Despite their success in saving the world, The Avengers have witnessed their fair share of controversial deaths in Marvel Comics. It's understood that whenever superheroes don the cape and costume and risk their lives to save others, there is a strong chance that they will not return alive.
However, some instances went too far in killing off the most beloved Avengers, often upsetting readers and alienating the fanbase in the process. Whether big names like Captain America and Hulk or more low-key Avengers like Goliath and War Machine, the most controversial deaths ended with unwarranted tragedy and complete dissatisfaction among readers.
10 Black Widow
Secret Empire (2017) took place in a disturbing alternate Marvel reality where Captain America allied with Hydra to overtake the U.S. To combat the villainous sleeper agent, Black Widow helped guide a large roster of Marvel heroes. Alas, she lost her life after making a really dimwitted decision that drew controversy.
Once Black Widow failed to shoot Cap, Miles Morales attempted to fight the evil variant. Just as Cap attacked Miles, Black Widow clumsily lunged between them and had her neck accidentally broken by Cap's shield, dying before she hit the ground. Readers couldn't understand how such a skilled former spy could be so clueless and careless as to accidentally die in such a grim and violent way, especially after forgoing her opportunity to snipe the villain down when she had the chance.
9 Bruce Banner
Given how steeped in political discourse Mark Millar's Civil War comic was relating to the events of 9/11, fans were not too thrilled when Civil War II was announced. They became even more upset when Hawkeye shot and killed Bruce Banner with an arrow after Ulysses predicts Hulk will go on a murderous rampage.
Once confronting Banner, an arrow suddenly pierces his head and kills him instantly. Fans were not only upset to kill off one of Marvel's most influential heroes but to do so at the hands of Hawkeye stirred further controversy. Even when it was revealed that Banner ordered Hawkeye to kill him if he ever started losing control of his body, fans loathed the ill-advised death and couldn't wait for the Avenger's inevitable return.
8 Captain America
One of the most shocking and heartbreaking Avengers deaths came when Captain America was sniped down outside the courthouse in the aftermath of the Civil War. The controversial death was orchestrated by Red Skull and left Cap bleeding to death just before he was set to turn himself in and be tried for his Pro-Registration ties, denying him the justice that he stands for.
Aside from the tragedy of the Avengers losing their leader, the unpopular ripple effect that Cap's death had throughout the Marvel Universe sewed even more controversy. Bucky Barnes assumed the mantle of Captain America, marking the end of an era many readers were not ready to say goodbye to while ushering in the newfangled Captain America Reborn.
7 Captain Mar-Vell
Superheroes die risking their lives while protecting others on the battlefield. The last thing readers expect to see is an honorary Avenger like Captain Mar-Vell succumb to lung cancer. Alas, that's precisely what took place in The Death of Captain Mar-Vell in 1982.
The controversy surrounding Captain Mar-Vell's death largely derived from the gobsmacking shock of the cancer diagnosis itself. While the storyline gave a relatable human depth to the character, the sadness of the Avengers saying goodbye to their terminally-ill teammate while his beloved Elysius looked on was simply too much to bear.
6 The Avengers
Marvel's 1996 mega-event Onslaught was a messy affair. Professor X and Magneto joined brain power to form Onslaught, a deadly psychic entity that got stronger with each mutant attack. The Avengers, X-Men, and Fantastic Four combined forces to thwart the supervillain, only for Onslaught to easily overpower the whole team.
With Thor leading the charge, the Avengers accidentally empower Onslaught, who in turn swiftly slaughters Thor, Iron Man, Hank Pym, Wasp, Hulk, Captain America, Falcon, Vision, Scarlet Witch, and Black Panther. The most controversial aspect of the deaths is how it resulted in the longest duration on Earth where humanity wasn't protected by the Avengers. Most egregious, the deaths led to the extremely unpopular Heroes Reborn storyline.
5 Goliath
Introduced in 1966, Bill Foster became a valuable member of the Secret Avengers as Goliath. During Civil War, Goliath was randomly killed by the dangerous Thor villain Ragnarok. However, neither much reason was given for his permanent death, nor were those responsible held to account, leaving many readers scratching their heads.
Killing off one of the few prominent Black Avengers in such a tasteless, offhanded manner was unpopular. However, the real reason Goliath's death was received so poorly at the time was the way in which those responsible - Hank Pym, Reed Richards, and Tony Stark - got away with their crimes without so much as lamenting their so-called fallen comrade. Goliath's disrespectful sendoff was never justified satisfyingly.
4 Hawkeye
Hawkeye bravely fought a fleet of Kree soldiers during the Avengers Disassembled storyline. However, once he was blasted in the back with a laser, Hawkeye killed himself by grabbing a Kree warrior and flying into a spaceship once his quiver of arrows was about to explode.
The sacrifice was a magnanimous move for the fallen superhero, but many readers felt that Hawkeye's death did not align with his character. Aside from the revelation that Scarlet Witch orchestrated the entire Kree attack, many felt Hawkeye could have easily avoided his demise by removing his quiver. In the end, Hawkeye's death was done all in vain, which left many readers upset when a more satisfying conclusion never came.
3 Teen Tony Stark
In Avengers: Endgame, Tony Stark gave his life in one of the most heroic deaths in MCU history. It's a far cry from the time Stark was retconned in The Avengers: Crossing, where he allied with the time-traveling Marvel villain Kang the Conqueror and strangely sacrificed his future life.
Once the Avengers catch wind of Stark's ruse, they travel back in time and recruit a teenage Stark to stop Kang in the future. Shockingly, teen Stark boldly sacrifices his own life to end Kang's mission, killing his future self in the process. Untoward, unconvincing, and downright unbearable, the misguided attempt to reinvent Stark left fans curious as to why one of the most beloved Avengers could die in such a ridiculous manner.
2 Wasp
Janet Van Dyne (Wasp) suffered one of the goriest and most horrifying Avengers deaths on record. Taking place in the Ultimatum storyline, Hank Pym and Hawkeye find Wasp's dead body in flooded New York City, where the Blob gorily devours Wasp's corpse in an extremely unsettling fashion.
The disturbing fatality sickened readers at the time and left fans reeling ever since. As Screen Rant points out, the controversial death of Wasp was finally atoned for in Mech Strike: Monster Hunters. In the comic, Wasp finds revenge and self-referentially comments on the controversy of her own death by telling Norman Osborn "eating your enemies is off the rails" after he tries to consume her shrunken body.
1 War Machine
Another controversial death in a Civil War book, the Avengers' failure to stop Thanos before he attacks Earth results in the disrespectful, anticlimactic, and undignified death of Colonel James Rhodes, aka War Machine. Rhodes was a prominent member of the Secret Avengers who has been a valuable part of the Marvel Universe since 1978.
For such a long-running Marvel character, especially one of color, to be casually dismissed in such a callous and non-dramatic way rankled fans who felt the character deserved a much better final farewell. Rather than give War Machine the proper goodbye, many did not like the way things went down, as his cheap expenditure felt like a last-ditch effort to raise the dramatic stakes of the storyline.