before extracting a very different price.
For this ranking, we are counting named characters who actually die during the events of “Endgame.” That excludes the heroes erased in “Infinity War” and later brought back, as well as characters such as Loki, Vision, Heimdall and the original Gamora, whose deaths happened in earlier films. The unnamed casualties of Thanos’ army also do not make the cut.
Here are the “Endgame” deaths, ranked from least to most devastating.
9. Akihiko
The first named death in “Endgame” belongs to Akihiko, the Yakuza leader played by Hiroyuki Sanada. Five years after the Snap, Clint Barton has become Ronin, hunting criminal organisations around the world. In Tokyo, he takes down Akihiko and his men before Natasha tracks him down.
Akihiko himself barely registers as a loss. His death, however, tells us everything about Clint. The Hawkeye we knew has disappeared, replaced by a grieving vigilante who has spent five years turning his rage into violence.
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8. Cull Obsidian
Cull Obsidian returns as part of the 2014 version of Thanos’ army and meets one of the MCU’s most spectacularly undignified ends. During the Battle of Earth, Scott Lang grows into Giant-Man and literally steps on Cull, killing him.
There is no grand farewell or dramatic final stand. A character who once required the Hulkbuster to defeat is ultimately reduced to an obstacle under Ant-Man’s boot.
7. Corvus Glaive
Corvus Glaive returns with Thanos’ 2014 army and is killed by Okoye during the Battle of Earth. His death is followed by Tony Stark’s Snap, which erases the entire invading army.
Like Cull, Corvus carries little emotional weight in “Endgame.” But his return reinforces the scale of the final battle. The villains who once overwhelmed the Avengers and Wakanda are now fighting a very different version of those heroes.
6. Ebony Maw and Proxima Midnight
Ebony Maw and Proxima Midnight, two of Thanos’ most recognisable lieutenants from “Infinity War,” return as part of his 2014 forces. Both are ultimately erased by Tony’s Snap alongside the rest of Thanos’ army.
Their deaths are less about individual grief and more about continuity. The Black Order that helped Thanos conquer the universe is finally wiped out in a single moment.
5. 2014 Nebula
“Endgame” gets surprisingly dark with Nebula. Because the 2014 and 2023 versions of Nebula are cybernetically linked, Thanos discovers the Avengers’ plan. The younger Nebula helps Thanos travel to the future, eventually confronting the version of herself who escaped his control. Present-day Nebula shoots her 2014 counterpart, effectively killing the person she might have remained had she never broken free.
It is one of the film’s strangest deaths, but also one of its most thematically interesting. Nebula is not simply defeating a villain. She is destroying a version of herself that never got the chance to change.
4. Thanos: The First Death
“Endgame” delivers one of its biggest shocks before the opening act is even over. The Avengers track Thanos to his garden planet, only to discover that he has destroyed the Infinity Stones. With the mission apparently over, Thor uses Stormbreaker to decapitate him.
After spending “Infinity War” building Thanos into the MCU’s ultimate threat, Marvel kills him almost casually. The shock comes from how definitive it feels, until the film jumps five years ahead and reveals that killing Thanos did nothing to undo the Snap.
3. Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow
The Soul Stone requires a sacrifice, and on Vormir, Natasha and Clint discover that one of them has to die to retrieve it. Neither is willing to let the other make that sacrifice. They fight, each trying to save the other, until Natasha ultimately falls from the cliff. Unlike the victims of the original Snap, Natasha does not return when Hulk reverses it.
That makes her death particularly painful. The Avengers spend the film trying to bring their loved ones back, only to discover that Natasha’s sacrifice is permanent.
2. Thanos: The Final Death
Thanos’ first death is shocking. His second is cathartic. The 2014 version of Thanos learns about his future and realises that the Avengers intend to undo everything he accomplished. He brings his army to 2023, leading to the Battle of Earth.
When Thanos gets hold of the Infinity Stones, it appears history is about to repeat itself. But Tony has already taken them. He snaps his fingers. Thanos and his entire army disintegrate.
The Mad Titan, who spent two films believing himself inevitable, is finally defeated by the very people he thought he had conquered. But Tony pays the price.
1. Tony Stark / Iron Man
“Endgame” begins with Tony Stark stranded in space and ends with him giving his life to save the universe. After taking the Infinity Stones from Thanos, Tony snaps his fingers, erasing Thanos and his army. The power of the Stones fatally overwhelms him.
He gets one final moment with Peter Parker, who has returned after being erased by the original Snap, before Pepper Potts tells him he can rest. Then Tony dies.
What makes the moment devastating is the 11 years of history behind it. “Iron Man” launched the MCU in 2008 with Tony declaring, “I am Iron Man.” In “Endgame,” those same words become the final act of a character who began as a selfish billionaire and ended by giving everything to save everyone else.
For all the time travel, cosmic warfare and enormous stakes, “Endgame” ultimately comes down to one sacrifice. Tony Stark does not come back. And that is the death that still hurts the most.
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