MCU: 25 most heartbreaking Marvel Cinematic Universe character deaths

Marvel Studios INFINITY WAR..Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes in Avengers Infinity War TV Spot..©Marvel Studios 2018

25. Bucky Barnes

Movie it happened in: Captain America: The First Avenger

Why it was so heartbreaking: While we found out in The Winter Soldier that Bucky Barnes hadn’t actually died, we didn’t realize it would happen at the time of the death. In Captain America: The First Avenger we thought that we’d lost Steve Rogers’ best friend.

Okay, if you hadn’t read the comics then you thought he was definitely dead. The source material is a giveaway of what could happen.

But whether you knew or not that Bucky would be back as The Winter Soldier, it didn’t stop this death from being heartbreaking. In fact, it starts off our list (and if he remained dead, he would have been moved further up the list).

Bucky died a hero. He had no thoughts about his own life. All he knew was that he needed to stop the bad guy and he was thrown off a train for his efforts. Cap tried to get to him, only to fail. All Cap could do was watch his best friend fall to his death in the icy valley below.

But why did Bucky affect us?

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Well, this was Steve Rogers’ best friend. We’d seen the two together from the beginning, watching as Bucky made fun of his friend but always looked out for him at the same time. When everyone else would be against Cap, Bucky was right there for him and went on one of the most dangerous missions without any questions.

This was a best friend you wanted. It was clear from this why Cap would risk the Avengers when Bucky was returned.