Whether we like it or not, there comes a point when we lose the greatest heroes in battle. Character deaths, especially in the Marvel Cinematic Universe often signal the franchise's next chapter with the torch being passed to a new breed of superheroes.
Marvel Studios may have risked losing some of the original Avengers lineup following Avengers: Endgame, but it appears that the studio wasn't prepared for its turnout.
Granted, things haven't been quite the same since we lost Tony Stark, the first-ever hero to kickstart the MCU, but this is no excuse for trying to bring the dead back to life.
Tony Stark isn't the only character they want to keep as the franchise's flagbearer, mind you. Here are a couple of instances that prove why Marvel isn't doing death the right way.
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Marvel Treats Death As A Shock Value
Tony Stark's death will forever be a tragedy in the MCU.
Most MCU fans grew up watching Iron Man, a character who transformed from a self-centered billionaire to a vital member of the Avengers, all thanks to Robert Downey Jr.'s performance.
However, despite the divisive fan reception Stark's heroic death generated, this doesn't necessarily mean MCU diehards want to see Stark return from the dead.
If anything, Marvel should just keep things the way they are post-Infinity Saga because the possibility of Tony being brought back to life only cheapens his sacrifice.
The death of a character should be impactful and push the storytelling and worldbuilding forward. This creates new opportunities for new or overshadowed characters to take the spotlight.
However, how Marvel has been treating their deceased characters has nurtured a distrust amongst audiences when it comes to losing them on screen.
There’s been a rumor circulating that Marvel will reportedly be bringing RDJ’s Tony Stark back into the MCU shortly.
While this idea may seem enticing at first, you’ve got to look at it from a different angle: it’s a cheap escape to disguise that the MCU might not have any other idea than to bring nostalgia back on the big screens time and time again for shock value.
A Tony Stark variant would make sense given the Multiverse Saga they’re in on now, but RDJ’s Tony Stark? That’s not going to turn out well for both moviegoers and Marvel Studios.
After all, this wouldn’t be the first time Marvel decides to suddenly bring the dead back to life in the MCU.
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Characters Marvel Brought Back From the Dead
In case you've forgotten, Loki also happened to have died as early as at the beginning of Avengers: Infinity War, only for Marvel to bring him back in his own MCU series.
Although this is a different Loki variant we're talking about, you've got to admit that the Multiverse thing is coming off as a good excuse for some plot armor, leaving little to no space for longtime Loki fans to mourn the God of Mischief’s death.
It doesn't help that Tom Hiddleston's still the actor playing Loki in Season 2, either.
Have I mentioned Gamora? The Guardians of the Galaxy member fell to her death, the same way Black Widow did, and yet Gamora got to return.
This Gamora was brought back from a different timeline, for sentimental purposes, perhaps, since Guardians of the Galaxy ends with Volume 3, not in Volume 2 or Avengers: Endgame.
Although this Gamora variant proved to be quite useful in the MCU heroes fighting off against Thanos in the end, her continued appearance in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 feels as though we never lost her in the first place.
As much as we love how G'iah became the MCU's most overpowered character, that Secret Invasion episode where she was killed caused quite an uproar at how quickly she disappeared from the series.
Only, of course, she ended up being brought back to life in the next episode, seeing as the previous scene did not reveal that she took some Super Skrulls serum before facing Gravik.
Essentially, what these tell MCU fans is that any dead character could be brought back to life in a snap, which rids the consequences of their post-deaths.
Marvel would have to make better use of this concept in the future.
Don't leave just yet, though, because Marvel did get some things right in other character deaths.
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Here’s How Marvel Could Do Better in Their Next Deaths
The only good reason for bringing someone from the dead is through, what I like to call, ‘dream ghosts.’
Essentially, it’s similar to how Erik Killmonger appeared to Shuri before claiming the Black Panther powers for herself in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
And I'm not talking about how this appearance in the dream is the next best thing for Marvel to get their 'plot armor.'
It's the fact that although Killmonger returned, it wasn't played off for shock value, nor was it to suggest he's returning to the franchise despite getting killed off.
Killmonger merely appeared to push the new evolving heroine to her destiny, instead of coming off as a shock factor to MCU fans. His presence pushed the plot forward.
Similarly, this is how WandaVision also played off the mysterious return of Vision into the MCU picture.
Canonically, Wanda has the power to create her realities based on how she had it in her imagination.
The formulaic use of a sitcom setting along with her reiteration of having a family with Vision was not to convince MCU fans that there is possible hope of him coming back to life, but rather a storytelling of how Wanda was coping post-Endgame.
Not to mention, the beginning of her development into becoming a villain, the Scarlet Witch, afterward.
So, technically, Marvel isn't doing that bad with their treatment of character deaths. Only, they would have to be more consistent on how to handle their characters efficiently after their deaths.
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