One of Marvel Comics’ biggest rules is that no one stays dead, except for Uncle Ben. For decades, comic book characters have been killed off in dramatic storylines only to be resurrected, rebooted, or revealed to have been an imposter all along, ensuring that no heroic sacrifice or villainous defeat is ever truly final. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has wholeheartedly adopted this tradition, finding increasingly elaborate ways to cheat death and keep fan-favorite characters in play. From classic comic book resurrections to the endless possibilities of the multiverse, the franchise has made it clear that a character’s demise is often just a temporary setback.
The MCU’s reliance on fake-out deaths has become a defining feature of its long-form storytelling. Sometimes, these twists are brilliant, re-contextualizing a character’s journey and setting up powerful new arcs. Other times, they feel like a cheap way to undo a genuinely impactful moment, robbing a story of its emotional weight. As a result, these resurrections have produced some of the franchise’s most shocking, beloved, and occasionally frustrating moments.
10) Foggy Nelson (Daredevil: Born Again)
The brief footage of Daredevil: Born Again shown at New York Comic-Con confirmed the return of Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson). However, it is unclear if Foggy is appearing in a flashback, a dream sequence, or if he is truly back in Matt Murdock’s (Charlie Cox) life for the show’s sophomore season. This ambiguity heavily suggests the MCU could be adapting the infamous “Death of Foggy Nelson” storyline from the comics, which itself was a massive fake-out. In that arc, Foggy was seemingly killed in prison, only to be revealed as alive and in witness protection. Unfortunately, if Born Again follows a similar path, it risks cheapening the dramatic weight of Nelson’s death in Season 1, which set the course for Matt’s character arc. Still, this fake-out death remains low on this list until his true fate is revealed.
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9) Red Skull (Captain America: The First Avenger/Avengers: Endgame)
Johann Schmidt’s (Hugo Weaving) apparent demise at the end of Captain America: The First Avenger felt definitive. After grabbing the Tesseract with his bare hands, the Red Skull was enveloped in a cosmic light and seemingly disintegrated, a fitting end for a villain who meddled with powers beyond his comprehension. His shocking reappearance in Avengers: Infinity War was a surprising long-term twist, revealing he had not died but was transported across the universe to Vormir. Cursed to serve as the spectral guardian of the Soul Stone, the once-feared leader of Hydra was reduced to a lonely guide. This was a fantastic fake-out because it provided a narratively satisfying explanation for his disappearance while connecting his story directly to the larger cosmic saga of the Infinity Stones.
8) Kingpin / Wilson Fisk (Hawkeye/Echo)
The finale of Hawkeye delivered a stunning confrontation between Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox) and her surrogate uncle, Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio). Cornering him in an alley, Maya holds a gun to his head, and the camera pans away as a gunshot rings out, leaving his fate ambiguous. This moment strongly implied the death of the Kingpin, a bold move so soon after his reintroduction to the MCU. However, as comic fans expected, his survival was confirmed in Echo, which revealed he was alive but had sustained a serious eye injury. While his return was never really in doubt, the execution of the scene in Hawkeye was a well-crafted cliffhanger. It provided a powerful emotional climax for Maya’s arc while still leaving the door open for one of Marvel’s most formidable villains to return to power.
7) Darren Cross / Yellowjacket (Ant-Man/Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania)
Darren Cross’s (Corey Stoll) defeat in Ant-Man was one of the more gruesome ends for an MCU villain. After his Yellowjacket suit was compromised by Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), he was crushed into a horrifying, subatomic singularity and disappeared into the Quantum Realm. This was treated as a definitive death until his bizarre return in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Rescued by Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors), the distorted and disfigured Cross was transformed into M.O.D.O.K., a Mechanized Organism Designed Only for Killing. This reveal was one of the most disliked twists in the entire MCU, turning a once-menacing villain into a source of awkward comic relief. The fake-out not only felt narratively unnecessary but also fundamentally misunderstood the appeal of both Yellowjacket and M.O.D.O.K., resulting in a revival that failed to satisfy fans of either character.
6) Bucky Barnes (Captain America: The First Avenger/Captain America: The Winter Soldier)
The death of James “Bucky” Barnes (Sebastian Stan) was a foundational moment for Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) in Captain America: The First Avenger. His fall from the Hydra train was presented as a clear and tragic sacrifice, cementing his status as a fallen hero of World War II. His return decades later as the brainwashed Hydra assassin known as the Winter Soldier was one of the most impactful and well-executed fake-out in the entire MCU. Hydra’s experimentation allowed him to survive the fall, and they spent the next 70 years cryogenically freezing him between missions. This reveal was not just a shocking twist but also the emotional core of the entire Captain America trilogy, forcing Steve to confront the ghost of his best friend. It transformed a tragic backstory into a character-defining conflict that resonated across multiple films.
5) Groot (Guardians of the Galaxy)
Groot’s (voiced by Vin Diesel) sacrifice at the end of the first Guardians of the Galaxy is one of the most emotional moments in the MCU. As Ronan’s (Lee Pace) ship plummets to the ground, the gentle giant forms a protective cocoon around his friends, uttering the words “We are Groot” before being shattered into countless pieces. The subsequent reveal of a tiny, dancing sapling grown from one of his twigs felt like a heartwarming revival. However, director James Gunn has confirmed that this new Groot is not the original but is, in fact, his son, who does not retain the memories of his father. While this technically means it is not a true fake-out, the immediate aftermath of the first film presented it as a rebirth. It softened the blow of his heroic death and allowed the franchise to explore a younger version of the character, even if it retroactively makes the original’s sacrifice more permanent.
4) Nick Fury (Captain America: The Winter Soldier)
The apparent assassination of Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) early in Captain America: The Winter Soldier was a seismic event. Ambushed by Hydra assassins led by the Winter Soldier, Fury is gunned down and later pronounced dead on the operating table, with Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) by his side. His death was a massive shock, seemingly removing one of the central pillars of the MCU. The subsequent reveal that he faked his demise using a drug developed by Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) to slow his heart rate to one beat per minute was a classic spy-thriller twist. This fake-out was essential to the film’s plot, allowing Fury to operate in the shadows and orchestrate the final takedown of Hydra from within S.H.I.E.L.D.
3) Vision (Avengers: Infinity War/WandaVision)
Vision’s (Paul Bettany) death in Avengers: Infinity War was one of the most brutal and seemingly permanent losses in the film. He died not once, but twice: first at the hands of Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) in a desperate attempt to destroy the Mind Stone, and then again when Thanos (Josh Brolin) mercilessly reversed time to rip the stone from his head. His lifeless, grey body was a haunting image that underscored the Avengers’ failure. WandaVision revealed that S.W.O.R.D. had recovered and reassembled his body, which was later reactivated as the emotionless White Vision. Simultaneously, Wanda used her chaos magic to create a new version of him within her sitcom reality, built from her memories and grief. This complex and tragic resurrection was a brilliant fake-out, using his death as the catalyst for a profound exploration of loss and identity.
2) Phil Coulson (The Avengers/Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)
Agent Phil Coulson’s (Clark Gregg) death at the hands of Loki (Tom Hiddleston) in The Avengers was the emotional catalyst for the team’s formation. Nick Fury used his bloody Captain America trading cards to galvanize the heroes, making Coulson’s sacrifice the foundational moment for the entire initiative. This made his return as the lead of (underrated and underwatched) Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. one of the biggest fake-outs in MCU history. It was revealed that Fury had him resurrected using Project T.A.H.I.T.I., a secret program involving the blood of a Kree alien. For movie-only fans, his sacrifice remained a poignant moment, but for those who followed the series, it became a prime example of the MCU’s reluctance to let death be permanent.
1) Loki (Thor: The Dark World)
No character has mastered the art of the death fake-out quite like Loki (Tom Hiddleston). The God of Mischief has seemingly perished multiple times, always coming back for more, but his most effective ruse came in Thor: The Dark World. After being impaled while fighting alongside Thor (Chris Hemsworth), he appeared to die heroically in his brother’s arms. The scene played out as a powerful moment of redemption that seemingly concluded his arc. However, the film’s final moments delivered a shocking twist: Loki was alive and, disguised as Odin (Anthony Hopkins), had taken the throne of Asgard. This was the ultimate fake-out, a perfectly executed deception that completely re-contextualized the movie’s ending and cemented Loki’s status as the ultimate survivor.
Which MCU death fake-out did you find to be the most effective? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!