MCU: 25 most heartbreaking Marvel Cinematic Universe character deaths

Credit: Marvel Studios

12. Doctor Erskine

Movie it happened in: Captain America: The First Avenger

Why it was so heartbreaking: Who was Doctor Erskine, I hear some of you say. Considering Captain American: The First Avenger was one of the first movies, I get why you’d forget some of the characters. But you shouldn’t forget Doctor Erksine.

Like Professor Yinsen to Tony Stark’s Iron Man, if it wasn’t for Doctor Erskine, there wouldn’t be a Captain America. He was the one that created the serum and chose Steve Rogers to become the initial test dummy. It was Erskine who saw all the potential in Rogers – the potential that also most definitely makes him worthy of Thor’s hammer! – and chose him to be the one to receive the serum.

You just knew that someone who would be the creator of a hero could never survive, right? That’s how these sorts of movies work. Erskine was, for all intents and purposes, a mentor to Rogers. They may have only known each other for a few months – the timeline in Captain American is a little vague – but this was the man Steve owed everything to.

And it wasn’t like the two got to bond after Rogers became Captain America. Erskine never saw everything come to fruition. He just knew that Steve Rogers would do the right thing, and that he did! Erskine was shot after the injection of the serum, once it was clear that he had managed to complete his task.

In a way, it was a mercy, though. If Erskine was captured and tortured, there was a chance he would have been coerced into giving the bad guys the full serum. This could have led to the world being a far more darker and dangerous place than it was with just Thanos around.