10 Darkest MCU Movies Of All Time, Ranked

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has some truly dark moments, with certain films in the franchise being particularly dour compared to the average superhero blockbuster. Compared to the likes of the DCEU’s filmography, the MCU skews towards being lighter-hearted overall, with quippy one-liners, zany characters, and energetic action sequences that lend themselves to an air of child-like joy. But it’s easy to forget that the MCU can often get surprisingly dark, with some films being far edgier than others.

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There are several things that cause certain movies of the MCU to stand out as particularly grim compared to their peers. Narratives centering around trauma, grief, and loss are quite common for the series, and certain events of the franchise lampshade their films with a somber hue. In other cases, the visual style and surprisingly frightening visuals give certain Marvel Studios projects a veritable horror movie archetype that sets them apart from the rest of the series.

10 Captain America: The Winter Soldier Posed Uncomfortable Questions

The MCU isn’t afraid to occasionally get political

Widely hailed as some of the franchise’s best work, Captain America: The Winter Soldier plays its narrative arguably more seriously than any other film in the MCU. The film follows Captain America on the run as he uncovers a scandalous HYDRA conspiracy to infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D., and use the peacekeeping agency’s capabilities against the population of the world in order to control and constrict them. Complicating things is the return of Bucky Barnes as the Winter Soldier, giving Steve Rogers some pause as he faces down his old friend.

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Considered to be the best movie in the Captain America trilogy for a good reason, Captain America: The Winter Soldier very maturely questions the ethics of superpower governments, putting forth some uncomfortable discussion topics other Marvel films wouldn’t dare to touch. Steve having to fight Bucky after thinking he was dead for years is also a bit of a morose match-up that the movie puts in the spotlight. However, no beloved characters die in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and it ends with a relatively neat conclusion for how dire the implications of its premise are.

9 Werewolf By Night Is A Straight-Up Horror Movie

The first MCU project to spill buckets of blood

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Marvel Studios is often fond of cross-breeding other film genres with standard superhero fare, from the space opera setting of the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy to the heist film antics of Ant-Man. Werewolf By Night was the franchise’s first real foray into genuine horror territory, with an exceedingly dark tone to match. The plot centers on a ritual hunt organized to initiate monster hunters that goes terribly wrong when the titular lycanthrope bares his fangs.

Granted, Werewolf By Night is still rated PG-13, but the film still manages to imbibe in buckets of bloody gore, perhaps made above-board by the black and white cinematography. Combined with the spooky tone and bone-chilling werewolf transformation sequence, Werewolf By Night is truly dark by design in a way few other MCU projects can match. That being said, no one who dies in the short project doesn’t have it coming, and the protagonists enjoy an unambiguously happy ending.

8 Avengers: Endgame Sees Two Original Avengers Die

Two of Marvel Studios’ most tear-jerking deaths

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The Avengers movies represent the culmination of over-arching events in the MCU that draw more eyes than any other solo project, and the series has yet to top Avengers: Endgame in terms of sheer scope and spectacle. This makes it all the more impressive that Marvel Studios decided to get so dark with the final battle between Thanos and the Earth’s mightiest heroes, which resulted in the permanent deaths of two original Avengers: Iron Man and Black Widow. Not only that, but Captain America also retires from hero work, becoming an old man.

As tear-jerking as these death scenes are, Avengers: Endgame still has an overall triumphant tone, with Iron Man and Black Widow’s deaths being satisfying sacrifices that brought their character arcs to an agreeable close. Iron Man’s death has also been somewhat diluted over time by the upcoming return of Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom. Still, the impact of these tragedies on the series can’t be understated, and Avengers: Endgame gets very bleak at other points as well, such as with Hawkeye’s vigilantism and Nebula’s torture.

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7 Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness Is A Brutal Story

A magical nightmare directed by one of horror’s best

If Werewolf By Night was the MCU’s first true horror film, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was the series’ first flirtation with horror-like imagery. Directed by Sam Raimi of the Evil Dead series fame, the film follows Doctor Strange on a quest to stop Scarlet Witch’s rampage across the multiverse with the help of America Chavez, a young girl inexplicably born with the power to leap between dimensions at random. From the visuals of Doctor Strange Dreamwalking into his own decomposing corpse to the horrifying extent of Wanda’s powers, the film can get quite grisly at times.

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Beyond the mere set dressing of ghoulish imagery, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is also driven by grief. Wanda’s whole motivation stems from the loss of her children, making for a poignant core of emotions that propel the action. At the end of the day, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness does still have all the light-hearted camp and charm of a Sam Raimi movie, plus the traditional quippy MCU jokes, but the film certainly does maintain a macabre theme.

6 Black Widow Examines Trauma And Abuse

Black Widow’s solo film finally examines the red on her ledger

Prior to Avengers: Endgame, Black Widow and Hawkeye were the only original Avengers to have never gotten a solo film, though the former finally received a posthumous prequel with Black Widow. Here, the fateful events of the infamous mission in Budapest were finally revealed, along with the fallout of Black Widow’s final confrontation with the leader of the abusive program that turned her into a living weapon. From trauma, abuse, and painful guilt, no sensitive emotional topic is left unexplored by Black Widow’s reunion with her old fake family.

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Black Widow earns such a high ranking among Marvel Studios’ darkest films simply for the fact that it describes two Avengers’ compliance in killing an innocent child, re-framing everything audiences thought they knew about the “red” in Black Widow’s ledger. The horrifying detail of the Red Room and the Black Widow program also deserve a mention as some of the most oppressive and intense scenes in MCU history. However, the movie still has plenty of comedic elements, and the reveal that Antonia Dreykov actually survived the assassination attempt on her father undercuts the gravity of the plot.

5 Avengers: Infinity War Wipes Out Half Of All Life

A visceral gut punch to audiences worldwide

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Considered to be one of the greatest movie events of the century, Avengers: Infinity War has easily the single most brutal ending of any MCU film. The beginning of Thanos’ invasion starts with the gathering of the Infinity Stones on Earth, with the Avengers all desperately racing to stop him from his goal of wiping out half of all life in the universe. Eventually, he succeeds, and half of the Avengers crumble away to dust in a quiet, terrifying final scene that broke the hearts of moviegoers the world over.

The Snap isn’t the only dark part of Avengers: Infinity War, with the painful deaths of characters like Heimdall, Loki, and Vision further souring the experience. But it’s the muted horror of the Earth’s finest falling apart as ashes that truly brings such a dark tone to the ambitious crossover film. Of course, everyone dusted is eventually revived, and both Loki and Vision end up returning to the MCU in new forms. For the self-contained experience it is, however, Avengers: Infinity War is an intentional emotional low point for the entire franchise.

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4 Captain America: Civil War Explores The Avengers At Their Lowest

Break-ups are always difficult subjects

Paying off the set up of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War sees a schism form in the Avengers that eventually breaks into an all-out war. It’s absolutely tragic to see the formerly chummy heroes of the team slug it out against one another, inflicting lasting physical and emotional scars in the name of ideological differences. But there are many other dour elements to Captain America: Civil War‘s plot.

By far the most heart-wrenching sequence of the film is where Iron Man learns that Bucky was the one to kill his parents, leading to an emotionally-charged final 2v1 duel between the two of them and Captain America. Elements like the death of Wakanda’s King T’Chaka and Baron Zemo’s attempted suicide further plummet the film into dark territory few other MCU films are willing or able to explore. No matter who was right in Captain America: Civil War, both sides suffered losses. Granted, the film does contain emotional highs like Black Panther and Spider-Man’s introductions.

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3 Spider-Man: No Way Home Puts Peter Parker Through The Grinder

Spider-Man loses in many ways with No Way Home

Few films have as big a gulf between their high points and low points as Spider-Man: No Way Home. Taking place directly after Spider-Man: Far From Home, Spider-Man: No Way Home explores a worst-case scenario few other pieces of Spider-Man media do – Peter Parker’s secret identity being discovered worldwide. Attempting to use magic courtesy of Doctor Strange to fix the situation, Spider-Man unintentionally invites new enemies (and allies) from all corners of the multiverse to his city.

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At its lightest and most fun, Spider-Man: No Way Home is an endearing team-up between all three major live-action Spider-Men filled with jokes and exciting action. At its heaviest, the film opens lasting wounds in a way few other MCU projects can match, killing off Aunt May and leaving Peter totally alone and isolated with a bleak downer ending. Spider-Man: No Way Home is also noteworthy for being the closest Spider-Man has come to intentionally killing someone in live-action, a disturbing milestone for the normally morally adamantine hero.

2 Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 Is A Tear-Jerking Finale

Goodbyes can be more sad than literal deaths

So far, no film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has felt like a true ending of a series. That is, with the sole exception of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which brought James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy to a fateful close. Here, the eccentric cosmic superhero team go up against Rocket Raccoon’s creator, the mad scientist The High Evolutionary, who seeks to reclaim his creation for nefarious purposes.

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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 dives deep into Rocket’s tragic past, with the deaths of Floor, Teefs, and Lylla being some of the saddest ever in the MCU. Somehow more tear-jerking than that, however, is the slow breakup of the original Guardians of the Galaxy team over the course of the finale, with Drax leaving to focus on fostering children, Mantis going on a journey of self-discovery, and Peter Quill returning to his old family on Earth. In some ways, it’s almost harder to say goodbye to heroes who leave by their own choice.

1 Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Explores Grief And Revenge

No Marvel film has ever been as straight-laced and serious

For as morose as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 got, it was still at least injected with James Gunn’s signature banter and hilarious dialogue. The same can’t be said for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which plays its entire premise shockingly straight, almost not feeling like an MCU movie for how serious a tone it maintains throughout. The film links the actual passing of the late actor Chadwick Boseman to T’Challa’s off-screen death, leaving Shuri as Wakanda’s sole leader and protector.

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The fallout of T’Challa’s death isn’t the only grief explored in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which also sees Queen Ramonda die at the hands of Namor. Other heavy themes like revenge, colonization, and the extraction of resources, set up in the first Black Panther, are also given further consideration here. The film is one of mourning for a real-life hero that inspired many, making for a difficult watch at times. Shuri’s harrowing journey with loss, anger, and revenge is given plenty of room to breathe in perhaps the MCU’s most mature, and easily darkest, film ever.

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