After watching the Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 3 earlier this month, I’m feeling a little somber and sad. The movie touched me in a weird kind of way. 🥲
With this in mind, I decided to rank the five saddest comic book movies that I have seen.
#1 Logan
It’s still number one. The film is a two-hours and 17-minutes punch to the gut. This splendidly-acted film noir/Western takes Logan on an episodic journey in which he deals with aging (Professor X), parenting (Weapon X) and dying (himself). And the final scene (in which he dies) is probably the saddest in comic book film history.
#2 Wakanda Forever
Through no fault of its own, this movie has an emotional cheat code. Due to the real life, gut-wrenching loss of the magnificent actor Chadwick Boseman, the plot, and the MCU altogether, are indelibly altered. The opening scene is a tearjerker, when Shuri tries to save T’Challa. And later in the film, the loss of Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) doubles down on the trauma and loss displayed in the film. It’s heavy stuff.
#3 Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 3
No, I’m not suffering from recency bias. This film is fun but equal parts sad. I never thought CGI-generated comic book characters would make me tear up in a movie theater. But they did. The love Rocket Raccoon 🦝, now my co-favorite Guardian (with Peter Quill), shows his “first family” of caged/experimented-on animals is special. And the trauma that they deal with by way of the cruel experiments and treatment at the hands of the psychotic High Evolutionary are hard to watch. And the tears flow 😭 after Lylla 🦦, Teefs 🦭 and Floor 🐇 are killed before Rocket flees the clutches of his captor.
#4 Avengers: Endgame
For the most part, this film is a scintillating thrill ride of action, redemption and victory. But it comes with a heavy cost. The cost? The loss of alpha MCU member Iron Man—portrayed perfectly by Robert Downey, Jr. He makes the ultimate sacrifice (his own life) to fell Thanos and his minions, while restoring half of the universe’s population at the same time. His final embrace with Pepper Pots, as well as the funeral scene, are emotionally gripping.
#5 Spider-Man: No Way Home
Last, but not least, I leave you with No Way Home. Probably the best movie in Phase IV of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, the loss of Aunt Mae is like a remix of the oft-depicted loss of Uncle Ben in previous Spider-Man films. However, here it means more because it serves as the tie that binds all three Spider-Men, as they join forces to defeat the Green Goblin, Electro, Doctor Octopus 🐙, and the Sandman.
And to top it off, Tom Holland’s Spider-Man makes a unique sacrifice to save the multiverse—no one he knows can remember who he is going forward. The scene in which MJ, Doctor Strange and Ned come to grips with this harsh reality is heartbreaking. ❤️🩹
There you have it—my saddest superhero movie moments. 😢
